Response to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts’ Issues Paper, Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Sector Review

Tuesday, 7 September 2010

INTRODUCTION

This paper is written in response to the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts’ (DEWHA) Issues Paper, Indigenous Broadcasting and Media Sector Review (the Review).

The structure of ’s response is as follows:

1. Overview of FOXTEL’s business and reconciliation activity

2. Relevant background including:

- The rise of the digital economy - Indigenous broadcasting and the digital economy

3. Policy recommendations re NITV including covering:

- Importance of independence, certainty and adequate funding for NITV - Free to air broadcast of NITV and the Digital Dividend - Training and skills development

For further information on this submission, please contact:

Mr Adam Suckling Director, Policy & Corporate Affairs FOXTEL E: [email protected] P: 02 9813 6140

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The rise of the digital economy – including lower production and distribution costs, increased consumer empowerment and the demand for greater channel choice – mean that it is more economically feasible to produce and distribute channels such as NITV, and also to find audiences who are interested in programming such as NITV’s, than it ever has been.

While such developments in the digital economy make it possible to provide, and find audiences for a channel such as NITV, there are also political, cultural and social reasons why NITV should continue to be funded on a sustainable basis and maintain an independent editorial voice and governance:

Cultural – Indigenous Australians have over 40,000 years of cultural development as well as distinct and multiple perspectives on contemporary . This history and contemporary perspective provides a rich source of stories from which Indigenous Australians can draw on, which are not only important for the first Australians, but can also illuminate and add to Australia’s understanding of itself and broader cultural identity. Having a sustainably funded NITV provides an important vehicle for telling and broadcasting such Aboriginal stories.

Political – There is some support across the political spectrum for NITV. The channels was set up and funded by the previous coalition Government. Its continuation and expansion was also supported by the subsequent Labor Government’s creative panel at the ‘20:20 Summit’. The Government said in its response it is considering a range of options in relation to NITV.

Social – NITV has provided an important vehicle for broader reconciliation, training Indigenous Australians in the digital industries of the 21st Century (for instance NITV directly employs 35 Indigenous Australians and over the past four years has worked with 40 production entities that are Indigenous controlled or have significant Indigenous input), and broadcasting programs – such as health and education programs aimed specifically at Indigenous Australians – that can play a part in educating and informing, and ‘Closing the Gap’.

The outlays from the Federal budgets to support NITV have been comparatively modest – compared with the funding that the ABC and SBS receive. For instance, in 2009/10 NITV received just over $15m in funding from the Government compared with $858m for the ABC. In other words, NITV received or 1.7% compared with ABC’s $858m budget.

Recommendations Against this backdrop, FOXTEL recommends the following in response to the DEWHA’s Issues Paper:

1. Funding for Indigenous Broadcasting to be distributed under the Department of Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, consistent with funding for the ABC and SBS, rather than DEWHA were it currently sits.

2. NITV continues to be funded on a basis that it can maintain an independent editorial voice and governance.

3. A minimum of five years funding to be allocated to NITV to provide certainty and to assist with planning.

4. An increase in NITV’s modest funding in comparison to the ABC and SBS, to support new productions, delivery over new digital and terrestrial platforms, such as mobile and internet, and to provide opportunities for the Independent Indigenous production sector.

5. Make NITV available free to air to provide maximum access for Indigenous and non-Indigenous audiences through allocation of one block of Digital Dividend spectrum to community broadcast (as well as providing funding for such transmission).

6. Funding for scholarships, sponsorship and dedicated placements in schools and tertiary institutions to fill a shortage of skilled Indigenous candidates in production, post production and technical operations.

1. ABOUT FOXTEL FOXTEL is Australia's leading subscription television provider and is connected to over 1.63 million subscribing households on cable and satellite through retail and wholesale distribution. FOXTEL strives to ensure our six million viewers find TV they want to watch every time they switch on their television through delivery of more than 200 channels covering news, sport, general entertainment, movies, documentaries, music and children’s programming.

FOXTEL commenced distributing its services on cable with 20 channels in 1995, expanding to 31 channels and satellite distribution in 1999 and increased its offering to 45 channels in 2002 following the completion of the FOXTEL-Optus Content Supply Agreement.

The FOXTEL Digital service was launched in 2004, and FOXTEL is now giving Australian viewers the choice of more than 200 Digital channels. Since its launch, FOXTEL has extended its Digital innovations by adding a raft of new channels and interactive features including additional news, sports and weather applications, as well as FOXTEL iQ, a fully integrated Personal Digital Recorder, launched in 2005.

FOXTEL launched its mobile service – Telstra Mobile FOXTEL in 2006 which now carries 33 channels and is one of the world’s most substantial mobile offerings. The live broadcast service FOXTEL Live2Air on Virgin Blue was launched in August 2006 and is now available across Australia on the Virgin Blue jet fleet providing 24 channels of live FOXTEL.

