Local arts and film jilted in favour of foreign streaming majors Foxtel, Netflix, and Nine’s Stan

Beyond its cultural benefits, the combined arts and screen industries provide a huge benefit to the economy. As noted in a recent briefing paper by The Australia Institute “Economic importance of the arts and entertainment sector”, the arts and screen sectors employ 193,600 Australians and create nine jobs for every $1 million in turnover, compared to just 0.25 jobs in the oil and gas extraction sector and a paltry one job in the construction industry.

And while the oil and gas industry, which employs just 28,200 people, was given $300 million in subsidies as part of the Coalition’s JobMaker plan, much of the lifeblood of the arts industry was excluded from JobKeeper support because they were employed largely in short-term casual…