The following speech was given by Shadow Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland MP at the IIC’s event addressing Australia’s Creative Economy.
***CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY*** Good evening, thank you for joining me, it is a pleasure to be here.
I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet, and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
To Chris Chapman, the President of the IIC, and the Australian Chapter of the International Institute of Communications, thank you for the invitation to address this esteemed platform in the 50th anniversary year of the IIC’s founding in London in 1969.
And to Danny Gilbert, co-founder and Managing Partner of Gilbert + Tobin Lawyers, thank you for hosting this event, and for your 30+ years of relentless commitment to innovation.
Both the IIC and G+T are focussed on the influence of technology on industry at the cutting edge of the digital dimension, so it is fitting that they come together to explore an all-encompassing issue at the cusp of telecommunications, media and technology today: Australia’s Creative Economy.
Thank you also to the expert industry panel who will join me for a Q&A session after this address:
- Debra Richards, CEO of Ausfilm and soon to be of Netflix;
- Matthew Deaner, CEO of Screen Producers Australia;
- Edward Fong, Chair of Interactive Games and Entertainment Association as well as Managing Director of Ubisoft Australia and New Zealand; and
- Bill Spain, Partner at Gilbert + Tobin.
But before I get to the topic of the Creative Economy, I want to open by talking about perceptions.
Perceptions are at the core of my pitch to you this evening.
But they are also fundamental to what the creative industries are about.
The output of the creative industries affects what we see, hear, experience, feel, understand or even think.
These industries shape our perceptions of the world and are, in turn, are shaped by the world around us.
Read the full speech here.