Sydney news

The NSW Nationals hold onto Cootamundra and Murray in state by-elections, but big swings away from the party are turning safe seats into marginal electorates.

For low volume livestock producers trying to make a living, one of the biggest barriers to success is finding an abattoir willing to handle small numbers. For one farmer in NSW, there was only one solution: build your own.

When Steve Farago learned that Holden's Elizabeth plant was set to close, he and three mates took an unorthodox stepthey started a bar.

Jill Jolliffe has dedicated much of her life to reporting on East Timor. But now she's facing a different kind of challengeAlzheimer's disease.

Their memories may be fading, but Aboriginal elders in the Kimberley are working off a faded black and white photograph to identify people present at a historic land rights protest.

An official inquiry into the treatment of army veteran Jesse Bird, who took his own life, finds there were significant failings by the Department of Veterans' Affairs that increased his risk factors requiring an urgent change to protect other vulnerable veterans.

Queensland man Joshua Baker, who is being held in Bali on suspicion of carrying drugs, is mentally ill and should be deported to Australia for treatment, his lawyer says.

Police are searching for a 15-year-old boy, Clive Sydney Hart, who they want to speak to in relation to the alleged sexual assault an 84-year-old Perth woman.

A woman dies and dozens more are injuredfive of them criticallyafter a bus they were travelling in rolls in Victoria's west this afternoon.

A woman dies and five others are critically injured after a bus they were travelling in rolls in Victoria's west this afternoon.

Australia recovers from a poor start to post its first Constellation Cup whitewash of New Zealand in four years with a thumping 58-42 victory in the fourth and final Test in Sydney.

The latest contingent of US Marines are leaving the Northern Territory after a rotation that for the first time included combined training with Australian forces in responding to natural disasters.

Redzel, ridden by Kerrin McEvoy, claims the richest prize in Australian racing, winning $5.8 million in prize money for taking out The Everest at Randwick.

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party claims Nationals staff were handing out an unauthorised letter from John Howard and Tim Fischer in the NSW by-election.

Potential Ashes bolter Alex Carey is striving for a baggy green in a year that has already featured plenty of highs, lows and lessons.

Port Adelaide's focus on the free agent market continues to bear fruit, as the Power secure the services of Geelong's Steven Motlop.

A married couple accused of blowing up their investment property to claim insurance money fled interstate because they feared they were being followed by those responsible for the arson attack, a District Court trial hears.

New research finds common chemicals used in cleaning products, foods, cosmetics and plastic containers could be impacting fertility in both men and women.

Police are conducting an extensive search for a 55-year-old woman who is believed to have fallen from a boat near Cygnet south of Hobart.

Premier Jay Weatherill goes back to the future with Labor's first election campaign pledgea promise to "decorporatise" SA Water to ensure state-owned assets remain in public hands.

Potentially harmful chemicals from firefighting foam entering the environment hits the beef industry, with cattle farmers near the Oakey and Williamtown Defence basesworried they might be selling contaminated beef.

A woman suffers a suspected punctured lung after being stabbed by a man who breaks into her home on the New South Wales Central Coast.

A postcode can seem like a little thing, but in some parts of southern Queensland it is forcing farmers to turn desperately needed backpacker workers away.

A rescue helicopter is searching for a person missing from a boat in the Cygnet area south of Hobart.

WA's Supreme Court has convicted some of the state's most infamous criminals over the past century, but did you know an Aboriginal woman apparently haunts the building? Or that a unicorn in chains looks down from above the seat where the judge presides?

Cancer research fundraiser Carlo Tonini can cross off "running a marathon on every continent" once he completes the gruelling Ice Marathon in Antarctica next month. It's all part of his endeavours to raise $250,000 for the Cure Cancer Australia Foundation.

With a big jump in the number of meningococcal cases in Central Australia, concerned families are seeking vaccines.

Skydive Australia suspends its operations at Mission Beach in far north Queensland pending a full inquiry into the deaths of instructors Peter Dawson, 35, and Toby Turner, 34, as well as 54-year-old Kerri Pike.

Sleek, fast and beautifulone of the most iconic racing cars of all time is expected to set an Australian record when it goes under the hammer in Melbourne this weekend.

NSW Nationals MPs will be anxiously eyeing off the results in this weekend's by-elections, as they try to read the tea leaves for their own electoral fate in the 2019 state election.

Far from any national park staff or guardians, the Gangalidda Garawa Rangers in Queensland's Gulf of Carpentaria are responsible for one of Australia's most remote turtle monitoring programs.

Opposition Leader Mike Nahan left people on both sides of politics scratching their heads this week as the Liberals forced the WA Government to stick to one election promise, before urging it to break another one.

A small government forensics laboratory in Perth becomes a global leader after developing a new-tech tool for old-fashioned crime-solving.

Thought to be extinct, they were re-discovered in 2013 to great excitement. Now a second night parrot siting in Western Australia has expanded the range of one of the world's most elusive birds.