Independent economist Saul Eslake recently tabled a report on the ACT fiscal position. He concluded the deterioration of the ACT's finances were due to conscious policy decisions by the territory government. The current deficit sits around $499 million.
Recently we heard of over 130 planned voluntary redundancies in one government department alone with no undertaking that there wouldn't be more ACT departments cutting costs using this method.
Soon the conservator will announce which reserves will be on the kangaroo and wallaby slaughter list this year. They pay Strathbogie from Victoria about $800,000 to do this (plus private security and park rangers overtime for six to eight weeks in the dark of winter).
Mr Barr states that for as long as he is Chief Minister kangaroos will be slaughtered every year. Maybe many Canberrans could see a better use of what will be well over $1 million on this inhumane brutal slaughter versus keeping streets repaired and safe, lights on, rates steady and hospital waiting lists reduced.
We clearly have to decide where we want our government to spend our money. According to Mr Eslake they haven't made many fiscally responsible decisions. The annual roo and wallaby slaughter is definitely a waste of money we don't have.
The ridiculous Orwellian Giggle vs Tickle decision that effectively declared that "man is Woman" has now been followed with Sex Discrimination Commissioner Anna Cody's laughable yet straight-faced speech in Senate estimates about possible discrimination against biological males based on "potential pregnancy".
Part of the problem is the way language has been manipulated and skewed to cause confusion.
Human sex is genetically determined by the gametes individuals produce: egg cells for women, sperm cells for men. It is a pretty unambiguous definition.
Individuals are free to choose their identity, pronouns, clothing, names, even surgery to live alternative lifestyles but it does not change this basic fact.
Can we please stop using the terms transgender "women" or transgender "men"? This language causes confusion and is scientifically inaccurate.
Men are not women and cannot become pregnant, nor "potentially pregnant". Women are not men and cannot impregnate.
The morally superior tone adopted by Ms Cody instead conveys ignorance and, frankly, stupidity. It deserves the ridicule it is receiving.
The status of woman as the sex with the ability to conceive and give birth historically held a special place and purpose in our society. Tearing that down is an insult.
Nor does it facilitate the acceptance of transgender people at all in my view.
Let common sense prevail.
I agree with Professor Peter Stanley and Dr David Stephens with their article on the War Memorial (May 29). The Australian (frontier) wars after 1788 saw more Australians killed or felled by European diseases than in both World Wars combined.
Incredibly, the Australian War Memorial can't bring itself to recognise equally those Australians killed overseas and those who fought in the Australian wars on our soil.
The Australian War Memorial should be an equal place for Indigenous and the non-Indigenous to remember and contemplate those who gave their lives defending and fighting for their country.
This would be a great step towards reconciliation.
What an absurd proposition ... Pauline Hanson as prime minister. Could we dumb ourselves down any further?
Given recent polls showing Hanson only a few points away from being preferred prime minister one must surmise stupidity is prevalent in our society. Hanson in three decades has offered nothing positive or constructive to our society.
She is still "on the nose" and represents nothing of value.
Your recent article ("Cash threat to Legal Aid") highlights real pressures on Legal Aid ACT and the practitioners who support it. Those concerns are legitimate, and public engagement about access to justice is welcome.
However, it must be grounded in the full funding picture. The print version of the story omitted key facts necessary to understand it. The article's premise was a blunt comparison: $2.15 million in the 2026-27 budget for Legal Aid ACT against $18.9 million for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
These are not like-for-like budgets, nor are they in competition. The justice system is interdependent: courts, prosecutors and defence must all be adequately resourced to deliver fair outcomes. Framing one funding announcement as coming at another's expense obscures that interdependency.
Investment in the DPP does not increase prosecutions; it supports earlier resolution of matters, reducing pressure across the system. Legal Aid ACT's funding profile, purpose and trajectory are also materially different from the DPP's.
Legal Aid ACT's total funding rose to $20.519 million in 2025-26, drawn from ACT and Commonwealth streams at a ratio of about 60:40. ACT funding goes primarily to criminal and territory law matters.
Commonwealth funding supports family law and civil matters such as social security, migration and the NDIS. The DPP, by contrast, is funded entirely by the ACT, with $17.393 million. We recognise Legal Aid ACT's structural challenges are real, are growing, and require resolution.
