1. From Marrakesh to Geelong: An Australian case 12 March 2019
Presented by Anthea Taylor
Manager Accessible Information Library Services

2. Australia Who are we? Population: 25,279,000
Land mass of million km² (approx. 23 times bigger than Finland)
Estimate there are 384,000 people in Australia who are blind or have low vision.
7.6% increase on the 357,000 estimated in 2013
Project 564,000 by 2030.
2,527,900 with dyslexia
1 in 10
25,600 who have multiple sclerosis
475,000 living with the effects of a stroke
436, 400 who have dementia
Expected to increase in the forthcoming years.
Image: World globe indicating Australia

3. Vision Australia
Image: 5 images of people. Smiling. One is holding a puppy. Another has headphone on head

4. Vision Australia Who are we? Vision Australia
Leading national provider of blindness and low vision services in Australia.
Work in partnership with Australians who are blind or have low vision to help them achieve the possibilities they choose in life.
Support more than 25,500 people of all ages and life stages, and circumstances.
35 Vision Australia centres and various outreach programs across Australia; Seeing Eye Dogs Australia; Vision Australia Radio and the Accessible Information Library Services.
Not-for-profit organisation and a major participant and partner in the international blindness community.
National and International Involvement
Australian Library and information Association
Round Table on Information for people with a print disability
DAISY Consortium
Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative
WIPO Accessible Books Consortium
State based public library networks

5. Where on earth is Geelong?
Regional City in Victoria
346 km from the Sydney
80 km from Melbourne
15,193 km from Helsinki
17,391 km from Marrakesh
Population: 251,540
232 residents accessed Vision Australia Library in 2018
My home city! Has it all – coast and bush
Image: World globe indicating Australia with arrow
pointing to Geelong

6. Where on earth is Geelong?
Geelong City Library
Image: Domed building with bay water in background – Geelong Library.

7. Australia as a Leader Champions and Advocates
Maryanne Diamond - General Manager Community Linkages and Engagement National Disability Insurance Agency
Past President World Blind Union
Led its international campaign for a treaty with the World Intellectual Property Organisation to remove barriers preventing blind people from accessing books.
Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum
Former Dean University of Sydney Law School
First chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Former Board member Vision Australia
Peak bodies
Australian Digital Alliance
Australian Library and Information Association
Image: Maryanne Diamond

8. Australia as an Early Adopter
United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Signed 20 March 2007
Ratified 18 July 2008
Emeritus Professor Ron McCallum, Former Chair Committee on the Rights of Persons with a Disability,
Marrakesh Treaty to Facilitate Access to Published Works for Persons Who Are Blind, Visually Impaired or Otherwise Print Disabled
Signed 23 June 2014
Ratified 10 December 2015
Vision Australia first to exchange under terms of Marrakesh Treaty
30 September 2016
Copyright Amendment Act 2017 – Copyright (Disabilities and Other Measures) Act
Passed 15 June 2017.
Disability provisions came into effect 22 December 2017

9. Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Act 2017
Official government analysis – no changes needed to ratify
BUT Australia wanted to be world leader – so made make changes to the Copyright Act anyway
Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Act 2017
Vast improvement to accessibility rights
Replaced complex overlapping exceptions and statutory licences with two new exceptions
Goes beyond Marrakesh requirements
“Section 113E is intended to … enable a person with a disability to enjoy equitable access to … a person without a disability … [it] is deliberately flexible and is intended to encourage creativity, innovation and responsiveness to relevant technological advances within the disability sector.” - Explanatory Memorandum

10. Copyright Amendment (Disability Access and Other Measures) Act 2017
Both new exceptions apply equally to:
Any activity (eg copy, communicate, adapt etc)
Any material (music, pictures, audiovisual currently excluded)
People with any disability (not just print)
Fair dealings
Only limit – fairness test:
Purpose and character of dealing
Nature of material
Effect on potential market
Amount and substantiality
Allows anything - eg commercial services, online delivery, import and export – as long as it is fair
Image: Copyright Acts volumes on shelf

11. New exception for institutions
Replaces statutory licence and improves on it by:
Being simpler, shorter and broader
Removing formalities eg registration, reporting
Clarifying complexities eg even if available in large print, can convert into larger print
Clearly allowing import and export
BUT… limited to:
Material not commercially available
Educational institutions or non-profits with a “principal function” of assisting with a disability
Still unclear on contractual overriding
Image: silhouette of person with broken wrist chains

12. Implementing Marrakesh
There is no rule book…
there are “guidelines”

13. Implementing Marrakesh
Let’s make it happen!

14. Implementing Marrakesh
First to exchange under the Marrakesh Treaty
30 September 2016
Collaborative effort between:
World Intellectual Property Organisation
Australian Department of Communications
Canadian Institute for the Blind
Vision Australia
All parties committed ensuring exchange occurred
Image: Fingers reading braille

15. Implementing Marrakesh
Copyright Amendment (Disability and Other Measures) Act 2017
Cross Border exchanges
World Intellectual Property - Accessible Book Consortium - Global Book Service
Catalogue and repository
47 organisations/Authorised Entities
424,000+ titles available
76 languages
Checking catalogue to identify and request titles
Exchange Agreements
Outline expectations and criteria
Partnerships
Bookshare
Right to create
Accessible format to suit the needs of the client even if available in another format.
Produce without permission
Convert without permission
Image: Signature on contract

16. Implementing Marrakesh
Australian Inclusive Publishing Initiative
World first – stakeholders collaboration and joint commitment
Aim: Publish born accessible
Australian Publishers Association
Publishers
Round Table on Information Access for People with Print
Australian Library and Information Association
Government departments and bodies
Blindness/Print Disability organisations
Accessible format collections in National Catalogue
Collaborative project
Metadata to ensure discoverability and identification of format to suit the needs of the individual

17. Some things to ponder Capacity Resourcing IT Infrastructure
Relationships
Authors
Publishers
Rights holder organisations
Expectations
Members
Community
Management
Image: three interlaced circles

18. Implementing Marrakesh
Do not be too risk adverse

19. What does the Marrakesh Treaty implementation mean to Australians with a print disability
Jamie Kelly
“Access to a whole lot of content previously denied – and a variety of diverse content. It’s very exciting to know that there is more equity. It’s great that there will be less duplication and we can offer what Australia produces to elsewhere in the world”
Image: Jamie Kelly and his Guide Dog, Gambler, a black labrador sitting on a couch listening to a Vision Australia DAISY audio book.

20. Thank You Anthea Taylor
Manager, Accessible Information Library Services
Vision Australia
IFLA Libraries Serving Persons with Print Disabilities
Facebook: IFLA LPD