Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker; that's very kind of you. As I said, I declare that conflict of interest. It is hard for authors and artists to make a living in Australia. With a smaller population of 24½ million it's hard, even for the great musicians we know and listen to every day, to make a viable income. Nevertheless, let's go back to this: there are a range of stakeholder views about these complex issues. Labor believes extreme caution should attend any entertainment of a further extension to the safe harbour scheme. The incremental extension in the bill before the House is a measured and reasonable approach.

I note that we have a thriving creative arts community in Australia. Just last week here in parliament, with Western Australia's Senator Reynolds we co-hosted an event for the Parliamentary Friends of Australian Books and Writers. The event was to honour the short-listed Miles Franklin Literary Award nominees for 2018. It was a great opportunity to meet the authors, the publishers and others involved in the Australian literary industry, including booksellers—we went to a dinner the night before. Deputy Speaker Hastie, I know you would agree that it is bizarre that I have not made it to the Miles Franklin short list yet! But it was a great night to meet some of the fair dinkum authors who have devoted themselves.

I do have some understanding of the creative process in writing. It is much more than an occupation; it is a calling. But monetary rewards are often not substantial. In fact, the rule of thumb in the publishing industry is that half of books published will not break even. So it's tough for editors, publishers and booksellers. Listening to that calling, that compulsion, that itch that can only be scratched by creating, by writing and by doing what artists do, I understand how they have so much skin in the game. You do expose yourself by writing.

In another life many, many years ago, I was also part of a rock band. We still get together every three years, but that's only to fundraise for my re-election—and thank you to all members of my band. The lead singer, John Carozza, who is also actually a painter, a great artist, similarly has that calling, that need to create. Talking to John Carozza and talking to other artists, I see that experience and what it takes to create. The experience has given me a valuable insight into the creative process, whether it be of writing music, making films, writing books or whatever artistic endeavour it is. So I understand the need to protect rights holders in Australia. As I said previously, the artist must eat.

This legislation is a measured response, not too crazy. It looks after the interests of the artist but also recognises that in the digital age there will occasionally be platforms where people publish artistic works without recognising the creator. As I said, this legislation says that the provider must do reasonable things to crack down on repeat infringers. They must comply with the industry codes, they must expeditiously remove the infringing material and they must not receive a financial benefit that is directly attributable to the infringing activity, because that money should, obviously, go to the creators of the artistic piece.

The piece of legislation before the chamber, the Copyright Amendment (Service Providers) Bill 2017, is something that that the Labor Party is happy to support. We know that the continued prosperity of our creative arts community is dependent on supporting our creative artists, and this is something that the parliament can do to make sure that we protect their original work and negotiate appropriate compensation for its use. The artists do have a particular calling whatever that artist be, whether it be poor old Tom Collins, or Joseph Furphy, slaving away at night on his writing after working in his brother's foundry down in country Victoria, creating one of the greatest pieces of literature, Such Is Life, or whether it be someone like Stella Miles Franklin, who never really made much money as a writer but was still able to put away a few dollars—enough to create that lasting legacy of the Miles Franklin Literary Award, something that's now been added to and is now able to support artists to be able to turn their mind to their work, to have a space away from the workplace to create their piece of literature, their piece of film or whatever it is that the artist is creating.

Obviously, we're all keen to support artists, and this is a legislative response that is measured, that is appropriate and that is able to support the creative arts community, because so many of our artistic efforts are also used to increase our links with other countries, particularly with Asia. Some of our musical talents are over there ahead of DFAT, creating lots of contacts with China and South-East Asia, and that's why I recommend this legislation to the House.

Debate interrupted.

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