Gilbert Parker is remembered by friends as a "fine man", after he went missing in seas off Fiji when his helicopter crashed as he attempted to take a mother and her two-year-old son to hospital.

Farmers Stephen Black and Melissa Portingale were so desperate for water they put a rare ooshie up for sale. That's when the trouble started.

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.

Only containers purchased or collected in NSW are supposed to be retuned under the state's scheme.

Wodonga grandmother Janice Marcuzzi is among those residents crossing state borders to take advantage of container deposit schemes.

Emergency services are warning Victorians to brace for a cold snap and wind gusts of up to 130kph in parts of the south-east, while alpine areas may enjoy heavier snowfall.

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.

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.

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.

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".

Tim Fischer highlights education, leadership, bold thinking, and towns working together as his tips for a successful regional Australia in his final pre-recorded video speech.

Commemorating his love for trains, Tim Fischer's coffin was transported by rail to Albury where a state funeral will be held.

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.

The parents of a teenage girl who died after falling off a horse say riders are subjected to avoidable risks when there is no way to trace an animal's history.

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.

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.

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.

A cow has amazed a pair of cattle farmers and fascinated a veterinarian after giving birth to rare quadruplets.

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.

Operations will cease at Albury's Norske Skog paper mill, with 183 employees to lose their jobs after the company announced the sale of its Ettamogah site to Australian papermaker Visy.

Equestrian sports are set for a major safety overhaul following an inquest into the deaths of two teenagers who died while taking part in separate eventing competitions three years ago.

Easy-to-use apps are the key to citizen science take-up rates to fill in the gaps on data collection.

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.

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.

Australia's largest cotton farm Cubbie Station has opened its gates to local government councillors from across the Murray-Darling Basin.

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

DNA testing has confirmed that a "seriously cute" little dog that crash-landed into a Victorian backyard is an endangered breed of dingo.

The Returned and Services League in NSW says it has been falling behind in providing services and enticing new members and is now renewing its refocus on caring for veterans and their families.

Scientists are hoping to stop mountain pygmy possums from hibernating, acclimatise them to warmer environments, then relocate new populations to lowland forests.

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.

Recognised as "the last frontier" and the land of opportunity, Darwin has always occupied a special fascination for the rest of Australia. So many of you asked what attracts people to the Top End, and what the residents are like. Here's a snapshot.

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.

A $500 million methanol plant with the capacity to produce 1,000 tonnes a day of the chemical could begin operating by 2024 in the Darwin Harbour.

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.

The NT Police's recent haul included a banned Adler shotgun and a pistol once owned by Vic Hall, a legendary NT Mounted Police officer and World War One veteran who wrote numerous books about his colourful life in the outback.

A black plume leaks into Darwin Harbour from a local sewerage plant.