Is the so-called Americanisation of the Australian culture of concern to you?
I think we can’t resist the globalisation. I mean, kids with baseball caps back-to-front who think Michael Jordan is the greatest sportsman in the world, that is just part of the global communications world in which we live, and there is no point in pretending it doesn’t exist. But it does mean that you have to have specific interest in re-supporting and reinforcing the ability of Australians to tell our own stories. That is why the content rules on radio and television are important. That is why things like Arts funding are important. That way the stories can be told. Otherwise all we would see, particularly on television, would be other people’s stories and the circumstances in the world interpreted through other people’s eyes. That is a very unhealthy situation for a country to find itself in. In terms of the Australian film industry – it is true we are getting a lot of Hollywood productions re-locating to Australia. What benefit does that bring to the local film industry? Is that s
