Accessing essential services

Helping you access essential services

There's a lot of information on the Access Canberra website, and the site makes finding what you want easier by grouping services into categories, such as Driving, transport and parking and Building and property.

To see these groups of services, look at the grid of categories on the Access Canberra home page. You can click each one to see what services are included.

Remember, if you get lost, you can click the words Access Canberra in the top left of the page, to get back to the Access Canberra home page.

eSafety tip

Some of the services you can browse via Access Canberra are actually hosted on other government websites.

You can’t always tell when you’re being directed to another website, but you can see the web address has changed in the search bar of your browser.

To get back to the original page, click the Back button in your web browser.

Births, relationships and deaths

This category includes things such as how to:

• apply to get your birth certificate
• access the service for name changes
• access relationships information, such as requesting a marriage certificate.

Driving, transport and parking

This category includes everything you need for driving, using public transport, and also covers applying for a passport or visa.

You can:

• obtain ACT driver licence information
• find out if you have any demerit points, with a licence records request
• manage your motor vehicle registration and renewal.

You can also find a link to purchase a MyWay card to pay for bus and light rail tickets.

Health

Health is an important category, but it doesn't appear on Access Canberra. Instead, it appears on the ACT Government website.

Type act.gov.au in to the address bar of your web browser and click Enter to visit that website instead. The Health category appears on the home page and has lots of useful information on healthcare.

Building and property

This category has essential information for some of the more complicated aspects of owning, buying, or selling property – especially if it's not your primary residence.

You can:

• pay rates, land tax and land rent using a single form
• find out about buying and selling property
• apply for an owner-builder licence
• find a licensed professional for your building, buying, or selling needs.

Using the Fix My Street service

The ACT government has a special service that lets you report problems relating to your street. This could be anything from potholes to broken or dim streetlights.

On the Access Canberra home page, click the City services category link and then the Fix My Street link.

Using the Fix My Street service (cont'd)

You can choose from categories including:

• Cycle and footpaths
• Grass, trees & shrubs
• Parks and public spaces
• Streetlights
• Roads and vehicles
• Death cap mushrooms.

Click on the category that's relevant to your issue and follow the steps to report it.

Well done!

This is the end of the Accessing essential services activity. You've learned about browsing available services and how they are grouped into useful categories.

Up next, the Discovering everyday savings activity will show how you can use the ACT government's Cost of living support page to find out how to save money.