Current Status: 26/11/09
Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2008 has just been passed through the Senate.
After twenty years of lobbying NAVA welcomes this Bill in principle.
To read NAVA's complete response click here
To find out more information about how Resale Royalty will work in Australia click here
August 2009 Debate in federal parliament for the current model of an Australian Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artist commenced yesterday (20/08/09), after postponement from 22 June. After limited debate proceedings have been adjourned until the next sitting which will be early September.
Speeches given during the debate can be accessed in the Hansard for the House of Representatives for the 20th August here
To read NAVA's response to the Government's proposed legislation click here.
To read the opposition's response to the postponement of the debate the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists, click here.
February 2009: Following recommendations by the House Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment, and the Arts' Inquiry into the Resale Royalty Right for Visual Artists Bill 2008, the Arts Minister Peter Garrett is seeking further legal advice. Further progress on the bill is being delayed pending this advice.
During the inquiry process, NAVA made a submission to the Committee and attended the public hearings in Canberra where the Coalition for an Australian Resale Royalty, of which NAVA is a member, gave further evidence and answered the Committee's questions .
To read the transcripts from this inquiry click here
12/02/09 - The 7:30 Report aired a story relating to NAVA's campaign for a Resale Royalty Right for Australian Artists.
- To watch the full story "Art world divided over royalty scheme" online click here
- To download the full story "Art world divided over royalty scheme" click here
Resale Royalty Right for Australian Artists
On Thursday 27 November Peter Garrett, Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, introduced into the House of Representatives the Federal Governments proposed Resale Royalty Scheme. There has been a lot of concern about the model proposed by the legislation and it has been referred for inquiry and report to the Standing Committee on Climate Change, Water, Environment and the Arts.
To read the Minister’s speech click here
To read the legislation click here
In November 2008, NAVA called for interested people to sign a petition to voice their concern over the model proposed by the Federal Government for an Australian Resale Royalty Scheme. Last week the petition was delivered to Arts Minister Peter Garrett with almost 2,500 signatures. This week NAVA's Executive Director, Tamara Winikoff, will be heading to Canberra with other members of the Coalition for an Australian Resale Royalty (CARR) to press for amendments to this proposed legislation. If these changes were made, artists would gain benefit immediately the scheme comes into force. If not, they will have to wait for many many years. To all those who signed the petition go NAVA's grateful thanks..
To read an update on this story click here
NAVA's Position on proposed Resale Royalty Legislation
NAVA is extremely concerned that the government model being proposed has a serious flaw which means that it will be a very very long time before artists see any financial benefit flowing through. In the government’s model, the royalty will only apply to resales of art works first purchased then resold after the legislation takes effect. From the Government’s election promise, artists expected a resale royalty that applied immediately to all resales of works in copyright. Unless the draft legislation is changed, the royalties artists get will be around one tenth of what they were promised, for at least the first ten years of the scheme. In addition, this scheme will be very difficult to administer and is unlikely to secure reciprocal rights from overseas sales of Australian artists’ work.
NAVA, with its partner organisations in the Coalition for an Australian Resale Royalty (CARR), is lobbying for this legislation to be changed so it will deliver immediate benefits. CARR members are NAVA , Viscopy , the Australian Copyright Council , Copyright Agency Ltd , The Arts Law Centre of Australia and the International Confederation of Societies of Authors and Composers.
Since 1989, NAVA has been campaigning for this right to be legislated in Australia. Droit de Suite (the resale royalty right) recently was introduced right across the European Union and exists in many other countries, and it was hoped that Australia would follow their example. The current Labor government in October announced its proposed model which it aims to have operational by mid 2009. After much research and discussion, the previous Coalition government eventually decided against legislating for resale royalty after intense lobbying by the auction houses. Twice during this time, Labor politicians introduced Private Members Bills into parliament. The first attempt was made in 2003 by Senator Kate Lundy, the then Shadow Arts Minister, followed again in 2005 by long time arts supporter the Hon Bob McMullan MP. Neither Bill was supported by the then Government. However, currently the Liberal Party seems to be reconsidering its position.
