Copyright is governed by the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth) (Copyright Act). There is no state-based copyright law, and there is no common law of copyright, but there are court judgments that impact the interpretation of the Copyright Act. The Copyright Act provides for moral rights for original works and subject matter other than works except for sound recordings, sound and television broadcasts and published editions. It also provides performers' rights for performances.
On August 13, 2020, the Australian government proposed copyright reforms to better support the needs of Australians and public institutions to access material in an increasingly digital environment. The exposure draft of the Copyright Amendment (Access Reforms) Bill 2021 released in December 2021 details the proposed reforms. The proposed reforms include the introduction of a limited liability scheme for use of orphan works, a new fair dealing exception for non-commercial quotation, amendments to library and archives, education and research exceptions, and streamlining of the government statutory licensing scheme. Submissions from interested parties were received in early 2022 which remain with the government for consideration.
Australia is a party to the Berne Convention, Rome Convention, the TRIPS Agreement, the WIPO Copyright Treaty, the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty, the WIPO Marrakesh Treaty, and a number of free trade agreements with individual countries and groups of countries.