Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Urban Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

in some kind of attempt to indicate his view of what the government has done. But I say this: when the member for Chifley was waxing lyrical at the dispatch box, did he move an amendment? He did not. He did not offer a solution. He was content to criticise. I do want to make it clear that what the government has decided to do in relation to that particular issue is take the time to further consultant, to further engage with stakeholders, to further consider their feedback and, at the same time, to proceed with the important measures in this bill.

Let me remind the House what those important measures address. The Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017 is an important step in modernising Australia's Copyright Act. The bill will simplify and update the provisions of the Copyright Act relating to the education, libraries and archives sectors and, also, the disability sector. It will provide greater flexibility in dealing with content in these sectors. The bill before the House this evening is an important further step in improving the workability of the Copyright Act. The provisions of the bill follow detailed consultation with a wide range of stakeholders. Many of these provisions were developed cooperatively in conjunction with stakeholders such as, for example, the changes to the educational statutory licence scheme.

I want to thank all of those who have been involved in constructively contributing to the development of the bill. This is an encouraging example of a range of different copyright stakeholders with different interests coming together to support important reforms. So this is a bill which makes a constructive and positive difference to the copyright regime in Australia and responds to the needs identified by a number of stakeholders in the education sector, the library sector, the archives sector and the disability sector. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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