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.

As ferocious blazes tore through Rappville last week, many of the community's young people displayed extraordinary bravery, rescuing their neighbours and animals while fighting tooth and nail to save homes.

This holiday hotspot has the potential of having zero active coronavirus cases by early May, but with fine weather and loosening restrictions the situation could prove otherwise.

Eighteen-year-old Tayla Slater has a broken vertebrae after falling from her horse when it was startled by a driver revving his engine.

Kathryn Bigelow's take on the hunt for Bin Laden is big and bold, and while it lacks an emotional centre, it manages to achieve moments of impressive intensity.

The rise of the Aboriginal superhero continues with "total badass" Thylacine, a Pilbara hunter and Suicide Squad's newest recruit.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made life on the streets more difficult than ever and despite government promises to help, Lionel says he has been "hearing that for a long time and nothing happens".

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie says it won't "go down well" for the Coalition if she has to beg for the release of the year-old report into whether Tasmanian war hero Teddy Sheean deserves a Victoria Cross.

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.

Rampant vandalism, stress on social housing, and a dairy farming family at the end of their resources SBS's Struggle Street spotlights the Riverina in its latest look at poverty.

Rugby Australia Chairman Cameron Clyne speaks to the media following the Rugby Australia Annual General Meeting in Sydney, Monday, April 8, 2019.

Cameron Clyne ends his stint as Rugby Australia chairman effective immediately, replaced by former Wallaby Paul McLean who will take charge on an interim basis.

Efforts to reduce the spread of coronavirus see Italian authorities suspend all sports leagues, including Serie A and Six Nations rugby union matches, until at least April 3.

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.

With shorelines shifting around the globe, communities in low lying areas along the Mid West & Wheatbelt coastline are experiencing the brunt of coastal erosion.

Comic book characters were brought to life when cosplayer's converged on Mackay's annual pop-culture convention. Witnessing the event was like entering a portal into a different dimension - a world where super heroes and villains get along.

Australian researchers find a new species of pterosaur in outback Queensland. The apex aerial predator had a 4-metre wingspan and walked on all four limbs when on land.

A man has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of a former regional Victorian mayor near Ballarat in 2017.

It seems famed street artist Banksy is particularly inspired by the challenge the coronavirus pandemic has presented humanity as he gifts a new artwork honouring the live-saving efforts of medical professionals to a British hospital.

Canberra Grammar students discover the unexpected benefits of rebuilding damaged classrooms in Nepal, as they form special bonds with school hosts in the heart of the Himalayas.

It's a challenging time for people addicted to poker machines shut down by COVID-19 and researchers are watching gamblers like Sam closely.

An unusually early cold snap is delivering snow, frost and strong winds, and while temperatures will increase back towards average for a few days as the system moves out to sea, another bout of bad weather will soon move east from WA.

Trevor Whybrow will spend a minimum of 17 years behind bars for the "extremely violent" assault which resulted in the death of his friend, Barry Moffat, after he "touched him up" in bed.

Bungala Aboriginal Corporation chief executive blames funding changes for Emeroo Indigenous station closure.

A man pleads guilty to killing a relative whose bones were found in a fireplace of a home in South Australia's Mid North eight years after the man went missing.

Award-winning 'heritage hero' Roy Taplin breathes new life into a 1917 Commonwealth Railways dining car.

A man who was a teenager when he murdered his relative whose bones were later found in rural SA receives a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment, but his non-parole period has not yet been set.

Hospital buildings where flammable cladding posed a major fire threat to the public in Sydney and across the state are identified in NSW Health safety documents, with Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital the only one where potentially combustible panels still need to be removed.

A NSW firefighter who hatched a plan to start bushfires "so he could fight them" will serve more time in jail than the man who lit them his younger brother.

The winds are not giving firefighters any breaks as a fire in the Clarence Valley moves in on properties and blazes near Armidale and Tenterfield remain "absolutely enormous", according to the Rural Fire Service.

Two pilots have pulled off a risky retrieval operation in remote WA, dangling a 1-tonne aeroplane beneath their chopper and flying it almost 100 kilometres to the nearest town.

Tasmanian driver Alex Peroni sustains a broken vertebra but walks away from a spectacular crash at Monza in Italy, with his survival attributed to his helmet and the round bar which protects drivers' heads.

DAILY BRIEFING: Fresh from walking away from his horror crash in Italy, race driver Alex Peroni is all smiles in hospital, as police renew their call for help to find a thief.

DAILY BRIEFING: Injured formula 3 driver Alex Peroni will return to Hobart in the next few days as questions are raised about why he was allowed to walk from a crash scene in Italy instead of being taken off by stretcher.

Formula Three driver Alex Peroni walks off a plane in his hometown of Hobart just one week after a horror race day crash in Italy.