One of WA's biggest electricity generators is making moves to ensure it has the power to take control of a loss-making coal mine, sparking fears for jobs and energy security.

DAILY BRIEFING: Tasmania's Speaker pauses parliament as tensions run high over her bid for a pay rise, and a police officer charged over the strip search of an 11-year-old boy indicates she'll plead guilty.

The 77-year-old, who was only five days into his overseas trip, died while on a commercial river trip on the Grand Canyon's Colorado River.

Three people are arrested after a police car was shot at then rammed as officers took shelter in a McDonald's restaurant, in what an Assistant Commissioner says is part of a "worrying trend" of violence towards police.

Authorities fear there is a chance the Paradise Dam in southern Queensland will become unsafe if there is a major flood, with the local mayor saying it is the largest failure of a piece of infrastructure in Queensland's history.

The former mayor of the Fraser Coast Regional Council has been found guilty of using his position to push for his former campaign manager to be appointed his chief-of-staff.

When you think of traffic congestion, you probably think of cars bumper-to-bumper on the freeway during weekday peak hour, but there are several hotspots around the city where weekend traffic is even worse.

Two WA Police officers who were chasing a car minutes before it crashed at high speed into a tree in Perth, killing three passengers, deliver emotional testimony to an inquest about what happened.

A police officer who was filmed on mobile phones driving into an 18-year-old man in Perth's south-east last year, knocking him down and sending him to hospital, is found guilty of dangerous driving.

A team of WA Police officers will be deployed to Japan as part of a revived investigation into former trade commissioner Craig Peacock, accused of misusing his position to pocket $540,000 in taxpayer funds.

Queensland painter Wayne Malkin claims a record for creating the world's smallest painting on the end of a matchstick, but he won't make it into the record books.

Why does the Australian Tax Office require people to tick a mental illness box for early access to their superannuation to fund gender transition surgery?

The dramatic rescue of 94-year-old Andrew Michael from the Peregian Beach firestorm on Monday was captured on video. He's now returned home and says his rescuers did "a very good job".

Lawyers for a former senior NT police officer facing rape allegations can access the identity of a whistleblower who complained about him, an NT Supreme Court judge rules.

WA Police have charged a 45-year-old man with attempted murder after he allegedly shot at officers with a sawn off shotgun last week.

Western Australian quarantine officers have intercepted a number of pests in products imported from other states and say, if released, they could have had damaging effects on local industries.

The Police Commissioner has paid tribute to a senior Walpole policeman as an "outstanding officer" after he won WA's Police Officer of the Year Award.

MORNING BRIEFING: A NSW police officer is left with bite marks after an attack by a man who also swallowed a balloon, while divers resume their search for a car that crashed into the Hawkesbury River last night.

Acting detective Eric Walsh sought advice from police colleagues on ways to silence online criticism of Universal Medicine, a group found by a jury to be a "dangerous cult", the ABC can reveal.

The hunt for the missing Belgian backpacker, who disappeared after a night out on May 31, is formally referred to the NSW coroner in a move that ends the official police search.

Queensland's Chief Health Officer refuses to budge on a decision criticised as "bureaucratic overreach" after an Anzac Day flyover is banned due to coronavirus restrictions, with the state recording another two cases.

Metadata has not provided any evidence the allegedly falsified annual report was downloaded from the City of Sydney website by anyone in Energy Minister Angus Taylor's office, NSW police confirm.

NSW Chief Medical Officer Dr Kerry Chant has declared Lithgow to be a COVID-19 hotspot after an untraceable case emerged over the weekend.

A NSW Health official breaks down in tears while apologising for the government department's failures in dealing with the Ruby Princess coronavirus outbreak, an inquiry hears.

The water watchdog says it is investigating claims that irrigators in the Namoi Valley pumped water out of the river system during a recent embargo.

Five years after her partner was murdered at work, a New South Wales woman says she is shattered by an amnesty for those who broke the laws he was trying to enforce.

Tasmania confirms eight more cases of coronavirus, bringing the state's tally to 36, as another college ends classroom teaching, citing "mixed and uncertain medical health advice within the community and from various public health authorities".

Brendan Murphy was rebuked by Tasmania's Premier after saying most of the people involved in a cluster of COVID-19 cases around the town of Burnie broke social-distancing laws.

Chief Medical Officer Brendan Murphy warns New Zealand to pay attention to Tasmania's experience

A Tasmanian police officer is charged over a car crash that killed a pedestrian from New South Wales earlier this year.

The Chief Medical Officer spent nearly two hours answering questions from senators about Australia's handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Here are all the key points you need to know.

It's early morning and Ernie Poloni is lying in his nursing home bed. Two carers enter his room, unaware that the digital clock on the table holds a hidden camera, writes Anne Connolly

Submissions to the aged care royal commission called for better staffing and training in aged care facilities around the country.

A former police officer critical of the force's response to the Bourke Street rampage is considering selling his home to afford independent legal representation at an inquest into the attack, a court hears.

The aged care royal commission hears chronic short-staffing is compromising the care of nursing home residents, leaving some workers to question whether they want to stay in the sector.

An outreach worker linked to a medically supervised safe injecting room in Melbourne's inner east is among a group of people now charged with trafficking the drug heroin.