Finance Minister Mathias Cormann says "school time is a time to go to school" ahead of thousands planning to leave the classroom for a global climate strike.

For the first time in history, the mayor of WA's biggest council will be chosen directly by residents, but the campaign has been marred by allegations of criminal damage, sabotage and online abuse.

Drug experts and welfare groups speak out against the Government's push to drug test welfare recipients, questioning why the bill has been revived despite "comprehensive" opposition from the medical profession.

There was a time when everyone's important documents letters, photographs, diaries were tangible objects, but as life moves to the cloud we could lose it all.

A 22-year-old Perth man accused of using a cigarette lighter and boiling water to deliberately inflict serious burns on a two-year-old girl he was looking after claims she pulled a pot of boiling noodles onto herself.

Low-cost airline Jetstar announces it will start running three flights a week between Melbourne and Busselton in the south-west of WA.

While the release of Jody Gore has shone a spotlight on the ability of Aboriginal women to access justice, Australia is continuing to turn a blind eye to violence against Indigenous women, writes Hannah McGlade.

A Perth doctor is warning of the dangers of wearing high-vis shirts in direct sunlight after what she believes is the world's first case of burns from retro-reflective tape.

A $657 million loss posted by WA power retailer Synergy will likely either lead to inflation-busting bill hikes or a taxpayer-funded bailout, but the WA Government is insisting its reforms will keep a lid on prices.

Cryptocurrencies and gold would appear to at opposite ends of the investment risk spectrum, but that has not stopped The Perth Mint attempting to create a digital alloy to cash in on gold's return to favour.

Paul Gary Turner used his training in commando knife skills to "deliberately and intentionally" stab his former partner and mother of his children to death inside a Perth court complex during a mediation hearing.

The WA Government finds a way to hit Opposition Leader Liza Harvey where it hurts most, and deliver generous cuts to TAFE fees for students in the process, writes Jacob Kagi.

One of Perth's busiest roads will close for up to 10 hours during the March long weekend for a marathon tribute to AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott on the 40th anniversary of his death.

They are a select group of people who live in places that would never be possible today, and have refused every effort to get them to move on.

Since she was 11, an eating disorder has controlled much of Ruby Alarcon Gleeson's life. Then when she turned 16, she fell through the gaps into a "chasm of care" just when she needed help the most.

A police officer who was filmed on mobile phones driving into an 18-year-old man in Perth's south-east last year, knocking him down and sending him to hospital, is found guilty of dangerous driving.

The WA Government will ban students from using mobile phones, smart watches and tablets in all public schools from 2020 in a major push to reduce distraction and focus on learning.

Former AFL commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick and his fellow directors of Carnegie Clean Energy emerge as the saviours of the troubled wave energy company, whose shares have been reinstated to the ASX.

While Perth Stadium on the banks of the Swan River is soaring, its neighbour in the State Tennis Centre is literally sinking, contributing to major problems with facilities and there is currently no plan to fix it.

Fire authorities prepare for a challenging weekend as scorching temperatures and gusty winds create dangerous fire conditions in the southern half of WA, including Perth where the mercury is expected to get as high as 38 degrees.

Three hour, one man show? Fear not, it's awesome.

ABC North Coast resident arts reviewer, Jeanti St Clair looks at the Northern Rivers Portrait Prize.

On the oldest landscape on earth, new technology is being developed to help remove dogs over millions of hectares.

Locals say bad driving mainly from tourists is to blame for a spate of fatal crashes on a stretch of Indian Ocean Drive north of Perth, after the latest serious accident left two foreigners dead.

Residents in a regional WA town are fighting against what they say is a life-threatening decline in healthcare services.

The Keith and District Hospital will receive $140,000 lifeline to keep operating until July under a new deal struck by the South Australian Government and Tatiara District Council.

Setio Shanahan was out exercising in a local park with a weight vest when police were called. But police say the public has the right to report "unusual behaviour".

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says the cottage where Bob Hawke was born is a "significant part" of Australia's democratic history, and commits $750,000 to purchase and renovate the Bordertown property.

Analysis by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) finds community service flights conducted by charity Angel Flight Australia have a fatal accident rate more than seven times higher than other private flights.

A growing number of people with chronic diabetes are building their own artificial pancreas which has some health professionals seriously concerned.

A festival that started covering bare CBD trees in knitted jumpers has helped to lift spirits during the drought.

Car and house washing are off limits in Queensland's Southern Downs as residents are urged to use no more than 100 litres a day.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk visits drought-ravaged Granite Belt, where dam levels are so low water could run out by December. She vows she will not allow that to happen but needs a written request for help from council.

The blaze, which is now contained but still smouldering, had prompted a warning for locals in nearby Marburg to evacuate. The warning has been lifted but authorities are still fighting about 30 fires across the state.

A combination of drought, disease and concerted eradication efforts have seen a huge drop in Queensland's feral rabbit population to their lowest levels in more than 30 years.

Drought-stricken Queensland farmers are worried about where their underground water is going as a new report questions the impact of a controversial coal mine.

How can it be so easy to fall into a romance based on text messages, internet liaisons and phone calls? An expert says scammers know exactly what their victims want to hear.

Residents of Noosa Springs have a close call when a bushfire comes within metres of homes, while fires continue to burn on Bribie Island.

When the vet x-rayed their young dog and found a mass in its intestines, Duke's owners never imagined it would be a lump of cement.

Former school deputy principal Kenneth Ralph Ernst is jailed for the prolonged sexual abuse of a young girl, in a case the judge described as a "gross breach of trust" made worse by Ernst's decision to plead not guilty.

Mark Wadeson was sleeping rough and battling cancer and overzealous council workers now his life is looking up and he's keen to be a voice for the underdogs.

Thousands of hectares of native forest north of Noosa, which was due to become national park, will now remain open to the timber industry in order to save hundreds of jobs.

Residents were forced to evacuate the Teewah township last night, but have now been allowed to return.

Severe bushfire conditions are expected later in the week as residents describe their terror at having to evacuate when a fast-moving bushfire threatened a township north of Noosa overnight.

Category two patients in the NT will soon be able to get their long-awaited operations, but visitor restrictions will stay in place "for the foreseeable future", the Health Minister says.