RN Drive's Country Drive ploughs through some of the most important news of the week from rural and regional Australia.

Cardinal George Pell was aware of abuse being committed by clergy as early as the 1970s, and failed on two occasions to take action to remove paedophile priests, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse has found. Cardinal Pell said he was surprised by some of the views of the Royal Commission about his actions, and he said these views are not supported by evidence.

Two West Australian pig farmers involved in the smuggling of Danish pig semen hidden in shampoo bottles are jailed to three and two years' jail respectively.

DAILY BRIEFING: A Launceston man who posed as a television producer is jailed for fraud, and heavy rain falls across the state.

Every year, thousands of short-tailed shearwaters, or mutton birds, descend on Victoria's coastline at the end of September or early October after a mammoth journey from the northern hemisphere, but so far this year they haven't shown up.

Not long ago, Aboriginal people in Cherbourg were ruled by a government-appointed "protector". Now the elders are involved in running the courts.

Chinese scientist He Jiankui, who claims he made the world's first "gene-edited" babies by altering human embryos in 2018, is convicted on charges of practising medicine illegally, according to Chinese state media.

A teenage driver is jailed for running a red light and fatally crashing her car at high speed into an elderly woman in the Perth suburb of Floreat.

A Perth man who viewed violence as an acceptable way to manage his relationships is jailed for life for killing his partner, who had a chronic heart condition, by bashing her to death with his fists and a metal pipe.

WA Premier Mark McGowan never needs a second invitation to express his disdain for the Maritime Union of Australia and its leader Christy Cain, but they may just be stuck in a loveless marriage, writes Jacob Kagi.

A six-year-old boy dies after being struck by a car in the carpark of a popular sporting ground in Perth's south.

When Keennan Dickie contacted police for help after her rib was broken in a violent robbery, she was instead arrested and sent to jail for failing to pay traffic fines, a situation branded a "shame on WA".

Attorney-General John Quigley intervenes to order woman's release from prison for murdering her partner after her history as a victim of domestic violence came to light, declaring "now is the time for mercy".

Dominic Calabro tied up, bashed and stabbed Andrew Minh Tran before slashing his throat at a house in the Perth suburb of Balga, but claims he was defending himself against "a home invader".

Paul Gary Turner used his training in commando knife skills to "deliberately and intentionally" stab his former partner and mother of his children to death inside a Perth court complex during a mediation hearing.

The Court of Appeal unanimously overturns the convictions of three men found guilty last year of killing a mother who was left outside a Perth hospital in 2016, with the trio now set to face a retrial.

A year after Lachie Yeo was killed in a crash on a WA highway, the man who caused the accident and who was high on drugs when he drove onto the wrong side of the road is jailed for six years.

A Vietnamese man is sentenced to seven years behind bars for growing one of the biggest marijuana crops ever discovered in Western Australia, with an estimated street value of more than $17 million.

Former AFL commissioner Mike Fitzpatrick and his fellow directors of Carnegie Clean Energy emerge as the saviours of the troubled wave energy company, whose shares have been reinstated to the ASX.

A Perth father is jailed for life for murdering his teenage partner after their violent relationship culminated in a "frenzied" and "ferocious" attack.

The Shirley Finn murder has been labelled a stain on WA Police a brothel madam shot in the head and a trail of suspicion leading to officers and high-profile politicians. As the inquest into the 1975 murder draws to a close, will the truth ever prevail?

Remember when going to the movies was a thing? Well this week on Download This Show we ask whether the combination of streaming and COVID-19 will be the final nail in its coffin. Plus, Singapore has signed hundreds of its citizens up with a contact tracing app to help limit the spread of the virus. But is this government surveillance gone too far? And, how faith groups are leading the way in building communities in the age of isolation. Guests: Ariel Bogle, online technology reporter, ABC Science @arielbogle + Jonno Seidler, Advertising Creative @jonnoseidler

As family and friends of Joyce Clarke demand to know why the young woman was shot dead by police, a tragic picture of her early life blighted by drugs and mental illness is beginning to emerge.

The Keith and District Hospital will receive $140,000 lifeline to keep operating until July under a new deal struck by the South Australian Government and Tatiara District Council.

A purpose-built home for people with a disability in Mount Gambier has sat vacant for eight months despite having clients ready to move in.

Analysis by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) finds community service flights conducted by charity Angel Flight Australia have a fatal accident rate more than seven times higher than other private flights.

A car carrying two adults and three children hit a tree and caught fire at Durong, about 90 kilometres north-west of Kingaroy this afternoon, with the driver believed to have swerved to avoid a kangaroo.

A Melbourne man who killed his former wife with an electrical cord and then fled to Queensland is jailed for 25 years for what the judge described as a crime of "extravagant drawn-out violence".

As Queensland's Darling Downs continues to experience one of its worst droughts on record, a scientist and a horticulturalist have developed a recycled watering system to keep their garden alive.

Researchers are puzzled by the discovery of a nest of loggerhead turtle eggs in Queensland. The find seems to indicate that the creatures have been unseasonably frisky, which should be impossible.

Leisl Born says she was shocked to realise several dozen dead birds sat among the ash and debris that washed up on her local beach following the Bribie Island bushfires.

A body is found at a crash site in the Sunshine Coast hinterland during a search for a motorcyclist missing since Monday after he failed to return home.

Former school deputy principal Kenneth Ralph Ernst is jailed for the prolonged sexual abuse of a young girl, in a case the judge described as a "gross breach of trust" made worse by Ernst's decision to plead not guilty.

Wilcannia locals worry their weir won't ever be built, despite State and Federal Government pre-election promises.

The City of Albany says it will be just a few hundred thousand dollars out of pocket from investments in failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers, after the latest settlement agreement.

A prominent businessman on Western Australia's south coast has been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged daughter-in-law. Brian Vincent Attwell paid $10,000 to an undercover police officer who had posed as a hitman in September last year. The court heard the 74-year-old was angry over legal action after his son's divorce and he was motivated by "sheer hatred" of Michelle Attwell. The trial was played recordings of the businessman saying his daughter-in-law had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he wanted her "strangled and buried".

A man has been sent to jail for a crime spree, that included the theft of firearms, tens of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery, and an attempted theft of an ATM.

The names of towns, roads and localities of central and western NSW are a treasure trove of toponymy, or the study of name origins, but their meanings also provide powerful connection for people and the places they call home.

Graham Morrison, 55, is given a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence after hitting a family car on the Newell Highway near the end of an 11-hour trip.

Australia will be without one of its star players for the remainder of the T20 World Cup, but the defending champions believe they will not skip a beat as the semi-finals approach.

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.