Australia is one of the best-read counties in the world, with Sydney and Melbourne ranking seventh and 11th in the world in bookstores per capita. It also has an ignominious history of book banning.

For more than half a century, federal customs officials had a list of books they were to seize at the borders, the numbers reaching into the thousands. In 1969, book banning was effectively ended by a fast-fading Liberal government, in a vain attempt to curry favour with younger voters before Gough Whitlam became prime minister. But it goes on – under the guise of suppression orders.