Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne, at Tantalus Studios in Melbourne, today announced that the Greens would work to ensure that Australian interactive games developers received the same support that our film industry receives via a production tax offset.

Senator Milne said "Australians are rightly proud of our film industry and are happy to see governments supporting the industry, helping it grow and compete in the world market.

"Given the tremendous popularity of interactive computer games, Australia's games developers would doubtless receive the same community support if only Australians knew how successful they are becoming on the world stage."

In an extremely competitive international market, Australian games developers are pitted against developers in America, Asia and Europe who receive significant government support through tax credits or similar benefits. Without being able to offer the same benefits to investors, Australian games developers are missing opportunities such as developing games for Australian made movies including The Matrix and Happy Feet.

This policy would simply apply to games developers a 40% production tax offset for expenditure in Australia, such as is offered to the film industry. It is estimated to cost in the order or $5 million a year initially, which, it is hoped, would stimulate some $20 million of investment and much more in export earnings. The funding would be additional to the offset for the film industry, and would not reduce their level of support.

Supporting games developers with this tax offset would allow the industry to employ more people and grow to the point where it can begin owning its own intellectual property, rather than being a service provider for global entertainment giants.

"The interactive games development industry is an excellent example of an innovative, smart industry that Australia should be encouraging, while moving away from the old economic paradigm of 'dig it up, cut it down and ship it overseas'."

The policy can be downloaded from here:
http://greensblog.org/2007/11/14/greens-meet-geeks-supporting-computer-g...

Contact: Tim Hollo on 0437 587 562