Employment > General Practitioners > Canberra: The Nation's Capital 

Canberra: The Nation's Capital

You’ll love living in Canberra and you can choose the lifestyle that suits you, from a city apartment to a large home on a big block of land. You’ll have the opportunity to spend more time there. The relaxed pace of Canberra life has a lot to do with the fact that most people live within 20 minutes of the city centre.

Outside the city centre, Canberra is planned around a series of town centres—Woden, Tuggeranong, Belconnen and Gungahlin. Each has its own group of satellite suburbs and comes complete with a major shopping centre, schools and community facilities. There are also smaller suburban shopping centres and local schools.

The town centres of Tuggeranong, Belconnen and Gungahlin, as well as Weston Creek, are all eligible for District of Workforce Shortage status, which means appropriately qualified International Medical Graduates are able to gain a Medicare Provider Number to work in these areas.

If you’d like to move to Australia to work but don’t fancy working and living in the bush, Canberra can provide a wonderful alternative.

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Some Canberra facts

Climate     You can expect warm to hot summers, clear, crisp winters, spectacular springs and balmy colourful autumns.
Fact Canberra enjoys more hours of sunshine than Sydney or the Gold Coast.                                     
Weather – average maximum temperatures Summer (December-February) – 27 degrees
Autumn (March-May) – 20 degrees
Winter (June-August) – 12 degrees
Spring (September-November) – 19 degrees 
Population 360,000
Median age 34 years
Average full time weekly income AU$1,477 (Australia overall average $1,288)
Average commute time to work 15-20 minutes
Driving time to Sydney <3 hours on freeway
Driving time to NSW coast <2 hours
Driving time to NSW ski fields < 2.5 hours
Unemployment rate under 3.0% (5.4% nationally)
Local newspaper The Canberra Times is Canberra’s daily newspaper – see www.canberratimes.com.au
Industry Because Canberra is the capital of the nation, the Australian and ACT Governments are major employers in the city. But the opportunities go so much further than the public service- there are more than 20 000 businesses servicing the region, from multi-nationals to micro businesses. Over half of Canberra’s workforce is employed in our private sector.

* All statistics are approximate and are current as at July 2011. 
Information above provided courtesy of Live in Canberra. 
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GP facts and figures

Number of full-time GPs             Approximately 515
Number of part-time GPs Approximately 237
Other roles held by GPs Due to the geography of Canberra and the ease of getting around, GPs are spoilt for choice in their careers with the opportunity to combine clinical roles with other roles such as academia, research, teaching at the local ANU Medical School, training, working in policy areas, Defence or the local hospitals, and working in sub-speciality areas such as occupational health, plastics, skin and sports medicine, to name a few examples.
Types of GP practices GP Practices in Canberra range from solo practitioner practices right up to larger corporate and non-corporate practices of 9 GPs or more. The average is 3-5 GPs. 83% of practices employ Practice Nurses.
Average working hours per week There is much variety in the number of hours spent each week in clinical practice due to the vast array of non-clinical opportunities for GPs in Canberra. The majority of full-time GPs tend to work around 40 hours per week.
LifeView of GPs According to a recent LifeView survey conducted by the ACT Division of General Practice, ACTDGP Members’ ratings of their LiveView scores exceed national averages in all aspects, except satisfaction with health.

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Opportunities for families

Schools Canberra’s school system is recognised as the best in Australia. It has the highest retention rate of students completing secondary schooling, and the percentage of Canberra students gaining entrance to university is also the highest in Australia. There are also three universities located in the ACT.
Spouse employment There are jobs available right now in Canberra for skilled workers across selected industries. Canberra's unemployment rate is consistently among the lowest in the nation at under 3.0%. The pay's good too - in fact, workers in Canberra enjoy the highest average income in Australia.
 Housing You’ll love living in Canberra, and you can choose the lifestyle that suits you, from a city apartment to a large home on a big block of land. No matter which area you choose, commuting times to the city are short. The town centres are also employment hubs, with many government and private sector enterprises offering job opportunities virtually on your doorstep.
Some useful websites:
All Homes (share, rent or buy) 
Canberra Times Property Guide
 Health Our city is well supplied with high quality health care facilities, including two large public hospitals, private hospitals and a wide range of community-based health services.

Information provided courtesy of Live in Canberra.

Visit Live in Canberra for more information on Canberra.
Visit www.actuality.net.au to explore Canberra using an interactive map

Last updated September 2011