Judy Davis and Richard Roxburgh are among the many stars of Australian film and television who will mingle with politicians as they call for industry support.

June 26, 2018

Australian star power will be shining brightly in Canberra as some of the big screen’s leading lights meet with politicians to discuss the future of the film and television industry.

Golden Globe and Emmy winner Judy Davis, and acclaimed actor Richard Roxburgh are among actors, directors, producers, writers and crew calling on politicians to back the Make It Australian campaign.

Also walking the red carpet on Tuesday night at federal parliament are AACTA winner Deborah Mailman, directors Gillian Armstrong and Philip Noyce, along with Oscar-winning cinematographer John Seale.

They’re calling on politicians to extend local content rules to cover new players in the game, such as Netflix and Amazon, while maintaining existing quotas on the production of locally produced drama and children’s content.

Funding for public broadcasters and screen agencies, along with tax incentives for local productions, will also be discussed.

Minister for Communications Mitch Fifield and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten are understood to be among more than 50 parliamentary members who have RSVP’d to attend the gathering.

It follows an open letter published in March calling for urgent action by many big names including Cate Blanchett and Chris Hemsworth.

Australian Writers’ Guild president Jan Sardi says politicians are the custodians of Australian screen stories and they need to protect the local industry as new media enter the market.

“They must act now to ensure existing Aussie content rules are first preserved, and then extended to cover streaming video on demand services, which are making millions of dollars from the Australian viewing public, without any obligation to invest back into the market they profit from,” he said in a statement.

The bid to both dazzle and urge politicians to fund the production of local content is spearheaded by the Australian Directors’ Guild, the Australian Writers’ Guild, the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance and Screen Producers Australia.