The Turnbull government is preparing to privatise a swath of government payments in a bid to drag the Commonwealth's under-funded and outdated payment delivery systems into the digital age.
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- Federal environment minister Greg Hunt has been singled out as the "best minister in the world" by a high-powered international conference.
- Chief Minister Andrew Barr has defended a police investigation into Joy Burch's ministerial office, days after a former government staffer at the centre of the affair said it was baseless and unnecessarily slow.
- Former Dept of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Peter Shergold has blamed major policy failing on the public service's inability to provide frank and fearless advice to ministers.
- Government departments will try to persuade their public servants to accept pay deals almost identical to those they rejected last year.
- It's business as usual at the Islamic School of Canberra as new students join the growing community, the school a separate entity from Sydney's troubled Islamic School.
- Telstra has blamed an employee's 'embarrassing error' for the widespread network outage that affected millions of customers on Tuesday.
- CSIRO scientists say deep staffing cuts facing key divisions constitute "a real crisis for all environmental science" in the organisation, amid mounting international criticism.
- The ARU is prepared to offer David Pocock one of the biggest contracts in Australian rugby history as the Wallabies' linchpin considers whether to take a year off rugby.
- Canberra Raiders star Jack Wighton fears his representative dreams will unravel if he gets caught up in the talk of a potential State of Origin berth, preferring to bury the hype.
The ACT government has announced a series of traffic and public transport changes to cater for the National Multicultural Festival this weekend.
- Between Friday and Sunday, the city bus station will be closed to create space for the festival. The bus station will be relocated to platforms 10 and 12 on Northbourne Avenue and two stops on London Circuit.
- Additional nightrider bus services will also transport festival attendees in central Canberra, Tuggeranong, Woden, Belconnen or Gungahlin.
If you see any accidents or have any info on the morning commute, let us know whenever it is safe to do so: morningblog@canberratimes.com.au or tweet us @canberratimes
Ben and Jerry's Openair Cinema is making its way to Canberra's central lakeside venue on Patrick White Lawns. Until 21 Feb.
Dawn French's new show Thirty Million Minutes, based on her life and career, will begin at the Canberra Theatre. More info here.
Australian War Memorial will host a curator led tour of the Reality in Flames exhibition and look at artistic response to the Second World War. Entry is free and begins at 12pm.
See the year's best cartoons in Behind the Lines 2015 at the Museum of Australian Democracy.
Today: Sunny. Light winds becoming northwesterly 15 to 20 km/h in the afternoon. Max 33.
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy. High chance of showers in the afternoon and early evening, with the chance of a thunderstorm. Light winds becoming southeasterly 15 to 20 km/h in the evening. Min 15, max 31.
Friday: Partly cloudy. High chance of showers in the afternoon and evening, with the chance of a thunderstorm. Light winds. Min 15, Max 31.