Lifeblood of the creative sector – have your say on copyright reform

The Australian Government has released draft copyright reform legislation for comment, with input due soon. It is seeking feedback on the legislation, which will help the cultural, education, research and government sectors to provide services in a digital environment, and provide clear and reasonable access to copyright materials while maintaining the incentives and protections for content creators. As part of this, the Government is also reviewing other related copyright issues and wants comments on those as well.

The fact that we are still in the middle of a global pandemic and asking ourselves whether 2021 has actually ended and a new year begun is no good reason to ignore some of the important and pressing matters that keep arising. I discovered just before Christmas that the Australian Government had released for comment draft copyright reform legislation, with comments due in the New Year.

'It may not be mining but they mine a far richer seam – authentic and rich content that has already been recognised internationally for its high value, just like our iron and coal.' 

 

Reforms to support content services in the digital age
I had to search far and wide to find information about it and in the end obtained my information initially from the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) website. ALIA sums it up, ‘The Federal Government is seeking feedback on draft copyright reform legislation, released on 22 December 2021. The copyright reforms will help the cultural, education, research and government sectors to provide services in a digital environment, and provide clear and reasonable access to copyright materials while maintaining the incentives and protections for content creators. ALIA, individually and through the Australian Libraries Copyright Coalition (ALACC) have been advocating strongly for reforms to support libraries in the digital age. The Government is also taking this opportunity to conduct a review of the technological protection measure (TPM) exceptions in the Copyright Regulations, as required by the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, and is seeking input.’

The short answer #2: Broken broadband unbalances the books

Back in 2013, when the first of the latest string of Coalition Governments we have had was elected, there seemed to be a strong view within the Coalition that broadband was a luxury, mainly useful for entertainment. Yet those of us familiar with the work of Australian post-production companies, doing the finishing work on major US films during the day while the US industry slept, and sending it by broadband overnight for work to resume in the Northern hemisphere the next day, knew it was a key part of Australia’s productive infrastructure. Then the COVID-19 pandemic confirmed it. Now the Government has acknowledged that there are major deficiencies with the National Broadband Network but is it too late to save it and make it the national asset we need and deserve?

I don’t normally write about technical issues. However high quality broadband is so crucial to the future of the creative sector that commenting about it is unavoidable. After spending ten years belittling the Labor Government plan for almost universal high speed broadband, the Coalition Government has finally accepted that what it has produced is a second-rate mess.

 

Distinctive National Broadband Boxes have sprung up across the nation - but the news is not as welcoming as the message on this one.

Now, seven years after the Coalition Government was first elected, it is pushing ahead with plans to spend $4.5 billion to fix up the compromise its own cuts have created. The Minister now responsible, Paul Fletcher, used to work for Optus, so on top of the advice from his department, he must have a pretty good historical idea of the problems. It’s a good sign that he has finally made this announcement, despite the limitations of Government commitment. There’s also the question of who would want to go into the next election with this disappointing issue on your hands?

Making a living – building careers in creative and cultural futures

Making a living in the developing creative economy is no easy task. For a viable career, flexibility and creativity are crucial. For this a strategic outlook and a grasp of the major long-term forces shaping Australian creativity and culture is essential. To help foster this amongst emerging cultural sector practitioners, a new flagship course, a Master of Arts in Creative and Cultural Futures, was launched at the University of Canberra in 2019, building on earlier experiments in aligning research and analysis with real world cultural sector experience.

A vast transformation of contemporary culture not seen since the breakdown of traditional arts and crafts in the industrial revolution is under way due to the impact of the digital and online environment. Not only artists, but also culture managers and cultural specialists today are confronted with radically different challenges and opportunities to those they faced in the 20th Century.

Dior exhibition, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2019.

In parallel with the traditional focus on the arts and arts funding, there has been growing interest in the broader area of the creative or cultural economy and the related, more commercial, creative industries. While the arts and culture sector cannot be reduced simply to economics, it would be a mistake if, for that reason, we ignored the fact that it plays an important economic role. The economic role parallels the broader social role it plays. What the two roles have in common is that both spring from the reality that creativity and culture are integral to everyday life and the essential activities that make it up.