As I understand, it doesn’t matter if Australia is a signatory or contributor to any international agreements or treaties within the national borders.
This apparent conundrum is further deepened by states’ rights under the federated constitution.

Even a ratified treaty (- Does such a mechanism exist in Australia? -) does not carry the force of law within the borders of Australia. Therefore Australia can be a signatory to any number of civil and human rights statements from the UN, but still legally maintain detention centers.

In the US, a treaty that is ratified by both houses of the legislature carries the force of law – meaning it can be enforced by the police and courts. It is effectively a law passed by Congress.
The treaty is then signed into law by the President.

Is there some means by which international law or agreements can be effective law within the borders of Australia? My first guess is some sort of mechanism requiring the participation of the Governor General in involved (or possibly the treaty or agreement would have to be passed as a federal-level law?)

According to their commentary, Microsoft and Sony – the originators of DRM – are moving away from the technology.
An increasing number of artists are choosing to avoid the restrictive contracts of the music industry and promote their music directly over the web.
Not to mention a little music industry twist:

Yet the most pressing reason for the music industry to ditch DRM, says James McQuivey of Forrester Research, a consultancy, is to undermine the bargaining power it inadvertently gave to Apple by insisting on it. Thanks to the success of Apple’s iPods and its iTunes music store, most legally downloaded songs are protected by the firm’s own DRM technology, called FairPlay. That helps it to negotiate favourable terms with the labels, such as the right to sell all songs at the same price. Dropping DRM, the theory runs, will weaken Apple’s position, because other online retailers could then sell tunes for the iPod.

As the brilliant minds at The Economist point out, abandoning DRM would force the industry to examine new business models… (insert exaggerated gasp here)

Paul