On 11 November, the Competition Minister, Dr Craig Emerson, announced that the Australian Government was leaving the parallel importation restrictions on books into Australia unchanged. In doing so, the government confirmed Australian territorial copyright, and Australian authors breathed a sigh of relief, their 16.5 month battle to preserve a national marketplace for their works finally won.
This victory was won through the quiet, unheralded actions of individual authors, who wrote to and telephoned their elected representatives to make sure their point of view was heard above the noisy din emanating from the so-called Coalition for Cheaper Books (really a coalition for greater profits for Woolworths, Wesfarmers and Dymocks) and the free-market troglodytes of the Productivity Commission and their hangers-on.
Congratulations to all.
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