The number of homes lost to three fires in northern NSW rises to nine as strong winds continue to hamper the efforts of firefighters to bring them under control.

Student Liam Birrer was supposed to be sitting a HSC exam instead he was fighting a bushfire in his local community.

Land clearing work at the Kimberley's Yakka Munga cattle station has ground to a halt as native title holders blockade the road and refuse contractors entry to the site.

Indigenous ranger teams have traditionally been dominated by men, but a growing female workforce in the Kimberley is being seen as a vital resource.

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.

A respected marine scientist warns that seagrass beds in Queensland are being smothered by 'snotweed' algae. But there are ways to fight the foul gunk, and other states are starting to take notice of the method.

A victim of one of Tasmania's "most horrendous" crimes, a woman is fighting the justice system to keep her captor and rapist in jail, while being unable to identify herself.

Jamie John Curtis tortured Alicia and murdered her fiance. His latest bid for freedom has failed, so now she's calling for him to be declared a dangerous criminal in the hope that he'll never be paroled.

Daniel Bradshaw experienced his first epileptic seizure aged 8 and was until recently enduring up to 50 seizures a day, until life-changing brain surgery. Now he has joined the push to change public perception of the disorder.

A bushfire burning north of Hobart could pose a threat to the city's suburbs and critical infrastructure if uncontrolled, a fire officer warns, as Tasmania prepares for hot weather and strong winds over the next few days.

DAILY BRIEFING: The prisons watchdog says he was pressured to redact a report on the Ashley youth detention centre and he will strongly resist requests to do so in the future.

DAILY BRIEFING: A fire that started north of Bothwell two days ago has been upgraded to emergency level, with firefighters pulling out because it is too dangerous.

Outreach workers across Australia say that the survival of farming communities will depend on support and understanding from the Australian community.

The councillor who spoke out against the use of ring girls at a council-sponsored boxing match resigns, saying she's been attacked by colleagues and members of the community.

A protest by Victorian oil and gas workers over pay and conditions at Esso's offshore operations has come to an end more than 700 days after workers first set up a picket line at the company's Longford gas plant.

Deb Foskey has survived the death of her teenage son, a career in politics, the threat of bushfire which has just claimed her home but now she faces the toughest fight of her life.

Date palms in the central desert are a legacy of Afghan cameleers bringing a little bit of home with them. Today, Australian farmers are keen to grow the local date industry to feed the Middle East and the health food sector, while staving off cheap imports.

Two young South Australian entrepreneurs launch their own social enterprise selling sanitary products whose profits will go to disadvantaged women fighting period poverty around the world.

A significant move by the Anglican Church to bless the marriage of two gay priests at a ceremony this week has been postponed due to a legal challenge.

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

A $30 million proposal for a sheep abattoir that would employ 150 full-time workers is opposed by a group of residents, who are concerned about potential health impacts and devaluation of their properties.

Ahead of a fierce fire season, a cadet program for volunteer firefighting prompts school students to join their local Rural Fire Service brigade.

It has been 31 years since Anne-Marie Culleton was raped and murdered while she slept in her Darwin home. Her sister Eileen is now urging South Australia's Parole Board to keep killer Jonathan Bakewell behind bars.

Uluru custodian Sammy Wilson says the closure of the climb has been a long time coming and wants to honour the Anangu who did not live to see it.

It would end in the High Court, but it began as an agreement between two friends. Robert donated his sperm to conceive a child with his friend Susan, but when she and her wife decided to move overseas, everything changed.

A former Canberra law lecturer serving time for sexual offences against several students loses his battle with prison authorities, who want him to undertake a course for sex offenders.

A Victorian man who sent 52 packages filled with asbestos to embassies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra has been sentenced to one year in prison.

Firefighting experts and senior scientists tell Background Briefing they're concerned the Federal Government is refusing to guarantee funding for the only national research body for bushfires beyond 2021.

Policeman-turned-lawyer David Healey's mental health was shattered by a rocket blast in Afghanistan. He now helps other traumatised cops fight for compensation.

The Australian Federal Police is assessing whether to suspend officer Ivan Kovacic after he allegedly committed an act of indecency on a woman he had invited to his apartment with her two friends to try some craft beer.

A remote Cape York community is in the fight of its life to save a unique rainforest that was devastated by a cyclone.

A 10-year-old boy writes to Queensland's Environment Minister pleading with authorities not to remove a giant crocodile that has been sunning itself on a creek bank.

A marine physicist, who was awarded more than $1.2 million for his wrongful sacking earlier this month, has now raised more than half a million dollars to fight an appeal by James Cook University.

Queenslanders who are visually impaired say they're at risk of serious injury in busy carparks and on roads because they don't have the right to use disability parking spaces.

He's a top fighter who made international headlines during the 2018 Commonwealth Games because he fled the athletes' village, and now he wants to fight for Australia.

Fire crews contain a blaze west of Kalbar on Queensland's Scenic Rim, as well as battling bushfires on multiple fronts near Canungra in the Gold Coast hinterland, with the Rural Fire Service saying resources are "stretched to the limit".

A novel idea to paint stairs the colours of a rainbow at Queensland's Rainbow Beach is at the centre of a two-year dispute after four words were added to the artwork.

Authorities and families are on high alert as homes are lost across the state with dozens of fires burning in places including the Gold Coast hinterland at Binna Burra, and Stanthorpe and Applethorpe on the Granite Belt.

Firefighters from South Australia arrive in Queensland to give local crews a rest from battling bushfires, but the break may be short-lived with conditions forecast to get worse in the state later in the week.

The Tamil family fighting deportation from Australia has been given a further reprieve in its fight to remain in the country, with the Federal Court ordering the Immigration Minister to provide more evidence to support claims the youngest child has no right to protection.

Volunteer firefighters in central Queensland say the bureaucracy involved in fighting a bushfire has reached dangerous levels.

A drenching is on its way for Queensland, with parts of the state set to receive their best rainfall in months today and on Saturday, with the potential for severe thunderstorms and damaging hail in some areas.

It takes eight wranglers to force a 200 kilogram alligator in its most aggressive state away from a well-guarded nest of eggs, but they need to be taken to ensure their survival.