Hanson and Hinch key to PIR victory

The Australian book industry is targeting Darran Hinch and Pauline Hanson in its bid to block any changes to the Parallel Importation Restrictions.

The industry already has all Labour, Greens and Xenaphon Senators in its camp and needs just one of either Hanson or Hinch to ensure PIR changes are killed off.

If the industry can persuade Hinch or Hanson to join the block against PIR the proposal will be dead in the water, and with both Senators running on populist tickets the industry is optimistic that at least one will join their side.

The book industry struggles to understand why an Australian government would want to jeapordise 20,000 jobs and a $2bn business, and severely impact on the ability of local publishers to invest in local authors.

Andrew Macaulay, CEO at the PIAA says: “The local print industry has invested in jobs and cutting edge technology to become highly efficient and responsive in the fast-moving contemporary book market. Any government that cares about jobs or growth in Australia will not adopt recommendations that would threaten that investment and have no benefit for consumers.”

The Productivity Commission believes 75 per cent of books in Australia are more expensive than those in the UK because of PIR. However the New Zealand experience has shown that dropping PIR does not affect the price of books, but does significantly reduce the range of books on offer, especially those from local authors.

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