With Netflix, Fox backed Presto (and the possibility of HBO) all starting up their streaming services over here in the past 6-12 months, It makes commercial sense to get rid of the free competition.
The reason it's important is that politically, local stuff is always much more valuable than scratching the back of foreigners. Take the JSF: it was pure lobbying genius by Lockheed to locate its supply chain in what, 47 states (and 9 countries). If you want to try and make that supply program more efficient, you're going to have to ask a representative to tell his electorate that 2,000 jobs are about to get axed in his state. These kind of things need to be killed before they get started, they are impossible to stop afterwards.
But then you get things like Rick Santorum trying to stop the National Weather Service from publishing data publicly for free after getting just $11,000 from AccuWeather (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Weather_Service_Dutie...).
[1] I know a large, publicly listed retailer who made 40% of their GLOBAL profits from Australia in 2012. RRP was 50% higher there, and they offered free shipping. That company was present in at least 20 countries and based in Europe. The AU office was a couple of guys to answer any questions with local shipment companies - they didn't even have an Australian warehouse...
My local member has on several occasions refused to even answer calls or meet me to discuss this, based only on the fact that as a young adult my opinion must not be valid.
letter-to-MP tips https://www.efa.org.au/Campaigns/lobby.html#tipsletter
There's no easy solution: either you earn influence and use it to further your agenda (a la George Soros), or you try and build influence in some other way, such as publishing reasoned arguments in an easily shareable format, which is what the EFF is very good at. It's never been easier to have some impact.
* This is one example: http://howfastisthenbn.com.au/
First, from the little I've been tracking this issue, it appears it was the "relatively moderate", friendly, centrist, old guard Turnbull that was behind these moves. Chances are it's done as a favour to someone in Washington who needed something from someone connected to the Hollywood lobbies. Not the strongest of motives and the kind of thing that popular opinion can reverse.
Second, legislation doesn't magically happen in a vaccuum when the PM says so. Australians, you MUST get in touch with your local politician, both to let them know (politely) how you feel about certain issues, and to give them arguments to use in Canberra if you want any chance of legislation being passed the way you like it. It's not about Labour vs Liberals. Whoever has been locally elected, is now responsible for listening to you. They also don't do much thinking so it helps to do it for them: "This proposed legislation infringes individual rights like this, this and this; moreover, as per the Constitution, that" goes much further than "I am pissed at you for letting the PM get away with it".
This is of course not a personal response to your comment, but a general note that I thought about and that was triggered by your Tony note. I've found Australians relatively politically disengaged, with the general opinion - at least in Sydney - basically being "they're all scumbags anyway, things will work out in the end", followed by some expletives about Gillard, Rudd or Abbott depending on where the Australian leans...