Sydney news

Frankie Dettori will ride last year's winner Almandin in today's Melbourne Cup, as the Italian jockey some regard as the best in the world looks for his first victory in the great race.

State Emergency Service volunteers work to clean up damage from a ferocious storm on the NSW Hunter Valley and the Central Coast that left a local primary school closed, tore roofs off buildings and brought down powerlines.

Grace Portolesi is expected to take on sitting Liberal MP Vincent Tarzia and former senator Nick Xenophon in the seat of Hartley, in Adelaide's east, at next year's SA election.

From multiple winners to Cup first-timers, here is a look at the jockeys who will be in the hot seat for this year's Melbourne Cup.

Another Melbourne Cup day has arrived and thousands will flock to Flemington to take in the festivities. Follow all of the day's action in our live blog.

Planning expert says Perth suburbs Leederville and Maylands are on the up, and Lathlain and Carlisle are the ones to watch, but why have some survived and are even thriving in the post-boom economy?

There is a new brand of toiletries in town that's going off called Kevin, the Fragrance, and it's not for the man or woman in your life, it's for your best friendyour dog.

John Staynor has worked as a professional funeral photographer for the past 10 years, hired by families to record an event not only filled with grief, but also moments of compassion and tenderness.

John Slaytor has worked as a professional funeral photographer for the past 10 years, hired by families to record an event not only filled with grief, but also moments of compassion and tenderness.

Have you ever considered your weekend camping trip to be contributing to the risk of disease spreading through Australia's beef herd?

A new offence specifically relating to domestic violence will be created by Queensland's LNP, and steps will be taken to crack down on school absences in the state's north, as the Opposition turns its election focus to two areas of social policy.

Former veteran LNP MP Vaughan Johnson gives the Queensland Premier some unexpected support in the Adani controversy, accusing federal politicians of throwing mud at Annastacia Palaszczuk.

Forget the corporate tents and professionally trained horses, the Cape York Peninsula's take on the Melbourne Cup is a little more homemade.

It's been 46 years since the partially clothed body of teenager Deborah Leach was found buried in seaweed at an Adelaide beach. Now the High Court will decide whether to overturn the decades-old conviction of the man found guilty of her murder.

Young leopard seals on adventures are staying on Tasmanian shores longer than usual, giving scientists a study opportunity.

An inaugural, international survey published in Mining Journal has rated the NT 'perceivably' riskier for mining investment than Mexico, Ghana, Kenya, and on par with Zimbabwe.

A far north Queensland farmer hopes to cash in on Australia's love affair with avocados, with a boundary-pushing crop designed to extend the growing season.

A grassroots revolution is occurring in East Arnhem Land as Aboriginal Australians strive to become landlords rather than tenants on their own land.

The Western Sydney Wanderers maintain their unbeaten start to the season with a 1-1 draw with the Melbourne Victory.

The parents of a two-year-old Darwin girl who died from meningococcal disease last month launch a campaign calling on the Federal Government to fund vaccinations for the B-strain of the disease.

The reliability of the State Emergency Service control centre in South Australia is under question after a leaked report claims it is only a matter of time until it fails during a significant event.

Four years ago, Tracy Horner was examining an item connected to the cold case disappearance of teenager Hayley Dodd when her eye caught sight of a small piece of metal.

An Indigenous entrepreneur hoping to reclaim a derogatory term through his clothing label becomes emotional as he is presented the ACT Australian of the Year award for 2018.

Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers take your weekend of A-League deep into Monday at AAMI Park. Get scores, stats and streams in our ScoreCentre.

Vision of the moment an ice addict stole a car with a six-month-old baby in the backseat as a woman jumped on the bonnet to try and stop him in Coburg in Melbourne's north is played before court.

A 20-year-old man who stabbed a police officer in the stomach after his father was put on a plane to a Darwin prison is handed a partially suspended sentence, in a decision the judge described as a "difficult balancing exercise".

A French tourist who caused a crash when she drifted on to the wrong side of the road, killing model and Miss World contestant Elyse Miller-Kennedy, is given a suspended sentence by a District Court judge in Cairns.

Every year at Melbourne Cup time, the battlelines are drawn between the internationals and the locally-trained horses. Andrew McGarry assesses which side will emerge victorious.

Demand for NT buffalo is growing with the first shipment of breeder buffalo to Malaysia in more than a decade.

A mother has spoken out as a warning for other parents after her son accidentally drank a borax solution made by her slime-obsessed daughter.

WA Premier Mark McGowan vowed when elected to be "forceful and unrelenting" in fighting for a better GST share, but he is being undermined by his own party as Labor fights to win the Queensland poll, writes Jacob Kagi.

A roof collapse sends two people to hospital as rain and hail causes widespread damage across NSW, with the bureau predicting more "giant hail" and destructive winds.

Aboriginal children in care should be kept in contact with their families and other Indigenous people, and the age of criminal responsibility should be raised from 10 to 12, according to several submissions to the royal commission into youth detention.

A mayor rejected in a Labor pre-selection stoush will run as an independent for the seat of Rockhampton, in a move ABC election analyst Antony Green says will create an unwelcome distraction for the party.

Christopher Robert Carter admits to fatally stabbing his ex-wife and her partner on the Gold Coast while their five-year-old child was in the home, but denies it was murder.

Police officers are now able to search people with metal detectors and ban them from popular Hindley Street on Friday and Saturdays between 6:00pm and 6:00am, the South Australian Government says, although the Greens believe the laws could backfire.

A Melbourne roller derby team wins the sport's world championships in Philadelphia, becoming the first team from outside the USA to take the title.

The driver of a BMW who hit a 13-year-old girl riding her bike in Melbourne's north before driving off was "fully aware" they had hit someone, police say, as the teenager fights for life in an induced coma.

West Australian property developer Hossean Pourzand disputes allegations it was his idea to set fire to a Welshpool factory he owned in order to make a $20 million insurance claim.

More than 140 people have been bitten or scratched by bats in New South Wales so far this year, putting them at risk of a rabies-like virus, the health department warns.

Not only have the Liberals lost a seat and a crucial vote in the Tasmanian Upper House, they've handed momentum to Labor with a state election looming, writes Richard Baines.

A couple who have spent five years loading up their van and serving meals once a month to Darwin's homeless are now being supported by the Lions Club, enabling them to feed more people more often.

Ballarat 20-year-old Gemma Sargent will give birth to her second child behind bars after she was sentenced to eight years in jail over a fatal car crash two years ago.

When it comes to good ways to test a relationship, isolating yourself and your partner for six months on a windswept island would rank right up there.

As state and federal governments struggle to find a solution to continually rising electricity costs, outback Queensland towns are looking for answers of their own.

Tensions rose in WA's most productive agricultural region over plans to explore for onshore gas and the Premier and cabinet arrived at a town hall meeting in Bunbury on Sunday.

Volunteer Marine Rescue is urging the Queensland Government to fund dredging at Round Hill Creek as the sand bar impedes search and rescue efforts.

Michael Gunner calls on the Federal Government to end its interference in Territory affairs on matters such as voluntary euthanasia and fracking, but says statehood is still a long way away.

Trash talking in Tasmania is usually around sport or GST distribution, but there are calls to make the state the waste research centre of Australia.

On the banks of a central Queensland river, a small group gathered to mark 150 years since one of the most sordid crimes in the region's history.