Welcome to Access Canberra

 

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Welcome to Access Canberra

The ACT government and Access Canberra logos

What's coming up?

In this activity, you'll find out why the Access Canberra website at accesscanberra.act.gov.au is useful and what you can do there.

You'll learn how to access Access Canberra services with your web browser, and what you'll need to get started.

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Government services are important

There are lots of reasons you might need to access government services, from renewing your drivers licence to searching for lost superannuation funds.

Until recently, accessing government services meant going into town to an office location, and waiting in the queue.

Nowadays, you can access most services from a website. Almost everything you need is at the click of your mouse.

An illustration of a drivers licence and a magic wand next to it.
An illustration of a transport web page

What can government services do?

As well as helping you manage your personal information, such as your ID and official address, you can also use government services to:

  • save money by applying for rebates
  • apply for discount or concession cards
  • find lost money
  • see the rules or steps for things such as making a will or selling your home
  • check details, like when your car registration is due for renewal.

Being able to do all this online or via an app is much faster and easier than going into an office or even calling on the phone.

What you need to access government services

To access some of the ACT's government services using a website, you'll first need to create an ACT Digital account, by providing an email address and creating a strong password.

You can then upgrade this account by providing proof of identity using:

  • A form of photo ID, such as driver licence or passport
  • A second form of ID, such as your Medicare card.

Upgrading your ACT Digital account will let you access the full range of government services available on the web.

An illustration of a drivers licence
A padlock illustration.

eSafety tip

To create a free ACT Digital account, you will also need to provide your current street address. These services are meant for residents of the ACT, so it makes sense that you need to provide this information.

How do I access ACT government services?

For residents of the ACT, the government services website is called Access Canberra. To visit, enter accesscanberra.act.gov.au in the address bar of your computer’s web browser.

An illustration of the accesscanberra.act.gov.au website
An illustration of the act.gov.au and Access Canberra websites

The difference between Access Canberra and other sites

The ACT government also has a website at act.gov.au which contains a lot of the same information as the accesscanberra.act.gov.au website.

However, the Access Canberra website lets you sign in with an ACT Digital account to make payments, and access services online. The act.gov.au website only has information about services and will link you to Access Canberra.

Coming up in this course

For the rest of this course, you will learn more about how to use the accesscanberra.act.gov.au website, and the different services you can find there.

You'll find out when you need to enter personal information, how to check essential everyday services.

You'll also check what support you might be able to get with the cost of living at the ACT government's Cost of living support web page.

An illustration of the accesscanberra.act.gov.au website on a laptop computer.
An illustration of a call centre staff member next to the number for Access Canberra: 13,22,81

You can always call

The Access Canberra website contains a lot of information and has lots of different screens. If you can't find what you need, don't worry. You can always call Access Canberra on 13 22 81 between 8:00am and 6:00pm Monday to Friday, and speak to a representative, who will help you get what you need.

Well done!

This is the end of the Welcome to Access Canberra activity. You've learned what Access Canberra is and how it can help you access government services.

Up next is the Managing your personal information activity, where you can learn what information Access Canberra has about you, how to access it, and how to update it when you need to.

The Access Canberra logo