The Australian book publishing industry could suffer ‘massive and devastating’ consequences under ‘ideologically driven’ recommendations in the Harper Review, according to the Australian Publishers Association (APA).
The Federal Government’s Harper Competition Review has joined the Productivity Commission in recommending that parallel import restrictions on books be scrapped. The proposal would remove provisions of Australian copyright law that provide limited protection for the owner of Australian publishing rights of a book against the importation of commercial quantities of that title.
“Needless to say, the impact of Australian printers will be massive and negative,” Sarah Runcie, APA Strategy and Policy Officer, told Print21.
“The fact that Australia has such a diverse book ecology is due to the balance of strong competition coupled with respect for territorial copyright. This is not an industry in need of competition intervention. What has been under-appreciated by Professor Harper and his colleagues is the intersection between territorial copyright and competition. And that diversity is at the core of competition in the book industry - not just price-point.”
The Harper recommendations would deliver severe blows to Australian readers, writers and booksellers, warned Runcie.
“Market share will simply move overseas to mega-retailers that can afford to run book-selling in a particular market at lower-costs. This does not deliver competition - it is actually anti-competition. We have only to look over the pond to New Zealand to see the devastating effects on the publishing industry there. And the recommendation will reduce the diversity of books on offer in the Australian market - which is the core of competition and innovation in the publishing industry. It would be a devastating blow for Australian readers. In essence, Harper's recommendation treats territorial copyright like a tariff for widgets. Territorial copyright is not a tariff and books are not widgets in which price point alone determines consumer value.
Australian writers would find it more difficult to get published under the Harper recommendations, said Runcie.
“There will be a disincentive to invest in riskier titles because the risk profile of the industry would greatly increase and change - and that would mean new and/or Australian voices would not be invested in - even if there is the domestic market demand. Here is the rub: The Harper Review does not deliver choice to the Australian consumer - it does the opposite because Australia would not be its own market but just a small part of a globalised market.”
Runcie says the APA believes that Australians “value their book industry over the hypothetical and largely ideological assumptions that simplistic notions of competition promise to deliver, and we intend to ensure that consumers understand the implications of the recommendations.
“The ideologically driven recommendations of the Harper review actually undermine the stated aims of the Panel and selectively ignore empirical evidence. Ideology does not equal thinking. Even for economists.”