Sydney news

A burst water main forces water to rip up roads and scatter chunks of asphalt around the streets of North Melbourne this morning.

The Indonesian weightlifting team is being fed Australian beef ahead of the Olympic Games in Brazil.

The Victorian Government says there is very little good news for Victorian schools and hospitals in the federal budget and the spending on domestic violence is a failure of national leadership.

With a series of books and a bold plan to release them, Brisbane author Nick Earls is seeking to make novellas the next big thing in publishing.

In what might have been his swansong, Archie Thompson helps Melbourne Victory qualify for the knockout phases of the Asian Champions League.

The introduction of an AFL women's league in 2017 has transformed this week's Youth Girls National Championships in Melbourne, with players on trial for a future in the game they did not think possible a year ago.

A Kimberley pastoralist is handed a $2,000 fine in the Perth Magistrates Court for improperly dehorning cattle on his station.

The Federal Government is giving Landcare a $22 million boost in this year's Commonwealth budget.

Government cuts funding for key agricultural research body to fund dam studies.

Geoscience Australia will receive an extra $100 million to try to re-energise the mining sector with the money to be spent on mapping mineral and groundwater potential

Government spends $750 million to help hundreds of thousands of young people get jobs.

Federal Government overhauls wine industry tax arrangements in 2016-17 budget.

Already agreed between industry and government, the budget confirms a range of levy changes for several industries

The Federal Government has not allocated any new money for mobile black spots in its budget.

The Federal Government will revamp the way it targets aged care funding to try to make it fairer for rural and remote areas.

The Federal Government has confirmed it's extending its highly popular tax write off for equipment to businesses with an annual turnover of up to $10 million

The government says a $2 billion loans scheme will help the states and territories to build dams and pipelines

The Federal Government is spending $594 million on buying land for Inland Rail but none of the funds will go towards construction.

Detectives charge a man with murdering a woman who was found shot dead at a house in north-west Victoria at the weekend.

A wine tax crackdown, loans for water projects but little for farmers to get excited about in budget 2016.

A Senate inquiry recommends the Federal Government withdraw funding for WA's controversial $1.9 billion Perth Freight Link project in favour of an outer harbour.

Public health advocates say the latest tax hike on cigarettes will cut smoking rates further from the already steep falls in recent years, and could even lead to Australia becoming practically smoke-free.

The chairman of the Brumbies apologises to members and fans for the saga surrounding the dismissal of former chief executive Michael Jones.

The Northern Territory Government moves to end a public spat with a charity running a food service for the poor that it had suggested was not showing how it spent its funds.

A 90-minute downpour sees Darwin record more than twice as much rain as usual for the entire month of May.

The five Parramatta officials in danger of being deregistered by the NRL will fight the league's proposed sanctions for salary cap breaches in Sydney's Supreme Court.

Police identify a 26-year-old man found unconscious and with serious injuries in a road in the Gold Coast hinterland.

A north west Queensland grazier has recorded his biggest ever sorghum harvest, with 5,200 tonnes of forage from just 130 hectares.

Anti-jumps racing advocates make a renewed push for the sport to be banned after a horse was put down in Victoria's south-west because it fell and broke its leg.

A police hero is commemorated on the 150th anniversary of his death resulting from a shootout with Australia's deadliest but least-known bushrangers.

Mining firm OZ Minerals is considering a substantial investment at Whyalla in South Australia, as the Arrium administrator makes clear he is happy with operations at the loss-making steelworks.

A woman and her three dogs flee a burning house in Melrose Park, north-west Sydney, before the roof caves in.

A Brisbane-based performer is doing his bit to make the arts more accessible to outback Queensland students.

The five Parramatta officials in danger of being deregistered by the NRL are in the Supreme Court in Sydney fighting the league's proposed sanctions for salary cap breaches.

The mother of a one-year-old girl who died in a unit fire at Queanbeyan in southern New South Wales is working with police to establish what caused the blaze.

Western Australian sculptor Jordan Sprigg is flying high with a new career, giving up his university studies after his pieces started selling for up to $45,000.

Australian rice processor SunRice has revealed further setbacks to its proposed float on the Australian Securities Exchange.

An inquest finds Queensland police officers were justified in using lethal force against two men, both of whom had mental health issues, shot dead in 2014. Troy Foster (pictured) was holding a meat cleaver when he was shot in front of his mother outside their Gold Coast home.

The daughter of a Vietnam veteran has written a memoir about the war's impact on her father and her own childhood.

Seven-year-old gelding Cliff's Dream is put down after breaking its leg while jumps racing in south-west Victoria.

The High Court reserves its decision on the validity of new Senate voting laws, after hearing a challenge by senator Bob Day.

After 10 years in the job, Chief Justice Wayne Martin says he remains concerned by WA's high incarceration rates despite crime rates falling.

Ambulance phone operators are pleading with the public to stop abusing them, after some callers threatened to track them down and murder their families.

This week's NSW Country Women's Association conference displays an increasingly diverse, but proudly passionate membership.

A young man who killed himself in a mental health ward at the Royal Adelaide Hospital was not checked every half hour as required, the Coroners Court hears.

Hawthorn skipper Luke Hodge admits he was shocked to learn the knee injury suffered against Greater Western Sydney would require sideline him for six weeks.

Scientists warn of the growing threat of ocean acidification to marine ecology, industry and food security.

Walter Blumenfeld, the oldest and one of the longest-serving members of the ACT State Emergency Service, died on Anzac Day.

Processed and junk foods make up half of many children's daily energy intake, Adelaide researchers conclude.

Empty dams are starting to fill in some parts of central Victoria after good weekend rains.