Month: April 2025

The ACT has won seven awards at the 2023 Qantas Australian Tourism Awards.

Gold awards

The Canberra Region Visitors Centre (CRVC) was named best Visitor Information Service in Australia, leading the awards for the Territory’s tourism industry.

Staffed by VisitCanberra, the CRVC at Commonwealth Park offers an exceptional experience for visitors and locals alike.

It attracts 220,000 visitors each year, many of whom head to the CRVC as their first port of call.

Two other local entrants won gold at the Awards. They are:

• the National Capital Authority for the Lights on the Lake event, in the Events and Festivals category
• the Royal Australian Mint in the Cultural Tourism category.

Silver awards

• The Museum Shop at the National Museum of Australia took home silver in the Tourism, Retail and Hire Services category
• Alivio Tourist Park won silver for Caravan and Holiday Parks
• Jamala Lodge won silver for Unique Accommodation

Bronze award

• The National Arboretum was awarded bronze in the Ecotourism category.

Ongoing success

Canberra’s tourism industry is unique. The past year has seen record leisure and visiting friends and family (VFR) numbers, and the Territory’s events, venues and business continue to provide new and enticing experiences for visitors.

As a result of the industry’s hard work, Canberra is on track to grow the value of tourism to the ACT economy to $4 billion by 2030.

This focuses on the ACT Government’s tourism 2030 strategic vision of a thriving, sustainable destination that benefits Canberrans.

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If you think keeping your house clean is a big effort, spare a thought for the cleaning and maintenance teams who keep Canberra tidy.

Whether it’s your local shops or the city centre, it takes a big effort to keep Canberra clean and safe.

Across Canberra, the ACT Government manages 90 shopping centres. Town centres and group centres are cleaned daily, while local shops vary from daily to three times a week.

Canberra’s cleaning and maintenance teams start their day at 5am with daily responsibilities ranging from leaf blowing and street sweeping to cleaning toilets and emptying garbage bins.

Other duties include:

• picking up litter
• cleaning surfaces
• pruning bushes
• lifting trees
• pressure cleaning pavement
• removal of graffiti
• repairs to damaged street furniture
• minor maintenance of garden beds.

It’s a big job on any given day but after a big event, things can really pick up. This is especially the case for Craig Harrington and his team at the Allara Street depot, who look after the city.

When Craig and his team begin their day, they don’t always know what challenges will await.

“The whole day can be a challenge because you don’t know what you’re going to get until you get on site,” Craig said.

However, Craig loves his job and the crew he works with.

“I like the early starts, I like being out in the open, you’re meeting different people every day,” he said.

He just asks the public to be respectful, give them plenty of space and give them a smile in recognition of the work they do.

“The public could just be a little bit more aware that what we do, we have to do it,” he said.

“But generally, when they see us they could just probably give us a smile and give us a bit of room so we can get on and do what we’re doing.”

Find out more about the ACT Government’s regular maintenance program for local shops by visiting the City Services website.

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A desire to work in health care has seen Poppy Chalmers embrace success via an Australian School-based Apprenticeship (ASbA).

Poppy’s story is like many who choose a Vocational Education and Training pathway.

She knew she didn’t want the university pathway but felt unsure which direction to take.

In 2022, she started an Australian School-based Apprenticeship program with Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA).

The next year, she was named ACT Australian School-based Apprentice of the Year at the 2023 ACT Training Awards.

She then went on to be a finalist at the 2023 Australian Training Awards.

These awards recognise students’ commitment to formal studies at school and in the workplace.

A VET pathway

Poppy had previously taken on leadership roles at school. She was selected as a Year 6 leader in 2017 and as a Year 10 Indigenous Leader in 2021.

“I am a natural leader and see myself in a leadership position. I have a lot of ideas. I’m not sure where I want to end up, but I know I have what it takes to get there,” Poppy said.

She completed a Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance under a new program in the ACT called the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Academy.

