I’m not Catholic but read a lot of books etc by Richard Rohr-a brilliant thinker and speaker who lives in New Mexico and runs “The Centre for Action and Contemplation”. Judge Jimmy’s daughter Mary put me onto him a few years ago-he embraces AA and has quite a lot to say about both liberal and conservative schools that makes so much sense. And he’s funny!!!

Bless you Ross,

Milton R.
member of Saturday night Sober (Newtown)

Ross Fitzgerald is a well known journalist, historian and novelist. He is also a survivor of alcoholism, which led him to psychiatric wards, shock therapy, and suicide attempts.

For The Spirit of Things, Ross has kept a Spiritual Diary from Christmas Day (his birthday) to Australia Day. Ross reads from his Spiritual Diary, and in a conversation with Rachael Kohn, he reveals that are some emotions that are still too raw to put into words.

My Spiritual Diary – The Spirit of Things: 6.05pm, Sunday February 5, 2012 on ABC Radio National

According to a comment by “ALRC legal team” on the discussion forum on international classifications on the ALRC’s website, the ALRC “didn’t mean to suggest that adult magazines should be illegal”, going on to ask “Couldn’t those magazines be required to be sold with an X 18+ marking, rather than an ‘Category 1 or 2 – Restricted’ marking, even if comparable films remained illegal to sell?”. It apparently didn’t occur to them that the whole point of an X rating is that it means “banned” almost everywhere in the country.

I’m not sure about what you’ve reported Stephen Conroy to have said, considering that he has become one of the most prominent advocates for censorship around by virtue of his policy of mandatory ISP filtering. My guess is that he was just saying that the ISP filter wouldn’t be used to block X-rated material from overseas (which would be impossible anyway thanks to the vast amounts of it out there), as it’s already illegal under the Broadcasting Services Act to publish X-rated material online in Australia. In fact, the way X-rated content is treated online – illegal to publish, legal to view – is much the same as the way it’s treated offline in most of the country.

The real problem with the ALRC’s discussion paper (other than that it demonstrates an almost complete lack of understanding of the law, communications technology and the politics and history of censorship in Australia) is what its proposals would mean for online content. This comment box is too small to list all of the issues; if you’re interested, I can only recommend that you read Irene Graham’s submissions to the review (available on the ALRC’s website). Her style is a little hyperbolic but few people have a better understanding of the way censorship works in Australia.

Actually I’m surprised how little attention the ALRC’s paper has got in the media, considering the radical nature of some of its proposals and the effect that they would have on anyone trying to publish anything online. It would, by the way, cover this blog.

Professor,
Could you let me know if the above statement is in the book or is from your knowledge?
Regards,

RL Wilson

A RECENT study and official government analysis confirm common knowledge: Australia Day is the worst day of the year for drunken violence. But if the national holiday is a celebration of our national character, what does this say about us?

If you made it out for the flags and fireworks this year, you probably got an eyeful of this phenomenon. So at SuperLiving we thought it was a good time to examine the roots of the problem and what can be done about it.

High alcohol consumption used to be a defining characteristic of Australia. But as the average Aussie drinks about 10 litres of pure alcohol per year, we rank just a little more lush than the US and at least a couple litres less boozy than Russia and much of Europe. The guilty vodka guzzling of Eastern Europe, the omnipresent table wines of the Mediterranean and brewpubs of the Anglo-Celtic isles have statistically pushed Australia down the list – but alcohol consumption and alcohol abuse are not the same thing. And from a historical perspective, our nation seems to have been largely built on this inherited old-world vice.

To explain the continental origins of heavy drinking in Australia may at first seem a justification for irresponsibility; a cultural and genetic excuse to pursue alcohol abuse without the burden of personal accountability. “We can’t help it; it’s ingrained in our history.”

But the study of the effect of alcohol on society can offer a sobering perspective on an emotional issue we don’t usually tackle academically. Understanding how alcohol washed up on our shores with the First Fleet can be an effective first step not only in moulding public policy, but in mastering personal demons as well.

Hard drinking as a cultural norm was imported from Europe at the time of Australian colonisation. These were the days which won Australia its reputation for boorish over-drinking, an era for which some estimates count close to 15 litres of pure alcohol as being consumed per person, per year. Beer was difficult to make at this time so the main form of alcohol was spirits, especially rum.

To better understand the cultural influence of alcohol in Australian history, SuperLiving caught up with historian Ross Fitzgerald, author of ‘Under the Influence: A History of Alcohol in Australia’ and ‘My Name is Ross: An Alcoholic’s Journey’.

Fitzgerald sees a powerful effect of alcohol on Australian politics and societal development. He evokes the 1918 Darwin Rebellion and the forced fleeing of Darwin administrator John Gilruth because “he had the temerity to put up the price of beer and restrict it.” He also suggests the 1975 unseating of Gough Whitlam was partially due to Whitlam’s criticism of the governor-general’s drinking.

