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.
HE'S back: "If the first intro I’ve written since COVID-19 blighted our lives is a bit enigmatic, please trust me. I’m glad I saw 'Bellbird', a delightful, sensitive and informative film set on a NZ sheep and dairy cattle farm." DOUGAL MACDONALD is reviewing movies again. On Page 20.
Columnist MICHAEL MOORE cites two examples that highlight the ACT's planning and development problems. "To what extent do the governments and the planning systems counter the greed of developers?" he wonders.
"SINCE becoming Treasurer in 2011, Andrew Barr has turned the level of net debt from a negative of $736 million to $3.1 billion this year, that is, an increase of $3.8 billion. This was before the coronavirus pandemic." Depressing but important writing from JON STANHOPE.
Prof CLIVE WILLIAMS has worked with several American police forces – including the LAPD, NYPD and Chicago PD – and says policing in those jurisdictions is enormously challenging. He analyses the US race riots on Page 12.
SUCH is modern life that the chore of scrolling one’s streaming service for new programs can be a painful bore. Columnist NICK OVERALL suspects the end is in sight with one new “streamer” doing it for you. Trick or treat? Only the future will tell.
"IT takes just two government ministers to postpone an ACT election. This is an astonishing power," reveals political columnist MICHAEL MOORE. "This extreme power is in place for unusual and disrupting circumstances such as… a pandemic!
NICHOLE OVERALL looks at the long journey for women to represent the federal electorate of Eden-Monaro. Now, after 119 years since the seat was created, their moment has finally arrived.
"IT is clear that as a community we failed Jonathon Hogan at every stage of his short and tragic life," writes JON STANHOPE as he shares the sad story of the demise of another young Aboriginal man the system failed to save.
WENDY MACKLIN says isolation is causing people to become quite weird especially when her friend Judy whispered into the phone: “And do you know what? I haven’t worn a bra for a week!”
POLITICAL columnist MICHAEL MOORE writes that the Canberra Liberals have credibly maintained a united community voice in the fight against coronavirus, but the gloves are off and the election campaign has begun around schools and secret union deals.
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South coast virus case forces Canberrans to isolate
Canberrans need to self-isolate immediately if they were in Ulladulla or Mollymook last weekend (September 12-13) and attended one of the restaurants where there was a confirmed coronavirus case at the venue.
