Arch Bevis (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present two petitions that have been approved by the Standing Committee on Petitions as in order petitions. The first of those petitions deals with the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme and requests the parliament to support the bill. It calls on the Liberal and National parties to be constructive rather than negative, as they have been so often in the debate in respect of carbon reduction programs. It is obviously an issue of great concern to constituents in Brisbane. More broadly, it is clearly of great concern to constituents around this country and elsewhere.

The second petition is signed by 2,097 Australians and asks that the parliament retain the current restrictions on parallel importation of books. This is a petition which I and a number of members of the parliament received from a group of authors and others involved in the Australian creative arts industries. It is clearly an important issue and I urge all members of parliament to give it proper regard.

The petitions read as follows—

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of certain residents of Australia draws to the attention of the House the threat posed by greenhouse gas emissions and the failure of the Liberal Party, the National Party and the Independents to support the carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009.

We declare our support for a carbon pollution reduction scheme and express our concern at the failure of the opposition to support the Bill.

We therefore ask the House to call on the members of the Liberal Party and the National Party and the Independents to support the Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme Bill 2009.

from 134 citizens

To the Honourable The Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of concerned citizens draws to the attention of the House the recent Productivity Commission’s report on the Parallel Importation of Books.

We, the undersigned, ask the Parliament to retain the current Restrictions on the Parallel Importation of books for the following reasons:

1.

There is no guarantee books will be cheaper, but removing the Restrictions will cause severe job losses in the publishing, book printing, packaging, and distribution industries.

2.

The diversity of local and international book titles will diminish as publishers are forced to make smaller print runs, and take fewer risks with new authors.

3.

Australian authors should not be forced to rely on unspecified extra taxpayer funded grants and subsidies, as suggested by the Productivity Commission, to compensate income lost under Parallel Importation.

4.

Imported versions of Australian-authored books will be in direct competition with authentic editions. Foreign versions often change drastically to suit overseas markets. (Removing Australian idioms, references, humour and spelling.) This is of particular concern for those Australian children who already struggle with spelling and literacy.

from 2,097 citizens

Petitions received.