Living and working in Canberra

Living in Canberra

All the benefits of city living, in a capital without the crowds – find out why Canberra is affectionately known as the ‘big country town’.

Less time in traffic

Forget peak hour – in Canberra, it’s more like peak 20 minutes. And less time in traffic means more time with family and friends. Almost every destination in the ACT can be reached in less than 30 minutes.

This sporting life

We’re the most physically active community in Australia, with 86% of Canberrans playing sport or engaging in physical activity at least once a week. The city has green spaces, ovals, parks and bike tracks to ensure residents have plenty of opportunities to get out and stay active.

A family-friendly city

Canberra is a wonderful, safe place to raise a family. Big enough to provide access to excellent schools and extra-curricular opportunities, but small enough that it’s still possible to walk your kids to school, sometimes without even crossing a road.

A city of foodies

In Canberra, we’re serious about our food, wine and coffee! Whether it’s street food trucks, hole-in-the-wall eateries, family-owned restaurants, cosy pubs, or ‘hatted’ fine-dining experiences, there’s something for every taste and budget. Oh, and did we mention the more than 140 wineries on our doorstep?

Community-minded

In 2023, nearly 75% of the ACT population aged over 15 years volunteered their time and skills with sporting clubs, at community events, in schools, and for charities. That’s more than 63 million hours per year. Building communities isn’t just a saying here, it’s a way of life!

A city to explore

More than half of the ACT is protected as nature reserve, and there are so many beautiful trails to hike, ride and run. Many trails are within walking distance of our town centres, making it easy to squeeze in a walk before or after work. Or you could tackle one of our mountains!

Find out more about making the move to the nation’s capital: https://canberra.com.au/live/moving-to-canberra

Working arrangements

Rostered shiftwork

ACTF&R is a 24-hour, 7 day a week emergency service. Firefighters work rostered shifts which include nights, weekends and public holidays.

The roster system comprises the following:

• Most operational firefighters work a 10/14 roster with two day shifts (8am to 6pm), followed by two night shifts (6pm to 8am). The majority of operational firefighters fall into this category.
• Firefighters on the 10/14 roster will work an average of 42 hours per week over an eight week cycle.
• The 42 hours are comprised of 38 ordinary hours plus two additional overtime hours and two accumulated as recreational leave.
• Firefighters can also be recalled for duty in cases of an emergency and may also be required to work past the end of a shift if attending an incident.

Ongoing training and development

• All applicants who accept an offer of employment are paid to attend a 20-week training course at the ACT Emergency Services Agency Training Centre in Hume. On completion of this course, recruits will progress in rank from Fourth Class Firefighter to Third Class Firefighter.
• All firefighters must eventually reach the rank of First Class Firefighter, as a minimum requirement. To reach this rank takes approximately three years, and firefighters are supported through their ongoing training and studies.

Career development and opportunities

There are opportunities to work in many specialised areas within ACT Fire & Rescue:

• Operations: this largest area within the service focuses on managing operations and skills maintenance.
• Community Resilience: focuses on fire investigation, community preparedness, fire alarm management and regulatory planning.
• Capability support: focuses on improving operations, exercise management, incident management systems, fleet management, research and development, and uniform analysis.
• Operational communications: working in the Emergency Communications Centre (Fire Command). This centre manages all fire calls within the ACT, including triple-zero calls, and notifications from automated fire alarms.
• Firefighter development: this area focuses on training development, training delivery, the Juvenile Fire Awareness and Intervention Program, and the Community Fire Unit Program.

Leave Arrangements

• Personal leave: enables employees to be absent from duty due to personal illness or injury, or to provide support to an immediate family member. On commencement, employees are credited with 144 hours of paid personal leave, with a further 144 hours credited for each year of completed service.
• Annual leave: employees working rostered shift work are entitled to 392 hours of annual leave for each full year worked. When less than a full year is worked, leave is accumulated on a pro-rata basis.
• Maternity/birth leave: an employee who has completed a full year of service will be entitled to 18 weeks of maternity leave on full pay, or 36 weeks leave on half pay.
• Paid primary care giver leave: when an employee (other than an employee who is entitled to maternity leave), who has provided 12 months of continuous service, demonstrates that they are the primary care giver to a new born child or adopted child, they may apply for 18 weeks of paid primary care giver leave.
• Bonding leave: enables employees to be absent for 14 consecutive calendar days, to bond with a newborn child or an adopted child.
• Compassionate leave: allows employees to be absent for up to five shifts, following the death of an immediate family or household member.
• Long service leave: all employees will be entitled to 2.1 calendar months of long service leave at full pay, after the completion of seven years of service.

More details about leave entitlements can be found in the current ACT Fire & Rescue Enterprise Agreement.