Washing machine repairman Bill Spedding is seeking up to $1 million in compensation after accusing NSW Police of causing him "reputational damage" by wrongly linking him to the disappearance of William Tyrrell.

Five new photos of William Tyrrell are made public by the NSW Coroner as well as the transcript of a key witness who said he cursed a woman he saw driving with an unrestrained child in the backseat.

A plea made by a group of patchworkers to help find their stolen quilts has been heard internationally.

The whitegoods repairman who became the chief suspect in one of Australia's biggest child abduction mysteries reveals for the first time how the ordeal "shattered" his life.

Four Corners has obtained exclusive video of the police interrogation of washing machine repairman Bill Spedding, who was wrongly accused of abducting three-year-old William Tyrrell from outside a home on on the NSW mid-north coast.

The suicides of two young Indigenous women in two months have sparked calls for immediate action.

Where some people have seen wrecked cars in the desert, artists in a remote WA community saw a blank canvas. Rocked by two deaths, the people of Balgo have set about doing something special.

Schools and remote communities across the north of Western Australia fear for their future as vital funding dries up, leaving highly-valued employees jobless.

Satellite images have captured a usually invisible phenomenon known as atmospheric gravity waves pulsing through clouds off Western Australia's north-west.

Thirty per cent of the Shire of Westonia is owned by corporate agricultural companies and locals say they are worried it is ruining the "sense of community" in the shire's small rural towns.

A Federal Government investigation has found no evidence a whistleblower onboard the livestock carrier Awassi Express fabricated conditions on the boat by switching off fans and ventilation.

A regional council hopes to change attitudes towards the straw-necked ibis, cousin of the Australian white ibis or much-maligned bin chicken, in an effort to win over residents and visitors.

Regional queer communities say being invisible makes people feel isolated and less likely to get support.

From electronic pet trackers, paying cyclists to commute to work and driverless cars, Hobart City Council is floating some innovations to make it a smarter city. And, strangely, that could also mean Wi-Fi free zones.

A senior member of the Fertility Society of Australia has used a speech at the opening of the society's conference to criticise researchers for making negative comments about the IVF industry in the media.

The Launceston City Council becomes the second in Tasmania to scrap its Australia Day celebrations and instead hold its citizenship ceremony on a less contentious day.

Residents in the Hobart suburb of Risdon Vale say they are double checking their doors are locked as the search for a prison escapee enters its second day.

DAILY BRIEFING: 31 year-old Josef Barker found not guilty of murder in fatal hit and run, and a woman who lied about attending a university campus at Cradle Mountain so she could travel while on bail is sentenced.

As Tasmania lures more tourists with its wilderness charms, there are fears the method of holding tour operators accountable for licence breaches in precious wilderness areas is not up to the task.

Mandatory drug and alcohol testing for elected representatives could soon be a reality for a second Tasmanian council, but the proposal is proving to be divisive with one councillor labelling it "highly invasive".

Photos and documents show nurses in the Roy Fagan Centre for aged psychiatric patients use old pagers and duress buttons held together with sticky tape.

DAILY BRIEFING: A confidential Tourism Tasmania report outs management as a golf-obsessed "boys' club", and the Liberals are looking for their next state party director.

DAILY BRIEFING: A motorcyclist dies in the state's north after crashing into the back of a parked truck, and a 29-year-old charged with the murder of Jarrod Leigh Turner pleads not guilty.

Elective surgery relief for Sally McShane is still years away under Tasmania's worsening waiting list. One doctor says his request for a male patient be moved up the list, was met with an "inappropriate" hospital letter.

The death of 17-year-old Maggie Lore at the Blackmans Bay blowhole in 2017 prompts a southern Tasmanian council to conduct a risk assessment of several areas in its municipality.

Two police officers are bitten and another kicked in the head during a violent arrest in Hobart's northern suburbs.

Residents of a heritage town in northern Tasmania accuse the Government of not consulting them over plans for a new prison nearby, and demand to know the location of other potential sites.

Betty Pilgrim is 71, but she's studying law online and just got back from two months of backpacking in Europe. She's hoping if she can stay active, it will help stave off dementia.

A mansion in Melbourne's east, newly constructed units and more than 3,000 acres of Tasmanian farmland are among the assets seized by Australian Federal Police as part of a two-year investigation into alleged money laundering by Chinese nationals.

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.

Consultants investigating Ambulance Tasmania found poor management of fatigue and workplace stress and a lack of workplace health and safety procedures across the organisation, a leaked report reveals.

A national fertility business attached to clinics in six Australian states and territories says its email system has been subjected to a "malicious cyber attack", with patients reporting receiving bogus messages that appear to be from the company.

A woman has been left in shock and with a deep distrust of cyber security laws after her ex-boyfriend used an app to control her car and stalk her.

A 77-year-old man dies on a rural property on the west coast of South Australia after falling into a grain bin. SafeWork SA will investigate.

Regional airports are deemed essential gateways between the city and country, but questions have been raised about how secure they are.

Make-up course organiser Larissa Jones says parents can't ignore the pressure their children feel to wear make-up and it is better to coach them and let them talk about their insecurities.

South Australia's oyster growers are given the all-clear over a potentially devastating disease.

Some members of South Australia's Aboriginal community have lost 23 members of their family in the past two years and they are desperate for help in dealing with grief.

Leonora, a small town in the West Australian Goldfields, is being touted as a suitable location for an underground, low and intermediate-level nuclear waste storage facility.

Six people have been charged following the alleged assault of two off-duty police officers at Burnside Village shopping centre in Adelaide's eastern suburbs.

Legal action is threatening the latest proposed sites for storing nuclear waste in South Australia, and the debate is dividing communities and traditional owners.

Hot temperatures and low rainfall take their toll on South Australian wine grape growers, but many are happy with the quality of the wines in spite of, or perhaps even because of, the tough conditions.

With no pub or shops in the town, these former city girls started a community-run cafe and it's improving the welfare of local farmers while raising money for charity too.