James Lee
08:43 (BST)
12/06/2008
GDAA and IEAA partner on tax lobbying
The Games Development Association of Australia and the Interactive Entertainment Association of Australia have announced an alliance to urge the Australian government to offer tax incentives to promote growth in the local games industry.
According to Tom Crago, president of the GDAA, the Australian games industry employs over 1400 people and in 2007 generated a total income of AUD 136.9 million (GBP 65.7 million). Crago says tax incentives that have been deployed in Canada, France and elsewhere in the world have helped their respective local industries.
"There are over 300 companies in the videogame industry in Canada employing over 8000 people. The growth of the Canadian industry has been in no small part thanks to government support," he said.
"Australian game developers cannot be expected to be internationally competitive when global market conditions are 'not level'. We owe it to the companies themselves to offer these incentives and we also need to make an investment into Australia's 'smart economy'."
Earlier this year the GDAA anounnced plans to partner with Tiga to jointly lobby the UK and Australian governments.
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