FOXTEL launched its High Definition service in June 2008 with five dedicated 24- hour HD channels- BBC HD, Discovery HD, National Geographic Channel HD, HD and ESPN HD plus Australian television premiere blockbuster movies available immediately when you want them through the FOXTEL Box Office HD On Demand service.

The new generation FOXTEL iQ2 combines HD programming with a huge disk drive and intuitive and easy to use electronic programming guide making it even easier for subscribers to watch what they want and when they want.

FOXTEL launched FOXTEL Next Generation in November 2009 which provides customers with: the increased choice of 30 new channels; new navigation features such as iSuggest – which enhances navigation with 200 fresh movie and program suggestions for iQ recording every week - and Record Me – which allows you to record shows directly from an on-air program promotion; the most comprehensive HD offering in Australia of 15 HD channels; and Sky News Local which provides a dedicated local news service for each major Australian capital city.

In 2010 FOXTEL announced a ground breaking partnership with Microsoft to offer around 30 FOXTEL channels over the internet direct to our customers’ television sets via Microsoft’s Xbox Live product. FOXTEL and Microsoft aim to launch the new service towards the end of the calendar year. FOXTEL will offer FOXTEL on Xbox Live with various packaging and prices and under flexible agreements.

FOXTEL will also launch in late 2010 FOXTEL services over the internet direct to FOXTEL customers’ television sets via around 780,000 deployed internet enabled iQ boxes. This new service will be launched towards the end of this calendar year. The service will offer customers even more choice and control over their television viewing, liberating a video store of choice with hundreds of On Demand movies and television programs.

FOXTEL directly employs more than 1900 people and a further 1400 workers are indirectly engaged by FOXTEL in sales and installation services nationally.

The FOXTEL Television Centre at North Ryde in is the headquarters of FOXTEL's national subscription television operations and houses FOXTEL’s television studios, broadcast operations and cable and satellite transmission facilities. FOXTEL also operates a national Customer Solutions Centre based at Moonee Ponds in Melbourne, a purpose built state of the art call centre.

FOXTEL is owned by Telstra Corporation Ltd (50%), The Ltd (25%), and Consolidated Media Holdings Limited (25%).

A full overview of FOXTEL’s products and business can be found at www.foxtel.com.au.

FOXTEL & Reconciliation As a digital subscription broadcaster reaching six million viewers each week (7.5 million with subscribers), FOXTEL has a powerful and unique opportunity to contribute to reconciliation through reaching audiences and providing economic opportunities in one the industries of the future.

FOXTEL recently published its second Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in conjunction with Reconciliation Australia. FOXTEL’s RAP promotes cultural respect, builds core relationships with Indigenous suppliers, and provides Indigenous employment opportunities and skills development in-house. FOXTEL’s RAP can be found at www.reconciliation.org.au.

FOXTEL welcomed NITV to the platform in 2007, providing access to every subscribing household. FOXTEL continues to provide NITV with broadcasting services, training and access to 21st century digital facilities, freeing up money for programming.

Along with broadcasting NITV, FOXTEL has embarked on its own three year Indigenous creative strategy, starting with the launch of Who We Are in celebration of NAIDOC Week 2010. The heart of FOXTEL’s creative strategy is bringing Indigenous culture to mainstream audiences.

Who We Are brought stories of seven extraordinary Indigenous Australians to mainstream FOXTEL audiences through broadcast across over 20 of FOXTEL’s most popular channels. The series can be viewed at www.whoweare.com.au.

Other FOXTEL channel partners, such as community channel Aurora, have developed their own programming priorities around Indigenous events, culture and reconciliation.

Aurora is Australia’s first and only national community channel, screening 100% Australian made content, with more than four hours of first-run exclusive programming each week. Aurora seeks to raise the profile and amount of content produced by and about Indigenous Australians with particular emphasis in the areas of education, health, community and the arts. Events such as the Island of Origin and the annual Koori Knockout Cup.

More details of FOXTEL’s reconciliation and community activities can be found at www.foxtel.com.au/community.

2. THE RISE OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY

Over the last 15 years or so the continued rise of the ‘digital economy’ has significantly changed the media landscape, the behaviour of consumers and the revenue streams attributable to different media companies.

Phillip Evans and Thomas Wurster put it this way:

(In the old economy) information is the glue that holds value chains and supply chains together. But this glue is now melting. The fundamental cause is the explosion of connectivity and in the information standards that are enabling the open and almost cost-free exchange of a widening universe of rich information. When everyone can communicate richly with everyone else, the narrow, hardwired communications channels that used to tie people together simply become obsolete.1

Similarly the Productivity Commission has noted:

In the 1990s, there were essentially two types of communications services – one was the plain old telephone service based on a copper wire network carrying voice communications and the other was broadcasting of free to air television and radio. Today the communications environment is made-up of a growing number of technologies (including copper, mobile telephony, optical fibre satellite, television and radio broadcasting and wireless technologies) each capable of delivering a growing 2 range of competing services.

