Christians pirate music: Hillsong Church

Who would have thought it, Christians pirating music.

But according to Hillsong Church, it's happening. And it's happening a lot.

"Despite the demographic of our audience being predominantly Christian, sadly we are not immune to the challenges posed by music piracy," the organisation said in its submission to an inquiry on the government's draft copyright laws.

Legislation before parliament will allow rights holders to seek a court injunction forcing internet service providers to block access to piracy websites hosted overseas.

Hillsong Music Australia and Hillsong Music Publishing said one of its artists Hillsong United has been regarded by industry group Music Rights Australia to be one of the highest pirated music groups in the country.

But when websites are not hosted or run in Australia, the church organisation is left "effectively powerless" to crack down on illegal sites, it wrote, praising the government for taking action.

With some tweaking to provisions outlining what the court needs to consider when taking action, as well as the implementation of an industry code currently before the broadcast watchdog, the bill will have an "immeasurable positive" impact on the creative industries, Hillsong said.

The new laws will also allow those "focused on charitable purposes" to continue to focus on their core values, the church organisation argued.

The Australasian Music Publishers Association Limited agreed the changes weren't entirely a "silver bullet", but conceded they were an important step for Australia in overcoming a significant problem.

The bill has the support of the Australian Copyright Council, despite its concerns about the overall effectiveness of the legislation, including why the action would be limited to the Federal Court.