Will you light up the sky with a 10/10 score? Pop on your personal protective equipment (or not) and take a tour of the news this week.

Some aged care homes will allow staggered visits over the Mother's Day weekend to abide by social distancing requirements.

The Health Department confirms a massive spike in the number of influenza cases in Western Australia this year, with 3,000 extra notifications and 14 deaths in the past week alone.

Hawthorn captain Ben Stratton is suspended for two weeks by the AFL tribunal, one week each for repeatedly pinching Essendon's Orazio Fantasia and stomping on the foot of Shaun McKernan.

A female footballer who played in a men's South Australian country league has her suspension reduced to four weeks by an independent tribunal.

St Kilda's pursuit of Fremantle's Bradley Hill is set to go down to the last day of the AFL trade period, but Dougal Howard and Paddy Ryder are on their way to the Saints from Port Adelaide.

Police are investigating whether there are links between a neighbourhood fight and damage caused to more than 50 cars in two streets in Adelaide's inner-south.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews says plans are underway to test 100,000 people over the next fortnight for COVID-19 in order to make an informed decision on which restrictions could be rolled back after the state of emergency ends on May 11.

A Victorian-New South Wales cross-border community is uncertain when students should return to the classroom, as term two gets underway.

Sirens sound four times across Victoria to honour four fallen police officers, exactly one week after they were tragically killed in a truck collision on one of Melbourne's busiest freeways.

Across many states and territories, the coronavirus restrictions keeping people at home are finally being relaxed. Here are the things allowed as the country slowly opens back up.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews responds to the state's Deputy Chief Health Officer's tweet comparing coronavirus to Captain Cook's arrival in Australia at a press conference on May 1, 2020.

Victoria's health department counsels Annaliese van Diemen over her tweet comparing the impact of COVID-19 with Captain Cook's arrival in Australia, but clears her of breaching the Victorian public sector code of conduct.

It's been a huge week of news stories big and small. How many do you remember? Test that memory in our news quiz.

A community weeks away from being evicted has launched legal action against the South Australian Government in a bid to stop their town's closure.

Quad bike manufacturers claim ACCC-favoured mandatory rollover protection will not improve safety as another child dies in rural NSW on Monday.

At a conservative estimate, people around the world are consuming a credit card's-worth of microplastic every week, according to a new study.

MORNING BRIEFING: Police have arrested 38 people following a climate change protest on Monday, and there have been more than 240 major crashes on the roads over the long weekend.

Most people associate child malnutrition with developing countries, but an increasing number of Australian children are relying on the kindness of strangers to get a proper feed.

A respected marine scientist warns that seagrass beds in Queensland are being smothered by 'snotweed' algae. But there are ways to fight the foul gunk, and other states are starting to take notice of the method.

As whales cruise past Australia's coastlines on their annual migration, here are some tips on identifying which species is which.

Micheal McRae is accused of bashing his baby son Nathaniel, leaving him with severe brain injuries, but the charge is upgraded after the boy spent a year fighting for life in hospital.

It usually melts long before lunchtime but forecasters expect snow over the Stirling Ranges to linger into the midafternoon this Saturday as a cold front blasts the mountain peaks of southern WA.

Ann Denham has outlived everyone in her life, but a friendship with her younger neighbour has brought her many joys including a ride in a helicopter and a race car.

DAILY BRIEFING: Police allege a motorcyclist was doing more than 200km/h, and Tasmania's Basslink interconnector will be back up and running by Monday.

Karen Cranfield has moved to a Hobart suburb where people on modest incomes should be able to "afford living" but with rental prices increasing, that's no longer the case.

As bushfire conditions ease around Tasmania this weekend, the firefighter's union wants laws to back volunteers leaving work in an emergency as the bushfire season extends to as long as six months.

A Federal Court ruling in the United States in favour of a man suffering from cancer has turned the spotlight again to one of the most commonly used global chemicals.

Talks between the union and justice department officials produce new "zero tolerance" rules on the behaviour of offenders and more powers for staff in violent situations, after alleged attacks on workers sent the centre into lockdown.

We recently wrote about several projects that aim to increase the strength of 3D printed components. In November 2018, the “Father of RepRap,” Dr. Adrian Bowyer, demonstrated how hollow tubes could make 3D prints stronger. Later, Stefan Hermann at CNC Kitchen experimented with Smart Infill for stronger 3D prints.

A successful WA program turning job seekers into beekeepers looks likely to fold when federal funding runs out in 2018.

Farmers in Western Australia's far north have carved a spot in the niche Halloween pumpkin market growing in popularity around the country.

The Northern Territory Government lifts its three-year moratorium on exploration fracking for onshore shale gas in the Beetaloo Basin, and expects engineering works could resume within days.

A school in the heart of the desert has been covered with thousands of icicles, as the mercury plummets to new lows across the the NT

Hundreds of children have been filing into youth centres every evening, as numbers double ahead of school holidays

Aboriginal traditional owners, politicians, and local community members are renewing calls for the Aboriginal flag to fly on Alice Springs's Anzac Hill 365 days a year, after it was raised on Monday morning solely to mark NAIDOC Week.

A hailstorm blankets Gippsland beaches in white as a cold front sweeps across Victoria, downing trees and causing flash flooding as it dumps 50 millimetres of rain west of Melbourne.

Taxpayer investments and the water market are making irrigation more efficient and reducing Murray-Darling's base flow. Here's what needs to happen next, write Q J Wang and Avril Horne.

The sister of missing hiker Niels Becker hopes he will be found with an "epic story" to tell after failing to return from five-day hike in cold conditions in Victoria's alpine region.

A 17-year-old boy is in hospital after a brawl between two packs of youths in Palmerston just days after a 13-year-old was stabbed in the area.

A convicted violent rapist who was found to be at risk of reoffending was on the run for a week before being arrested in the Northern Territory, with no public notifications or warnings issued by NT Police.

Concerns are raised in the Queensland Parliament over the time it took a Gold Coast state school to suspend an eight-year-old boy accused of sexually assaulting his classmate.

The proposed state-controlled corridor between Loganholme and Nerang would run parallel to the Pacific Motorway.

An interstate feud has erupted between NSW and Queensland beachgoers after Tweed Coast residents accused their Queensland neighbours of taking too much sand while their own beaches suffer from erosion.

Thunderstorms have rolled west across Queensland's southern inland, bringing more rain than expected to the Gold Coast hinterland as well as numerous lightning strikes raising concerns about the possibility of new bushfires.