A Chinese mining giant is being accused of underestimating the impact a proposed open cut mine will have on groundwater on the New South Wales Liverpool Plains.

Australia's colonial banks are given new lives as bank branches close across regional Australia.

Police find four children under the age of 14 who took a Nissan Patrol from Gracemere in central Queensland and embarked on a joyride to Grafton in northern New South Wales.

After more than two years without any decent rain, a community in the far north of New South Wales is been given a reprieve.

MORNING BRIEFING: The Rural Fire Service says it will begin assessing the full extent of the bushfire damage in northern New South Wales today, and a man is charged after a robbery in 2003.

The remains of a 77-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman are found on a property destroyed in the bushfires which ripped through northern NSW earlier this week.

A man is charged with two counts of murder after a woman and a young boy are found dead in a Tamworth house fire that police believe was deliberately lit. Two other people are in hospital with burns.

Tasmania records six new cases of coronavirus, with four of those infected being passengers who returned to the state after disembarking the Ruby Princess cruise ship.

Four men and one woman appear in court charged with murder over the death of a 23-year-old man in Burnie, in Tasmania's north west, early on Sunday morning.

For the first time in about a fortnight Tasmania has had no new positive coronavirus tests, but the Premier says that's no reason to relax while warning parents to supervise children not at school.

One of the latest cases of coronavirus in Tasmania is an employee of a local tour company that hosted two interstate travellers who, after leaving the state, were found to be ill with the disease.

The Tasmanian man was trying to get home in a yacht when he hit rocks near Portsea on Victoria's Mornington Peninsula.

Tasmania records another four cases of coronavirus, all in the state's north-west hotspot, after Premier Peter Gutwein warned of a statewide Easter police "blitz" and an "effective lockdown" in the north-west.

Automated crosswalks, the rebirth of suburbia, electric scooters — there are many quirky and nuanced ways that the coronavirus outbreak could impact on urban life.

Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein says the Chief Medical Officer's claims that the north-west Tasmanian coronavirus outbreak started with a dinner party of health workers are a rumour that will be followed up.

Emergency workers across Australia who use government-subsidised nannies are scrambling to find child care options after their In Home Care was cancelled as a side effect of the Federal Government's new policy to make child care free.

Ryan Chambers disappeared 13 years ago. Today his face, frozen in time, adorns the side of a shop in South Australia's Riverland, imploring people not to forget the young man who hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Police investigate the cause of a bushfire that came dangerously close to a Loxton aged care facility in South Australia's Riverland, prompting an evacuation overnight.

The famous Dog on the Tuckerbox statue near Gundagai in the NSW Riverina has been knocked from its sandstone pedestal in an attack the local mayor has called a "senseless bit of vandalism".

The family and friends of Naomi Williams, who died, along with her unborn son, after 20 attempts to get help, say the apology they have received via a statement from the health district is not good enough.

Sitting proudly on its pedestal, Gundagai's much-loved pooch is back where it belongs after it was recently vandalised in an attack that left the community outraged.

One of Australia's largest food exporters, SunRice, cuts more than 30 regional staff after producing its second-lowest rice crop.

The Riverina car dealership says it takes '100 per cent takes responsibility' for the incident, and has improved work health and safety culture.

The significance of the Springboks' third Rugby World Cup victory will be felt far beyond the record books, as captain Siya Kolisi wants all South Africans to feel united by the epic win over England in the final.

Sacked Wallaby star Israel Folau will return to court on Wednesday as negotiations with Rugby Australia over his unfair dismissal claim remain deadlocked.

Outgoing Canberra United coach Heather Garriock admits coaching has taken a toll on her, as the trailblazer also opens up about the challenges for women and mothers in professional sport.

Eric Dier's brother was allegedly involved in a confrontation in the crowd during Tottenham's FA Cup loss to Norwich, with the Tottenham star hopping the fence to get amongst it.

A decade after they lost everything in Black Saturday, one Victorian family is learning just how difficult it is to declutter.

The NRL's integrity unit launches an investigation after a video posted on social media appears to show Melbourne Storm's Nelson Asofa-Solomona swinging punches during a brawl outside a nightclub.

A musician with a penchant for nostalgia and 1990s web design has recreated 'George' the Talking Clock, a service recently unplugged by Telstra after 66 years.

An investigation is launched after relatives were told their loved one had been discharged, prompting a search for the missing man whose body was actually in a Melbourne morgue all along.

The headmaster of St Kevin's College in Melbourne has labelled the behaviour of his own students "offensive" and "misogynistic", after a group were filmed screaming an offensive song during the weekend.

One of the leading holdouts against an AFLW collective bargaining agreement, Darcy Vescio, says a new season of 10 matches plus finals looks set to be part of a new deal.

The headmaster of St Kevin's College in Melbourne has vowed to improve education programs to combat "offensive and misogynistic behaviour", after students were again caught performing sexist songs in public.

The head of a community centre which houses Melbourne's controversial safe injecting centre is stood down after several staff linked to other services at the centre have been charged with trafficking heroin.

Noor Maasarwe, the sister of murdered exchange student Aiia Maasarwe, says she does not feel safe in Melbourne, as she returns to the city to launch a fellowship in her sister's honour.

Climate activists clash with police after two protesters climbed outside the Melbourne Convention Centre, where an international mining conference is being held.

The popular AFL program Marngrook Footy Show is cancelled after 12 years on air, with the decision met by anger from one of the program's hosts and its loyal following of viewers.

A police officer suffers a serious injury to his hand after his unmarked vehicle is rammed by a man attempting to avoid arrest on a property at Lara, south-west of Melbourne.

Benalla man Joseph McDonald is charged with one count of murder after handing himself into police on Saturday evening.

Family and friends have gathered in a Toowoomba park to unveil 'Roger Guard Lane' named after the avid runner and popular doctor who was killed along with his wife Jill twelve months ago in the MH17 disaster.

After more than four decades, one Gold Coast fashion designer is closing her doors for good, leaving a lasting mark on the city.

A hospital corridor is not where you would normally find an art exhibition, but Busted is not a normal exhibition.

When Jean-Luc Devere's elderly mum ran over his beloved motorbike, he thought it was time to reveal his love of the controversial Japanese subculture, Bosozoku. But he is reluctant to take it too seriously when he travels to Japan this year.

The case could have ramifications for climate challenges worldwide, including in Australia.

Erin Godecke says when speech is lost following brain injury, the language is still present in the brain, it is the pathways which have been damaged and need repair. She says treatment can be any activity that requires the brain to accesses words such as talking or word games.

Annastacia Palaszczuk is forced to apologise to Parliament over her threats to strip Katter's Australian Party MPs of resources when they refused to denounce former colleague Fraser Anning's speech calling for a Muslim immigration ban.

Experts say the landmark High Court 'Crocodile case', which granted Indigenous Australians the right to fish and hunt for traditional foods, is still significant 20 years later.