A South Australian farming community has been given a much needed psychological sweetener after a heavy downpour fell in a matter of hours the first good rain in three years.

The lawyer for medicinal cannabis advocate Jenny Hallam asks for his client to avoid conviction, saying she needs to travel to the United States as part of her new job at a New South Wales cannabis farm.

A South Australian cannabis oil distributor has been spared a conviction for providing the drug to terminally ill people, with the judge saying her actions helped rather than harmed the recipients.

Conor McKenna debuted at Essendon in August 2015 and was jubilant when he scored his first goal.

Doctors label medicinal cannabis prescriptions a "bureaucratic nightmare" requiring "a massive learning curve", as patients say people in pain cannot wait months for relief.

Jigna Chauhan offers free henna crowns to women who have lost their hair during chemotherapy treatments, helping them feel more positive and confident.

In the process of becoming Australia's first-ever published Indigenous graphic-novel author and publishing his epic three-volume magnum opus, Brenton E McKenna was battered physically and emotionally.

DAILY BRIEFING: A trio of women calling themselves the 'knitting nannas' are arrested for staging a climate change protest, and Hobart rent outpaces Melbourne for unaffordability.

In just one month, Donna went from thinking she was "too young" to have breast cancer to having a mastectomy. Now she's decided to have her other breast removed.

John Flynn established a medical facility in Innamincka and now, 68 years later, the RFDS is continuing on-the-ground medical services.

A mother of three, alleged to have been behind the wheel of a car when it crashed, killing her young son and friend, tells Darwin Local Court she's yet to seek legal advice to face a string of "serious charges".

The wrongful arrest of a man who spent 103 days in custody over an alleged rape, while awaiting DNA results, prompts a review into the NT Police forensics branch.

The first Territory patient to ever fill a script for medical cannabis in the NT has now been approved, NT Health has confirmed.

The ACT becomes the first Australian jurisdiction to legalise the possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis.

The Commonwealth is investigating how to respond to the ACT's decision to allow personal cannabis use, and may opt to overturn the new law, which allows Canberrans to possess up to 50 grams of marijuana.

Health Minister Greg Hunt says he has "serious concerns" and demands to see the "evidence" the ACT considered before deciding to legalise cannabis in Canberra from next year.

The ACT's top law officer says federal police should not waste their time chasing Canberrans who use small amounts of cannabis as he urges Christian Porter not to interfere with new laws.

It will take a test case a Canberra smoker who police decide to arrest and charge to determine what the law actually is.

The ACT Government is hitting back at warnings from the United Nations that legalising cannabis will breach international law, telling the body to instead focus on the United States and Canada.

Matthew Ross White pleads not guilty to the murder of Donna Steele, as the Supreme Court in Cairns hears her killing occurred when she fought back during a botched extortion bid.

A man accused of murdering a woman in Far North Queensland changes his plea to guilty two days into his Supreme Court trial and will face sentencing this morning.

The Gold Coast Titans announce they are parting ways with coach Garth Brennan, citing the team's poor performance on field this season, as Kevin Walters rules himself out as a replacement.

More than 50 bushfires are burning in Queensland amid potentially catastrophic, hot and windy conditions. Emergency warnings are in place for fires near Stanthorpe in the state's south.

Queenslanders recall the nights in the 60s spent dancing in the hall of the Binna Burra Lodge the same place where hundreds of others have married the love of their life after fire guts the heritage-listed resort.

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.