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
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...
Opinion
Year in Review: Region Media is revisiting some of the best Opinion articles of 2021. Here’s what got you talking, got you angry and got you thinking in 2021. Today, Ian Bushnell says Canberra's tennis statesman Nick Kyrgios summed up the national mood in his Australian Open quarantine serve. Who would have thought that Canberra's Nick Kyrgios would morph from tennis...
Opinion
It's time Australians acquired some perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic and its fallout on our way of life and economy. Experience is relative, so one shouldn't dismiss the effects of testing, travel restrictions, lockdowns, and quarantine on individuals, families and businesses. But the frightening numbers coming out of the UK and US are more than just sobering - they should...
Environment
The ACT Government has acknowledged that wild horses have crossed into Namadgi National Park from NSW where they are protected under a controversial heritage status. Fortunately, the government believes the animals, declared a pest in the ACT, have returned to the adjacent Kosciuszko National Park, but the incursion highlights the threat posed to Namadgi's ecosystems by the wild horses, which are...
Opinion
Today is a day for Australians to give thanks for our system of government and how easily and efficiently we exercise our vote in this country. The morning after the events in that other national capital, supposedly the world's bastion of democracy and freedom, it is worth reflecting the benefits compulsory voting had conferred on Australia, nurturing a culture of...
News
The borders are clanging shut on NSW as its COVID-19 outbreak spreads, but so far the ACT has not been caught up in the new travel restrictions, other than Canberrans being urged to stay away from the NSW hotspots. Both Victoria, now battling its own Sydney-sourced cluster in Melbourne, and South Australia, will reimpose hard borders with NSW - Victoria...
News
Canberra Airport is ready to lead the resumption of quarantine-free flights to New Zealand and will be pushing for a January take-off. Chief executive Stephen Byron said New Zealand's announcement that it would be ready to reopen its border to Australia in the New Year was the positive step the Airport had been looking for. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda...
Opinion
The revelations about alleged war crimes in Afghanistan by members of Australia's Special Air Service regiment is a big wake-up call to those who have been drawn to the cult of the Digger in recent decades. The Brereton report has shocked the Defence establishment and cast a shadow over an institution that has not just been held in high regard...
Property
A stunning property on the NSW South Coast that was designed and built to be a lasting feature of its environment and to take advantage of its spectacular beach location has taken out the 2020 HIA-CSR ACT and Southern NSW Home of the Year. The three-level family home at Guerilla Bay was designed by small Canberra firm Steve Andrea Architecture and built...