Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan accused the Victorian Premier of jeopardising the national consensus on Australia's coronavirus response be refusing to reopen classrooms.

Heavy, early season snow has fallen across the high country in Victoria and NSW, driven by a wintry cold front.

The Gippsland dairy farming town of Yarram has received a colourful makeover with the addition of 10 new public art murals by a celebrated street artist.

Shane Fitzsimmons was nicknamed the "nation's father" for his leadership during the catastrophic bushfire season. As he departs his post as NSW RFS chief, he explains how he went from a troubled teenager to a celebrated leader, earning respect and saving lives along the way.

Parents and teachers may be finding isolation tedious, but Kurnai College's school captain finds ways to keep the student body engaged and amused.

When a farmworker was convicted of poisoning hundreds of wedge-tailed eagles in Victoria, he told the court he was ordered to do it. But due to legal limitations, no further charges were laid against his boss.

The funeral for Josh Prestney today was small but full of grief as family and friends farewelled the young constable who was called a hero.

Victoria Police has suspended a senior constable over what Deputy Commissioner Shane Patton calls one of the most appalling breaches of privacy he's ever seen.

Police oppose bail for an IT expert accused of directing the importation of more than a billion dollars' worth of drugs into Australia, after prosecutors alleged he was part of a sophisticated plan of cyber coverup and stolen identities.

Trevor Whybrow will spend a minimum of 17 years behind bars for the "extremely violent" assault which resulted in the death of his friend, Barry Moffat, after he "touched him up" in bed.

Victoria Police are treating the death of a South Melbourne woman as suspicious after officers found her body on Monday.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas says Victoria has recorded 17 new cases of coronavirus overnight with 11 of them linked to meat processing plant Cedar Meats in Broolyn, May 5, 2020.

Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas also announced additional tax relief for families and businesses impacted by pandemic lockdown measures, May 5, 2020.

Victoria's health department counsels Annaliese van Diemen over her tweet comparing the impact of COVID-19 with Captain Cook's arrival in Australia, but clears her of breaching the Victorian public sector code of conduct.

Faruk Orman, who spent 12 years in prison for murder before being acquitted because of the Lawyer X scandal, is suing Victoria Police for unspecified damages.

Colac Hospital prepares to return to business as usual after a predicted surge in coronavirus cases fails to eventuate.

Police say there is "no reason" a man was shot as he was driving two women home from a church service, and they hope a $250,000 reward will help find answers for him.

Two brothers who beat up a police officer so hard they broke his ribs apologise to a court for their actions over what a judge describes as "a quantum leap in offending".

The findings are expected to reveal what the royal commission made of the evidence put before it about whether Cardinal Pell could or should have done more to prevent children from being abused by priests in the 1970s and 80s.

More than $15 million could have been lost from the Wimmera Southern Mallee economy as a result of events being cancelled because of the coronavirus.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says the state's total has been brought up to 1,454 confirmed cases of coronavirus with 106,000 tests conducted over the past week and a half.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the National Cabinet's plan to reopen Australia, but it will be up to each state and territory to decide how to roll it out. Here's what will change (or not) where you live.

A prominent Indonesian university is investigating allegations of sexual harassment involving a former student who is currently studying in Melbourne on a prestigious scholarship.

The small West Australian town of Donnybrook is celebrating its reinvention more than 25 years after it was named the ugliest in Australia.

Transforming a hearse into something resembling a Transylvanian castle on wheels is not something you can Google for instructions, but artist Karl Claydon made it work.

It's been a huge week of news stories big and small. How many do you remember? Test that memory in our news quiz.

There's been big news from all around the world this week — reckon you've kept up with it all? Test yourself with our news quiz.

It's been revealed a third of reported cane toads in NSW are misidentified and are in fact native — and even endangered — frogs.

Inspired by Tourism Australia's Matesong video, locals in south-west Queensland write their own version with the banks of the Balonne River standing in for the beaches of Sydney.

Toilet paper is the butt of jokes in Australia but it has become currency for a desperate Far North Queensland cafe with dwindling supplies.

You'd think you need to go outside for plane spotting, but enthusiasts are adapting to coronavirus in surprising ways.

The magpie and the kookaburra are two of Australia's favourite birds and, although they're not endangered yet, concerns for their wellbeing and survival are beginning to grow.

Floodwaters are swelling rivers in drought-ravaged outback Queensland and lifting the spirits of graziers.

A man who assaulted a South Australian paramedic while she attempted to help him while he was having a mental episode has avoided jail time.

Alan Clarke thought completing a 500km run across some of Australia's roughest terrain would be his biggest challenge. But that all changed when he spotted something in the shallows.

The Coalition has promised to fix 1,600km of SA's dog fence if it returns to government, an announcement warmly received after almost 20,000 sheep were lost to wild dogs last year.

For many, the word "Snowtown" sends shivers down the spine. But as the town attempts to attract tourists, some locals are wondering whether to cash in on the dark past.

Outback drillers find water 90 metres below the surface of SA's APY Lands in an underground valley millions of years old and remote communities are hoping it will provide a much-needed economic boost.

Two Labor MPs are still waiting to get offices within their electorates more than a year after the state election, with one labelling the delay as a "clamp down on democracy".

Part of the Port Augusta Prison has been evacuated after a letter containing a mystery white powder was opened by staff.

As a child he showed sociopathic tendencies. By the time he was an adult he was a drug dealer with an extensive criminal record who would go on to kill six people.

A diver reveals footage of the final resting place of Nyora, a beloved steam tug that sank in treacherous seas off South Australia 102 years ago.

The fossils of a giant new species of sea creature are discovered on South Australia's Kangaroo Island and with its formidable legs with spines used for crushing and shredding food, scientists are comparing it to Tyrannosaurus rex.

Horse sanctuaries close and horse owners are forced to consider putting their horses down amid an "unprecedented shortage of hay".

Koala chlamydia has had devastating effects in Queensland and New South Wales, but a population believed to entirely free of the disease on Kangaroo Island is being heralded as a potential lifeline.

Tributes are flowing for a former Queensland police officer and a respected horse stud owner killed in an outback plane crash, with investigations into the cause of the incident continuing.