Victoria should brace itself for extreme weather over the next few days, with the bureau forecasting damaging winds, flooding rains and snow before conditions clear up for Melbourne Cup day.

The Returned and Services League in NSW says it has been falling behind in providing services and enticing new members and is now renewing its refocus on caring for veterans and their families.

Scientists are hoping to stop mountain pygmy possums from hibernating, acclimatise them to warmer environments, then relocate new populations to lowland forests.

Police have confirmed the body of a man found in missing NSW woman Ruth Ridley's car in Victoria is that of her estranged husband.

The Victorian Government's historic treaty negotiations with the state's Aboriginal communities are one step closer this week, with the election of the First Peoples' Assembly. But the toughest yards to meaningful treaties still lie ahead.

The group representing Victoria's councils calls for organisations like independent schools, pokies clubs and churches to pay their fair share of rates because "mum and dad homeowners" are unfairly cross-subsidising private and commercial enterprises.

The sister of missing hiker Niels Becker hopes he will be found with an "epic story" to tell after failing to return from five-day hike in cold conditions in Victoria's alpine region.

Recognised as "the last frontier" and the land of opportunity, Darwin has always occupied a special fascination for the rest of Australia. So many of you asked what attracts people to the Top End, and what the residents are like. Here's a snapshot.

A man collapses and dies while hiking with a family member on a remote bush trail near Mount Sonder in Central Australia. It is the second death on the trail in 18 months.

The Northern Territorys first known contract killer may have accidentally died in his prison cell after using drugs, investigators believe.

A $500 million methanol plant with the capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes a day of the chemical could begin operating by 2024 in the Darwin Harbour.

Water is running dry in the Top End but is funding for a dam the right way to fix it?

In their ruling, the three Court of Appeals judges say a couple who were inside the home had not done anything to "revoke or negate" the implied right for police to walk up their footpath and approach the door.

A judge finds "extraordinary" flaws in the environment watchdog's decision not to require a formal impact assessment on a bid to clear 20,000 hectares of native vegetation on a cattle station south of Darwin, but steers clear of arguments over climate change.

The NT Police's recent haul included a banned Adler shotgun and a pistol once owned by Vic Hall, a legendary NT Mounted Police officer and World War One veteran who wrote numerous books about his colourful life in the outback.

When AFL star Cyril Rioli started playing football inside Australias most infamous youth detention centre, he found teenagers ready to change.

A black plume leaks into Darwin Harbour from a local sewerage plant.

A tour guide, who says he has "never seen anything like this before", thought there had been a massive oil slick when he first saw the thick black water flowing out past a tourist hot spot in the Northern Territory.

Documents tendered in the Northern Territory Supreme Court allege the five-storey complex in Darwin which is now advertised as "the epitome of waterfront living" almost collapsed before its completion in 2017.

The body of a worker buried alive at a Northern Territory mine has been recovered nearly a fortnight after 48,000 tonnes of soil fell on him.

Embattled regional airline Airnorth is in for a run for its money as competitor airlines line up for the NT Government-subsidised contract.

Northern Territory politicians are calling for the auditor-general to look into the Darwin Turf Club's decision to award a $12 million government-funded tender to a company run by the club's chairman.

Authorities were warned that a teenage boy with severe cognitive impairments was deteriorating in Darwin's Don Dale youth detention centre and needed help, before he joined in on a riot for which he may now go to adult jail.

Wielding an oversized wooden spoon, this popular Darwin laksa restaurateur, prepared for battle over a median strip, has taken to social media with a comical protest video.

For the past three years, the Darwin Street Art Festival has enlivened the city's derelict laneways. This year, those artworks are coming to life, thanks to an augmented-reality app that transforms static images into three-dimensional animations.

GRAPHIC WARNING: The Department of Agriculture is investigating the alleged inhumane killing of Australian cattle at the Festival of Sacrifice in Indonesia.

Where have all the barra gone? Research concludes 2019 has had the lowest recording of juvenile barramundi in the Daly River in over a decade as the beloved fish "failed to breed".

The high-profile host of SBS show Living Black says she was racially profiled by police in the Northern Territory, saying she was treated like a "grog runner" when she entered an Alice Springs bottle shop.

Tanking crowd numbers, a lack of draft picks and a haemorrhaging of hundreds of thousands in sponsorship funds have assisted in the demise of the Northern Territory's top-tier AFL team.

A report says the process for a $12 million grandstand at Darwin Turf Club was "independent and fair", but the Chief Minister wants rules tightened.

A coronial inquest finds found the death of Daniel Bleaney, who died by suicide after absconding from Darwin psychiatric facility, was entirely preventable.

Emergency warnings for bushfires burning near Darwin have been downgraded as fire crews battle to prevent the further spread of fire.

Scorched earth and burned toys show just how close a family's home came to destruction during rural Darwin's bushfire emergency.