Tag: Canberra

‘We won’t survive’: Small retailers missing out on Boxing Day sales

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Australian shoppers are splashing big cash in the post-Christmas sales, but some small businesses say they are not feeling the love.

The week between Christmas and New Year is expected to generate $3.83 billion in spending nationally, up 4.4 per cent on last year, according to forecasts by the National Retailers Association.

Demand is being driven by Boxing Day discounts and the redemption of Christmas gift cards.

Diana Derek’s Canberra homewares store has been running at a loss since Christmas and she’s worried consumers have overlooked small businesses. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)

But at Diana Derek’s Canberra homewares store and boutique Hive, sales have plummeted, and she has been running at a loss since Christmas.

“There’s been a massive drop off … we didn’t plan for that,” Ms Derek said.

“I assumed that it was just because everyone goes to the coast [after Christmas], but I went into the Canberra Centre and did see a lot of Canberrans shopping.

“Unfortunately, it does look like they’ve chosen the malls over the little businesses.“

Canberra Outlet Centre was packed with shoppers searching for a bargain on Boxing Day. (ABC News: Callum Flinn)

Her small store is unable to compete with the sweeping discounts offered by large retailers.

“People just get so overwhelmed with the word sale, [but] it doesn’t mean it’s quality — mainly what we see is quantity,” Ms Derek said.

The Canberran took over the shop six months ago with the hope of keeping the almost 30-year-old independent business running.

“You start wondering if you’ve done the right thing,” she said.

“It would be great if people kept supporting it because we won’t survive and we will get pushed out by the big guys.“

Ms Derek says if shoppers always overlook small businesses, they will soon disappear. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)

Sales a double-edged sword

Canberra Business Chamber chief executive Greg Harford said big sales periods like Black Friday and Boxing Day could be a double-edged sword.

“[They] can put real pressure on retailers,” Mr Harford said.

“[There’s] an opportunity there of course, because customers are out looking for bargains, but every discount a retailer offers is money off the bottom line and at the small end of retail in particular, margins are really, really narrow.

“The reality is for many small retailers, they’re never going to be able to compete with larger chains on sales — they’ll have to compete on service or range or offering.”

Greg Harford says small retailers can’t match the sales discounts of large outlet chains. (Supplied: Greg Harford)

While Mr Harford expected this year’s local Boxing Day figures to be stronger than 2024, he said Canberra was grappling with a “two-speed economy”.

“The best advice for retail customers is get out and support local businesses,” he said.

“We really do need to support them, otherwise there’s a risk that they will disappear.“

Making conscious choices

Tayanah O’Donnell doesn’t offer Boxing Day or Black Friday sales at her Canberra bookshop. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)

At Canberra’s oldest independent bookshop, owner Tayanah O’Donnell has resisted the temptation to provide discounts to compete with the major retailers.

“We don’t offer Black Friday sales or Boxing Day sales or anything like that,”

she said.

“Occasionally you have those quiet moments late at night where you think, ‘perhaps we should this year succumb to offering a discount’, but it has been a deliberate choice.

“We just operate on the basis that people coming into the store will get the best possible book at the best possible price and we really pride ourselves on the experience of people coming into the store taking as long as they need to browse.”

Paperchain “will never replicate what the bigger stores are doing”, owner Tayanah O’Donnell says. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)

While the store is quieter now than during the pre-Christmas rush, the business is still thriving.

In the face of rabid sales marketing, Ms O’Donnell encouraged shoppers to make conscious choices.

She said choosing to buy one perfect book was preferable over madly purchasing 10 that may never be read.

“There is something to be said for a slower, more thoughtful way in which we buy things, consume things, honour those things and pass them on to others,” she said.

“We’ll never try to replicate what the bigger stores are doing.

