The aged care royal commission hears chronic short-staffing is compromising the care of nursing home residents, leaving some workers to question whether they want to stay in the sector.

A senior police officer tells the royal commission Nicola Gobbo agreed to make a statement against Paul Dale in the murders of Terence and Christine Hodson because she did not want it to look like she was involved in the murder.

The case could have ramifications for climate challenges worldwide, including in Australia.

Cardinal Pell said in a statement yesterday that he was "surprised" by some of the views of the royal commission about his actions, and that "these views are not supported by evidence".

It felt as if the winds of change were blowing through the Catholic Church after the royal commission. But a new defence has rejected some of its key findings in relation to one of its most notorious paedophile priests, writes Louise Milligan.

When farmer Alistair Gabb fell into depression his doctor prescribed him medication and referred him to a psychiatrist for 10 free therapy sessions but it was far from enough.

Dozens of Victorians shared their painful and powerful stories during the state's royal commission into its broken mental health system. Commissioners now have the difficult task of finding a way forward, write Zalika Rizmal and James Bennett.

A former ABC journalist, who pressed assault charges after her elderly mother was allegedly hit by a carer, urges Australians with family members in aged-care to install personal surveillance equipment.

Will you light up the sky with a 10/10 score? Pop on your personal protective equipment (or not) and take a tour of the news this week.

Environmental groups have called for greater transparency about the potential health impacts of Australia's largest onshore liquified natural gas plant as residents say their complaints are ignored.

Police charge two brothers, aged 18 and 20, over an unprovoked attack on an off-duty senior Victorian police officer near a Melbourne train station.

Ex-detective Paul Dale tells a royal commission he has waited years to expose "corruption" within Victoria Police over the use of Nicola Gobbo as an informer, and that his sexual relationship with the woman known as Lawyer X has been exaggerated.

Former drug squad detective Paul Dale wanted to speak to gangland bosses Tony Mokbel and Carl Williams nine days after he was arrested for the burglary of a drug house, the royal commission hears.

Disgraced former drug detective Paul Dale tells the Royal Commission into Management of Police Informants he has waited years to expose what he says is "corruption" within the highest ranks of Victoria Police over the use of Nicola Gobbo as a police informer.

Federal Attorney-General Christian Porter says he has sought final advice from his department on the release of unpublished documents relating to Cardinal George Pell's handling of child sexual abuse complaints.

For years, questions have been asked about what Cardinal George Pell might have known about clerical abuse within the Catholic Church. A report that could be released within days may give us the best answer we will ever get.

Fire season is officially over in southern Australia, but the work is only just beginning for the royal commission into the deadly crisis.

The findings are expected to reveal what the royal commission made of the evidence put before it about whether Cardinal Pell could or should have done more to prevent children from being abused by priests in the 1970s and 80s.

The Independent Planning Commission will be reviewed after a 21-year mining lease near Singleton was approved before public submissions closed a blunder the Opposition says will call the system's integrity into question.

NSW Deputy Premier says asking mining companies to consider greenhouse gas emissions from Australian coal exports "doesn't pass the pub test"

Maggots were found in the mouth of a patient with advanced dementia by visiting family members, the Royal Commission into Aged Care sitting in WA has been told.

Stories of families not being told when elderly relatives have died, old people found surrounded by food scraps and with maggots these are reasons why some people regard aged care in the regions a "death sentence".

Autonomous mining trucks and remote health tools are among key Australian technologies that NASA will need for its 2024 Moon mission, stakeholders say.

Sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best, as a team of scientists found when building an underwater drone which had to do things no robot had done before.

A public servant improperly awarded, or attempted to influence, millions of dollars' worth of government contracts for the benefit of a close friend, an inquiry finds.

The forgotten language of the Barngarla people on Eyre Peninsula is being revived thanks to a dictionary written by a German Lutheran pastor in 1844.

South Australia Police are investigating a video that appears to show an off-duty officer badly injuring or killing a wombat by throwing rocks at it, but an Aboriginal elder says it is a local hunting practice.

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.

A proposal to build a lead battery smelter in the Latrobe Valley has sparked health concerns among the local community. The nearest house is little more than a kilometre from the site, as is a school.

Witness AAA tells the disability royal commission her daughter was "screamed at" by teachers in Year 1, not given access to the curriculum and did not receive permission forms for excursions and other activities.

Witness AAC says five of her children with disability have had negative experiences with the education system, with problems ranging from verbal abuse to denial of access to bathroom facilities and other restrictive practices.

A man is in custody after a woman was stabbed multiple times at a home in the Northern Territory town of Katherine, just streets away from where another woman was found dead last week. Meanwhile, the Alice Springs Women's Shelter says 500 more people have sought its help this year.

A lack of aged care facilities has been badly impacting on the remote Northern Territory's elderly, but many of their stories will not reach the ears of royal commissioners.

Mike Tobin started his career as a telecommunications apprentice and by the age of 27 he was monitoring the vital signs of the three astronauts in Apollo 11 from Canberra.

Woolworths' bid to set up a Dan Murphy's liquor store in Darwin is rejected by the Northern Territory Liquor Commission on the basis it would increase the risk of alcohol-related harm in nearby Aboriginal communities.

The Northern Territory's incoming police commissioner, Jamie Chalker, wants more officers to work in remote communities and develop respectful relationships with elders.

Peter Beattie is the latest NRL figure to back the controversial reversal of the "six again" call in the NRL grand final, but he promises an end-of-year review will consider the incident.

Disability royal commission chair Ronald Sackville said commentators were discouraging people from telling their stories to the commission, but critics say the real discouragement is the absence of appropriate supports.

Celebrity chef Maggie Beer says nothing can forgive the abysmal standard of meals given to some aged care residents as the royal commission into the sector hears people were served meals from trolleys near maggot-infested rubbish bins.

The standard of care provided to an elderly man, often found in soiled pants, at a regional Queensland aged care facility was so appalling even his own granddaughter was too distressed to visit, the royal commission into aged care hears.

People still living at a Gold Coast nursing home that was partially evacuated last Thursday are told the facility will be referred to the aged care royal commission, a move backed by operator HelpStreet.

Arthur Miller faced a demand for almost $4 million for breach of contract the day before his Gold Coast retirement village Earle Haven was abruptly shut, prompting the evacuation of 68 elderly residents, the aged care royal commission is told.

A large bushfire that has claimed 11 properties in the Gold Coast hinterland as well as historic Binna Burra Lodge could have been deliberately lit, Queensland's Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll says.

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.

Tricia Fortier remembers two things about the time her granddaughter Marlei was in hospital: worrying and smiling. Now she's made it her mission to bring more laughs to her local hospital.

The sale of government land on the New South Wales central coast waterfront for the bargain price of $38,000 has locals up in arms and prompted Greens MP David Shoebridge to refer the matter to the Independent Commission Against Corruption.