House of Representatives

Screen Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2008

Explanatory Memorandum

(Circulated by authority of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, the Hon. Peter Garrett AM MP)

Schedule 1 - Repeal and consequential amendments

Schedule 1 to the Bill provides for the repeal of the AFC Act. It also inserts a provision regarding long service leave in the AFTRS Act. Schedule 1 also inserts provisions in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to allow SA to administer, as the film authority, the Producer Offset tax incentive for producers of Australian films under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 . Another amendment to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 adds SA to the list of Australian Government film bodies whose development assistance, when provided to the maker of an Australian film, is not qualifying Australian production expenditure for the purposes of Division 376 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 .

Part 1 - Repeal of the Australian Film Commission Act 1975

Australian Film Commission Act 1975

Item 1 - The whole of the Act

This item repeals the AFC Act, as the AFC is to cease to exist on 30 June 2008 on the establishment of SA under the SA Bill and the NFSA under the NFSA Bill.

Part 2 - Consequential amendments

Australian Film, Television and Radio School Act 1973

Item 2 - At the end of Part VI

It is intended that all staff of AFTRS will be covered by the Long Service Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1976 (LSL Act) and that staff transferring to AFTRS from the AFC will continue to be covered by that Act. AFTRS is to become a prescribed authority for the purposes of the LSL Act by virtue of the Bill. Therefore, item 2 inserts section 35A, which provides that the LSL Act applies to a person employed by AFTRS under section 34 of the AFTRS Act as if the person were a Commonwealth employee within the meaning of subsection 10(1) of the LSL Act.

AFTRS is already a prescribed authority under Item 47 of Schedule 1 of the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Regulations 1982 . Therefore, all staff transferring to AFTRS from the AFC will continue to be covered by that Act.

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

Item 3 - Subsection 376-55(3)

Subsection 376-55(3) provides that the FFC is the film authority for the purposes of the administration of the Producer Offset tax incentive for producers of Australian films under Division 376 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 . Item 3 substitutes SA as the film authority and would allow SA to administer the Producer Offset. Previous certificates issued by the FFC will continue to have effect as a result of the transitional provision in item 26 of the Bill. That provision would ensure that the references to FFC in such certificates would be taken to be a reference to SA.

Item 4 - After Subparagraph 376-170(4)(a)(iv)

Item 4 adds SA to the list of Australian Government film bodies whose development assistance, when provided to the maker of an Australian film, is not qualifying Australian production expenditure for the purposes of calculating the amount of the Producer Offset tax incentive under Division 376 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 .


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