There are hopes new technology obtained by the Australian National University will put Australia ahead of the curve when it comes to space communications even ahead of NASA.

Backyard gardeners could face fines of almost $2,500 if they are not careful when covering their fruit trees or vegetable gardens with netting.

Ricky Stuart is still tied to the Raiders' golden era, but now he has Canberra within 80 minutes of a first grand final in a quarter-century, writes Richard Hinds.

The ACT Government unashamedly asks the community to do more to help it reach the ambitious target of net zero carbon emissions by 2045, with transport and natural gas top of the list of targets.

The Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs tells the Senate Intelligence Committee that he's never handed over classified information to the press.

One of the biggest wrecking yards in the Southern Hemisphere, which supplied Mad Max: Fury Road with cars, is on the market after more than 60 years as a family business.

After 25 years as a sniper in war zones, Robert later went on to photograph road fatalities. After being plagued by anxiety, depression and flashbacks, he has finally found peace with the power of painting.

The Sutherlands hope that telling their story will help transgender parents be accepted to the point where, one day, "no-one bats an eyelid".

Cooper Cronk has achieved everything in the game, but as he prepares to play his final NRL match in Sunday's grand final against the Canberra Raiders, he has one more accolade in his sights.

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.

Robert Glen Sirl was caught having sex with a 15-year-old girl in foster care when police visited to talk to him about a separate rape. He has now been found guilty of both crimes. WARNING: This story contains graphic content.

A 27-year-old Canberra man is jailed for what is described in court as a "chilling" and "callous" attack on a Pekingese/Maltese cross that lasted 20 minutes.

Bradley Lester Grey, 54, pleads not guilty in the ACT Supreme Court to charges of allegedly telling prospective sex workers they would need to perform acts with him to prove they were right for the role.

Sussan Ley says she believes only people who have a "connection to farming" should be allowed to own water in the Murray-Darling Basin.

Can you use simple maths to figure out your best online dating profile match? Or choose the shortest line in the supermarket? According to mathematician Lily Serna, yes you can.

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.

Up to one in three Australian women have experienced birth trauma and one in 10 women emerge from childbirth with post-traumatic stress disorder, prompting calls for a major shake-up of the maternity system.

Chinese telco giant Huawei urges the Federal Government to reconsider its ban on the company providing equipment to Australia's 5G mobile network, describing claims it answers to Beijing as "unfounded attacks and smears".

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.

A social media project inspired by the Humans of New York photoblog helps transform perceptions about Queensland's largest Aboriginal community, which was being torn apart by fights and bad press.

Queensland's Native Mounted Police massacred thousands of Indigenous people on the colonial frontier, and most of its troopers were Indigenous themselves. It's a difficult legacy for their descendants to come to terms with.

Polystyrene balls were strewn across three bays on a pristine north Queensland island after coming in with the tide from an unknown source, forcing locals into action with vacuums and dustpans.

Running outside and swimming in the ocean is a rare luxury for eight students who lived through the terror of the tsunami that hit the Fukushima nuclear plant in 2011.

A 21-year-old woman suffers serious leg injuries in an attack by what is believed to be two sharks in Great Barrier Reef waters off Cape York Peninsula.

Lego is being used in both informal and clinical sessions to improve the communication and cooperation skills of children with autism.

Queensland's Royal Flying Doctor Service trades training for loyalty in a new program to bring in more pilots.

This self-employed labourer was doing casual work earning a couple of hundred dollars a week. Then he received a letter from his super fund saying his retirement savings had shrunk.

It's estimated that African swine fever has killed 25 per cent of the world's pig population. The deadly disease has now reached Timor-Leste, about 650 kilometres from Darwin.

Queenslanders who are visually impaired say they're at risk of serious injury in busy carparks and on roads because they don't have the right to use disability parking spaces.

Mardi Liebelt was next in line to take a flying fox through the rainforest canopy when the zip-line snapped, watching in horror as a 50-year-old South Australian man fall to his death and his wife writhed in pain.

An innocuous Facebook post has spurred about 40 people to carry a north Queensland grandmother with multiple sclerosis up a steep mountain so she could fulfil a childhood wish.

The Bulldogs have gone above the Titans at the bottom of the NRL table, after the former upset the Knights in Newcastle and the latter was comfortably beaten by Penrith.

The Lions' resurgence continues as they edge out North and Freo pip the Swans after the Tigers beat the Power, the Giants thump the Pies and the Blues get the better of the Suns.

Manly sends fans home happy with a win over the Eels at Brookvale after the high-flying Storm down the Titans at Robina.

Calypso may be blind and deaf, but the gelding turns 50 today the day all horses in Australia have their birthday.

One of the most expensive police cars used in Australia goes up in flames following a chase in north-eastern New South Wales.

Millionaire Gold Coast businessman and self-described "philanthropist" John Chardon tells a Brisbane court he sometimes had sex with students he sponsored, but says he never "intentionally" hurt his wife, Novy.

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.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is returning early from a trip to Switzerland because of the ongoing bushfire threat, with more than 80 fires burning across the state and a blaze at Peregian on the Sunshine Coast that is still out of control.

Firefighters from South Australia arrive in Queensland to give local crews a rest from battling bushfires, but the break may be short-lived with conditions forecast to get worse in the state later in the week.

A man is taken into police custody in relation to a car that crashed through the front of a house on the Gold Coast early on Sunday morning, leaving a teenage girl trapped inside.

In the past year, Abbie Williams has written hundreds of personalised messages to people around the world struggling with their mental health.

In a world first, Queensland researchers say have been able to "cure" cervical cancer in mice using gene-editing technology and they are working towards performing human trials in the next five years.

A Gold Coast father wants to raise awareness about breast cancer in men after he let a lump go undiagnosed for a year.

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 Queensland mother says she experienced a parent's worst nightmare when her car was stolen with her four-year-old son and the family puppy still inside.

What do you get when a peanut in a top hat, a chicken on the run and 150 Australian larrikins go on a road trip? A good time, and funds to support people with intellectual disabilities.