Screen Australia won’t appeal Lush House ruling

Screen Australia will not appeal a decision by the Federal Court that has ruled Lifestyle series Lush House, featuring Shannon Lush, qualifies for “Documentary” funding.

Screen Australia was looking to overturn an appeal won by production company Essential Media, after it initially rejected an application for Producer Offset funding.

The funding body had argued the cleaning guru’s series was Infotainment, but lost/

Of 252 applications, Lush House was one of 4 that was rejected.

In a statement it said, “Screen Australia appealed the decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal in relation to the Lush House series in order to bring clarity to the concept of ‘documentary’ in the context of the Producer Offset. Both the Tribunal and now the Full Federal Court have found that the term ‘documentary’ as used in the Producer Offset legislation is uncertain, ambiguous and obscure.

“The Full Federal Court dismissed Screen Australia’s appeal. Screen Australia will carefully review the reasons of the Court and their impact on decision-making going forward. It does not intend to pursue any avenue of appeal. As was made clear at the recent Australian International Documentary Conference session on ‘Defining Documentary’, Screen Australia welcomes industry debate on important questions such as those raised by the Lush House matter.”