Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

This Marrakesh Treaty is critically important for visually impaired people right across the globe. Only one to seven per cent of all the books that have been published have been converted to a form that makes them accessible to those of us who are visually impaired. This treaty seeks to try and remove one of the main impediments to providing this material to the visually impaired in that it looks at tackling the copyright restrictions that have caused this situation to occur. About 65 countries so far have signed up to be initial signatories. Although we have had some discussions with the government in the past week, and I understand they are on their way to signing this treaty, we feel it is very important that Australia is one of the initial signatories, given how critical this is to the visually impaired across the planet. It is a fantastic initiative and we would encourage the government to get on board and sign it.