EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by the authority of the Minister for the Arts
Public Lending Right Act 1985
Public Lending Right Scheme (Payment Rates) Modification 2026
Purpose and operation
The Public Lending Right Scheme (Payment Rates) Modification 2026 (the Modification Instrument) modifies the Public Lending Right Scheme 2016 (the 2016 Scheme) by adjusting the current payment rates for eligible creators and publishers.
The use of multiple (tiered) payment rates, as set out in the Modification Instrument, enables the 2016 Scheme to provide responsibly targeted funding towards emerging and midcareer authors ensuring that the Scheme continues to encourage the growth in Australian writing and publishing, an outcome that has been widely welcomed by key stakeholders, including industry representatives on the Public Lending Right Committee.
Background
Established in 1974, Australia’s Public Lending Right Act 1985 (the Act) has assisted thousands of Australian creators and publishers to continue to write and publish books by providing them with recompense for the free use of their books in libraries. The Act is the main mechanism for Australian Government investment to be provided to Australian authors.
Australia’s national cultural policy Revive: a place for every story, a story for every place (Revive) committed to funding and acting to modernise and extend the 2016 Scheme to include electronic books and audiobooks. The 2016 Scheme was modified in 2023 to implement this commitment, including the introduction of a payment table to allow multiple rates of payments, providing greater flexibility to direct funding to emerging and mid-career authors where funding is most needed.
For the purposes of the Act, the 2016 Scheme provides for a range of matters, including the annual rates of payment to eligible creators and publishers of eligible books.
Further details of the Modification Instrument is outlined in Attachment A.
Authority
The Modification Instrument is made under paragraph 5(1)(b) of the Act, which provides the legislative framework for a Public Lending Right Scheme to, amongst other things, recognise the loss of income by Australian creators and publishers of books held in public lending libraries.
The Modification Instrument is a legislative instrument within the meaning of the Legislation Act 2003. The gazettal requirement in subsection 5(1) of the Act is taken to be satisfied if the instrument is registered as a legislative instrument (registration is made via the Federal Register of Legislation) refer subsection 56(1) of the Legislation Act 2003.
Financial Impact
In 2024-25, the 2016 Scheme delivered payments to 7,044 claimants, totalling over $14.78 million following the inclusion of Australian digital material published in the last five years in the 2016 Scheme.
Revive provided new funding of $12.9 million over four years from 2023-24 to expand and improve the public and educational lending right schemes with $3.4 million (indexed) in ongoing funding from 2023. The use of tiered payment rates in a payment table ensures that payments remain within the budget allocation while continuing to provide lending right annual payments with fairness and equity.
Consultation
The Public Lending Right Committee, established under section 7 of the Act (comprising members of the library and publishing sectors, an author and copyright representative) was consulted on the Modification Instrument. No further consultation was undertaken as the changes to the rates of payment are of a minor technical nature and, apart from altering the payment rates, do not alter any other arrangements under the 2016 Scheme.
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
A statement of compatibility with human rights for the purposes of Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 is set out at Attachment B.
Attachment A
Details of the Public Lending Right Scheme (Payment Rates) Modification 2026
Section 1: Name of Instrument
This section specifies the name of the Instrument as the Public Lending Right Scheme (Payment Rates) Modification 2026.
Section 2: Commencement
This section provides that the Modification Instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
Section 3: Authority
This section provides that the Modification Instrument has been made under paragraph 5(1)(b) of the Public Lending Right Act 1985.
Section 4: Schedules
This section specifies that the 2016 Scheme is modified as set out in Schedule 1 to the Instrument. The 2016 Scheme has already been modified several times since its issuance.
Schedule 1—Modifications
Item 1: Subsection 14(2)
- Subsection 14(2) of the 2016 Scheme specifies the rate of payment for eligible creators. The rates are reviewed by the department annually, taking into consideration the results of the Committee’s library surveys and the available Commonwealth budget, and may be subject to change in the future by ministerial determination.
