I am proud to make a brief contribution in support of the Screen and Digital Games Industries Bill 2025, which delivers real, practical changes that will ensure New South Wales remains a leader in both screen and digital games production. The bill is about jobs, innovation and making it easier for our creative industries to thrive. Whether it is by streamlining film approvals or by removing barriers for game developers, we are ensuring that our State remains the engine room of Australia's creative economy.

I will start with digital games. The industry is booming worldwide, and yet New South Wales has been missing out. Already one of the world's largest and fastest growing entertainment sectors before COVID-19 hit, the digital games industry expanded further during the pandemic. However, New South Wales is home to just 22 per cent of Australia's game development studios and only 16 per cent of the sector's full-time employees. I take the Opposition's comments, but we are committed to ensuring that New South Wales fulfils its potential. Those statistics are simply not good enough.

Games are a massive part of our culture and economy—81 per cent of Australians play them—but beyond entertainment, they are driving innovation in technology, education and training. Digital games development will be a crucial pillar of a modern, digital and creative Australia. Making digital games involves every type of media, from animation to sound, music and cinematography. In addition to the direct economic benefit, games production adds complexity, talent and a range of transferable skills to the economy. That is why the Government is stepping up.

Alongside the introduction of the bill, we are making it easier for game studios to grow by lowering the minimum expenditure threshold for rebates from $500,000 to $350,000, giving emerging developers a fair shot at success. We are also launching the Digital Games Seed Development Program and Market Travel Funding Program, investing $1.5 million over three years to help local studios develop and promote their work. The changes mean more local talent can compete on the world stage, with this bill as the catalyst. It also embeds equity of access to such opportunities into the digital games landscape.

We have incredible talent in New South Wales. Digital games like Not Doppler's real-time multiplayer car battlerCrash of Cars and the zombie-smashingEarn to Die series have generated over 300 million downloads worldwide to date. Not Doppler is a Sydney-based game development studio and publisher founded in 2005. TheEarn to Die games are among the most globally popular games published by any mobile developer in Australia.Earn to Die launched in 2015 and quickly reached number one on the iOS Paid Games Charts in 135 countries, accumulating over 160 million downloads as a free-to-play title on Google Play.

Continued Government investment in businesses like Not Doppler will increase games industry employment in New South Wales, demonstrating the kind of world-class creativity that exists in our State. It also means that we can break away from being a net consumer of gaming content and provide avenues for local creatives to showcase not only our creativity but our unique and diverse cultural mix and influences, which we are extraordinarily proud of. In passing the bill, we will be backing our developers, attracting investment and making New South Wales the place to be for digital games by signalling that we are hungry to develop content and not just consume it.

That also holds true for our screen industry. New South Wales has always been the beating heart of Australian film and television production. Our State is home to more than half of the nation's screen production businesses, with 15,000 people employed in the sector. Our State has been the root of the global stereotype of Australians. If you ask them about Australia, many people from across the world will reference Home and Away. That is an enduring stereotype. But red tape has been holding back productions, costing time and money, and making it challenging to compete against other States.

The bill introduces practical reforms that will make a real difference. It will allow local councils to be accredited as "screen production friendly", encouraging them to attract film and TV projects to their communities. It will streamline approvals, requiring government agencies and councils to process applications efficiently and minimise fees. If a production wants to use a location, access should be granted unless there is a clear and compelling reason to say no. Those changes will make it easier and faster for productions to get up and running, supporting jobs and investment across the State.

We have already seen what is possible when we support the screen industry. Productions like the soon‑to‑premiere The Narrow Road to the Deep North and the incredibly popular Return to Paradise, shot around Sydney and in regional New South Wales locations, showcase our amazing landscapes, our talented crews and our vibrant communities. Return to Paradise, shot on our coast at Wollongong and Shellharbour, has been sold around the world, including to the BBC. Those stories matter not just for cultural reasons but also because they bring in millions of dollars, create jobs and boost tourism. Furthermore, they provide an opportunity to ensure we tell our stories and provide the world with an insight into the extraordinary people and communities that make New South Wales so special today. Once again, we seek to produce content for the world rather than just consume it.

I refer to a local production out west that, I am not embarrassed to share with the House, reduced me to a sobbing mess not just once but twice. It is a wonderful anthology that reflects the Australia of today, which is why it resonates with so many. We have seen with productions like Heartbreak High that such stories have the potential to reach a worldwide market. We love seeing New South Wales on screen, whether it is our stunning coastline, our bustling cities, our outback towns or our diverse communities. The bill will make sure that we see even more of it. The world is our oyster.

Finally, this legislation brings the outdated Film and Television Industry Act 1988—which is almost as old as I am—into the modern era. By replacing it with the new Screen and Digital Games Industries Act, we are creating a framework that reflects today's industry. The new advisory committee will ensure that funding and policy decisions are made with industry expertise and with a focus on diversity and inclusion. The bill is a win for jobs, local economies and creativity. It is about making New South Wales the best place in Australia to make films, TV shows and digital games. I thank the Minister, the Parliamentary Secretary and member for Granville, the Minister's staff and the department staff, who have performed such an incredible amount of work to bring the bill to the House. Those things are not easy to do, and I thank them for their work and for the work that they will do in future in this space. I urge all members to support the bill.