About Ian Bushnell
Ian Bushnell is a career journalist and a former News Editor and Chief of Reporting staff at The Canberra Times, where he was at the centre of some of the capital’s biggest stories.
A Canberra resident since 1995, he and his partner have raised three children here and takes a keen interest in politics, urban development, health, education and sustainability issues.
He has found Canberra to be the most liveable city in Australia, and that it’s a reputation worth fighting for.
He enjoys the ACT’s bush environment and its rich cultural offerings including music, theatre and sport, although as a Collingwood supporter the Giants will always be that other Sydney team.
A lover of fine reds, he believes Canberra is blessed to have so many great wineries on our doorstep.
All Articles
News
The National Capital Authority has approved early works to support the $500 million expansion of the Australian War Memorial, despite only three of the 601 submissions supporting the project. The decision was met with a barrage of criticism from opponents who questioned whether the NCA was capable of doing its job properly. But the Memorial said it was a welcome milestone...
News
The pilot of a plane that ploughed into a paddock near Sutton in April appeared to lose control of the aircraft before it went into a spin and steep descent, hitting the ground nose first, according to witnesses. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has released a preliminary report from its investigation into the crash of the Cessna R172K light aircraft...
Opinion
What price the nation's memory? For the Morrison Government, it seems that memory is highly selective as it continues to hold out against providing the $67.7 million in extra funding that the 2020 Tune review recommended for the National Archives of Australia so it could digitise significant historical material and meet its statutory obligations. When the Federal Budget was handed...
Arts & Culture
A trip to Europe might be off the cards for the foreseeable future, but you can go one better and time travel to ancient Greece, thanks to a blockbuster exhibition at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) opening in December. Featuring 180 objects which explore the theme of competition through sports, politics, drama, music and warfare, the collection from the...
Opinion
Here we go again. Victoria is in a seven-day lockdown to control a COVID-19 cluster sourced back to a hotel quarantine in Adelaide where a man contracted the virus and unknowingly carried it to Melbourne. How has it come to this? Right from the start of the pandemic, the Commonwealth has fudged its responsibilities, deferring to the states and territories...
News
A US proposal to ban the import and sale of kangaroo products used in the manufacture of football boots has been described as one of the most comprehensive own goals in the history of improving the iconic Australian marsupial's welfare. Canberra's George Wilson, an Honorary Professor at the ANU, and John Read from the University of Adelaide, who have 80 years combined experience...
What's On
There are many beautiful objects in newsman Trevor Kennedy's eclectic and vast collection, but it's their connection to Australian history and the Australian story that stirs his passion for them. "I've got this weird view that everything historical about Australia is beautiful," he says. "You can make up your own mind about whether or not it's beautiful." When he started...
News
Canberra Airport is hoping to be included in the selected ports for the new two-way trans-Tasman air bubble, announced by New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Tuesday (6 April). It is believed that services will commence initially to Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, but Canberra Airport has been working behind the scenes with governments and airlines for months to be...
Arts & Culture
The National Folk Festival is keen to program an encore of Good Folk in Queanbeyan in the spring after the success of the two-day Easter event. Conceived as a way to keep the Festival brand alive after two successive cancellations of the traditional five-day Easter event at Exhibition Park, Good Folk not only created a buzz in the border town at...
Opinion
A proposal for a solar tax or charge for solar panel owners to export the power they generate to the grid to prevent ''traffic jams'' in supply seems again to cast a shadow over the take-up of renewable energy in this country. Interest from potential panel owners is already falling and those with panels installed are talking about switching them...
What's On
The National Folk Festival's Good Folk headliner and multi-award winner, Fanny Lumsden, appreciates the irony. The traumatic year of bushfires and COVID-19 was, from a career perspective, her best yet. The success of the 2021 Golden Guitar Female Artist of the Year's album Fallow, despite being released on the day the "music industry was cancelled", surpassed her understandably altered expectations,...
News
The Australian War Memorial has been accused of trying to sneak through fundamental elements of its controversial $500 million redevelopment by labelling them as 'early works'. It has submitted a works application prepared by Knight Frank to the National Capital Authority (NCA) that includes the demolition of the award-winning Anzac Hall, the ripping up of the parade ground and the...
Opinion
Federal Parliament's Public Works Committee has given the all-clear to the controversial $500 million expansion of the Australian War Memorial, but not without a dissenting report from its two Labor members, including local MP David Smith. In its inquiry report, the Committee concludes that it accepts the argument put by the AWM and others that more space is required to...
Opinion
As thousands of school children return to the classroom this week and others start their educational journey, it's worth remembering just how important teachers are to their success. Despite the internet, devices and electronic whiteboards, it is still the teacher who is key to your child's education. Just about everyone has memories of, or heard about, a teacher who made...
News
Golden Guitar Awards Female Artist of the Year Fanny Lumsden and local rapper/poet/author Omar Musa will headline a scaled-back, COVID-safe National Folk Festival event this Easter in Queanbeyan. It's a coup for the Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council, which is keen to capitalise on the economic benefits of the festival and bring some cheer to a community racked by drought, fire, flood and...
News
Region Media Group Editor Genevieve Jacobs has been recognised in the Australia Day Honours for her service to broadcast media and the community, being made a Member in the Order of Australia (AM). The indefatigable former Canberra radio presenter was the ABC's loss but the growing digital media group's gain when she fell victim to the national broadcaster's cost-cutting, bringing...