It's why we've commissioned an actuarial review of its operations and funding model to inform the next budget.
The Sunday Times editorial calling for less red tape is based on a false assumption. I'm a building industry professional of 43 years and have just finished a six-month contract assessing development applications. In those six months I assessed five to eight applications a day.
Three applications during these six months were assessed as correct and approved without delay. The remainder failed to comply with legislated submission requirements, were incomplete or presented inaccurate information as an ambit claim for preferential outcome. Housing development submissions are delayed by developers trying to game the system or consultants' poor work.
Comply with the law and there are no red tape delays. It is that simple.
Twenty years ago, the people of Australia made it abundantly clear to the then prime minister John Howard and the NSW and Victorian premiers that no meant no when it came to the proposed sale of the publicly owned water and energy icon, Snowy Hydro.
Rubbing salt into the wound of a widely unpopular plan by politicians to sell off a part of Australia's engineering and social history, was the legal advice obtained by Senator Bob Brown on behalf of campaigners.
Brian Walters SC said that the Commonwealth could not dispose of its shares in Snowy Hydro Pty Ltd without an act of parliament. Without a new law, the sale was illegal.
The government attempted to circumvent the proper constitutional process by voting on a motion and in so doing alleged it would violate the Snowy Hydro Corporatisation Act.
Harry Evans, then the clerk of the Senate supported the legal interpretation that the Commonwealth was legally barred from disposing of its shares.
The legal advice came six months after a snowballing Australia-wide people's campaign that saw thousands of letters to editors and hundreds of articles in the media, major rallies and meetings including in Jindabyne and Cooma, petitions to parliament and representations by local members.
What is important is that we, the people, counted.
Snowy remains in Commonwealth ownership and that means that we, the people of Australia, own the Snowy Scheme.
It also means that the Snowy Hydro chair and board are answerable via the relevant ministers of government to us.
Back in 2006 the Australian people recognised the value of Australia's biggest water asset, Snowy Hydro. But the government saw Snowy as another opportunity to sell off a public asset.
If the sale had gone ahead where would we be today? Who would be the owners now?
Australia would find the register of potential purchasers/shareholders of Snowy Hydro Pty Ltd very interesting reading and probably very embarrassing for some of our politicians.
Well done Australians.
You got your priorities right.
Israeli forces have crossed north of Lebanon's Litani River and seized the medieval Beaufort Castle. When Russia invaded Ukraine, countries rushed to provide military aid. Why is Lebanon left to face Israel alone? Where are the Arab and Muslim countries?
Only 1000 thousand voters were asked which was their preferred political party and the nightly news places the results as the first item of importance. Has the media lost touch with reality?
So Pauline is ready to be prime minister. Since when did this country need a Trump wannabe in charge. These polls are laughable.
How much more embarrassing can it get for embattled "Bolshie" Prime Minister Albanese when One Nation is in front of the ALP and its leader Pauline Hanson, who many years ago ran a fish and chip shop, is making media headlines saying "I'm ready for the Lodge"?
Come one, come all and see the mind-boggling AUKUS circus. Complete with narcissistic buffoons, old clunkers, drone displays, smoke and mirrors, gargantuan money sinks and never-ending tales of woe. Grab your tickets now at a once-in-a-lifetime bargain price.
G May (June 1) is in favour of selective seating at shopping centres. He/she/they advocates that priority be given to, and I cite, "elderly, disabled, pregnant and nursing mothers". In the course of a longish life, I have been all of those things, but neverall at the same time.
The ACT government should buy the Big Splash water park. The cost would be about 1 per cent of Stage 2A of the tram and definitely be far better value to the whole community. It should repair the facility and put its operation out to tender. What is it with this government and swimming pools?
Monday was a public holiday for reconciliation week. Who am I being reconciled to, and what offence have I committed?
Defence embraces 145,000 personnel and a resource starved audit demonstrates it is permeated by attitudes contributing to "fraud and conflicts of interest" and, surprise, "procurement-related misconduct", successfully "leaking" $63 billion annually, plus top-ups (May 30).
Given Israel is navigating regional conflicts, domestic political fractures and international diplomatic fallouts, and fighting in Gaza and Lebanon, it beggars belief Michael Izhakov, the Israeli Tourism Ministry director-general can claim it is safe for tourism and investment".
