“New Zealanders already love reading, and research
consistently shows that reading participation is fundamental
to our success as a nation,” says Coalition
for Books chair Melanie Laville-Moore.
Reading
improves life outcomes, lifts economic productivity, and
strengthens social wellbeing. “But the literature sector
also faces core challenges that only a coordinated
government response can help overcome,” she
says.
The Coalition,
a collaborative organisation representing all parts of the
sector, has identified four priority issues in its Election
Manifesto.
Advertisement – scroll to continue reading
Firstly, the Coalition wants the future
government to commit to strategic and more focused funding
of the sector.
“New Zealand readers engage strongly
with books, yet books still lack the stand-alone, targeted
support enjoyed by music and film through their
government-funded commissions. A piecemeal, uncoordinated
approach is preventing the book sector from realising its
full potential,” says Laville-Moore
Secondly, they
want the government to join with the book sector to launch
the New Zealand Year of Reading, similar to recent
initiatives in other developed nations.
“The UK,
Australia, Norway – our peers are on to this, let’s join
them through our own co-funded major nationwide campaign to
get more New Zealanders reading our stories, reading our
books,” says Laville-Moore.
The final two issues are
ones only the government can move the needle on: legislative
reform and local purchasing commitments.
“These can
be easily done if there is government will to do it,” says
Laville-Moore.
She points to a directive issued last
June requiring 130 government agencies to buy New Zealand
woollen products for government construction
projects.
“If the government would also direct its
ministries and libraries to stop the damaging practice of
offshore contracts with overseas based books wholesalers, it
would have the same benefits and economic
outcomes.”
Copyright Act reform, Public Lending
Right reform, and new legislation to address AI are all
bills which should be on the next government’s
agenda.
“Any government which will help the sector
work towards these goals is a government ensuring the future
is for, and also full of readers. We are asking, will
political parties who form the next government open the book
for all New Zealanders?” says
Laville-Moore.
