As a child, Rebecca Clough had no options to play rugby union but never gave up on her dream. She's now the joint-most-capped Wallaroo and believes the Barbarians women's team is a significant move for the sport.

In a case echoing the Melbourne Storm's salary cap scandal that saw them stripped of two premierships, English club Saracens is being booted out of top-flight rugby union after rorting the salary cap for three seasons, during which they won two titles.

Despite the heat, hail and fires, the Brumbies are planning to kick off their Super Rugby 2020 season tonight at Canberra Stadium, bringing some short-term relief to local fans.

Rugby Australia's 25-year marriage to Fox Sports looks to be over, with the code's bosses going to the market as early as this week in the hunt for a new broadcast partner.

Cameron Clyne ends his stint as Rugby Australia chairman effective immediately, replaced by former Wallaby Paul McLean who will take charge on an interim basis.

Outgoing Canberra United coach Heather Garriock admits coaching has taken a toll on her, as the trailblazer also opens up about the challenges for women and mothers in professional sport.

Australia takes control of the Olympic football qualifier against Vietnam, as the Matildas cruise to a 5-0 win that puts them on the verge of qualification for Tokyo.

The English Premier League postpones the Manchester City-Arsenal blockbuster "as a precautionary measure" due to the coronavirus outbreak, as Gunners players go into a fortnight of self-isolation.

As children's weekend sport goes on hold, many parents are wondering if they can receive a refund on the fees already paid.

For the first time in Australia, a farmer is taking legal action against Monsanto the manufacturer of Roundup claiming it caused his cancer.

"The core of Jon Faine, and why his audience and staff love him, is his kindness," writes Daniel Ziffer, who produced Faine's radio program for seven years.

A man who sexually assaulted and murdered a Cambodian refugee in Melbourne three decades ago is sentenced to a lengthy prison term after police use DNA technology not available at the time of the crime.

This week the royal commission in to Australia's aged care system has heard stories of residents left to soil themselves and elderly war veterans heavily sedated to treat their PTSD. It's left some questioning whether the sector's myriad failings can be fixed.

It's early morning and Ernie Poloni is lying in his nursing home bed. Two carers enter his room, unaware that the digital clock on the table holds a hidden camera, writes Anne Connolly

Jemma Burns survived being run over by a truck thanks to the blood donations of others. Now, as the Red Cross Blood Service marks its 90th anniversary, it is planning to expand into other interesting and unusual areas.

Richard Tracey QC is remembered as wise, selfless and admired as the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is told of the "complete shock" of his sudden death.

Submissions to the aged care royal commission called for better staffing and training in aged care facilities around the country.

More than half of Australian nursing homes are understaffed, with residents having less access to qualified nurses than ever before, the aged care royal commission hears.

Letters, flowers and stuffed toys are placed outside the Kiddy Palace childcare centre in Melbourne's north where police say a three-year-old girl was killed after she was accidentally hit by a car.

Police believe a woman was helping children in the back of the car when it began to reverse, hitting and killing a three-year-old girl at the Kiddy Palace childcare centre in Melbourne's north.

Victorian Opposition Leader Michael O'Brien calls on the Office of Public Prosecutions to release its advice not to prosecute Labor figures over the misuse of taxpayer-funded electorate officers during the 2014 election campaign.

Foreign high-rollers can take bags full of cash to the gambling floor at Crown Casino. But a whistleblower says it could be a sign of much bigger problems at the gambling giant.

A senior manager of a Melbourne aged care home initially refused to act on video footage of elder abuse for a month due to the Christmas break, the aged care royal commission hears.

CCTV released by the Supreme Court showed Abdullah Chaarani carrying a large machete up the driveway at his home.

Joseph Wong Kiia Tai had his assets frozen and was banned from travel under UN sanctions because of his ties to Charles Taylor, a Liberian war criminal. So how was he able to enter Australia and gamble at Crown's Melbourne and Perth casinos?

A worker who mistreated six elderly residents at a Melbourne home was suspended three times but allowed to continue working after he passed an elder abuse questionnaire, the aged care royal commission hears.

Police say it is "extremely lucky" nobody was killed when an improvised explosive device launched from a vacant block of land tore through the roof of a nearby home in south-east Melbourne.

New red light cameras in Victoria generate more than $12 million in extra fines, catching out thousands more speedsters and red-light runners. Ten intersections in Melbourne and Geelong have proved particularly lucrative.

A judge jails a Melbourne couple for fraud, acknowledging their imprisonment will be difficult for their young daughters and the family members who will need to look after the girls while their parents are in jail.

The aged care royal commission hears chronic short-staffing is compromising the care of nursing home residents, leaving some workers to question whether they want to stay in the sector.

For Ashleigh Brazill, 2019 is truly the year she realised she can have it all. The Collingwood star made the AFLW All-Australian squad, has returned to the national netball side and is set to become a first-time mum.

Victorian households could be separating rubbish into six or more bins instead of the usual two or three if the state adopts recommendations from Infrastructure Victoria, which has released its ideas for dealing with the recycling crisis.

The current and former Victoria Police commissioners who knew about and authorised the recruitment of Lawyer X could face criminal charges, according to the state's former chief crown prosecutor.

Podcasting has reached a tipping point in 2019. No longer the miniscule cousin of traditional radio, podcasting has gone mainstream, writes manager of ABC Audio Studios Kellie Riordan.

Controversial cartoonist Michael Leunig is accused of unfairly judging mothers in a cartoon that suggests some love their phones and Instagram more than their children.

The artist sister of cartoonist Michael Leunig says she does not believe her brother understands how hard mothers work and that many are also juggling careers, after his controversial cartoon appeared to critique heavy use of social media by mothers.

When Lily Yan first walked into an Australian pub, locals stopped and stared. But she hasn't let a few odd looks deter her.

The sister of murdered exchange student Aiia Maasarwe says she does not feel safe in Melbourne, as she returns to the city of her sister's death to help launch a fellowship in her honour.

One of three peregrine falcon chicks that hatched, in front of thousands of online fans, has died in a nest perched high on a Melbourne skyscraper, marking the third year in a row the nest has suffered such a loss.

St Kilda's former number-one draft pick Paddy McCartin's problems with concussion reach a critical point, with the forward de-listed and sitting out the 2020 season to get his health in order.

Furious connections demand answers from Racing Victoria after two fancied horses were withdrawn from the Melbourne Cup over fears they have incomplete leg fractures.

Another international raider grabs the last automatic spot in the Melbourne Cup, with the Joseph O'Brien-trained Downdraft earning his spot with a win in the Hotham Handicap on Derby Day.

As Vow and Declare stormed to his thrilling Melbourne Cup victory, a group of novice part-owners in the Queensland town of Gympie were celebrating a dream come true.

Over four years, Bobby Singh made more than $2 million in subsidies for students enrolled at this Melbourne training college. It never taught a single class. But it all came undone in one phone call.

When 40,000 seedlings propagated by prisoners at Loddon Prison were not going to be planted, locals stepped in to make sure the trees would find a home.

Comic superheroes and villainous characters put their differences aside over the weekend, uniting for far north Queensland's first ever pop culture and comic convention, Tropicon.