CULTURE
By
Alan Griffiths
Like a majority of WTO members, Australia has so far refused
to fully deregulate its audiovisual and cultural sectors. The information below
explains why:
1.
Australia must
maintain this stance and;
2.
place an open ended exemption on
our audiovisual and culture services, in order to allow the continued operation
of our official international film, TV and arts co-production arrangements, and
also to guarantee the continued development and protection of our cultural
diversity.
The
WTO (World Trade Organisation) wishes to pursue the GATS (General Agreement
on Trade & Services) which could seriously hamper the development of Australian
audiovisual services. All categories of what defines
an audio or visual service are covered by the WTO. This includes all: motion
picture, video tape, radio, television, and multimedia production; combined
programme making, broadcasting, promotion and/or advertising service; duplication,
distribution, projection, transmission plus sound recording services and other
categories such as DVD.
·
Most Favoured Nation (MFN)
treats all trading partners as equals. Countries cannot discriminate between
their own and foreign products, services or persons. This forbids consumer
boycotts against companies or countries that abuse human &/or environment
rights, etc.
·
National Treatment ensures
that foreign products, services or persons are treated the same as domestic
ones. Countries can not, for example, place special restrictions on what
foreign corporations can own, produce or sell; maintain economic assistance
programs for the pure benefit of local audiences or require that a corporation
hire a certain percentage of local artists or sports personnel.
·
Market Access
denies countries the right to distinguish between national and foreign
products, services or persons, which could give foreign corporations more
leverage in gaining access to both our state and/or local markets.
Australia has so far refused to commit itself to ‘national
treatment’ or ‘market access’ of its audiovisual sectors, because it deems
these services to be of cultural significance. However, if Australia is coerced
into implementing GATS without an exemption to protect our audiovisual sector,
Australia will have to review its measures, or performance requirements, to
ensure they do not clash with foreign competition by favouring its local
cultural industries. Some of the requirements that are threatened are:
·
Direct Funding
Arrangements: eligibility for
federal and/or state funding for cultural programs usually requires
‘significant Australian content’ within an application.
·
Taxation Concessions:
the federal Government provides
indirect support through taxation concessions for investments in Australian
feature films, television drama, documentaries and other cultural events.
·
Temporary Employment
Visas: regulates the temporary entry of
people into Australia, such as performers or production crew who
comes here to work.
·
National Public Broadcasters:
ABC, SBS, and SBS Independent, provide important support for Australian
TV and radio production, which inturn supports local arts, music, theatre,
dance, hybrid arts, journalism, writers, actors, comedy, drama, religious
expression, training, support for young artists, sport, rural and lifestyle
etc.
·
Local Content Quotas: enhances indigenous, ethnic, political, minority expression
and/or cultural diversity, etc.
·
Local Access TV &
Community Radio: allows access for
community groups who would otherwise be economically disadvantaged if competing
for airtime in an open market economy.
·
Foreign Ownership Restrictions:
no individual foreign investor can have more than a 15% interest in a
broadcaster, and the total foreign investment in a broadcaster must not exceed
20%. Plus no individual foreign investor can have more than a 20% interest in a
subscription television (pay TV) broadcaster, and the total foreign investment
in these broadcasters can not exceed 35%.
Other
measures that could infringe MFN, national treatment and/or market access are:
·
International
co-production arrangements: with France,
the UK, Northern Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Israel, Vietnam and
Ireland. Arrangements with Germany,
Russia and Greece are currently under negotiation.
·
International
promotion of Australian
artists for this favours domestic artists ahead of international competition,
ie. Promoting Australia’s indigenous culture.
The
Australian Government should preserve its capacity to maintain, adapt and
introduce measures to sustain and develop its audiovisual industries and
culture. In order to do this Australia must:
1.
withdraw from the
GATS negotiations until its processes are made transparent and democratically
accountable to Australians; or
2.
articulate its
special requirements & rules by placing an open ended exemption on its
cultural activity;
3.
exclude MFN to protect its
co-production arrangements;
4.
include an “opt-in” procedure
when committing to ‘national treatment’ and ‘market access’. If anything wrong
should happen, an “opt-out” approach would prevent any new measures from being
introduced to protect our culture;
5.
strengthen the GATS weak
obligation to subsidies which are a vital form of support for the audiovisual
and cultural sectors.