Today is February 23, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, the tax office has begun the process of winding back the team responsible for JobKeeper as the government looks to close the books on the billion-dollar program that supported millions during the coronavirus pandemic, and one of Australia's peak science bodies has advocated for a multi-billion dollar fund to help researchers with major challenges following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Today is February 22, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine arrived in the ACT on Sunday, ahead of today’s rollout at the Garran Surge Centre, and health authorities have started the national rollout of the Pfizer vaccine against COVID-19 as Prime Minister Scott Morrison and aged residents became the first in Australia to receive vaccinations.

Today is February 19, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, ACT government accounts, community groups and small businesses have been inadvertently caught up in Facebook's move to block access to news outlets on the social media platform, and coronavirus restrictions in Canberra will ease this weekend, as the ACT government prepares to make its contact tracing app mandatory for businesses.

Today is February 18, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, the Coalition government rejected a proposal last year that would have offered better protection for parliamentary staffers from sexual harassment and bullying, and a mysterious water reservoir has caused repeated major potholes in a Gungahlin street and exasperated residents, some of whom have spent thousands of dollars fixing flooding issues at their homes.

Today is February 17, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, drivers were drug-affected, alcohol-affected and speeding right through last year's pandemic in the ACT, despite more police out patrolling Canberra's roads, and all the tiles in the Gungahlin Leisure Centre's 50-metre pool will have to be replaced before it can reopen to swimmers, with fears it could take more than a year for the repairs to be finished.

Today is February 16, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, almost one in 10 Canberrans would be impacted when the JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme and Jobseeker supplement were wound up at the end of March, prompting fears of business closures and a spike in poverty in the nation's capital, and defence and foreign affairs employees being posted overseas will be among the first in line for a COVID-19 vaccine while other public service employees will maintain their position in accordance with the national rollout.

Today is February 15, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, security is set to be beefed up at the Canberra Hospital to prepare for the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, with at least 80,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine set to land in Australia by the end of the week, and a scheme to encourage Canberrans to shop locally will be reviewed before it is rolled out again, as the ACT Opposition called the ChooseCBR voucher program a "failed scheme".

Today is February 12, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, the new Canberra theatre could be built as part of a wider arts precinct which includes apartments, shops and a hotel, under an expanded vision for the long-awaited project, and road safety experts say reducing the speed limit by 30 kilometres per hour along the Tuggeranong Parkway could help to improve traffic flow along the notorious stretch of road.

Today is February 11, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, Chief Minister Andrew Barr says he takes seriously anti-corruption watchdog concerns that conflicts of interest in the ACT public service are "poorly understood and regularly mismanaged", and the Australian National University will aim to create a billion-dollar company in the next five years as it works to improve its relationship with the federal government.

Today is February 10, 2021 and this is your daily news briefing from The Canberra Times. In today’s update, a successful vaccine rollout, no large-scale outbreaks and a progressive reopening of international borders from July this year will be relied on to spur the ACT's recovery from the coronavirus-induced economic shock, budget papers show, and two speeches, one from Labor leader Anthony Albanese and one from key lieutenant Kristina Keneally, signal Labor's intention to make job security and government accountability among the top issues in the upcoming federal election.