Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The camera will monitor for speed and red-light offences.
From Wednesday 10 July, there will be a fixed road safety camera in place at the intersection of Northbourne Avenue and Bunda Street.
This camera will monitor for speed and red-light offences.
The camera is not an additional one in the fixed camera network. It is a relocation of an existing camera previously installed at the intersection of London Circuit and Northbourne Avenue.
The new location was chosen for several reasons including its proximity to the bus interchange and light rail stop and high level of pedestrian movement in that area.
Road safety cameras detect and deter unsafe driving behaviours and improve pedestrian safety in town centres throughout Canberra.
“Road safety cameras play an important role in supporting road safety in the ACT by reducing speeding on our roads and supporting the ACT Government’s Vision Zero strategy,” Access Canberra’s Executive Branch Manager of Service Delivery and Engagement Emily Springett said.
“Speed limits are set to balance the need for safe and expedient travel as numerous studies have shown that ‘low level’ speeding contributes to a significant percentage of road casualties and fatalities in the ACT.”
For more information on the ACT Road Safety Camera program visit the Access Canberra website.
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If your kit hasn’t arrived as expected or it’s damaged, misplaced or expired, call the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program on 1800 627 701 or fill out the form online.
You can also ask your doctor for a kit.
You will automatically receive your next test kit in the mail every two years after your last screening test is completed.
People with signs, symptoms, or a family history of bowel cancer, should talk with a doctor before screening with the program.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The new skate park is an exciting new space for Canberrans to be active.
A new competition half-pipe at the Belconnen skatepark is now open.
The original Belconnen skatepark was built more than 30 years ago.
The new half-pipe – or vert ramp – is seven metres tall and adds to the parks appeal. It will be an exciting new space for Canberrans to be active and learn new skills including:
skateboarding
freestyle BMX.
The half-pipe was built in sections, which were transported to site and then craned into place and put together.
The project also includes lighting, minor landscaping and two murals.
The first mural was painted by James Houlcroft. The pigeon-headed figures represent the range of skaters who are part of the Canberra skateboarding community. James was exploring the common environments of skaters and pigeons, such as public areas with concrete and corners.
The second mural was painted by Eddie Mo in collaboration with Paul Licayan, known as ‘PAW’ in the street art world. Eddie’s mural replicates the shape and style of the underside of a skateboard. It reflects the culture and history of the Belconnen skatepark, where the practice of decorating the underside of a board is popular.
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Support a small Canberra business by shopping at your local bookstore.
Is it just us, or is reading having a moment? Whether it’s more book chats at work, Booktok taking over your social feed or simply walking past a new book shop or cafe, all signs are pointing to yes.
If you’re looking for a way to get into reading, from reading on a budget to joining a book community, there is something for everyone in Canberra.
Shop at Canberra local bookshops:
Wanting to support a small Canberra business? Check out the bookshops in your region:
North Canberra:
South Canberra:
Head to your local library:
Canberra is home to many libraries with one in every region.
Libraries are a great way to read without over-consuming and enjoy books for free. There are also home library services to deliver books to your door and multicultural services available in select libraries.
Check out the Lifeline Bookfair:
The Lifeline Bookfair is a book-lovers dream event. Not only are you getting second-hand books, but you are also donating to Lifeline.
There are multiple events throughout the year at EPIC and at Tuggeranong, but if you can’t wait you can always check out Lifeline’s permanent store, Book Lovers Lane at the Fyshwick Markets. Lifeline also accepts book donations at their warehouse in Mitchell. Just make sure you read the checklist to ensure your books are resalable.
Join or create a book club:
Canberra has some amazing book clubs to join, you can find them through Facebook, or you can join and create one through ACT Libraries.
Café Stepping Stone host a monthly silent book club at its Strathnairn cafe. This isn’t your ordinary book club. It is silent, and there is also no assigned reading. Participants simply bring along whatever they like and read along quietly with fellow readers. Hours of uninterrupted reading time? Yes please! Find out when the next event is.
Tough Guy Book Club is a network of men’s book clubs in local pubs. They are scattered all over Australia, with Canberra home to a few different meet ups. They get together, read, chat and have a good meal at a pub. See when and where they are meeting next.
