Draft legislation for PDV/Location offset changes
Assistant Treasurer Nick Sherry and Minister for Environment Protection, Heritage and the Arts Peter Garrett have released draft legislation for the PDV/Location offset changes announced in the 2010/11 budget.
The changes – PDV expenditure reduction from $5m to $500,000, and elimination of the Location Offset’s requirement of 70 percent Australian spend of total production budget for $15-50m projects – apply to productions as of July 1.
Garrett said that the changes “remove barriers to offshore productions considering Australia as a production destination and provide opportunities for our world-class PDV providers to bid for additional work”.
The changes were welcomed by several industry players, but it has also been pointed out that further modifications – such as an increase of the 15 percent Location Offset – are still necessary.
Other issues will be part of the 2010 Review of the Australian Independent Screen Production Sector, which the Department is expected to present in late 2010.
The consultation materials are available at www.treasury.gov.au. Consultation closes on July 30.
