"As a result of the increases in Canberra house prices over the last five or six years, any family whose gross household income is below $120,000 will never ever be able to afford a detached house.," writes columnist JON STANHOPE.
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.
"A sentence of nine years' imprisonment is reserved for crimes such as rape, aggravated robbery and manslaughter, but the hundreds of asylum seekers we've imprisoned for that same length of time have committed no crime," writes JON STANHOPE
"The data reveals that since Mick Gentleman became Corrections Minister women in the AMC are being strip searched at the rate of 30 a month, while under predecessor Shane Rattenbury it's closer to 50 a month," writes columnist JON STANHOPE.
"That respective Ministers for Corrections, Aboriginal Affairs, Women and Human Rights have benignly ignored for four years a raft of recommendations made by the inspector of corrections illustrates the low priority accorded to the needs and rehabilitation of detainees, including women, in the AMC," writes JON STANHOPE.
"An Aboriginal person in Canberra is 19.4 times more likely to be sent to prison than a non-Aboriginal person. The highest rate ratio in Australia. Without argument, this is more than a disgrace – it is obscene," writes columnist JON STANHOPE.
"It is not just absurd but wrong that the residents of Australian territories do not have the same democratic right as those of states to decide whether euthanasia should be legally available," writes JON STANHOPE.
"I worry that a decision to spend half a billion dollars on a memorial related to war is a questionable priority when, for so many Australians, life is a daily struggle to survive," writes JON STANHOPE.
"As a Labor supporter for more than 50 years, I think the policies being pursued by the ACT government in health and housing are contrary to core Labor values," writes former chief minister JON STANHOPE.
"We, the middle-class, Labor and Greens-voting majority have effectively mandated that working-class people and low and moderate-income families in Canberra live in an apartment or otherwise move, as increasing numbers are, to NSW," writes JON STANHOPE.
“The ACT government has consistently cut funding for emergency departments despite an increase in demand and complexity, while virtually every other government increased funding to meet the increase in demand and complexity," writes JON STANHOPE.
"The situation on Norfolk Island, a part of Australia and populated by Australian citizens, really is scandalous… [they] are denied the right to vote for and choose those responsible for the day-to-day governance of their community. This is a matter of national shame," writes columnist JON STANHOPE.
"Those of us fretting about having foisted on us yet another statue of some boring, old, white geezer should relax. It is extremely unlikely to happen in our lifetimes," writes JON STANHOPE in a brilliant column about... statues.
