New Zealand’s leading screen production body has sounded an early alarm about potential competitive fallout following the introduction of mandatory content quotas for international streaming services in nearby Australia.

The Australian government’s new rules require major platforms with more than one million local subscribers to invest a defined share of revenue or expenditure into Australian-produced drama, children’s, documentary, arts and educational programmes, marking a significant regulatory shift for the region’s digital media landscape.

This legislative change is seen as a milestone for Australian cultural policy but has prompted concern among New Zealand producers about its implications for cross-Tasman content flows and the sustainability of Aotearoa’s own screen sector.

The New Zealand Screen Producers’ Guild (Spada) has intensified its advocacy for similar measures at home, arguing that without regulatory parity New Zealand risks being placed at a disadvantage in attracting investment and sustaining local production capacity.

Australia’s move is part of a broader effort to reinvigorate domestic screen storytelling and ensure global streamers contribute to local creative economies under frameworks akin to those long applied to free-to-air broadcasters in that market.

The measures were developed amid industry calls for content investment obligations to shore up local industries that have seen fluctuating broadcaster commitments and a shifting advertising landscape.

Spada’s leadership warns that while Australia’s quotas could bolster jobs and output there, the absence of an analogous regime in New Zealand may prompt investment and licensing priorities to shift across the Tasman, complicating second-window deals and co-production arrangements on which many New Zealand companies rely.

The guild has called for Wellington to adopt a levy-based approach in which streaming platforms would contribute a share of their New Zealand revenue to a dedicated fund for domestic production, channelled through established screen agencies.

They assert that proactive policy now could help balance cultural output and economic opportunity for New Zealand storytellers in an increasingly globalised streaming environment.

The debate underscores distinct regulatory paths in two close yet separate markets navigating how best to sustain vibrant local content industries while engaging with dominant global streaming platforms, even as New Zealand’s screen sector continues to generate significant economic and cultural impact domestically and abroad.

Recent research highlights that screen production contributes billions to New Zealand’s economy and supports thousands of jobs, reinforcing the sector’s value and the urgency of long-term strategic planning in the face of shifting international rules and investment patterns.