Trump tariff threat to Australia’s screen industry

In the new world order, as the American empire seems to be starting to unravel, there are likely to be severe repercussions for other countries and their international cultural presence. One of the unnoticed casualties of the tariff wars may be Australian content and our local screen industry. The Albanese Government has been promising a new model to ensure that streaming services commit funds to Australian content. The Americans, especially the new regime, are very hostile to any form of regulation or quotas and may apply pressure to stymie the Australian plan.

We live in dangerous times. People are likely to die from it, industries and livelihoods will be destroyed and power and wealth will become even more concentrated. Ultimately I don’t much care if America chooses to unravel its empire, that has dominated the world since the end of World War 2. Some wit described the times as ‘like watching the fall of the Roman Empire, but with wi-fi’.

The National Film and Sound Archive, custodian of Australia’s long and proud history of screen culture.

Like most ordinary people, I can do little to influence it and am content to sit and watch in horror as the leadership of a country proceeds to junk many of the things that made it ‘great’ - whatever that means. Maybe a world with one less dominant superpower will prove to be an improvement for the rest of us. I’m suspending my judgement. The Chinese leadership must be rubbing their hands together in glee.

What counts is how Australia is affected