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The Australian government will implement legislation mandating digital services to invest a minimum amount of funds in local programming, as announced by official sources this week.

Services including Netflix along with additional streamers with over 1M subscribers must contribute a minimum of ten percent of their local spending or 7.5% of revenue toward Australian content.

Legislation is being presented to lawmakers this week and will apply to arts and educational content.

Government ministers announced the move would help to safeguard production employment in the sector. The platforms have not yet responded on the matter.

'Remarkable productions'

"There are local production obligations on free-to-air television and subscription services, however previously, we lacked no guarantee that we could see our own stories on streaming services," an official spokesperson commented.

"Since their introduction in Australia, streaming services have created some extraordinary series. These requirements guarantee such productions – Australian content – will keep being produced."

According to reports, legislation will be introduced to Parliament this week.

The new production obligations were meant to be in place in mid-2024 however worries regarding potential conflicts with a free trade agreement with the US led to the initiative being put on hold.

The government cited challenges conducting negotiations with the US during their an election.

After President Trump was elected, there was then concern regarding if the regulations might prompt American officials to implement trade measures against Australia.

Currently, with the dust settled, and with strengthened ties internationally, those rules are now back for consideration.

While industry groups welcomed the announcement, platforms have yet to comment on the matter.

Back in 2022, streaming platforms published a report emphasizing their artistic and financial impact to the country's creative economy.

Nonetheless, it was seen by some as a pre-emptive strike in anticipation at future regulation.

Production slump

Current Australian shows on streaming platforms feature various series spanning various categories.

Similar to other nations, Australia's creative industries have suffered recently, partly because of reduced activity during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the financial year recently concluded, investment in feature films and TV series made in Australia fell by almost one-third, according to sector statistics.