Canberra Fantasy Book Club is all about reading fantasy! If you love dragons, witches, fairies and all things mythical, then this might be the group for you. Join the Facebook page here.
ACT Libraries allows you to register and create a book club at your preferred branch. You can access 12 copies of the same book from their collection of 375 titles, create an online account and membership card, and get discussion guides. Sign up for a book club or learn more.
Follow and find a street library:
Did you know you can find libraries on several Canberra streets? Street libraries allow you to bring a book and swap it with one already in the library.
If a street library is missing from your suburb, you can create your own!
Read from Canberra authors:
Civic Library regularly showcases Canberra authors and their books. You can find copies of recent books, and all can be borrowed from the library. Books from local authors are held for two years in the showcase before getting added to the ACT Heritage library or placed in the general lending collection within libraries ACT.
Book cafes:
Wanting to sip on a delicious drink or enjoy a tasty treat while indulging in a new book? Pulp Book Café is a cosy coffee shop with an added focus on books!
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The Emergency Department will be located at street level.
When Canberra Hospital’s Critical Services Building opens in August, it will house a range of hospital services.
While services will stay where they are until August, many critical care services will move to the new building, to be known as Building 5.
This will transform the hospital campus. So, it’s important to have an idea of what is moving and where, so you’ll know where to find things next time you visit.
The Critical Services Building will include Canberra Hospital’s main reception.
You will also find the following services there.
Emergency Department (ED) with dedicated children’s emergency area
The Emergency Department will be located on street level.
Its dedicated entrance will have improved features to make pick-up and drop-off safer and easier.
The ED will have room to grow in the years to come.
Its location will allow for better connections between acute services, as well as direct lift access to the new Helipad.
The dedicated children’s emergency area will have its own triage and waiting area, enabling paediatric patients, carers and families to stay together, separate to the rest of the ED.
Operating theatres The building’s new operating theatres will be located on Level 3.
These will include state-of-the-art hybrid and interventional radiology suites to allow use of the latest advances in medical technology.
Sterilising Services Unit Located on Level 4, the centralised Sterilising Services Unit will have the latest equipment and machinery.
It will also have direct lift access from the building’s operating theatres to improve efficiency.
Intensive Care Unit (ICU) The Intensive Care Unit will be located on Level 5.
Bed capacity in the ICU will increase over time, ensuring it can grow with the community’s health needs.
Two outdoor terraces connected to the ICU will enable patients to go outside as part of their healing and recovery.
One of these terraces will also have a dedicated visitor courtyard that can be accessed through a visitor’s lounge.
This will help support families and carers at a vulnerable and stressful time.
Inpatient cardiology services Cardiology services will be located on Level 6.
These will comprise the Acute Cardiac Care Unit, the Cardiac Catheter Lab, and the Cardiac Day Unit.
Locating these services together will help patients transfer smoothly between them.
The Acute Cardiac Care Unit will expand. The number of Cardiac Catheter labs and Cardiac Day beds will also increase.
There will also be a dedicated lab for cardiac electrophysiology procedures, which evaluate the electrical activity of the heart and diagnose arrhythmias. Another larger lab will be able to accommodate more complex procedures such as TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation).
Inpatient wards Inpatient wards will be located on levels 6 and 7.
There will be five inpatient wards throughout, including the Acute Cardiac Care Unit, providing both surgical and medical inpatient beds.
The wards will include the Acute Medical Unit, Emergency General Surgery and Trauma, Neurosurgery and Oral Maxillofacial Surgery, and Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery.
Medical imaging While the hospital’s main medical imaging suites will remain in Building 12, there will be additional medical imaging facilities in the Critical Services Building.
This will include X-ray, CT, ultrasound and MRI.
This state-of-the-art new building will create a better-connected hospital.
It has been built to future-proof acute care services. As the Canberra community grows over time and into the future, so too will hospital services.
Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
This milestone brings the campus another step closer to completion.
The main building at the CIT Woden Campus has reached its full height.
This brings the project another step closer to completion.
This major milestone was celebrated today with a topping out ceremony on the building’s fifth floor.
