Sydney news

A precautionary approach drives the response to the discovery of toxic chemicals from firefighting foam at Tamworth airport.

A teenager is cautioned for snapping a Queensland town's brand new Christmas tree in half, in what the local council calls a horrible case of "the Grinch stole Christmas".

Former international beverage executive Ari Mervis will become Murray Goulburn's new managing director and CEO in February.

Murray Goulburn chairman Phillip Tracy welcomes new CEO and MD Ari Mervis

A late start to the Top End rambutan season does not affect the fruit's quality and yields, which are even bigger than last year's good yields.

The Victorian Government is under fire from the state's university chancellors amid claims it has scrapped key appointments made to university councils which had previously been agreed to by the former minister.

Australia's largest dairy company has appointed former SABMiller executive Ari Mervis as the new chief executive and managing director of the embattled processor.

Cherries from farms in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia will be the "most expensive every grown in history", says the president of the Cherry Growers Association of Australia.

Many words have been used to described Pakistan paceman Mohammed Amir but "another player" appears to be the catchcry Australia will stick with.

There are concerns rental affordability could become a long-term problem in parts of central-west New South Wales.

Hobart Lord Mayor Sue Hickey says she "didn't kill Aborigines" and does not support MONA's focus on Tasmania's "difficult history" for Macquarie Point.

An exercise program for seniors of multicultural backgrounds is having big success in keeping people in their homes for longer.

How the Menke family of Mallacoota continues their parents' legacy.

A group of public housing residents in inner-city Waterloo in Sydney want to set-up one of the largest art-installation projects the country has ever seen. Residents of one of the country's largest housing commission estates will be displaced and sent to other parts of the city. when the suburb is redeveloped. The 'We Live Here Project' plans to put mood lights in the windows of these towers to draw attention to what is happening.

A Central Australian watermelon farm is expanding its crop, by trialling citrus, avocados, onions and mangoes.

At least 100 iPads owned by Education Queensland are missing, but the department admits it has no idea how many iPads have been distributed through schools across the state.

Many words have been used to described Pakistan paceman Mohammed Amir but "another player" appears to be the catchcry Australia will stick with.

Western Australia's cherry farmers are in the middle of a bumper harvest, while growers on the eastern seaboard have been hit hard by unseasonal weather. Overall, this year's crop is being described as 'the most expensive in history' for growers, meaning cherries won't be cheap this Christmas.

Jack and Betty Kenna know first hand that there is nothing more painful than watching someone suffer from mental illness, so have joined a new program aimed at helping rural and farming communities better cope with suicide.

There are 56 plaques on the Australians of the Year Walk in Canberra, commemorating past recipients but only one is shielded by a piece of perspex.

"We've seen the other kids in the town go off to university and get jobs and get married. We've still got our 24-year-olds doing the same thing. I'm still showering, packing lunches." Sue and David Hillier still have to care for their twin girls, who have intellectual disabilities, as if they're small children.

Brisbane Roar ends its run of four straight draws with a thumping 4-0 win over Adelaide United at Lang Park.

Four boats are seized after their owners interfered with lobster pots, as Western Australia's Department of Fisheries cracks down on crayfish theft in the lead up to Christmas.

At least 600 Tasmanian devils have been killed on the state's roads this year alone.

Seventeen-hour flights from Perth to London will begin in 2018, Qantas boss Alan Joyce says, marking the first time Australians can fly direct to Europe.

Ali Wahidi arrived in Australia from Afghanistan without a word of English, but at 17 he has graduated from his Adelaide secondary school as dux by winning the academic prizes in each of his subjects.

About 1,300 animal parts, including those of native animals like wedge-tailed eagles and brolgas, are found at a Darwin house in one of the largest hauls of its kind in Australian history.

Teenager Sophie Molineux shows what she is capable of with a starring role in Melbourne Renegades' win over Adelaide Strikers.

Seventeen-hour flights from Perth to London will begin in 2018, Qantas boss Alan Joyce says, marking the first time Australians can fly direct to Europe.

An exercise program at a supported housing development in Brisbane is helping change the lives of some of the city's most vulnerable residents.

A man is charged over the murder of missing Melbourne mother Karen Rae after human remains were found along the Frankston Freeway.

Melbourne Victory striker Besart Berisha says his desire to prove critics of his form wrong has spurred him on against Western Sydney.

Five men are arrested after a wild brawl involving 30 people broke out at Melbourne's Flinders Street Station overnight.

More high-security prison facilities will be built for women inmates in South Australia and new facilities added at Mount Gambier, at a time when the Government is keen to cut overall inmate numbers.

Mona's $2 billion vision for Macquarie Point may take 30 years to build and may end up looking "quite different", Tasmania's Premier says.

The wreck of a nearly 300-year-old former slave ship lying just off the coast of Perth is scoured by maritime archaeologists using new technology to help learn more about Australia's underwater past.

Ali Zafar Wahidi arrived in Australia from Afghanistan without a word of English, but at 17 he has graduated from his Adelaide secondary school as dux by winning the academic prizes in each of his subjects.

A search is underway in bushland south of Coffs Harbour for a man who has twice pulled a gun on police this morning after being stopped for a random breath test.

The removal of trees along Canberra's leafy Northbourne Avenue will begin this week as authorities make way for the light rail line between Gungahlin and the city.

Nine people are arrested after a five-month police operation targeting organised crime and a drug trafficking syndicate in Melbourne's south-east.

A new aerial firefighting base in the Adelaide Hills offers faster turnaround for water bombers, a longer runway and more space for the aircraft.

Families were split, with some members inside the Lord Mayor's Christmas Carols and others left to park the car locked out, when last night's free event hit "record attendance".

Victoria will spend up to $10 billion to complete Melbourne's "missing link", the Metropolitan Ring Road, the State Government says, but there are no plans to sign contracts until after the next election.

Police are creating Australia's first database of unidentified bodies, revealing there are 500 sets of human remains currently languishing in morgues and laboratories.

The past year has been full of Queenslanders who went above and beyond the call of duty. These are the men, women, children (and some animals) who made headlines for all the right reasons.

Firefighters praise neighbours who tried to rescue an unconscious woman from a burning North Hobart unit overnight.