The Coalition for Cheaper Books...
- Believes customers in Australia pay too much for books
- Advocates an open market,leading to lower prices quicker availability
- Supports removal of restrictions on parallel importation of books
- Argues the current policy can't be justified in an era of e-commerce
- Is confident the impact of a free market on local authors will be minimal
- Visit the Australian Government Productivity Commission website
- View our first submission and our supplementary submission.
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Online shoppers write unhappy ending for Borders, Angus & Robertson
THE Australian consumer’s love affair with online shopping has finally caught up with the old world of traditional bookselling, as Borders and the 125-year-old Angus & Robertson chain were placed into voluntary administration last night. The failure of the group, which also owns New Zealand’s Whitcoulls outlets of books and stationery stores, puts in doubt more [...]
Continue reading...ABC’s media coverage
22. November 2009
Read and listen to some of the recent media coverage on our National broadcaster, ABC. ABC’s PM programme with Mark Colvin and two pieces in Art News – one and two
Continue reading...Cheaper Books in the Australian Media
20. November 2009
Read the various articles and opinion pieces from Australian media: SMH Business The Australian Politics The Australian Opinion
Continue reading...An opinion from former federal Treasurer, Peter Costello
18. November 2009
The former federal Treasure, Peter Costello responds to other opinions and has his say (taken from the Sydney Morning Herald). Bob Carr has been opining about how the parallel import rules make books more expensive and how the federal Labor Government should have adopted the recommendations of the Productivity Commission to abolish them. It is hard to [...]
Continue reading...Statement by the Innovation Minister, the Hon Dr Craig Emerson MP
13. November 2009
Here is the statement released by the Innovation Minister, the Hon Dr Craig Emerson MP. 11 Nov 2009 REGULATORY REGIME FOR BOOKS TO REMAIN UNCHANGED The Government has decided not to change the Australian regulatory regime for books introduced by the previous Labor government. Australian book printing and publishing is under strong competitive pressure from international online [...]
Continue reading...Media Release – Bookshops vow to fight Government decision to keep book prices high
12. November 2009
The Coalition for Cheaper Books said it would step up its campaign to scrap unfair import restrictions on books after the Federal Government’s decision today not to reform the system which keeps book prices high. Coalition member and Dymocks Chief Executive Officer, Don Grover, said Cabinet’s decision to ignore a recommendation from its main economic adviser the [...]
Continue reading...Allan Fels opinion on the recent decision
12. November 2009
Originally published in The Age. In the 19th century, Australian booksellers could import books from anywhere. As a result they got the best prices and best value for money. Then British colonial publishers pushed through a law that effectively required booksellers to buy from British publishers and no one else. In other words, an import monopoly was [...]
Continue reading...Coalition For Cheaper Books And Australian Booksellers Association Call For Reform Of Parallel Importation Rules
5. November 2009
The Government is now considering the recent Productivity Commission Report recommending the removal of parallel importation protection on books. This system was last modified in 1991, when the 30 and 90 day rules were introduced. Under these rules a publisher establishes their protection from parallel importation of a book if they publish it in Australia [...]
Continue reading...Well-known Australian writer and political commentator, Ross Fitzgerald claims ‘the price is wrong’.
24. September 2009
Well-known Australian writer, broadcaster, historian and political commentator, Ross Fitzgerald has argued for the removal of parallel importation restrictions in the latest edition of the SPECTATOR AUSTRALIA.
Continue reading...Author and former Professor of English Michael Wilding calls for Cheaper Books
30. July 2009
Australian author and former Professor of English from the University of Sydney Michael Wilding calls for the removal of parallel import restrictions in this recent article in the SMH. Wilding says, “Books are expensive in Australia. They have been for decades. Currently they are twenty-seven per cent more expensive than in the USA, thirteen per cent more [...]
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View ABC Lateline reports and interviews here
Watch ABC TV's Lateline report on the Productivity Commission's review of current restrictions on importing books into Australia.
Read the transcript or watch the Lateline interview (07.05.09) including Dymocks CEO Don Grover and author Garth Nix.
Lateline captured the varied response to the Productivity Commission's report from across the literary board. Read the transcript or watch the Lateline interview (14.07.09) including Dymocks CEO Don Grover, Australian authors, Kate Grenville, Nick Earls and Tim Winton and publisher Louise Adler.
Quotes
Members Of The Coalition For Cheaper Books
- Jalen: I agree with many guys like you cool site thank yo...
- Angel: Quote Why are you comparing Book Depository price...
- Matt Archer: I was initially curious about this site and motiva...
- Stephen Byrne: You need to provide a response in the wake of the ...
- Marietta Rudolf: On Wednesday November 11, The National Press Club ...
- Online shoppers write unhappy ending for Borders, Angus & Robertson
- Dymocks is here to stay
- It’s the lunacy of protectionism writ large
- Cheaper Books – Articles in the Media
- ABC’s media coverage
- Cheaper Books in the Australian Media
- An opinion from former federal Treasurer, Peter Costello
- Statement by the Innovation Minister, the Hon Dr Craig Emerson MP
- Media Release – Bookshops vow to fight Government decision to keep book prices high
- Allan Fels opinion on the recent decision
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7. March 2011
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