• Mike Woods
• The National Interest, ABC Radio National

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22 August 2011It's taken a decade of debate, but Australia's states and territories have finally reached an agreement on violent and sexually explicit video games. The country's attorneys general have decided to introduce a new, adult rating for some video games: R18+.

At last month's Standing Committee of Attorneys General, only New South Wales was holding out, keen to study the issue further. But now, even NSW is on board, meaning that some video games will be out of reach for the underaged. Getting different levels of government to agree on any issue can be challenging, and the federal minister for justice and home affairs, Brendan O'Connor, tells us how it's been done.

Also, the right of citizens to sue media organisations who have breached their privacy: is it a knee-jerk reaction to media excesses in the UK, or is it time to give the victims of media frenzies the right to hit back? The Australian government is examining whether people who have been victims of an invasion of privacy should be able to take civil action. But could such legislation affect media freedom?

Guests

Brendan O'Connor
Australian Minister for Justice and Home Affairs

Presenter

Mike Woods

Producer

James Panichi