State Premier Daniel Andrews says lockdown measures will remain in place until at least Monday.

Local businesses forced to close by the pandemic are offered a glimmer of hope, as the WA Government flags the state could be more "economically progressive" than others due to its low COVID-19 case numbers.

WA Premier Mark McGowan is set to outline the state's roadmap for easing coronavirus-related restrictions.

Queensland's Deputy Premier and Treasurer Jackie Trad announces she is standing aside from her ministerial role as the state's corruption watchdog launches an investigation into the selection process of a school principal.

The Federal Opposition Leader accuses Scott Morrison of misleading Federal Parliament over the sports rorts saga, saying Bridget McKenzie was made a "scapegoat" over the affair.

Moorabool Shire Mayor David Edwards says he fears his council is being shut out of any decisions around the dumping of contaminated soil from the West Gate Tunnel project.

As the National Horse Traceability Scheme awaits an official launch, experts say horse welfare is falling short while volunteers take the lead.

Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor Tarek Saab requests the detention and extradition of US military veteran Jordan Goudreau and two Venezuelans accused of involvement in a failed armed incursion earlier this week.

Water Minister David Littleproud has unveiled a $20 million study into climate change, ecology and hydrology in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Human activities have destroyed more than 7.7 million hectares of threatened species habitat.

Millions of people from more than 150 countries have taken to the streets calling for action to combat climate change.

NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean says Australia must stop making climate change a matter of religion and instead make it a matter of science as unprecedented bushfires burn across the state.

Thousands gathered in Sydney to demand climate change action in the midst of a devastating bushfire season.

Some predators, including red foxes, move into burnt areas after fires pass through. But what about other predators?

This season's bushfires have "rewritten the rule book" as ecologists fear more than 80 per cent of the world heritage-listed Blue Mountains have been lost.

Nuclear war, climate change and misinformation have been identified as the three issues that could lead to a man-made apocalypse.

Ahead of the resumption of federal parliament, climate scientists and natural history museum directors are urging leaders to take more action to tackle the impact of climate change.

As a new year of tertiary education gets underway and Australia recovers from a summer of bushfires, Australian universities have told SBS News there has been increasing interest in their environment courses. Here, three students share their motivations.

From cloud brightening to heat-tolerant corals, a study has identified 160 possible interventions that could help protect the Great Barrier Reef.

MORE than 20,000 calls to Victoria’s child abuse hotline went unanswered in an 18-month period, with some callers waiting more than two hours for an operator.

MORE than 50 firefighters on the ground and in the air were needed to tackle a huge factory fire in Melbourne’s west overnight.

A WOMAN is dead after a truck failed to stop at a red light and ploughed into the back of her stationary motorcycle in Melbourne’s outer east.

Falling demand for electricity caused by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic could leave WA's main electricity system at risk of a solar power overload within months, experts have warned.

In what appears to be a lax enforcement by China of UN sanctions, North Korean vessels — some carrying illicit coal shipments — are seen anchored in Chinese waters last year in photos from a UN report.

Historians will look back on this period as an epoch in capitalism, when oil-producing nations were powerful because they were necessary to keep the whole engine running. But the global shift towards renewable energy will change all that, Gareth Hutchens writes.

The Federal Government has been spruiking a renewed focus on Australia's shrinking manufacturing sector in the post-COVID-19 world. But experts say it will be tough to flick the switch on a withering part of the economy.

With tourism ground to a halt, industry experts say Cairns will be one of the regions hardest hit by coronavirus, estimating it is on track to lose $500 million in visitor spending by April.

Fancy your home as an "hermetically sealed space ship" this winter, and keeping warm to boot? Here's how you can do both and not pump out more electricity, gas or wood smoke.

The competition and consumer watchdog has launched an inquiry into whether tractor manufacturers are failing farmers who want the right to repair their own machinery.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg says a mandatory code will help "level the playing field" by requiring digital platforms such as Google and Facebook to pay news media businesses for the content they produce.

Anxious parents express their relief as kids in the Northern Territory head back into the classroom for term two after homeschooling when the COVID-19 crisis first hit.

Queensland's State Development Minister Cameron Dick is warning the NSW Treasurer to "back off" over a move to lure Virgin Australia from Brisbane to Sydney as part of a possible bailout package for the embattled airline.

Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton reveals theoretical modelling which suggests 36,000 people could have been killed by coronavirus in Victoria if no physical-distancing measures were put in place.

Australian shares drop as US oil plunges to a 21-year low, Caltex takeover fails due to coronavirus risk, and NAB flags $1.1 billion hit to its earnings.

The funding for services like the RFDS will allow them to evacuate coronavirus patients to larger medical centres and fly in medical workers and equipment for regional respiratory clinics.

In an open letter to Virgin employees, Sir Richard Branson calls on the UK Government to help save Virgin Atlantic, while warning against allowing Qantas "a monopoly" should Virgin Australia "disappear".

Virgin Australia is expected to announce the airline will go into voluntary administration, with Deloitte tipped to help the company restructure about $5 billion in debt and pay off its creditors.

Changes necessary for the Victorian Government to deal with the coronavirus pandemic include plans to hold judge-only trials and giving councils the power to hold meetings online.

Backpacker workers are losing their jobs and being told to "go home" by local community members amid fears they will spread coronavirus.

Australia's troubled second airline, which saw its cash flow collapse because of tough coronavirus travel restrictions, appoints accounting firm Deloitte to act as administrator after the Federal Government rejected calls to bail it out.

The Federal Government has thrown airline Regional Express a funding lifeline to continue servicing airports in regional Australia during the ongoing pandemic.

Farmer John Lever and his wife Lillian say their Koorana Crocodile Farm has just two weeks of food left to feed 3,000 crocodiles, so they're offering an 'adopt a croc' program to raise funds.

One of Adelaide's most historic music venues, which has hosted some of the world's biggest artists, could be forced to close due to a lack of support amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Regional centres are concerned they could be badly hit by the potential collapse of Virgin Australia, with higher airfares and less competition.

Virgin Australia's potential collapse has left staff scrambling for jobs, as tourism and aviation industries prepare for the threat of major player leaving the market.

The live cattle trade out of northern Australia has its biggest price crash since 2011, with key markets such as Indonesia and Vietnam struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The modelling predicts more than a quarter of a million jobs could be lost in Victoria due to the coronavirus pandemic in what Premier Daniel Andrews says is the perhaps the "biggest economic and employment challenge" in the state's history.

With the world experiencing "the biggest supply and demand disparity in history", benchmark Brent oil futures fall to their lowest level since November 2001.

The debate over nuclear technology is a controversial one, yet many leaders in the field believe it's time for an open and calm discussion about the energy alternative.