Angie Bell (Moncrieff, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government's handling of the pandemic, combined with its Location Incentive Program, have brought world-renowned screen productions to Australia, which is creating jobs and ensuring a stronger Australia?

Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Moncrieff, who is of course a former professional musician—one of the many diverse backgrounds on this side of the House—and is therefore very familiar with the glamour of show business but also the sheer amount of hard work that's involved. And I'm pleased to say we've had our fair share of the glamour of show business in recent months, with some of the world's leading directors and actors coming to Australia.

I had the pleasure of visiting the set of 13 Lives on the Gold Coast last week and I spoke with director Ron Howard, who told me why the movie is being filmed in Australia. It's because of our skilled and talented actors and crew. It's because of the great locations that Australia has. It's certainly because of Australia's careful management of the COVID risks, which has been noticed around the world, and of course it's because of the direct support provided under the Morrison government's $400 million Location Incentive Program.

As well as 13 Lives, we've got NBCUniversal filming Young Rock, featuring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson—and if, like me, you have a 12-year-old son, you are very familiar with his oeuvre. And Joe Exotic and Irreverent are also being filmed in Queensland. In Melbourne, there is Blacklight, with Liam Neeson—and Canberra got in on the act, too. Escape from Spiderhead is being filmed by Netflix on the Gold Coast. The Tourist is being filmed in South Australia. Thor: Love and Thunder is being filmed in Sydney. It's a cornucopia of global productions.

But it's more than glamour. It's jobs. We've attracted 19 productions so far, under our Location Incentive Program, with a total production budget of almost $1.5 billion. That's over 11,800 jobs for all those skilled Australian crew and cast that Ron Howard talked about, all of the downstream businesses that are providing catering, props and all kinds of services to these productions. It builds on our support for the Australian film sector—our $50 million Temporary Interruption Fund, with 37 productions approved for coverage under that. We allocated an extra $53 million in last year's budget for Screen Australia and the Australian Children's Television Foundation. Our Location Incentive Program is succeeding in bringing global productions to Australia. We're building scale. We're creating jobs for our Australian screen production sector.