Whether it's seeing family and friends, playing sport, eating out, dating or travel, we're all yearning for things that are out of our grasp right now. And experts say that might ultimately change us for the better.

As lockdown begins to ease the lesson is to take it gently and recognise we may have entered a new epoch of rolling pandemics, writes Virginia Trioli.

Theatres and art galleries around the country are on high alert after the NSW Government decision to withhold an annual grant from Australia's biggest multi-arts venue, Carriageworks, forcing it to appoint administrators.

Some aged care homes will allow staggered visits over the Mother's Day weekend to abide by social distancing requirements.

The Australian economy may be tanking due to the coronavirus pandemic, but for businesses promoting self-sufficiency, the sun is still shining.

The parents of young children in Queensland will be fighting back the urge to jump for joy this weekend, but the little ones might be feeling a bit anxious about returning to school.

Tasmania's spaghetti soup of road shoulders, painted green lanes, shared-use paths and recreational tracks frustrates cyclists on a daily basis, but with usage on the rise advocates are hoping change is on the way.

Darwin's famous Parap Markets reopen today and it is only six more sleeps until Territorians can order a pint at the pub.

A 92-year-old resident of Newmarch House aged care home in western Sydney dies after contracting coronavirus, as NSW reaches a record high in testing rates.

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.

The American pianist-singer, regarded as the founding father of rock music, dies from unknown causes aged 87.

A powerful cold front brings strong northerly gusts and heavy rainfall to much of southern Western Australia, damaging homes, leaving more than 35,000 properties without electricity and washing up yachts.

A remote community in Western Australia equips students for the future through an independent teaching program at home, and by sending senior students to a boarding school 1,500km away for vocational training.

It is a piece of Australian history never heard how a waitress, a TV repair man and a young Croatian migrant in a remote WA town helped the US win the space race by sending man to the Moon half a century ago.

The January deadline is looming for the shipping industry to clean up its act on reducing air pollution as vessels across the world will be required to use low-sulphur fuel oil.

Drought sees Pilbara stations sell off their entire herds, but this manager says it's not the end.

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?

An online petition and Facebook page to negotiate better deals on high-cost airfares for regional West Australians is gaining traction.

Six Malaysian men visit Perth seeking $1.5 million they lost when an alleged Ponzi property scheme masterminded by WA businesswoman Veronica Macpherson collapsed three years ago.

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.

Polluting heavy metals may be leaking into an outback river system in WA's Pilbara and the problem has been made worse by the massive deluge that accompanied Tropical Cyclone Veronica in March.

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.

Scientist Richard Connor has discovered that Monkey Mia's dolphins have the most complex non-human society on the planet.

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

Once the scene of entrenched, intergenerational alcohol abuse, a historical hotel in WA's remote Pilbara region is now a symbol of hope and cultural pride.

A tiny rainbow-hued lizard which all but disappeared from the wild 10 years ago has been given the run of a brand new home, its very own tropical island off the WA coast, to bring its population back from the brink.

A WA community is up in arms after a decision shut down a retirement village. The building has been deemed unsafe, but locals say their rights are being trampled on in favour of mining companies.

Kimberly De Pledge is found guilty of dangerous driving after his loaded cattle truck slammed into a caravan, killing two people on a remote WA highway.

The tiny WA town of Wiluna has long struggled with disadvantage. But a couple years after opening, an unorthodox training centre is showing remarkable results.

Christmas Island tourists and locals can no longer call for a cab with its sole taxi operator, Chris Carr, saying he was forced to shut shop at the end of June because of a "logistical nightmare".

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.

A Pilbara man is granted bail after allegedly being found with more than 40,000 child exploitation images following a sting by authorities in the United States.

A 37-year-old woman is in custody on charges of murder and attempted murder after a fatal head-on collision in Western Australia's north-west.

A cattle station in outback Western Australia proves popular with stargazers and now hopes to become internationally recognised for its starry nights.

A well-known WA pastoralist is jailed for almost four years for causing a crash on a remote Pilbara highway that claimed the lives of a couple and left their two children orphaned.

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.

Countercultural movements, like Occupy Wall Street, are meant to be future-focussed — revolutionary even. So why do they often fade into commercialism? Are they simply a function of consumer capitalism? If so, what future do they have? And must they always be progressive?