It must be national Report day, as a Draft Report from the Productivity Commission has just been published that firmly lays the blame for the popularity of media piracy in Australia on greedy Rights Holders and poor access to content.

“Surveys reveal much online Copyright Infringement is out of sheer frustration from poor access,” the Commission’s Jonathan Coppel said in today’s release. “The best antidote to copyright infringement is accessible and competitively priced online content, not draconian penalties and big brother enforcement.”

Commissioner Karen Chester added “Rights Holders and their intermediaries need to do more to deliver timely and accessible content. The Government should also make clear that Australians should be able to circumvent geoblocking technology.”

The proof of these findings can be found in Australia’s appetite for the new season of Game of Thrones, which premiered this week. Australians were the number one illegal downloaders of the show on the planet, and the Commission seems to believe that in this case, Foxtel and HBO have no one to blame but themselves.

Submissions can be made based on the draft report up until the 3rd of June, ahead of public hearings and a final report to be published in August.