A new Women's Health Australia study suggests women aged 28 to 33 are in poorer mental health than their mothers or grandmothers, with almost one in five reporting a diagnosis of depression by a doctor, The Australian reports.

They reported higher rates of depression (18 per cent) than women aged 53 to 58 (13 per cent) and those aged 79 to 84 (10 per cent).

Study co-author Julie Byles from the University of Newcastle said the data understated the problem, given that 60 per cent of young women with depression were not on antidepressants. "It's only the tip of the iceberg," she said.

A GAY activist from Sydney says his human rights have been violated by the human rights watchdog itself - because it refused to ban a "homophobic" Telstra ad about two men in a tent.

In the ad, two men on a camping trip become suspicious when their two mates disappear into a tent.

It later emerges they are simply watching cricket on the same mobile phone.

European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas yesterday joined the call for Australia to cut emissions by 25 to 40 per cent — the overall target range scientists say is necessary to avert dangerous climate change.

In one of three speeches to the conference, Senator Wong warned it would be difficult for Australia to meet its long-term target of a 60 per cent cut by 2050 due to its growing population and energy-intensive economy, but said strong action would ultimately secure and create jobs.

Despite mountains of evidence to the contrary, popular culture increasingly insists on pretending that women are always as hot for it as men are.

A study by Girlguiding UK, released in June, showed that girls as young as 10 are anxious and stressed by the sexualising influence of popular culture.

Walking past a lingerie shop in Carlton I spotted an advertisement that turned my stomach.

"Hot Milk" targets pregnant women with the lie that its brand "celebrates the sensual, sexy woman inside the loving mother".

The orthodox explanation for this alcohol-linked violence is that there is an underlying problem with Australia's drinking culture. In the face of liberal licensing conditions, we seem unable to control ourselves. In Finland, a country renowned for heavy drinking, a change in alcohol taxation in 2004 reduced prices and increased alcohol consumption. Evaluations found that the increase in consumption did not result in increased violence. In other cultures, it is not a fait accompli that more drinking results in increased violence.

In Victoria, the main response to alcohol-related violence has been to restrict alcohol supply. Alone, this strategy will miss the point. Violence is a problem with Australian men and their relationship with alcohol. We can rewrite the unwritten rules for drunken comportment and a good place to start is with the figure of the larrikin.

Changing some of these rules will be the most profound thing we can do to change the levels of alcohol-related violence in Victoria, perhaps far more profound than Hummers for the police or changing the closing hours of Melbourne bars and clubs.

JOHN Brumby has declared war on the "me" generation of out-of-control young Victorians who lack respect and fuel crime.

Mr Brumby's strategy will dominate the Government's social agenda next year.

A round table of experts and parents will meet to carve out a way to teach the young right from wrong.

Education ministers today are expected to declare a shared goal in Australia of better values among the young.

THE Victorian Government has all but given up on a long-standing pledge to contain Melbourne's urban sprawl, announcing another big expansion of the metropolitan boundary for new housing.

Six years after setting a "clear boundary" for the city in the Melbourne 2030 policy, the Government has succumbed to a booming population, a housing shortage and resistance to high-density development in established suburbs.

A separate analysis predicted that Victoria's population would grow by more than 40 per cent by 2036, with Melbourne alone adding 1.8 million people — nearly twice the number forecast in Melbourne 2030.

Just two days after the Brumby Government announced an extension of Melbourne's urban boundaries, the state-appointed Sustainability Commissioner has warned of serious environmental damage on the city fringes and called for the boundaries to be fixed.

Five years in the making and the first of its kind, the mammoth State of the Environment report by Sustainability Commissioner Ian McPhail also boldly contradicts other aspects of State Government policy.

It slammed Victoria's emission reduction policies as being too weak and peripheral, while the "ecological footprint" of the average Victorian was calculated as being three times bigger than the world average.

With more than half the state's vegetation already cleared and a further 4000 hectares disappearing each year, the state is described as the most cleared in Australia.

Yesterday's report said 75 species had become extinct from Victoria and a further 935 were rare or threatened.

The State Government's tactic of withholding environmental flows from rivers to secure drinking supplies was putting river health at "serious risk", according to yesterday's State of the Environment report.

A step change increase in the provision of public transport services is required, particularly in outer suburbs, to drive a shift from private vehicles," Dr McPhail says in his report.

Metropolitan Melbourne stopped (building new) public transport in the 1950s, when cheap motor vehicles and cheap petrol became available," Dr McPhail said.

The Government was urged to accept that natural systems were the cornerstone of a strong economy, and was warned that Victoria's wealth would eventually suffer if the degradation of rivers and land continued.

The Federal Government has confirmed that a boat carrying 35 passengers and five crew has been intercepted off the coast of Western Australia.

The boat was spotted by a surveillance plane yesterday afternoon near Ashmore Island, and then intercepted by the Border Protection Command.

The Government says those on board will now be transferred to Christmas Island to be detained and processed.