Another source of hope for the screen industry has come from our legislators in Canberra. 

Two main issues have been central to lobbying efforts by the ASSG in partnership with the other industry guilds (ASIG), SPA and MEAA; AI legislation and production quotas on the streaming services.

To that end I’ve had several meetings with Carol Berry MP, who is my local member since the election, and through her our concerns have been put to the Minister for the Arts, Tony Burke. In general the responses we’ve received either directly from the minister or via ASIG have been supportive but also non committal. Indeed we had received quiet word that the quotas were “dead in the water”, which was not what we wanted to hear.

On the topic of things we didn’t want to hear, the Interim Productivity Commission Report recommending that copyright rules be suspended for AI training needs inspired immediate response from the guilds. The AWG really led the charge and all of the other guilds, ASSG included, together roundly condemned the recommendation. We were frankly flabbergasted that this could even be considered.

On October 26, the Albanese government ruled to deny copyright exemption for the purposes of training AI. This is a significant first step in legislating protections against AI for writers, musicians, filmmakers and all Australian creatives. There is much more to be done to legislate the use of AI in our creative industries but this encouraging decision paves the way.

Another encouraging announcement was made on November 4, just a few weeks ago. The government legislated to extend the content production quotas to include streaming services. This has been legislation 8 years in the making, according to the MEAA and the ASSG welcomes this decision and prompt legislation. There has been some criticism that the quota percentage isn’t enough or that it will make no difference. I can assure you, the difference is significant. Now the producers and streamers have certainty around what the legislation is and how to work with it. Anecdotally I’d been told it was this lack of certainty that brought about the downturn we’ve seen. Producers were reluctant to forge ahead with productions if there was a possibility legislation would change and they might not qualify in some way. Now the terms are there in black and white and I expect the production figures will increase in response.

Some of you may have noticed the big red N on the front of this booklet and around our awards. Netflix sponsors the ASSG, and many of the other guilds, and we welcome their partnership and support. There is one common goal that exists between government, streaming services like Netflix and the ASSG; we all want to tell our stories in the best possible way and reach the biggest possible audience we can. None of us wants to see our industry shrink, we all want success for the screen sector and that’s what we’re working together to achieve.