Two of the state's most powerful unions, which represent professions at the forefront of the coronavirus pandemic in Queensland, are fighting the Labor State Government's plans to freeze all public servant pay rises in the coming financial year.

Queenslanders can enjoy a gradual easing of coronavirus restrictions ahead of Mother's Day, but we're not out of the virus crisis yet, so what can you do and what can't you do?

Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania are the first states to announce the easing of coronavirus restrictions under the National Cabinet's plan to reopen Australia, but Victorians will have to wait until Monday to learn what rules will change for them. As it happened.

The mother of a young boy who was killed when a truck driver with sleep apnoea crashed into their car says she won't get to hear "Happy Mother's Day" from her son on Sunday or ever again.

Many Western governments continue to struggle with free speech. It’s not that they’re necessarily against it, it’s just that they don’t know how to effectively regulate out the offensive stuff.

The world of classical music is changing. Some are predicting the demise of orchestral events. Others see opportunity in social media and a new sense of engagement between the audience and musicians.

Critics say that the proliferation of modern, wafer-thin skyscrapers are symbols of rising urban inequality. Also: Are levels of density in our cities making us ill? And what's the impact of short-term letting on urban affordability? 

Political campaigning is fast changing in the digital era.  Elections are now being contested with data and algorithms.  Parties see it as a great opportunity. Others see it as a threat to democracy.  And the changes are now playing out in real time in the United States. Barack Obama was often referred to as the first Internet president, but Donald Trump is fast becoming the king of social media. 

Queenslander launches campaign to get grey nomads and truckies on the same page, and bring down the road toll.

NSW makes a massive seven changes for the must-win Origin II in Perth on Sunday, led by the return of James Maloney to the halves while injury forces two changes for Queensland.

The Victorian branch of the CFMEU threatens to immediately cease all financial support for the ALP if Labor leader Anthony Albanese's push to expel union leader John Setka goes ahead.

A proposed $2 billion Indigenous-led coal-fired power station in Collinsville in North Queensland developed by Brisbane-based Indigenous company Shine Energy and headed by traditional Biri man Ashley Dodd is set to revive one of the country's oldest coal towns.

A Queensland primary school teacher has shocked his students and jumped into a wrestling ring to live out a lifelong dream.

It's the system they have in London and Chicago, it's being trialled in New York, and soon it will allow people in Cairns, Mackay and Townsville to pay for trains and buses with their credit cards and mobile phones.

Queensland Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch's comments at an Indigenous festival reveal Labor is divided on the Adani mine's recent approval, the State Opposition says.

A new video shows Environment Minister Leeanne Enoch telling a room full of people she has shed tears over the approval of Adani's Carmichael coal mine, while also saying current environmental legislation is flawed.

The Queensland Supreme Court will decide whether to allow a widow to use her dead husband's sperm to give her young son a sibling, as they were planning to do so before he died.

Kelly says the way police handled the investigation into her alleged assault "has been the most devastating part of it" after she was told her rape kit was destroyed and then never existed at all.

A sixth man wanted over the alleged 2012 shooting murder of Adelaide panelbeater Jason De Ieso is arrested in Queensland, with SA Police saying they will seek to extradite Kyle Pryde from Brisbane.

An animal rights group calls for a roadside memorial to be erected for a number of chickens killed in a truck fire on Adelaide's Northern Expressway this morning.

Two seven-week-old kittens are dumped in a garden bed at an Adelaide shopping centre, and the RSPCA is seeking help to identify the couple involved.

A red-bellied black snake is filmed swimming underwater in the Adelaide Hills hunting and catching a native fish.

Snow falls overnight near Eukey in the Queensland Southern Downs region.

Queensland has beaten NSW 18-14 in the first fame of the State of Origin series.

King Midas has left his mark again on the same Western Australian gold mine which made global headlines last year after producing some of the biggest gold specimens ever seen.

Australia's biggest new gold mine, the $621 million Gruyere project in WA's Great Victoria Desert, pours its first gold bar as the precious metal continues to trade near record highs but the mood in the industry is not all good.

A 60-year-old man living in a caravan in outback WA faces legal action and fines of up to $50,000 from his local council after erecting a shade structure without a building permit.

Sirens sound four times across Victoria to honour four fallen police officers, exactly one week after they were tragically killed in a truck collision on one of Melbourne's busiest freeways.

City of Yarra Mayor Misha Coleman defends parking inspectors who slapped "official warning" tickets onto the windscreens of cars belonging to St Vincent's Hospital staff, saying free parking offered to the staff during the coronavirus pandemic does not extend to cars parked in unsafe locations such as clearways.

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".

It took two years, countless phone calls and the determination of 84-year-old grain farmer Jim Sawyer, but Australia's only known cross-legged Stover windmill has been restored to its original glory.

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

A controversial underground coal gasification project could tender for an SA Government electricity supply contract formerly held by a renewable energy project.

Dairy farmers say they are devastated a 10-cents-a-litre increase in the retail price of milk in July has not been passed on to them.

Pelicans and other waterbirds are dying in the outback and disappearing from waterways, as the effects of drought compound an already-concerning long-term decline in populations.

A former police officer who suffered "horrific and graphic traumas" after being trapped in a crashed squad car has launched criminal action after being forced to wait more than a year for a workers' compensation payout.

He has been the butt of jokes when it comes to State of Origin, but Mitchell Pearce has a chance of finally winning a series with New South Wales after Nathan Cleary is ruled out of game three because of injury.

The Federal Government has applauded a decision by the energy giant, but environmental groups say the move is "risky and irresponsible."