Month: December 1999

The viewing public might get a few crumbs when Prime Minister John Howard announces the Governments decision on digital broadcasting.

Howard said this week that he expected to do so before Christmas.

You might be forgiven for thinking that the Government had already made its decision on digital television. Last July, Labor and the Coalition did a deal which enabled legislation to introduce digital television on January 1, 2001, to pass the Senate.

And before that, in March last year, Communications Minister Richard Alston made a policy statement on digital television.
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Journalists watch out.

The Defamation Bill tabled in the ACT Legislative Assembly this week is a radical change. For the first time journalists’ conduct will be the core issue in defamation trials.

Present law, with few exceptions, requires publishers to prove the truth of what they publish. Well, what is wrong with that? Plenty.

Proving truth is a difficult, expensive and time-consuming exercise, especially with our complex evidence rules and court procedures. Look how long it took the coroner to get to the truth of the hospital implosion or the Thredbo disaster.

The truth requirement has some very poor side-effects.
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This week the ACT Legislative Assembly will vote on whether to allow Casino Canberra to have poker machines.

The change has been introduced by former Liberal and now independent Trevor Kaine.

The casino has been trying to get poker machines for the best part of a decade. In the past it has put forward various schemes and proposals in a way to get around the poker machine ban, most recently a half-baked plan that part of its floor area be a registered club. Only now has it abandoned artifice and (pardon the pun) put its cards on the table.

The latest proposal is more straightforward. Give us some pokies, the casino argues, and we will pay more into government coffers.
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