“We stick to our knitting, as my grandma would say.“

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December 31, 2025
Australian prime minister Albanese becomes the first ever to marry in office

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon in a secretive and intimate ceremony on Saturday at his official residence in the national capital, Canberra.Albanese is the first prime minister to marry while in office in the 124-year history of the Australian federal government.The couple were married by a civil celebrant before around 60 guests, including several cabinet ministers, in an afternoon ceremony on the grounds of The Lodge. There was no media reporting of the event until after it had occurred.“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” the couple said in a statement.The pair wrote their own vows and their dog Toto was the ring bearer. Haydon’s 5-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl, the statement said.Albanese, 62, who is divorced with an adult son, proposed to Haydon, 46, at The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year. They initially planned a larger-scale wedding before the last election was scheduled to be held in May this year. Albanese had told a Sydney radio program he was considering inviting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he considered a personal friend.But the ruling center-left Labor Party strategists feared a lavish wedding during a cost of living crisis could hurt the government’s chances of being re-elected for a second three-year term.A decision was made to delay the wedding until after the election. Albanese had said the wedding would take place in 2025, but did not reveal a date.The wedding came two days after Parliament ended for the year on Thursday.Haydon, who works in finance, met Albanese at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020.

MELBOURNE, Australia —

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese married his partner Jodie Haydon in a secretive and intimate ceremony on Saturday at his official residence in the national capital, Canberra.

Albanese is the first prime minister to marry while in office in the 124-year history of the Australian federal government.

The couple were married by a civil celebrant before around 60 guests, including several cabinet ministers, in an afternoon ceremony on the grounds of The Lodge. There was no media reporting of the event until after it had occurred.

“We are absolutely delighted to share our love and commitment to spending our future lives together, in front of our family and closest friends,” the couple said in a statement.

The pair wrote their own vows and their dog Toto was the ring bearer. Haydon’s 5-year-old niece, Ella, was the flower girl, the statement said.

Albanese, 62, who is divorced with an adult son, proposed to Haydon, 46, at The Lodge on Valentine’s Day last year. They initially planned a larger-scale wedding before the last election was scheduled to be held in May this year. Albanese had told a Sydney radio program he was considering inviting former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he considered a personal friend.

But the ruling center-left Labor Party strategists feared a lavish wedding during a cost of living crisis could hurt the government’s chances of being re-elected for a second three-year term.

A decision was made to delay the wedding until after the election. Albanese had said the wedding would take place in 2025, but did not reveal a date.

The wedding came two days after Parliament ended for the year on Thursday.

Haydon, who works in finance, met Albanese at a business dinner in Melbourne in 2020.

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November 29, 2025
King Charles III to visit Australia and Samoa as he recovers from cancer

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LONDON (AP) — King Charles III is preparing to visit Australia and Samoa in October, an itinerary that will span 12 time zones and test the monarch’s stamina as he recovers from cancer treatment.

The trip, announced on Sunday by Buckingham Palace, marks a watershed moment for the 75-year-old king, who has been slowly returning to public duties after taking a break following his cancer diagnosis in early February. The decision to undertake such a long journey will be seen as a sign of Charles’ recovery, even though the program in Australia will be “limited.”

The visit to Australia will be a critical moment for the king as he tries to shore up support for the monarchy at home and abroad. The trip will mark the first time since he ascended the throne that Charles will visit one of the 14 countries outside the United Kingdom where the British monarch remains head of state, a link that is a source of pride for some but an unwelcome reminder of Britain’s colonial dominance for others.

While he will undoubtedly be welcomed by fans waving the flag and singing “God Save the King,” Charles is also likely to hear anti-monarchy voices in a country where 45% of voters in a 1999 referendum supported creating an Australian republic. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party supports ditching the monarchy, but the government says it isn’t a priority and there is no timeline for another referendum.

“It’s clear that there’s a real reevaluation going on there as to whether the Commonwealth, and certainly the realms, want to retain their connection to the British monarchy or not,” Ed Owens, a historian and author of “After Elizabeth: Can the Monarchy Save Itself?” told The Associated Press in an interview before the trip was announced. “So, you know, there are troubled waters ahead.”

Albanese said he and Governor-General Sam Mostyn, the monarch’s representative in Australia, would welcome Charles and Queen Camilla. Albanese noted Charles had already made 15 official visits to Australia, the most recent in 2018. The monarch had also spent several months in an Australian bordering school as a teen in 1966.

“The King has a deep regard for our great nation, and has always spoken warmly of the time he has spent here and the astounding beauty of our extraordinary continent,” Albanese said in a statement.

