A seven-year-old Perth girl who picked up her toddler sister and held her aloft to save her from an attacking rottweiler dog is among a group of West Australians to be honoured with bravery awards.

A sea snake has washed up on a beach near Esperance on WA's southern coast, marking the region's first verified record of the typically tropical creature.

A shortage of volunteers and funding has triggered serious concerns for animal welfare in far-north Western Australia, with cats, dogs, puppies and kittens "very much at risk" of being euthanased.

A regional council hopes to change attitudes towards the straw-necked ibis, cousin of the Australian white ibis or much-maligned bin chicken, in an effort to win over residents and visitors.

Australian farmers are grappling with the future of wheat exports as Black Sea nations like Russia and Ukraine increase shipments to Indonesia.

It is now decades since Todd Jefferis first raised the alarm about the sexual abuse atrocities carried out at Katanning's St Andrew's Hostel in Western Australia, but his fight for justice might finally be nearing an end.

A West Australian man has captured on camera what may be one of the first documented cases of a redback spider capturing a mouse.

The "extinction pit" is the name used by scientists for a place no animal wants to go, and just five years ago the numbat Western Australia's animal emblem found itself on the edge thanks to the rise of a new predator.

Labelled "exceptional" by the state's most experienced equine vet, twin fillies delivered by a mare in WA's Wheatbelt are still alive through a crucial period after being born.

With WA moving closer to legalising voluntary assisted dying, the debate is shining a light on the desperate need for better palliative care, particularly in regional areas.

A tax imposed on West Australian ratepayers 16 years ago to support the state's emergency services has raised more than $3 billion, but just $256 million of that has gone to bush fire brigades, and they say this is forcing them to rattle the tin for some essential equipment.

Australia's $1.4-billion plantation woodchip industry is dragged into the US-China trade war, with a number of shipments to the Asian economic powerhouse cancelled in the fallout from the dispute.

The WA SES Volunteer Association hits out at department bureaucracy after a decade-long wait for equipment.

Alannah MacTiernan says farmers risk losing access to foreign markets because of their reliance on glyphosate, but her remarks draw criticism from farming groups that say the herbicide is a linchpin of the industry.

Praised for its "sweat characters and nuttiness", a Perth-based distillery and second-generation farmer from Western Australia's far-north have teamed up to create Australia's first red corn whiskey.

Suicide is the leading cause of death for Western Australians aged 14 to 44, but the State Government hopes its new plan will save lives.

Sources have confirmed the $150 million public housing debt owed by Tasmania will be waived, as demanded by Senator Jacqui Lambie in exchange for her vote on the Federal Government's tax cuts.

A severe weather warning for Tasmania's east coast is cancelled but heavy rain continues to fall in the region, with snow in the highlands.

A ship left Melbourne in January 1954 to set up Australia's first Antarctic base. Facing harsh conditions and the unknown, the pioneers built Mawson Station.

A man has been charged after he allegedly attempted to drop eight tonnes of animal manure at the offices of Tasmanian politicians.

Cruise ships bring in millions of dollars to Tasmania each year, but tourism operators say if their schedules are not better managed they will continue to be both a "blessing and a curse".

DAILY BRIEFING: For a Tasmanian team to win its place in the AFL it first needs a spot in the second-tier league, according to the code's top local official.

A trampoline lands on the roof of a Hobart home, piercing a bedroom ceiling, as strong winds of up to 155 kilometres per hour wreak havoc in southern Tasmania overnight.

DAILY BRIEFING: Injured formula 3 driver Alex Peroni will return to Hobart in the next few days as questions are raised about why he was allowed to walk from a crash scene in Italy instead of being taken off by stretcher.

Tracey hoped putting her mother in an aged care home would give her a sense of security, but she ended up severely injuring herself in a fall. Warning: contains graphic images.

Formula Three driver Alex Peroni walks off a plane in his hometown of Hobart just one week after a horror race day crash in Italy.

DAILY BRIEFING: A woman is in police custody after a house is in Lauderdale on Hobart's eastern shore is destroyed by fire and concerns raised over planned cuts to distance education teacher levels.

Wombat researchers at the University of Tasmania have won an Ig Nobel Prize for unexpectedly discovering the "quite incredible" reason the animal's scat is cubed.

A man accused of deliberately running over and killing a stranger had post-traumatic stress disorder after an assault nine years earlier, a court has heard.

DAILY BRIEFING: Investigators says a fire a Hobart cafe started when towels ignited in a dryer and a 16-year-old boy is charged with an attempted armed robbery in Launceston.

In an six-hour police interview played to the jury, Ms Otto told detectives she and friend Bradley Purkiss had fantasised about living together and had often said things would be easier if her husband were dead.

A senior member of the Fertility Society of Australia has used a speech at the opening of the society's conference to criticise researchers for making negative comments about the IVF industry in the media.

DAILY BRIEFING: A road in the Central Highlands has reopened after a truck carrying a 68-metre-long wind turbine blade lost its load, a 39-year-old woman dies after being hit by a car and CPSU encourages public sector workers to take part in climate protests.

Laura Kennedy got her first tattoo in Sydney when she was 21, she's now a customer of Tasmania's first dedicated laser tattoo removal studio after a series of bad inking experiences.

Fire is "absolutely the number-one risk" to the city of Hobart, authorities say. But has the island state learnt from the 1967 fires that destroyed hundreds of homes and claimed 62 lives?

DAILY BRIEFING: The father of Graham Enniss, who escaped from Hobart's Risdon Prison this morning, urges his son to hand himself in, as police caution the public to stay away from the man.

A coronial inquest has heard a 56-year-old man who was killed when he was electrocuted at his workplace was trying to move cafe equipment before he died.

Tasmanian police release photos of a number of household items and non-perishable foods found in bushland near where a prison escapee was found.

When there's a smell of smoke in the air, bushfire survivor Michael King still feels jittery. He describes it as similar to "how a Vietnam veteran might feel if he hears the sound of a chopper overhead".

DAILY BRIEFING: Inmates involved in an escape from prison allegedly tried to get out earlier the same morning, and the Tasmanian Mayor defends renting a short-stay property to staff.