SYDNEY — Australia’s federal government has passed the Copyright Amendment Bill, a piece of legislation that introduces for the first time an “orphan works” scheme, which should provide greater legal certainty when working with copyright material where the owner is unknown or unlocatable.
The Copyright Amendment Bill 2026 amends the Copyright Act 1968, and delivers two important reforms — the product of years of careful consultation.
The first, relating to orphan works, provides certainty with works where copyright owners can’t be identified or located, which its supporters say will benefit researchers, educators, cultural institutions and the wider community.
According to a statement from the Albanese government, the scheme provides “reasonable scope” for copyright owners to step forward and assert their rights in the rare case an owner is later identified. The search requirements under the scheme may also help reunite copyright owners with works that have unintentionally become orphaned and allow them to once again benefit from their exclusive rights.
Australians “now have legal certainty when it comes to the use of copyright material considered ‘orphaned’, unlocking their potential for learning, innovation and public benefit,” comments the Attorney General, Michelle Rowland MP. “We are strengthening the rights of copyright owners by establishing a new mechanism for them to assert their rights and receive reasonable payment.”
Also, the Bill clarifies that existing exceptions for the use of copyright material in classrooms apply equally in online settings, a move the creative industry welcomes as an upgrade that reflects the reality of modern teaching.
Both outcomes were passed as intended, reads a statement jointly signed by Australia’s creative sector.
“Australia’s world-leading education licensing scheme is comprehensive by design and covers everything teachers and students need including recorded lessons, distance education, online delivery and content accessed by students wherever they are,” reads the joint statement signed by AMPAL, APRA AMCOS, ARIA PPCA, Australian Publishers Association, Australian Society of Authors, Australian Writers’ Guild, AWG Authorship Collecting Society, Copyright Agency, National Association for the Visual Arts and Screenrights.
The amendments proposed by the education lobby “would have introduced unnecessary complexity where none currently exists and would have been used to justify reducing the fair compensation paid to creators at the next licence negotiation. That is the established pattern of every previous attempt to replace licensing with exceptions.”
Although the outcome is welcome, and is said to be “modern, balanced and fit for purpose,” creator groups on Wednesday, April 1 assure that the broader campaign now underway. The same lobby that sought amendments to this Bill has also argued, in submissions to the Senate Adopting AI inquiry, that Australia’s copyright framework is a barrier to AI development and should be weakened accordingly, “in perfect step with the position of multinational technology companies.”
The message continues, “The Australian Government has reiterated many times that Australian AI development using other people’s content must be done in compliance with Australia’s current laws, which include licensing arrangements. That must be the case for so-called ‘non-commercial’ development and activities, as well as commercial. An exception would deny that payment to creators entirely.”
The joint statement signs off, “What we will not accept is the steady, incremental dismantling of the framework that makes Australian creative life possible.”
