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Ian Robertson
Ian Robertson, Member, ABA, and Partner, Holding Redlich
I am here in the capacity as a part-time board member of the ABA. I therefore need to point out that there are six other board members of the ABA, none of whom may necessarily agree with one word that I am about to say. And being a lawyer, I also reserve the right to change my mind. …
So let's look at a few of the issues in the Australian Content Standard for Commercial Television. It would be too much of a cop out for me to say nothing; and I'm not going to. I instead would like to indicate the way I think that a few of these issues may be moving.
In the case of adult drama, I think that there is general consensus that there has been increasing pressure on the ability of Australian production to be funded, given the problems that have occurred with deficit funding, access to offshore pre-sales and so on. That comes down squarely to the issue of whether the ABA should alter the format factors so that there are more points for higher expenditure, however that is measured. Various ways of doing that have been suggested. My personal opinion is that licence fees are a pretty good measure, but that is something we will need to continue to work on.
The other issue that is right at the fore, and obviously highly controversial, is whether the ABA should be doing something about mandating independent production. There can be no question that an independent production sector is vital to the future of the Australian industry in its broader sense. But it would be a big and unique step, and as far as I am aware without precedent, for the ABA to step in and set an independent production quota. I have a hunch we might be more likely to think about incentives: incentives for both higher budgets or higher licence fees, and incentives towards use of the independent sector. I think that that is a more likely outcome than the ABA imposing rigid quotas on the industry, but as I said before, I am only one member.
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