Alan Cadman (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I wanted an audience, but I am pleased with your ruling. The scope of the CER includes broadcasting programs on television. New Zealanders and services provided by New Zealanders are allowed access to the Australian market for television programs which is no less favourable than that allowed to Australians or services provided by Australians.

The bill also includes changes to scripting and production up to the point of photography. Under the current framework, licensees are unable to claim expenditure for script development. This shortcoming is picked up in this legislation. Expenditure on new eligible drama does not include script development at the moment unless the project progresses to principal photography. It is not until the cameras actually start to roll that production costs, which include scripting, are included under the current legislation. However, in the proposals we are introducing tonight, if principal photography commences in a financial year, the program is not at that time an eligible drama program and the claim for an earlier year must be reduced by the amount claimed in the earlier year if that should occur. So there is a protection if there is a rollover from one financial year to another, but the amendments do allow script development expenditure to be incurred as part of the drama production.

Licensees may not be able to claim their entire year’s expenditure quota on script development. They can claim only 10 per cent of the total expenditure on script development. The capacity to roll over is restricted, and the amount that can be spent on script development is also limited. The bill introduces new measures to allow the spending in excess of the 10 per cent requirement in any one year to be carried forward to the next year—

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