Views on the news from Canberra’s top columnists
"When it comes to commentary upon courtroom contests, no experience, no skill is required. Anyone will do. Little wonder the Jones reporting focus is upon the entertainment, the icing and the candles instead of the cake," writes HUGH SELBY.
Cartoonist PAUL DORIN has sympathy for seniors losing a health insurance rebate.
"Despite its efforts to diversify the economy, the ACT Government’s primary role is to manage population growth generated by the policies of other governments," writes planning columnist MIKE QUIRK.
The latest NAPLAN results are unlikely to surprise schools. Education researcher SALLY LARSEN explains why the data is more useful for tracking progress than fuelling alarm.
KEEPING UP THE ACT has found the instructions to assembling a Barr cabinet. Don't do this at home.
"What's required is that a significant majority of Canberrans welcome Eastern Greys into their gardens as eaters-down of lawns, trimmers of hedges and such. Frankly, I cannot see that happening," laments IAN MacDOUGALL.
Nothing says love like a gerrycan of the real stuff, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
If the ACT Government is serious about tackling climate change, why does its strategy largely ignore one of the problem's most significant contributors, asks letter writer DARRYL JOHNSTON.
From flushing our toilets to building new schools, this is why filling in your census form matters, writes demographer LIZ ALLEN.
"Modern physics has revealed a surprising truth: time can vary, depending on motion, gravity and the structure of the universe," writes Whimsy columnist CLIVE WILLIAMS.
"I fear it will entrench discrimination against businesses whose employees are not covered by union-backed enterprise agreements." industrial relations lawyer RICHARD CALVER looks at recent changes to the Fair Work legislation.
Politicians are an odd lot, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
KEEPING UP THE ACT reveals how the ACT Inactivity Commission's Operation Kingfisher took only five years to land a couple of big fish.
The unprovoked and purely gratuitous bashing of a compliant, naked, handcuffed Aboriginal man in an ACT police cell is surely the last straw, says JULIE TONGS.
"Perhaps the government should concentrate on demonstrating value through sound financial management rather than reminding ratepayers that using a service funded by their taxes has saved them money," says letter writer DAVID EVERED.
"I have sadly concluded that this integrity commission doesn't understand integrity. I got the report. I wept," writes CityNews legal columnist HUGH SELBY. Here's why...
Barnaby Joyce's bark is worse than his bite, just ask his dog, says cartoonist PAUL DORIN.
"There are three Commonwealth agencies set up to investigate maladministration and maintain standards, but apparently lacking in the basic investigative skills to do their jobs." HUGH SELBY says if you don't ask, people don't tell.
When health-insurance companies justify their forays into clinical services based on cost savings, be alarmed, warns BRETT HEFFERNAN.
