"We will have code, whether or not it gets the rubber stamp remains to be seen," Mr Dalby said. The code comes amid intense lobbying by entertainment companies such as Village Roadshow for the government to take action against internet piracy, which they say is threatening the future of Australian filmmaking and storytelling. Mr Dalby said the 120-day deadline set by the government was tight, considering it needed to include a 30-day consultation period before it was submitted. But he said ISPs were committed to getting a draft, which includes input from entertainment companies, finalised, with representatives working through the Christmas and New Year break. "Dedicated people put a lot of work drafting documents and putting frameworks together," he said.

"The reason we don't have a code is people aren't being dogmatic and pigheaded. It's because there are a lot of complications. "There are issues around privacy, there are issues around appeals. There are issues around costs. There is a lot of work that needs to be done." Mr Turnbull and Mr Brandis said early last month that they expect to include a warning notice system in which repeat illicit uploaders are sent notices informing them they are infringing copyright. It will be educational in nature and not include penalties such as slowing internet speeds for repeat offenders. Mr Dalby said iiNet welcomed the idea of educating internet users about copyright infringement but there was a fine line between informing and spamming their customers.

He said the warning notices needed to be "general in nature" and include a mechanism for people to challenge accusations. "Who knows how many people are using your service? You give your IP address to you kids or your friends or brother and sister – whoever drops by your house. There is noway of knowing which person it was," he said. "You can only send a very general letter to the account holder which says: 'Dear Steve, we received this notification, here's a copy… letting you know that unauthorised sharing is against the Copyright Act … you shouldn't do it… maybe you should tighten up who you give your access to… maybe you should make sure your password is changed regularly … maybe you should make sure you have got security on your wifi"." When asked if he thinks such a system would be successful in helping reduce internet piracy, Mr Dalby said: "the rights holders think it will reduce infringement, the government thinks it will reduce infringement and we have been told to make it happen". Mr Dalby told Fairfax Media last August the bigger issue in talking internet piracy was that the business model of entertainment companies was flawed. He said cinema had become too expensive and legal content should be cheaper to lessen the attractiveness of illegally downloading movies.

Village announced last November is would cut the prices of some of its movies, which are available to buy or rent on Google Play and iTunes, by up to 20 per cent to encourage people to download movies legally.