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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2019-05-15 Daily Xml
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Video Game Industry

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS (15:01): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Treasurer on the topic of tax breaks for industry funding.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.A. FRANKS: The council no doubt has welcomed, as we all do, the announcement that the action film Mortal Kombat, based on the famous video game, will be the largest movie ever filmed and produced in South Australia. The Premier has in fact stated that the state government's investment in Mortal Kombat will enhance the scope and reach of our production and post-production capabilities, bringing the promise of fantastic new jobs for the local film industry.

Yet, the games industry, on which the movie is based, continues to struggle. My question to the Treasurer is: why is the Marshall government happy to give tax breaks and invest in films about video games, but specifically excludes video games from screen funding?

The Hon. R.I. LUCAS (Treasurer) (15:02): I am happy to take the honourable member's question on notice and bring back a reply. I do know in relation to film that there are existing provisions within the payroll tax legislation that have existed for many years, and as Treasurer I get to see those aspects of industry assistance that relate to film. I think those provisions have existed possibly for decades, and probably predated games of the nature that the honourable member is talking about, and they have just continued within the legislation for a very long time.

In more recent times, further payroll tax concessions in relation to post-production work have, I think, again been longstanding, but whether they predated the advent of video games and the sorts of projects to which the honourable member refers I would have to check. This was previously the responsibility of the minister with responsibility for the arts, but most of those areas have been, with machinery of government changes, transferred across to minister Pisoni, who is now the Minister for Innovation and Skills.

I will consult with minister Pisoni and his department in relation to whether there are supports or initiatives that support that particular industry and, if there are not, what is the thinking of the current government and—I am assuming that it is a position inherited from the former government—what the thinking of the former government administrations were in relation to assistance or not for this particular part of the industry.

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