As well as providing direct support for the industry, the Australian Government aims to stimulate production activity through indirect means.

Until 2007/08, the Government encouraged private investment through tax incentives under divisions 10BA and 10B of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936. The new Producer Offset (see below) replaces the 10B and 10BA schemes, which was closed to new applications from 30 June 2007.
www.ffc.gov.au/producer_offset/

A new Australian Screen Production Incentive was introduced as part of the 2007-08 Federal Budget. It comprises:

• a Producer Offset, providing a tax offset of 40 per cent of eligible Australian expenditure to producers of qualifying feature films, and a 20 per cent rate for qualifying television productions, including TV series, documentaries, mini-series. The offset will be delivered through the taxation system and will not be capped. A Producer Offset Fact Sheet is available here: www.ffc.gov.au/producer_offset/.
• Location and PDV Offsets for international producers, which replace the previous incentive (the Refundable Film Tax Offset, or RFTO). The new Location Offset provides a 15.0 per cent offset for eligible expenditure. Eligibility for international producers will be extended beyond the criteria for the RFTO to include an alternative but mutually exclusive post, digital and visual effects (PDV) offset, where qualifying expenditure exceeds $5.0 million, whether or not the production is shot in Australia. www.arts.gov.au/arts_culture/film/location_offset.