DAILY BRIEFING: The search is on for a thief who stole a "large quantity" of citrus trees, while the Launceston City Council "sincerely apologises" to a homeless man

DAILY BRIEFING: Police are still looking for escapee Jake Mark Pearce, the Greens want an end to wildlife culls after six permits were issued to kill platypus.

Prisoners being transported in Tasmania Police vans have no restraints and are forced to crouch of lie down when they're inside, according to the state's police union, which warns it is only a matter of time before someone dies.

A woman who claims she was sexually abused by former police minister Rene Hidding says she has been told he will not be charged over her claims.

DAILY BRIEFING: Tasmania's Speaker pauses parliament as tensions run high over her bid for a pay rise, and a police officer charged over the strip search of an 11-year-old boy indicates she'll plead guilty.

The 77-year-old, who was only five days into his overseas trip, died while on a commercial river trip on the Grand Canyon's Colorado River.

Initial investigations suggest the death of a man at Hadspen, near Launceston, is suspicious after receiving a request for assistance from paramedics.

Three people are arrested after a police car was shot at then rammed as officers took shelter in a McDonald's restaurant, in what an Assistant Commissioner says is part of a "worrying trend" of violence towards police.

Officers took shelter inside a McDonald's restaurant in Sunbury while their patrol car was shot at and rammed. Three men were later arrested.

The iconic breed first saved Casterton in 1997. Now, 23 years later and they've done it again.

Apprentice jockey Mikaela Claridge is mourned by the racing community after she dies from injuries suffered in a fall from her horse during an early morning training ride at a Melbourne racetrack.

ANZ customers can no longer utilise banking services at their local post offices after the bank failed to reach an agreement with Australia Post on their Bank@Post service.

Industry figures say unstable weather, a lack of infrastructure investment and poor international prices are hampering sugar sector confidence as mills open for crushing.

Calculating the road toll is "extraordinarily complicated", according to Queensland police as loved ones say the confusion is compounding their grief following a horror few weeks on the state's roads.

Maryborough's 'Magna Carta' mangrove tree.

Not long ago, Aboriginal people in Cherbourg were ruled by a government-appointed "protector". Now the elders are involved in running the courts.

A man who allegedly stabbed a woman in the hand and stole two cars is shot by police on the Bruce Highway on the Sunshine Coast, and is taken from the scene in an ambulance.

A Sunshine Coast mother witnesses the moment alleged car jacker Dylan Matthew Hammond was shot by police and run over by a caravan after a 200-kilometre pursuit that ended on the Bruce Highway yesterday.

For police officers and young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the regional Queensland city of Bundaberg, boxing together is a way to move on from a legacy of negative interaction.

Kay Boisen is being sued by Queensland Health because of an administration error over her long-service leave payment. The union says she could be among hundreds of nurses who've been wrongly paid.

An American Staffordshire Terrier that was pepper-sprayed, tasered and shot by police after it attacked a courier, will have its leg amputated. The owner says the courier company was told not to enter the property and came through a locked gate.

Tourists are warned to check the credentials of whale-watching companies as the Maritime Safety Authority investigates reports a boat operated without a licence.

The former mayor of the Fraser Coast Regional Council has been found guilty of using his position to push for his former campaign manager to be appointed his chief-of-staff.

Collector Larry Luxner explains his 'thrilling passion' and the history of the humble licence plate

Mackay teenager Brooke Anderson still vividly recalls the devastation at seeing her family's beloved Jack Russell terrier Jackie in terrible pain before he died in a suspected poison bait incident.

Police rule a woman whose body was found on the verge of a road in the Perth suburb of St James died due to a medical condition and say there are no suspicious circumstances.

A man who was taken to hospital for dog bite injuries received after allegedly punching a police dog in the head remains on the loose after escaping from custody on Saturday.

Two WA Police officers who were chasing a car minutes before it crashed at high speed into a tree in Perth, killing three passengers, deliver emotional testimony to an inquest about what happened.

Police say card-skimming devices fitted to two Perth ATMs allowed scammers to steal tens of thousands of dollars from the bank accounts of unsuspecting victims, with a 32-year-old Estonian man charged.

An inquest into the death of a notorious Perth criminal dubbed "the Porsche kid" is told a prison guard said she "didn't care if he died" during a standoff that ended with him trying to take his own life.

Gerard Ross vanished while holidaying with his family south of Perth in 1997 and the 11-year-old's body was found a fortnight later. Now police are launching a new push to find his killer.

One West Australian is tasered the equivalent of every weekday by police officers, new data obtained by the ABC via Freedom of Information shows.

A man with a disability was strip searched and prosecuted after a false claim he was photographing children at a beachside suburb, leading to calls for an apology from WA Police.

Since she was 11, an eating disorder has controlled much of Ruby Alarcon Gleeson's life. Then when she turned 16, she fell through the gaps into a "chasm of care" just when she needed help the most.

A police officer who was filmed on mobile phones driving into an 18-year-old man in Perth's south-east last year, knocking him down and sending him to hospital, is found guilty of dangerous driving.

An inquest into the deaths of two children murdered by their father at their home has heard police took almost three-and-a-half hours to attend the house after their mother raised the alarm.

WA Police are forced to apologise after saying Craig Peacock, who double-dipped on his taxpayer-funded allowance to enrich himself and benefit friends including two MPs, would not face criminal charges.

A team of WA Police officers will be deployed to Japan as part of a revived investigation into former trade commissioner Craig Peacock, accused of misusing his position to pocket $540,000 in taxpayer funds.

The man who shaped and reformed Australian intelligence services receives an overdue biography.

Ian Blayney is a regional MP who decided to quit the WA Liberals and move to the Nationals. But everyone, especially his own former party leader, is being strangely nice about it, writes Jacob Kagi.

Got a metal detector? This outback town is setting up a prospecting lease for tourists who want to try their hand at landing a gold nugget.

Friends and relatives of a woman who died in hospital after being shot by police on a suburban street in Geraldton question why police did not employ pepper spray or a Taser instead, as a protest erupts outside the local police station over what they say was excessive force.

As family and friends of Joyce Clarke demand to know why the young woman was shot dead by police, a tragic picture of her early life blighted by drugs and mental illness is beginning to emerge.

Residents in a regional WA town are fighting against what they say is a life-threatening decline in healthcare services.

A 32-year-old man whose car hit a power pole with enough force to split it is the fourth road crash victim within 24 hours, with SA Police saying speed is a major factor behind a surging death toll.