A Victorian woman who entered a sexualised relationship with a 14-year-old WA boy has been jailed but immediately released after a judge deemed her past had left her with "clouded boundaries".

A northern Victorian man has walked free after 21 months in custody after he was found not guilty of murdering a man with a machete on Boxing Day two years ago on grounds of self-defence.

Wellington Shire Council in Victoria's Gippsland region gives eligible farmers $700 pre-loaded debit cards to provide some financial relief and stimulate the local economy.

In regional Victoria, palliative care patients are waiting hours and sometimes days for much-needed medications to help with pain and quality of life.

A group of researchers from the Harvard University Wyss Institute and the Massachusets Institute of Technology Computer Science Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, or MIT CSAIL have developed a robot gripper that uses a 3D printed origami structure to lift up to 100 times its own weight.

Emotions were high at Sydney's Martin Place, as some of the homeless people living there packed up their belongings. The tent-dwellers have been camped in the heart of Sydney's financial district for several months and last week their presence led to a stoush between the City of Sydney and the New South Wales Government. Yesterday the State Parliament voted to give police new powers to shut down the settlement. Faced with the prospect of the police moving in, many living there have decided to head elsewhere.

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.

Nine photographic panels, so large that they've never been displayed in public until now, depict the construction of Parliament House in Canberra 30 years ago.

A Townsville woman says she was hit with a $2,000 "robodebt" notice despite a Federal Minister's claim the debt recovery program was suspended in the wake of February's floods.

It was one of Australia's worst maritime disasters and now, half a century later, the families of those who were lost have gathered to remember them and honour their bravery.

Houses intended to keep eligible Queensland teenagers out of the youth detention system are not cost-effective and may not have the desired results, a damning report finds.

Two holidaying nurses want to have a beer with two "cool" English tourists who managed to keep positive minutes after being attacked by a shark. The nurses provided first aid which is credited with saving the men's lives.

No charges will be laid against the organisers of a car festival that left Chaise Bouchere with horrific burns to his face and limbs, after the Northern Territory safety watchdog decided that funding future safety initiatives would be more beneficial.

People criticising the decision to close the Uluru climb need to understand how the traditional owners, the Anangu, relate to the site, a senior custodian of Uluru says.

Visitors rush to ascend Uluru hours before the climb's permanent closure.

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer says the three-week early voting period is bad for democracy, particularly in regional Australia.

The brothers shot by police in Barnawartha North yesterday were radicalised before going to jail last year, NSW Corrective Services allege, as counterterrorism police say one of the men had been on their radar for at least two years.

The late deputy PM's fascination with trains was a lifelong obsession. So of course, his final public appearance had to include a rail journey. After profiling Tim Fischer four times over the past 27 years, Australian Story producer Ben Cheshire says his final goodbye.

Tim Fischer highlights education, leadership, bold thinking, and towns working together as his tips for a successful regional Australia in his final pre-recorded video speech.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison pays tribute to Tim Fischer at his state funeral, saying the former deputy prime minister's political courage in advocating for stricter gun laws had made Australia safer.

Victims of a bushfire almost a decade ago are set to receive millions of dollars in compensation following a ruling by the High Court.

More than 5,000 children's picture books have been translated into Aboriginal languages and given to families throughout the Northern Territory.

A new foundation to help fund lawsuits against perpetrators of child sexual abuse is launched, with profits from successful legal action used to help victims and survivors.

Laws that allow developers to appoint their relatives to long-term building caretaker contracts should be changed to better protect unit owners, the Owners Corporation Network says.

In the turbid waters of the Wessel Marine Park in the Gulf of Carpentaria, an underwater garden of sponges, corals and creatures is revealed.

African swine fever is believed to have first emerged early last century, but due to a lack of commercial interest no vaccine was developed. Now the world is racing to find a way to stop the spread of the disease.

Previous attempts to reform Question Time have largely fizzled out, but with public faith in politics in a tailspin, both major parties now seem serious about an overhaul of Parliament's most theatrical hour.

Garry Marsh, 73, pleads guilty to indecently assaulting a student while he coached him in rugby union at Canberra's St Edmund's College in 1979, and will spend two years behind bars.

Residents of Australia's most affluent city face the longest waits for emergency care, despite significant investments in hospitals. How bad is it? That depends on how sick you are, Markus Mannheim writes.

A Canberra brothel owner who was charged with allowing an unlawful citizen to work and gain entry to Australia will spend no further time behind bars after the court found she did not underpay or exploit her employees.

Already waiting for two previous inquiries to be acted upon, support agencies say the new family law inquiry announced last week will require they take resources away from frontline services in order to participate.

Twelve months ago, few would have heard of him. But now Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad's elusiveness is a prime reason the Raiders are in a semi-final on Friday night.

The ACT has passed historic legislation, changing the legal status of animals from property to beings with their own intrinsic value and that comes with consequences for pet owners.

If losing the grand final wasn't a sharp enough sting, the ACT Government's latest infrastructure plan sees funding and development for a new sport stadium take a back seat.

Murray River water destined for Adelaide will be reallocated to farmers upstream so they can grow feed for their livestock, as part of a federal drought stimulus package announced today.

A Cairns apprentice's charges are upgraded to unlawful striking causing death after a man he allegedly hit during a fight outside a bar on the weekend dies in hospital.

The NBL grapples with the challenge of keeping an equal playing field between the haves and the 'have-lots', as professional basketball undergoes a lucrative renaissance in Australia.

Researchers find a common disease in honey bees can be transmitted to native bees through flowers, causing them to die about three times the rate of the normal mortality.

Scientists are in a race against time to map "extraordinary and complex" ancient fish traps on one of Australia's most remote islands.