Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Payments) Share this | Hansard source

Labor welcomes the Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Bill 2017. This bill has been a long time coming—three years in fact. While the government has been delaying progress, Labor has been pressing for change to ensure that copyright material is accessible for people with a disability. In 2013, when Labor was in government, we took the lead in negotiating the Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled. The Marrakesh treaty allows people with a disability access to printed copyright materials, such as books, without requiring them to get express permission from the rights holder. This treaty is essential to ensuring that printed materials remain accessible to those with a vision or print disability and to removing uncertainty over who is breaching copyright in creating those more accessible formats. This bill will import the principles of the Marrakesh treaty into enforceable Australian copyright law.

It might surprise you to hear just how limited access to books and other literature currently is in Australia for those that cannot access the printed version. With current copyright restrictions in place, only five per cent of books that are published will ever go through this accessibility conversion. Without the Marrakesh treaty, serious limitations prevent access to literature. The principles of the Marrakesh treaty change the prospects of learning and reading for those who are unable to access printed materials. I cannot exaggerate just how beneficial this treaty and the copyright law amendments that will be made in honour of this treaty will be to people all over the country.

Australia has been lagging in this area. The United States branch of a website named Bookshare has almost 500,000 book titles available in formats alternative to print. The Australian branch of this website currently stands at less than 25,000 available works, all because of the current limitations within our copyright law. With this bill, Australia's existing copyright law will be amended to expand the number of titles available in alternative formats. Vision Australia, a leader in this area, will be able to carry on with their work in increasing accessibility to printed materials, unburdened by the fear of offending irrelevant and unnecessary copyright laws. In September last year, at the implementation of the Marrakesh treaty, Vision Australia's General Manager for Accessible Information Solutions, Mr Michael Simpson, said:

Having access to quality information allows people to make decisions and choices in life. The lack of information in accessible formats puts people with print disability at a huge disadvantage with their sighted peers. With more available content the playing field for this community can start to be levelled.

I cannot put myself in the shoes of someone who has lost their sight. With the copyright legislation as it stands, loss of sight equates to a loss of access to the knowledge and delight that is offered by books and other literature. This bill offers a solution that will increase access to the written word for those with a print disability. I am very proud to be part of the Labor-driven movement that has ensured that this reform will happen. It is worth noting my disappointment in the length of time that it has taken this government to make this clearly necessary change. These amendments only ensure compliance with the already signed Marrakesh treaty. This is not the first time that we have seen delay by the government to reform in this area. It took enormous pressure from Labor to convince the government to actually sign the Marrakesh treaty back on 24 June 2014. After signing, it was not until December 2015 that the government saw fit to ratify the treaty. The treaty finally entered into force on 30 September 2016. Here we stand, nearly six months after the ratification of the treaty, still waiting for the necessary legislation to implement the spirit of the treaty into Australian law.

Finally, in this bill we have reform that might give more certainty to those in the disability sector on what is and is not a breach of copyright law. It is good to see that the government is taking it upon itself to take this treaty seriously. We also appreciate that the government has pushed these changes off from the earlier controversial exposure draft bill. It is only appropriate that changes to access to literature for people with disability be removed from some of the more politically delicate areas of copyright law.

Disability access to printed materials is not the only agenda of this bill. Other important copyright changes are covered. Included in this bill are the preservation of copyright material by libraries, archives and other institutions; use of copyright material by educational institutions; and harmonisation of copyright terms for published and unpublished works. Overall, this bill will simplify exceptions to the copyright law as they currently stand, allowing libraries and archives to make necessary preservation projects and by making necessary copies. I commend the bill to the Senate.