South Sydney leaves it late to beat the Cowboys in Townsville, after the Roosters crush the Knights at the SCG and the Raiders get up against Wests Tigers.

For the first time, the long-term outlook for the Great Barrier Reef is downgraded to "very poor", with the impacts of climate change, including coral bleaching and record-breaking warm water, deteriorating its overall health.

Fire-weary residents in Queensland's Scenic Rim are being told they need to prepare to leave again, as the Sarabah bushfire rears up for a second time. It's one of 55 fires burning across the state.

A north Queensland man is sentenced to life behind bars after he was found guilty of murdering 25-year-old Michael McCabe over an alleged drug debt in 2015.

A 53-year-old man accused of lighting up to four bushfires in north Queensland will undergo a mental health assessment, after a dramatic arrest where he allegedly rammed a police car and officers fired shots at his vehicle.

Time has run out for the owners of 14 holiday shacks near Ingham in north Queensland with the State Government ordering their removal by the end of the month.

Children sleeping at home have been woken and arrested in Alice Springs, according to lawyers dismayed at a potential government back down on the use of arrest as a last resort.

David and Suzanne Bassingthwaighte have struck a deal to buy the NT's Epenarra Station, owned by a Filipino businessman.

A Northern Territory judge previously sanctioned for "harsh" and "gratuitous" remarks from the bench has criticised other Aboriginal defendants. A legal body says the comments are "clearly offensive" but has not yet decided to make any formal complaint.

Software developed with the help of Alice Spring medical staff and Indigenous people from remote communities is set to break down the language barrier and ease the stress of patients undergoing dialysis treatment.

Sprinting into the path of a bucking 600-kilogram bull is not something most people would consider enjoyable, but it is what Cain Burns does for fun.

Uluru, Kakadu and other cultural landscapes may be tourist meccas, but one respected elder says it's a misconception that tourist dollars are going back into Aboriginal communities.

Authorities are trying to find a 59-year-old man buried under soil and rock after a wall collapsed at a manganese mine in the central Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory Government is trying something new to entice remote school students back to class at the start of Term 3 just in time for the head-count that determines how much school funding comes from Canberra.

Aboriginal leaders on South Australia's remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands should consider suspending their manager Richard King while an investigation is carried out into the use of Commonwealth funding, an independent report has found.

If tourists could see Mutitjulu, most would be shocked by the level of abject poverty at Australia's famous natural wonder.

Rural independents are proving a difficult test for the Coalition in this election. But the pathway to parliament is harder than it might seem.

Police charge a woman with common assault after the Prime Minister is egged while meeting with delegates from the Country Women's Association in Albury, on the NSW-Victorian border.

Energy policy is confusing. There are no shortage of acronyms and the policies change almost as often as the leaders do. Here we've tried to answer your questions.

Aged care advocates say policy, regulatory and funding systems have not kept pace with the changing needs and expectations of the growing number of older Australians.

Regional seats proved the toughest battleground for the Coalition at the NSW state election, and with just days to go until the federal poll the pressure remains.

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer says the three-week early voting period is bad for democracy, particularly in regional Australia.

As Victoria's road toll surges well above what it was this time a year ago, we look at some of the state's most misunderstood traffic rules.

Convicted murderer Michael Cardamone is appealing against the precedent-setting judgement that made him the first person in Victoria to be sentenced to life in prison with no parole after pleading guilty to a single murder.

Only containers purchased or collected in NSW are supposed to be retuned under the state's scheme.

Murderer Michael Cardamone, who tortured and callously killed Victorian woman Karen Chetcuti-Verbunt in 2016, has his life jail term upheld by appeal judges who say the "dreadful punishment" is fit for "a dreadful crime".

Mick Keelty says a string of scandals involving water thefts and corruption have fostered public mistrust in the plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin.

The parents of a teenage girl who died after falling off a horse say riders are subjected to avoidable risks when there is no way to trace an animal's history.

Two men have been ordered to stand trial over the murder of Wangaratta man Nathan Day, with a Victorian court hearing evidence from dozens of witnesses during a week-long committal hearing.

Police have confirmed the body of a man found in missing NSW woman Ruth Ridley's car in Victoria is that of her estranged husband.

A man collapses and dies while hiking with a family member on a remote bush trail near Mount Sonder in Central Australia. It is the second death on the trail in 18 months.

The Northern Territorys first known contract killer may have accidentally died in his prison cell after using drugs, investigators believe.

Northern Territory politicians are calling for the auditor-general to look into the Darwin Turf Club's decision to award a $12 million government-funded tender to a company run by the club's chairman.

Tanking crowd numbers, a lack of draft picks and a haemorrhaging of hundreds of thousands in sponsorship funds have assisted in the demise of the Northern Territory's top-tier AFL team.

A report says the process for a $12 million grandstand at Darwin Turf Club was "independent and fair", but the Chief Minister wants rules tightened.

As the NT Government releases its new management plan for the Limmen Bight Marine Park, traditional owners are pleading for far greater environmental protections and an end to overfishing in the area.

A prodigiously talented, goal-scoring genius of the Long-Rioli family is just one of the dozens of men and women left confused and shocked by the AFL's decision to close the Northern Territory's only top-level side.

The life story of a former world champion bull rider resonates with participants of an Aboriginal-run initiative that is using rodeo to improve lives in the Kimberley.

It has been 31 years since Anne-Marie Culleton was raped and murdered while she slept in her Darwin home. Her sister Eileen is now urging South Australia's Parole Board to keep killer Jonathan Bakewell behind bars.

A man who raped and murdered a woman as she slept in her Darwin home will tomorrow be released from prison to live in Adelaide despite breaching his parole four times.

South Australia's Correctional Services Minister criticises prison officers for using a decoy in an attempt to shield a notorious murderer and rapist from media attention.

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.

Residents have been left vulnerable and fearing for their future water security as underground aquifers run critically low in rural Darwin and communities fear what a second poor wet season could mean for their future.