The death of Australia’s film industry is near unless the government stamps out online piracy, Village Roadshow warns.
On the day the federal government released a discussion paper aimed at curbing illegal downloads, Village's co-chief executive and chairman, Graham Burke, said its box office takings had plunged 12 per cent in the past month as piracy reached critical mass.
''It’s been seeping, seeping and now it’s reached a crescendo,'' he said.
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis and Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said illegal downloads were threatening the livelihoods of more than 900,000 people employed in Australia’s creative industries, which include music, television, cinema, software, broadcast and publishing.
''The ease with which copyrighted content can be digitised and distributed online means there is no easy solution to preventing online copyright infringement,'' Mr Brandis and Mr Turnbull said in a statement.
''[But] international experience has shown that a range of measures are necessary to reduce piracy and ensure that we can continue to take full advantage of the legitimate opportunities to create, provide and enjoy content in a digital environment.''
The government is calling for public submissions, which close on September 1, but Mr Burke said it needed to act fast.
Although box office takings had fallen, Mr Burke said the pain of online piracy was felt more in home entertainment, such as DVD sales, which ''underpinned the film industry''.
He said unless immediate action was taken, Australia would no longer produce hit movies such as Red Dog and those that had become classics, such as Gallipoli, Breaker Morant and Picnic at Hanging Rock.
''Injunctive relief against infringing websites is a remedy which is available, and working, in many countries,'' Mr Burke said. ''There is no reason why websites such as The Pirate Bay should be accessible in Australia when they are not available in the UK and many other countries in Europe and around the world.
''Bottom line - piracy is theft, plain and simple. The only opposition to the government plan will be from those reaping millions and the people misled by the disgraceful propaganda they pump out to protect those ill-gotten gains. Truth will win out.''
In a blog published on internet service provider iiNet’s website last month, its chief regulatory officer, Steve Dalby, said blocking piracy sites was futile. Still he encouraged internet users to do the right thing.
''Let me point out, yet again, that we think piracy is wrong,'' he said. "[But] we know the pointlessness of simply blocking sites like The Pirate Bay, when they can change their address in minutes. The internet has no gate that we can put a padlock on.
''Instead of addressing the reasons why Australians illegally download movies and TV shows, the government instead seems determined to be seen to be 'doing something' to [internet service providers] while defending, at all costs, the business model of the Hollywood movie houses.''
