Australia is making great TV right now. Too bad it’s all behind paywalls.

What do The Narrow Road to the Deep North, Scrublands and The Last Anniversary have in common? Yes, they’re recently released Australian-made drama series adapted from books by local authors. But, beyond that, if you want to watch the confronting historical drama, the crime thriller or the vibrant comedy-drama, you’ll need subscriptions to three separate streaming services.

These big releases are all locked behind paywalls – Amazon Prime, Stan and Binge/Foxtel respectively – and that reflects the unhappy state of play for the local industry and for viewers.

Jacob Elordi as Dorrigo Evans, an Australian soldier in The Narrow Road to the Deep North on Amazon Prime.

Go back earlier in the year and you can add more titles to that list: Apple Cider Vinegar (Netflix), Black Snow, Invisible Boys and Bump (all on Stan*). Last year’s most acclaimed show, Boy Swallows Universe, winner of 12 AACTA awards, is on Netflix. As is Heartbreak High, which won best drama series – a category that included only one free-to-air (FTA) drama, the ABC’s Total Control. Among other streaming shows dominating the drama categories were Fake, Territory, Prosper, High Country, The Twelve and Exposure.

Meanwhile, locally produced drama series – long an endangered species on FTA – are now virtually extinct on the commercial channels.

Nine* last year screened only the cop thriller Human Error, and Seven’s menu basically consists of Home and Away. Ten’s last effort was 2023 crime series North Shore as it axed Neighbours the previous year when the soap’s UK deal ceased funding the bulk of production. A short-lived resurrection, courtesy of Amazon, returned the residents of Ramsay Street to 10Peach and 10Play, only to be axed again in February (though episodes will screen until December). It’s strikingly evident that these networks no longer regard homegrown drama as something they want to invest in.

Elsewhere, the public broadcasters ABC and SBS have only a handful of homegrown series annually – none longer than eight episodes, most only six. The productions are impressive – including The Newsreader, Mystery Road and Swift Street – but sporadic. The days of Australian series spanning much of the year on FTA now seem like ancient history.

Teresa Palmer as Sophie Honeywell in The Last Anniversary on Binge/Foxtel.

This bleak situation is the result of a damaging collision of factors. For starters, the commercial FTA networks are no longer required to invest in local drama, having done so reluctantly for decades. Drama is a relatively expensive and risky proposition: some series established dedicated audiences, others sank fast without a trace. Spending money on reality or game shows is seen as a cheaper, safer bet.

In 2020, amid the industry shutdown of the pandemic, the Morrison government suspended the quota regulations introduced during Keating’s time as PM. These specified a minimum number of hours of locally produced content, with sub-quotas applying to drama, documentary and children’s television.

From 2021, the overhauled regulations specified more broadly that 55 per cent Australian content had to be broadcast between 6am and midnight annually on primary channels as well as 1460 hours on non-primary channels. Foxtel’s required spending on drama was reduced from 10 per cent of revenue to five. These services haven’t been required to make more drama, so they haven’t. And producers have migrated to the streamers because that’s where the opportunities are, even if they’re limited.

Local industry bodies have campaigned for the streamers to be required to spend a percentage of their revenue on producing local content. And these services have lobbied vigorously against this, maintaining that they’ll invest in Australian production without it being mandated. With the exception of local streamer Stan, that investment has amounted to tokenism.

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in Apple Cider Vinegar on Netflix.Credit: Netflix

According to Screen Australia’s latest drama report (for the 2023-24 financial year), Stan already invests considerably more than its giant global counterparts, supporting 11 local productions in that period. That’s in contrast to Netflix with four, Binge/Foxtel with three and both Paramount+ and Amazon Prime having just two.

The Albanese government initially announced plans for a national cultural policy to be released last July, with local content quotas to be the centrepiece. The deadline passed, without an announcement.

Earlier this month, amid global tensions over the Trump administration’s trade tariffs, Albanese reaffirmed the government’s commitment to quotas, declaring, “We strongly support local content in streaming services so that Australian stories stay on Australian screens.” The statement came after mounting pressure from the US citing Australia’s national cultural policy as damaging to its interests.

The issue continues to be hotly debated, while Australian audiences suffer the effects. A 2024 study by the Queensland University of Technology revealed that, between 1999 and 2023, the broadcast hours of adult drama fell by almost 50 per cent. “Reducing commercial broadcaster obligations over recent decades has been disastrous for the Australian community in terms of their access to freely available Australian drama,” the report concluded.

There have never been more content providers yet the situation has been steadily deteriorating.

Sherry-Lee Watson as Robyn in Thou Shalt Not Steal on Stan. Credit: Stan

Compounding that sobering situation, the streamers have been unreliable with the content they have. Significant series simply disappear when the service that holds the licence opts not to renew it. Offspring was recently unavailable anywhere, only to pop up on Stan a couple of weeks ago. One Night, made for Paramount+ in 2023, vanished within months of its premiere and is now on Netflix, with no guarantee of it staying there.

The upshot of all of this instability and the dismaying lack of oversight is an industry under increasing stress and viewers with frustratingly limited access to local drama, most of which they have to pay for. It’s unsatisfactory for the embattled industry and for viewers.

We shouldn’t have to pay $50 a month for a trickle of Aussie content on subscription platforms while commercial FTA gives us nothing but soap.

*Nine owns Stan and this masthead.

Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.