@ernie

Australia now has a forward looking Arts Minister who recently noted that
"the absence of Digital Lending Rights represented a ‘missed opportunity’ for book creators, saying, ‘If you look at the lockdown period of the pandemic, we had an incredible opportunity for authors. Book sales went up, people wanted to use the time to read. Public lending rights mean when someone borrowed a physical book from the library, authors would receive an income. But, of course, by that stage libraries had started to shift to ebooks. In 2020 alone between March and May, there was a 300% increase in the borrowing by ebooks. So what increase did that mean in terms of income for authors? Nothing. Because if a physical book is borrowed public lending rights are there. If an e-book is borrowed, the policy has not yet caught up.’" Thanks to the ASA's reporting here: https://www.asauthors.org/news/tony-burke-keynote-address-you-are-creators-you-are-workers-your-work-matters