JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED are concerned at the bureaucratic mocking of people seeking care at an emergency department because of a subjective assessment that their condition is 'mundane', but it all comes down to underfunding.
Jon Stanhope
Jon Stanhope was Chief Minister from 2001 to 2011 and represented Ginninderra for the Labor Party from 1998. He is the only Chief Minister to have governed with a majority in the Assembly.
"The ACT’s increase in debt is largely due to poor financial management and deficits in the primary cash balance which have of necessity been funded through borrowings," say JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED.
JON STANHOPE was invited to the Welcome to Country ceremony preceding the opening of the 47th Parliament of Australia today and was moved by what he heard.
"Territories Minister Kristy McBain advised that rates on Norfolk Island would only increase by 25 per cent. That’s correct 'only' 25 per cent," writes JON STANHOPE in despair at the treatment of disenfranchised Australians on the island.
Treasurer Andrew Barr argues that, as the economy grows over time, the value of debt relative to the size of the economy will decline. JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED believe that view has no merit. Here they explain why…
JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED say the ACT government’s accumulated debt is increasing by more than $1 billion every year and will be $13.2 billion by 2025. If it can't stop the debt spiral, a credit rating downgrade is inevitable.
JON STANHOPE and KHALID AHMED reveal that the ACT cannot meet the deadlines on the borrowed billions due to be repaid soon. And the interest bill is mounting…
"To her enduring credit, Kate Carnell decided, unlike Andrew Barr, that the fact GIO Stadium was owned by the Commonwealth was irrelevant, what mattered was ensuring that the needs of the Canberra community were met," writes JON STANHOPE.
“It’s concerning that neither the current or previous corrections ministers, or for that matter the Chief Minister, has responded to allegations of drug use by prison officers and fraternisation with female ex-detainees,” says JON STANHOPE.
"When interest rates begin to rise then the debt, which the residents of Canberra have blithely ignored, will assume real and worrying significance". JON STANHOPE and Dr KHALID AHMED analyse the Chief Minister's latest Budget review.
"In the nearly five decades that I've been a member of the ALP, the policy that cuts me most deeply and which I will never support, is our heartless treatment of asylum seekers," writes columnist JON STANHOPE.
In a very personal column JON STANHOPE writes: "We Australians should, as we grandstand about our commitment to our 'Pacific Ocean family', have a hard and honest look at our treatment of the most important member of that family."
