Library Amendment Bill 2026 - Second Read Speech
As The Greens arts spokesperson, I support the Library Amendment Bill 2026 and the contribution of my colleague Dr Amanda Cohn. I also well and truly and firmly put on the record that I love libraries too. Even though that is not in the prepared speech before me, I feel I need to say just how much I love libraries.
In all seriousness, growing up in a small town in country Queensland, both the school library and the library in town were such valuable places of so much information, of rest and of a huge relief from boredom, to be honest. Being able to go into the library when there was not much else to do was a very formative time for me. I went through a lot of books, and those librarians really knew me and knew what to recommend to me when I walked in, usually with my mum.
Put simply, we cannot allow libraries, which are important public institutions, to be subject to controversy and the ideologies of individual groups. To ensure that material is not excluded on grounds of morality, race, language, sexuality and other themes is to ensure that the Australian community is represented in all its diversity. This bill will allow libraries to self-govern on matters such as accessibility and codes of conduct. It will remove the burden from the Library Regulation to manage cases which are hyper-specific to a local facility. It will empower individual facilities to determine standards of use and enforce them with local authorities. The bill enshrines protections against external influences which seek to dictate what is and is not available for public consumption. Unobstructed access to information is the foundation of a healthy democracy.
Throughout history and in modern times, unfortunately, censorship has been weaponised as a primary tool in regimes which seek to undermine the political power of citizens. It is an insult to readers' intelligence to ban access to certain materials for the simple reason that it might offend someone. Local libraries should reflect the interests and the demographics of local communities. A strategic priority that came from theLibrary Council of NSW Annual Report 2022-23 was all about expanding audiences. The council made young people, culturally diverse audiences, Indigenous communities and LGBTQ communities their focal point. This strategy was delivered through the collection of personal stories, exhibitions and Book Week programs.
The proposed changes to the Library Act will ensure that priorities such as these will not be relegated to exclusively progressive metropolitan areas. A diverse Australia needs to be celebrated and documented in all libraries. This means that information on the culturally rich intersections in our society must be, and will be, easily accessible. In 2024 a complaint from local parents to a Cumberland city councillor led to the ban of an educational children's book on same-sex relationships. The Minister said in his second reading speech that the powers exercised over the Merrylands Library in Cumberland City Council highlighted a legislative weakness in protecting freedom of information and democratic principles.
We only have to look at what has happened in the United States in recent years to see how weaknesses like these have been exploited and galvanised by bigoted governments to reject diversity and to dictate what information the general community can access. A law was passed in Florida in 2023, incredibly, requiring school districts to set up a mechanism for parents to object to anything they consider pornographic or inappropriate, and targeted books were removed from school libraries en masse. In fear of retaliation, librarians began, and are still, self-censoring. They are quietly removing books with themes that merely have the potential to be interpreted as inappropriate. It is important to note that the removal of those books is not due to the personal views of the librarians; it is to avoid the penalties incurred by stocking potentially inappropriate material.
In 2024, 4½ thousand books were removed from public access in libraries in Florida, as they were ordered to take them off their shelves. When books with subject matter pertaining to gender and sexual diversity are labelled as "pornographic", a clear message of intolerance is sent out to society. We know that there were many other books that were not specifically about gender and sexuality, but were deemed to be inappropriate by particular people within communities. Erasing material that represents marginalised communities does not erase the existence of those communities or their cultures and identities; it just creates a vacuum of information, reinforces prejudice and fuels the culture wars.
In my capacity as arts spokesperson for The Greens, I have advocated for arts institutions and organisations. Local libraries are crucial venues, as they stock and distribute pieces of work which rely fundamentally on the principle of freedom of expression. When the Library Bill 1939 was first introduced to this Parliament, the principal librarian of the State Library, who fervently backed the bill, said, "In no period of Australian history have our people more needed technical training and good reference libraries". At a time of extreme instability within Australia and the world at large, it was understood that citizens needed a robust library system to stay informed and civically active. I do not think it is an exaggeration to therefore argue that, in 2026, unobstructed access to quality, unfiltered, uncensored information is more important than ever.
Misinformation spreads through society by the loyalty that people have to their beliefs, and people will seek out information that confirms their biases and avoid or try to suppress information that contradicts them. This is very easy to do now, in a fairly unregulated online world. I will not get into that today, but I congratulate the Minister for bringing this bill forward to safeguard against selection bias and to ensure that the New South Wales public has access to resources that represent every single one of them. Equality Australia advocated against the Cumberland Council book ban and local grandmother Caroline Staples presented a petition from the local community which had gathered 53,000 signatures. Equality Australia argued that the Cumberland City Council ban undermined the fundamental purpose of public libraries to provide free access to information and to ensure everyone can see themselves reflected on the shelves. As the Minister stated in his second reading speech, this amendment will bridge the gap between the guidelines and legislation. So long as there is a gap, there will be bad‑faith actors who seek to utilise it for their own benefit. This is a bill that The Greens and everybody who supports the arts, I am sure, are very happy to support.