Explaining contradictions in film and television industry policy : ideas and incremental policy change through layering and drift

Abstract

Cultural policy debates have intensified in recent years as the traditional concerns with romantic notions of culture have been confronted with commercial imperatives and the broader liberalization of the global economy has provided a basis for intensified debate concerning the liberalization of trade in cultural products (Hesmondhalgh and Pratt, 2005). Australia's approach within the context of this debate is paradoxical because it appears to be emphasizing and enforcing the politics of cultural nationalism while at the same time embracing internationalism, especially through the encouragement of offshore Hollywood production in Australia with tax incentives for foreign film production and the ratification of the recent US–Australia Free Trade agreement, which poses challenges for the future regulation of Australian content. The aim of this article is to develop an understanding of this apparent contradiction in Australian film and television industry (AFTI) policy by drawing on recent insights in policy analysis which focus on the role of ideas in policy change and the processes of policy change through layering and drift, whereby change occurs incrementally as new policies come to coexist with old policy arrangements. Through reference to policy theory it is possible to develop a clearer understanding of the nature and mechanisms of change in the AFTI and the way in which the key ideas of cultural nationalism and internationalism/ free trade have interacted resulting in an evolution of film and television policy in Australia.