There are warnings Australia could experience a spike in drownings if swimming centres are forced to close because of the coronavirus shutdown, with predictions one in five swim schools around the country will close their doors for good.

As the south and east remain gripped in a cold snap, it might be hard to believe that Australia just had its fifth warmest April on record.

Victoria's COVID-19 tally continues on its steepest climb in a fortnight, as Premier Daniel Andrews reveals 13,000 people were screened for the virus in the state's testing blitz on Sunday.

Advice on whether students should attend schools amid the ongoing coronavirus situation varies widely across Australia. Here's the latest on what schools are doing in your state or territory.

Police say there is "no reason" a man was shot as he was driving two women home from a church service, and they hope a $250,000 reward will help find answers for him.

Two brothers who beat up a police officer so hard they broke his ribs apologise to a court for their actions over what a judge describes as "a quantum leap in offending".

The new coronavirus has brought an increase in racism towards Australia's Asian community, but experts feel the current laws are not strong enough to deter offenders.

Cardinal George Pell accuses the child sexual abuse royal commission of making findings "not supported by evidence" in its unredacted report, which found he was explicitly told in 1982 of the reason paedophile priest Gerald Ridsdale was being moved between parishes.

Two more Victorian police officers are suspended over the leak of unauthorised photos of former AFL coach and player Dean Laidley in a police station, as the state's corruption watchdog says it will oversee the investigation into the leak.

A woman who suffered a miscarriage in mandatory COVID-19 quarantine was forced to stay in a hotel room for five days after the traumatic event because the Victorian Health Department failed to act on an order to release her.

The campaign will launch in Victoria on Monday to remind victims help is available and to let bystanders know they can call out family violence even with physical restrictions in place.

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Mother's Day without even leaving the house, even if your family is spread across the country. Here's how some families are celebrating.

A humble, but very big, brown boot is seen disappearing into the sky via a crane, prompting commuters to take to social media to ask the obvious question.

Another "quite fat" king penguin is spotted on the Tasmanian mainland, with one wildlife officer calling the sighting especially rare "unless you're on a tourist ship going to Antarctica", although no cause for concern.

Archive ABC News footage from of the Barefoot Crab-Tying World Championships August 2, 1994, at Lims Hotel in Rapid Creek NT. Features 13-time champion Billy Lowery, and competitor Ron Riddle.

Erin Hext is an experienced bushwalker, who set out on a day hike near Hobart well prepared. She didn't expect to make the return journey in a rescue helicopter.

Cryotherapy is used by pro athletes and "weekend warriors" alike. But are the benefits of subjecting your body to extreme cold really worth it? I jumped into the chamber to find out.

You'd think you need to go outside for plane spotting, but enthusiasts are adapting to coronavirus in surprising ways.

A war veteran in outback South Australia is saving war memorabilia from being discarded, sold online, and hidden away in storage.

Alan Clarke thought completing a 500km run across some of Australia's roughest terrain would be his biggest challenge. But that all changed when he spotted something in the shallows.

A flight school is forced to improve its safety regime after a student pilot who was sleep deprived and sick flew into Adelaide's controlled airspace after falling unconscious at the controls.

Having an amputation is a life-changing experience and rehabilitation a long process. This support group is helping injured people overcome trauma and feelings of isolation.

The husband of murdered outback nurse Gayle Woodford says new protections for nurses named in her honour are necessary, but is worried healthcare workers could still be at risk.

Tributes are flowing for a former Queensland police officer and a respected horse stud owner killed in an outback plane crash, with investigations into the cause of the incident continuing.

The prospect of playing football with mates was the only thing that could coax 13-year old Dasha Hill back to school a few months ago.

A contentious ecotourism project on Kangaroo Island has been approved and could lead the way for similar projects that will open up South Australian national parks currently "under lock and key".

A former military pilot from WA is being praised after switching his light plane's engine off when it flipped during a landing on a remote SA airstrip. He and his wife are in a stable condition in hospital in Adelaide.

A man who turned up to court in Adelaide on charges of illegally using a motor vehicle is arrested for allegedly driving there in another stolen car.

Scottish stonemasons with experience in restoring castles, restore a historic woolshed in South Australia's outback with quite a bit of help from the locals.

A Flinders Ranges woman who killed a man after ramming him with her ute as part of a family dispute over a trailer is found guilty of manslaughter, not murder, with an Adelaide judge saying she "cannot be sure" the woman intended to kill.

Despite breaking his back in several places in a light plane crash in outback SA that also injured his wife, experienced Perth pilot Jamie McAlindon is determined to get back into the cockpit.

Pelicans and other waterbirds are dying in the outback and disappearing from waterways, as the effects of drought compound an already-concerning long-term decline in populations.

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.

An 80-year-old woman dies in hospital after succumbing to injuries she suffered when falling out of her vehicle in the car park of a hotel on Thursday morning.

Arrernte man Scott Rathman wants to see more Aboriginal artists teaching in schools to hopefully stamp out racism and stereotypical beliefs.

In the rocky ranges of central Australia, a group of rangers are fending-off feral cats and foxes to save an increasing population of endangered wallabies.

The death of a frail and immobile prisoner at an Adelaide hospital in 2015 was not because he was shackled to his bed for three weeks, but due to natural causes, SA's deputy coroner finds.

When Kate Disher-Quill was given hearing aids at the age of 10, she felt disconnected. Now the 31-year-old photographer has drawn on her experience to tell the stories of people like her in a book, Earshot.

Jenny and Graham Francis only recently learned both of their identities had been stolen.

Police found the baby's body in Newcastle early on Tuesday morning. Police hold "serious and grave concerns" for the safety of the baby's mother, who they say may need to seek urgent medical treatment.

The 18-year-old mother of a newborn baby boy whose body was found in a backyard on Tuesday has been found in Penrith and taken to hospital.

A young mother left with third-degree burns is urging others not to make the same mistake as her, and says to never fill a hot water bottle with boiling water.

NSW Police say four residents helped rescue a 31-year-old woman and a child from a house fire in Singleton in which three other children died.

Neighbours say they were woken by "screaming" in their quiet cul-de-sac as an intense fire took hold of a house in Singleton on the NSW Hunter Valley, leaving the local community "distraught".