Australian children’s television production has tanked. Blame Paul Fletcher.

Bandit from hit show Bluey with a fan (Image: PA/David Parry) Communications regulator ACMA released its latest report on commercial television production last week . Buried in the report was a dramatic factoid: commercial broadcasters have completely stopped making children’s television . Broken down by category, ACMA showed that the commercial networks had spent the round total of $0 on children’s drama in 2022-23.

Adult drama is also on the slide, down to $49 million from $65 million a year earlier. However, spending to produce sport programming rose. The report shows the devastating consequences of the Coalition’s decision to remove local content quotas for children’s television in 2021.

Spooked by the pandemic, and lobbied heavily by the free-to-air networks, then communications minister Paul Fletcher removed the children’s content production requirement at the beginning of 2021. The number of hours of locally produced children’s TV shows has dropped by 80% , from more than 600 hours to less than 100. Everyone knows about the global phenomenon Bluey .

As a result, parents and politicians may think everything is fine in the local children’s production scene. But in many ways, the success of Bluey has papered over looming problems. There isn’t as much local children’s television being made, and in an age of devices, many kids are now being left alone with tablets to surf dubious content on YouTube.

No byline, no right of reply: Inside News Corp’s Bluey .