Andrew Bartlett (Queensland, Australian Democrats) Share this | Hansard source

I wanted to ask the minister about the new version of section 40(5) that will be put in place by government amendment (21), perhaps following through a bit further on the scenario or the reality that Senator Ludwig described, where in the online environment a work that is a ‘published literary work in electronic form’ is sometimes retailed in single chapters—people can purchase individual chapters. In the table under amendment (21), it says that if the work or adaptation is divided into chapters then a single chapter is a ‘reasonable portion’. I wanted to clarify that, when you talk about an adaptation, you do not mean a work that is being adapted for the online environment per se. Also, I am sure that the minister is aware of the argument that Senator Ludwig put about the potential impact of this proposed section on work that is retailed in single chapters, and I wanted to know if the minister had a response to that concern and its potential impact on publishers and copyright owners.