Canberra Hospital staff who are ready to take industrial action from Monday over pay and conditions. Photo: Rohan Thomson
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More than 30 senior doctors from Canberra Hospital are preparing to launch strike action on Monday, calling on ACT Health to guarantee their current pay and conditions amid long-running industrial negotiations.
Representatives of the group, which includes specialists, intensive care and emergency department doctors, anaesthetics, radiation and oncology staff and retrieval crews, have called for meetings with Health Minister Simon Corbell.
On Tuesday, ACT Health received notice of plans for ongoing industrial action for an indefinite period from midnight on Monday, March 30. The group has received authorisation to strike from the Fair Work Commission.
- The Commonwealth's 160,000 public servants are to be stripped of some of their generous workers' compensation benefits as the government moves to end the "rorting and malingering" that has dogged the bureaucracy for years. on the generous Australian Public Service workers' compo system.
- The Abbott government is pressing ahead with plans to fortify the ministerial wing of Federal Parliament that will see the Prime Minister's office screened by a steel security fence and two bullet proof, concrete gatehouses.
- Court: A former Catholic priest told his alleged abuse victim to "move on" and stop living in the past when she asked for an apology during a covertly recorded phone call almost 20 years later.
- The accused Golden Mile killer, Luigi Costa, sang a hit by the Beatles to police in the hours after he allegedly murdered his elderly neighbour.
- A new discussion paper on the future of Canberra's CBD calls for immediate action to be taken to revitalise the languishing city centre - the ACT Property Council and Canberra CBD Limited paper recommends the ACT follow the successful City of Melbourne "Postcode 3000" campaign of the 1990s to save the territory's CBD.
- Canberra's drug treatment community fears the devastating influence of ice will lead to more domestic violence in the territory.
Blake Ferguson looks on before the start of the round one NRL match between the North Queensland Cowboys and the Sydney Roosters. Photo: Getty
Canberra Raiders chief executive Don Furner has no regrets about taking a tough stance on former stars Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan, but reckons "other clubs pay lip service" when it comes to setting the right example for the game.
A week after Dugan came back to haunt his old side, Raiders fans will once again think what might have been when their side faces Ferguson in Sunday's clash with the Sydney Roosters. It's the first time the Raiders will go up against Ferguson since the NSW representative had his contract torn up for a series of off-field incidents two years ago.
- Canberra Raiders lock Shaun Fensom says he was more nervous starting last weekend's NRL game on the bench than facing the NRL judiciary on Wednesday night. Fensom is free to return to Canberra's starting team for Sunday's match against the Roosters after the NRL judiciary overturned his one-match ban for an alleged crusher tackle.
- ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semi-final: Outside the Anthony Mundines of the world sportsmen and women don't generally talk about their legacies, certainly before their careers have expired. Michael Clarke doesn't often weigh into his either but on Thursday he has a chance to enhance it further.
- AFL: This year's club captains look at the season ahead and say the GWS Giants are making further inroads towards a seemingly inevitable era befitting their name, while the drug scandal continues to hang over Essendon.
- The ACT Brumbies will shelve Super Rugby hostilities to join forces with the NSW Waratahs in camp this weekend, adamant the fire and controversy of a heated battle in Sydney will be buried to focus on the Wallabies.
9.33am: The closures on Kingsford Smith Drive at Melba have now finished after that nasty crash and all roads are back open.
9.05am: There has been a two car crash in Civic on the corner of Northbourne Avenue and London Circuit. One car is stuck in a lane, so watch out for traffic there.
8.46am: Two patients have been taken to the Canberra Hospital after that crash on Kingsford Smith Drive. One woman had to be freed from a car and was placed on a spine board as a precaution. She was taken to hospital with lower back pain. The other patient was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
8.14am: There has been a two car collision on Kingsford Smith Drive and Bainton Crescent in Melba. Traffic is being turned around at this stage and northbound lanes are blocked.
Fairbairn Avenue will be closed between Northcott Drive and Majura Road, and Morshead Drive will be closed to northbound traffic between Fairbairn Avenue and Pialligo Avenue from 6.30pm to 5am each night this week as work on the Majura Parkway continues.
If you are stuck in traffic or have any info, let us know: morningblog@canberratimes.com.au or tweet us @canberratimes
Federal Parliament is sitting this week. Former chief minister Katy Gallagher has officially taken office as the ACT's newest senator and will be sworn into the federal parliament about 9.30am today.
Learn about the aerial reconnaissance during the Dardenelles campaign with Gallipoli From Above at the Australian War Memorial at 12 noon.
Spend your lunch hour listening to music - the free Lunchbox Concerts series begins at the ANU School of Music today at 12.45pm.
ANU researcher Dr Andrey Miroshnichenko was inspired by the surface of the Nishi building. Photo: Graham Tidy
Like hundreds of commuters Andrey Miroshnichenko drives past the Nishi building every day on his way to work.
But the ANU physicist now looks at the building in a whole new light after he and a team of researchers were able to re-create its unusual zigzagging exterior on a small scale to provide the breakthrough they needed on their quest to put a perfect bend in light.
"One day… about September or October last year I looked at it and thought this is exactly what we need for our next step," he said.
Touch or click through for more David Pope
Peter Greste with his mother and father Lois and Juris Greste in Canberra. Photo: Jay Cronan
Australian journalist Peter Greste and his family have come to Canberra to say thank-you.
The foreign correspondent, who spent 400 days in Tora prison in Cairo, wants to thank the politicians, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade staff and diplomats who secured his release.
And he wants to thank the journalists who kept his story on the front pages until Egyptian authorities finally allowed him to walk free on February 1, 2015.
Today: A partly cloudy day in Canberra on Wednesday with patchy fog in the early morning , a forecast minimum of 7 degrees and a top of 23 degrees.
The rest of the week: Friday, sunny - min 4, max 21. Saturday, partly cloudy - min 3, max 23. Sunday, partly cloudy - min 7, max 25. Monday, sunny - min 5, max 27.