The palace provided few details of the tour. Charles and Camilla will visit the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales as well as making a more formal state visit to Samoa, where the king will appear at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the palace said.

The capital territory is home to Canberra, Australia’s national capital. Sydney, Australia’s largest city, is in New South Wales.

Charles holds the symbolic title of head of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 independent nations, most of which have historic ties to Britain. The annual heads of government meeting will be held Oct. 21-25.

However, the trip will not include a stop in New Zealand.

“The King’s doctors have advised that a further extension to Their Majesties’ trip should be avoided at this time, to prioritize His Majesty’s continued recovery,” the palace said in a statement.

Albanese said planning for the visit was still underway and more information would be made public in due course.

Isaac Jeffrey, national director and CEO of the Australian Republic Movement, the peak body advocating for an Australian republic with an Australian head of state, called for a meeting with Charles and questioned why Australia should pay for the royal visit.

“This visit is a great opportunity for all Australians to ask themselves whether the British Royals really represent a modern Aussie democracy,” Jeffrey said in a statement.

The trip comes at a time when the health problems of Charles and Kate, the Princess of Wales, have highlighted the challenges faced by a slimmed-down royal family as the king pledges to cut costs.

With fewer working royals available to carry out the endless round of ribbon cuttings, awards ceremonies and state events that make up the life of a modern royal, the remaining family members have been forced to take on more events.

Charles’ cancer diagnosis occurred at the same time that the Princess of Wales — one of the most popular royals — underwent abdominal surgery and later announced she, too, had cancer. Prince William took time off to support his wife and their young family.

That left Camilla, the king’s sister, Princess Anne, and his youngest brother, Prince Edward, to shoulder the load. Princess Anne was briefly hospitalized last month after an accident thought to involve a horse left her with a concussion.

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Associated Press writer Rod McGuirk in Melbourne, Australia, contributed to this report.

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July 17, 2024
Homes inundated by swollen rivers in Australian floods

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Homes were flooded in Melbourne and other cities in Australia’s southeast on Friday with rivers forecast to remain dangerously high for days.

About 70 residents were told to leave the suburb of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s northwest, along with hundreds in the Victoria state cities of Benalla and Wedderburn, authorities said. Melbourne is Australia’s second-most populous city with 5 million people.

About 500 homes in Victoria were flooded and another 500 had been isolated by floodwater, Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said. Those numbers would increase, he said.

Most of the state was experiencing a “very, very, significant rainfall event and it comes, of course, with the ground completely sodden,” Andrews said.

“The real challenge now is we’ve got another rain event next week and the Bureau (of Meteorology) forecasting more rain throughout the next six-to-eight week period and it won’t take a lot of additional water for there to be further flood events,” Andrews added. “So this has only just started and it’s going to be with us for a while.”

Andrews said 4,700 homes were without power, more than the 3,500 that Victoria State Emergency Service had reported earlier on Friday.

The Bureau of Meteorology said major-to-record flooding was occurring or was forecast to occur on many rivers in Victoria and the island state of Tasmania to the south.

North of Victoria, moderate-to-major flooding was occurring along several rivers in inland New South Wales state, the bureau said.

A 63-year-old man was reported missing in floodwater in New South Wales on Tuesday and a person was reported missing in central Victoria on Friday, officials said. No details of the person missing from the Victorian town of Newbridge have been released.

Police on Tuesday found the body of a 46-year-old man in his submerged car in floodwater near the New South Wales city of Bathurst, west of Sydney, a day after he died.

The State Emergency Service said it had carried out 108 flood rescues in Victoria in the past 48 hours.

State Emergency Service commander Josh Gamble said complacency was the main reason for people getting into trouble.

“That is quite significant and we haven’t had that many flood rescues for quite some time, for some years in fact,” Gamble said.

“Many of these people are putting their own lives at risk, their own children in some circumstances, but more importantly, other community members and responders and that’s in all parts of the state not just metropolitan areas,” Gamble added.

Evacuation orders were also in place for the town of Rochester on the Campaspe River, north of Melbourne, and the central Victorian towns of Carisbrook and Seymour on the Goulburn River.

