Minister for communications and the arts Mitch Fifield has called for the industry and rights holders to work together to manage piracy, indicating the government is “taking some steps” to improve the current framework.
Fifield was speaking at the Screen Forever conference in Melbourne, hosted by Screen Producers Australia, about reforms on his agenda in his capacity as minister for the arts.
Among other possible changes, such as tax offsets, the minister spoke of the importance of balancing the interests of rights holders and the public when crafting robust legal framework for copyright.
“The act has a challenge, it has a great challenge at its heart,” Fifield said. “Balancing the unique interest of rights holders who quite reasonably want to have appropriate reward for their creative endeavours and hard work, and it's got to balance that with users in a tech savvy environment. We are taking some steps to improve the framework."
He pointed to moves by the then-communications minister Malcolm Turnbull and attorney-general George Brandis, to build an industry code to foster collaboration between rights holders, ISPs and consumers, confirming he shares the same view on collaboration to tackle online piracy.
“As many of you know, the final aspects of the code are still being negotiated and what I want to see is rights holders and industry working together to manage piracy, whether by educating users, making content available to consumers in a way that’s timely and affordable, or developing licensing platforms to the mutual benefit of creators, distributors, intermediaries and consumers,” Fifield said.
“To complement this reform agenda, the government is currently looking at how we might improve the workability of the act.”
In his role as minister of communications, Fifield has previously spoken of reforming media ownership laws. He has pointed out the reach rule is at the top of the agenda, but has indicated that the need for industry consensus won't be an impediment to progress.
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.