Paul Smith, president of the NZ Society of Authors, writes:

May 22, 2008, Labour’s ninth Budget – and our first breakthrough in 14 years over the Authors Fund.
It came as a result of our lobbying the Prime Minister Helen Clark, the Minister of Arts and Culture. Historically only Prime Ministers have been able to cut through the welter of objections from pollies and bureaucrats about increasing the money in the Fund and more important, removing it from Creative New Zealand. And so it was this year. On Budget Day we got everything we asked for – and then some.
Just to recap, when we met the Prime Minister in the Beehive in February, we went armed with a three-point strategy: The first was to rename and relaunch the Fund as the Public Lending Right. It was a simple change but one which recognised the emphasis now placed by policy-makers on a range of rights. We also asked for a top up of $750,000 – and got $500,000. Most importantly we asked for the Fund to be removed from the contestable funding body of Creative New Zealand to a new independent body which would ensure author representation.
The Prime Minister listened and on Budget day all our requests – and then some – were met. These are the changes that matter:
• The new Public Lending Right Bill was introduced. That means legislation will be needed to remove it from CNZ to the new body. Select committee hearings will be held, allowing time for the necessary debate.
• The $500,000 for 2008-2009, brings the Fund total to $2 million. Creative New Zealand will administer the payments this year – and there should be a bigger than usual Christmas present for qualifying authors. In 2009, control is scheduled to pass to the new body.
This package is a huge step towards autonomy for the Fund. It also takes us into a new era in which we can once again claim representation and greater control of an intellectual property right which for the past 14 years has not been given the recognition it deserved. Ahead of us there’s more work to ensure the right outcome, but this response is both generous and forward-looking.

This might seem arcane for anyone who isn’t a writer, but it’s great news for New Zealand authors who have been buggered about for years over this. Like the PLR in Britain and the equivalent system in most civilised countries, the Authors Fund (set up in 1973 under the Kirk Labour government) compensates authors for the loss of royalties from people reading library copies rather than buying them. Yes, libraries are good, but professional writers like people buying their books even more. That’s how we pay the bills so we can continue to write more books.
The Fund has long been administered by Creative NZ, which never wanted it as it doesn’t fit its system of contestable grants, and where it was never ensured of survival. The long impasse has been due to the intransigent refusal of the associate Minister of the Arts, Judith Tizard, to even discuss the matter let alone do anything about it. So three cheers for Helen Clark, and four cheers for Paul Smith who brought about this breakthrough.