In sentencing, Justice Blokland takes into account the age of the offender but describes his actions as "shocking" and "deserving of a strong punitive response."

In the middle of the Australian outback, an unlikely safe haven has emerged for birds migrating across the southern hemisphere. Now, the odorous oasis is helping keep Australian birds alive.

Despite the Earl of Wessex's decades of royal training, nothing could prepare him for a crash course in Aussie Rules football in the sizzling Top End sun.

When Hannah Mifflin's 4WD broke down during an eight-month family road trip around Australia, she never expected they would find themselves accidentally moving to the Red Centre.

A veteran helicopter pilot recalls the rescues from Uluru he took part in and says he is surprised the climb has not been closed sooner.

The 64-year-old tourist was reported missing after failing to return from a bushwalk near Ormiston Gorge in the West MacDonnell ranges 135 kilometres west of Alice Springs.

An inquest into the deaths of Linden Kunoth and Jordan Allen, who died by suicide, finds that neither man should have been granted leave from the Alice Springs mental health ward.

Airlines around the world grounded their Boeing 737 MAX 8 passenger planes after two crashes which killed 346 people. Now, as investigations continue, six of the planes are flown to Alice Springs for storage.

Bushwalkers and map sellers say the decision by Geoscience Australia to stop printing and selling topographic maps will put people's safety at risk and impact on our understanding of remote Australia.

An Aboriginal artist is commissioned to design a new sanctuary window for a Central Australian Catholic church in celebration of reconciliation.

It will take up to four hours for critically injured patients from these remote communities to reach emergency medical treatment if the NT Government pushes ahead with plans to close clinics.

As people flock to Uluru in their thousands to make the ascent while they still can, tour operators are finding new ways for people to enjoy the area after the climb is closed for good next weekend.

Participants in this horticulture program say they are growing in confidence as they are growing fruit and vegetables.

The climb closure at Uluru could motivate other traditional owner groups around the country to limit access to their cultural and sacred sites.

If tourists could see Mutitjulu, most would be shocked by the level of abject poverty at Australia's famous natural wonder.

A pet deer fatally attacks a man and injures his wife during feeding. The couple's son had to beat the animal with a lump of wood to save his mother, the ABC has been told.

An Irish family, who has been living in regional Victoria for almost a decade, faces deportation after their son is diagnosed with cystic fibrosis.

The Agriculture Department is standing by a controversial water buyback deal worth $80 million, which Labor leader Bill Shorten says is a "scandal" worthy of inquiry.

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.

The family of brutally murdered woman Karen Chetcuti, whose killer was a rapist on parole, is suing the Victorian Government for her wrongful death.

A hailstorm blankets Gippsland beaches in white as a cold front sweeps across Victoria, downing trees and causing flash flooding as it dumps 50 millimetres of rain west of Melbourne.

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.

A fortnightly welfare payment for farmers, considered to be the cornerstone of drought assistance, should be removed from social security legislation, an independent review recommends.

Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer says the three-week early voting period is bad for democracy, particularly in regional Australia.

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".

How will the Victorian Government find the cash to deliver its costly promises as stamp duty falls and federal funding hopes are not realised? Through what the Treasurer warned would be a "Budget of hard choices".

Four children are among eight people rescued from cars trapped in snow as Victoria is hit by unusually heavy May falls.

As Victoria's road toll surges well above what it was this time a year ago, we look at some of the state's most misunderstood traffic rules.

By the time the young platypus was discovered in a river in Victoria's Alpine Shire, the bands had worn wounds down to the bone.

Wangaratta Council has issued the pig's owner with a cease and desist notice, stating he has broken a local law by walking Grunt the pig in public and will be fined $806 if he continues.

The brothers shot and injured by police after wielding a knife and tomahawk during a confrontation in Victoria's north-east were of interest to counterterrorisminvestigators.

The brothers shot by police in Barnawartha North yesterday were radicalised before going to jail last year, NSW Corrective Services allege, as counterterrorism police say one of the men had been on their radar for at least two years.

As much of New South Wales continues to battle drought, one Gundagai farmer is counting himself as one of the lucky ones.

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

It is a familiar story, high commodity prices benefit some parts of the supply chain, but not others. That is the case in the sheep and lamb industry, where record prices are a boon for farmers, but a nightmare for processors and butchers.

There has been a second milk recall affecting stores in Victoria and southern New South Wales over fears about possible E.coli contamination.

Conservationists are hoping new, tiny satellite tracking tech can show where these critically endangered birds hide each and every year.

Victoria's high country huts, preserved and maintained by around 240 volunteers, are each a little piece of history with an important job to do.

A group of Barwon-Darling farmers have offered to sell their water entitlements at a value which would encourage new owners "not to grow cotton".