The topping out ceremony finished with the tradition of placing a tree atop the new building. This marks the completion of the structural framework.
For a project with sustainability at its core, it was fitting that the ceremonial tree was crafted from timber frame offcuts.
The tree will become part of on-campus public art for students, staff and the community to enjoy.
The main building’s structure and architectural finish are made from sustainably sourced engineered wood products, manufactured in Australia.
Visible throughout the building, the MASSLAM columns and beams, and cross-laminated timber floors showcase construction innovation and environmental responsibility.
The building’s roof and glazed timber façade will also be finished in the coming months.
The focus will then turn to its internal fit out, landscaping and art before building commissioning and preparing to welcome staff and students.
The CIT Woden Youth Foyer and new Public Transport Interchange will also open alongside the campus.
The project is a key part of revitalising Woden Town Centre as a place to live, work, visit, commute and now study.
The CIT Woden Campus will open to students in semester 2, 2025.
It will support up to 6,500 students each year, and offer the skills and training required for tomorrow’s careers in IT, cybersecurity, business and hospitality.
Canberrans can take advantage of the campus’s student-operated facilities, including:
a café
a restaurant
a hair and beauty salon
retail spaces.
The project is a collaboration between the ACT Government, CIT, delivery partners Lendlease, local businesses and the community.
It has already delivered over 450 jobs for Canberrans. It has also created over 5,000 hours of training for students, apprentices and trainees.
The project will create more new jobs as the campus prepares to open.
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
If you have an engineered stone benchtop in your home, there is no need to remove it.
The ACT Government has banned engineered stone benchtops, slabs and panels.
From 1 July 2024, working with these engineered stone products is prohibited.
What you need to know
If you have an engineered stone benchtop already installed in your home, there is no need to remove it if left undisturbed.
Work on engineered stone, such as cutting with a power tool, generates harmful silica dust and should be conducted by a qualified tradesperson.
It is now illegal for any engineered stone benchtop, slab or panel to be installed regardless of whether a building contract exists, an alternative product will need to be used.
This ban follows a national agreement from Work Health and Safety Ministers in December 2023 and strengthens work health and safety laws.
It prohibits the manufacture, supply, processing and installation of engineered stone benchtops, slabs and panels.
There is no transition period for the ban due to the significant health and safety risks of working with engineered stone products.
Engineered stone benchtops, slabs or panels already installed before 1 July 2024 in your home or at a workplace do not need to be removed. If left undisturbed, they do not pose a health risk.
As the ban only applies to benchtops, slabs and panels, it does not include finished engineered stone products that do not need to be processed or modified. These include jewellery, garden ornaments, sculptures and kitchen sinks.
The new laws build on ACT silica safety rules introduced in 2022 to protect workers and strengthen safety standards.
Work involving engineered stone, such as cutting with a power tool, generates airborne crystalline silica (silica dust) and poses a significant health hazard to workers.
This can lead to debilitating respiratory diseases such as silicosis.
The ACT Government will continue to work closely with industry and business to ensure workers remain safe and to assist with the ban.
For more information, visit:
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
“It’s amazing to be an advocate for the voiceless while also connecting with community members,” says Ranger Elly.
Have you ever wondered what a day in the life of a Domestic Animal Services (DAS) ranger looks like? For Ranger Elly, every day is different.
The work DAS rangers do is fast-paced and challenging. Rangers like Elly often work on an 11-hour four-day roster, working on-call which means no day is the same. Rangers tend to perform several different duties, spending some time in the office. Most of the time, however, they are out in the field completing hands-on work. Some day-to-day duties may involve responding to dog attacks, animal nuisance complaints or assisting with lost and impounded dogs.
Elly has been working as a ranger for a couple of months. What you might not expect is that she has a Communications and Media degree.
“I applied for the role after uni and went through the competitive online application process. I wanted to do something that was challenging and rewarding. I believe they look for a diverse skillset in the role. I also decided that I didn’t want to be working in an office all day. The work I do as a Domestic Animal Services ranger has a positive impact on the community. The role is so diverse, and I know I’m making a tangible difference,” Elly said.