1 Evans, P and Wurster, T, Blown to Bits,: How the New Economics of Information Transforms Strategy, Harvard Business School Press, © 2000 The Boston Consulting Group Inc, pg 13 2 Productivity Commission, Annual Review of Regulatory Burdens on Business: Social and Economic Infrastructure Services, 2009, pg 138 Key changes in the television landscape can be illustrated as follows.

Key indicator 1994 2010

Broadband subscriptions 0 8.19 million Wireless broadband subscribers 0 2.9 million Number of subscription TV channels 0 200 + Number of subscription HD channels 0 15 Subscription television viewers 0 7.5 million Number of old TV channels 5 16 Mobile television services 0 3 Mobile networks with video 0 4

Source: ABS 8153.0

INDIGENOUS BROADCASTING IN A DIGITAL ECONOMY

The relevance of the digital economy for NITV is that:

- Lower distribution costs, partly driven by advances on digital compression, mean it is economically and technically feasible to distribute stand-alone, specialist channels which could not have been provided in the analogue era.

- Lower production costs driven by advances in digital technology mean that it is possible to provide a wide range of programming at lower costs than in the analogue area (although production costs are still significant).

- Consumer empowerment means that audiences are increasingly fragmenting and that there are dedicated audiences for a range of channels including NITV’s.

FOXTEL submits funding NITV on a sustainable basis with an independent governance structure and editorial voice, is consistent with broader developments in the digital economy. FOXTEL believes that, for instance, ‘rolling’ NITV into the ABC would represent a significant step backwards given digital developments.

3. POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS RE NITV

In light of the background provided above FOXTEL’s policy recommendations regarding NITV are outlined below.

THE IMPORTANCE OF INDEPENDENCE FUNDED NITV

As outlined above, properly funding NITV as an indepedendent channel is consistent with the general developments in the digital economy. There are however other significant reasons why funding NITV on a sustainable and independent basis is important. These are as follows:

Cultural – Indigenous Australians have over 40,000 years of cultural development as well as distinct and multiple perspectives on contemporary Australia. This history and contemporary perspective provides a rich source of stories from which Indigenous Australians can drawn on, which are not only important for the first Australians, but can also illuminate and add to Australia’s understanding of itself and broader cultural identity. Having a sustainably funded NITV provides an important vehicle for telling and broadcasting such Aboriginal stories.

Political – There is some support across the political spectrum for NITV. The channels was set up and funded by the previous coalition Government. Its continuation and expansion was also supported by the subsequent Labor Government’s creative stream at the ‘20:20 Summit’. The Government said in its response to the 20:20 Summit recommendations it is considering a range of options in relation to NITV.

Social – NITV has provided an important vehicle for broader reconciliation, training Indigenous Australians in the digital industries of the 21 Century (for instance NITV has employed 35 Indigenous Australians over the last four years), and broadcasting programs – such as health and education programs aimed specifically at Indigenous Australians – that can play a part in educating and informing, and ‘Closing the Gap’.

NITV continues to fill an important role in Closing the Gap through broadcast of health, education and sports programs that positively influence community behaviour, increase awareness of Indigenous people and contribute to Australia’s national identity. Examples of programs include ‘Living Strong’ health series, ‘Letterbox’ children’s educational literacy and language quiz series, ‘Grounded’ the youth- orientated magazine life-skills series, ‘The Chocolate Martini’ showcasing highly talented Indigenous musicians and performers and ‘The Djarns Djarns’, which celebrates youth and coming of age with Indigenous dance.

FOXTEL attaches at Appendix A a speech that FOXTEL’s Chief Executive and Managing Director Kim Williams gave earlier this year on reconciliation to a Microsoft Conference in Uluru that provides more details on some of the themes outlined above.

ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS

Department of Broadband, Communication & the Digital Economy Indigenous and radio services are funded through the Department for Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts portfolio (DEWHA) while the ABC and SBS are funded through the Department for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (DBCDE).

FOXTEL submits that is does not make administrative or policy sense to keep NITV administratively separate from the Department that overseas broadcasting. Many of the issues fundamental to running a broadcasting operation are issues that DBCDE has a deep policy interest in such as spectrum availability, funding for public broadcasting and Australian content standards.

