As urban sprawl puts pressure on the food bowl on Melbourne's fringes, and as water becomes increasingly scarce, one council has a bold idea that might just catch on.

More than 500 protesters stop traffic outside the Victorian Parliament to rail against the planned destruction of trees sacred to Aboriginal people in Victoria's west.

WorkSafe and police investigate the death of a construction worker who was demolishing a Ballarat home when he was killed in a wall collapse this morning.

Former St Kilda star and Richmond coach Danny Frawley dies in a car crash in western Victoria aged 56. The player, coach and commentator is remembered as a "legend" of the Saints.

George Pell's lawyers lodge an application seeking leave to appeal the jailed 78-year-old's child sexual abuse convictions in the High Court of Australia.

Family, friends and the AFL community bids farewell to legendary player, coach and media personality Danny Frawley at a "celebration of life" service in Melbourne.

A child abuse survivor says the priest who assaulted him did so in the 'welcoming' home of another clergyman. His claim comes amid new allegations that paedophiles acted in concert within the Catholic Church.

There are only 600 registered British White female cows in Australia, but farmers hope selling the meat will increase consumer demand and breeding.

A Victorian man accused of murdering Adelaide mother-of-two Suzanne Poll at her workplace in 1993 will plead not guilty to the charge, a court has heard.

Councils across Victoria are left to fight the war on waste from the frontline while the State Government works towards a consistent recycling policy.

A ratepayers advocacy group says a damning report into the risk of corruption within local government in Victoria highlights the need for greater scrutiny of regional councils.

Gay and lesbian culture has been long associated with the city, often to the detriment of LGBT people in rural Victoria who felt they could never be accepted.

The green hills of south-west Victoria couldn't be further from the latest outbreak of the highly contagious viral disease African swine fever (ASF) in Timor-Leste, but pork producer Xavier Meade isn't taking any chances.

A judge overturns the convictions of a bus driver who crashed into the Montague Street Bridge in South Melbourne, injuring six people. But Jack Aston will remain in prison while he is assessed for a community corrections order for lesser charges.

A group of wool makers launches a new trademark to recognise textile producers whose homegrown fibre is 100 per cent Australian from the farm right through to the finished product.

After fracturing his pelvis and nearly bleeding out after last year's Cox Plate, Kings Will Dream is set to write another chapter in an unbelievable comeback story at Moonee Valley, during a fortnight of intense scrutiny over the treatment of horses within the racing industry.

A jury hears of the moment the woman accused of causing a crash that killed four people in western Victoria realised the deceased were "probably grandmothers" as well.

'You don't have to be a scientist to work on them': Vintage tractors, some more than 80-years-old go under the hammer, attracting buyers from around Australia.

Paul Levitz

Rob Minshull produces Weekends with Warren and is an avid reader

The familiar and nostalgic, philosophical and witty candour are all alive in this documentation of Gold Coast beaches

Rob Minshull produces Weekend with Warren and is an avid reader.

Author Mary Groves has lived the great outback dream and knows how tough it can be.

Rob Minshull is an avid reader, and the producer of Weekends with Warren Boland

Rob Minshull produces Weekends with Warren and is an avid reader.

Christopher Hitchens

John Clarke

COUNTRY GIRL A memoirby Edna O'Brien

Alison Wylie spent her childhood summers at archaeological excavation sites. Today, she's redefining the scientific field to include Indigenous perspectives.

Paralysed from the neck down after a football tackle 26 years ago, Brett Morris finishes the Gold Coast Marathon Fun Run in a wheelchair in under an hour, and he's "very happy it's done".

This year's NAIDOC Week theme is Voice. Treaty. Truth. But the truth is that many Indigenous people feel voiceless when it comes to expressing where Australia stands on treaty today.

A former ABC journalist, who pressed assault charges after her elderly mother was allegedly hit by a carer, urges Australians with family members in aged-care to install personal surveillance equipment.

A joint operation between the Australian Border Force, ACT and NSW police has discovered about 384kg of cocaine inside a second-hand excavator bound for a regional NSW business. (Supplied: Australian Border Force)

Police seize more than $140 million worth of cocaine stashed in the arm of an excavator that was destined for a business in a small NSW town.

Beekeepers in New South Wales are hand-feeding their hives as the drought cripples the bees' ability to make honey, with a shortage expected to sting consumers at the checkout.

An inmate from a prison once touted as housing criminals with "no escape risk" is on the run after he fled into bushland while on a work assignment.

A woman on trial accused of murdering her partner allegedly poisoned him with a "cocktail of dangerous medication" so she could benefit financially from his death, an Adelaide court is told.

A new memorial planned for the 14 victims of the Appin mine disaster will bring little comfort to the families still shattered by the explosion of 1979.

The rugby league player is slapped with an extra charge which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison as he is committed to stand trial in August over the alleged aggravated sexual assault of a 19-year-old woman in Wollongong.

Jobs growth versus environmental concerns reignite with a coal company's proposed expansion under Sydney's water supply.

Fire crews have spent more than two weeks extinguishing a coal wash fire burning underground on a property in NSW.

The ARLC has suggested that Jack de Belin needs a "reality check" as it argues that the code's no fault stand-down policy is necessary because the sport has been "beset by a series of scandals."

Fine-dining chefs Tom Chiumento and Simon Evans usually serve seven-course degustations, but recently they've been using their talents to provide quality meals from food destined for the bin.