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Category: Arts and Entertainment / Film

WA Arts Minister approved $1.7m funding to board members

Friday, 2 Sep 2016 17:48:14 | Rebecca Turner

Looking for Grace received Screenwest funding. (Supplied: Palace Films)

Arts Minister John Day has approved film funding worth around $1.7 million over the past three years for production companies owned by members of the Screenwest board, annual reports have revealed.

Screenwest is the WA Government's film funding and development agency.

The funds included a $625,000 investment in 2014-15 in the film Looking for Grace, which starred Richard Roxburgh and was produced by a company owned by Sue Taylor, who Mr Day appointed to the board in 2011.

He also approved three payments totalling $150,000 for Taylor Media in the previous two years.

Analysis of annual reports by the ABC shows that production companies owned by Ms Taylor, fellow Screenwest board member Aidan O'Bryan and former member Alan Lindsay received substantial funding with the approval of the board and Mr Day.

Ms Taylor, Mr O'Bryan and Mr Lindsay said the board always followed stringent procedures in declaring conflicts of interest, having members' interests removed from board papers and conflicted members leaving the boardroom during discussion of their funding applications.

But the members' dual roles in being able to both approve and receive funding from the WA Government's film funding and development agency has rung alarm bells for ethics experts and the WA Opposition.

The perception of a conflict of interest concerns Edith Cowan University ethics lecturer Julie Crews.

"It's not a good look. There are struggling artists out there," she said.

Board 'seen as too close to industry'

Opposition accountability spokesman Ben Wyatt said Mr Day needed to be more stringent in approving funding applications from the board members.

He said Mr Day needed to have stronger rules for boards which had a small pool of potential membership to draw from, like WA's film industry.

"It makes that board vulnerable — they are very much subject to critique because they are seen as too close to the industry," he said.

Headshot of Labor's Ben Wyatt Photo: Mr Wyatt says stronger rules for boards are needed. (ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

Under Screenwest rules, all funding worth more than $50,000 is authorised by the Arts Minister, with funding of more than $25,000 signed off by the board.

Between 2012-13 and 2014-15, about $1.7 million in funding needed approval from Mr Day, who is responsible for Screenwest and appoints board members.

Mr O'Bryan's WBMC production company was awarded $100,000 from the State Development Investment Fund in 2012-13 and 2013-14, as well as tens of thousands of dollars in digital development funding.

Vue DC, a production company owned by Mr Lindsay and his wife, received $600,000 over three years. His term on the board ended last year.

The production companies also received smaller amounts of travel funding and development assistance.

Before a funding application goes before the board, it is scrutinised by a panel which involves a board member and independent assessors, who are often from interstate.

In a written statement, the chief executive of Screenwest, Ian Booth, said board members must meet the obligations of the Screenwest code of conduct and declare any perceived or real conflict of interest in a project.

He said they were then excluded from any documents and discussion of the particular project.

"Each state and federal screen agency faces this challenge, and the majority of screen funding and development agencies and broadcasters around Australia have a mixture of skills and industry-based board members," he said.

No bias, board member claims

Ms Taylor said there was no conflict of interest, but she could see how there was a perceived conflict of interest.

"Given the volume of projects supported by Screenwest, I don't think the amount of funding I've received indicates a particular bias towards my company as a result of me being on the board," she said.

"I have an extensive track record as a producer across the film and television industry — probably more so than any other in Western Australia — and would qualify for funding on that basis."

Fellow board member Mr O'Bryan said he was very confident in the impartiality of the board and its governance processes.

He said board members assessed their colleagues' funding applications in a professional way, and board members often got their applications rejected.

"It's certainly not automatic," he said.

In a written statement, Mr Day said he was confident that Screenwest and its board had "a clear, rigorous and transparent process" for dealing with conflicts of interest, whether actual or perceived.

Disclosure: The ABC has received Screenwest funding.

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