Ian Blayney is a regional MP who decided to quit the WA Liberals and move to the Nationals. But everyone, especially his own former party leader, is being strangely nice about it, writes Jacob Kagi.

Got a metal detector? This outback town is setting up a prospecting lease for tourists who want to try their hand at landing a gold nugget.

Friends and relatives of a woman who died in hospital after being shot by police on a suburban street in Geraldton question why police did not employ pepper spray or a Taser instead, as a protest erupts outside the local police station over what they say was excessive force.

As family and friends of Joyce Clarke demand to know why the young woman was shot dead by police, a tragic picture of her early life blighted by drugs and mental illness is beginning to emerge.

Jayden Whyte tried to get help twice on the day he died. Now he is being remembered through a striking grassroots project that could help others before it's too late.

Residents in a regional WA town are fighting against what they say is a life-threatening decline in healthcare services.

A WA rehabilitation centre is finding success with a baking program that has helped drug users some of whom have battled addiction for decades to start recovering.

When Grammy-nominated American jazz performer Joey DeFrancesco sold his blonde-coloured Hammond B3 organ over eBay to an Australian bidder, he had one condition. That it be made available when he played in Australia.

This South Australia rock lobster fisherman can paint surfboards, skate parks and street corners but don't ask Jeremy Ievins to paint a canvas.

A 32-year-old man whose car hit a power pole with enough force to split it is the fourth road crash victim within 24 hours, with SA Police saying speed is a major factor behind a surging death toll.

A six-week suspension handed down to South Australian footballer Casey McElroy is proving deeply divisive, with a female sporting great, a former test cricketer and the state's Minister for Sport criticising it as excessive.

An ageing workforce and preconceptions about the transport industry are helping create a nationwide truck driver shortage that has serious implications for the economy.

Setio Shanahan was out exercising in a local park with a weight vest when police were called. But police say the public has the right to report "unusual behaviour".

The export market for raw leather and sheepskin has plummeted as competition from synthetics and a lack of demand has left exporters with stockpiles of almost worthless skins.

South Australia's forestry industry says it's struggling to secure enough water licences to expand, warning that if growers plant forests interstate instead, jobs and investment will follow.

Analysis by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) finds community service flights conducted by charity Angel Flight Australia have a fatal accident rate more than seven times higher than other private flights.

A little country school in South Australia's south-east provided an instrument for every student and the results have been "joyful".

A senior Corrections executive and a plasterer appear in court following an ICAC investigation, with the pair accused of corruption offences relating to a planned $150 million upgrade of South Australia's biggest prison.

Serial child sex offender Gary John Tipping was due to be released from prison today, but will remain behind bars after an urgent application was granted by the Supreme Court.

Livestock handlers are concerned about safety regulators around the country understanding the hazards of handling livestock, after SafeWork SA mishandled an investigation into a saleyard fault.

A former employee at Renewal SA becomes the first public servant charged with breaching secrecy provisions surrounding investigations by SA's Independent Commissioner Against Corruption.

A growing number of people with chronic diabetes are building their own artificial pancreas which has some health professionals seriously concerned.

A routine car search by Limestone Coast police has led to an investigation into whether south-east drug users are using Australia Post as a courier service to send and receive illegal drugs.

Firefighters extinguish a blaze at Warwick East State School on Queensland's Southern Downs, one of the oldest schools in the state with a building that dates back to the 1850s.

The dog squad catches five teenage boys hiding in a shed, bringing to an end an alleged crime spree that included car theft, armed robbery and break-ins at two supermarkets and three service stations.

A festival that started covering bare CBD trees in knitted jumpers has helped to lift spirits during the drought.

Not many music festivals would encourage fans to get naked for their events, but the Gympie Music Muster in south-east Queensland is doing just that.

Car and house washing are off limits in Queensland's Southern Downs as residents are urged to use no more than 100 litres a day.

Every year for the past two decades, the tiny Queensland town of Weengallon has played host to huge crowds of women dressed in pink who gather for a good cause.

Beth McEwan's world was shattered when her husband Grant took his own life last year. She says he fell through the cracks of the mental health system in their regional city and is calling for services to bridge the gap between hospital and home.

Using his experience as a scientist, Toowoomba gardener Peter Williamson and his horticulturalist wife Charmaine have developed a sprinkler system that simulates rain.

As Queensland's Darling Downs continues to experience one of its worst droughts on record, a scientist and a horticulturalist have developed a recycled watering system to keep their garden alive.

Another Queensland dairy farmer forced to send his herd to the meatworks says it may not have come to that if major supermarkets had passed on milk price increases.

A combination of drought, disease and concerted eradication efforts have seen a huge drop in Queensland's feral rabbit population to their lowest levels in more than 30 years.

The battle between Turkey and Syria may be 13,000 kilometres from Toowoomba, but the effect of the war is being anxiously felt by the Queensland city's new Kurdish community.

A company working on the Shell-owned Queensland Gas Corporation project tells job applicants they will not be accepted until they submit to blood tests to check if they are at risk of heart attack, high cholesterol and other conditions.

Bride Nicole Wilson with groom Mark decided to elope at the Birdsville Big Red Bash after their wedding plans blew out in cost and size.