- A tiered payment structure is designed to keep the base rate equivalent or above the current rate, and changes as the number of copies of a book in library surveys increases. This flexibility accommodates expanding claims under the 2016 Scheme within the available budget.
- This item makes substantive change to the rates by substituting a replacement section 14 that includes a new table of applicable (tiered) rates as follows:
- For books which have an estimated number of copies of 1,500 or less, the new “rate of payment” is $2.30 per copy.
- For books which have estimated number of copies of between 1,501 and 2,000, the new “rate of payment” is $2.34 per copy.
- For books which have an estimated number of copies between 2,001 and 10,000 the new “rate of payment” is $2.35.
- For books which have an estimated number of copies between 10,001 and 60,000 the new “rate of payment” is $2.24 per copy.
- For books which have estimated number of copies of 60,001 or more, the new “rate of payment” is $1.75 per copy.
Item 2: Subsection 15(2)
- Subsection 15(2) of the 2016 Scheme specifies the rate of payment for eligible publishers.
- This item makes a modification to subsection 15(2) which is similar to the amendment described at item 2 above, and changes to the rates by for eligible publishers based on a tiered approach, as follows:
- For books which have estimated number of copies of 1,500 or less, the new “rate of payment” is 57.5 cents per copy.
- For books which have estimated number of copies of between 1,501 and 2,000, the new “rate of payment” is 58.5 cents per copy.
- For books which have an estimated number of copies between 2,001 and 10,000 the new “rate of payment” is 58.75 cents per copy.
- For books which have an estimated number of copies between 10,001 and 60,000 the new “rate of payment” is 56 cents per copy.
- For books which have estimated number of copies of 60,001 or more, the new “rate of payment” is 43.75 cents per copy.
Attachment B
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Public Lending Right Scheme (Payment Rates) Modification 2026
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
The Public Lending Right Act 2016 (the Act) provides the legislative framework for a Public Lending Right Scheme to recognise the loss of income by Australian creators and publishers of books held in public lending libraries.
The Public Lending Right Scheme 2016 (the 2016 Scheme) provides, among other things, for the annual rates of payment to eligible creators and publishers and specifies the eligibility criteria for creators and publishers under the 2016 Scheme.
To be eligible for the public lending right, the 2016 Scheme specifies certain requirements for creators and publishers. The effect of the Act is that the 2016 Scheme applies only to creators who are: Australian citizens, wherever resident; or ordinarily resident in Australia; and to publishers which meet certain criteria (such as having published the book (including electronic books) in Australia and published a new work or revised editions at least once in the preceding three-year period), as set out in the 2016 Scheme (as modified from time to time).
The Public Lending Right Scheme (Payment Rates) Modification 2026 (the Modification Instrument), made under paragraph 5(1)(b) of the Act, modifies the 2016 Scheme, by adjusting the payment rates which apply under the 2016 Scheme for eligible creators and publishers. The use of multiple (tiered) payment rates enables responsibly targeted funding to be given to eligible persons towards emerging and mid-career authors ensuring that the Scheme continues to encourage the growth in Australian writing and publishing.
Human rights implications
This Modification Instrument engages the following right:
- The right to benefit from the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he or she is the author, in Article 15(1)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
This right is important for the purposes of encouraging authors to create work with the assurance that their moral and material interests in their products will be protected.
The overarching objective of the 2016 Scheme is to ensure remuneration for loss of income by creators and publishers of books held in public lending libraries.
The impact of the Modification Instrument is to change the payment rates that apply under the 2016 Scheme (as modified) which will continue to further support and promote the right in Article 15(1)(c) of the ICESCR.
Conclusion
This disallowable Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights because the Scheme (in the modified form) continues to promote the protection of the material interest of creators and publishers of books (literary products) regardless of form.
The Hon Tony Burke MP
Minister for the Arts