ASA Attends ADA Conference  

26.03.19

Our CEO, Juliet Rogers, appeared on a panel at the Australian Digital Alliance Conference in Canberra last Friday, along with Associate Professor Rebecca Giblin and Professor Kimberley Wetherall.  

The panel was a constructive discussion on copyright reform, with consensus on the fact that authors' interests are central to the debate. A high point was when every single person in the room raised their hand in support of authors remuneration.

Rebecca Giblin spoke about her Authors Interest Project and her research work on getting authors paid and improving access to knowledge. Juliet spoke about her baptism of fire; joining the ASA at a time of intense debate about copyright reform in the wake of the Productivity Commission's Report into Intellectual Property. She also spoke about the inequality of bargaining positions between publishers and authors and the difficulties this creates when all copyright protections fall within publisher contracts, rather than in legislation, as is the case in many other countries around the world. 
    
Juliet acknowledged the need for modernisation of the Copyright Act but said the tenor of debate had made people stop listening to one another. Progress can not be made when we all stay behind the barricades and maintain our entrenched positions. We need to listen to one another and understand the various positions: only then can constructive reform to copyright take place, with the author's best interests at its heart. 

The ASA feels it is vital to be at the table for these important discussions and will continue to update members on wider advocacy efforts.