2009 Age Short Story Competition

DEREGULATING AUSTRALIA'S PUBLISHING INDUSTRY by greg hoey
myspace.com/gregoriusgregorius
The Australian publishing industry is being opened up to imports. How our little literary giants howl in anger at "this terrible thing for australia's literary culture-its an outrage!".

FUNNY HOW THESE WILL BE THE FIRST TO CRY OUT and pontificate from DESPAIR at how cruel and regardless is Australia's humanitarian policy toward refugees and how miserly and miserable for a first world nation when we refuse to allow an influx of illegal immigrants that decide with a change of government the environment might be more suited to landing upon our doorstep.

Or these self-same cultured elites will rail on and on & vilify anyone who does not agree with 'their more educated and enlightened' views on the system of free and deregulated job markets [that has largely disenfranchised many of those from lower income backgrounds over the decades] and that do not happen to be networked in with the enlightened upwardly mobile and scholarly that are themselves allied to extremely protective and closed job markets, rarely having to answer to the scrutiny of being pressured to open up to a continual supply of immigrant labor, enjoying all the benefits of heavily unionised and protected careers while others are far less safe-guarded being availed of no great moralistic outrage at such an unfair a sytem as the 'deregulated' lower income labor market.

Having been deliberately and systematically blacklisted/sabotaged by these sort of folk for the last two decades, for the most minor of criticisms and for being slightly against the flow, I must say that concern for australia's literary art market being affected deterimentally is small indeed. Too many insufferable insular fascist/snobs parading as the liberal-minded and an open book publishing market where cheaper more widely available literature is allowed will be a boon for any who do not or are not allowed into this insular and rather too small and clubby little palace of the australian literatti.

Actually this somewhat fascist mentality applies to most of the arts areas within this country [as well other countrys], but its so much more acute within australia because of the nature of this nations isolation and how limited are other arts alternatives if one does go against the grain and how criticism has always been something with which interferes with the view of those that control the strings of australian 'culture' ie., - as little more than a happy satisfied nation of gentrified sun kissers.

And any argument that says Australian writing will be marginalised is just self-serving. Its already marginalised for either professional women, dykes and gays, or academics that only write about their chosen subject, anyone under the age of 30 with the right connections and even younger [preferably under the age of 22 just to show one and all what little genius' they are], or those already established celebrities within the industry of media, or else retired politicians. In effect way too tight, insular & cronyish.

More nepotism for 'the select few' in terms of australia's suppossed 'cultural dynamic'.
Or rather, for those within the limited gene-pool sector, because they inter-breed so often to the exclusion of others and even to the detriment of themselves and australia's cultural maturity.

The Australian book publishing industry is one of the few australian industry's to be protected, and over-protection is the word here. Over-regulation versus de-regulation which has been the main aspect of australian societal change in the last 30 or more years. And most of it has been to the de-. There's a fine balance in the case of australia's book publishing industry, that balance has been tilted too much to the over-.

Conclusion-Open the book publishing industry up but offer subsidies to those with good intentions [not nasty elites] and then maybe it wont be so expensive for the working classes to get into the reading of not only australian writers but writing and books in general. Brilliant.

This comment is actually against the wrong post but rather than being seen to edit the piece without consultation I have left it here. I will respond to this at greater length in a separate post later today.