The Stage

Conference call

Published Monday 12 June 2006 at 16:35

I refer to the letter “Speaking in turn” by Equity President Harry Landis, dated June 5. It is more what he neglected to mention rather than what he did mention - I spoke on the motion regarding condemning censorship, in all its artistic forms. I questioned how Equity could adopt such a motion when the union forces censorship upon its own members. I referred to my two letters in 2004, which were refused publication unless I agreed to change them. I had the temerity to question Equity’s purported policy: “We are not opposed to book fees and never have been” quoted by The Stage page 3, on September 16, 2004. Equity finally had to admit its astonishment in their autumn magazine that the revised Department of Trade and Industry Regulations were nothing but a sham.

After nine years campaigning on this issue, I finally had a question on book fees put to Parliament, on May 4, 2006. Yet the conference was denied the right to any information on this historic question by Henry Bellingham MP to DTI Minister Gerry Sutcliffe. To top it all, on May 5, the minister had to write a letter apologising for giving the impression that there had been 20 prosecutions in this way when there had not been a single prosecution ever. Shame on the DTI and shame on Equity.

Clive Hurst

(email supplied)