Extract from the CURRENT HOUSE HANSARD
Database
Date: 1 October 1997 (07:52)
Page: 8979
ADJOURNMENT
Music Industry: Free Trade
Ms HANSON (Oxley) ( 7.52 p.m.) While it is indeed lamentable that the Australian music industry is foreign owned and controlled, there are many Australian artists who record with these companies and the industry supports thousands of Australian jobs. As free trade and the so called level playing field are destroying our manufacturing and farming sectors, free trade in our music industry in the form of parallel importing will very likely do serious damage to the whole music industry and everyone it supports: production people, workers, and nearly 2000 music retailers to name but a few.
The best case scenario for price reductions under the government's plan on new releases is only about $2 to $3 per CD. This minor saving would hardly seem worth the potential cost to the industry and Australian jobs. While reducing the cost of consumer goods is a worthy cause, many would say the human price is too high. A recent poll found that 85 per cent of Australians would pay a little more to save jobs and therefore have a better and more secure society.
There is also no guarantee that the price of CDs will fall. Considering that the deregulation of the banking sector has resulted in the highest bank charges and the poorest service ever just as with banking, the supposed savings may not even be passed on to the consumer.
We must also ask if this is just the first step in a broader breakdown of intellectual property rights in Australia a situation that puts at risk all industries that depend on copyright, patent or trademark protection.
We should be wary of this government's intentions for the music industry. If it is the first step to a broader approach including patents and the like, we will all yet again feel the darkness of the shadow of our old enemy, the United Nations and its Lima declaration.
If the coalition is fair dinkum about reducing the price of CDs, as it promised at the last election, then it should do so by changing the inefficient sales tax regime which slugs business and consumers. Copyrights, like tariffs, protect Australian jobs and local industries, and jobs must be our No. 1 priority.
More jobs will lead to a more secure society with less crime, less substance abuse, less family breakdown and less suicide. Jobs in Australia will be created only by applying the principles of economic nationalism, while those of free trade will keep our country in a downward spiral. Governments have a lot to learn about ordinary Australians and what they are going through. I fear that these are lessons neither Liberal or Labor will ever learn.