But the shining example of alcohol’s stranglehold on our history remains the famous Rum Rebellion of 1808, an event that puts booze at the crux of Australia’s only successful coup d’état.

“The New South Wales rum corps overthrew Governor William Bligh because he tried to protect the small settlers against the monopolists and the members of the military who traded in alcohol,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s unusual for the military to have control of alcohol which was used as a currency. And it’s unusual to have a governor overthrown over alcohol – but Bligh has been given an unnecessarily bad press here in Australia because he really did try to protect the small settlers against the monopolists and the military.”

Although initially employed as a currency and even as a legitimate substitute for food and water, alcohol in colonial Australia left its most enduring cultural mark as a convention of manhood.

The ritual of excess

Slowly, Australia has evolved into a more wine-and-dine alcohol culture, where food and conversation set the pace of drinking, not last-calls and macho group swilling. But even though we’ve shed much of that bawdy reputation and declined in overall consumption, we still have our regular stirrings of destruction, loosely veiled as irreverent camaraderie and celebration. And nothing illustrates this colonial hangover more than Australia Day.

Official statistics for high-risk drinking in Australia reflect familiar social patterns. For both men and women, the middle age group (45-54 years) proves the most susceptible to excessive drinking. Indigenous Australians report more high-risk drinking than non-indigenous people in almost all age groups. And short-term risk consumption (also known as binge drinking) is at least a weekly indulgence for 12% of men and 4% of women.

These numbers are unlikely to surprise many people, but the recent increase in binge drinking among young women is truly startling. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is tracking this surge and cites that 11% of women aged 18-24 binge drink at least once a week (almost triple the national average for women).

For Fitzgerald our trends of recklessness and the alcohol-fuelled violence of Australia Day are closely tied to product image and availability.

“There’re a whole lot of 24-hour, seven-days-a-week licensing outlets in Sydney, Newcastle and Melbourne for example,” he said. “And there’s an absolutely clear statistical correlation between the pubs and clubs and bars open after midnight. For each hour they’re open after midnight, there’s an exponential increase in serious injury and physical and sexual assault within a range of about five kilometres.”

But although government restrictions can be placed on alcohol distributors, Fitzgerald admits legislation will not be enough.

“It’s extremely difficult to control with policy, but stopping the nexus between advertising, alcohol, sex appeal and sport would be a useful start,” he said. “The connection between sex and alcohol and sporting prowess and alcohol is very dangerous. It’s part of the culture in general.”
SuperLiving Friday 27 January, 2012

J.A. Kirkpatrick
Darling Point

Let me open this review by saying that I don’t follow Australian politics, I don’t generally like most Australian literature and I definitely don’t know much about Australian history. The reasons for all of these things are many and complex and this is not the forum to explore my gnawing distaste. But, understanding this does shed some light on why my choice in wanting to read this memoir is so unusual. I am not quite sure what appealed to me … whether it was just the picture on the cover (what an unusual looking gentleman!) or the subtitle: An Alcoholic’s Journey or perhaps the review that I read which indicated the enormous strength of character that was required for this man to write this book. Nonetheless, I was inspired to read this book and overjoyed when I discovered it at the library. Yay for the public library!!

I have not been disappointed. Fitzgerald’s writing is magnificent. I am dumbstruck by what must be his clear brilliance, his stamina and his ability to gain clarity through the darkest mist. Reading this book has been like entering into a complex maze and trying to understand something that simply does not exist. It is hard to explain. At times I feel as though Fitzgerald is writing with clarity and at other times I am confused and confounded by the lack of structure or perhaps his ability to maintain a thought and complete it. I can only think that this must be the nature of his beast.

While his life is clearly fascinating in and of itself – who he meets, what he does and accomplishes – what this book is really about is the significance of Fitzgerald’s journey through addiction. I was particularly taken by the fact that he credits his alcoholism as saving his life – if he hadn’t drunk he would have committed suicide, he says. There is a stark wonder in this revelation and it is a credit to him that he can see the value in the experience.

Fitzgerald’s life is heavy and the stories that he tells in this memoir are mostly depressing and equally weighed down with portent. His moments of joy and light are few and far between and many (if not most) of his central relationships are plagued with tragedy and/or despair. But, reading this book has, in and of itself, not been depressed. Fitzgerald is grateful that he is alive, thankful that he has had all these experiences and indebted, publicly, to so many people. One cannot help but be inspired.

Without doubt a fascinating individual who has made incredible contributions, not just to politics and academia in general, to the people around him too.
Anon

The country was a lot better under John Howard. Funny how times and opinions change.

Where are all those who voted for kevin07?

The Daily Telegraph, Saturday January 7, 2012. p 34