Screen Forever 2025: Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture

Proud Quandamooka man and playwright Wesley Enoch (The 7 Stages of Grieving, Black Medea, The Sunshine Club, The Story of the Miracles at Cookie’s Table) delivered the Hector Crawford Memorial Lecture at the Screen Forever conference yesterday.

Here are two excerpts from his presentation:

“Hector Crawford. Say his name and for many, it conjures cop dramas, period pieces, family sagas from the 70s and 80s. But for me, his work represents something deeper. A belief. A fight. A vision. A man who understood the power of stories — not just as entertainment, but as a civic architecture for a nation.

“At a time when Australian voices were barely heard on our own screens — when American and British accents filled our living rooms — Hector was insisting: we have stories worth telling. His strength wasn’t just in producing popular television; his strength was in believing that popular television could be profoundly cultural. That it could reflect us back to ourselves.

“Shows like Homicide, The Sullivans, Matlock Police weren’t just hits — they were part of a cultural revolution. They said: this is what justice looks like here. This is what family feels like here. This is what grief, joy, struggle, and love look like through an Australian lens. Not borrowed. Not secondhand. Ours.

“And behind those stories was a fierce sense of responsibility. Hector Crawford fought for local content quotas. He knew that without structural protection, our stories would be drowned out. That without government support, Australian creativity would become a footnote, not a foundation.

“Now let’s be honest — the world is different now. Streaming platforms, fractured audiences, algorithms dictating what stories rise. We’re global citizens and digital natives. But in all this noise, I keep coming back to Crawford’s core idea: that a strong, complex, independent nation must tell its own stories.

“Is this idea too old fashioned? Have we achieved the desired outcome and can now let go of this ambition?

Because here’s the thing — when we fail to tell stories, someone else tells them for us. And too often, they reflect their cultural goals and ambitions. They simplify and deny difference. Stereotype and weaken the specific. Silence.

“And I think of us — First Nations storytellers, marginalised voices, communities still fighting to be seen — and how Hector’s legacy gives us a model. Not a perfect one. But a powerful one. He didn’t wait for permission. He built the platforms. Trained the teams. Made the case. Again and again and again.

“That’s what legacy really is. Not what you leave behind — but what you set in motion.”

“Local content quotas for streaming services are essential if we are to preserve and promote Australian voices in the digital age. As audiences shift away from traditional broadcasters to global platforms like Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime, we risk losing the infrastructure that once nurtured our national storytelling. Without firm, enforceable quotas, these platforms can reap the benefits of our audiences and locations while contributing little to the cultural and creative fabric of this country. Introducing local content requirements ensures that Australian writers, directors, actors, and crew are given the opportunity to create work that reflects our society, our diversity, and our identity. It’s not about restricting creativity—it’s about levelling the playing field so that Australian stories are not only seen at home, but valued and celebrated around the world. Quotas are a commitment to cultural equity, and a declaration that Australian stories matter in every medium. About paying back into a regenerative relationship rather than an extractive one.

“And finally, we need to recalibrate the way we engage with foreign productions. Yes, international investment brings jobs and opportunities—but it should not come at the cost of our cultural agency. We must advocate for reforms that link location offsets and government incentives to genuine cultural outcomes. Australia should not be treated as a blank slate. If productions come here, they must come with a spirit of collaboration, not just exploitation. We must move from being service providers to being co-authors of the stories told on our soil.

“Cultural sovereignty is not about shutting the world out. It is about opening our doors on our own terms. It’s about inviting others to see who we are—not as a backdrop or a dormitory for skilled workers, but as a bold, complex, and sovereign storytelling nation.

“In the 1970s, Australia took great pride in telling its own stories —they were affirmations of who we were. Hector Crawford championed Australian content because he understood the power of cultural self-recognition. In today’s globalised, fast-paced screen economy, we must be reminded of that same ethos. But now, more than ever, we need to reclaim the pride and purpose of those earlier decades—to tell stories that are unmistakably ours and ensure that future generations know the value of seeing themselves on screen, not as imitations, but as originals.”