The Hoot on hiatus

The Hoot's taking a short break, but keep checking your pod feed. We will be back! It's a big year, after all. Look after yourselves over the winter. Rug up. Stay safe. And hoot, hoot!

The Hoot: Pop the champagne! It's time ACT buses had business class

This week on The Hoot, we're all about the money, money, money. We start with the ACT Budget (stop yawning; this is important), and then we get to the baffling pay rise for our new Governor General, Sam Mostyn. How big is the pay rise? How does 43 per cent sound? That's 43 per cent on a salary alr…

The Hoot: Dutton goes nuclear (you better believe there'll be fallout!)

Join David Murtagh and newly minted Riotact Editor Claire Fenwicke as they tackle the big issues of the week: Dutton's nuclear policy, when public consultation goes off the rails and fans turning on the home team.

The Hoot: Labor's pokies plan a high stakes gamble

This week on The Hoot, the owls take a hard look at the ACT Government's 20-year plan to cull the number of poker machines in local clubs. Under the initiative, the number of poker machines in the ACT will be slashed to just 1000 by 2045 if Labor is re-elected in October (there are currently 3790)…

The Hoot: VAD's passed, but what happens next?

Good news! Claire Fenwicke is back, meaning Murtagh's evil reign has come to an end. And just in the nick of time. This week, the owl's talk about where to next for voluntary assisted dying now that it's been passed, which inevitably brings us to slippery slopes. And all was going well until Murt…

The Hoot: Is CSIRO's nuclear reaction a fusion of fact and fiction, or another sign of the times?

You've heard about CSIRO's analysis of nuclear power, right? And you remember when the ACT Government told you how great the next stages of light rail would be (although not the cost ... which is odd ... but we digress). And you saw the Treasurer deliver the Budget (gee, you really are a sucker f…

The Hoot on knife crime, supermarkets checkouts and THAT painting

This week on The Hoot, David Murtagh and Claire Fenwicke delve deep into Jack's Law, a move by the Canberra Liberals to combat knife crime. Hard to disagree with, right? But there's a problem. The law would allow police to use metal detection wands on people "without reasonable suspicion in desig…

The Hoot: Can a pea-and-thimble trick really slay the inflation dragon?

How about that Budget?! Thrilling, eh! Yep, we're in the 'meh' boat, too. Talk about a nothing burger. There's not much to get excited about - until you start looking under the bonnet at the tricks. Like, if inflation is too much money and not enough stuff, how can throwing $300 at households by …

The Hoot: the ACT's ticking debt bomb, the problems with public housing and who said we want 'Big Canberra'?

This week on The Hoot, David Murtagh is joined by Assembly reporter Claire Fenwicke to discuss the growing debt in the ACT (are we that far off being Victoria?), the myriad failures in public housing, and one of the reasons the Barr Government is so keen on light rail is that we are projected to ha…

S3 E16: Improving legal responses to sexual violence, (yet) another transport election and bike wars

This week on The Hoot, David Murtagh is joined by Assembly reporter Claire Fenwicke to discuss the latest efforts to improve system responses to sexual crime, the growing daylight between the Greens and Labor on transport policy, and bike riders. Why do cyclists make Canberrans so very, very angry?