Calls to end consultation on foreign actor visas

A government inquiry which recommends unions no longer be consulted before international actors be attached to Film & TV projects has the support of at least one well-known actor.

NZ-born Roy Billing (Underbelly, Sisters, Jack Irish, The Dish) says there is wide concern in the industry about the Foreign Actor Certification Scheme requiring consultation with the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance.

“I don’t think it’s needed, because Immigration can handle it the same as they do with every other industry,” he recently wrote in a submission to the Inquiry into the Australian film and television industry.

“I know the union’s trying to protect jobs for its members, but it boils down to a matter of finance… if we’re going to have bigger budgets and more films, we need more private investment. Private investors are very wary of this union involvement.”

No surprises then that calls to dump the ruling are also supported by Screen Producers Australia.

But the MEAA says it opposes very few actor imports, citing only two objections to any application in the past four years.

In 2013-14 it opposed none of the 199 applications for foreign actors to work in a non-government subsidised production. None were objected to in 2014-2015 nor 2015-2016.

In 2016-2017 MEAA endorsed 18 foreign actors for government- subsidised feature films, 14 for non-government subsidised feature films and 14 foreign actors for government-subsidised mini-series. In one instance, a letter of objection was issued for a government-subsidised mini-series.

The MEAA cannot veto a foreign actor’s employment, it can only raise an objection. Each final decision rests with the Minister for the Arts, Mitch Fifield.

But Labor defends MEAA’s involvement as giving Australian actors opportunities and argues it is a safeguard against market abuse.

The government is yet to respond to the Inquiry’s recommendations.