By Denis Bright
With its record majority in the House of Representatives and a working majority with the support of the crossbench in the Senate, the Albanese Government can afford to be more daring in its application of social democratic values.
At the grassroots level, support for the Albanese Government extends from most sections of the Labor heartland to quite comfortable polling booths in traditional LNP electorates like Ryan in Brisbane. Here the combined Labor-Green vote was usually well above the 50 percent in almost every polling booth. Green member Elizabeth Watson-Brown was returned with a 7.82 percent margin on Labor preferences. Had Labor gained an extra 400 primary votes, Ryan would have been a Labor seat on the distribution of Green Party preferences.
This compares very favourably with the election results in Rockhampton and other parts of the Capricornia electorate where Labor struggled to gain a majority under siege from high levels of far-right votes particularly from One Nation. In the mining town of Dysart, the LNP’s primary vote was doubled by preference flows from One Nation (20.45 percent), the Trumpet of Patriots (9.82 percent) and Family First (6.12 percent) from 23.03 percent to 47.83 percent.
In Ryan, as elsewhere, the LNP ran a slick and deceptive postal vote campaign with mail outs to most constituents. This campaign netted 55.92 percent of all postal votes to the LNP in Ryan after preferences. The LNP used mailout envelopes labelled as 2025 Federal Election Important Voting Information. The return to sender envelope was PO Box 938, Spring Hill. The covering envelope failed to mention that this was an LNP post box address.
Despite Labor’s record majority, too many disadvantaged voters are still voting for the LNP either directly or through votes to far-right candidates bearing populist rhetoric. These voting patterns were repeated over much of Regional Australia.
In this federal parliament, there are opportunities to tighten misleading practices to woo votes from more gullible constituents. These changes might help a little but bringing politics back to the needs of the people is far more enduring.
Swathes of disadvantaged voters are alienated from formal political processes. Mainstream commercial news services keep them in the dark on public issues with more sensational coverage of domestic and strategic issues. Some mass entertainment offered by commercial television networks, streaming services as well as the narcissistic tendencies of social media offer diversionary strategies against political involvement through trade union membership and more critical media analysis of public issues.
ABC radio and television networks still achieve commendable ratings for its news and current affairs programmes. The ABC’s iView has strengthened the outreach of this network. More financial allocations and better technological innovations are still required.
ABC Alumni is still critical of budget spending allocations for the ABC Networks in the current budget. The 2025 Budget announced on 25 March contains no new real increases in funding for the ABC allowing for current inflation levels.
The tight budget situation for both ABC and SBS is being reinforced by attacks on the wider Australian film industry by the Trump administration (Joe Hinchliffe in The Guardian 17 May 2025):
Production of US films shot on Gold Coast under threat from a president who views industry as ‘National Security Threat.’
Nationally, the industry experienced a post-pandemic surge in spending on films, from a little over $1bn in 2019-20 to just shy of $2.4bn at its peak in 2022-23. But in Queensland, the surge was meteoric. In 2019-20, $57m was spent making films in the state – the next year that figure was $557m and by 2022-23 it was $700m.
But with the big spend easing and productions in something of a lull, experts are warning of twin threats facing the industry: a US president who views the red carpet rolled out to Hollywood on the Gold Coast as “a National Security threat” and a workforce on the brink of burnout.
In support of Australia’s public broadcasting networks, each of the states and territories support the local film industry to varying degrees.
In the Northern Territory’s Budget dash to achieve a budget surplus from 2027-28, there was no mention of the fate of funding for Screen Territory in the CLP’s budget statement of 13 May 2025. The NT Government will be relying on the generosity of the Albanese Government for over 70 percent of its revenue as its own taxation revenue declines from $797m in 2024-25 to $748m in 2025-26, then gradually rises to $804m by 2028-29 (PWc 15 May 2025).
Deep North commitments to law-and-order campaigns that will have one percent of the population behind bars into the 2030s (ABC News Darwin 10 June 2025):
Since winning government in the NT in August, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) has enacted a series of justice reforms.
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency is calling for an “emergency intervention” in the jurisdiction’s justice system after two Aboriginal deaths in police custody.
Several prominent Aboriginal-led NT bodies say there has been a breakdown in trust between Aboriginal people and the territory government and police.
It comes as NT prisoner and remand prisoner numbers continue to climb, with half of all inmates now on remand and yet to have their matters finalised.
As 2025-26 ticks away, the former Young Labor activist in Anthony Albanese as Prime Minister will have no shortage of commitments in the year ahead on the domestic and international scene. He potentially greets Donald Trump and the G7 luminaries in Canada between 15-17 June 2025 if the US President dares to face protests in Alberta against his visit.
It has never been more important for Australian leaders to speak up at these international events. Financial commitment to Australian public broadcasting and the local film industry is also a protest against Trump’s cultural imperialism.
Trump’s Film ‘Tax on Bluey’ Exposes our Cultural Malaise
Governments might be better off establishing an environment where authentic local creators can produce lasting, quality Australian cinema – rather than reeling in flavour-of-the-month Disney blockbusters (Alexander Voltz from the AFR, 8 May 2025 with comments from Ambassador Kevin Rudd):
Denis Bright (pictured) is a financial member of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance (MEAA). Denis is committed to consensus-building in these difficult times. Your feedback from readers advances the cause of citizens’ journalism. Full names are not required when making comments. However, a valid email must be submitted if you decide to hit the Replies Button.
Dear reader, we need your support
Independent sites such as The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.
One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.
With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.
Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
Interesting that Central Queensland recorded strong One Nation votes : this is an area where SKY after dark play through their free to air regional channel and Pauline is a regular contributor treated with enthusiastic support and soft questioning by Paul Murray and the crew.
Film production can be a great export earner for Australia from both private and public sectors. It looks like the funding levels of the ABC are insufficient to cover more quality drama. Ignore the White House Tariffs on Australian media productions and seek out new opportunities
Tronald Dump would view the film industry as a threat to national security for no other reason than many actors and actresses don’t like him.
Check out The Delinquents produced by Village Roadshow with federal government financial support:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99n0Zxu_c7I&t=1672s
Denis’ article covers both public broadcasting networks and corporate productions. Both private and public network programmes can be exported to diversify the options available to US audiences. Trump’s opposition to imports of films and documentaries from Australia is an insult.to the industry here. What is the point of a free trade agreement if it can be overruled by Presidential decrees?
This was a great article on the importance of Australian broadcasting networks and the film industry telling Australian stories. Thank you.