“Protection in the creative industries is inextricably mixed with issues of our national identity and pride in our creativity.”

Oh yeah? Our ‘national identity’ went out the door when multiculturalism came in.

This is just an industry whine about competition. And since when was book publishing a ‘creative industry’. Book publishing is a money making industry, just like manufacturing industry which has also diminished in Australia, without any complaint from this author, I’ll wager.

“There are pressing reasons to look at support for the creative industries in Australia, and to strengthen cultural policy.”

“…to strengthen cultural policy”! What a joke! Back to multiculturalism: there is no intention of even retaining our culture, let alone strengthening it. One of the problems with Australian writers and the literary ‘elite’ is that they live in a world of their own, pounding out pretentious, arty rubbish that few people want to read. They are a bit like Australian television producers, and as much as I am loyal Australian, I have to say that Australian literature and television, whether it is supposed to be entertaining or instructive, is a load of crap, which has little, in any, connection with reality.

Books are too expensive in Australia, and there is no guarantee that they will get cheaper if the arty-farty Australian industry loses some of its protection (we have, after all, had numerous actions from the morons advising governments that were supposed to save us money but have done the opposite), but at least it’s worth a try. And, this author and the people she represents are not worthy of any sympathy

The boundary between art and commerce has always been tricky.

Mozart, anyone?

Chatterton? Samuel Butler? Homer?

It is an interesting challenge, even for a well-meaning academic, to justify more dollars for artistic endeavour, if only because the judgments made on the product itself will always be subjective.

And is it only me who runs a mile at the words "...the importance of access to Australian stories told by Australian story tellers"?

Especially when immediately followed by "Protection in the creative industries..."

Creative Industries?

Oxymoron?

Having worked in publishing for over 20 years, I have seen it totally transformed by the subsuming of local, independent publishing into an homogenized, global, multinational, corporate-based industry.

Not only has publishing’s creative content lost much of its Australian-ness, but much more importantly, it has lost all forms of Australian administrative, managerial, financial and technological control. The priorities have completely changed from being about local needs- and service-based commercial principles to being about keeping a global set of corporate systems firmly within a unified control framework.

The current global publishing industry cannot operate without the deregulation of territorial copyright laws, so they will be deregulated. That is a certainty. However, all the euphemisms will be employed to pretend that a consultation process is occurring – reports, studies, recommendations, inquiries, commissions etc. That’s the global name of the game.

Prices will not come down. Australian content will be further lost. And global publishing will proceed as usual. Australian creative content will be buried, but will tunnel through to the light in whatever way it can. It always does.

Another stooge for multinational publishing houses. The real guys supporting local writers are the little independent publishing houses and bookstores. They will continue to do well because they provide product for quality, not price.

We should cease protecting foreign companies operating in our markets, just as we should cease subsidising through our taxes foreign car manufacturers.

A 2006 Newspoll survey: almost 50% of Australians don’t read daily to their children and the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Aspects of Literacy survey showed 50% or 6.2 million Australians aged between 15 and 74 have poor to very poor literacy skills, that is, they have experienced difficulty reading many of the printed materials they come across in everyday life.

I don't mind paying a bit more for local authors but I resent deeply paying more for international publications in a country that doesn't read..."Books?...maaaaaaaate....?...have a beer?".

The quality of Australian produced literature can be measured by the dollars that the consumer is willing to throw towards it. If they choose the overseas version over the Australian then it's because the local isn't measuring up against the competitor. The consumer wins by getting what they want, or prefer, at a cheaper price. This is economics 101. Book publishers care about book publishers, not Australian consumers. Also what percentage of books sold actually fall under the Australian culture banner? It's probably a tiny fraction actually, what reason do they have for me paying more for (for example) an IT development manual?