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

Heavy snow, freezing temperatures and "treacherous driving conditions" close access to a popular snow resort as Victoria shivers through its third day of an extreme cold snap that's blanketing towns in snow.

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

The Government believes the projects will create more than 600 jobs and generate enough clean energy to power more than 80,000 homes, while farmers have labelled the decision as "gutless".

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

Murderer Michael Cardamone, who tortured and callously killed Victorian woman Karen Chetcuti-Verbunt in 2016, has his life jail term upheld by appeal judges who say the "dreadful punishment" is fit for "a dreadful crime".

Authorities discover more than 120 dead native birds, believed to have been poisoned, on a rural property in northern Victoria.

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

Mick Keelty says a string of scandals involving water thefts and corruption have fostered public mistrust in the plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin.

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.

Victims of a bushfire almost a decade ago are set to receive millions of dollars in compensation following a ruling by the High Court.

Voting opens for Victorian Aboriginal communities to elect the people who will help make the rules for what are expected to be the first treaty negotiations in Australia.

The deadly march of pig-killing African swine fever is continuing, with one quarter of the world's pigs now dead, according to meat and livestock analysts.

A $30 million proposal for a sheep abattoir that would employ 150 full-time workers is opposed by a group of residents, who are concerned about potential health impacts and devaluation of their properties.

An agricultural chemical used to control mites is believed to have killed hundreds of wedge-tailed eagles in northern Victoria.

As farming groups lobby the Federal Government to take action on soaring water prices, water brokers warn some irrigators will be worse off if the Government intervenes in the trade.

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 Gippsland couple missing in Victoria's High Country since Monday has been found safe and well.

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.

The Victorian Government's historic treaty negotiations with the state's Aboriginal communities are one step closer this week, with the election of the First Peoples' Assembly. But the toughest yards to meaningful treaties still lie ahead.

The group representing Victoria's councils calls for organisations like independent schools, pokies clubs and churches to pay their fair share of rates because "mum and dad homeowners" are unfairly cross-subsidising private and commercial enterprises.

The sister of missing hiker Niels Becker hopes he will be found with an "epic story" to tell after failing to return from five-day hike in cold conditions in Victoria's alpine region.

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.

When AFL star Cyril Rioli started playing football inside Australias most infamous youth detention centre, he found teenagers ready to change.

Documents tendered in the Northern Territory Supreme Court allege the five-storey complex in Darwin which is now advertised as "the epitome of waterfront living" almost collapsed before its completion in 2017.

Northern Territory politicians are calling for the auditor-general to look into the Darwin Turf Club's decision to award a $12 million government-funded tender to a company run by the club's chairman.

The high-profile host of SBS show Living Black says she was racially profiled by police in the Northern Territory, saying she was treated like a "grog runner" when she entered an Alice Springs bottle shop.

Tanking crowd numbers, a lack of draft picks and a haemorrhaging of hundreds of thousands in sponsorship funds have assisted in the demise of the Northern Territory's top-tier AFL team.

A report says the process for a $12 million grandstand at Darwin Turf Club was "independent and fair", but the Chief Minister wants rules tightened.

A coronial inquest finds found the death of Daniel Bleaney, who died by suicide after absconding from Darwin psychiatric facility, was entirely preventable.

Paula Thornton journeyed through 20 countries in 14 months, and where some may consider relying on hand gestures rude or disrespectful of culture and language, for Ms Thornton this is her everyday.

Indigenous athlete Shericka Mahoney only received her running blade in June but has set records for long jump and the 100-metres at a national athletics event.

The life story of a former world champion bull rider resonates with participants of an Aboriginal-run initiative that is using rodeo to improve lives in the Kimberley.

A new foundation to help fund lawsuits against perpetrators of child sexual abuse is launched, with profits from successful legal action used to help victims and survivors.

Sniffer dogs are being urgently flown to northern Australia to try and stop a disease that has wiped out around 20 per cent of the world's pig population from coming onto Australian shores.

Pregnant Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory are three times less likely to go to a clinic for their first antenatal visit, and the consequences can be devastating. But these healthcare workers are making a difference.

A convicted violent rapist who was found to be at risk of reoffending was on the run for a week before being arrested in the Northern Territory, with no public notifications or warnings issued by NT Police.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show almost 78 per cent of Katherine residents are now either overweight or obese, the highest proportion in the country. But the town's Mayor is not quite convinced.

Michael Gunner says a nine-hour blackout which left thousands of residents across Central Australia without power during the heat of the day on Sunday is "unacceptable" and calls for a review into the region's power supply.

Territorians will not benefit from a government dominated by independent candidates, insists CLP hopeful Tracey Hayes as she starts her challenge against Chief Minister Michael Gunner.

A young teenage girl is forcibly stripped and kept naked in a police cell for almost an hour after being briefly forced into one of the spit-hoods banned in youth prisons ahead of the Northern Territory royal commission.

The debt-laden Gunner Government has spent almost $170 million on unbudgeted policy changes including $12 million for a grandstand at the Fannie Bay racecourse in the two months after its May Budget was handed down.

It was the first jurisdiction in the country to roll out a floor price on alcohol, alongside a raft of other measures, and data shows is it having a significant effect in the Northern Territory.

One of the nation's most powerful trade unions lashes the Northern Territory Government for its "unacceptable" lack of a policy platform in the lead up to the 2020 Territory election.

The wrongful arrest of a man who spent 103 days in custody over an alleged rape, while awaiting DNA results, prompts a review into the NT Police forensics branch.

An "extremely disturbing" trend of Northern Territory Government workers facing "reprisals" for raising concerns about corruption or improper conduct triggers a call for the region's whistleblower laws to be strengthened.