Sydney news

Art program sees progress in mental health recovery

Move over cat kennels and dog boarding, a new pet retreat that caters exclusively for chickens and ducks is a hit with its guests.

A former jockey from regional Victoria who was left with a disability after being thrown into a tree by a horse finds her rhythm again through ballroom dancing.

New Zealand national Daniel Maxwell, who pleaded guilty to charges arising from a fatal assault on Brisbane teenager Cole Miller, faces deportation as early as today.

Billions of dollars in concessions, rebates, and payments are on the table to help Queenslanders' household budgets, with cost of living set to be a state election battleground.

A Melbourne builder is being hunted by angry tradesmen who claim they are owed millions of dollars for work on an apartment complex in which underworld figure Mick Gatto has a financial interest.

Despite multiple complaints about offensive slogans, the Queensland Government is yet to cancel the registration of a single vehicle months after launching a legal crackdown.

The three young Queenslanders are trying to beat 258 skips in 30 seconds at the world jump rope championships.

Jesse Bird pleaded with the Department of Veterans' Affairs to urgently help him, warning he was suicidal just days before his death, official records show.

State Liberal MP for Mount Gambier Troy Bell resigns from the party declaring his innocence after being charged with stealing a substantial amount of taxpayers' money.

Parramatta piles the misery on the under-siege Gold Coast with a 30-8 win to strengthen its claims for a top four position heading into the finals.

Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt offers to step in and personally conduct citizenship ceremonies in the City of Yarra after the Prime Minister stripped the Greens-dominated council of its powers yesterday.

Changes to Tasmania's anti-discrimination laws to protect religious groups from being prosecuted for causing offence on issues such as same-sex marriage are rejected by the Upper House.

Today Senator Pauline Hanson wore a burka in the Senate and did something not seen for a long time - she united Labor and the Coalition.

Senator Derryn Hinch joins 7.30 to discuss Senator Pauline Hanson's burka stunt in the Senate chamber.

Political correspondent Andrew Probyn on the breaking news that deputy Nationals leader Fiona Nash is a British citizen.

The Greens use police data showing a spike in theft in one of WA's cashless welfare trial sites to call for the card to be dumped, but concede they did not seek figures for rates of assault, child sexual abuse or domestic violence.

The Australian Border Force takes New Zealand national Daniel Maxwell, who pleaded guilty over the one-punch attack on 18-year-old Cole Miller in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley, into custody and he now faces deportation.

After HSC trial papers were viewed ahead of time at an unnamed Sydney school, students are forced to re-sit three exams.

When it comes to navigating the digital world and sifting through what's real and what's fake, experts say minimising your children's screen time is not the best course of action.

The NSW auditor-general makes a number of recommendations aimed at improving palliative care services in the state.

The All Blacks name Aaron Smith in their squad for Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup Test amid allegations he lied to team officials regarding an off-field incident, while Australia gives a first cap to winger Curtis Rona.

A former Nomads bikie will spend more than three years in jail for domestic violence offences and for storing explosives and weapons, including a military riflealthough he says it was for another gang member.

The Croatian community in Port Lincoln has been integral to the city's achievements, building ties strong enough to bring Croatia's president by for a visit.

Police believe a man who was shot dead in a friend's driveway in Melbourne's south-east on Wednesday night was ambushed by a person known to him.

A murder victim's jailed brother, who went on the run for two months after being temporarily released for her funeral, asks a judge to give him bail so he can grieve with his family.

The NT Government is under increased pressure to explain why its controversial legislation that has prevented liquor giant Dan Murphy's from setting up in Darwin closely mirrors a request from the Australian Hotels Association.

The Federal Government admits it kept an investigation into potentially illegal prawn imports secret, months before an outbreak of white spot disease devastated the prawn industry in south-east Queensland.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr cops a backlash over a move to dip into the public purse to promote the Yes vote in the upcoming same-sex marriage postal survey.

The nest eggs of older Australians are being whittled away as they experience lengthy delays in sales of their homes in retirement villages, and legal experts say the whole industry needs a shake-up.

People in remote communities and Indigenous town camps fear they may be locked out of voting in the same-sex marriage postal poll, due to difficulties getting them papers in the mail.

A dark, operatic take on Shakespeare's classic tragedy Hamlet will headline next year's Adelaide Festival.

A woman who set herself on fire at an Alice Springs petrol station was released from the town's mental health unit twice and both times tried to self-immolate again, the Northern Territory Coroner hears.

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest wins a High Court bid to keep sand miners off his family pastoral property in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in a case that could throw into doubt the validity of mining leases across WA.

A 38-year-old man allegedly involved in a long-running investment scam that ripped off victims to the tune of $3.5 million is facing five charges after being arrested by police on the Gold Coast.

It may be the last Question Time for the sitting fortnight in the House of Representatives, but all eyes are on the Senate, where Pauline Hanson has turned up wearing a burka. Follow live.

ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr cops a backlash over his plan to dip into the public purse to promote the Yes vote in the upcoming same-sex marriage postal survey.

Historical parole documents linked to the last convict ship to arrive in Australia are found in Perth in the belongings of a deceased Geraldton priest.

An inquest into chemo patients who were under-dosed and later died will not be expanded to include evidence about six survivors, an SA court decides.

In a blow to hunters, but a win for mango farmers, magpie geese populations in the Northern Territory are at their lowest since records began in the 1980s.

More than 20 years after he lost his arm in a farming accident, a world champion woodchopper at Brisbane's Ekka reunites with one of the doctors who saved his life.

Virtual reality transports dance students from regional NSW to The Australian Ballet in Melbourne, more than 1,000 kilometres away.

Perth residents are recruited to a project putting cameras in backyards to learn more about quendas, which are commonly mistaken for rats.

SA continues its crawl out of the quagmire by recording a 0.4 per cent drop in the seasonably adjusted unemployment rate, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics figures, but on trend terms it remains a full percentage point higher than the Australian average

Ghost hunter Graham Lewis has used a device he made from Xbox gaming technology to capture a curious image.

The Red Meat Advisory Council pushes back against sweeping recommendations designed to improved transparency and accountability in the livestock industry.

Farmers fear biosecurity and privacy breaches from rail trails, but some residents love them.

Wayne Ball says he needed to have his leg amputated after a botched knee replacement by a specialist left him with a severe infection and other complications.

A review will examine what is behind a slump in the rate of approvals by national chemical regulator, the APVMA, which has lost senior staff ahead of a move from Canberra to Armidale.

Mining magnate Andrew Forrest wins a High Court bid to keep other miners off his family pastoral property in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.