IGEA 2020-21 Pre-Budget Submission to The Treasury
IGEA has made a Pre Budget Submission to The Treasury, following the Assistant Treasurer’s call for further submissions regarding priorities for the 2020-21 Budget.
In our submission, we have urged the Australian Government to provide, as part of the 2020-21 Budget, a 30% refundable tax offset and a restored Interactive Games Fund for video game development, continuing our ongoing advocacy campaign for support for the sector. Not only will this provide Australian game developers with equitable federal support similar to the funding and incentives already available to the rest of the Australian screen production industry, it will help to boost a sector that will bring 21st century jobs, valuable exports and significant international investment at a time when Australia needs it most.
While we recognise that the Australian Government has needed to focus in recent months on priorities related to Australia’s immediate response to COVID, it just as importantly will need to focus on ways to fuel Australia’s immediate and long-term economic recovery and growth. It can find this in video game development, a production industry that has been able to continuing working during lockdown, a trade sector that is based on digital exports that are resilient to disruption, and a global consumer market that is one of the few that have grown during COVID.
Our submission also includes two key IGEA publications that we have recently published, our IGEA comparison of screen sectors (with the exception of games), and our Game Engine paper that sets out our vision for a game development industry that, if supported, could generate $1 billion a year in (mostly export) revenue, and support 10,000 full-time Australian jobs by 2030.