After more than four decades of dominance, free-market capitalism is facing a challenge. Its rival, the rather blandly named Modern Monetary Theory, promises to return economic planning to a less ideological footing. It’s also keen to strike a blow against the “surplus fetish” that many economists now blame for declining public services and growing inequality.

Book-loving Tasmanians are bucking the trend and turning to libraries in their thousands, less than a year after the state became the first in Australia to abolish fines and processing fees for overdue books.

A south-east Queensland council with more than 700 memorabilia items the bulk of which is believed to have been bought with ratepayers' money is asking the community what should be done with the haul.

A strange ethnographic object and the mysterious Aboriginal man behind it.

Hon Leung Chu, who laundered the proceeds of a nationwide prostitution ring from his apartment is spared jail, but could still face deportation.

Businesses in SA's Riverland are urged to be on the lookout for fake $100 notes after one was passed at a bakery and two other incidents were reported to police.

More than a dozen Year 12 students from a prestigious Adelaide high school are banned from attending their graduation after tables were burnt and doors were glued shut.

Disgraced former drug detective Paul Dale tells the Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants he has waited years to expose what he says is "corruption" within the highest ranks of Victoria Police over the use of Nicola Gobbo as a police informer.

People are living in squalor right next to the richest mines in the country, and no-one's prepared to take responsibility for maintenance.

In Australia, Muslims from different backgrounds are preparing for a fasting month of loneliness without social gatherings.

The Federal Government is ordered to pay $206,000 in legal fees for a two-year-old Tamil girl who has been embroiled in a high-profile legal battle to stay in Australia with her family.

Youth unemployment has soared as a result of the coronavirus, prompting some young people to start their own businesses to try and claw their way back into the workforce.

The Royal Melbourne Show is cancelled this year for only the third time in its 165-year history, but what does this mean for regional shows and trials?

A magistrate has apologised to a man who spent months behind bars waiting to be dealt with by the courts for minor theft charges.

With lines between school and home blurred, parents of students with disabilities are struggling with little or no extra support. Some have started dipping into their limited NDIS funds to get help.

Doctors label medicinal cannabis prescriptions a "bureaucratic nightmare" requiring "a massive learning curve", as patients say people in pain cannot wait months for relief.

As the drought drives Australia's sheep flock to historic lows, a South Australian sheep sale has been called off three times due to a lack of animals.

While there is a push to close the gap on education, a NSW hostel for Indigenous boys has a waitlist that could take years to get through.

Children of post-war European migrants call for permanent monument at Greta Migrant Camp in the NSW Hunter Valley.

When Chontelle Grecian took up the Plastic Free July challenge, she was looking for a simpler way of living. What she discovered was a way to save the household budget and have fun with the whole family.

A high school in the Hunter region is offering counselling for students and staff who saw a student fatally struck by a bus while riding his bike to school.

Firefighters are protecting properties in Belmont, south of Newcastle, as a bushfire fanned by strong winds continues to burn near homes.

Findings from a probe into alleged cover-ups of child abuse within the Catholic Church in NSW have identified credibility issues among members of its upper echelons.

A coastal paradise town becomes a safe haven for refugees, despite being outside of a government-supported resettlement zone.

Researchers monitoring the impact of climate change say golden bowerbirds and other highland rainforest species are being pushed to higher altitudes by temperature rises and fear they'll eventually have nowhere left to go.

Emergency services are keeping a close watch on large blazes at Middle Creek Road, Kangaroo Creek north of Coffs Harbour, and at Verges Creek north of Crescent Head in northern NSW, after residents were warned to seek shelter.

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

Diamonds so rare they never reach the open market are unveiled by Rio Tinto in a historic preview at the Argyle mine in Western Australia's far north.

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.

WA's Child Protection Minister orders an urgent review into her department's management of five-year-old Symerien Brooking, who has one of the rarest medical conditions on the planet.

Two of the world's biggest gold mining companies have merged in a $14 billion deal. What does it mean for the Kalgoorlie Super Pit and other Aussie gold mines?

Regional queer communities say being invisible makes people feel isolated and less likely to get support.

Formula Three driver Alex Peroni walks off a plane in his hometown of Hobart just one week after a horror race day crash in Italy.

Scuba divers can reach depths of 40 metres, but there's a small group of hardcore divers who venture more than twice as deep. You just need a sense of adventure and the right gear.

A water scientist is backing Hamilton farmers' concerns about threats to a local lake from a proposed fish hatchery, including the threat of algal blooms.

With the imminent arrival of a new salmon processing ship in Tasmania, and another even larger ship next month, some in the local sailing community fear there is "an accident waiting to happen" on the already very busy waterways.

In just one month, Donna went from thinking she was "too young" to have breast cancer to having a mastectomy. Now she's decided to have her other breast removed.

A mansion in Melbourne's east, newly constructed units and more than 3,000 acres of Tasmanian farmland are among the assets seized by Australian Federal Police as part of a two-year investigation into alleged money laundering by Chinese nationals.

A national fertility business attached to clinics in six Australian states and territories says its email system has been subjected to a "malicious cyber attack", with patients reporting receiving bogus messages that appear to be from the company.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne find fruit flies in temperate areas of Australia are building a resistance to common insecticides.

An 'island-rock' formation in South Australian is believed to have formed billions of years ago and while it is eroding, experts say it is not likely to disappear anytime soon.