Latest news with #CapitalTerritory
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Aldi supermarkets to finally launch delivery in Australia after 25 years: 'This is huge'
A convenient online shopping feature has finally arrived at Aldi Australia stores after 25 years. Commencing Tuesday July 8, the budget supermarket chain will be trialling on-demand grocery delivery in their Canberra stores, thanks to a new partnership with DoorDash. While initially disappointing for those outside the capital, the feature is expected to roll out nationally over the next few months. For now, shoppers in Canberra will be able to shop Aldi's exclusive range of products at the touch of a button - and have their shopping delivered right to their door. This means no more juggling groceries to keep up with Aldi's notoriously fast in-store cashiers. The partnership is a first for the budget supermarket chain, which had up until now resisted following other major supermarkets into offering on-demand grocery delivery services. Aldi Australia's Chief Commercial Officer, Jordan Lack, told FEMAIL that an online shopping delivery feature was something their customers had been requesting for quite some time. 'We know many Aldi shoppers have been eagerly awaiting news from us about adding a delivery service to our offering,' Jordan said. He confirmed that for the time being, Aldi's availability on DoorDash is temporarily limited to Canberra while the collaboration is in a trial phrase. But the supermarket CCO assured Aussie shoppers that plans to offer the on-demand delivery service nationally were already well under way and would commence shortly. 'A trial is currently being held in Canberra and we look forward to rolling out our partnership with DoorDash nationally in the coming months,' Jordan said. 'Keep checking the DoorDash app to see when an Aldi store near you is available for delivery.' Through the app, Canberrans will be able to order more than 1,800 Aldi-stocked products including fresh fruit and vegies, meat, seafood, dairy, bread and household essentials. To order groceries, all shoppers need to do is download the DoorDash app or visit the website and search for 'Aldi' on the platform. Customers will then be able to browse through the items available and add them to their online cart to purchase. Shoppers can decide if they would like their 'on-demand' shopping order to be delivered as soon as possible, or, at a later time window that suits them. The items will then arrive straight to the customer's door. Simon Rossi, DoorDash APAC's Vice President said: 'We are thrilled to partner with ALDI to deliver greater convenience, choice and affordability to the people of Canberra.' 'Through this new partnership, we're making it more accessible for shoppers to get their favourite ALDI products delivered directly to their door.' Outside of Australia, Aldi is already in partnership with DoorDash in the US, offering the on-demand grocery delivery store to American shoppers. Aldi has been operating in Australia for almost 25-years after opening its first two Sydney stores in 2001. Unlike its major supermarket competitors Coles and Woolworths, the smaller German-based supermarket chain has tread tentatively into online shopping in Australia. Just under a year ago, Jordan told the Australian Financial Review that they'd dismantled their online team because the operation costs too greatly affected their product costing structure. Aldi's CCO explained at the time that they'd opted to prioritise 'value' of cheaper groceries sold in-store 'over convenience' of online shopping. 'The greater concern is the impact on cost structure as fundamentally keeping our costs low has a direct impact on the prices we can offer our customers,' he told the publication.
ABC News
05-07-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
NRL live updates: Canberra Raiders vs St George Illawarra Dragons, North Queensland Cowboys vs Melbourne Storm
The Canberra Raiders look to firm their grip at the top of the NRL ladder against St George Illawarra in the nation's capital. Follow the live blog below, keep up to date with all the latest stats in our ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage.
Express Tribune
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Statute and salvation
Listen to article In a moment of historic magnitude and noble resolve, the Parliament of Pakistan has enacted the Islamabad Capital Territory Child Marriage Restraint Act 2025, a legislative triumph in the pursuit of justice, equality and preservation of childhood. By raising the minimum legal age of marriage to eighteen years for both young men and women within the federal capital, this enlightened decree supplants the antiquated ordinance of 1929, a relic of colonial jurisprudence. This bill, advanced with conviction by the member of the National Assembly, Ms Sharmila Faruqui, and championed with eloquence in the Senate by Senator Sherry Rehman, met stiff resistance from conservative quarters who claimed its incompatibility with religious and cultural tenets. Yet, the force of reason triumphed, notably drawing strength from the province of Sindh, where a similar statute has withstood the test of time since 2014. Even the Council of Islamic Ideology, the highest body of religious deliberation in the land, had previously given its assent to Sindh's reform, thereby rendering obsolete the theological objections to the federal measure. Under the auspices of the 2025 Act, any nuptial arrangement involving individuals below the age of maturity is henceforth unlawful within the jurisdiction of Islamabad. Nikah registrars are now duty-bound to authenticate the ages of both parties through national identity documents issued by NADRA. Those who dare defy the law — be they officiants, adult men preying upon minors, or conspirators enabling such unions — shall face stringent punishment, including imprisonment of up to three years and pecuniary penalties scaling to one million rupees. More significantly, the law designates all conjugal relations with a minor as statutory rape, regardless of consent or marital sanction. This legislative deliverance is not merely timely; it is imperative. According to the 2023 Demographic and Health Survey, nearly 28.9 per cent of Pakistani girls are wed before they attain the age of eighteen, while 4 per cent are forced into matrimony before the tender age of fifteen. Such unions, forged in coercion and cloaked in custom, breed domestic violence, maternal mortality and educational deprivation. Though limited in geographical application, the reverberations of this statute are felt far and wide. It heralds a new era wherein the voice of conscience may triumph over the outdated traditions. Provinces such as Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, where child marriage remains alarmingly prevalent, must now reflect upon their own legislative inertia and consider whether silence in the face of national reform is a tenable position. A consensus across the republic must now be forged. The provinces must harmonise their legal frameworks with the capital's enlightened statute, thereby affording equal protection to every child beneath the crescent and star. The state must invest in grand campaigns to enlighten families and communities about the grievous costs of premature marriage. The machinery of justice must be fortified with special courts and trained officers capable of swift intervention and resolute enforcement. Moreover, the nation must extend its hand to those vulnerable girls who stand at the precipice of such fates, offering them the sanctuaries of education, psychological support and shelter. Community leaders should emphasise the importance of every child's dignity and protection The latest turn in the saga of the bill reveals that the Council of Islamic Ideology has challenged the Act as un-Islamic, and a petition in the Federal Shariat Court now seeks its annulment on constitutional and religious grounds. The bill's landmark move to ban child marriage and set the legal age at 18 marks a major victory for child rights yet faces constitutional challenges and implementation hurdles that will determine its true effectiveness.
