Telstra admits to selling "phones to customers who ultimately could not afford them", with an executive addressing the Aboriginal Economic Development Forum at the Darwin Convention Centre.

Researchers from five Indigenous language groups have spent days scouring 19th-century archives for traces of lost words, as a new study suggests more than half of all living languages worldwide are endangered.

The Canberra Press Gallery's Midwinter Ball is the political affair that would make headlines every year if it wasn't kept off the record. But this year the cone of silence has been lifted and the speeches are in the open for all to see.

A Canberra brothel owner who was charged with allowing an unlawful citizen to work and gain entry to Australia will spend no further time behind bars after the court found she did not underpay or exploit her employees.

A Canberra man appears before court facing child exploitation charges, after Tinder reported his alleged conversations searching for a young Thai girl to a United States cyber safety watchdog.

Several hundred online enthusiasts generate thousands of leads for investigators after a single day of competitive 'ethical hacking' across Australia.

Canberra's youth detention centre issues an apology and an undisclosed financial settlement after an Indigenous teenager filed a lawsuit alleging her human rights had been violated when she was separated from her peers and her belongings for two months.

A week ahead of the first hearings of the Disability Royal Commission in Townsville, a new survey of families of children with disability finds nearly no progress has been made on improving access to inclusive education.

When Sue Owen's hair fell out, she honed her skills in tying head scarves and "funking up" turbans. She now makes sure other patients "look fabulous".

The Australian Federal Police is assessing whether to suspend officer Ivan Kovacic after he allegedly committed an act of indecency on a woman he had invited to his apartment with her two friends to try some craft beer.

Rape victims are being made to wait for hours in the clothes they were assaulted in before being examined, or sometimes not examined at all, a damning auditor-general report reveals, highlighting the lack of qualified staff.

Stagnant domestic production and a slump in global raw sugar prices require serious action to combat future declines in the $2 billion sugar industry, a report finds.

There are concerns, and equally hopes, that an extension to a ban on live sheep exports and cruelty charges against a live exporter are eroding the livestock exporting industry.

Researchers find a common disease in honey bees can be transmitted to native bees through flowers, causing them to die about three times the rate of the normal mortality.

Scientists are in a race against time to map "extraordinary and complex" ancient fish traps on one of Australia's most remote islands.

TV personality Ernie Dingo is travelling around Australia to improve Indigenous men's health by taking them camping in the bush.

A court releases the video of a police interview that shows the murder confession of Matthew White, who strangled Cooktown woman Donna Steele in a botched extortion bid and has been sentenced to life in jail.

Three people killed in a "freak" skydiving accident in Far North Queensland died in mid-air when a solo sports jumper's parachute opened prematurely and caused them to collide, a coroner finds.

Environmental groups say plans to save marine animals from harm and drowning in discarded fishing nets are not being implemented where it is needed the most.

Mango fans get ready, because the season is ramping up in the Northern Territory with more than 200,000 trays picked last week.

Dani Larkin knows the struggles of a young Indigenous woman in a "nation of divisiveness", and insists that constitutional recognition is the key to unlocking meaningful change.

All fires across New South Wales and Queensland are downgraded to watch and act or advice as nightfall eases conditions somewhat. Look back at out coverage as firefighters battled blazes across two states.

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.

As the ban on climbing Uluru fast approaches there remains many locations attracting crowds, despite calls from local Indigenous people to stay away.

A Brisbane mother calls on the Queensland Government and Schoolies stakeholders to stop dating website Tinder from partnering with booking website Schoolies.com.

Queensland's central schoolies booking agency ditches its brief dalliance with the dating app Tinder after it sparked outrage from parents and the State Tourism Minister.

A Gold Coast man acquitted of murdering a woman he met on Tinder says he has "no ethical obligation" to reveal details of his past online, after a feminist group began a campaign against him.

The company responsible for Adani's Carmichael coal mine is deep in the red, with accounting experts and its own auditors warning it is surviving only through the promised support of its Indian parent firm.

A Queensland miner has created a popular roadside stop with hundreds of travellers pulling over to take a photo with his now-famous family of Minions.

A Queensland crocodile farmer has found a surgical plate "complete with six stainless steel screws" inside a dead crocodile, months after the sick animal stopped eating.

An orthopaedic surgeon has identified the plate found in the corpse of 4.7-metre crocodile 'MJ' as a bone plate used to heal fractures in humans.

A group of vintage tractor enthusiasts and restorers like nothing better than rummaging for old parts in the hope they can bring a machine back to life.

Researchers say there used to be an expectation that there was an urban/country divide in racist attitudes in Australia, but a recent study has challenged the assumption.

A Queensland coroner condemns the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries for failing to share vessel monitoring data with police, in a string of safety recommendations over the death of six crewmen on the trawler Dianne.

Some regional areas of Queensland see unemployment rates skyrocket above 14 per cent with experts warning it will get worse if the Government doesn't step in.

Controversial changes enforcing quotas on Queensland fisheries have led to a critical breakdown in the relationship between industry and government.

Researchers at Australia's first 'body farm' have observed that dead bodies move significantly when they decompose and believe it could be important in investigations.

The clean-up is underway after severe thunderstorms left a trail of damage but little precious rain in parts of South-East Queensland and the Darling Downs.

A leading science institute finds Queensland must move more quickly towards renewable energy and away from coal-fired power by 2030 to meet its share of the nation's emissions reduction targets.

The mayor of Woorabinda, a small Indigenous community in central Queensland, says until their land is converted from a government lease to freehold, it is still like living on a mission.

Former Robertson MP Belinda Neal, who once told a fellow parliamentarian her baby would turn into a demon, is expelled from the Labor party over alleged branch stacking.

The NSW Government allocates $3 million to fund nine new palliative care specialists in health districts across regional NSW.