Marriage is a deeply personal issue – as it should be. It’s a something couples decide to do, or not to do, for a whole host of reasons.

The problem is that in Australia, in this day and age, not every citizen has the right to make this private, personal decision.

Essential Media was approached by a coalition of community organisations to help broaden the campaign to rectify this injustice, and we jumped at the chance to work on such a fundamental issue of rights.

Read more »

First published on The Drum: 11/10/2011

With the carbon debate set to hit the pointy end of Federal Parliament this week, get set for more character analysis of our beleaguered Prime Minister.

With her public persona now inextricably tied to her decision to accept that her approach to carbon pricing amounts to a broken promise, it’s worth looking into what’s fuelling the ‘Juliar’ phenomenon.

After all – Politician Lies – there’s hardly a headline in that right?

Q. Which statement best reflects your view:

Read more »

We live in an internet age where news knows no borders or boundaries.

Yet most ‘international’ stories still have a strong national focus, such as one country’s sporting prowess, the economic woes of another, or political debates from countries that still dominate the news like the United States.

Recently I moved from Sydney to Brussels. It’s called for a shift in hemispheres and also a re-think of how and from where I get my daily news fix.

Read more »

First published on The Drum: 04/10/2011

Canberra will be pointy-headed heaven this week, with Dating Agency RSVP possibly the only organisation in Australia that hasn’t released a lengthy policy submission ahead of this week’s tax and jobs summits.

Pity, as RSVP’s surveys consistently show tradesmen are top of the list of men women want to date. Tradies are hot property. Tax consultants don’t really rate.

With policy, as with dating, blue-collar jobs beat tax hands down. And it’s jobs – not tax – that offer the most promise of innovative government policy this week.

On tax, the Federal Government already has an ambitious agenda with its fraught carbon and minerals resource rent taxes hitting parliament in succession.

Read more »

We may live in an interconnected world economy, but there is no reporting of how workers from China to Chile are affected by the second wave of the financial crisis or who is to blame.

This time round the wave is hitting workers with over 205 million people unemployed, and it’s not the bankers and financial institutions. It’s nurses and teachers as public sector budgets are slashed.

After 5 days in the media hub of the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings in Washington DC I’ve been left wondering who rules the world and who is left to write about it. Read more »

First published on The Drum: 27/09/2011

When Rugby League legend Phil ‘Gus’ Gould stopped his on-air spruiking of sports betting for long enough to attack the Gillard Government’s responsible gambling laws on Friday night, he was blowing the opening whistle for what is looming as the match of the season.

Cash-Strapped Clubs versus Wilkie’s Wowsers shapes as a classic encounter, a contest where there can’t be any compromises, where a loss could spell death for one side, a victory worth self-evident, if ill-gotten, riches for the other.

Cash-Strapped Clubs, traditionally one of the principle sources of funding for NRL clubs, have been targeting New South Wales and Queensland Labor MPs for months claiming they would be driven to the wall if people were given the option of nominating a maximum losing amount before they hit the poker machines.

Now a number of AFL notables, several with strong Liberal Party ties, are parroting the dubious proposition that sporting clubs need the proceeds of problem gamblers to remain viable entities. Ignore the millions in broadcasting fees just secured; if people who can’t control their gambling are protected from themselves, the code itself is in peril.

Read more »

EMC’s Last Drinks campaign to tackle alcohol-fuelled violence has been recognised in the annual public relations industry awards.

Read more »

First published on The Drum: 20/09/2011

Sex scandal! Now I have your attention, I want to talk about politics. That’s the show on TV where the woman with dyed red hair swaps insults with the boofhead in the suit.

These overpaid and out-of-touch liars run the country. But they never listen to us ordinary folk. While we are fed up with living costs and boats they just want to waste our money.

Labor’s hopeless: they stuffed up pink bats; wasted zonks in school halls; they can’t stop the boats and they want to bring in a big new tax on everything. And the other mob? Not much better: he says no to everything and wears budgie smugglers. I can’t stand either of them.

This is a pretty fair summary of the state of contemporary political debate; a series of swapped insults thrown at a disengaged electorate who has neither the time nor inclination to engage.

Read more »

Australians take enormous pride in the exploits of their sporting heroes – but the needs of grass roots community sporting organisations are often overlooked.  For Hurlstone Park Wanderers Football Club (HPW), in Sydney’s Inner West, its urgent need for improved facilities was a low priority for the local council.  Wet weather, overuse and poor drainage combined to see 40 per cent of HPW home matches cancelled during the 2011 season.

Read more »

Ever wanted to tell your boot camp instructor to shove it?

Ever wanted to say “I’ve had enough of this pre-dawn madness, I’m going on holidays”.  If so, maybe it’s time that you did.

Read more »