If you are considering making the move to Canberra, there are some processes that are specific to our capital city that differ from other cities around Australia. In part three of our mini-series on moving to Canberra – we will discuss healthcare, motor vehicles, registration and purchasing furniture in preparation of your move to the capital of Australia. For more information on moving to Canberra, check out part one and part two of this mini-series.
Healthcare
ACT Health which is the peak government body that looks after the territory’s healthcare system. You can download their application, ACT Health from the App Store. This application gives you a comprehensive timeline of the expected wait times at the emergency departments and the walk-in centres across Canberra to help you make a decision on where you can best get help, faster.
Hospitals
Canberra has two emergency departments where you can access emergency health care. These two emergency departments are located at the Canberra Hospital in Woden in Canberra’s south, and Calvary Public Hospital in Bruce in the north of Canberra. There are four major public hospitals you can access in Canberra including Canberra Hospital, Calvary Public Hospital, Centenary Hospital for Women and Children and the University of Canberra Hospital. If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident, Medicare will cover the cost of your public hospital stay though if you are not a citizen or permanent resident, there is a fee that will be due from your hospital stay. In cases where you would prefer to opt for private health care, you can use private hospitals such as Calvary Bruce Private Hospital, Calvary John James, National Capital Private Hospital and Canberra Private Hospital for a fee.
Canberra Hospital is the largest hospital within the Canberra region and offers services for acute inpatients, day services, outpatient services, paediatrics and pathology. Canberra Hospital is also home to the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children (CHWC). CHWC provides paediatric wards and clinics, maternity and women’s health services and NICU and special care nursery.
Calvary Public Hospital is a smaller hospital that also offers acute care, emergency services, medical, surgical and maternity services. Calvary Public Hospital is also responsible for managing Clare Holland House Hospice and palliative care services and research.
For rehabilitation services, there is the University of Canberra Hospital which supports people over the age of 18 who are recovering from surgery, illness, injury or experiencing mental illness.
General Practitioners (GP)
You can find doctors surgeries at most local shops and city areas. Most doctors’ surgeries provide mixed billing or private billing within Canberra. This is where you pay for the full amount of the appointment and then receive a payment from Medicare, otherwise known as Medicare benefits. However, these payments from Medicare are only available to Australian citizens and permanent residents. If you are not an Australian citizen or permanent resident, you will not receive anything from Medicare. If you do have Medicare and you want to refrain from going to a mixed billing practice, you can find a bulk billing GP. You can find a variety of GP’s based on your location and needs through HotDoc. If you need to see a medical professional for minor injuries but can’t get into a general practitioner, you can use one of the walk-in centres as outlined below.
Walk-in Centres
Walk-in centres are available for minor injuries and illnesses. They are staffed by advanced practice nurses and nurse practitioners and can conduct health assessments and treatments for a wide variety of health concerns and needs. All services are free within walk-in centres regardless of citizen or residency status and are available to the public between 7:30am and 10pm at Belconnen, Gungahlin, Tuggeranong, Inner North (Dickson) and Weston. The service is done on a first come, first serve basis and you can search the waiting times and treatment times on the ACT Health application.
Motor Vehicle Registration
Once you have moved to the ACT, you have a maximum of 3 months to change over your motor vehicle registration from your previous state or territory. This is to be completed once you have a permanent home in Canberra. There are, however, fees and taxes associated with transferring registration to the ACT. Transferring your registration over takes a little bit of effort and you will be required to take your vehicle to get inspected to determine its identity and road worthiness. Motor vehicle registration in Canberra includes registration as well as motor accident injuries (MAI) insurance otherwise known as comprehensive third party insurance. These two items are rolled into one payment to combine motor vehicle registration in the ACT. Comprehensive third party insurance isn’t always included in motor vehicle registration across each state and territory and is sometimes another aspect of motor vehicle registration. Once you have transferred your vehicle registration from interstate, you might be entitled to a refund for the unused portion of vehicle registration from your previous state or territory. You can access this information through the transport website to which your vehicle was originally registered through.
Items Included in Motor Vehicle Registration in the ACT
- Motor vehicle registration
- Motor accident injuries insurance (MAI) or comprehensive third party insurance
- Road rescue fee
- Road safety contribution
- Lifetime care and support levy
For more information on motor vehicle registration, you can find out more through the Access Canberra website.
