Sydney news

Dairy farmers say they'll be dealing with last year's severe milk price cuts for years to come.

A study is about to start on whether it would be feasible to pipe water under the Ord River to kickstart a new irrigation development in the region.

A fire has all but destroyed a block of townhouses in Melbourne's north, leaving a damage bill of almost $1 million.

Queensland's police commissioner says problems with crime data have been corrected after an auditor-general report found officers were soliciting victims to withdraw complaints to keep a lid on crime rates.

A major breakthrough in the treatment of premature babies with chronic lung disease could save them from life-long health problems, Australian scientists say.

Too much attention is being put on home ownership and not on affordable rental properties for those struggling on low wages, a Victorian social welfare group says.

Lone fathers and their children are settling into re-developed accommodation in Hobart designed to help them keep their kids and become better parents.

Senator Cory Bernardi joins 7.30 to discuss merging his Australian Conservatives party with Family First.

The ground and air search for a father and son missing for two nights in rugged bushland in Tasmania's remote south-west is scaled back overnight. The pair were overdue on a bushwalk near Lake Pedder when the alarm was raised.

An independent inquiry into a Queensland youth detention centre has found systematic abuse of teens may exist, but the inquiry couldn't find the evidence to prove it.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman labels a Dark Mofo art performance featuring a freshly slaughtered bull "confronting", and says he does not think he will attend.

A coronial inquest into the suicide of former NSW police officer Ashley Bryant hears he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcohol dependency and was rejected for a full pension before his death.

South Australia's Mental Health Minister Leesa Vlahos did not follow up on warnings about serious safety risks at an Oakden nursing home, because she did not have the name of person who made the complaint.

Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman labels a Dark Mofo art performance featuring a freshly slaughtered bull "confronting", and says he does not think he will attend.

A coronial inquest into the suicide of former NSW police officer Ashley Bryant hears he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and alcohol dependency.

While serving defence troops led most Anzac Day services across Australia on Tuesday, some remote outback communities were forced to go without an official military presence.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft begins the first of 22 historic dives between Saturn and its rings to collect valuable data about the environment, before it ends its mission by plunging into the planet in September.

A Nationals MP mounts a push for the proposed Regional Investment Corporation, expected to be announced in the budget to administer drought and flood concessional loans, to be based in his electorate.

Josh Reynolds will play for the Wests Tigers from 2018, with the club confirming on the five-eighth had signed a four-year deal.

Pauline Hanson concedes her party "sometimes doesn't get it right" as candidate Mark Ellis resigns, a week after his chequered history in the police is revealed along with alleged death threats online.

Plummeting house prices, falling incomes and high unemployment have created a perfect storm for those who invested in Perth at the height of the mining boom, such as 35-year-old Daniel Johnston who like many others faces losing his family home.

The officer in charge of the Corryn Rayney murder investigation says "to this day" her husband, Lloyd, cannot be excluded as a "significanct suspect" in the case.

Despite an ongoing global oversupply of opiate material, to the surprise of many Tasmania's poppy processors plan to increase production this season.

A man accused of dousing his girlfriend with flammable liquid and setting her on fire pleads not guilty to the charges against him.

Online scammers are using sites like Gumtree to cheat Canberrans out of cars, expensive jewellery and mobile phones - swindling up to $10,000 at a time, police say.

A wartime love story has united two families from opposite sides of the globe, after an Australian soldier was honoured at a special ceremony Anzac Day ceremony in the small town of North Battleford, Canada.

A "humbling" rescue of a large green sea turtle near Hervey Bay comes to a heartbreaking end after the injured and distressed creature, thought to be about 100 years old, dies following a boat strike.

Manny Pacquiao and Jeff Horn continue preparations for one of the biggest fights in Australian boxing history, but without the expected bluster or bravado.

A national management group working on the tomato potato psyllid in Western Australia says the pest cannot be eradicated.

Proposals by the property sector to tackle housing affordability by boosting land supply and retaining negative gearing are slammed by an expert as being ineffective.

Rough play might have led to the death of young southern white rhino Tundu, a Zoos SA veterinarian says.

A former girlfriend of the man convicted over the Salt Creek backpacker attack who says she was raped by him a month before the attack is described as a "woman scorned" by the man's lawyer.

A Canberra man is refused bail after allegedly confining his partner and frightening her by sharpening an axe, in a situation a prosecutor likened to "the plot of a horror movie".

From droughts to collapsing bridges and guinea pig races, ABC Central West has a lot to celebrate in 80 years of broadcasting.

With plenty of room in the club's salary cap, Newcastle Knights coach Nathan Brown expects speculation will be ongoing linking many players to his NRL club.

Local government election campaigns should be self-funded or donations should be capped to avoid councillors feeling beholden to donors, the Gold Coast Mayor tells the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Frog watchers no longer have to sit for hours by lakes or rivers with clipboards, thanks to a new invention drawing on mobile phone and baby-monitoring technology.

A man who reported being attacked by a crocodile while snorkelling off Queensland's Lizard Island in fact "knocked his head" and became confused, authorities say.

One oyster farmer from the NSW south coast wants more Indigenous involvement in the industry.

Police are "soliciting" victims to withdraw complaints in an effort to keep a lid on rising crime rates, Queensland's auditor-general finds.

NBN Co trials a superfast broadband in Ballarat, delivering speeds 20 times faster than normal broadband, but it won't be available anytime soon.

A man accused of dousing his girlfriend with flammable liquid and setting her on fire pleads not guilty to the charges against him.

An independent inquiry into the treatment of youth in detention in Queensland finds systemic mistreatment may exist but noted there is not enough evidence to prove the case.

Ground teams and helicopters search an area in Tasmania's remote southwest for a father and son who have gone missing while bushwalking near Lake Pedder.

Ardent Leisure says CEO Deborah Thomas will be moved to a new role, with former Nine Network chief financial officer Simon Kelly to take the helm, six months after the Dreamworld tragedy.

The Federal Government agrees to pay a confidential settlement to a nine-year-old Iranian asylum seeker over her detention on Christmas Island.

A Queensland farmer is futureproofing his property with a DIY internet tower.

The WA Government will hold a parliamentary inquiry into the problem-plagued construction of the yet-to-be-opened Perth Children's Hospital, Premier Mark McGowan says.

Obsessed people driven by extreme political, religious or ideological beliefs who make threats of violence will be the target of a specialist investigations team, staffed by NSW Police and mental health experts.

Next week's Victorian budget will include $100 million to start work on the so-called missing link in Melbourne's Metropolitan Ring Road, Premier Daniel Andrews says.