In the Government’s 2006 review, Rethinking Regulation, it made a number of recommendations to reduce regulatory burden and unnecessary administrative complexity in Australia. Pertinent to this review is ‘ensuring good performance by regulators’ by ‘ensuring an appropriate mix of skills and experience’.3 The review also identifies the need to ‘avoid overlap, duplication and inconsistency’ in regulation between and within jurisdictions.4

In light of this framework for best practise regulation, it makes policy and administrative sense that Indigenous broadcast funding be transferred and administered through DBCDE. DBCDE has the requisite expertise to navigate a complex and dynamic modern media environment.

NITV FUNDING

Five Year ‘Certainty’ in NITV Funding & Production Allocation Since NITV switched on in July 2007 with a modest $48.5m funding for four years, it has commissioned over $21m and produced over $18m of content, broadcast 700 hours of first run content in 2008-2009 and developed Australia’s first Indigenous News and Current Affairs service.

More than 1400 hours of new Indigenous produced content has been commissioned by NITV, including news, documentaries, current affairs, sport, children’s programs, music and art. Not only does this fulfill the cultural and social charter of NITV, it provides economic opportunities through employment and skills development, and underpins an emerging Indigenous production sector.

NITV recently secured $15.2m to continue operating until June 2011. This is modest in comparison to Australia’s national broadcasters, the ABC and SBS (Figure 1), who received $858m and $208m for 2008/2009 respectively.

Figure 1: NITV funding vis-à-vis National Broadcasters ABC & SBS

858

208

15.2

ABC (08/09) SBS (08/090 NITV (10/11) $ Millions

NITV was initially funded by the Government on the assumption the majority of its content would be purchased. However, for NITV to remain relevant and build trust

3 Productivity Commission, Rethinking Regulation - Report of the taskforce on reducing regulatory burdens on business, 2006, pg 158-165 4 IBID, pg 166-171 with its audience, the majority of its content must be produced, such as news and sports broadcast, and it generally costs more to produce a program, than buy one.

In addition, short term funding cycles are difficult for a fledgling broadcaster to sustain as they prevent proper workforce planning, commissioning quality productions (which typically takes two years) and entering into sustainable operating agreements, such as leases and transmission agreements. The case of NITV is further challenged by short term funding cycles because it does not have an established brand nor the longer term funding assurance that comes with having an established brand, in the way the national broadcasters do.

Therefore, for NITV to operate effectively, it needs a minimum five years certainty in its next funding round, including an additional allocation for production.

FREE TO AIR BROADCAST OF NITV At present only 15% of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, and less than 2% of the overall Australian population, can receive NITV on a free to air basis through the IMPARJA retransmission. FOXTEL and AUSTAR also include NITV as a part of each base subscription package, providing access to approximately [X] million viewers each week.

However, while FOXTEL proudly carries NITV on its platform and provides access to 21st century broadcast technology and mentoring, it is a matter of national importance that it be made available to the whole of Australia free to air. This was supported by the Creative Stream of the 20:20 Summit:

‘To further expand the audience, it was suggested that National Indigenous Television (NITV) be provided with digital spectrum and resourcing to increase delivery. NITV needs to secure digital spectrum by the time analogue is switched off in 2013.’5

With expanded technical capacity, the emergence of dynamic new media platforms and consumer demand, there has never been a better time for us to realise our national vision of establishing a freely available national Indigenous broadcast service.

Digital Dividend Spectrum Allocation to Community Broadcasting The Government had indicated one block of broadcast spectrum from the digital dividend may be reserved for terrestrial broadcast services on analogue switch-off in 2013.

It is FOXTEL’s view this block should be used for ‘community’ purposes. If managed properly as a multiplex, five channels could be supported through this block (and more channels as digital compression technology improves). FOXTEL submits that this spectrum should be used for: 1. Community Television, which is currently broadcast on Channel A

5 2020 summit, accessed August 18 2010 < http://www.australia2020.gov.au/docs/final_report/2020_summit_report_8_creative.doc#_Toc199830067> 2. A-PAC, which is Sky News’ public affairs channel devoted to covering Australian and international parliamentary debates (See attached press release on Sky News extensive election coverage at Appendix B) 3. NITV.

TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT Employment is a central focus of FOXTEL’s RAP, and a key reason for FOXTEL founding the Media Reconciliation Industry Network Group (RING) for broadcasters, screen agencies and other media institutions.

As a part of FOXTEL’s RAP it undertook to establish four 12 month work programs. Finding and retaining staff has not been without challenges. Just two of these positions have been filled in the last two years following a significant time investment from FOXTEL executives.

The difficulty in filling these placements is not due to funding support, but due to the availability of skilled candidates. This suggests more can be done in our schools and tertiary institutions to attract and retain Indigenous students through scholarships, sponsorships and dedicated placements for Indigenous students.

CONCLUSION The rise of the digital economy creates new opportunities to deliver more choice and diversity in entertainment to Australian viewers, including broader access to Indigenous entertainment services.

With technical capacity and a thirst for Australians to better understand our Indigenous culture, there has never been a better time to support Australia’s vision of having an independent National Indigenous Television service.

