Today you fax Peter Costello. Today you write to the newspapers. My perspective on this is that of a writer, but mind you I am also a parent and a teacher, and I am familiar with the high cost of learning, a cost which must not must not rise. Because today I represent the ASA, let me describe to you what a GST on books will mean to writers. Based on overseas figures you tax books and book sales fall proportionately.
Publishers publish fewer books.
Writers write fewer books. Writers who would have contributed profoundly to the cultural development of Australia are forced to do other things. Their voices are silenced. The distinctly Australian voice is no longer heard on the world stage. And it is even more complex than that.