Sydney news

Cossie's beach in the Cocos Islands is ranked number one in Australia, while Dolly Beach on Christmas Island comes in seventh.

Perth Glory stymies Melbourne Victory's attempts to jump back to second on the A-League table, holding on to a 1-1 draw at AAMI Park.

In what is considered a key test of the Human Rights Act, a Canberra man locked up after officers erroneously believe he has breached bail conditions is awarded $2,453.

A street racer is killed after his car clips another, hits a power pole, flips and bursts into flames in Melbourne's north overnight, Victorian police say.

Tasmania fails to secure a decommissioned navy ship, the HMAS Tobruk, with the state being the only one never gifted a former Australian warship to use as a dive wreck.

Kayah Guenther struggles to communicate verbally. But after discovering dance, he doesn't need to worry about that.

Parks Australia will release a tiny wasp on Christmas Island in coming weeks to control the island's yellow crazy ant infestation.

Simon Shinberg helped make wearing trousers out to dinner acceptable for women in Australia and now the life's work of the largely forgotten but controversial Australian fashion designer is being rediscovered by a new generation.

The stabbing death of tourist Philippe Jegouzo in the Northern Territory outback was "bizarre" and "random", and there are no concerns other travellers are in danger, police say.

Perth Glory stymies Melbourne Victory's attempts to jump back to second on the A-League table, holding on to a 1-1 draw at AAMI Park.

The former boyfriend of Tamara Thompson testifies in WA's Supreme Court she did not want the baby daughter she is accused of murdering.

A Melbourne theatre company is working with teenagers to develop a play that explores how young people learn about sex in the 21st century.

Our most decorated architect Glenn Murcutt on his career, the state of modern Australian homes and his latest project, a mosque.

The world's oldest operating open-air cinema, located in outback Western Australia, is about to turn 100 years old.

Professor Amin Saikal, director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, joins Hayden Cooper to discuss the situation in Aleppo, Syria.

Aaron Hyde says he was stripped naked and forced to spend long periods in isolation in the Northern Territory's Don Dale youth detention centre when he was just a teenager.

The festive season kicks off with a difference in Australia's gold capital of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

A three-year-old boy who was sleeping in the back of his parents' car when it was stolen has been reunited with his parents in Perth, almost two hours after his ordeal began.

Howard Hendrick, 93, is still flying planes some 70 years after piloting Lancaster bombers across Europe in WWII.

Salmon producer Tassal records an increase in a bacteria responsible for "visual impact" near its salmon pens in the intensively farmed Macquarie Harbour.

Rescue dogs from remote WA will be among the first to see the prequel film to Red Dog, after they walk the red carpet this weekend.

Andrew Dodt holds his lead after the second round at the Australian PGA Championship, with Ashley Hall and Adam Scott among the chasing pack.

A Federal Court judge knocks back an attempt by real estate firm Hocking Stuart Richmond to draw out payment of a $330,000 fine for misleading and deceptive conduct.

After surviving cyclones, floods and two world wars, Broome's outdoor cinema Sun Pictures is about to turn 100.

Police are questioning an 18-year-old man over a fatal shooting on the Gold Coast, after the teenager turned himself in.

Tour de France champion Chris Froome will join 3,500 amateur riders for the first Tour de France event in Australia.

A man says within hours of attending a protest in Melbourne against a visit by an Ethiopian politician, members of his family were arrested.

A community radio station in Adelaide believes it has a strong legal case against the ABC, over claims the public broadcaster is planning to use its name. Radio Adelaide is outraged over the ABC's plans to rebrand in Adelaide as ABC Radio Adelaide, part of a national rollout across all ABC capital city stations. Radio Adelaide's chairman has labelled the move 'breathtakingly arrogant', and says the station is preparing for a battle.

Suspended Gold Coast police officer Christopher Hurley is fined $900 after being convicted of grabbing a motorist by the neck on the Gold Coast in 2013.

A major manhunt is underway after a car thief steals a vehicle outside a home with a three-year-old boy in the back seat.

Mandy McCracken is riding a bike again after losing her lower arms and legs, following a unique 'Makethon' event in Melbourne this week.

A Perth woman who supplied heroin to people while on the committee of an organisation that helps drug users is jailed for three years and three months.

Temperatures will remain above 40 degrees Celsius in parts of central and southern Queensland until at least Wednesday next week, the Bureau of Meterology [BOM] warns.

An expert in emerging drugs says Australia needs to find alternative ways to regulate illicit drugs.

Scientists have joined forces with Sydney's Taronga Zoo and the tech giant Google, to build an app that allows Australians to gather information about one of our most unique and elusive animals, the platypus.

West Australian grain growers deliver a total of 9.5 million tonnes of grain to CBH's receival sites around the Wheatbelt.

Singapore Airlines struggled to fill its planes in the first week it flew between Canberra and Wellington in New Zealand, data reveals.

Michael James Quinn, who was left a quadriplegic from self-inflicted wounds, will spend at least 15 years behind bars for the 2013 murder of his ex-girlfriend in Wollongong.

Aaron Hyde says he was stripped naked and forced to spend long periods in isolation in the Northern Territory's Don Dale youth detention centre when he just a teenager, now his mother wants the royal commission to find out why.

Bid now on a unique book of autographs signed by 2016's Conversation Hour guests, with all proceeds going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Authorities warn anglers from across Victoria, they face fines if caught fishing for barramundi in the Hazelwood pondage before the fishery opens.

The FFA hands Melbourne City captain Bruno Fornaroli a reprimand for his FFA Cup final victory speech F-bomb.

Ambulance Victoria will increase staff working on Sunday ahead of hot weather and a forecast cool change, amid heightened concerns about the risk of thunderstorm asthma.

A lucky little penguin is recovering at Taronga Zoo after an adventurous morning in which it was trapped in a stormwater drain in Sydney's inner west.

Disability advocates, dressed purple as a sign of pride, march down King William Street in Adelaide to celebrate their differences and call for a more inclusive society.

An Australian artist's chance encounter with a man outside a 7-Eleven store in the United States leads to him winning this year's Digital Portrait Award.

A man faces court on charges of attempted murder after allegedly stabbing his estranged partner and another man in a frenzied rage at a Geraldton home on Wednesday.

The Australian Medical Association condemns the WA Government's management of the new $1.2 billion Perth Children's Hospital, claiming the delayed construction is compromising patient care at the ageing Princess Margaret Hospital.

Some of the deadlines for fishermen wanting to be involved in the reform process have been extended.

The Federal Government is threatening to revoke Fremantle's power to hold citizenship ceremonies over its decision to move Australia Day celebrations to another day in a bid to create a more "culturally inclusive" celebration.