Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says plans are underway to test 100,000 people over the next fortnight for COVID-19 in order to make an informed decision on which restrictions could be rolled back after the state of emergency ends on May 11.

Horse sanctuaries close and horse owners are forced to consider putting their horses down amid an "unprecedented shortage of hay".

Award-winning 'heritage hero' Roy Taplin breathes new life into a 1917 Commonwealth Railways dining car.

Footage emerges of an echidna cooling off in the warmer weather with a swim on South Australia's Kangaroo Island. One expert says it is not uncommon to see them in water on hot days.

A monitoring program to survey bleaching is underway at Lord Howe Island Marine Park with researchers performing underwater assessments and aerial mapping.

The NSW regional electorate of Cowper has the largest number of voters in the country, the latest Australian Electoral Commission elector count reveals.

He established some of Australia's best-known national parks and fought for World Heritage listings across the globe. But for the late Peter Hitchcock, conservation was no walk in the park.

The honey industry is facing hard times along with other producers, having taken a battering over recent years from the drought and a string of natural disasters.

Government marketers are spending an increasing amount of money on bringing so-called influencers to Australia, but is it money well spent?

Damage to a fibre optic cable causes a 20-hour communications blackout across Western Australia's Kimberley region, proving bad for business, but reigniting old-fashioned conversation.

A telecommunications consumer group wants enhanced back-ups and safeguards after the telephone network for 50,000 people was cut off in the Kimberley.

This wild and rugged corner of north-west Tasmania is bursting with ancient history and dotted with artefacts, but you've probably never heard of it.

Three-year-old Chase has come ahead in leaps and bounds in this past year, his family credits a program giving kids like him free access to early learning.

Tasmania is brimming with history but anyone who owns a heritage-listed property knows it takes "buckets of money" to keep it up and running. Is it worth it?

For Kobe Dare, the revived Tasmanian Aboriginal language of palawa kani is "one of the strongest there is". He's learning to speak it, then going home to teach his parents.

New vision emerges of the ship which brought down Hobart's Tasman Bridge more than 40 years ago, showing a wreck teeming with marine life including gill sharks.

AFL star Eddie Betts again becomes the target of "abhorrent and disgusting" racial abuse on social media, with the Crows releasing a strident statement demanding an end to what it said was the cowardly behaviour.

At 73, Dr Graham Fleming could be enjoying a quiet retirement. Instead, he's gearing up to be a struggling regional town's first resident doctor in nearly 18 months.

A regional Victorian city that nearly lost its tram network in the 1970s is set to become a national hub for historic tram restoration.

The coroner conducting an inquest into the death of Yorta Yorta woman Tanya Day releases CCTV footage of her falling and hitting her head in a police cell, as her family says they want the world to see the distressing vision.

A collective of industrious Gippsland knitters has banded together to 'yarn bomb' Walhalla's historic train, in the hope of raising $230,000 to bring the vintage engine back to service.

A pelican banded as part of a research project in Victoria last year, and last seen in March, is spotted more than 700 kilometres away in northern New South Wales.

A new food truck is empowering disadvantaged Gippsland families to choose their own fresh produce and is also allowing for more efficient delivery.

The Tiwi Island Sistagirls say the upcoming same-sex marriage postal vote could be a waste of time in their community because people there are not familiar with the process.

Consumer demand for coconuts is booming and world supply is struggling to keep up, so an industry awaits as Australia imports nearly all the coconut it consumes.

Queensland Police says the action of both police and those involved were being reviewed by Ethical Standards Command.

Indonesian 'mumpreneurs' are cashing-in on an appetite for purchasing cheap beef online, threatening Australia's live cattle trade.

Former water polo star Nick Dempsey will leave his Albury home to continue therapy at one of Australia's leading rehabilitation facilities on the Gold Coast.

A prodigiously talented, goal-scoring genius of the Long-Rioli family is just one of the dozens of men and women left confused and shocked by the AFL's decision to close the Northern Territory's only top-level side.

A former Australian Federal Police employee who messaged his partner's 11-year-old daughter over Instagram in order to groom her into having sex with him, avoids jail.

The second stage of the ACT's light rail project will see a centrepiece of Canberra's city transformed, with the southern end of London Circuit raised in order to accommodate a tram line traversing down to Lake Burley Griffin.

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.