Views on the news from Canberra’s top columnists
"The latest awful idea to 'improve' our legal system is to use the recorded interview by police of adult sexual assault complainants as the evidence-in-chief at a later trial." Legal columnist HUGH SELBY explains the problems.
Impending changes to the law will make it harder for employers to impose non-compete clauses in employment contracts. But why, asks industrial lawyer RICHARD CALVER.
Unfortunately, it'll take more than yoga to stop the RBA lifting interest rates next Tuesday, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
"I wrote to the ACT Revenue Office and to the Treasurer. I even included a revised pie chart. I received an obfuscating, non-answer. Three further times, I politely requested clarification. No response," says letter writer JOHN MILLER.
What can Australia learn from Canada's migration experiment? Migration expert ALAN GAMLEN explains why the answer lies in managing temporary residents rather than volatile migration flows.
"We have public finances that are debt ridden, weighed down by devouring interest beetles, so that once sound limbs (such as education, health, public housing, access to justice) are in danger of dieback.," but HUGH SELBY has an idea..
They're not happy in the bush with Labor's immigration changes, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
"In Tasmania the game of 'cover up' is played with more intensity than in Canberra – publishers get calls threatening ruinous defamation and journalists get fed error-ridden press releases," writes legal columnist HUGH SELBY.
"The Greens had an opportunity to demonstrate that their concern about the ACT's finances was serious enough to sit across the table from people they disagreed with and find common ground. And they chose not to," writes GWYN REES.
Cartoonist PAUL DORIN says he draws with AI – that is, "arty intelligence".
There's an art to breaking election promises. KEEPING UP THE ACT thinks Minister Chris Steel has all the moves.
"My preferred method of food storage has a tendency to completely overfill the fridge… If something can go in the fridge, why wouldn’t you put it in the fridge?" PAUL DORIN has some confessions when it comes to clearing the table...
"Even given the worst possible outcomes for the accused, what possible significance could their schools be in investigations to allegations of events in a suburban alley and a private home," asks former school principal NOEL BEDDOE.
"The inadequacy of the dual planning regime was apparent in the approval of the Amberfield retirement village for 55 single-storey villas and 260 apartments on the Cotter Road, an 80 km/h arterial road," says letter writer MIKE QUIRK.
Small business is getting smaller, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
"Could humans live forever? Science says: Not yet, but it’s theoretically possible. There are several directions being actively researched," writes Whimsy columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS.
KEEPING UP THE ACT listens in as our Dear Leader tries to understand what "doing it tough" really means.
Cutting tobacco tax won't stamp out the illicit trade. Researchers explain how other countries tackled the problem while keeping taxes high.
