With WA moving closer to legalising voluntary assisted dying, the debate is shining a light on the desperate need for better palliative care, particularly in regional areas.

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.

Growers question the process behind Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) announcing that a controversial ex-chairman is among the preferred candidates to fill board vacancies.

Bereft of vineyards a couple of years ago, Forcett in south-east Tasmania, will soon have more than 200 hectares of wine grapes in the ground.

While you hear about children choosing the same career as their parents regularly, the opposite is true for this mother-daughter police duo.

The Peck family want the Tasmanian Government to overhaul the Mental Health Act so clinicians can consider a patient's history and risk of self-harm when considering involuntary treatment orders.

DAILY BRIEFING: The wait for public housing in Tasmania blows out by 34 per cent for those most in need, and passengers on a tourist train get a fright after an apparent failure of the braking system.

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.

Tasmanian farmer Richard Headlam says he was reassured a proposed coal mine on his land would not go ahead. Two years later, the plan by Midland Energy has been revived.

Karen Cranfield has moved to a Hobart suburb where people on modest incomes should be able to "afford living" but with rental prices increasing, that's no longer the case.

A new survey of Tasmanian Newstart and Youth Allowance recipients finds poverty has forced more than a third to steal food, prompting renewed calls for the Federal Government to increase welfare payments.

Australia's island state is known for its rich history and pristine environment it also provides 50 per cent of the raw materials that go into the powerful painkillers at the centre of the United States' opioid crisis.

Tasmania is brimming with history but anyone who owns a heritage-listed property knows it takes "buckets of money" to keep it up and running. Is it worth it?

DAILY BRIEFING: An elderly female driver has a fright after her car swerves off a road and over a cliff, and the Tasmanian Government holds off formally asking the Commonwealth to help pay for firefighting in the Wilderness World Heritage Area last summer.

Calls for a trial of the Federal Government's cashless welfare card in Tasmania spark fierce rebukes, including a comparison to "Nazi Germany" by one local mayor.

Harry Copeland has a condition experienced by only a handful of other people globally and his parents used to have NDIS help. But then the family fell through the cracks.

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.

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.

DAILY BRIEFING: Almost 30 tourism operators have received breach notices for missing parks passes, and a Tasmanian Senator acknowledges "shocking" aged care findings.

Scientists at the University of Tasmania find vaping is just as harmful to human health as cigarettes and even has the potential to cause lung cancer. But some say any alternative to smoking is worth the risk.

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

If you thought it was hot last year, you're not wrong. The Bureau of Meteorology is warning there is little relief on the cards, with 2018's high temperatures and severely dry conditions expected to persist until at least March.

Phoebe is your average 13-year-old, except that when she's not at school, she cares for her mum. She is among one in eight Australians who are unpaid carers, but are "largely unrecognised", something a new awareness campaign hopes to change.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne find fruit flies in temperate areas of Australia are building a resistance to common insecticides.

The Federal Government pledges to extend cashless debit card trials, designed to curb drug and alcohol abuse, but reports of the card's success are mixed.

It comes as no surprise to researchers that densely-populated beaches in Australia are contaminated with microplastics but what about our remote coastal areas?

During times of plenty dingoes consume a smaller variety of prey, but when the water dries up they become less picky and will eat anything nearby, new research finds.

An 'island-rock' formation in South Australian is believed to have formed billions of years ago and while it is eroding, experts say it is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

Foster carers have historically been able to apply for house and car upgrades to enable them to care for extra children, but the ABC can reveal the category of support was suspended in September 2018.

Aboriginal children will be excluded from a plan to boost adoptions of children in state care in South Australia because of cultural sensitivities around the Stolen Generation, the State Government says.

Magarey Medallist Luke Partington from Glenelg thanks volunteers for their tireless contribution to football, while SA football greats Peter Motley and Greg Anderson are inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The Barossa Valley is recognised for its wine and tourism, but some bird species are beginning to disappear because of habitat fragmentation and noisy miners.

Industry experts say consumers are often misguided about what is healthier between alternative and dairy milks, and some say branding is the issue.

The family of a woman who was sexually assaulted in aged care calls for better protection of vulnerable nursing home patients, as a former aged care worker is sentenced to one month in jail.

The only nursing home in Pyramid Hill will close by the end of November, leaving 30 locals out of work.

Their average age is 75, but that's not stopping this group of retirees powerlifting their way to good health.

Buried among the hundreds of witness statements submitted to the aged care royal commission is a table showing how one of the country's biggest for-profit chains employs just one registered nurse for 106 residents on the night shift.

An autoimmune disease that has robbed textile artist Annemieke Mein of her sense of touch will not stop the ecologist, collector, researcher, and activist.

With their combination of raw talent, heart and drive, their coach says they could go all the way. But life could have been very different for these Indigenous siblings from Victoria.

An Indian Catholic priest who claims parents' adultery and masturbation causes autism in children, and who claims to have "cured" autism through prayer, cancels a series of religious retreats in Australia.

The paddocks of Gippsland look green, but farmers are still in drought and have lost as much as 70 per cent of their regular income.

In regional Victoria, palliative care patients are waiting hours and sometimes days for much-needed medications to help with pain and quality of life.

Australia is the last inhabited continent on Earth that is free of the varroa mite, a parasite which has crippled honey bees everywhere it has taken hold. The threat is real but our beekeepers are preparing to meet it head on.

The Victorian Government investigates the scale of a ransomware attack by "sophisticated cyber criminals" on some of the state's major regional hospitals that has forced healthcare providers to go offline.

For more than 140 years, the tale of Martin Weiberg has intrigued historians and Gippslanders. Did the Norwegian really bury stolen treasure near Inverloch?

Whistleblower doctors in New South Wales say their pleas for a serious inquiry into regional healthcare by the NSW State Government are being ignored since a damning Four Corners expose last month.

Jun Aizaki, the founder of New York-based design studio Crème Design, and his team created HyO, a completely organic, biodegradable cup made from a gourd grown inside a 3D printed mould to take their functional shape.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have developed a unique 3D-printed transparent skull implant for mice as a way to view real-time activity on the brain surface.