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Free trade and TV Quotas - It's a worry

The Canberra Times (Box Office), 1 November 2003

Negotiations are still under way for the Australia–US Free Trade Agreement -- and nobody is more concerned than the arts industries, trying desperately to retain a healthy quota of Australian culture on the airwaves and in the cinemas.

            An important issue? Of course, but it's not so simple. The Government has already said that it WILL retain the quota, no argument. "We believe that the local content rules that apply today are very important in terms of our domestic industry," trade minister Mark Vaille recently told ABC Radio, citing "McLeod's Daughters" and "Blue Heelers" as among the TV shows NOT to worry about. "Those shows," he reassured ABC listeners, "will always be there in the future."

            Wonderful. So why is everyone so worried? Well, for starters, this would be a non-core promise. (Vaille can't suggest that two shows on commercial television will last forever. NOTHING lasts forever... except maybe "Neighbours".)

            But more importantly, the current quota excludes the technologies of the future. If someone had done this back in 1930, we could never have established a quota on television shows, videos and CDs. Don't worry about "Blue Heelers"; the show would never have existed!

            Another concern: quotas could change. But surely not! These quotas will stay for good. Some politicians have made a promise!

            Oh, that's a relief. But if our great and powerful friends in the US protest enough, the pollies might just cave in. The Howard Government has already relaxed the laws a little. Not much, but enough so that we now get Subway advertisements in which buses pull up on the right side of the road and a bunch of Americans argue about which of them enjoys chicken the most. (Remember those days when, instead of watching dumb, irritating US ads, we'd only be watching our OWN dumb, irritating ads?)

            The US film and television industry, with its powerful lobby groups, has already protested (as usual) that they will suffer if we don't relax, or lose, the quotas. According to Jack Valenti, of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the US industry is united in the call for the complete "liberalisation" of audiovisual services in the agreement.

            Exactly how they will "suffer" is hard to work out. Two-thirds of the films shown in Australian theatres, and 69% of our imported TV, are from America. As in much of the world, Hollywood floods the Australian market with a mix of shrewd marketing and (less overtly) control of most of our distribution companies.

            Then again, Valenti is always good for a laugh. A few months ago, his heart went out to "the working stiffs" in the US industry. "They make $US75,000 to $US100,000 a year," he told one magazine. "That's not much to live on. I don't have to tell you that." (Valenti himself has a seven-figure salary.)

            This time, he claims that the industry is "united"... but it isn't. At least, not all of it. Last month, for example, the International Affiliation of Writers’ Guilds (script-writers' organisations) passed a resolution in support of Australia. The resolution was put forward by the Writers Guild of America West, and seconded by their east coast colleagues.

            Perhaps Americans aren't the problem. Some of the strongest anti-quota voices are from Australia. A few Channel Nine executives, for example, would much rather fill the airwaves with high-rating American sitcoms than spend considerably more money on Aussie drama series that nobody watches. "People see the word 'quota' and before you know it, we’re all labelled as a bunch of celluloid socialists," wrote Megan Elliott, executive director of the Australian Writers' Guild, in a recent newsletter.

            The Guild and the other lobbyists should retain vigilance, even if they win on the Free Trade Agreement. The biggest threat to Australian-made film and television quotas might actually come from within.