Good morning Canberra,
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A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! May is here and with it some fairly palatable weather. Today will be clear with an expected top of 19 degrees. Tuesday is projected to hit 17 degrees, Wednesday 15 degrees and Thursday 16 degrees. It's well and truly coat weather, but there's only a slight chance of showers a couple of times during the week.
Let's take a look at what's making headlines today.
The budget won't bring good news for unis... or students
The Turnbull government will slash university funding by hundreds of millions of dollars in the May budget while hiking student fees and requiring graduates to pay back their loans faster.
The government will justify the cuts by pointing to a major new report which found universities receive adequate funding for most courses they teach and that their revenues are growing faster than costs.
Matthew Knott has the exclusive story.
Former Aunty boss has some scathing words for the ABC
A Former ABC TV chief claims the national broadcaster is failing viewers and external producers, while using its statutory independence to deflect valid criticism.
Kim Dalton served as ABC's television director from 2006 to 2013, and has plenty to say about the current state of one of Australia's most treasured institutions.
Michael Lallo reports, and you can read an extract of Kim Dalton's essay here.
Worried about the APS decentralisation push? David has some answers
A former public servant who oversaw the forced relocation of federal government workers to Canberra in the 1980s has warned the Nationals' 'bush push' will fall apart once "cooler heads prevail".
The exercise was "frightfully expensive", according to David Brown, and resulted in the loss of extensive corporate knowledge.
"To me it's not a terribly sensible decision because it costs an awful lot of money, you disrupt people's lives, you disrupt the organisation," Mr Brown told Katie Burgess.
Read more here.
Canberra parents pay way more for childcare
Canberra parents continue to pay more for childcare provided by the nation's least qualified staff.
The latest figures from the Report on Government Services show that ACT parents spend the highest proportion of their weekly disposable income on childcare, even after child subsidies, while almost 40 per cent of staff do not have relevant formal qualifications.
This one's from me - read more here.
Lucy Sugerman wows judges on The Voice
Three out of of four judges, including internationally-renowned singers Seal, Kelly Rowland and Boy George, turned their chair for Canberra teenager Lucy Sugerman last night, meaning she was one step closer to becoming "The Voice".
The 15-year-old sang an acoustic version of a classic released more than 30 years before she was born.
Bree Winchester has the story here.