Chapter 2 - Annual reports of non-statutory bodies

Reports referred to the Committee

2.1 The following reports of non-statutory bodies for the financial year 2002-2003 were referred to the Committee for examination and report:

• Audio-Visual Copyright Society Limited (Screenrights)
• Copyright Agency Limited
• Migration Agents Registration Authority

The Audio-Visual Copyright Society (Screenrights)

2.2 The Committee notes that the total collections from all Screenrights services comprised $18.8 million for the 2002-2003 financial year. Of this amount, $15.4 million was declared available for distribution to rights holders, an increase of 8.6% over the previous financial year.

2.3 The report advises that this continued growth can be attributed to the three established copyright collection services: the Australian and the New Zealand Educational Services and the International Service.

2.4 Screenrights advises that it has made further progress in the New Zealand tertiary sector and has entered into agreements with all NZ universities and the majorities of polytechnics. According to the report this has:

had a large impact on the total collections from this service, increasing the amount by 107.2% on the figure for the 2001/2002 financial year.[21]

2.5 The Australian Educational Service continues to grow and provide educational institutions with access to movies, news, educational programming, current affairs and documentaries. Screenrights distributed the first payments of communication royalties to members from this service:

These royalties were collected under the recent extensions to the Copyright Act that allow educational institutions to communicate copies of audio-visual material by such means as email and online distribution.[22]

2.6 Membership growth has increased by 10% on the total for the 2001-2002 financial year. At the time of reporting Screenrights had 1,812 members from 45 countries.

2.7 The Committee finds the annual report of the Audio-Visual Copyright Society (Screenrights) to be "apparently satisfactory."

Copyright Agency Limited

2.8 The Agency reports that total revenue for the 2002-2003 financial year was 60.4 million, an increase of 32.9% over the previous year, while distribution to members rose 21% to $32 million over the same period. Revenue from licensing agreements contributed $55.4 million to the Agency's revenue stream.

2.9 In May 2003, the Agency received a Federal Government grant of $500,000 under the Enhanced Printing Industry Competitiveness Scheme. The grant will be used to fund:

a pilot project to develop an online print-on-demand service for education coursepacks, which is being developed by a group of industry partners...[23]

and

to develop and pilot an new infrastructure that will help the book industry to harness the new digital technologies, including print-on-demand[24]

2.10 During 2002-2003 the Agency's Data Management department:

processed 4,554,949 copying records, an increase of 51% over last year;

processed 16,224,526 copy pages;

ran 19 data collection surveys across 331 institutions;

monitored electronic copying across eight universities; and

conducted 81 copyright management training sessions.[25]

2.11 The Committee finds the annual report of the Copyright Agency Limited to be "apparently satisfactory."

Migration Agents Registration Authority (the MARA)

2.12 The 2002-2003 reporting period saw a number of significant developments within MARA. The Deed of Agreement between the Commonwealth and the Migration Institute of Australia (MIA) was renegotiated and now includes:

agreed performance targets, both for the MIA in its role as the MARA and for the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs representing the Commonwealth. The targets represent important steps towards self-regulation of the profession.[26]

2.13 From 1 July 2003, responsibility for approval of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities will pass from the Minister (Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) to the MARA. The previous system of gazettal by the Minister will be replaced and future CPD activities will be both approved and published by the MARA.

2.14 In the second half of 2003 the Migration Advice Knowledge Entry Examination will come into operation. The exam is seen by the MARA as a significant step towards protecting consumers, increasing entry level standards for all new applicants who do not hold a prescribed qualification and industry self-regulation.

2.15 MARA records indicate a gradual increase in the stability of the profession as agents are retaining their registrations for longer periods. At the end of the reporting period, the number of agents with more than eight years of continuous experience was 445 or 14.4%. The average length of continuous experience in the profession rose from 3.45 years in 2001-2002 to 3.67 years in 2002-2003.

2.16 The Committee finds the annual report of the Migration Agents Registration Authority to be "apparently satisfactory."