Sydney news

Communication issues during South Australia's Sampson Flat fire in January did not affect the final outcome, the state's Country Fire Service (CFS) chief officer Greg Nettleton says.

Next year's season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne will move forward to March 20 after previously being listed for a later than usual start on April 3.

A victim from the 2005 Bali bombings says while the experience has made it hard to travel in crowds, she is grateful to be alive and feels no anger toward the bombers.

Oyster growers at Port Stephens say if testing showed stock was affected by the Williamtown airbase contamination scandal it could have been the death knell for many in the industry.

A Melbourne man watched his car being hit by a train after following GPS directions onto a suburban rail line.

A victim from the 2005 Bali bombings says while the experience has made it hard to travel in crowds, she is grateful to be alive and feels no anger toward the bombers.

Two teenagers who escaped from the Adelaide Youth Training Centre last night are caught at a train station in the southern suburbs.

There has been a tearful remembrance service in Newcastle overnight to mark 10 years since the second Bali bombings, which claimed the lives of three of the city's residents.

An expert panel investigating a toxic leak at the Williamtown air force base has ruled out blood tests for residents.

Oyster growers at Port Stephens say if testing showed stock was affected by the Williamtown airbase contamination scandal it could have been the death knell for many in the industry.

The Public Service Association says carers of disabled people in the Hunter have been given no choice about moving to the private sector, once the NDIS is fully rolled out.

The Tasmanian Fire Service calls on people who lived through the Black Tuesday fires in 1967 to come forward and share their stories.

Ways to put Adelaide at the cutting edge of technology and make the city more innovative will be discussed at a public forum.

Australia could lose a generation of manufacturing skills when Holden closes its plant in Adelaide's northern suburbs in 2017, the founder of a car component business says.

The head of a Newcastle environmental research institute says driverless cars could become a reality for the city.

Environmentalists have questioned the track record of the company that has bought Rio Tinto's stake in the Bengalla mine near Muswellbrook.

Newcastle Council is conducting a series of guided night walks to gauge people's perceptions of the city at night, and how things might be improved in the future.

Much of south-eastern Australia is set to be hit by an unusually early October heat spell, with the weather bureau forecasting the hottest AFL grand final in almost three decades.

The mayor of Goulburn says he wants security issues at the local prison to be swiftly addressed after the second escape in two months.

Suspected human remains are found near Bendigo in central Victoria by detectives searching for the body of missing Melbourne woman Simone Quinlan.

Ask his loyal charges and they will tell you it is the human element that gives Wayne Bennett the coaching Midas touch.

An elderly woman has died in a Hunter hospital from meningococcal disease.

A shed has been destroyed and an estimated $75,000 damage has been caused by a hay fire on Wednesday night, as Limestone Coast police grow increasing concerned by a spate of similar incidents in the Yahl and OB Flat areas.

In regional centres across Australia, viewers are fed a diet of TV commercials made cheap and raw, but on the New South Wales mid north coast, one company is trying to turn that around.

After a coroner ruled Cameron Doomadgee's death in custody in 2004 was an accident, Palm Islanders demanded answers and then headed for the local police station, a court hears.

A plunge in the share price of one of the world's biggest mining companies, Glencore, has cast doubt over the future of a controversial bauxite mine proposal in remote far north Queensland.

Suspected human remains are found near Bendigo in central Victoria by detectives searching for the body of missing Melbourne woman Simone Quinlan.

An attempt to recover a car and caravan that fell into a massive hole brought about by a landslide near Fraser Island is abandoned.

A race controversy erupts in the New South Wales central-west town of Dubbo ahead of an annual rugby league carnival this weekend.

The new Port of Melbourne leaseholder will face regular rent reviews to ward against any abuse of their market power, in changes struck during government talks with the competition watchdog.

More than 100 football fans and players got into a match-side brawl yesterday, with one person now in custody, police say.

Bridge facing troubled waters

A man on drug charges is missing after escaping a court in Sydney's CBD and then jumping on a bus after being refused bail.

A severe storm warning for south-east Queensland is cancelled after heavy weather moving toward Brisbane begins to dissipate over Ipswich.

Busselton police charge a woman who allegedly left her four-year-old daughter locked in a car while she went shopping.

A steward at Greyhound Racing NSW who resigned over a conflict of interest tells an inquiry he was aware of rumours of live baiting in the industry.

A crash that left a 15-year-old boy dead and his mother and brother seriously injured prompts calls for culling of wild horses at Bluewater in north Queensland.

Once a year, the historic Scots' Church in Melbourne's CBD welcomes a rival religion through its holy doors.

Are you one of our regular students for Self Improvement Wednesday? Each week, you get to learn something new - that's our Self Improvement pledge.

A gleaming, black grand piano has been welcomed to Bathurst, which is the city's first to be made widely available to the playing public.

A Sydney businessman accused of ripping off foreign students is continuing to run his operation despite facing 22 charges of fraud and misconduct.

Todd Carney will launch legal action against former NRL club Cronulla over claims he was wrongfully dismissed.

A woman who developed asbestos-related cancer after working next to Brisbane's famous Expo 88 site warns the risks of asbestos exposure are still being ignored.

A contractor injured while moving concrete in a driveway will need to pay back $800,000 awarded two years ago, after a Canberra construction company wins an appeal against the payout.

WA potato growers have been left shellshocked by the announcement that the Smith's Snackfood Company's Canning Vale crisp manufacturing plant will close.

The shock collapse of Glencore's share price this week casts doubt over the future of a controversial bauxite mining project in remote Far North Queensland.

It will be a flurry of feathers in the AFL grand final at the MCG on Saturday, but when it comes to hawks and eagles in the wild, which bird would come out on top?

A Perth fly-in, fly-out worker who stabbed a caravan park resident to death in a confrontation over a threesome involving his girlfriend is jailed for at least 17 years.

It will be a flurry of feathers in the AFL grand final at the MCG this Saturday, but which bird would come out on top in the wild?

The multi-million-dollar effort to reduce nutrients flowing into the Swan River from the Ellen Brook fails to hit its targets for the fifth year in a row.