A former police officer who suffered "horrific and graphic traumas" after being trapped in a crashed squad car has launched criminal action after being forced to wait more than a year for a workers' compensation payout.

Residents of a quiet suburban street in NSW's Hunter Valley say they watched on helplessly with a young mother whose house burnt down in front of her with three of her children inside.

The Warriors score a late try to clinch a 24-20 victory over a Knights outfit depleted by State of Origin duty and injury in Newcastle.

When women at this regional fire station complained male colleagues were harassing them, management's response was to make them work from a dilapidated garage and things got worse after that.

Free martial arts classes being offered to victims of bullying could have a major impact on the mental health of young people, experts say.

An innovative plan to flood a fireground is being employed on the NSW mid-north coast to extinguish a fire that has been burning for more than six weeks.

High temperatures and strong winds fuel blazes across the state, with at least two homes being destroyed near the town of Darawank on the NSW mid-north coast.

A water allocation plan is being developed for the Kimberley's Fitzroy River, but there's concern over the consultation process that will help to decide the future of the national asset.

It is now decades since Todd Jefferis first raised the alarm about the sexual abuse atrocities carried out at Katanning's St Andrew's Hostel in Western Australia, but his fight for justice might finally be nearing an end.

DAILY BRIEFING: Man who's been on the run from police for almost two weeks caught, Madeleine Ogilvie takes her new seat in Parliament as an independent.

Jamie John Curtis tortured Alicia and murdered her fiance. His latest bid for freedom has failed, so now she's calling for him to be declared a dangerous criminal in the hope that he'll never be paroled.

Julie Gough's 25-year quest to tell history through art is captured across more than 30 works that range from unsettling to searing.

If you thought it was hot last year, you're not wrong. The Bureau of Meteorology is warning there is little relief on the cards, with 2018's high temperatures and severely dry conditions expected to persist until at least March.

Make-up course organiser Larissa Jones says parents can't ignore the pressure their children feel to wear make-up and it is better to coach them and let them talk about their insecurities.

Regional Express Airlines says a video of what is claimed to be a rusty propeller shaft on one of its planes does not actually show corrosion, with CASA saying it had "no current issues" with the safety of Rex aircraft.

A local council warns Victoria's "culture of recycling" is at risk as the state's waste crisis deepens and an estimated 780 rubbish trucks' worth of recyclable material is sent to landfill in a week.

An Indian Catholic priest who claims parents' adultery and masturbation causes autism in children, and who claims to have "cured" autism through prayer, cancels a series of religious retreats in Australia.

A snap from a snapping shrimp (known as the pistol shrimp) can create extreme pressures that will produce a flash of light and temperatures of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit, producing plasma (a state of matter in which electrons are freed from their atoms).

The skills of Paul McClarin are no longer available in Australia, but the results of his vocation are there for all to see at the National Museum in Canberra.

Police have charged a man with the wilful murder of Sarah Spiers, a victim of the so-called Claremont serial killings in Perth in the 1990s.

A Townsville woman says she was hit with a $2,000 "robodebt" notice despite a Federal Minister's claim the debt recovery program was suspended in the wake of February's floods.

In the remote Northern Territory community of Ampilatwatja, paintings show the prescriptions for thousands of years of traditional healing.

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

The Agriculture Department is standing by a controversial water buyback deal worth $80 million, which Labor leader Bill Shorten says is a "scandal" worthy of inquiry.

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.

A man who was shot by police in northern Victoria last week, after he and his brother allegedly threatened officers with a knife and a tomahawk, appears in court charged with assaulting police.

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

Daisy the school dog is the latest staff member at Melrose Primary School, helping students with her calming influence and improving attendance rates.

The Green Machine has reached the NRL grand final for the first time in 25 years. Along the way, it raided a few ideas from overseas.

Jamie Maclaren of Australia celebrates after scoring his third goal during the FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers match between the Australian Socceroos and Nepal at GIO Stadium in Canberra, Thursday, October 10, 2019.

A week ahead of the first hearings of the Disability Royal Commission in Townsville, a new survey of families of children with disability finds nearly no progress has been made on improving access to inclusive education.

MP Warren Entsch says the Queensland Government failed to honour a deal to help fund a Cairns Indigenous boarding facility for girls following the state election.

In the depths of rural Queensland is a fossil deposit so amazing that Sir David Attenborough regards it as one of the most important palaeontological sites in the world.

Robyn Hausler continued paying her mortgage and rates for six years, not realising the house she'd lived in for 20 years wasn't hers anymore. Now a court has ruled she can have her property back.

Witnesses say it was "pandemonium" when a Gold Coast nursing home shut down yesterday after paramedics attended the village to help find emergency accommodation for 70 residents. The closure is believed to be over a contract dispute.

Shane van Gisbergen is desperate to make up ground on Scott McLaughlin in the race for the Supercars championship, but he forgot about that in the wake of his countryman's frightening crash on the Gold Coast.

A mother alleges her newborn baby needed emergency help after being given a life-threatening dose of insulin at a Queensland public hospital.

The NSW Swifts claim the Super Netball title with a perfectly executed 64-47 victory over the Sunshine Coast Lightning in Brisbane.