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Dec 12, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic
Sri Lanka's former Deputy High Commissioner to Australia has been ordered to pay a further $117,000 to a domestic worker she paid less than 90 cents a day for three years in Canberra. Priyanka Danaratna came to Canberra in 2015 from Sri Lanka to work as a "domestic servant" for Deputy High Commissioner Himalee Arunatilaka, until she escaped in 2018. She could not read or speak English, and had her passport confiscated by Ms Arunatilaka on arrival.
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Dec 5, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic |Georgia Roberts |Jade Toomey
The ACT Coroner is handing down his findings after an inquest into the death of five-year-old Rozalia Spadafora at the Canberra Hospital in 2022. On her fifth birthday, Rozalia's family took her to the emergency department on the advice of their GP as she was becoming increasingly unwell with what was thought at the time to be an ear infection. Join us as we go through the coronial inquest findings into the death of five-year-old Rozalia Spadafora.
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Dec 4, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic |Emmy Groves
Four Canberra schools have recorded above average results in this year's NAPLAN tests in primary and high schools. Results of the tests of students in years 3, 5, 7 and 9, which offer parents a snapshot of their child's proficiency in reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and numeracy, were published in August. But today, the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) published 10,000 schools' individual results for 2024.
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Nov 22, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic
For many high school students, a year 9 sleepover may end up resulting in not much more than a few prank calls and getting in trouble with a friend's parents. But for one group of friends in Canberra, an offhand conversation while watching a movie started them on a path that has led them to win an ARIA and share a stage with iconic band Pearl Jam, both in the same week.
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Nov 21, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic
Staff at the Australian National University (ANU) have overwhelmingly voted to reject a proposal from the institution to forgo a pay rise, proposed to help the university cut costs. Last month, the ANU announced it had amassed a $400 million operating deficit between 2020-2023, with a further $200 million deficit projected in the current year.
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Nov 1, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic
As the mercury begins to rise ahead of summer, the ACT's emergency services agencies are calling on Canberrans to prepare for the prosect of bush and grass fires and storms through the hotter months. The ACT Emergency Services Agency (ESA) said while the Bueau of Meteorology is predicting an "average" fire season for the region, the biggest risk is expected to come from storms and grass fires.
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Oct 31, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic
A coronial inquest has heard "excessive speed, inexperience [and] intoxication" were just some of the factors that likely contributed to a fatal Canberra crash. Warning: This story contains graphic content. It was a Friday afternoon in May 2022 when two men in their early twenties, Samuel Angus Berron and Nathan Allen Mugridge, decided to head to a club in Belconnen to "play pokies and have a few drinks".
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Oct 30, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic |Courtney Peters
Damien Brabender has owned and operated a restaurant in Canberra for eight years, but said he's never seen the sector in so much strife. "At the moment, 99 per cent of it's just horrifically sad news, people closing, people downsizing, people considering pulling the pin," Mr Brabender said. "Bankruptcies, it's become kind of the buzz word in hospitality at the moment."Mr Brabender said at his place, Otis Dining Hall, and across the scene, rising costs, skill shortages and cancellations are biting.
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Oct 23, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic |Jostina Basta
Tabitha and William Ajak still remember a meal they shared with their uncle Malak Arok back in July 2011. The three had come to Australia together as refugees from South Sudan in 2005 looking for a better life, and a way to support their families back home. "July 2011 you know, that's the last time we shared the meal together and chatted," Tabitha said. A year later, Mr Arok was released from protective custody from an ACT Police Watch House on the morning of July 10, 2012.
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Oct 20, 2024 | 
abc.net.au | Victor Petrovic |Lottie Twyford
The former leader of the Canberra Liberals has said the party's election result on Saturday was "very disappointing", and that they've "gone backwards" since he lead the party in 2016. Jeremy Hanson posted on his Facebook page after ACT Labor declared victory in Saturday's territory election, extending their 23 years in government. "It is obviously a very disappointing result for the Liberal Party overall particularly given there was such a mood for change," Mr Hanson said.
