The Productivity Commission found Australians pay up to 35 per cent more for books than consumers in the United States. Labor considered removing the restrictions when in power but backed down following a fierce lobbying campaign by publishers and some of Australia's most popular authors. They argued it would make it harder for emerging local writers to compete with a flood of books from overseas. Flanagan, who won the Man Booker Prize in 2014 for The Narrow Road to the Deep North, told Fairfax Media: "To end territorial copyright protection for writers is an act of ideological vandalism worthy of the Abbott era, but not one I expected under a Turnbull government. "For a government that claims it is committed to innovation it is a measure that will lay waste to Australian writing. "No country other than New Zealand allows for such a destructive policy.

"It would be a sorry epitaph for Malcolm Turnbull if he were to be remembered as the man who turned Australia's most successful cultural industry into a desert. "I genuinely hope that the Prime Minister - a cultured man who cares deeply about Australian identity - will look at this issue more closely, see it for the folly it is, and change course." Flanagan's other books include The Sound of One Hand Clapping, Death of a River Guide, The Unknown Terrorist and Wanting. Australian book publishers currently have 30 days to establish their copyright for a particular book by making it available in Australia. If they do so in this time, book retailers are restricted from importing more copies from overseas suppliers. It would be a sorry epitaph for Malcolm Turnbull if he were to be remembered as the man who turned Australia's most successful cultural industry into a desert. Author Richard Flanagan

Mr Tsiolkas told Fairfax Media: "I fear that the lifting of the restrictions will result in job losses in publishing, and we writers depend on the labour and support of the people who work in the publishing industry. "I am at a fortunate point in my career but my fear is that the changes will result in less of our fiction being published and in less adventurous publishers." Mr Tsiolkas acknowledged arguments that prices could come down but questioned whether the trade-off was worth it. "Maybe the consumer just wants cheaper books but does the Australian reader want more?" he asked. "Do we want to have access to a range of local fiction and non-fiction that tell our stories, that go towards building an independent and vigorous Australian culture? That provides work opportunities for young people in publishing and the culture industries generally?

"As yet the government has not satisfied me that it cares about this question." Treasurer Scott Morrison said the government will advance the recommendation when a Productivity Commission inquiry into intellectual property is complete. Former Labor ministers Bob Carr and Craig Emerson have both backed the removal of parallel import restrictions. "Cheaper books for kids in poor communities is a good social reform, that's what has driven my interest in this," Dr Emerson said. Dr Emerson, a former competition minister, said multinational book companies put pressure on local authors and publishers to oppose the removal of restrictions

Professor Matthew Rimmer, an expert in intellectual property law at the Queensland University of Technology, said the current parallel import regime was "ridiculous". "It is complex, convoluted, and impractical - especially in a digital age" he said. "If Malcolm Turnbull really supports free trade, open competition, and digital disruption, the Prime Minister should repeal the remaining anachronistic parallel importation restrictions in Australia's copyright regime." Parallel import restrictions on CDs were lifted to the benefit of consumers without wreaking havoc on the Australian music industry, he said. Follow us on Twitter