Yang Jian: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume 
Yang Jian: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers 
[Sitting date: 27 February 2013. Volume:687;Page:8242. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.] 
6. 
Dr JIAN YANG (National) 
 to the  
Minister for Economic Development 
: What support has the Government given to the film industry in New Zealand? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE (Minister for Economic Development) 
: 
 This Government has continued to support the Large Budget Screen Production Grant Scheme which has supported the production of movies in New Zealand such as  
King Kong 
  
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe 
  
The Adventures of Tintin 
 and of course  
The Hobbit 
. Also in October 2010 we made changes to the Employment Relations Act to clarify the law in regard to those working in the film industry. This enabled workers in the industry to be deemed independent contractors unless they chose to have an agreement that they were employees. We have also streamlined the immigration process for entertainment industry - related work visa applications. It is now easier for applicants who meet the criteria to work in New Zealand. 
Dr Jian Yang 
: What recent successes have resulted from the Government’s changes? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: The filming of  
The Hobbit 
 in New Zealand is a recent and very successful example. This film resulted in jobs for many New Zealand actors including seven lead dwarfs 24 supporting cast approximately 16000 New Zealand actor days worked 1250 people paid as extras and 7200 extras’ workdays. It also resulted in nearly 7000 domestic flights 93000 hotel bed nights 1800 rental cars hired $9.1 million spent with local set construction and $1.5 million spent with local food suppliers. And for Wellington an economic impact report said that the world premiere of  
The Hobbit 
 contributed nearly $12 million to Wellington’s economy during the week of the premiere late last year. 
Dr Jian Yang 
: What tourism benefits have resulted from the Government’s changes? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Well very good ones. The media exposure for New Zealand tourism from the films of  
The Hobbit 
 and the world premiere will be felt for years to come. The National-led Government realised the benefits that would come from making these films in New Zealand and is proud to have actively encouraged the  
Hobbit 
 movies to be produced here from the very beginning. An example of the direct tourism benefit is the “100% Middle-earth 100% Pure New Zealand” campaign launched by Tourism New Zealand. This video has received more than 800000 views on YouTube resulting in nearly 5000 hours of video content being consumed. Research on the back of this campaign—and this is very important—shows eight out of 10 people saying that they are more interested in coming to visit New Zealand after seeing  
The Hobbit  
brand advertisements. 
Dr Jian Yang 
: Is he aware of any opposition to the changes the Government has made to support the film industry and is making generally to support jobs and help grow the economy? 
Hon STEVEN JOYCE 
: Yes and it is a bit confusing. There are some groups that declare they are in favour of hands-on Government but then they oppose it when the Government is hands-on. For example in just the last 2 weeks these groups have opposed the Government encouraging a convention centre in Auckland and opposed again  
The Hobbit 
 movies being produced in New Zealand. I have come to the conclusion that the only the thing the Opposition is actually hands-on about is getting its hands on tickets to  
The Hobbit 
 premiere.