One year after the worst disaster to hit Australia's strawberry sector, growers are optimistic about this year's harvest but say they are not out of the woods just yet.

The WA SES Volunteer Association hits out at department bureaucracy after a decade-long wait for equipment.

DAILY BRIEFING: A worker has been "narrowly missed" by a bolt falling from a crane at a Hobart worksite, and Madeleine Ogilvie meets with Labor to discuss her future.

A man accused of deliberately running over and killing a stranger had post-traumatic stress disorder after an assault nine years earlier, a court has heard.

Three-year-old Chase has come ahead in leaps and bounds in this past year, his family credits a program giving kids like him free access to early learning.

A 59-year-old man who died at Hobart's Nyrstar Zinc smelter yesterday has been named as Michael Lewis Petterwood of Risdon Vale.

The Peck family want the Tasmanian Government to overhaul the Mental Health Act so clinicians can consider a patient's history and risk of self-harm when considering involuntary treatment orders.

Before you approach someone you don't know and start interviewing them about their disability, there's something you need to ask yourself.

DAILY BRIEFING: Scientists offer the public the chance to name a rare red handfish, and there are calls for councillors to receive training on responding to bullying.

Human rights advocates fear the Tasmanian Government's failure to make a submission against the Federal Government's religious freedom draft bill would severely undermine the state's anti-discrimination laws.

Harry Copeland has a condition experienced by only a handful of other people globally and his parents used to have NDIS help. But then the family fell through the cracks.

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.

Inmates at four South Australian prisons will be confronted with the faces of cold case murder victims in what authorities hope will be a "conscious jogger" for people to come forward with information.

A vulnerable malleefowl chick is the first to be discovered in a South Australian wildlife refuge and comes after the last cats and foxes were removed from the exclosure.

Some posts and memes on social media want foreign aid cut until Australians get back on their feet after natural disasters. But is this too simplistic?

Australian woolgrowers are set to benefit from the suspension of wool exports from South Africa to China due to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease.

Survivors of sexual assault in regional Australia are driving for hours to access forensic medical examinations, even though any GP or nurse can be trained to administer them.

Power is being restored to Port Lincoln on the Eyre Peninsula in South Australia as authorities consider shutting off power to the Mount Lofty Ranges in response to extreme fire danger conditions in the area.

When the Foster family bought their new family home, they had no idea they would become lavender farmers and the work it would involve.

A South Australian Aboriginal group loses a bid to stop a council ballot on whether a nuclear storage facility should be built on the Eyre Peninsula.

A disease is wreaking havoc on Australian beehives, and one PhD student and beekeeper is trying to find out why.

This year's Budget reflects a horrific summer of natural disasters, with increased support for natural disasters and drought relief.

Hateful language in parliament filters to the street, advocates say, and it can lead to disaffection so deep in some Australians that they choose not to vote at all.

A four-year study into faith communities has found Muslims experience acts of violence on an individual basis like no other religious adherents.

It's hoped a new house using a shared-ownership model will give people with disabilities a chance at home ownership and semi-independent living, but it comes with a $300,000 price tag per person.

For players of the Balloon Football League, or BFL, the passion and competitiveness is just as intense as AFL the only difference being the players are disabled.

As more children are diagnosed with both anorexia and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), experts call for more research to come up with better treatment and support.

An autoimmune disease that has robbed textile artist Annemieke Mein of her sense of touch will not stop the ecologist, collector, researcher, and activist.

Traditional custodian at the Aboriginal Trust in Lake Tyers Victoria, Wayne Thorpe, is learning as much about the traditional science and stories of the stars as he can.

It was spruiked as Victoria's own Gold Coast, but people who bought land along Ninety Mile Beach in the 1950s could never build on their blocks.

A new food truck is empowering disadvantaged Gippsland families to choose their own fresh produce and is also allowing for more efficient delivery.

Latrobe Regional Hospital in Victoria's Gippsland has been ordered to pay more than $31,000 to a former security guard who was sacked last year.

A species of grasshopper that has not been seen in Victoria since the 1960s is rediscovered at Omeo in East Gippsland.

A group of friends with disabilities is about to undertake a cycling adventure to challenge the misconceptions about people with disabilities. They're going to ride from Australia's lowest point at Lake Eyre to the highest point Mt Kosciuszko. Two of them will peddle the 2000 kilometres together on a tandem trike.

Australian soldiers in WWII were mystified by the strange footwear of their Japanese enemies, but they also gave them a competitive advantage.

The daily challenges of living with a disability are often significantly heightened during times of natural disasters.