Just off a quiet bush track near one of Queensland's most popular look outs, little notes and letters are left in a portal to childhood magic..

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

With any overseas adventures off the table for a while, Australians will be dreaming of escaping the shutdown and heading out for a holiday. Here's how every state and territory plans to get people travelling again.

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 boy who stole from a pizza delivery driver and caused $6,000 damage to a vehicle at a construction site was being given cannabis by his family at the time, a court has heard.

While the cash economy is dwindling, small businesses still need somewhere to deposit their coins but where do you take them when your local bank branch closes?

A trial is underway to determine if two former senior staff from the Shire of Exmouth in WA falsified records in relation to a $1 million aquarium purchase.

NASA and European Space Agency scientists are in remote Australia learning about the origins of life on Earth, and it's all to prepare for "the greatest treasure hunt ever" the next mission to Mars.

A tiny male marsupial dies in the wild after "intense" mating and not from the harsh, arid environment in which it lives, research confirms.

A measles outbreak in Perth's south spreads to Western Australia's mining industry after a fly-in, fly-out worker for Fortescue Metals Group is diagnosed in the Pilbara.

The future of 100 workers at the first planned lithium processing facility in WA's north is uncertain after they were given two hours to pack their bags after the night shift.

Why do we see the past through rose-coloured glasses, but not the future? Psychologists tell us that human beings have a tendency to be fearful and pessimistic about the future, while simultaneously romanticising the past. If the theory is true, it might help explain the difficulties we often have in making informed decisions and effectively planning for the future.

Desertification and land degradation affect the lives of around three billion people, according to UN estimates. Two ambitious projects aim at halting desertification and returning soil to productivity: the Great Green Wall project in northern Africa; and the Green Great Wall initiative in China.

In this episode, we look ahead to the news and broader media environment in 2020 and pressing issues for local content in a globalised world. We also hear about the need to “decomputerise” in order to decarbonise. 

Why do we see the past through rose-coloured glasses, but not the future? Psychologists tell us that human beings have a tendency to be fearful and pessimistic about the future, while simultaneously romanticising the past. If the theory is true, it might help explain the difficulties we often have in making informed decisions and effectively planning for the future.

Competition is often seen almost as a universal good. But economist Nicholas Gruen says a slavish adherence to making everything a competition is damaging our trust in public institutions. Also, the Belgian community trialling an ancient form of democracy. And if big data is made collectively, would nationalising it help to ensure the benefits are widely distributed?

MIT research scientist, Andrew McAfee, argues we need to rethink our assumptions about capitalism and the environment.   Economic growth, he says, has been gradually decoupling from resource consumption. So, if capitalism survives this current crisis, we may need to adapt our understanding of the way it all works.  We also hear from Annmaree O’Keeffe, from the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program, about the value of Australia’s international public broadcasting effort now that the Pacific is once again an Australian geopolitical focus.

Fifteen-year-old Connor Meldrum, who was badly injured in a cliff accident, will undergo surgery to have fitted to his skull a custom-printed polyethylene material that mimics the properties of living bone.

Police arrest three people who allegedly led them on a pursuit in two stolen cars through several Adelaide suburbs, after road spikes failed to stop the high-speed chase.

NSW makes a massive seven changes for the must-win Origin II in Perth on Sunday, led by the return of James Maloney to the halves while injury forces two changes for Queensland.

The number of older women experiencing homelessness has surged in recent years, with divorce, pay disparity and a lack of superannuation culminating in a "perfect storm" of gender disadvantage.

The WA Attorney-General casts doubt on whether more than $600,000 worth of severance payouts, made to former Health Department employees embroiled in a decades-long corruption scandal, will be recovered.

Chrys Barker has been confined to a wheelchair and is in need of 24-hour care since being critically injured in a car accident in 2014. He's now been awarded what is believed to be the biggest single personal injury settlement in Queensland.

Security guards are seen during the Round 13 AFL match between the Carlton Blues and the Western Bulldogs at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne, Saturday, June 15, 2019.

Sex workers say they are being harassed and intimidated by South Australian police, as figures show charges for sex-work offences have spiked in the past two years.

A Perth woman sustains burns to 30 per cent of her body and is taken to hospital in a critical condition after a man allegedly set her alight and then threw a firebomb into a house in Perth's east overnight.

Coroner Barry King warns police of probable adverse findings against them for their incompetence during the initial investigation into the 1975 killing of Perth brothel madam Shirley Finn, as he closes an inquest into her murder which he says will likely remain unsolved.

The Victorian branch of the CFMEU threatens to immediately cease all financial support for the ALP if Labor leader Anthony Albanese's push to expel union leader John Setka goes ahead.

Mascot Towers building management tells residents who were evacuated on Friday night after cracks were found in the Sydney apartment building to seek help from the Salvation Army if they are facing financial hardship.

A screen shot showing an umpire telling a security guard to get off the pitch as two players tussle at the North Melbourne vs GWS Giants AFL match at Bellrieve Oval in Hobart on Saturday June 15, 2019.

An Indigenous boy with an intellectual impairment was stripped naked inside Brisbane's adult maximum-security police watch house after being deemed a suicide risk, documents reveal.

A screen shot showing an umpire telling a security guard to get off the pitch as two players tussle at the North Melbourne vs GWS Giants AFL match at Bellrieve Oval in Hobart on Saturday June 15, 2019.

MORNING BRIEFING: Housing Minister optimistic debt will be wiped, city demands urgent action on climate emergency and councils increase rates.

Ex-detective Paul Dale tells a royal commission he has waited years to expose "corruption" within Victoria Police over the use of Nicola Gobbo as an informer, and that his sexual relationship with the woman known as Lawyer X has been exaggerated.

A south-east Queensland council with more than 700 memorabilia items the bulk of which is believed to have been bought with ratepayers' money is asking the community what should be done with the haul.

If you look up to the eastern sky tonight, you're likely to spot one of the biggest planets at its brightest. Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun and largest in our solar system, is visible to stargazers this month.

A life-saving surgery seen as a major breakthrough in stroke treatment is only available to Canberrans during business hours, but soon patients will not have to worry about whether the timing of their stroke will affect their care.

A screen shot showing an umpire telling a security guard to get off the pitch as two players tussle at the North Melbourne vs GWS Giants AFL match at Bellrieve Oval in Hobart on Saturday June 15, 2019.

Funding flows for low-income earners to buy a home and a new Women's and Children's Hospital are on the cards in South Australia's 2019 budget. Find out how the budget will impact you.