Red-and-yellow flags are now planted on beaches up and down the coast, but surf lifesaving in Queensland originated from a need to watch over people in the Brisbane River.

Safety versus spying: the legalities of using hidden cameras in a world were technology allows you to protect your home remotely.

Sunshine Coast man John Broomfield could not sail at all until recently, but that has not stopped him from joining a year-long, 40,000-nautical mile yacht race.

Authorities reveal the residents of a Sunshine Coast aged care facility were trapped inside as a dangerous bushfire approached this week, but they were kept safe by a protective ring of firefighters.

A delicate rescue operation frees a baby humpback from shark nets off Noosa on the Sunshine Coast with the whale's mother staying close to her calf during the ordeal.

Parents are seeking answers after buses dropped off school children at a road block during the height of the Peregian Beach bushfire emergency, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast yesterday.

Two men are committed to stand trial for the alleged murder of Sunshine Coast butcher Bruce Saunders, whose body went through a woodchipper on a rural Queensland property in November 2017.

As water supplies run low for towns reliant on the Darling River in western NSW, the Government says it has drought-proofed Broken Hill with a 270-kilometre pipeline from the Murray River.

Authorities have confirmed it's likely there's been a mass die-off of fish in Western New South Wales

New aerial footage appears to show thousands of dead fish at Lake Pamamaroo in the Menindee Lakes System, near Broken Hill, nine months after a mass fish kill event on the nearby banks of the Darling River.

The president of WA Farmers is calling for higher standards to be met before proposed foreign investments are given the green light.

Officials are hoping for a big turnout at the restart of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race in Albany today.

An organisation which has been highly critical of Western Australia's land clearing regulations says the way the issue is approached needs to significantly change.

Consumer Protection is urging people to look beyond the price tag when shopping online this Christmas.

A former West Australian Football League player, charged with assaulting another player during a country match, has had the charge against him dropped in a Narrogin court.

The new Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development says he expects improving conditions for elderly residents in Western Australia's south-west and Great Southern will be a key focus.

The latest survey of the cost of living in regional WA has shown a significant drop in living costs in the state's north. The State Government assesses the cost of 500 goods and services in 27 regional centres as part of the Regional Price Index every second year.

A bobcat was used to ram an ATM at an Albany shopping centre.

A business commentator has warned the relief felt by the local nickel sector, after an Indonesian move to restrict exports, could be extremely short-lived.

A Western Australian Government survey has found the Great Southern has one of the state's lowest rates of people looking to relocate to another region.

Wheatbelt nickel miner Western Areas says it is pleased with its quarterly results, despite seeing small drops in production and sales and higher costs.

Aboriginal teaching assistants whose jobs have been axed, have appealed directly to the Education Minister for their jobs to be reinstated.

A $42 million upgrade of Albany's sporting facilities is a step closer, after the city council ratified plans for the precinct.

The Narrogin Town Council is calling on the Western Australian Government to support upgrades to a wastewater treatment system, which it says is costing nearly $100,000 annually to maintain.

Coolah and Dunedoo are neighbouring towns, both with no visible Aboriginal community, and the reason why is complex with reports of massacres, movements and missing pieces of history.

Thousands of fish which became trapped in a NSW pond after flooding in 2016 have been returned to the Macquarie River after a painstaking effort to keep them alive.

A peaceful paradise known for its iconic pine trees and spectacular coastline, Norfolk Island is riddled with political tension and simmering social unrest.

Lucy Moss's boutique in Coonamble is bursting with colour, and her latest venture offers various shades of relief for drought-affected farmers.

NSW Police have extradited John Bowie to Sydney to face court over the murder of his wife Roxlyn, after an investigation into her disappearance in 1982.

Heavy rainfall has filled up dams in the drought-stricken region of Coolabah in New South Wales.(credit: Anthony Hyde)

75mm of rain has fallen in the drought-affected town of Girilambone in NSW, filling up dams in the region and bringing relief to farmers.

While China's demand for Australian rock lobster soars, less international flights causes product delivery to be capped.

India and England's Twenty20 World Cup semi-final was washed out and Australia's clash with South Africa almost was too, all without a backup plan in place. How was this allowed to happen?

A popular beach in Byron Bay has been washed away by the worst erosion in at least 30 years.

There are fears important wildlife habitat is being destroyed as a developer tries to enact a 1984 site approval on the New South Wales north coast.

Up to 20 homes and structures are destroyed in the village of Rappville, as watch and act warnings are issued for several bushfires burning within 100km of each other in northern NSW.

An RFS crew drives through the northern NSW village of Rappville, one of the areas worst affected by a series of bushfires in northern NSW on October 8, 2019.

Rappville residents share stories of survival after a bushfire swept through their small community in northern NSW, with one 82-year-old pensioner hiding in his shed in a bid to escape the inferno.

After watching their home burn on the news, Tina Hag, Robert Collier and their four children return to Rappville, wondering about the future of their northern New South Wales town, which lost 15 homes and 20,000 hectares of grazing land to a bushfire.

The community of Rappville in northern NSW is banding together to make sure everyone gets back on their feet, but Allan Robertson is dreading having to tell his partner that their home is now just ashes.

As ferocious blazes tore through Rappville last week, many of the community's young people displayed extraordinary bravery, rescuing their neighbours and animals while fighting tooth and nail to save homes.