Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

When I was in my early 20s, I was renting in Sydney, working hard and loving my life and my friends. Once a week I sat down with my boyfriend and we watched The Secret Life of Us on TV. I loved it. I felt like Claudia Karvan and Samuel Johnson could easily have been my friends. They sounded like my friends, lived similar lives and dealt with similar issues. We looked forward to Monday nights and chatted about it at work. It became part of the language and culture I shared with my friends and it brought us together.

Later, as a parent of young kids, turning on Justine Clarke and Jay Laga'aia on Play School provided the window I needed to get a load of washing out, tidy up or lie exhausted next to my toddlers for a moment. I didn't want my kids to learn to talk with an American accent; I wanted them to understand, embrace and share our unique Australian culture. Although my kids were too old for Bluey, I've watched it with my nieces and nephews and seen the same thing in today's toddlers. Bluey shows the best of us, reflecting our culture and values in a way that reminds not just kids but also adults who we are. Only a few years ago I loved watching Tim Minchin's Upright, a road trip across Australia that ended with a homecoming to Cottesloe, in my electorate of Curtin. The trees, the architecture and the vibe bring these stories into our lives and make them real to us.

As our TV viewing patterns have changed, with far more choice, global content and streaming services, our cultural references are becoming more fragmented. We have fewer of these common cultural touchpoints, these collective Australian experiences that bring us together. Some of this is inevitable and positively reflects that we now accept a much broader range of ways to be Australian, and we have endless global choices available to us. But it also comes at a cultural cost, and this cost is not inevitable. TV stations are required to include some Australian content, which is how we get to hear more of our stories. But, until now, streaming platforms have not had this requirement, and this bill, the Communications Legislation Amendment (Australian Content Requirement for Subscription Video On Demand (Streaming) Services) Bill 2025, fixes that.

This bill is a significant and long-awaited reform. It's a milestone for Australia's cultural life. I commend the government, and Ministers Burke and Wells in particular, for delivering the decisive action that Australia's screen sector has needed for far too long.

The bill introduces for the first time a clear and enforceable Australian content requirement for the major streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video—the services that now dominate how Australians watch television. If a streaming service has at least one million paying subscribers in Australia, it will be required to spend more on new eligible Australian programs—either 10 per cent of its total program expenditure for Australia or 7.5 per cent of its Australian revenue. These eligible programs include the backbone of Australian storytelling—drama, children's content, documentaries, arts and educational programs. Streamers can equip their obligations over a three-year cycle, recognising the lumpy, project based nature of screen investments, and they must report annually to ACMA. Crucially, the bill brings streaming services into line with the free-to-air and subscription broadcasters who have carried these obligations for decades. In short, the bill guarantees that no matter which remote control Australians pick up, Australian stories will remain at their fingertips.

This reform is not just a technical fix; it's a cultural safeguard and a cultural opportunity. For decades, Australia's local content rules have ensured we can hear our own voices and see our own communities, histories and quirks reflected on screen. But audience habits have changed dramatically. More and more Australians watch content through streaming platforms, and those platforms have had no requirement to invest in Australian stories. This gap has left our screen sector increasingly vulnerable. Production has slumped, local commissions have declined and a highly-skilled workforce—actors, directors, writers, crew, editors, musicians and creatives—has faced deep uncertainty.

The Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance described today's reforms as 'a vital lifeline'. They stressed that the new content requirements will deliver safe and secure employment opportunities and offer real hope to thousands of creative workers who rely on a stable and sustainable production sector. Screen Producers Australia called this 'a landmark day', the result of more than a decade of advocacy built on the simple principle that Australian stories deserve a guaranteed space in our media landscape. As SPA put it, without clear local content rules, the ready availability of imported content risks drowning out our own voice.

Of course, this is about audiences too. Australians want Australian stories. They want stories that reflect our identity, humour, complexity and diversity. They want programs that understand our communities because they come from our communities. This bill honours that.

There are some small improvements that could be made to this bill. I'll be supporting the amendment proposed by the member for Wentworth to exclude the amount of the producer offset from qualifying expenditure in order to prevent international streaming services from artificially reducing their Australian expenditure. That amendment would also ensure that Australian companies, rather than international companies, retain important intellectual property rights over the new Australian programs. It requires that the streaming services report on the subgenres of their new Australian programs to promote broader assessment and monitoring and to help key sectors of the screen industry, like children's programming and documentary production. I urge the government to seriously consider this amendment.

To conclude, this is good, thoughtful, balanced legislation. It recognises that Australian stories are not just entertainment; they are part of the fabric of who we are. They help us understand ourselves and each other and they allow the world to understand us. The government have listened to extensive consultation and years of advocacy and acted, and I commend them for that. I strongly support the bill and the amendment being introduced by the member for Wentworth. I look forward to seeing it strengthen our culture, creative industries and national identity for years to come.

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