“I didn’t particularly like school, it wasn’t something that I enjoyed. One of my friends got an ASbA in childcare and I thought that was cool, so I did a placement where she worked, and they offered me an ASbA,” Poppy said.

Moving into health care

“Though my school supported me to do the ASbA in childcare, I had always been interested in working in the health industry so when an Auntie from the Community reached out with an opportunity to do an ASbA in Allied Health through an Aboriginal company, I applied and was successful.

“I wanted to be a nurse, my Auntie was a nurse, I had spent a lot of time in hospitals because my sister has cystic fibrosis. I even went to school at the hospital. I saw the positive impact that nurses, doctors, and the hospital had on us all,” Poppy said.

Through the ASbA, Poppy got to experience what nursing and working in a hospital is all about and what is out there in terms of a future job in Allied Health. She is now employed as a training and business administration officer for Indigenous Allied Health Australia.

Poppy says applying for the ASbA was seamless, with support available if she needed it.

“The ASbA process showed me that there are so many other pathways to get to where I want to go. Doing this I saw that I can work in health without having to go to uni. I finished the Certificate III and was offered a job at the hospital as a social work assistant straight away,” she said.

The path ahead

Poppy graduated from college in 2023. She says the ASbA has given her self-confidence and redefined her idea of success.

“The ASbA has given me a lot of direction, opportunity and such a great community. When I was younger, I wanted to be a nurse but now I’m not sure because I have so many opportunities. I’ve been told I can do anything I want. You work with what you have and take every opportunity you get,” she said.

“I’m not ready for uni yet. I want to do a Cert IV in Business.

“Success is not where you get to, it is how you got there, the path you took, what you learned and did. Success for me is to experience everything I get to do. I would have a goal, but I would focus on the journey,” Poppy said.

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The ACT Government has unveiled the 22 new operating theatres in Canberra Hospital’s Critical Services Building.

The new building is on track to open later this year.

As well as the new theatres, the Critical Services Building will include a bigger emergency department, expanded intensive care unit and new inpatient wards.

The theatres are equipped with a range of advanced features aimed at revolutionising surgical practices in the ACT.

These include:

• an Intraoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (iMRI) Suite, providing surgeons with real-time images of the brain during procedures
• three hybrid theatres equipped with cutting-edge angiography and CT angiography systems to support a variety of vascular surgeries and guided procedures
• two Interventional Radiography Suites, relocated from Building 12 to the Critical Services Building, offering a comprehensive range of diagnostic and interventional services
• 16 digital operating theatres.

Access to the latest technology will improve image quality and resolution in the hospital’s operating theatres.

This will lead to more precise diagnoses and improved patient outcomes.

The new hospital building will significantly improve patient flow and experience, according to Dr Lance Lasersohn, Clinical Director of Anaesthetics for Canberra Health Services.

“I’m excited about the technology’s co-location with angiography and the new technologies that will be available in the new building, which will make work more exciting for the workforce and enable the hospital to accommodate more patients.”

The theatres are located on level 3 of the Critical Services Building, within the Perioperative Unit, which also features:

• two spacious waiting areas
• a Day Surgery Unit with 40 beds for admissions and post-operative care
• a recovery area
• a discharge lounge.

Staffing within the Perioperative Unit will be expanded to manage the operation of the new theatres and improve patient flow.

Recruitment efforts are currently underway, with Canberra Health Services implementing a range of strategies and initiatives aimed at targeting and attracting healthcare workers to the ACT.

The operating theatres are connected to the Sterilising Services Unit via dedicated lifts. This improves efficiency by facilitating the swift transfer of instruments between clean and dirty areas.

A Patient Transfer Link bridge has also been added to the Critical Services Building. This provides a private clinical connection between the new and existing hospital buildings. It enhances hospital efficiency and patient privacy by separating clinical pathways from public areas.

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^{Children’s waiting area in the Perioperative Unit}

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