Drivers licences
Like motor vehicle registration, you are required to change your drivers licence to an ACT drivers licence within 3 months of residing in the ACT. If you have an existing drivers licence (regardless of state or territory), you can be issued an ACT drivers licence free of charge at one of the Access Canberra Service Centres, although Access Canberra must be able to confirm your identity before completing the transaction. You are not required to get an ACT drivers licence if you are visiting the ACT as the following:
- As tourists
- For business
- For friends and family
- On a working holiday visa
- If you are studying or employed temporarily with the intention to return back to your home state or country once study or employment has been completed.
If you have an overseas drivers licence and you drive within the ACT, it is required that you have one of the following:
- A foreign drivers licence written in English
- An international driving permit as well as a foreign drivers licence
- If your foreign licence is not in English, you must carry an official English translation of the licence
Where you can buy a car in Canberra
Like any other state or territory, you can purchase a car from either a car dealership or privately. Both have their pros and cons.
Purchasing from Car Dealerships
Canberra is a smaller city than most of the other capital cities across Australia but there are still a lot of places to choose from for many different items, including car dealerships. Canberra has five main areas where you can purchase cars from dealerships. In the north side, you can purchase a car in the centre of Belconnen, Mitchell and Gungahlin, while in the south side, you can purchase one from the centre of Phillip, Tuggeranong and Fyshwick. Most car dealerships in Canberra are situated in the same area, which is convenient when you’re shopping around before making a car purchase. When you purchase a car through a dealership, be sure to do your own research prior to purchasing or putting in an offer. Purchasing through a car dealership can cost you more than it would if you were to purchase privately, although when you purchase a car through a dealership, you will get a warranty whether it is a new car or used car.
Purchasing a Car Privately
When you purchase a car privately, generally speaking you can only purchase used cars through this avenue. Purchasing privately can be cheaper than through a dealership and can give you the opportunity to meet the previous owner of the car and to get a feel for how it was kept during the time they have owned it. While it can possibly cost you less money to purchase privately, you might have issues in other areas when it comes to the car itself. For example, unless you request to take the potential car to a mechanic before purchasing, you may not be aware of the actual state of the car before committing. This means you could potentially buy a car that has major existing issues that may not be evident upon your first inspection. If you’re nervous about purchasing a used car privately, you can find out further information on the car’s history via the Revs Check website. This website will tell you if the vehicle has been reported as stolen, written-off, current registration status, if it has not been paid off as well as airbag recall data. This can cost up to $36.95 AUD to get a full report which includes a few more extras and will give you peace of mind that the car you purchase privately will not be repossessed for responsibility of the previous owner’s possible debt. To safely purchase a car privately, you can purchase from many different companies such as Carsales.com.au, Gumtree, Facebook Marketplace and Cars Guide.
Where you can buy furniture in Canberra
Purchasing new furniture in Canberra
Like cars, the main area within Canberra to purchase furniture is in the suburb of Fyshwick. Popular furniture shops in Fyshwick include Fantastic Furniture, King Living, Harvey Norman, Domayne, OZ Design Furniture, Amart Furniture and many more. Another area close by to Fyshwick is Majura where you will find the very popular IKEA. Many furniture shops offer delivery services should you wish to have your furniture delivered to your residence.
Purchasing used furniture in Canberra
If purchasing new furniture is not something you want to do, you can buy used furniture from services such as The Green Shed, which has locations at the local Resource Management Centres in Symonston and Mitchell as well as their shop front that can be found near the bus interchange in the Canberra City. The Green Shed is a business where people donate used furniture, which the business then sells at a cheap, affordable price. The Green Shed is all about giving back to the Canberra community and on the last Wednesday of every month, The Green Shed holds a charity day where 100% of all the sales collected (up to $10,000 within the day) goes to a charity chosen before the collection begins. Other popular ways of purchasing used furniture in Canberra is via Gumtree and Facebook Marketplace.
Regardless of how you purchase furniture or cars, be aware of scams that attempt to take your money and potentially personal information that could be used against you. Read all about the different types of scams on Facebook Marketplace through the We Live Security website. If you enjoyed this article and would like to read more about Canberra specific things, you can find part four of this segment on Canberra acronyms and slang. Alternatively, you can check out what goes in each bin in Canberra and Canberra air conditioning considerations and installers.