MICHELLE ROWLAND MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
MEMBER FOR GREENWAY

TONY BURKE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MANAGER OF OPPOSITION BUSINESS
MEMBER FOR WATSON

TIM WATTS MP
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR CYBER SECURITY
MEMBER FOR GELLIBRAND


LOOSE CHANGE FOR VIDEO GAMES TOO LITTLE, TOO LATE
 
10 MARCH, 2022

Today’s announcement of funding for the interactive games sector is welcome, but is an admission that the Government’s decision to cut the Interactive Games Fund was a mistake. 

The Games: Expansion Pack’s $6 million over two years to support small to medium independent game studios is less than what Labor’s Australian Interactive Games Fund offered the industry a decade ago.

As with everything, this additional support from the Morrison-Joyce Government is too little, too late.

Finding loose change down the back of the Screen Australia couch is no way to run a digital economy in which the creative economy should be a powerhouse for economic growth, jobs and culture. 

After years of cuts and uncertainty under the Liberal-National Government, the interactive games industry deserves better.  

Minister Fletcher should release the Exposure Draft of the digital tax offset, given it is set to commence on 1 July 2022. 

The Australian video games industry punches above its weight globally, recording more than $226 million in revenue last financial year.  

But the industry and our economy has lost eight years of jobs and productivity under the Liberals and Nationals as a result of this government’s failure to ensure Australia’s policy settings are globally competitive. 

We can’t afford another four years. The interactive games industry deserves a government that backs it from the get-go, not as an afterthought.