The Free Trade Agreement between Australia and the United States of America was concluded in 2004 and came into effect on 1 January 2005.The Agreement required Australia to make changes to its copyright law in order to strengthen protection for copyright material. 

The most significant change involves extending the period of protection for most copyright material. Copyright protection for most material protected at 1 January 2005 or created after that date has been lengthened by 20 years. Where copyright protection is calculated according to the life span of the creator, the period is now life plus 70 years. Where protection is calculated according to the year of first publication, the period is now publication plus 70 years.

The extension of the period of copyright protection made by the Free Trade Agreement amendments does not apply to copyright material whose protection expires at or before midnight on 31 December 2004. This means that there will be no revival of expired copyright, and you can continue dealing with material that is out of copyright as before.

The amendments to copyright law made by the Free Trade Agreement legislation can be found in the Notes section of the online version the Copyright Act 1968 

Australasian Legal Information Institute