AFTER taking a record number of public submissions, the Australian Law Reform Commission has now released its final discussion paper on a new Classification Scheme.
The ALRC has come up with 44 proposals to reform classification and official censorship in Australia. Chief among these is a new Classification of Media Content Act. The main thrust of the commission’s proposals is that the online media environment has fundamentally changed the way that people access media and that soon it will be possible that all media will be available on one screen. Therefore …

ATTENDANCE at Alcoholics Anonymous is the best method of helping alcoholics remain sober. There are no dues or fees for membership in this unique organisation, which is entirely self-supporting. The only requirement for membership in Alcoholics Anonymous is a desire, no matter how inchoate or half-hearted, to stop drinking.
In terms of long-term abstinence from alcohol and other drugs, AA has the numbers. Even so, not all alcoholics remain receptive to AA’s simple message that, for an alcoholic, it is the first drink that does the damage. No matter how long …

NOT very many Australians know that Andrew Robb chairs the federal Coalition policy development committee, with its deputy chairman being the former adviser to Peter Costello and now Victorian member for Casey, Tony Smith.
This important committee has been working overtime to ensure the Tony Abbott-led opposition will go to the next federal election with a policy platform that adds up politically, philosophically and fiscally. Systematically but unobtrusively and in the main under the political radar, Robb and Smith have been dotting their policy i’s and crossing their costing t’s.
After the …

WHEN John Howard first spoke of a relaxed and comfortable Australia 16 years ago, his critics labelled him small-minded and lacking vision.
But in the new year, this would strike a chord with many who are looking for stability and certainty in the face of the increasingly uncomfortable events circling us.
Every day we see media reports from around the globe painting a picture of instability. Whether it is financial and political upheaval in Greece and Italy, the Occupy protest movement, instability throughout the Middle East, or the possibilities of worldwide earthquakes, …

Tony Abbott knows he is landing the blows
OVER the past few months, Labor’s standard attack on Tony Abbott has been that he’s “too negative”. They’ve even published a pamphlet about the Opposition Leader: The Little Book of Dr No.

Apart from breaking the first rule of politics – don’t advertise the other side – this just sets up Abbott to show another facet of his versatile political personality.
From the word go, Abbott has always said that he had two jobs: first, to discredit a bad government and, second, to establish the …