It may seem at the moment that the only thing that will save the Australian book industry is moving every publisher and writer into Christopher Pyne's electorate, and making them all wear hi-vis jackets and safety helmets.
For we have in recent weeks discovered that the Turnbull government is considering proposals for a writer to not have any rights in their work 15 to 25 years after it's first published. So Mem Fox has no rights in Possum Magic. Stephanie Alexander has no rights in A Cook's Companion. Elizabeth Harrower has no rights in The Watch Tower. John Coetzee has no rights in his Booker winning Life and Times of Michael K. Nor Peter Carey to The Kelly Gang, nor Tim Winton to Cloudstreet. Anyone can make money from these books except the one who wrote it.