In New South Wales, 550 people have been isolated or evacuated from the town of Forbes as the Lachlan River flooded, authorities said.

South of Forbes, parts of the city of Wagga Wagga were evacuated due to the Murrumbidgee River breaking its banks.

“Fortunately, the Murrumbidgee River peaked on Thursday and we’re starting to see the floodwaters decline in those areas,” New South Wales State Emergency Service official Andrew Edmunds said.

In Tasmania, north coast residents were moving to higher ground with river levels forecast to rise and the major port of Devonport was closed on Friday due to flooding of the Mersey River.

The bureau said flood peaks on the Meander and Macquarie rivers in Tasmania were likely to be the highest on record.

The North Esk and Mersey rivers may peak around the same levels as they did during major floods in 2016, when three people drowned, the bureau said.

The bureau last month declared that a La Niña weather pattern, which is associated with above-average rainfall in eastern Australia, was underway in the Pacific.

The bureau forecast that the La Niña event may peak during the current Southern Hemisphere spring and return to neutral conditions early next year.

La Niña is the cooler flip side of the better-known drying El Niño pattern. La Niña occurs when equatorial trade winds become stronger, changing ocean surface currents and drawing up cooler deep water.

It is the third La Niña since 2019 became Australia’s hottest and driest year on record.

That year came to a catastrophic conclusion with wildfires fueled by drought that directly or indirectly killed more than 400 people, destroyed more than 3,000 homes and razed 19 million hectares (47 million acres) of woods, farmland and city fringes.

Sydney, New South Wales’ capital and Australia’s largest city, last week beat its 1950 record to make 2022 its wettest-ever year.

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October 14, 2022
Tennis star Kyrgios to fight charge on mental health grounds

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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios will apply to have an assault charge dismissed on mental health grounds, his lawyer told an Australian court on Tuesday.

Lawyer Michael Kukulies-Smith appeared on behalf of Kyrgios in a court in the tennis star’s hometown of Canberra and asked for an adjournment so forensic mental health reports could be prepared.

Magistrate Glenn Theakston adjourned the case until Feb. 3, when Kyrgios’ lawyers are expected to apply to have the charge dismissed under a section of the local crimes law.

The 27-year-old Australian tennis star will appear in court in person on that date for the first time since he was charged by police by summons in July.

The law gives magistrates the power to dismiss a charge if they are satisfied an accused person is mentally impaired, and dealing with an allegation in that way would benefit the community and the defendant.

The common assault charge, which has a potential maximum sentence of two years in prison, relates to an incident in January 2021 that was reported to local police last December.

The charge reportedly relates to an incident involving his former girlfriend.

Kukulies-Smith told the court his client’s mental health history since 2015 made the application appropriate, citing a number of public statements made by Kyrgios.

In February, Kyrgios opened up about his performance at the 2019 Australian Open, saying what appeared to be a positive time in his life had been “one of my darkest periods.”

“I was lonely, depressed, negative, abusing alcohol, drugs, pushed away family and friends,” he wrote on Instagram. “I felt as if I couldn’t talk or trust anyone. This was a result of not opening up and refusing to lean on my loved ones and simply just push myself little by little to be positive.”

Kyrgios made further references to his mental health struggles during his runs to the final at Wimbledon and the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open.

After ending Daniil Medvedev’s U.S. Open title defense last month to reach the quarterfinals, Kyrgios expressed pride at lifting himself out of “some really tough situations, mentally” and “some really scary places” off the court.

Theakston questioned whether Kyrgios would need to appear in court for the February hearing, but Kukulies-Smith said his client wanted to attend.

Kyrgios was scheduled to play at the Japan Open later Tuesday against Tseng Chun-hsin of Taiwan.

Speaking in Tokyo before his matter returned to court, Kyrgios said it was “not difficult at all” to focus on tennis despite the pending charge.

“There’s only so much I can control and I’m taking all the steps and dealing with that off the court,” he told reporters. “I can only do what I can and I’m here in Tokyo and just trying to play some good tennis, continue that momentum and just try to do my job.”

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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October 4, 2022