Boss of the Mint, Ross MacDiarmid, reckons covid has got people back using cash. “Having a certain amount of money in your pocket a week means once it's gone, it's gone; so people are using cash as a means of managing their finances,” he tells BELLE STRAHORN.
TWO-time ACT Business Woman of the Year Louise Curtis' life has hit rock bottom in the space of four years, the victim of what she calls a “fake” investigation by Access Canberra, reports DANIELLE NOHRA.
ART and music champion Betty Beaver has died. She was 96 and Canberra is the poorer for her passing. MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE fondly remembers the contribution of this remarkable arts doyenne.
A political movement among women wanting action on climate change has the potential to transform federal parliament. And the surprise surge of Greens votes in the ACT has provided massive encouragement to them, reports ROBERT MACKLIN.
"THE shrubs in our garden look better and more floriferous than they have for several years," says gardening writer CEDRIC BRYANT, grateful for the recent rain. "And, yes, equally so, the weeds have taken a liking to this weather."
AND the outlook for summer? Expect to see above-average rainfall and severe thunderstorms in the ACT over the next few months, the Bureau of Meteorology tells reporter DANIELLE NOHRA.
"HAS the same complacency that has plagued Labor in government followed them into the election campaign? There is a sense below all the hype that they have almost given up," writes political columnist MICHAEL MOORE.
"THE most likely outcome across all five electorates is a 12-12 outcome in the 25-member Assembly with the last seat being decided in Yerrabi," writes MICHAEL MOORE. So, who will hold the balance-of-power? The column is on Page 6.
ANDREW BARR makes it perfectly clear to reporter BELINDA STRAHORN that if Labor loses the ACT election, he won't be returning to the Legislative Assembly as opposition leader.
"THAT the people who suffer most from this government's heartless monopoly release of land are from the working class or households with annual incomes of under $110,000 shames the ACT Labor Party." JON STANHOPE never minces words when it comes to affordable housing.
Since March, assistant editor DANIELLE NOHRA has relentlessly been analysing the way the ACT Community Services Directorate manages and awards its multi-million-dollar contract budget. What she discovered shouldn't fill any taxpayer with much confidence.
FEARS are looming that the nine-hectare strip along Yarra Glen at Curtin will fall victim to high-rise development, reports BELINDA STRAHORN.
"The outstanding reason why people seem to favour Alistair Coe to form the next government is because he is not Andrew Barr or Shane Rattenbury. But that may not solve the planning issues," writes "Canberra Matters" columnist PAUL COSTIGAN.
Knock, knock. Who's there? No one, actually. Traditional election door knocking is, among other things, a casualty of campaigning in a covid world, reports BELINDA STRAHORN.
MICHAEL MOORE writes: "The hospital construction did not start in this term of office. Now Labor is running it again as an election commitment, asking voters to trust them to 'commence in 2021 and be completed in 2024'. Can they really be trusted to deliver in the next term?"
"I JUST want the Barr government gone. All Alistair Coe needs to do to be an effective leader is to listen… and not yield to the grubby, greedy developers systematically stripping away our precious bushland replacing it with concrete and sardine-tin residential development." Letter writer BEC HENSON, of Hughes, pulls no punches.
"SINCE the last election, the Labor-Greens government has been using every possible tactic to delay the onset of the Integrity Commission," writes MICHAEL MOORE who believes ACT voters have deliberately been kept in the dark over corruption.
PARTIES in October's ACT election have a big task persuading undecided voters they have what it takes to lead through a changed environment. Indeed, heading to the ballot box may look entirely different too, says "CityNews" political reporter BELINDA STRAHORN.
"I WILL never live down the embarrassment of my husband telling other parents at a kids' party recently that we are a 'naked house'. My cheeks are burning as I write this!" KATE MEIKLE'S latest column is on Page 11.
"Crowded pubs, close lines of people, casual attitudes in shops and recreation areas are all testament to complacent attitudes; the very things that will bring COVID-19 back to Canberra," writes MICHAEL MOORE.
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Health alert: thunderstorms bring rare asthma risk
ELEVATED pollen levels and the possibility of severe thunderstorms over the next two days are increasing the risk of a rare thunderstorm asthma event in the ACT region today and tomorrow.
