Sydney news

The expectation that Indigenous girls will help with home duties is having a negative impact on their education, a young women's mentor says.

Scientists in Newcastle develop a new technique to keep horse sperm alive for longer at ambient temperatures, which could improve breeding.

There is uncertainty about the future of agricultural shows across New South Wales under State Government plans for managing crown land.

South Australian police are reviewing new information into an allegation that that an Adelaide cemetery worker took photos of human remains after previously saying there was no evidence of a criminal offence.

A Canberra man who was prosecuted over a Christmas drink that breached his bail conditions secures more than $30,000 in damages under the Human Rights Act.

Australia's certified organic industry is expected to be worth more than $2 billion by next year but it is fighting to ensure fake organic claims do not damage its reputation.

A company proposing to build Australia's largest solar farm near Gympie says the $2 billion facility will eventually supply about 15 per cent of south-east Queensland's power needs.

South Sydney captain Sam Burgess is clear to play against Brisbane this week after the NRL judiciary dismissed a shoulder charge on Canterbury's Greg Eastwood.

The Northern Territory Government confirms it is in negotiations to try to keep a 20 per cent stake in Darwin's Port.

Eighty years ago one of the finest musical instruments in the world was stolen from its owner, a rare prized Stradivarius violin, backstage at Carnegie Hall in New York. Now it lies in the hands of Joshua Bell, another virtuoso violinist, and together they're touring the country.

Crown has won approval to build Australia's tallest skyscraper - an apartment tower and hotel next to its flagship casino in Melbourne. But the Victorian government is facing tough questions about why it bypassed its own planning laws to push through the massive development.

The prime minister announced today that he's axing the controversial 457 visa program and replacing it with a new visa class which will have stricter criteria for foreigners who want to work in Australia. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton joined 7.30 to discuss the decision.

Shark attacks are nothing new in Australia ... But the death of 17 year old Laeticia Brouwer during a family holiday in Western Australia has re-ignited calls for a national plan to tackle the threat.

An autopsy performed on a woman pulled from a pond in Adelaide's parklands on Sunday along with her wheelchair confirms she drowned in fresh water, but the investigation is ongoing.

Two months after being appointed the interim chief executive overlooking the New Royal Adelaide Hospital, Len Richards quits, despite the hospital's opening being just weeks away.

The Sydney Swans need to turn around their worst start to a season in 24 years against local rival GWS, eyeing its own piece of history at the SCG.

Around 1,000 workers blocked cars and trams in the city, as union leaders spoke against the 457 migrant workers scheme on the steps of State Parliament in Melbourne on March 7, 2013.

Federal MP Stuart Robert denies any wrongdoing for donating $60,000 to two independent council candidates, telling the Crime and Corruption Council he would need to "spend a lot more defending our ideas" if Labor had won power.

Claims by the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union that all West Australian uranium projects should be halted are dismissed by the minerals council.

A Riverland man is on a crusade to save the River Murray's turtles from extinction, through a fox-proof sanctuary he built to protect nests on Lake Bonney.

A fresh upgrade of Bank Street in the Adelaide CBD is being promised by the city council and South Australian Government after a previous laneway effort, with with wooden seats and planter boxes, drew criticism.

A town in Victoria's wheatbelt celebrates its history of agricultural machinery manufacturing.

The South Australian man convicted over a brutal attack on two backpackers at Salt Creek in February last year goes on trial accused of raping another woman, whom he was in a relationship with, about a month before the attack.

A former Salvation Army church member on trial for alleged child sex offences dating back more than 50 years hid an underlying sexual desire towards boys, a Perth court is told.

The family of 17-year-old shark attack victim Laeticia Brouwer says she died doing something she loved. The teenager was attacked while surfing off Esperance, on Western Australia's south coast. Ms Brouwer's father was in the water with her while her mother and two sisters watched the horror unfold from the beach.

A 34-year-old Melbourne man cries in court while pleading guilty to illegally marrying a 14-year-old bride in an Islamic wedding at Noble Park.

A grain grower in Tasmania's north-west has imported a stone ground mill from Austria to value-add and get more out of his small plot.

Cate Shortland's new captivity thriller opens on April 20th.

A sound technician screens cult classic War of the Worlds among the ruins of a cattle station in the Flinders Ranges, in an Australian-first.

Queensland's only free legal service for Indigenous women is among community legal services concerned about the flow-on effects from impending funding cuts.

When Mavis Lockwood stepped in to school a horse in a trial for the Great Eastern Steeplechase at Oakbank, she was assured her husband would never find out.

A Sunshine Coast wildlife group says three stolen koala joeys will be "starving to death" if they are not getting the right level of care.

Four ice hockey players from an island off Canada's east coast will make South Australia their home, aiming to lift the Adelaide Adrenaline from bottom to top.

The case of a Perth father appealing his sentence for sexually abusing his daughter and offering her to other men for sex is "truly in a class of its own", the president of the WA Court of Appeal says.

The family of a teenager who died after being mauled by a shark off Western Australia's south coast while surfing says they are heartbroken, but take some comfort knowing she died doing something she loved.

A program in Launceston training unemployed people in information technology winds up at the end of the week due to a lack of participants, leaving not-for-profit organisations without free help.

Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt can no longer guarantee a surplus in the June budget because of the recovery costs from Cyclone Debbie.

Tasmanian Eel Exporters' newest conditioning facility has the capacity to more than quadruple output and allow export year-round.

As the Islamic College of South Australia waits anxiously to learn whether it will be funded in the future, its teachers are imploring the Federal Government not to punish students because of the school's governance issues.

More than 1,000 US marines begin arriving in the Top End and say they are ready for whatever may happen as North Korea escalates its nuclear threat.

Candidates in last year's Queensland local government elections failed to declare donations, while others reportedly had secret links to property developers, a corruption inquiry in Brisbane hears.

When Gold Coast woman Teresa Bradford was murdered by her estranged husband, her family was left to pay the $8,000 funeral cost and pressured to clean up the property where she was killed.

The ACT Coroner's Court hears of the moment construction worker Ben Catanzariti was killed by a falling concrete boom while working on a Kingston Foreshore site.

Heady days for heavy cattle are looming but the good times will not with huge global production expected to push prices lower by the end of 2017.

Do you have a story to tell about the rich cultural history of Tasmania's Salamanca Arts Centre?

Salamanca Art Centre with an octopus on the roof

Salamanca Art Centre with an octopus on the roof

Ngunnawal woman Selina Rose Walker, who fostered her three young godsons and opened her home to other at-risk Indigenous kids, is acknowledged by the Barnardos child protection charity for her efforts.

Former Hawthorn president Jeff Kennett says the club should begin to rebuild, and that senior players lacked "desirability" in the loss to the Cats.

A 17-year-old girl has died after being attacked by a shark while surfing at Wylie Bay near the West Australian town of Esperance. The teenager's father was in the water with her and her mother and two siblings witnessed the attack from the beach.