Flooding Australia with imported books would be an assault on our literary culture

Ending parallel importation restrictions will do serious harm to our books industry – and to the authors and publishers who know the Aussie voice best

Last week, the Australian government’s Productivity Commission (PC) recommended in a draft report that Australia eliminates its parallel importation restrictions (PIRs) on books. Let’s not mince words: this report is a broadside against copyright. As Susan Hawthorne wrote last week: “Understanding why it’s bad to abolish restrictions on the importation of books can be hard, which means it can be hard to care. But trust me, you need know why this is terrible for us all.”

The thing to understand about PIRs is that they uphold copyright, and allow writers to be paid properly for their work. PIRs make Australian booksellers that want to bulk order buy from the publisher that holds Australian rights to that book, and not from one overseas. In return for this, the Australian publisher has to make that book available in Australia very quickly. It’s basically a “use-it-or-lose-it” rule – publishers have to make books available quick-smart (usually within 14 days of their publication anywhere in the world), or lose their exclusive importation rights.

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