SPA Supports ABC Chair's Call for Greater Investment From Government

SPA Supports ABC Chair’s Call for Greater Investment From Government

SPA Supports ABC Chair’s Call for Greater Investment From Government – Today, Screen Producers Australia (SPA) welcomes and supports ABC Chair Kim Williams’s call for greater government investment in our national broadcaster.

“SPA agrees that the ABC is an important national institution that plays a critical role in Australian public life and is an outlet for expressing our creative and cultural identities. The ABC is also a driving force in the local screen industry, working with a great mixture of Australian production businesses and creators who deliver incredible content to audiences both here and around the world,”

– said SPA CEO Matthew Deaner.

“It is also undeniable that the ABC has faced a tough time in recent years balancing the need to educate, inform and entertain Australian audiences within severe budget constraints.

“These pressures have unfortunately flowed directly onto the independent screen sector, SPA members, who the ABC relies on for much of its programming.

“If it weren’t for the ABC and its ongoing investment in children’s programs, the deregulation of Australian content requirements for commercial broadcasters in 2021 by the Morrison Government would have been the finish of an entire sub-sector of our industry, as it was, many were forced out of business.

“That’s because the screen industry, which includes the ABC, is an ecosystem with many interdependencies.

“Our members are keen to work with the ABC to help Mr Williams achieve the programming priorities he has laid out. For the independent screen sector, it is vitally important that these arrangements are done on fair terms. The ABC should aspire to be a trusted commercial partner as much as a trusted voice.

“In practice, this means paying appropriately for rights sought and recognising that independent producers must also sustain their businesses to successfully develop and deliver the next Bluey, Bay of Fires, Stuff the British Stole or Gruen.

“With the tsunami of international content dominating our screens, there is no doubt that Australian audiences are receiving far less access to Australian screen culture than they used to previously, and this remains a key issue of concern to SPA, not least because of its impact on audiences, through national cohesion, wellbeing and expressing our social and democratic values to the world. “If we want to maintain a strong, independent and viable Australian screen industry, able to share Australian stories with Australian audiences, we need the Albanese Government to recognise the critical role the ABC plays in our lives and our industry and to fund it accordingly,”