Not only will this provide cultural and social benefits to Indigenous communities and advance Australia’s national identity, it will create economic opportunities through providing employment and underpinning an Indigenous independent production sector.

APPENDIX A

MICROSFOT ‘OFFSITE’ SPEECH ULURU JULY 29 2010

Introduction Thank you David for that introduction …..

In such a sacred place as Uluru it’s fitting that we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Anangu people, and pay our respects to their elders past and present.

As an Australian I always value the opportunity to acknowledge country as a simple act of reconciliation and trust that the acknowledgement and respect it invokes, resonates with many here today. Symbols matter. History matters.

The theme of your conference is transformation. It’s something that we at FOXTEL are very familiar with. As it is for all of you, the rise of the digital economy has transformed the operating environment in which we work.

At FOXTEL we have had to transform our company over the last decade. We have changed from a company offering 19 linear, analogue channels at launch in 1995 to a company that offers the choice of over 200 digital channels, a large suite of interactive services, the most comprehensive HD offer in Australia, as well as FOXTEL iQ - our personal digital recorder. The FOXTEL iQ has been profoundly transformative for the experience of television– allowing our customers to watch what they want when they want.

The iQ has also been responsible for a huge power transformation -seeing a movement from the central programmer to the individual customer selecting and managing their own preferred content. It has been in modern parlance a paradigm shift.

In the digital economy Australian consumers want to watch what they want, when they want to and increasingly over a relevant device of their own choice. All of our product development has been aimed firmly at catering for this need. We offer FOXTEL over cable, over satellite, over mobile phones, over PCs, over aeroplanes and of course direct to your television set.

Our agreement with Microsoft to provide FOXTEL over the internet direct to your television set via Xbox Live is part of this philosophy. We go where the consumer goes. Australians love and use their XBoxes – so together we are going there too.

This theme of the transformational effects of the rise of the digital economy for businesses and consumers - is something with which I have to be familiar with and I genuinely relish talking about it. But that is not what I am here to deliver today.

In discussing what I might say with David, he suggested that I take a different and broader approach to the topic of transformation. He suggested that I look at reconciliation as something that is transformative for our country and over time for Australian citizens and their world outlook. I am of course happy to oblige and give you my perspective on reconciliation as it is something I care very much about and in our own modest way at FOXTEL we have endeavoured to make some durable contributions which contribute to change.

Coming to a place like this you really do begin to understand the true import of reconciliation to every Australian. As someone who works in the field of culture generally, it reminds me that whether we are Indigenous, European, Asian or African in descent (and of course we are all ultimately of African descent), our country is a source of stories and meaning that can enrich us all if we know where and how to search for it.

I hope that coming here and experiencing the magical feel of this place, you have not only a rewarding and enjoyable few days, but will be spurred to consider the culture you have entered, and leave perhaps more determined to understand it and respect it.

I come here today, though, not as an expert on the subject of Indigenous society, but as a strong and lifelong supporter of reconciliation. I come here also as a friend of some fine Indigenous Australian artists.

That’s the great thing about the reconciliation movement – you don’t need a PhD to know why it’s needed and why it’s right.

All it takes is something we can all experience: friendship. And something we can all grasp – whether we use our head, or heart or even our spiritual impulses – the idea of justice.

Having recently turned fifty eight I’m not old enough to have been a freedom rider – as great Australians like Charlie Perkins and Jim Spigelman were. Back then in 1967, whilst travelling around those brave souls found an effective colour bar in our country, where Indigenous Australians were separated in shops, swimming pools, bars and movie houses. That seems a world away now – although other very real barriers still stand.

I do, remember the Referendum of that year – when almost 91 percent of Australians voted ‘yes’ to recognise and give the Commonwealth Government power to make laws for the welfare of Indigenous Australians. Think of that – 91 percent in favour of a difficult and challenging change involving issues like race and welfare. We could use a little more of that progressive attitude and bipartisanship in Australia today.

It’s only in the 1970s that I, like many other Australians, began to be truly conscious of the issue few until then dared speak about. That’s when the progress promised in the ’67 Referendum began to be made.

It’s hard not to be moved today by the footage of Gough Whitlam pouring Daguragu soil into the hand of Vincent Lingiari in 1975 – the little thing from which all our big things now grow. The blue sky, the 58 year old Gough Whitlam, the sense of idealism that can be witnessed still in that early colour TV film still gives you a sense of what a true transformative vision can achieve.

Younger generations than mine will be similarly moved by other defining images of reconciliation: like the handing of the title deeds to this place – Uluru – to the Kata Juta Land Trust in 1985 by Sir Ninian Stephen, the then Governor General;

- the High Court’s Mabo Judgement in 1992 – which over turned the legal fiction that had persisted regarding this land as Terra Nullius – meaning owned by no one when Captain Arthur Phillip sailed into Port Jackson on the 26th of January 1788. The Mabo decision finally corrected that inaccurate view and asserted indigenous title at common law to traditional lands.

