‘Tax on Bluey’: Kevin Rudd mocks Donald Trump’s film tariff plan

The former Aussie PM made light of the proposed tax on foreign-made movies being floated by the US President in new comments.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has scoffed at Donald Trump’s tariffs on the movie industry and an uninhabited Australian territory in comments at a high-profile conference in LA.

Mr Rudd, now Australia’s US Ambassador, spoke against Mr Trump’s proposed 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made films by evoking a beloved kids cartoon: “I don’t think we want to see a tax on Bluey”.

“What happens if we all lock down our countries with competitive, punitive arrangements against each other’s movies?” he said, speaking at a Milken Institute event in Los Angeles.

“Movies are the way in which we kind of understand each other more. So I’d be all for opening this up.”

Australia’s US Ambassador has spoken out against the tariffs. Picture: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images for Semafor

The White House has said “no final decisions have been made” on the proposed tariffs after they were announced by the US President on social media.

“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,” he wrote.

“Other Countries are offering all sorts of incentives to draw our filmmakers and studios away from the United States.

“Therefore, I am authorising the Department of Commerce, and the United States Trade Representative, to immediately begin the process of instituting a 100% Tariff on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!”

Beloved cartoon series Bluey is one of Australia’s most popular exports.

It remains unclear how the measures could work, but many Hollywood productions are currently being filmed in locations such as Australia due to tax incentives.

Mr Rudd’s previous criticism of Mr Trump was last year used by the Opposition to pressure the Albanese government, which has backed the former Labor leader.

In a now deleted tweet, Mr Rudd called the President a “traitor to the west”.

Donald Trump has flagged taxing overseas film productions. Picture: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein

Mr Trump was drawn on the comments in a 2024 interview with UK broadcaster Piers Morgan, saying Mr Rudd was “nasty” and “not the brightest bulb”.

Now Mr Rudd, speaking at the Milken Institute Global Conference this week, has made light of the Trump administration’s efforts to impose global tariffs after it was revealed some uninhabited territories were also included.

He used another pop culture reference to make his point on the inclusion of Australian territory Heard and McDonald Islands, home only to penguins.

“If you’ve seen the other great Australian movie, Happy Feet – you know, the penguins – those penguins of ours have just been tariffed down in Heard and Macquarie (sic) Island in Antarctica,” he said.

“They’re producing a sequel, it’s called Unhappy Feet. There’ll be a march of penguins on Washington.”

Major movies like Thor have been filmed in Australia. Picture: John Grainger

The conference draws some of the world’s most high-powered business and political minds to LA, where the biggest humanitarian and economic challenges are discussed.

Australia’s Home Affairs and Arts Minister Tony Burke said earlier this week the government was monitoring the proposed film tariffs closely.

“Nobody should be under any doubt that we will be standing up unequivocally for the rights of the Australian screen industry,” he said.

Major productions such as instalments in Marvel’s Thor franchise, Mad Max prequel Furiosa and the Sydney Sweeney rom-com Anyone But You are among some of the big budget films made in NSW in recent years.

Premier Chris Minns hit out at the plan as a “bad decision for films and movies whether they’re made in Australia or the United States”.

“It’s short sighted and won’t work. We’ll be defending our screen industry as well as the local jobs it creates,” he said.

“NSW is home to more than half of Australia’s screen production businesses and film industry. It’s estimated to be around $1.15 billion to the local economy.”

Originally published as ‘Tax on Bluey’: Kevin Rudd mocks Donald Trump’s film tariff plan