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Writing off an industry

By Michael Heyward - posted Tuesday, 31 March 2009


What's driving all this? The commission wants to think that our rules cause book prices to be higher than they should, but it doesn't have supporting evidence. In its own words, "measuring the magnitude of any actual price effects" caused by territorial copyright is "problematic" and so the commission "has not put a figure on them".

Sensibly, it recommends that the Australian Bureau of Statistics does the necessary survey work. This is a great idea.

You might think that an inquiry that found itself in this awkward position would say to the Government: look guys, we don't have the tools for the job; we need some numbers. Every sector in the industry is telling us how well things are working. We can't find a lot to dislike. It's got flair and energy and export drive. The fair go here is to keep things as they are until we have some solid information.

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No such luck. The Productivity Commission is determined to shoot now, ask questions later. If in the interim lots of jobs are lost in the printing industry, fewer Australian books are published, more publishing companies struggle to survive, and standards of publishing, editing and bookselling fall, well, that's OK. That will all show up in the numbers.

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First published in The Age on March 24, 2009.



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About the Author

Michael Heyward is the publisher at Text.

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