- and, of course, ’s apology to the stolen generations in 2008. Every one of us was moved by that. And, can I say, Kevin Rudd will always have a proud place in history books for that long overdue gesture.

In the intervening times many of us have walked bridges together and cheered as Indigenous sportspeople won AFL Grand Finals for their teams and Olympic medals for themselves and Australia. We have admired diverse artistic achievements and seen indigenous citizens graduate in increased numbers from our universities to enter the professions and take their rightful place as co-leaders of our society.

We celebrate all these successes. But there’s still obviously a very long way to go.

I’m certain that you don’t need me to recite the statistics about the unequal life opportunities still experienced by Indigenous Australians every day.

The gaps are wide – but there is real hope they can be narrowed.

Every single one of us has the responsibility to eliminate them, no matter what we do.

As a television executive this is a task I take most seriously – as I trust your own company does.

In fact – and this is the message I want you to take home with you – digital entertainment companies like ours have a double opportunity to be part of the solution.

First, we have the capacity to promote inter-cultural understanding by providing platforms to spread knowledge about Indigenous culture.

And second, we have the capacity to provide economic opportunities for Indigenous Australians in one of the industries of the future.

You and Microsoft can make a difference – and along the way experience a lot more about what it means to be an Australian.

Culture and Indigenous advance Talking about culture and reconciliation these days requires some justification.

As a businessman I understand the frustrations of a new generation of Indigenous leaders who are demanding an emphasis on practical rather than symbolic advances in reconciliation.

As well as respect for their people, these new leaders rightly want better health, better education, better jobs, better housing – and a lot more affluence. There can be no justice without these things. As they point out, walking across a bridge together on its own won’t increase living standards unless it builds economic bridges.

I agree with them.

But as a businessman in the cultural industries I know also that there is no need to set up a dichotomy between culture and economics.

Cultural production is part of the economic answer – because culture not only transforms the outlook of whole societies, it’s one of the industries of the future. This is where the change is; this is where the jobs are.

It’s impossible to imagine the advances of African-Americans without reference to their culture. Jazz, Motown, television, the movies, rap, soul and other art-forms are modern America in the eyes and ears of the world. Even President Obama’s speeches have been set to music and treated as poetry – as Martin Luther King’s words also were.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious to me that something similar is now happening here. And that shouldn’t surprise us. It’s impossible, really, that 40,000 years of cultural development could somehow become irrelevant to the future. That it couldn’t but provide the essence of a cultural renewal – not just one for Indigenous Australians but for all Australians.

The memory of that culture – and its collision with the culture that came after 1788 – has given us a great Indigenous story and also a great national story. Think about it. Shakespeare was a genius, but he had the stories of the classics and the chronicles to base his storytelling upon. We have a treasure trove of culture just as rich and far older. It’s all there, for good or ill, in the stories of 40,000 years and in the stories of the last 200-plus years: conflict, tragedy, love and spirit.

Here is a cultural, a business and a reconciliation opportunity that goes to the very heart of what we in the digital communications and entertainment industries do. Part of our important job – our transformative job – is to bring this out.

Uncovering lost or ignored culture, finding artistic talent, and taking both to the world will create mutual understanding. And more directly, of course, it will also create direct economic opportunities for Indigenous artists and technical graduates.

This rich culture already exists – but there’s more to do We have some great cultural achievements to build upon as we pursue reconciliation.

Take one of my favourite mediums, film. I want to take a moment to encourage you to have a look at some of Australia’s great cultural gems exploring Indigenous themes, which are now readily available.

One of the first colour movies made in Australia – Jedda from 1955 – is a major landmark in Australian cinema, especially at a time when the dominant culture could arguably be described as racist. It’s an Indigenous story of a stolen woman, isolation and love with a tribal man, told with great sympathy. Both roles were, unusually for the time, played by Indigenous Australians – Ngarala Kunoth as Jedda and Robert Tudawali as her ill fated lover, Marbuck. Jedda evokes a sense of kinship to land and people we Australians had not seen previously and stands proud and alone in creating an epic about the Indigenous experience, love and loss with a heart rending closure which lives with one always.

Think of another film you may perhaps have studied at school – Henri Safran’s 1976 film Storm Boy, which featured that great Australian actor David Gulpilil. Storm Boy played successfully as an allegory on several levels to Australian and international audiences. It is a beautiful film with a balance and lightness that took up the reconciliation theme back when it wasn’t so easy to do, especially if you wanted to reach a popular, ticket-buying audience.

Telling Indigenous stories like this is getting easier – as a new generation sees Indigenous culture for what it really is: mainstream storytelling.

