The peak bodies representing book publishers, authors, printers, literary agents, children's book writers and booksellers have come together for the first time to oppose calls to scrap certain copyright protections.

The Productivity Commission's draft recommendations to lift all restrictions on foreign book imports would cost jobs in all sectors of the publishing industry, irreversibly harm Australia's cultural identity and impoverish authors with, at best, a marginal reduction in some book prices, they said.

Coupled with changes to intellectual property provisions, in which creative works would be opened to ''fair use'' without compensation, the result would be devastating to the 14th largest publishing industry in the world and the authors who depend on it, most of whom earned less than $13,000, their joint statement read.

More than 7000 new titles are published in Australia annually, generating $2 billion in revenue and publishers say they directly invest more than $120 million in Australian writers outside the education book sector.

The industry-wide report includes focus group research of 755 voters in the federal seat of McMahon, held by ALP's Chris Bowen, and Prime Minister Turnbull's seat of Wentworth showing strong public support for Australian authors and their work.

The commission's draft report argues the removal of parallel import rules for Australian writers and publishers would result in cheaper book prices, bringing them more in line with those in the United States and Britain.

But the publishing industry counters that the commission has relied on inaccurate pricing data, some more than 12 years old, which prefigure steep discounting of books by large retail chains such as Big W.

An analysis of prices for 150 book titles across Australia, the US, Britain, New Zealand and Hong Kong found the Australian market was generally cheaper than those like New Zealand, where territorial copyright had been removed.

The retail price of three bestsellers were compared – Kate Morton's The Lake House, Lee Child's Make Me, and Donna Tartt's The Goldfinch – and the results showed Australian editions to be either generally on par or cheaper than other parts of the world.

Some book prices could fall by at best 10 per cent if the rules were scrapped, the industry concedes, but the overall impact would be fewer Australian stories.

The Australian Publishers' Association, Australian Booksellers Association, the Children's Book Council of Australia, the Australian Literary Agents' Association, the Australian Society of Authors and the Print Industry Association of Australia have signed off on the statement.

Meanwhile, the organisations will fund a national awareness campaign – Books Create Australia #BooksCreate – to reach out to the book-buying public.

"This industry collaboration is unprecedented," according to Michael Gordon-Smith, chief executive officer of the Australian Publishers' Association. "It shows the strength of support for Australian writers and their writing, and it offers a chance to continue improving performance without putting that at risk."

MELINA MARCHETTA

Melina Marchetta, author of the iconic Australian book of teenage identity, Looking for Alibrandi, has become the latest literary author to urge a rethink on the removal of import restrictions on books, joining a growing list of outspoken opponents including Magda Szubanski, Richard Flanagan and Tom Keneally.

Had foreign editions of Australian books been permitted when she was starting out, local publishers would have been reluctant to take the chance on a manuscript written "by some unknown girl from the suburbs, who didn't go on to do her Higher School Certificate, but had something to say about cultural identity and growing up in this country".

"Looking For Alibrandi was rejected more than seven times," she wrote in an open letter on her website. "Most publishers could see the potential, but couldn't financially take the chance. Even when my publishers accepted it, I remember being told it may have to be printed overseas because of cheaper paper.

"That's how much scrimping had to be done to ensure that a novel written by a first time writer could be published. There was no advance paid, and hardly a budget for the book, but there was a line in a letter sent to me by my publisher, Julie Watts. She believed what I had written was important, and that if I was willing to work hard on the edit, people could still be talking about the novel in years to come. That was over twenty three years ago."

Changes might result in cheaper books in certain cases but the "bigger picture" of preservation of Australian identity was more important, Marchetta said.

"If these copyright rules are changed, kids today are back in a world similar to the one I grew up in; reading fantastic novels about places over there, but needing something more."

Linda Morris is on Facebook and Twitter @LindaMorrissmh