The Daily Telegraph
(Sydney, Australia)
10 December 1999
XENA NOW ON OUR SIDE
Xena Warrior Princess is now officially Australian. The feisty Xena - played by the New Zealander Lucy Lawless - became Australian under legislation passed by Parliament yesterday. But foreign access to Australian televison local content quotas will be confined to trans - Tasman programs.
The laws prevent any flow on from other international treaties from last year's High Court Project Blue Sky decision that NZ made programs must be treated as Australian made.
The bill also makes the content rules on pay TV more enforceable which communications minister Richard Alston said woiuld boost the nation's film and television industry. The Broadcasting Services Act imposes an Australian content condition on pay tv drama channels requiring at least 10 percent of program spending be on new eligible dramas.