It is with a sense of real joy that one can say that the film which won the Best Film at the AFI awards in 2006 was the highly original Ten Canoes by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr. The film invokes distant past, tribal times. As many of you will know already Dayindi covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong. The English language storytelling by David Gulpilil, and subtitled Ganalbingu language, lets the light hearted humour and the confident portrayal of a proud, connected and successfully functioning world shine.

The Best Film at the AFI awards last year was Warwick Thornton’s equally brilliant Samson & Delilah – a major moment in cinematic maturity and originality in our nation.

The recent wonderful musical Bran Nue Dae, made by Rachel Perkins, was a huge audience success nationally and provides much cause for optimism about the good heart at the core of our people. I’m sure some of you saw it and enjoyed it as much as I did.

There is much to do in our national story telling and documentation to liberate a more expansive informed and open view about the necessity of reconciliation with indigenous Australians, but we have made a strong start.

As well as film, there is television drama – like Bob Weis’ brilliant production Women of made for the SBS in the early eighties, which still stands as one of the singular moments in original Australian television.

There is also of course, historical and cultural documentary – most recently in the superb First Australians on SBS, which, like Bran Nue Dae, was produced by Rachel Perkins.

This growing body of work in film and television, which addresses issues of meaning, life and purpose between Indigenous and other Australians, is playing an absolutely central cultural and economic role in advancing reconciliation. Along with sport, we can think of film and now digital art as the breakthrough industry for the creation of a respected and equal Indigenous middle class.

FOXTEL had the chance recently to show-off some of the latest of this Indigenous talent in a new documentary, Who we are, which we screened on some 20 of our channels starting in NAIDOC Week.

It featured the creative director Rhoda Roberts; David Page, who is Bangarra Dance Theatre’s music composer; and some musicians you may have heard on Triple J – The Medics and Dan Sultan (one of the artists who appeared in Bran Nue Dae); and a number of others.

You can catch it on FOXTEL or download it from our website – and I hope you do because it shows just what an advance Indigenous Australians have made and where reconciliation is heading. In fact whilst I was preparing this talk I decided that you should all receive a copy – so one will be handed out to everyone here today.

What the artists featured in the documentary show is that you don’t need to forget the realities of Indigenous history to develop real hope and optimism. As one of the participants tells us, two generations ago many Indigenous Australians weren’t even allowed to speak their own language; in many places it could only exist underground; but now it talks to all of us and to the world. The Indigenous story is becoming our story.

And I think there’s a lesson here for those of us who are not Indigenous. Our culture doesn’t go back 40,000 years, but it’s there in our family stories, and beneath our feet, and we shouldn’t let it be concreted over and forgotten. Australia is changing perhaps faster than ever in our history, but we will build a better future if it is enriched by an understanding and – where appropriate – celebration of our past. Movies, television, music – all things digital – have a big role to play in this.

And from this cultural reconciliation we can forward as one nation, unified under legal, education and health systems which can look confidently outward to a better society informed by greater knowledge and enhanced mutual respect.

A Reconcilaition Action Plan That’s the big cultural vision of course – but each of us has responsibilities at the company level too.

This is something FOXTEL takes incredibly seriously, with a Reconciliation Action Plan that promotes cultural respect, builds core relationships with Indigenous suppliers, and provides Indigenous employment opportunities and skills development in-house.

It has involved a lot of trial and error to see what works, but we’re getting there.

FOXTEL welcomed National Indigenous Television – NITV – to FOXTEL in 2007 as part of our base package – giving the station exposure to around six million viewers. We now provide NITV with ongoing broadcast services, training and access to 21st century digital facilities, freeing up their money for programming.

We’ve created a three year indigenous creative strategy that brings stories of extraordinary Indigenous Australians to mainstream audiences – the first of which was the Who we are program I discussed earlier.

When it comes to building Indigenous skills, developing talent and providing industry leadership, our lessons so far remind us that the journey is long and not without challenges, particularly in relation to employment.

We have had to recast our plan and develop partnerships to help fill traineeships. We have also gone ‘back to basics’ on school based traineeships, starting first with building awareness of television careers in select schools with higher Indigenous enrolments.

As well as joining the Australian Indigenous Minority Supplier Council as a founding member, FOXTEL established the Media Reconciliation Industry Network Group. It helps drive practical measures to support and promote reconciliation across the film and television sector with a concentrated effort on fellow broadcasters.

Conclusion Microsoft, I’m sure, has similar aims and objectives. [Kim according to David, they are looking to do this – which is partly why the conference is in Uluru – but don’t have an formal programs yet]

As businesspeople our core goal of course is to run successful companies. And a lot of what I’ve had to say this morning might easily be dismissed as ‘bleeding heart’ stuff. But in our business that’s not actually true, ever. Businesses impact society through their workforces, their shareholders and their customers by way of their behaviours and values. Moreover in the digital entertainment business, turning your back on Indigenous cultural development – with its mine of stories, actors, artists and musicians – is a bit like a football league turning its back on Indigenous football teams – with their mine of potential star players and passionate supporters.

