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Salaam Namaste 

I have just had the pleasure of visiting the set of Orange – the biggest Indian feature film to be set in Australia – during filming in Southbank.  I met many of the team that are putting Orange together over the next couple of months on locations all over Australia.

It was great to meet such a professional crew at Anjana Productions and feel the excitement and energy of Anjana’s biggest international venture.

This production is employing more than 450 Australian cast and crew and is another reminder of the importance of the Indian film industry to Victoria’s economy.
The Indian film industry is the biggest film industry in the world, and can open up huge and diverse business opportunities for Victoria.

This production is employing more than 450 Australian cast and crew and is another reminder of the importance of the Indian film industry to Victoria’s economy.
The Indian film industry is the biggest film industry in the world, and can open up huge and diverse business opportunities for Victoria.

Tourism, film and music production, insurance and finance are just some of the areas that can benefit from improved links with the Indian film colossus.
The Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition wants to expand the Indian film industry in Victoria.
Before the last State election in 2006 we made a significant commitment to supporting the Indian film industry in this state.

We supported the need for greater promotion of and access to more Bollywood productions to shoot in Victoria. We wanted to also explore opportunities for film productions from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Middle East and Sri Lanka to come here.

This would have involved ramping up technical support and exchange programs between Bollywood and other film and music industries and our own industry as well as better using the underutilised Docklands Film Studios.

The commitment was made to involve and consult the local Indian community, including forming a committee of stakeholders to help promote Victorian Bollywood productions in Bollywood and Victoria.
We wanted to appoint a well known Bollywood personality to be an “Ambassador for Victoria” to help bring in more Bollywood productions, tourists and international students to Victoria.
There was also a commitment to entrench the Bollywood Film Festival as a permanent part of the annual Melbourne cultural calendar, including releasing world premieres of new productions.
It was also felt that there was a need to facilitate a technical exchange program between the Indian and Victorian film and music industries to help put commercial and cultural relations on a more broad and sustainable footing.

We made those commitments and we’ll renew and update our commitments before the election.  There is a great relationship already and we want to expand that into more areas of the economy and the community.

To do that we must look far more closely at making Victoria as competitive as possible in attracting mega-productions like Orange, as well as the many other productions that could find Victoria a very attractive location.
Victoria has the technical people here.  Victoria has the knowledge and know-how and the experience to make a durable and rewarding partnership.

There will have to be some hard work done to get this vision up and running. 
Under the Brumby Labor Government the Docklands Studios have become a financial disaster and now is a very unattractive option for many Bollywood productions because of its high costs.  This problem must be fixed if Docklands facilities are to play any meaningful role in future plans and was originally envisaged four years ago.
Support for the industry and building links between Bollywood and Victoria by the Brumby Government has been fragmented and ill-directed.  Its principal aim appears to be to ensure John Brumby gets his picture taken with well-known Indian actors and actresses at events.
The Coalition wants to see more than some glossy media events for John Brumby.  We want to see strong economic and cultural links built and secured between Victoria and South Asia. 

A genuine commitment to build deep and enduring links with Bollywood at all levels and across the community is what the Coalition stands for in the State election this year instead of Labor’s glib media events that play lip service.
We will renew and reenergise the Coalition’s commitment to supporting the Indian film industry in Victoria.

If you have any problems with housing, education, crime, police, health care, transport, consumer matters or any other area of State Government responsibility, please do not hesitate to contact me with your concerns.  You can write to me at Parliament House, East Melbourne, Victoria, 3002 or email me at
ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au.
Regards
Ted Baillieu
LEADER OF LIBERAL NATIONALS COALITION