2025 – that was the year that was… and here it is, month by month, through the bright eyes of the CityNews columnists – a quirky, serious, funny and sad look at the 12 months just gone. HUGH SELBY steps into the ring for August…

For those who were not young adults in the early 1970s, and that’s an increasing share of today’s population, the excitement about those times, the energy and the hope is beyond comprehension.

There’s been nothing like it since. Oh, nostalgia.

Mid-month the CityNews cover featured Gough Whitlam at his charismatic best, along with Norm Gunson, Aunty Jack, women pressing for equality of opportunity and reward, and Margaret Fulton’s Crockpot cookbook.

“So what?” say those whose childhood offered something more on the table than overcooked veges, roasted or grilled meat, and the luxury of Neapolitan ice-cream in three colours.

You can catch Living in the Seventies at the National Library until February 1. It’s free, so it’s an ideal excursion with the grandkids. 

Those pressing for more recognition of women and their achievements would be pleased by David Turnbull’s cover story article about Elizabeth Reid who in 1973 became the first adviser on women’s affairs to a PM (in this case Gough). Later she was to spend three decades with the United Nations working to help women. Along the way she helped to develop Australia’s strategy on HIV AIDS.

Women’s health was the focus of a third August cover, featuring Dr Jeannie Ellis and her Queenbee Woman’s Health clinic. Her clinic offers health care for women at every stage of life. Hence, she deals, for example, with menstrual problems, endometriosis, miscarriage management, menopause and pregnancy choices.

By coincidence the same CityNews issue reported that expectant mothers are getting older and birth rates are falling. Expectant mums and dads of any age are excited, but it doesn’t always end well. 

Peter Cursley and his wife Susan lost their newborn daughter after a few days. Then Susan succumbed to a brain tumour within two years.

Peter’s response to this double tragedy was to fulfil Susan and his dream to set up the Newborn Intensive Care Foundation.

Millions of dollars later the charity could do with your little donation to be able to keep on helping around 800 babies each year. 

It’s a good thing that helping others is on the agenda of some people because it isn’t in sight when the mega-debtor team led by Andy is in the news. 

There was yet another article on the “we’ll do nothing about our prisons and prisoners”. There’s more prisoners but no rehabilitation programs.

It’s worth noting that the ceaseless efforts of the Winnunga Nimmityjah Health and Community Services to improve the health and living conditions of local indigenous families would shame any government that had the capacity to feel shame. Ours does not. 

Columnist Andrew Hughes summed up the approach of our territory government when he wrote about the recommendations of reports being ignored. He thought that the strategy is written by a narcissist: deny, denigrate, delay, defend.

He’s much too kind. The strategy is to ignore, knowing that the news cycle is so quick that any issue disappears within days, if not hours. If ignoring doesn’t work then attack the messenger. Avoid any comment on the substance.

The best example is that red tram. So many articles by Jon Stanhope and Khalid Ahmed, but also by Beatrice Bodart-Bailey, and former planners. Then there are the letters to the editor. The response? Nix, zero, nil, nuttin’.

As Mr Shush Capital (author of KEEPING UP THE ACT) had the venerable chief snail at the ACT Inactivity Commission tell us: “So to all you ne’er-do-wells seeking to dabble in corruption – I would say this… We are coming for you… eventually”. 

“Corruption” is a word of wide meaning. The Integrity Commission follows a legislated definition that focuses on misconduct of one sort of another. But there is another sort of corruption: a corruption of core values that leads to heartlessness, lack of compassion, indifference to suffering and to dire need.

We can see its effects every day in our public spaces: at least 1000 people sleeping rough because they have no shelter to call home. The waiting list for urgent housing is several years. Maintenance for Housing ACT is a travesty as the saga of Little Dion and his gran showed (and still shows at year’s end). Minister Yvette Berry stands mute through it all.

The truth, as Jon and Khalid found, was that the priority commitment is to sell off public housing to fund the red beastie. At least all that concrete and steel will provide more outdoor spaces for the homeless to bed down. 

The last word is Mr Shush Capital’s Andy saying: “A disaster is only a disaster if you don’t spin it”.