The recent push by the Game Developers Association of Australia's (GDAA) for the same rebates and incentives that the local film industry receives has hit a set back. The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts has given what can be described as a 'backhanded, empty response' to the GDAA. As reported from Gamespot AU...
(The Hon. Helen Coonan): "..the Screen Media Support Package announced in the Budget has the potential to benefit screen content producers of all kinds. While games will not be eligible for the tax offsets announced as part of the Package, the introduction of a Location Offset is expected to have positive indirect flow-on effects for screen businesses, as digital and visual companies develop larger and more skilled workforces."CEO of the Game Developers' Association of Australia (GDAA) Greg Bondar commented, "As we keep saying, the electronic games industry is already a significant contributor to the Australian economy. It's also part of a larger global entertainment industry, which is now bigger than the film industry and is a major area of export for the Australian economy."
Although the news is disheartening, it hasn't discouraged the GDAA who will now be calling for the support of everyone in the industry to get behind them. The GDAA are conducting an online petition on their website as well as encouraging everyone to contact their local federal member of parliament to voice their disappointment. You can find the petition here, the following link goes to the Gamespot AU report.
I know a lot of people may read this and just continue on to the next article, but please, take the time to actually send an email to Senator Coonan and your local representative. It will take less than 5 minutes and a flood of emails on this issue won't be able to be ignored. The GDAA is doing all it can to help the games industry enjoy the same benefits as the film industry but each of us that cares about this industry can also make a difference. With the amount of people lucky enough to be employed by our growing industry we should be able to make ourselves heard!
I agree. I've done it - you should do it too.
Interestingly enough, both Firemint and Torus picked up a Commendation at the Governor of Victoria Export Awards on Tuesday night, which is an official recognition that games companies contribute to the export economy. Didn't see any film makers get a mention.
Did anyone expect any different from Helen Coonan? This is the same Minister who told us that we should be <a href="http://www.cnet.com.au/broadband/0,239036008,240091686,00.htm">grateful for our broadband speed</a>. I'm not sure how happy you can be when you see a graph like this:
<img src="http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/Images/commentarynews/broadbandspeed…" border="0" />
The lack of foresight with some people in Government is truly astounding.
Who's up for a protest?
meh
this chick needs to get taken out of office and someone more useful put in.
The Government is too busy spending hundreds of millions of dollars filtering our internet "for the children" to be offering incentives that make economic and business sense.
Yeah, and did you hear on Triple J the interview with the 16yo who cracked it using Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature in about half an hour? Nice one guys, that's money well spent.
Yeah, and did you hear on Triple J the interview with the 16yo who cracked it using Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" feature in about half an hour? Nice one guys, that's money well spent.
Holy crap NZ's is faster than ours wtf. Umm are we even a 1'st world country?
Im moving to japan.
yeah i was surprised about that and i thought our broadband was bad in nz!
yeah i was surprised about that and i thought our broadband was bad in nz!
Korea would be sweet. I think we should send her there...bring her back schooled in the ways of 'being grateful'.