Film saviours arrive

For years Australian taxpayers have been handing out millions of dollars to our film-makers in the hope that they would be so grateful as to make a decent movie or two.

Instead, our canny film-makers figured that while they were growing fat on the taxpayers' teat, they simply didn't need to make a movie that anyone wanted to watch, and they have obliged us many times over.

Film-goers have been wondering who might come along to rescue Australian movies this year and I'll be blowed if it's not, of all people...Paul Hogan. The other is Shane Jacobson, a chap who also made his name in the radical field of making films people want to see.

Incidentally, Hogan is talking of using his new partnership to make a Leo Wanker movie, based on a fondly remembered character from Hogan's years in Australian television.

It might take some work to stretch this out into a feature film. However, if we must spend public funds on films, then Leo is clearly the most deserving of all the wankers in the Australian film industry.