Rural independents are proving a difficult test for the Coalition in this election. But the pathway to parliament is harder than it might seem.

Fair water trading and cheap on-farm loans are at the centre of a Coalition pre-election promise to boost Australia's agriculture sector.

Police charge a woman with common assault after the Prime Minister is egged while meeting with delegates from the Country Women's Association in Albury, on the NSW-Victorian border.

A group of nine irrigators has lodged a class action in the NSW Supreme Court against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, claiming its negligent water management has caused $750 million in losses.

Aged care advocates say policy, regulatory and funding systems have not kept pace with the changing needs and expectations of the growing number of older Australians.

As the water dries up in drought-affected Australia, so does the money that keeps many country towns afloat.

Concerns are raised about Charles Sturt University's spending priorities and credibility after a number of conditions were attached to the facility's registration.

Amber Holt, who is accused of throwing an egg at Scott Morrison during a CWA meeting in Albury earlier this month, pleads guilty to possessing a prohibited drug but her lawyer says a charge of common assault requires "further representation".

The newly sworn-in Water Minister David Littleproud is to order ACCC inquiry into water trading in southern basin.

Australia's largest timber building, the Mount Buffalo Chalet, will stay mothballed through another Australian winter without undergoing any development works.

Relatives are mourning the death of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who died on Saturday when a microlight flown by her uncle crashed into the waters of Lake Eildon in central Victoria.

Police recover the body of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who was a passenger in a microlight aircraft that had crashed into Lake Eildon, in central Victoria. The pilot was rescued by a fishing boat and taken to hospital.

More than 1,000 pipes from Albury's St Matthew's Church's renowned Letourneau organ will be removed and restored after being damaged by fire three years ago.

Two teenagers accused of killing a man in north-east Victoria admit they "bashed" him because he offered to pay one of their girlfriends for sex, a court hears.

A New South Wales woman pleads guilty to common assault for throwing an egg at the Prime Minister's head during the election campaign.

High water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin are blamed on foreign investors and corporate speculators. The simple truth is they are caused mostly by lack of rain.

Consumers turn to goat meat as an alternative, but tough seasonal conditions, wild dogs, and destocking, see producers struggling to keep up with demand.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will investigate who actually owns Australia's water, in particular the Murray-Darling Basin's $2 billion water market.

Albury supermarket owner Bob Mathews says the scheme has cost his business.

The court heard the 67-year-old Victorian man, who carried out a series of "chilling and vile" sexual attacks on his granddaughter, also posed online as a female, teenage victim of child abuse.

Before he retires, Bishop John Parkes in north-east Victoria is pushing for same-sex marriages to be blessed by the Anglican Church.

New analysis of water prices in the southern Murray-Darling Basin finds water prices sitting at levels only previously seen during the Millennium Drought.

End-of-year formal costs can be huge and for many farming families, it's a cost they struggle to afford. So a NSW woman is doing something about it.

La Trobe University wants to reach a zero emissions target within 10 years to try to be Victoria's first carbon-neutral tertiary facility.

A north-east Victorian Anglican diocese has voted to bless same-sex marriages, a move that may provoke a crisis in the church.

A significant move by the Anglican Church to bless the marriage of two gay priests at a ceremony this week has been postponed due to a legal challenge.

Alpine real estate is getting more expensive at Australia's ski resorts, seemingly shrugging off concerns about the impact of climate change on natural snowfall.

Eighteen months after being diagnosed with breast cancer, Regan Lions is fundraising as a way of saying thanks to the centre where she had some of her treatment.

Police believe human remains found in the Murray River at Albury belong to 21-year-old university student Bigul Pandit, who drowned while swimming with friends in January.

Two men have been ordered to stand trial over the murder of Wangaratta man Nathan Day, with a Victorian court hearing evidence from dozens of witnesses during a week-long committal hearing.

Beloved Australian songwriter Garry Koehler, who rose to fame with his band The Bobkatz after penning The Man in the Picture, has died in his Queensland home.

A father who was on his L-plates drank "up to 40 cans of alcohol" before getting behind the wheel pleads guilty to causing the death of his son.

Police have confirmed the body of a man found in missing NSW woman Ruth Ridley's car in Victoria is that of her estranged husband.

A man collapses and dies while hiking with a family member on a remote bush trail near Mount Sonder in Central Australia. It is the second death on the trail in 18 months.

The Northern Territorys first known contract killer may have accidentally died in his prison cell after using drugs, investigators believe.

Water is running dry in the Top End but is funding for a dam the right way to fix it?

In their ruling, the three Court of Appeals judges say a couple who were inside the home had not done anything to "revoke or negate" the implied right for police to walk up their footpath and approach the door.

A judge finds "extraordinary" flaws in the environment watchdog's decision not to require a formal impact assessment on a bid to clear 20,000 hectares of native vegetation on a cattle station south of Darwin, but steers clear of arguments over climate change.

A tour guide, who says he has "never seen anything like this before", thought there had been a massive oil slick when he first saw the thick black water flowing out past a tourist hot spot in the Northern Territory.