Sydney news

Lachy Dunne will have to attend a boarding facility next year now that Year 7 is part of the high school system in Western Australia. He's not happy about leaving home early, so he wrote to the Premier.

Police are treating an overnight shooting in Adelaide's north-east as bikie related, after bullets were fired into the windows and garage of a house.

A 150-year-old pistol that protected a carriage driver and his mail from Richmond to Hobart is headed to a museum after being handed over during the national firearms amnesty.

Australia could experience a significant economic boom if same-sex marriage is legalised, say those in the tourism and finance industries.

A seven-year-old boy is cautioned and a 10 and 11-year-old arrested after the children allegedly broke into an Adelaide school and vandalised it with paint.

The second of Australia's three big car manufacturers ceases production, as Toyota closes its Altona plant in Melbourne's west, shedding thousands of jobs.

A multi-million-dollar project aiming to raise awareness of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is set to begin in Newcastle and Alice Springs.

The four-day Indigenous celebration of rugby league, family and culture, ends with Newcastle declared grand champions.

Tasmania's first female Supreme Court judge is farewelled after more than 12 years on the bench, labelled an inspiration to young female practitioners.

A woman lured a teenager with autism to a suburban Perth house so her friend, who had written a book about a serial killer, could feel the "euphoria and exhilaration" of murdering someone, a court hears.

Nicole Manison says it would be "outrageous" for the Federal Government to compromise the Northern Territory's share of GST in order to force it to frack gas reserves without completing the proper research.

The battle to get into Tasmania's Upper House via the seat of Pembroke could be fought between three conservatives with Liberal Party links.

A diner at a Sydney restaurant posts a video of a "horrible experience" in which they were served a steak covered in live maggotslikely laid after the meat was cooked, according to the venue's spokesman.

One of two women accused of murdering a Perth teenager who had autism and burying his body in a backyard "gloated" to a work colleague about what she had done, a court is told.

The shutdown of the Toyota and Holden manufacturing plants will likely hit South Australia and Victoria hardparticularly when one considers what happened when Ford closed its operations.

Mining, oil and gas companies are well into cyclone preparation mode, with the official start to the season only one month away.

After a 16-year wait, Australian wool growers who have shares in Graziers' Investment Company may receive their final payment from previous wool industry schemes within four months.

The hunt is on within the McGowan Government to find out who is behind a stream of leaks to the Liberalsbut with MPs turning on colleagues, the real damage is being done within, Jacob Kagi writes.

Police charge five men after a massive public brawl left two injured in Sydney over the weekend.

Heavy rain hits Bundaberg causing flash flooding and power outages at about 5,000 properties, with more than 140 millimetres falling in six hours.

Melbourne's Federation Square is overrun by the "purple haze" as Storm fans flock to celebrate premiership glory with the team and plead for Billy Slater not to retire.

Melbourne Storm's emphatic grand final win has capped a 2017 season which is the crowning glory of their era of success, Warren Boland writes.

As part of National Ghost Hunting Day, a group holds special tours at Tasmania's Willow Court in a global seance via Facebook Live.

When it comes to music festivals, regional Australia is giving the capital cities a run for their money with events selling out in minutes.

The mother of a Queensland boy says a severe flu "took over his body", leaving the 10-year-old on life support in a Brisbane hospital.

For the first time in its 50-year history, the Longreach Pastoral College is offering a new sheep and wool course in western Queensland in a bid to fix a skills deficit in the wool industry.

The grand final hooter has barely sounded but this week the AFL's version of a job interview draws dozens of hopeful young men and women to Melbourne from across Australia, including three Queenslanders from the Coolangatta Bluebirds.

A young father of three was "let off the leash" by his partner, and got drunk and high, before a dispute over him kissing another woman led to a fatal one-punch attack, Victoria's Supreme Court hears.

Ex-Liberal MP Duncan McFetridge criticises his former party's stance on public holiday shop trading hours, throwing his support behind the Government's current policy.

Departing Melbourne half-back Cooper Cronk says he's still undecided about playing on next season, but winning the NRL title won't affect his call.

A study into rural doctors' attitudes towards abortion in Victoria reveals alarming gaps in services for women with unplanned pregnancies.

Adelaide's Moon Lantern Festival is described as "a shambles" due to overcrowding, with even Lord Mayor Martin Haese unable to get in, as organisers blame redevelopment work at the Festival Centre.

A Top End mango farmer prepares for a below-average season because of challenging and changing weather conditions.

A regional NSW man living with autism and mental health issues has run from Perth, WA to his home on the NSW far south coast.

The close-knit community of Swansea on Tasmania's east coast grieves the loss of a six-year-old boy, killed by a log truck being reversed by his father.

North Queensland prop Shaun Fensom is hospitalised after breaking his leg in the NRL grand final, as the Cowboys defy the pain barrier but fall short in the NRL grand final.

The official bushfire season starts in Western Australia with a warning that only a fraction of the state's population has a plan for what to do if disaster comes.

Central Queensland receives its heaviest rain since Cyclone Debbie in March as a trough moves across the state, but don't expect a downpour in the south-east, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

Five talented Northern Territory horse breakers from different generations shared their stories, skills and experience.

Smoking in cabs, driving sans seatbelta decades-old series of films made to promote life in Australia becomes a valuable time capsule available online.

A suspicious fire causes more than $2 million in damage to several businesses on Melbourne's famous Lygon Street restaurant strip, with explosions heard as the blaze tears through an eatery that was undergoing renovations.

Midnight Oil are on their first world tour in two decades, with frontman and former politician Peter Garrett responding to criticism about his stance on the environment after politics.

New South Wales is experiencing the worst outbreak of rotavirus in five years, with parents of babies and small children being warned the gastro-type illness can be fatal.

Tasmanian bricklayer Noel Peters has devoted his life to Goju-ryu karate and he's passing on the secrets of the martial art which has been centuries in the making.

The story of a team that dominated the season then dominated the finals before dominating the grand final might not suit the romantics, but the Storm's latest premiership should satisfy anyone who admires sheer excellence, writes Richard Hinds.