Welcome to a new week, Canberra.
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Shake off those Sunday cobwebs while we fill you in on the major stories this morning. Go get a coffee if you need one (and chances are, yes you do).
The city will probably get a brief reprieve from rain today, which is expected to hit 27 degrees, before showers return on Tuesday. We're entering deeper into autumn and Canberra is not forecast to get above 30 degrees this week, mainly hovering around the mid 20s.
Now for today's main headlines.
How safe is your suburb
![Hotbeds of crime? In Canberra. Well, maybe there are. Photo: Stock Hotbeds of crime? In Canberra. Well, maybe there are. Photo: Stock](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/e63b42a6-0e53-4f3f-984f-9d21dece7426/r0_0_2000_1333_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
You hear it regularly, that it's not as safe as it used to be in Canberra. Well, depending on how you look at it, it might actually be safer. Steven Trask has crunched the numbers in the official police data over the past three years, and found that overall reported crime is actually down 1.6 per cent. But of course, that's not the whole story. Reports of assaults are up almost 40 per cent in that time. He's also mapped the data - and you can follow the link, and check how your suburb fares - and while it's no big surprise Civic is the main hotspot, there are a few other clusters of crime, too.
No shows are no fun for restaurants
![XO co-owner Kent Nhan. Dimmi, an online reservation app, has started to ban people who are notorious no shows which hurts businesses like his. Photo: Jay Cronan XO co-owner Kent Nhan. Dimmi, an online reservation app, has started to ban people who are notorious no shows which hurts businesses like his. Photo: Jay Cronan](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/e2dccb60-1abb-4ad1-bfec-543493edaa65/r0_0_2000_1331_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Everyone has done it: booked a table at the restaurant and decided at the last minute not to show and never told them, or at least brought out the trusted "sick kid" or "last-minute meeting" excuse. Pod Food manager Samuel Kildea tells Finbar O'Mallon he has been on the receiving end of all sorts of excuses. He once tried calling a no show, he simply got a swear word then a dial tone, which made him giggle. But for restaurant owners, no shows are no funny matter, and there's now a move nationally to start blacklisting customers who pull the stunt too often.
Who's the boss?
![Hank Jongen is the general manager of the Department of Human Services. Hank Jongen is the general manager of the Department of Human Services.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/e7a3fb45-fbf8-4be0-8b9e-6fc79fddcaea/r0_0_2000_1333_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Our chief public service reporter Noel Towell seems to be a bit upset about the way Centerlink is referring to "general manager" Hank Jongen. Jongen is the man fronting the "robo-debt" storm, and there are some out there who might be thinking that he's the boss. It's not that he's not a general manager, it's just he's not the general manager. He's one of 30-odd of them. He's the chief spin doctor. And Noel would like to make sure people understand that, explaining why it's important in a much more eloquent way.
The most fun you can have in a tracksuit?
![Canberra Times journalist Stephen Jeffery at Parliament House on Questacon's John Howard Walk of Wonder through the Parliamentary Triangle. Photo: Rohan Thomson Canberra Times journalist Stephen Jeffery at Parliament House on Questacon's John Howard Walk of Wonder through the Parliamentary Triangle. Photo: Rohan Thomson](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-ct-migration/816e6c3b-cecc-4002-82a5-5fefcd08be6d/r0_0_2000_1334_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
This has been a fun Canberra Life series so far, and now Stephen Jeffery has metaphorically (but certainly not literally) donned an old Wallabies tracksuit and hit the pavement for Questacon's John Howard Walk of Wonder self-guided audio tour. Yes, it sounds a bit daggy, and yes it copped exactly as much mirth as you would expect on social media when it was announced a while back. But how good is it? Well, you'll have to read his piece to find out. But here's one little spoiler: the catch is if you're not willing to look a bit silly in public, this activity is not for you.
ICYMI
This one proved really popular on the site yesterday, and if you take a look you can see why. Our chief photographer Karleen Minney and our Canberra Life editor Bree Winchester have been working away at this project - Love her body - for months. And it was worth it. In their words, they've "united 10 of our nation's most talented female athletes for a kick-arse conversation on body image for International Women's Day". There are some great photos and some pretty candid stuff in there.