A court has heard Border Force and NSW and federal police officers formed a human chain to unload hundreds of bricks of cocaine from a catamaran linked to an international drug syndicate.

Brenda Marney, 73, is charged with animal cruelty offences after a mutilated magpie is found at her home on the NSW mid-north coast police believe she lures animals with food before capturing and torturing them.

Five men are charged over the murder of a Queensland man who was beaten to death with a steel bar before his mutilated body was dumped, set alight and eventually found by firefighters near Taree.

Residents at a retirement village in New South Wales say life is becoming more like science fiction as an automated vehicle changes the way they stay connected.

Today the Macleay Valley is suffering unprecedented drought, but 70 years ago it was inundated with "mighty waves as high as telegraph poles" that flooded the region and left 2,000 people homeless.

They were Australia's worst bus-crash tragedies and they happened within weeks of each other on the Pacific Highway. Fifty-six people were killed and 63 injured and 30 years on the pain still lingers for many.

The suicides of two young Indigenous women in two months have sparked calls for immediate action.

The 6.6 magnitude earthquake that rattled Broome was 100 times more powerful than the one which claimed 13 lives in Newcastle in 1989 but there were no deaths and very little damage.

Two pilots have pulled off a risky retrieval operation in remote WA, dangling a 1-tonne aeroplane beneath their chopper and flying it almost 100 kilometres to the nearest town.

A remote WA distillery has teamed up with a brewery 4,000 kilometres away to create the state's first corn beer, direct from paddock to keg.

Where some people have seen wrecked cars in the desert, artists in a remote WA community saw a blank canvas. Rocked by two deaths, the people of Balgo have set about doing something special.

Survivor is a word thrown around fairly lightly, but in the case of German migrant Frauke Bolten-Boshammer, you can't help but feel she's earned the title 10 times over.

The harvest is underway at one of Australia's most remote pearl farms and its new owners are excited by what they see.

Schools and remote communities across the north of Western Australia fear for their future as vital funding dries up, leaving highly-valued employees jobless.

For many families in remote parts of Australia, virtual classrooms provide a vital education but low enrolment numbers in some parts could spell trouble for schools of the air.

There is no sign of retirement for 91-year-old Rex Egerton-Warburton who still enjoys an active farming career despite being in the saleyards since he was five.

Authorities in Western Australia investigate a large mussel die-off that covered a 1km stretch of beach on the south coast last week.

This wild and rugged corner of north-west Tasmania is bursting with ancient history and dotted with artefacts, but you've probably never heard of it.

Rob Dickson has gone from looking after 100 expeditioners in Antarctica to being a GP for the 1,755 people who live in the remote town of Queenstown on Tasmania's west coast. He says regional Australia can be more isolating.

DAILY BRIEFING: A Tasmanian shark attack victim commemorates a year since the incident, cattle deaths hearing delayed and basketball stars arrive in the state.

Autonomous mining trucks and remote health tools are among key Australian technologies that NASA will need for its 2024 Moon mission, stakeholders say.

The stories of two Tasmanian officers added to the national list of police who "gave the ultimate sacrifice" most likely differ markedly to those from other jurisdictions.

DAILY BRIEFING: Premier Will Hodgman says it is "improbable" mining exploration licences or leases will be granted to companies looking for coal on agricultural land, and the Hobart City Council is one step closer to drug testing councillors.

Bertrand Cadart says facing death makes him feel positive, which is why he keeps his Ferrari-red coffin in his loungeroom.

A woman resigned from her job after her employer "expressed disgust and made comments" about her facial hair and another was suspended for shaving her hair to support her cancer patient mother, an anti-discrimination report says.

As bushfire conditions ease around Tasmania this weekend, the firefighter's union wants laws to back volunteers leaving work in an emergency as the bushfire season extends to as long as six months.

It comes as no surprise to researchers that densely-populated beaches in Australia are contaminated with microplastics but what about our remote coastal areas?

Charities are turning to technology as they struggle to source enough food to feed a growing number of people going hungry in rural and remote communities.

At 73, Dr Graham Fleming could be enjoying a quiet retirement. Instead, he's gearing up to be a struggling regional town's first resident doctor in nearly 18 months.

New South Wales specialist police dog Tilly has arrived in South Australia to help investigators find the remains of missing Manna Hill mother Tanja Ebert and Adelaide teenager Scott Redman.

Clean drinking water is essential for survival but one South Australian Aboriginal community has now been completely "bone dry" for days.

Accompanied by police, Premier Daniel Andrews takes part in a sod-turning ceremony at the site of the future Bendigo Islamic Community Centre, declaring goodwill had won out over "some pretty dark views".

The coroner presiding over the inquest into the death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day, who died after sustaining injuries in police custody, refuses a request from Ms Day's family to remove a police investigator from the case.

More than 60 people search for missing Melbourne man Jeremy Boyden and his dog, Rocky, who were last seen on a road in Victoria's high country three days ago.

The search for missing hiker Jeremy Boyden and his dog Rocky enters its fourth day, as rescue teams focus on searching the large network of alpine huts scattered across Victoria's high country amid worsening weather.

Victoria finally has a permanent kangaroo pet food program, but farmers are concerned red tape will result in carcasses left to rot in paddocks.

A Victorian court has heard that a man accused of murdering his wife set fire to her back fence and accused her of having an affair with a neighbour in the lead-up to her death.

There are fears some people living in remote communities and in Indigenous town camps may not be able to vote in the same sex marriage postal ballot. As the cut-off date to register with the Australian Electoral Commission draws closer, it's still not clear how the Australian Bureau of Statistics will capture everyone's vote, as many in remote communities don't have a postal address.

Police have charged a man with the wilful murder of Sarah Spiers, a victim of the so-called Claremont serial killings in Perth in the 1990s.

Albert Burke served his country and fought on the Western Front, but when he returned home, he was forced onto a mission and later died in the bush, alone.

Hundreds of people have signed a petition calling on Queensland MPs to stop a departmental plan to remove 'historic' fishing huts in and around a national park in the state's north.

The North Queensland Cowboys prop Matt Scott who is due to retire at the end of the season is in a Brisbane hospital after suffering a mild stroke on Sunday.

Time has run out for the owners of 14 holiday shacks near Ingham in north Queensland with the State Government ordering their removal by the end of the month.