Now lawFamily & Community Introduced in the House of Representatives, 01 Apr 2026

Authors' 1985 library payments law is repealed

This law clears away the Public Lending Right Act 1985 once the new law that pays authors starts. It makes sure claims, payments and committee members carry over with no gap.

Official name: Public and Educational Lending Rights (Better Income for Authors) Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions Bill 2026

Who it affects

• Authors and publishers with claims under the old scheme: Their claims and payments carry over, so they do not lose money in the switch.
• Members of the old Public Lending Right Committee: They move onto the new committee. Their past time counts towards the nine-year limit.
• The Arts Minister: The minister can write extra short-term rules to fix any gaps in the switch.

A 1985 law needs replacing

Australia pays authors and publishers when libraries hold their books. This makes up for sales they may lose because libraries lend the books for free. Since 1985 the public library part of this has run under the Public Lending Right Act 1985.

Parliament has passed a new law to replace it. It is called the Public and Educational Lending Rights (Better Income for Authors) Act 2026. The new law covers public, school and uni libraries. It also covers ebooks and audiobooks.

This second law does the clean-up. It ends the old Act. It sets out how things move from the old system to the new one.

The old Act ends

Part 1 cancels the whole Public Lending Right Act 1985. No other laws need to change because of this.

Money owed from old scheme

The old Act and its 2016 scheme keep working in a small way after the switch. They still cover money people were already owed. They also cover choices the old committee had already made.

Any power the old committee had for those things passes to the new committee.

Payments under the old scheme must be made by the third 30 June after the switch. There are two exceptions. One is for fixing payments that were too low. The other is for payments a court orders, or a body that reviews decisions.

Say you are an author owed money for a year before the switch. You can still be paid under the old rules during that time.

Claims still waiting

Some people will have made a claim that the old committee had not yet decided. Those claims are treated as claims under the new scheme. Nobody has to start again.

The committee carries over

Members of the old Public Lending Right Committee become members of the new Public and Educational Lending Rights Committee. Their seats and terms carry over. That includes the two members who are public servants.

Time already spent on the old committee counts towards the new nine-year limit. Someone who has served six years could serve only three more.

Last report and extra rules

The old Act says a report must be written each year. That duty still applies for the last full financial year before the switch. That way the final year under the old law is still reported.

The Arts Minister can write extra rules if a problem with the switch turns up. These rules cannot create crimes. They cannot give powers to arrest or search. They cannot set a tax or change the Act.

Start date

This bill is now law. The Arts Minister, Tony Burke, brought it into the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament, on 1 April 2026. He brought in the main lending rights bill at the same time. The House passed it on 13 May 2026. The Senate, the upper house, passed it on 14 May 2026.

The Governor-General, who stands in for the King, signed it into law on 20 May 2026. It is Act number 46 of 2026.

Its rules start on the same day as the main lending rights law. The government sets that day. At the latest, it is 18 months after the law was signed. If the main law never starts, these parts never start either.

Its journey through Parliament

Official sources

• Bill page on aph.gov.au
• Text of the bill
• Explanatory memorandum

Open the full interactive page