A tax imposed on West Australian ratepayers 16 years ago to support the state's emergency services has raised more than $3 billion, but just $256 million of that has gone to bush fire brigades, and they say this is forcing them to rattle the tin for some essential equipment.

African swine fever has depleted China's pig herd, creating a protein shortage that is benefitting Australian sheep farmers.

Growers question the process behind Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) announcing that a controversial ex-chairman is among the preferred candidates to fill board vacancies.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for Western Australians aged 14 to 44, but the State Government hopes its new plan will save lives.

A severe weather warning for Tasmania's east coast is cancelled but heavy rain continues to fall in the region, with snow in the highlands.

Tracey hoped putting her mother in an aged care home would give her a sense of security, but she ended up severely injuring herself in a fall. Warning: contains graphic images.

A victim of one of Tasmania's "most horrendous" crimes, a woman is fighting the justice system to keep her captor and rapist in jail, while being unable to identify herself.

DAILY BRIEFING: Inmates involved in an escape from prison allegedly tried to get out earlier the same morning, and the Tasmanian Mayor defends renting a short-stay property to staff.

Until 2012, Maria Island's animal inhabitants were living without any major predators. But when devils were introduced they had to adapt or die.

It's no secret Tasmanians are proud of their rich convict history, which draws in tourists from far and wide, but there's much more to Van Diemen's Land than the infamous penal settlement at Port Arthur.

DAILY BRIEFING: Bushwalkers are rescued in two separate incidents in Tasmania's national parks, while road spikes are deployed after a driver evades police.

In a matter of weeks more than 50,000 virtual signatures have been added to an online petition supporting the formation of a Tasmanian AFL team, but it is unlikely to be enough to sway the AFL executive, writes Chris Rowbottom.

TasPorts has plans to give the popular Sullivan's Cove a facelift over the next 15 years, but has ruled out any 'aggressive' development.

The Liberals' plan to open up World Heritage Area and national parks to more tourism developments has been contentious from day one now, it has attracted the attention of Tasmania's auditor-general.

Reports from people convinced they have seen Tasmanian tigers in the wild are released, with observers describing encounters with "cat-like creatures" they were "100 per cent certain" were thylacines.

A botched effort at censoring a scathing report on Tasmania's juvenile detention centre reveals a litany of shortcomings, including "very little real security", CCTV that is "rarely monitored", inadequate reporting of force being used and a fence that would not stop an escape attempt, only "slow it down".

Until now little has been known about what penguins get up to when they head out to sea to forage.

A diver in the Derwent River has filmed the underwater site of the original Tasman Bridge, which collapsed in 1975.

A draft report has found a $260 million development of Glenorchy's Wilkinson's Point would great 1,100 jobs and inject millions into Hobart, but it could come at a cost to locals.

When Molly Sandford's construction worker ex-husband was told to have a "cup of cement" and "harden up" it was the last thing he needed. After losing him to suicide, she's determined to help others in the sector get the support they need.

The redevelopment of the Royal Hobart Hospital continues to be beset with problems, the latest involving $1 million in construction damage.

As bushfire conditions ease around Tasmania this weekend, the firefighter's union wants laws to back volunteers leaving work in an emergency as the bushfire season extends to as long as six months.

A former Tasmanian cricketer and Liberal member of Parliament struggled to inflate his life jacket while panicking in the water before he drowned, an investigation into the fishing trip tragedy finds.

A Tasmanian great-grandmother-to-be was shocked to discover she was forking out for private health services she didn't ask for and didn't need. But her insurer said it was simply a case of 'buyer beware'.

Researchers have used marsupial lion fossils discovered in Naracoorte and the Nullarbor to discover that the Thylacoleo was similar to a tree-climbing Tasmanian devil, ambushing its prey in forests.

FOI documents also reveal the Federal Government knows the process is creating division in small towns and causing some businesses to be boycotted.

Police are working to confirm whether human remains found near Port Lincoln, in regional South Australia, belong to a man who went missing 20 years ago.

SA senator Sarah Hanson-Young says a crude Facebook post shared by a business owned by the Ceduna Mayor is "degrading" to women, but he says his Facebook account was hacked.

Greenpeace questions the independence of the national offshore oil and gas regulator, amid revelations the authority will speak at a Parliamentary dinner in favour of oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight.

The Federal Government pledges to extend cashless debit card trials, designed to curb drug and alcohol abuse, but reports of the card's success are mixed.

An ancient lizard fossil found in north-west Queensland shows the ancestor of the modern skink had a crushing jaw, equipped with hard-rounded teeth, rather than the sharper teeth of today.

South Australia's latest budget locks in money for a new hospital and other key infrastructure projects, but also foreshadows cuts to overall health spending.

Champion jockey Kerrin McEvoy's hometown of Streaky Bay is fundraising to install a life-sized bronze statue of their hero on the town's foreshore.

An ambitious plan to power every property on SA's Eyre Peninsula with solar has been labelled an Australian first but is it too good to be true?

In the mid-19th century two teenagers fled the brutal life of a SA whaling station. With the help of local Indigenous tribes they survived walking more than 500km through remote landscape to finally reach freedom.

The Holland family have hosted thousands of dinner parties in a bus parked in the driveways of complete strangers. It is their way of keeping one foot in urban life while living off the grid.

Industry experts say consumers are often misguided about what is healthier between alternative and dairy milks, and some say branding is the issue.

With production doubling in the past five years thanks to new extraction technology and investment, Victorian mines are digging deeper where most of its gold actually is.

Prison officers and nurses could have done more to prevent the death of underworld figure Hizir Ferman, who suffocated to death inside a Victorian prison after a stand-off with guards, a coroner finds.

With only one in four Australians staying with the same employer for 10 years or more, there is a call for a national portable long service leave scheme in Australia.

Victoria moves to decriminalise public drunkenness on the eve of a coronial inquest into the death of Aboriginal woman Tanya Day, who suffered head injuries in a police cell in 2017.

A judge describes a man who ran down his fiance and mother of four, leaving her for dead after a heated argument, as cowardly and callous.

World jousting champion Phillip Leitch of Kryal Castle, near Ballarat, defeats challengers from as far away as the Netherlands, Russia and Canada to claim the title for another year.

After receiving her master's degree at the age of 90, Lorna Prendergast hopes her story encourages people to recognise that age is no barrier to learning.

Bev Hetherington and Sandra Kleinetzt

Storms and erosion at Inverloch reveal never-before-seen parts of a 155-year-old shipwreck, the Amazon.

Melbourne underworld figure Mick Gatto was retained by at least one investor to help recover money from the messy collapse of a major property developer that left investors owed millions of dollars, according to court documents.

A report on the workplace culture at a major hospital in Victoria uncovers limited supervision of junior mental health staff, as well as allegations of bullying and sexual harassment.