Our Attorney-General George Brandis is attempting to reform our copyright law. Meanwhile Google, one of the multi-national companies attempting to avoid paying tax here, is lobbying in Canberra to stop this, by putting forward the following six fundamentally misconceived arguments:

1. Its contention that implementation of piracy legislation would have little effect. There is proof in Europe and Korea, which received high-speed broadband early, that legislation done in concert with legally available product and education is in fact conclusively effective. Overwhelmingly, most people are decent and honest. They would no more illegally download than go into a department store and steal a book or a DVD.

2. The assertion that the proposed legislation supports big business. The opposite is the case as it is the creative people working in production, cinema and television who are good and decent tax-paying Australians who will lose their jobs. About 910,000 people depend upon copyright protection for their livelihood. My company Village Roadshow is public and all shareholders are Australian.

3. Google contends that legislation would impede new business models. The opposite is the case according to Apple founder Steve Jobs who said: “From the earliest days at Apple, I realised that we thrived when we created intellectual property. If people copied or stole our software we’d be out of business. If it weren’t protected there’d be no incentive for us to make new software or product designs. If protection of intellectual property begins to dissipate creative companies will disappear or never get started. But there’s a simpler reason. It’s wrong to steal. It hurts other people. And it hurts your own character."

4. Google suggests online piracy is primarily “an availability and pricing problem”. It would of course know that this is not so and has been demonstrated conclusively otherwise in the music industry. Simply stated, it is tough enough to get films and quality TV produced in Australia and it becomes impossible if the product is not protected and simply stolen.