The Government has been under pressure to ignore the Productivity Commission’s recommendation to lift PIRs in the interest of giving consumers access to cheap imports. Local printers and publishers have claimed that such a move would significantly harm the local publishing and printing industries, and would fail to result in cheaper books for Australians.
Federal minister Craig Emerson, who oversees the Small Business, Competition Policy and Consumer Affairs portfolios, said today that the Government had decided to heed the advice of local industry.
“The Productivity Commission report acknowledged that removing these restrictions would adversely affect Australian authors, publishers and culture,” Emerson (pictured) said.
“Australian book printing and publishing is under strong competitive pressure from international online booksellers such as Amazon and The Book Depository, and the Government has formed the view that that this pressure is likely to intensify.”
“In addition, the technology of electronic books (e-books) like Kindle Books [sic] will continue to improve with further innovations and price reductions expected.”
Emerson warned, however, that it was now up to the local industry to ensure its ongoing viability.
“The Australian book printing and publishing industries will need to respond to the increasing competition from imports without relying on additional government assistance,” the minster said.
Emerson also alluded to his plans to offer a “compromise” to local industry, including “reductions in the length of the 30-day publication rule and the 90-day resupply rule”, though concluded that these would be largely ineffectual.
“In the circumstances of intense competition from online books and e-books, the Government judged that changing the regulations governing book imports is unlikely to have any material effect on the availability of books in Australia,” he said.
“If books cannot be made available in a timely fashion and at a competitive price, customers will opt for online sales and e-books.”
Last month, Printing Industries savaged Emerson’s compromise plan, describing the proposal as “an unworkable sham” and Emerson as “out of touch”.
A report in The Australian has reiterated earlier claims that Emerson was pushing to repeal PIRs, but was outvoted by his Cabinet colleagues, including Industry Minister Kim Carr and Arts Minister Peter Garrett.
Printing Industries has welcomed the government’s decision today, describing it as “a victory for commonsense, the public and Australian industry”.
The industry association announced in July that it would be lobbying the Rudd Government to retain PIRs, with a protest taking place in the Melbourne CBD only this morning.
“While it has been a very long and costly campaign, and a stressful time for the thousands of people who livelihoods were at risk, everyone can rest assured that their efforts were worthwhile and have been rewarded with a just decision,” said Printing Industries chief executive Philip Andersen.
“Considering that this was the sixth examination of the legislation by government authorities in the past 20 years, I think it proves conclusively that the current legislation is sound and that the industry and the thousands of people it employs can now move forward.”
“I hope this marks the beginning of a new, proactive relationship in which any future matters involving government authorities can be resolved through co-operative discussion.
“This has been an unparalleled campaign with associations, unions, politicians at all levels and the public working for a common goal, which we can finally celebrate achieving today.”
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