Past Programs
Lifestyle and Leisure - 2008
ISP filtering
18/11/2008
Political pressure has been building for the federal government to enforce compulsory filtering of internet content at the level of the service providers, with the particular aim of protecting children. But critics claim that the filtering won't actually protect our computers from some of the most serious risks.
Climate change and the reef
13/11/2008
It's one of the world's unique marine environments and, not surprisingly, a heritage-listed site. People come in their millions each year to see and experience the Great Barrier Reef. But some scientists are predicting that if temperatures continue to rise, within 30 years it may be gone. Could climate change kill the Great Barrier Reef?
The Reserve Bank and rates
02/09/2008
When the Reserve Bank board meets on Tuesday, it's expected to cut interest rates by .25 per cent. If so, it will be the first relief home buyers have had in almost seven years. The last cut was back in December 2001, when rates were at 4.25 per cent.
While some of the banks say they will pass on any official rate cut, others are yet to decide. Their responses will be closely watched by members of a Federal Parliamentary inquiry that's currently taking submissions on competition in the banking sector. Treasurer Wayne Swan has already warned the banks that he wants them to make it easier for borrowers to compare loans and to transfer between banks. So what pressure is now on the banks to comply? And what effect will interest rate cuts have? Are they too late? Is the looming global economic downturn about to be felt in Australia?
Ozploitation: genre films of the seventies
07/08/2008
Back in the seventies, a lot of young film-makers were having a great time making a swag of low-budget, very fast films. There was lots of naked flesh, sex and over-the-top gore with memorable titles like Night of Fear, Thirst, Snapshot and Turkey Shoot. Collectively, they've come to be known as Ozploitation.
Some in this action and horror genre made it big in the US, particularly in the drive-ins. They've also received the big thumbs-up from the Prince of Pulp, Quentin Tarantino. In fact, Tarantino counts some of them among his all time favourites.
In Australia Talks Movies a panel of film-makers and producers who were part of the genre talk about that moment in our film history, what those films were about and how they've fared against the more traditional art house cinema of the time, like Picnic at Hanging Rock and Breaker Morant.
Enough: Brands and Consumerism
22/07/2008
In 2006, Neil Boorman looked in the mirror at his Helmut Lang jacket, his Adidas runners and his Vivienne Westwood tie and decided he was obsessed with brands. Even worse, he'd started to judge everyone he met by the mobile phone they flipped and the labels they inhabited. So Neil Boorman decided to take radical action. He staged his own Bonfire of the Brands and burnt the lot. His experiences were recorded in an on-line blog and a book, published here this year.
But what is it that makes us want more, more brands, more products, more clothes and even more information? John Naish is a British journalist and author of Enough: Breaking from From the World of More. His research points to a kind of hard wiring in the brain that means we're continually striving. But he argues that more consumption isn't making us happy, nor is it environmentally sustainable.
So in Australia Talks, we're asking is it time to say enough to shopping and consuming? Should we follow the Neil Boorman lead and go brand free? And are there environmental factors that can no longer be ignored?
Sustainable cities
09/06/2008
According to the statistics, cities consume 75 per cent of the world's energy and produce 80 per cent of its greenhouse gas emissions. For the first time in history more than half of the world's population lives in towns and cities. And they can be exhilarating, energetic places to be centres of culture and history. Australia is one of the most urbanised countries in the world - four out of five of us live in urban environments. So how do we inhabit those communities now, what might they become if we're serious about making them more sustainable and what might they become if we're not?
