The members of the AHRECS team have participated in the reviews of national standards for human research ethics. We have also advised and assisted research institutions when they conduct internal reviews of their policies, processes and resource material. As depicted in this humorous Don Mayne cartoon, these exercises can be generally characterised in three ways: 1. Basically a continuation of the current setting and approaches previously used. 2. A change, but not one that disrupts the status quo for powerful interest. 3. A disruptive change, which will improve the approach, but one which will be inconvenient for powerful interests. The sad and hard reality is that the best option is rarely chosen and repeating previous practice happens too often.