Minister Fletcher’s Keynote Speech at Screen Forever

Minister Paul Fletcher visited the ACTF, and met producers of The Inbestigators Wayne Hope and Robyn Butler, before delivering his speech at the Screen Forever conference.

Paul Fletcher, Minister for Communications, Cyber-safety and the Arts, addressed the Screen Forever 2019 conference last week. In a speech which was very well received, the Minister began by acknowledging the special role of the screen sector in telling Australian stories, and offering information and insight about the lives we lead as Australians.

The Minister acknowledged that Government has a key role to play in supporting the industry, which has changed significantly with the growth of streaming services and content on demand: “Australia’s media regulatory framework is outdated and reflects industry structures as they stood in the early 1990s – and crucially before the advent and increasing dominance of online services.” He also acknowledged that the way we view content has changed dramatically over the past 25 years with the rise of streaming services, catch up and YouTube enabling viewers a vast array of choice and the capacity to view what they want, when they want. Change is happening fast – with the Minister noting that four years ago, only 2% of the population subscribed to an SVOD service, and now that figure is at 57% and rising.  Whilst these new services are bringing new opportunities to the industry – most notably the potential for new content to go global - the increased competition presents challenges for existing Free TV and Pay TV operators, who must meet minimum levels of Australian content, including new children’s content per year, while streaming services like Netflix, Amazon and Stan are not beholden to the same regulations.

The Minister emphasised that it’s important to keep creating Australian stories: “It is important for Australian adults – and equally important for Australian children. Sesame Street and Peppa Pig are great – but we also want Australian children to hear presenters and see stories which resonate with their own daily lives.” The Minister applauded the major local and international success this year of Bluey, adding, “Programs like Hardball and The Inbestigators enable kids to learn key skills and values from characters they can identify with.”

The Inbestigators

Referring to the ACCC’s Digital Platforms Inquiry Final Report, Minister Fletcher said “One of the ACCC's 23 recommendations was that the government should harmonise the regulation of Australian media – so that businesses which compete to serve the same audiences should as much as possible face similar regulatory requirements, regardless of which technology they use to serve their content to those audiences.”  A new framework would need to reconcile the different rules for broadcasters and streaming services.

The Minister indicated that the Government would be formally responding to the ACCC Report in December.

It seems likely that this response will lead to further discussion and consultation around a new regulatory framework, that is fit for purpose and works across all platforms. In the meantime the Minister has demonstrated that a key objective of any new system is the support for a buoyant screen sector, telling a diverse array of Australian stories for consumption across all platforms, and that stories for Australian children are especially important.

You can read the full speech here.