Failing to invest in Indigenous equality is the sign of a lazy balance sheet. Frankly, we’d be mugs to do so.

How much poorer would football be without its Indigenous involvement? How much poorer would we be without our Indigenous stories and talent? And, more than that, we’d be missing out on the opportunity to do what we’re ultimately in this game for: not just building successful enterprises, but making great cultural products and selling them to the world.

Being part of reconciliation gives us a role to be something bigger than ourselves. And in our industry – perhaps more than any other – we can truly make a transformative difference.

As Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly say in their wonderful song about Vincent Lingiari – Great things from little things grow. And that’s a message I think is worth taking back to the office on Monday.

Many thanks to you all for listening.

APPENDIX B

Media Release: Thursday, August 12, 2010

SKY NEWS: MOST COMPREHENSIVE FEDERAL ELECTION DAY BROADCAST IN AUSTRALIAN HISTORY

When Australia goes to the polls next Saturday, August 21, SKY NEWS, Australia’s News Channel, will deliver unparalleled coverage of one of the closest elections in history.

In the most comprehensive live broadcast ever staged for a Federal Election, SKY NEWS’ coverage will feature a combination of unique digital TV channel offerings and reporting teams in key electorates across the nation.

SKY NEWS’ reporting team of specialist political journalists will be headed by Political Editor , with Chief Political Reporter , Political Reporters and David Lipson, together with the highly-respected , and political contributor Peter Van Onselen.

SKY NEWS reporters on assignment around the country includes; Michael Willesee, Celina Edmonds, Leigh Hatcher and Bridie Barry along with SKY NEWS local correspondents in all major states.

David Speers will anchor the coverage from Sydney and will be joined in studio by an exclusive panel of experts headed by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Channel 601).

Peter Van Onselen will anchor coverage from the National Tally Room in Canberra (Channel 602).

Both channels 601 and 602 will operate as separate broadcasts, and will simulcast during key moments as the result unfolds throughout the evening.

SKY NEWS Chief Executive, Angelos Frangopoulos, said “SKY NEWS will deliver the most comprehensive and in-depth coverage of an election ever mounted by an Australian broadcaster, and this time we are also taking our coverage worldwide live in another breakthrough.

“SKY NEWS is dedicated to leadership in political reporting and investment in innovation and journalism to give consumers ever-better quality and choices”.

SKY NEWS Election Day coverage begins at 5.30am with First Edition. Later in the day, an exclusive exit poll conducted for SKY NEWS by Auspoll will provide early pointers to the likely result.

The broadcast will include instant live updates from the campaign headquarters of both leaders. Ashleigh Gillon will be with Prime Minister in Melbourne and Kieran Gilbert will be with Leader of the Opposition, , in Sydney.

SKY NEWS will also have reporters with live cameras in ten key electorates spanning across Australia from Townsville (Far North Queensland) in the North, Launceston (Tasmania) in the South, Bondi Junction (New South Wales) in the East and (Western Australia) in the West.

The SKY NEWS Election Night panel includes:

• Bob Hawke, former Labor Prime Minister • John Hewson, Former Opposition Leader • Senator Eric Abetz, Liberal Senator for Tasmania • Senator Penny Wong, Environment Minister • Tony Burke, Sustainable Population Minister • Fiona Nash, Nationals Senate Deputy Leader • Bruce Hawker, Labor Strategist • Grahame Morris, Liberal Adviser

For this Election, SKY NEWS has developed a state-of-the-art program of digital graphics, assisting David Speers and the team to provide instant information and analysis and providing viewers with unrivalled explanatory displays.

The SKY NEWS broadcast will be delivered live nationally on cable and satellite, as well as online and on mobile networks. In addition, the SKY NEWS Election Day broadcast will be made available live to 98% of the globe through an exclusive 7- satellite network that SKY NEWS has commissioned for the day.

SKY NEWS MULTIVIEW provides unparalleled coverage with eight simultaneous split-screens of video and text choices, and two additional channels dedicated solely to each of the major parties with The Labor Channel and The Coalition Channel.

SKY NEWS’ main election coverage will be streamed live on www.skynews.com.au and on News Limited websites.

SKY NEWS is the only broadcaster to have covered every Federal, State and Territory election live and nationally for the past decade. Australia’s News Channels also provides Australia’s only public affairs channel A-PAC.

* Note: All programs listed are in AEST

For further information;

Lucy Squire FOXTEL Publicity (02) 9813 7336 m. 0411 616 662