Houses intended to keep eligible Queensland teenagers out of the youth detention system are not cost-effective and may not have the desired results, a damning report finds.

Time has run out for the owners of 14 holiday shacks near Ingham in north Queensland with the State Government ordering their removal by the end of the month.

Thousands of Townsville locals have gathered to break the world record for 'the most people wearing high-visibility vests at a single venue'.

An award-winning barramundi farmer says the product can be the equal of wild-catch with careful water management, smashing the stigma around freshwater fish.

Leaks from one of Adani's most significant contractors for its Carmichael coal mine, engineering firm GHD, show it has been rocked by internal dissent and management has been bombarded with complaints and questions about its work on the mine.

A female teacher is in hospital with a shoulder injury after being stabbed at a Townsville primary school by an 11-year-old female student, Queensland police say. The student was tasered by police and detained.

Two holidaying nurses want to have a beer with two "cool" English tourists who managed to keep positive minutes after being attacked by a shark. The nurses provided first aid which is credited with saving the men's lives.

In the north-west Queensland town of Ravenswood, two heritage-listed buildings at a school have been moved due to an expansion of the local gold mine.

No charges will be laid against the organisers of a car festival that left Chaise Bouchere with horrific burns to his face and limbs, after the Northern Territory safety watchdog decided that funding future safety initiatives would be more beneficial.

The Northern Territory Government lifts its three-year moratorium on exploration fracking for onshore shale gas in the Beetaloo Basin, and expects engineering works could resume within days.

A key element of the NT Government's budget repair plan is in limbo, with a union saying it has received legal advice that public service executives cannot be forced to sign pay freeze agreements.

A mistake made more than 40 years ago has created a powerful voting bloc that some experts believe will railroad any Territory Government plan to bring its budget back into the black.

During the past 15 years, the Northern Territory's public service numbers have been closely tied to programs targeting Aboriginal advancement, with any major surges driven almost exclusively by these strategies. Yet many are quick to point out these programs have largely failed.

The smoke has cleared and the post-cracker night clean-up is underway, but how much damage was done?

A road transport group says it will be difficult for truck drivers to give cyclists a wider berth, as required by new rules coming to the Territory.

Bottle shops in Darwin have eased voluntary restrictions on the sale of cask wine, saying Government policies have made them superfluous. But the move has prompted criticism from police, and a major supermarket giant has already backtracked.

Closing the climb at Uluru won't have a dramatic effect on tourist numbers, according to Parks Australia, who say visitor figures have been steadily increasing over the last six years.

Mike Tobin started his career as a telecommunications apprentice and by the age of 27 he was monitoring the vital signs of the three astronauts in Apollo 11 from Canberra.

People criticising the decision to close the Uluru climb need to understand how the traditional owners, the Anangu, relate to the site, a senior custodian of Uluru says.

More payday lending practice stories are coming out of the woodwork as ASIC says it is "building a casebook" for a possible ban.

The nation's vast network of outback tracks may hold a special place in the hearts and minds of intrepid Australians, but many are shocked by the litter.

Australians suffering acute mental health episodes in rural and remote areas are increasingly having to travel far from family and friends for life-saving treatment, leading to calls for more specialist clinicians in the country.

Tengentyere Council chief executive Walter Shaw says police auxiliaries followed him to a friend's house and then back to his town camp, where he says they pepper-sprayed his dog and searched his car before acknowledging he had no alcohol.

The legalisation of marijuana has boosted tourism and created jobs in parts of the United States, and it could do the same in the Northern Territory, an economist says.

Aboriginal leaders on South Australia's remote Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands should consider suspending their manager Richard King while an investigation is carried out into the use of Commonwealth funding, an independent report has found.

In the middle of the Australian outback, an unlikely safe haven has emerged for birds migrating across the southern hemisphere. Now, the odorous oasis is helping keep Australian birds alive.

When Hannah Mifflin's 4WD broke down during an eight-month family road trip around Australia, she never expected they would find themselves accidentally moving to the Red Centre.

The climb closure at Uluru could motivate other traditional owner groups around the country to limit access to their cultural and sacred sites.

Strong winds have delayed the final day of climbing Uluru, with hundreds of people waiting to climb the monolith.

The Country Women's Association of NSW has launched a virtual branch, aiming to cater to its grey nomads members while they are own the move.

A group of nine irrigators has lodged a class action in the NSW Supreme Court against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, claiming its negligent water management has caused $750 million in losses.

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer says the three-week early voting period is bad for democracy, particularly in regional Australia.

A program supporting the homeless with a mentor once they're housed is being hailed as a way to reduce the number of people sleeping rough.

Legal group Slater and Gordon reaches an agreement with the former milk processing co-operative on behalf of 1,300 investors.

A group of Barwon-Darling farmers have offered to sell their water entitlements at a value which would encourage new owners "not to grow cotton".

A random survey of people living in the Murray-Darling Basin shows support for reallocating water from irrigators to Indigenous communities.

A Victorian family at risk of being deported back to their homeland Ireland after their son was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis will now be able to stay in Australia.

Taxpayer investments and the water market are making irrigation more efficient and reducing Murray-Darling's base flow. Here's what needs to happen next, write Q J Wang and Avril Horne.

As Australia's competition watchdog prepares to study the Murray-Darling Basin's $2 billion water trade, a trip up the river finds irrigators are worried about the market's "unintended" consequences.