Views on the news from Canberra’s top columnists
Since July 2022, Canberrans have filled more than 5.3 million cheaper PBS scripts as a result of renewed co-payment policies. The estimated patient savings total almost $46 million, say EMMA McBRIDE & ANDREW LEIGH.
"Even if we're outraged at his crimes, and willing to condone the unnecessary police violence as just deserts, Tayler Hazell has a good legal claim." But, says HUGH SELBY, it's unlikely to take him far as he faces nine years in the AMC.
"In common usage, when context alone determines the meaning, we’re usually talking about polysemous words (words with multiple related or unrelated meanings)." Columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS returns to the endlessly fascinating English language.
"Every book, every film, every anything has a parent. It is somebody’s pride and joy. Even if it's bloody awful, there’s somebody out there who has it as their all-time favourite piece of art," writes Kindness columnist ANTONIO DI DIO.
Riding an e-bike comes with its downsides, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
Here it is, Canberra's new game show, Are You Smarter Than an ACT Minister?, in which 10-year-old student Michelle faces the intellectual cream of our local cabinet...
"It is now, as it always has been, so easy for the powerful to deceive with false weights." Legal columnist HUGH SELBY returns to the vexing question of justice for one woman and the cowardice of those looking the other way.
You only get one chance at a first impression. What does this directional sign on the Federal Highway, Watson tell visitors about Canberra, asks letter writer DICK BAUCH.
Industrial relations lawyer RICHARD CALVER signals rising food and wine prices as employers in hospitality grapple with the ACT Government's complex portable long service leave scheme.
Without the usual fanfare, the ACT Government has released the eight-year-old secretive business case for Light Rail Stage 2B. Planning expert RICHARD JOHNSTON knows why they've been hiding it – the economics are disastrous.
Still need to fly amid global travel chaos? STEPHEN LEIB explains what you need to know.
Fear not, the Chief has the spin in hand to counter any silly stuff from nationally recognised economist Saul Eslake, who's been sharing the stark facts of ACT financial life with an Assembly committee.
Letter writer ANNE O'HARA, of Wanniassa, says some solar panels and wind generators are already being recycled and repurposed, but many Australians seem unaware of it.
"The most restrictive refugee policies anywhere – including being the only country to incarcerate people in offshore camps – have not stopped One Nation from becoming the most popular conservative force at the moment," writes JOHN MINNS.
Legal columnist HUGH SELBY explains why disclosure of information by prosecutors is vital for a just criminal justice system.
Cartoonist PAUL DORIN reckons we all know this feeling.
Legal columnist HUGH SELBY believes the Tasmanian Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions needs to be remade from top to bottom. He says it needs new leadership that believes in, and acts upon “fair process and fair trials”.
You have more of a chance of being struck by lightning or kicked to death by a donkey than dying through meteorite impact. But should we be concerned? ROSS FITZGERALD & DICK WHITAKER say the short answer is no, but the long answer is yes!
Whimsy columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS looks at "contranyms" – single words that can mean both one thing and its opposite depending on context.