“The field work is often dynamic and compassionate. I love working with animals. It’s amazing to be an advocate for the voiceless while also connecting with community members,” Elly said.
Elly enjoys being a ranger. Like any job, it does have its difficulties.
“Being a Domestic Animal Services ranger can have its challenges as well. We deal with confronting situations, like dog attacks. A small percentage of the community don’t always work with rangers in a safe or appropriate way. We work daily with members of the community who don’t meet key elements of compliance in pet ownership. An important reminder to the community is, all cats and dogs need to be registered,” Elly said.
Many Canberrans understand the work the rangers do. However, there are certain myths about her work that Elly hopes to bust.
“I think some people think we go out of our way to infringe people or take their dog away, but we don’t. This is only done when necessary. We spend a lot of time working with the community. One of our priorities is to educate the community first and foremost,” she said.
Besides Rangers, there are a lot of other people working behind the scenes at DAS too. There is a kennel team who care for the dogs at the shelter. There are also team members who manage adoptions, work with the community and run educational programs.
“I sometimes think people misunderstand our work. We’re a big team which involves lots of different people doing great things. We’re fortunate to have a lot of dedicated volunteers. They help walk the dogs and enrich their lives while they are with us,” Elly said.
The next intake of Domestic Animal Services volunteers will be in August. It will bring fresh faces and new energy to the volunteer team.
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Nurse Practitioners and authorised midwives will be able to prescribe abortion medication.
ACT Nurse Practitioners and authorised midwives will be able to prescribe abortion medication.
The Health (Improved Abortion Access) Amendment Act 2024 has been passed in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
Up until now, only doctors have been allowed to prescribe abortion medication. The new legislation removes barriers to nurse practitioners and authorised midwives who choose to do so.
This follows positive changes made by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) last year.
The TGA removed restrictions on health practitioners who prescribe and dispense the abortion medication MS-2 Step (mifepristone and misoprostol).
The Bill also requires health practitioners who decline to provide abortion services – on religious or other conscientious grounds – to refer individuals to another practitioner or facility that can provide an abortion in a timely manner. Alternatively, they can give their patients information on how to find such a provider.
The amendments relating to conscientious objection bring the ACT into line with other states and territories. They balance the clients’ rights to access timely abortion care with health practitioners’ rights to not participate in the provision of services that conflict with their beliefs.
Improved access to abortion services will allow Canberrans to obtain appropriate, safe care, and to avoid potentially detrimental impacts to their mental and physical health and wellbeing.
The changes further ensure that women and people who can become pregnant can make decisions about their health care based on what is best for them and their body.
The amendments complement the ACT Government’s accessible abortions scheme, which
supports the provision of no-cost abortions to ACT residents, including to those without access to Medicare.
offers ACT residents free long-acting reversible contraceptives at the time of abortion, if wanted.
These no-cost services have been available through MSI Australia since April 2023.
More recently, participating general practices, pharmacies, pathology services and medical imaging services across the Territory have been included in the scheme.
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Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
The Inner South Health Centre is one of four new health centres for the ACT.
The ACT Government’s new Inner South Health Centre will be located in Griffith.
Consultation is now open on what types of services the centre will provide.
The Inner South Health Centre will be on the corner of Throsby Crescent and Throsby Lane in Griffith. The location is adjacent to the Griffith Shops.
It is one of four new health centres for the ACT.
Centres will also be at South Tuggeranong (Conder), North Gungahlin and West Belconnen.
The ACT Government already opened a health centre in Molonglo in 2022. The centre provides women’s and family health care to the region.
The Government is in the early planning and design stages. The community can now share what services they would like to see available at this new health centre.
The Inner South Health Centre will complement existing services available in Canberra’s public health system including:
nurse-led walk-in centres
the public hospital system.
In the 2024–25 Budget, the ACT Government committed $52.8 million over four years to:
construct the new health centres in North Gungahlin and the Inner South
undertake design work for the health centre in West Belconnen.
The ACT Government will continue to invest in health services and infrastructure across the ACT.
This includes more investment in Canberra’s health workforce, including recruitment, upskilling and committing to nurse and midwife-to-patient ratios.