ABC News
04-06-2025
- General
- ABC News
This plaque near a Canberra shopping centre car park offers a window into a family's tragic war story
There are little clues scattered throughout Canberra — a plaque here, a street sign there — pointing to a tragic story of a family that helped forge the nation's capital. Easily missed, they tell the story of a migrant family, three brothers and a fateful, tragic month. Englishman Walter Eddison survived a gassing in France during World War I and fighting on the shores of Gallipoli to set up life with his wife, three sons and three daughters on a 750-acre block on what was then the outskirts of Canberra in 1919. Anthony Hill, historian and author of For the Love of Country which retells the family's tale, said Canberra at that time was still sheep grazing country. "Canberra was just a beginning settlement — a population of only a few thousand. Just as the Eddisons were arriving did work really start," he said. But the outbreak of World War II would pause the growth of the capital and draw in the Eddison family. The three sons left the farm to fight in the war: Tom and Keith as pilots, Jack with the 2/20th Battalion. In 1941, the family received news that Tom was missing — possibly dead — after being shot down returning from a raid over Germany. Mr Hill said the Eddisons couldn't find out any information. Finally, in May 1943, the family received confirmation that Tom had been killed and was buried in the Netherlands. About the same time, the Canberra Times reported Keith was involved in "[giving] one of the severest hammerings this Japanese-occupied land has yet had". Just a fortnight later, days after Tom's death was confirmed, Keith was killed in New Guinea. It was at this time the family also received written correspondence from Jack — a prisoner of war (POW) in the Japanese Naoetsu camp after the fall of Singapore. The letter gave the family hope Jack would one day return. "Right through 1943, '44 and '45, they were waiting for Jack to come home," Mr Hill said. "[They thought], 'When Jack comes back, he'll fix the farm'." But they didn't receive any more correspondence. That letter, received in May 1943, would be the last. Mr Hill said after the news that two of his sons were dead and the other was in a POW camp, Mr Eddison refused to answer the telephone. He couldn't deal with more bad news. Mr Eddison was working out in a paddock when it rang in 1945. "Jack wasn't coming home. "You can imagine the devastating news." Jack Eddison had died of pneumonia on June 17, 1943, — just a fortnight after Keith had been killed. Mr Hill said the family's story showed "the real nature of war". "It was a great tragedy, but they were a stoic, brave family and they carried on," he said. The brothers' niece, Wendy Townley, grew up always feeling like she knew the uncles she had been too young to remember — from the photos on the walls, and the things they'd left behind. "They were part of the family," she said. "This is Jack's horse and Jack's dog and Tom's bed. They were talked about a lot." Yet her grandfather, Walter, never talked about his sons or the war. Ms Townley said she never quite understood as a child just what a tragedy it was. "But you don't ask questions as a kid. I wish I'd asked more about it. "I don't think it really dawned on me how really horrible it was until I had kids of my own and thought, 'Hell, how could you live with that?'. "My grandmother was so strong. She was my hero." Nowadays, the family homestead, called Yamba, has been replaced with a shopping centre. A plaque near the car park is the only remnant it existed at all. There are other tributes to the brothers, too. Mr Hill said the Eddison name was remembered in all sorts of places. "[Canberra] was named after people," he said. There's Yamba Drive, Eddison Park in Woden, and a plaque in St John's Church on the pew where Ms Townley and her family used to sit. "It's lovely the family are remembered," she said. When Ms Townley's brother sat down to start grade six at Canberra Grammar School — the school has a house called Eddison — he looked down to see the name 'Keith Eddison' carved into his desk. What many would have discarded as no more than schoolyard graffiti was just another little clue pointing to a most tragic history. "We're all very proud of the name."
