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Commission and Film Australia. More than anyone else, he revived the Australian film industry in the 1970s. His biggest regret was the damage that the 10BA tax concessions did to Australian films. The concession, introduced in 1981, allowed investors to claim a 150 per cent tax concession and to pay tax on only half of any film income. Adams said in his oral history it didn’t matter if the film was ever shown, so long as it was actually made, the investors got their tax cut. ‘Australian films will not survive without a government subsidy of one sort or another, preferably straight subsidies, not corrupting tax ­concessions.
    â€˜We have, de facto, a nationalised film industry,’ he said. ‘But apart from America and India, every film industry in the world requires heavy government subsidies. The difference in film-making is that the subsidy is more democratically applied. The money that subsidises a seat at the opera, ballet or theatre in Australia is quite staggering. For a much more modest investment, film reaches an infinitely greater number of people here and overseas.’
    Adams told me, ‘Paul Keating was the last prime minister to promote the arts, not because he was arts minister but because of his personal interest. Australian films have always been a creature of government because of our small market — basically, they need the help. They didn’t regain prominence after the seventies because there was no great pressure from either the government, the industry or the community for it to happen. In fact, while the worst things overseas film-makers say about each other’s products is that they are “interesting”, Australian film-makers have a mean-spirited mentality and like to knock each other’s work.’
    The main problems Australian films face are Australians’ preference for American films, lack of finance, and scant access to film screens: Hoyts, Greater Union and Village Roadshow operate about 90 per cent of Australian screens and keep 70 per cent of total takings, the remaining 30 per cent being shared by film-makers and distributors. Australian films not backed by Hollywood studios are screened in only about 10 per cent of Australian cinemas. The only way Adams got distribution of Barry McKenzie and Don’s Party after the cinema chains had knocked them back was by hiring town halls or even buying independent cinemas with federal money, when Gough Whitlam was prime minister.
    Adams devoted twenty years to Australian films and these days is disgruntled that most Australians still prefer American films and do not demand good Australian ones but often denigrate the oily-rag ones they see.
    â€˜Jesus,’ he told me, ‘ninety-nine per cent of American films are appalling.’
    â€˜Australians don’t buy Arthur Boyd paintings of American landscapes but never hesitate to patronise Hollywood films — often acted in or photographed by Australians and made in Australia.’ He said Australian film-making peaked in the Whitlam era, after Barry Jones and he persuaded Gorton to press the right buttons. Adams used to tell federal governments that Australian films would increase tourism and trade, and they did. When the government found out that Australian exports of rutile to Venezuela had skyrocketed, it found the reason was that the importer had seen Picnic at Hanging Rock .
    The last films Adams produced were Lonely Hearts and We of the Never Never in 1982 and Abra Cadabra in 1983. He acted as a radio announcer in Dallas Doll (1994) and as the voice of God in Road to Nhill in 1997. But after that he walked away; he had done his dash.

Chapter Five:
The Phillip Adams Enigma"
    Phillip Adams is perhaps the most remarkable person in Australia — a man remarkable for his brain and for his achievements, a chaotic man who masks his robust, well-deserved egotism behind a humble front and his massive knowledge behind earthy Australian lingo.