The events described are from a fortnight ago and the significance is that they have surfaced at all. This is an actual, no two ways about it criticism from the left of our new Prime Minister and reported in The Australian, PM’s Literary Awards: Turnbull snubs Adler, makes strange speech. It’s not often you catch me agreeing with Louise Adler, but on the issue of parallel imports, this is one where the contractual obligations imposed by publishers should be left alone by the government. This is from a story about Malcolm Turnbull stiff-arming the Yarts Community.

He [being the PM] dismissed Adler’s call — and bravo to her for having the guts to raise the issue — to rethink plans to scrap the parallel importation restrictions that protect Australian writers and publishers. “Even if territorial copyright were to crumble”, he said, Australian writers would “stand on their merits” and their works would “sing across the world and across the ages”. That just sounds glib.

If you think Malcolm understands any issue at all, you are a very optimistic man. It took two weeks for the story to appear which of itself might indicate that the Oz may not be quite as accommodating next year as it has been this year.