The reliability of roadside drug testing for cannabis is in question after new research reveals a "concerning" proportion of the tests are inaccurate, while a driver argues the 'passive smoking' defence and has charges dismissed.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a car hit two women in an "horrific" incident in Nambucca Heads on Saturday night, with the mother of one of the women later charged with manslaughter.

MORNING BRIEFING: A woman has been charged with murder after a man was found with multiple stab wounds in a Sydney apartment complex, while easing weather conditions have helped firefighters in Tenterfield gain the upper hand on a bushfire.

Dr Barbara Anne York Main OAM, who died last week, was one of Australia's leading spider researchers and conservationists. She studied the world's oldest spider and championed their home at a time when both the environment and women were given no fighting chance.

A 56-year-old woman has been charged with acts likely to endanger life for allegedly driving with her teenage daughter on the bonnet of a car.

Tracey hoped putting her mother in an aged care home would give her a sense of security, but she ended up severely injuring herself in a fall. Warning: contains graphic images.

In an six-hour police interview played to the jury, Ms Otto told detectives she and friend Bradley Purkiss had fantasised about living together and had often said things would be easier if her husband were dead.

DAILY BRIEFING: 31 year-old Josef Barker found not guilty of murder in fatal hit and run, and a woman who lied about attending a university campus at Cradle Mountain so she could travel while on bail is sentenced.

Almost half a century on, John is setting out to write a memoir about the incident and the events that followed. The process meant revisiting the event and the questions that have been left unanswered.

A man who assaulted his then-pregnant girlfriend on a weekly basis, destroyed her possessions by driving over them and smeared faeces on her clothes is jailed and described by the presiding judge as "domineering" and "cowardly".

DAILY BRIEFING: A Launceston woman is rescued from a house fire, and a Tasmanian judge describes the actions of a man caught with ecstasy in his underwear at Hobart Airport as "immature".

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.

A woman has faced court charged with murder following the death of a man at Port Augusta in South Australia's north.

A Bendigo woman is sentenced to 34 years in prison for killing her partner, who suffered burns to 95 per cent of his body after he was doused in paint thinner and set alight.

The daughters of Kerry Robertson, 61, the first Victorian to use the state's Voluntary Assisted Dying Act, say their mother's death was "beautiful and peaceful".

As the distressing CCTV footage of Tanya Day's death in police custody is released, all eyes turn to the coroner who will provide a determination on some of the key questions surrounding the Yorta Yorta woman's death.

A woman who forged documents to become an au pair is arrested for allegedly kidnapping two girls aged four and 10 months.

A Bendigo court orders a woman charged with child stealing to provide a DNA sample after she refused to cooperate with authorities. Her lawyer says the woman remains in hospital waiting for an MRI test.

A neighbour describes hearing a man screaming to be handed the phone on the afternoon a two-year-old boy died in Melbourne's outer-south-east. Police have arrested a man and a woman over the death.

A 33-year-old Victorian woman who was repeatedly denied breast screenings because of her age is urging other women to "follow their instincts" after being diagnosed with cancer.

Clive Palmer's multi-million-dollar payments to his father-in-law and a mysterious woman in Kyrgyzstan are among the funds he misused from Queensland Nickel coffers before its collapse, a court is told.

The Queensland Ethical Standards Command will review an incident after a "disturbing" video emerged showing a police officer appearing to strike a woman several times in the face.

A man is in custody after a woman was stabbed multiple times at a home in the Northern Territory town of Katherine, just streets away from where another woman was found dead last week. Meanwhile, the Alice Springs Women's Shelter says 500 more people have sought its help this year.

NSW resident Sonia Smallacombe says she was racially targeted by a police auxiliary stationed outside a bottle shop who demanded she produce hotel receipts to prove where she was staying.

The financial, emotional and psychological effects of the crime on the business directors of Alice Springs Helicopters and their families was significant, the prosecutor says.

A heavily pregnant Alice Springs woman is sentenced to five years and three months in prison for stealing $486,000 from her former employer, leaving the business almost bankrupt.

A pet deer fatally attacks a man and injures his wife during feeding. The couple's son had to beat the animal with a lump of wood to save his mother, the ABC has been told.

Police charge a woman with common assault after the Prime Minister is egged while meeting with delegates from the Country Women's Association in Albury, on the NSW-Victorian border.

Amber Holt, who is accused of throwing an egg at Scott Morrison during a CWA meeting in Albury earlier this month, pleads guilty to possessing a prohibited drug but her lawyer says a charge of common assault requires "further representation".

Relatives are mourning the death of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who died on Saturday when a microlight flown by her uncle crashed into the waters of Lake Eildon in central Victoria.

Police recover the body of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who was a passenger in a microlight aircraft that had crashed into Lake Eildon, in central Victoria. The pilot was rescued by a fishing boat and taken to hospital.

A New South Wales woman pleads guilty to common assault for throwing an egg at the Prime Minister's head during the election campaign.

End-of-year formal costs can be huge and for many farming families, it's a cost they struggle to afford. So a NSW woman is doing something about it.

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.

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.

Paula Thornton journeyed through 20 countries in 14 months, and where some may consider relying on hand gestures rude or disrespectful of culture and language, for Ms Thornton this is her everyday.

Northern Territory Police send in reinforcements after a woman is shot with a crossbow during a violent outbreak in a remote Arnhem Land community

A woman was allegedly raped so violently by a man she met in a shared laundry that she was lucky to survive, the ACT Supreme Court has heard. WARNING: This story contains graphic content.

The High Court quashes the conviction of a man jailed for life over the murder of 85-year-old Liselotte Watson in 2012.

Victorian Greens Senator Janet Rice announces her wife, renowned climate scientist and transgender woman Penny Whetton, has died suddenly at their home in northern Tasmania.

A female driver dies in hospital after a collision between her car and a fire truck in an inner suburb of Canberra.

The sexual assault, and her future brother-in-law's warning that she not tell anyone, left her with an eating disorder and post traumatic stress disorder.

A man is arrested in Canberra's south, after a woman was shot in the head this morning as she sat in her parked car in a "random" and "untargeted" attack.

A leg wound that became infected after a fall eventually claimed the life of Bertha Aalberts, but her Melbourne nursing home had no record of the injury's severity, a Cairns hearing of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is told.

A 21-year-old woman suffers serious leg injuries in an attack by what is believed to be two sharks in Great Barrier Reef waters off Cape York Peninsula.

Matthew Ross White pleads not guilty to the murder of Donna Steele, as the Supreme Court in Cairns hears her killing occurred when she fought back during a botched extortion bid.

A court releases the video of a police interview that shows the murder confession of Matthew White, who strangled Cooktown woman Donna Steele in a botched extortion bid and has been sentenced to life in jail.