MORNING BRIEFING: An independent panel gives a 30-storey tower and retail complex at Barangaroo the green light, while police are perplexed how an SUV ended up on top of a parked car.

They've battled gale-force winds, cold winter nights, and drunks serenading them with Billy Joel classics at three in the morning. But two young medicos are determined to keep sleeping out in their scrubs to draw attention to the detention of asylum seekers.

It startled the cows, intrigued the locals and excited scientists around the world. Fifty years on, the Murchison meteorite still defines a town and yields new discoveries every year.

Almost 30 years after a car accident left Picton artist Freya Jobbins' face disfigured, she's deconstructing dolls to make creations that shock.

With so much of Australia's allure to tourists based on our oceans and waterways, a charity founder has launched a campaign he'd like to see played in airports and pushed via visa applications.

After police recorded her abusing an elderly woman, a carer told a court what it heard was "me slapping myself". In finding her guilty, the magistrate described the 26-year-old as "mean-spirited and nasty".

The University of Adelaide says the departures of chancellor Kevin Scarce and vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen have nothing to do with its finances despite admitting it is facing a budget shortfall of $100 million.

A man is allegedly found with six prohibited substances in his system after being pulled over on a highway in the Northern Territory yesterday morning.

Sam Leishman was sexually abused by his high school teacher in Hobart in 1978. He and other survivors are suing the Department of Education for negligence.

Many Australians look at the gun culture in America in disbelief. But examining our shared histories with guns, it was only a few sliding doors moments that stopped us going down that path.

Imagine trying to eradicate COVID-19 without knowing how many cases there are in Australia. That is the situation mental health advocates say is hampering the fight against suicide.

Coronavirus has crippled the global tourism industry and in Thailand that means it includes elephants. As a result of the pandemic many elephants are heading back to their natural habitats.

Hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren visit the national capital each year to study history and democracy — except, of course, this year.

The family of 19-year-old Sabrina Di Lembo allege the GPs and mental health service involved in her treatment were negligent.

Up to five members of the same household will be allowed to visit another household this Sunday as the Queensland Government moves to further ease COVID-19 contact restrictions.

One of two US citizens captured off the Caribbean Coast this week has appeared on camera during an interrogation, backing the Venezuelan government's theory over the failed invasion.

The US Presidential candidate and basketball legend are among those publicly demanding justice after video allegedly shows an unarmed black man being chased down and shot dead.

A southern Tasmanian man in his 60s is the latest to test positive for COVID-19 as the Premier prepares to release details on Friday afternoon of a slow easing of coronavirus restrictions.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex throw their celebrity power behind a campaign to help children and families struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Erika Freingruber was stuck on the floor of her Beaudesert home, south of Brisbane, for up to five days with a broken hip before police rescue her after a tip-off from the state's newly-formed coronavirus Care Army.

The Prime Minister wants to get the nation "back to work" and is expected to announce an easing of COVID-19 restrictions on Friday. But will Australians put their health at risk by taking public transport?

Police arrest a 67-year-old man and his son on Queensland's Sunshine Coast over an alleged line dancing scam after searching for the pair for more than a year.

South Australia records its first new COVID-19 case in a fortnight, with a man who returned from the UK in March testing positive weeks after he is believed to have contracted the virus.

National Cabinet will not be looking to rapidly lift wide-ranging restrictions on movement and business all at once when it meets tomorrow to consider Australia's response to the coronavirus pandemic.

A long-awaited path out of nationwide coronavirus restrictions that have upended the lives of millions of Australians is expected to be considered when state and territory leaders meet with the Prime Minister today.

So far, only eight COVID-19 vaccine efforts have moved to clinical trial stage. And five of them involve Chinese companies or government research institutes. Here's why it would be hugely important to China's Government if a domestic company prevails.

Queenslanders can enjoy a gradual easing of coronavirus restrictions ahead of Mother's Day, but we're not out of the virus crisis yet, so what can you do and what can't you do?

Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania are the first states to announce the easing of coronavirus restrictions under the National Cabinet's plan to reopen Australia, but Victorians will have to wait until Monday to learn what rules will change for them. As it happened.

A lucrative but illegal trade in alcohol known as sly-grogging has developed in remote towns and there are allegations it is being facilitated by rogue taxi drivers.

After years of failed self-regulation, the Federal Government has imposed a watchdog on the financial planning sector. But will FASEA be able to stop conflicted payments and poor advice where many others have tried and failed?

A gonorrhoea expert says people will be keen to get "out and about" as social restrictions ease, which could worsen an already higher-than-usual number of cases on the Gold Coast.

When Lou Myers brings out the lead and harness, Kartika the Bengal cat knows fun times are ahead.

SA Police officer Joanne Shanahan, who was killed in an horrific road crash last month, has been farewelled by friends, family and colleagues at an emotional funeral service in Adelaide.

Christopher Turner, the contractor responsible for a gas mix-up that poisoned two newborns with nitrous oxide at a Sydney hospital, is convicted and fined $100,000.

Tasmanian students can return to classrooms by the end of May under the Premier's plan to roll back coronavirus restrictions. Rules around national parks, funerals and aged care visits will ease from Monday, with two consecutive days without new cases.

It will be up to the state and territory governments to decide when cafes and restaurants reopen across the country. Here's how the situation is looking in your state.

You can visit mum for Mother's Day and fire up the barbecue for a few mates, but you still can't eat at restaurants and it will be some time yet before you can have a beer at the pub.

The Australian economy may be tanking due to the coronavirus pandemic, but for businesses promoting self-sufficiency, the sun is still shining.

Roy Horn, one half of the longtime Las Vegas illusionist duo Siegfried & Roy, has died at the age of 75 after suffering complications from coronavirus.

No new COVID-19 cases were recorded as the State Government announced a multi-million-dollar medical research fund to tackle the disease.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian will announce the plan to start relaxing lock down restrictions from Friday, but local and regional travel is not yet back on the menu.

A remote community in Western Australia equips students for the future through an independent teaching program at home, and by sending senior students to a boarding school 1,500km away for vocational training.

Katherine Comparti says "everything you could imagine" went through her mind when she became lost in thick jungle during a holiday to the remote island of Christmas Island off the West Australian coast.

A decision more than two decades ago to stop births at the hospital on Christmas Island has had significant financial and social effects on locals in the years since.

It is a piece of Australian history never heard how a waitress, a TV repair man and a young Croatian migrant in a remote WA town helped the US win the space race by sending man to the Moon half a century ago.