The discovery of endangered quolls, bilbies, and rock wallabies on islands of habitat in the Great Sandy Desert offers a rare glimmer of hope for wildlife managers.

A review of WA's cattle stations finds at least a dozen are at risk of animal welfare issues in coming months because of a lack of food and water.

Stories of families not being told when elderly relatives have died, old people found surrounded by food scraps and with maggots these are reasons why some people regard aged care in the regions a "death sentence".

A health facility able to meet the needs of acclaimed Aboriginal playwright Jimmy Chi was not available at the time of his death, a coronial inquest has heard.

A remote WA distillery has teamed up with a brewery 4,000 kilometres away to create the state's first corn beer, direct from paddock to keg.

James Gino Salerno, who was once based in the Adelaide Hills, is jailed for at least eight years for repeatedly sexually abusing a teenage member of the group. His victim says other girls still in the cult "can sleep easy now".

There have been calls for greater transparency on remote cattle stations after a FOI request revealed a push to keep the mass death of a critically endangered species under wraps.

They collect vital climate information, but weather balloons are also a daily contributor to plastic pollution levels it's a dilemma the Bureau of Meteorology is struggling to solve.

The weather serves as both a great unifier and obsession for most Australians and now the Bureau of Meteorology is about to bring in the next generation of online forecasting technology.

Dr Barbara Anne York Main OAM, who died last week, was one of Australia's leading spider researchers and conservationists. She studied the world's oldest spider and championed their home at a time when both the environment and women were given no fighting chance.

A strong cold front is expected to bring damaging wind gusts, heavy rain, thunderstorms and possible flash flooding to south-west WA, with up to 40 millimetres of rainfall set to be dumped on Perth.

A few years ago Bill Huxtable was given three months to live, now his biggest concern is the three-hour round trip to the nearest hospital for regular, routine surgeries.

For inmates in a maximum security prison in WA, socialising unwanted dogs is "like a day away" from jail and the effects of the program are being described as "win-win".

Micheal McRae is accused of bashing his baby son Nathaniel, leaving him with severe brain injuries, but the charge is upgraded after the boy spent a year fighting for life in hospital.

Australian farmers are grappling with the future of wheat exports as Black Sea nations like Russia and Ukraine increase shipments to Indonesia.

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

A tax imposed on West Australian ratepayers 16 years ago to support the state's emergency services has raised more than $3 billion, but just $256 million of that has gone to bush fire brigades, and they say this is forcing them to rattle the tin for some essential equipment.

The school holidays are about to get ugly with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting thunderstorms and some wild weather for Friday, the second last day of the Perth Royal Show.

African swine fever has depleted China's pig herd, creating a protein shortage that is benefitting Australian sheep farmers.

A severe weather warning for Tasmania's east coast is cancelled but heavy rain continues to fall in the region, with snow in the highlands.

DAILY BRIEFING: Man who's been on the run from police for almost two weeks caught, Madeleine Ogilvie takes her new seat in Parliament as an independent.

Tasmanian MP Madeleine Ogilvie is the descendent of Labor royalty but this time around, the new Member for Clark is at pains to prove she's her own person, Emily Baker writes.

DAILY BRIEFING: The family of three-year-old Eleanor Oakley, which has been fundraising so the young girl can travel to the US to receive cancer treatment, reaches its $300,000 target.

DAILY BRIEFING: A Tasmanian shark attack victim commemorates a year since the incident, cattle deaths hearing delayed and basketball stars arrive in the state.

Tasmania's cool conditions have never stopped its people enjoying swimming and diving whether it be in rivers, springs, basins or even an old farm block.

Scientists hope a drill that can plunge 3 kilometres down into an Antarctic ice cap and withstand temperatures of -55 degrees Celsius will help solve one of the last great puzzles in climate science.

DAILY BRIEFING: 31 year-old Josef Barker found not guilty of murder in fatal hit and run, and a woman who lied about attending a university campus at Cradle Mountain so she could travel while on bail is sentenced.

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

In the town of Miena there are just 100 people and human interaction can be scarce, but Kaylee Hattinger has done her bit to bring life to one of the coldest places in the country.

DAILY BRIEFING: Two people plead not guilty to charges relating to the deaths of 16 polo ponies, police charge two men after last week's stabbing, and there are concerns over the second Bass Strait interconnector.

DAILY BRIEFING: A motorcyclist dies in the state's north after crashing into the back of a parked truck, and a 29-year-old charged with the murder of Jarrod Leigh Turner pleads not guilty.

Almost six years after her father died in a mining accident on Tasmania's west coast, Tameka Sylvester is still waiting for answers with the family learning of inquest news via social media.

Elective surgery relief for Sally McShane is still years away under Tasmania's worsening waiting list. One doctor says his request for a male patient be moved up the list, was met with an "inappropriate" hospital letter.

The death of 17-year-old Maggie Lore at the Blackmans Bay blowhole in 2017 prompts a southern Tasmanian council to conduct a risk assessment of several areas in its municipality.

A draft report has found a $260 million development of Glenorchy's Wilkinson's Point would great 1,100 jobs and inject millions into Hobart, but it could come at a cost to locals.

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.

A man who died days after attempting to take his life in a hospital toilet was unable to get immediate care despite experiencing thought of self harm, a Hobart inquest hears.

A series of UFO-shaped clouds spotted in the skies over Tasmania this week have shutterbugs working their cameras overtime, but there's a scientific explanation for why they're a more common sight in Australia's island state.

DAILY BRIEFING: Firefighters downgrade the alerts for four bushfires which are burning out of control north of Hobart and in a shack area of the Central Highlands.

As bushfire conditions ease around Tasmania this weekend, the firefighter's union wants laws to back volunteers leaving work in an emergency as the bushfire season extends to as long as six months.

Parents in Tasmania are struggling to access speech pathology treatment for their children because NDIS funding has caused an explosion in demand for services.

Isabella Corbin can remember sitting on her dad's lap in the cockpit of his helicopter when she was just a baby. Two years after his death, she's determined to keep his legacy alive.