What does it take to prepare for a pandemic? Many hospitals around the world are already overwhelmed by patients infected with COVID-19. Australian doctors and nurses are bracing for something most of them have never faced before. In our country hospitals, resources are already stretched: beds are in short supply and there’s a greater proportion of older people. Preparation will, in many cases, be the difference between life and death.
 ABC National Regional Reporter Jess Davis takes us inside the Wimmera Base Hospital in Horsham, Victoria, as the team tries to prepare for the unimaginable.

Queensland's cotton towns welcome Chinese investment in Cubbie Station and full irrigation dams.

The names of towns, roads and localities of central and western NSW are a treasure trove of toponymy, or the study of name origins, but their meanings also provide powerful connection for people and the places they call home.

In 2017, Curious Central West travelled far and wide to investigate stories that were complex and confronting, while others were cute and quirky.

How the Wiradjuri people, indigenous to the Central West of New South Wales, survived European settlement.

Residents have been left without water for a day after a breakdown at a local treatment plant and as western NSW sweated through a heatwave.

Shearers, labourers, chefs, farmers and lifeguards are among the workers who push through the heatwave.

A peaceful paradise known for its iconic pine trees and spectacular coastline, Norfolk Island is riddled with political tension and simmering social unrest.

It's hard to imagine a subtropical island struggling with drought, but Norfolk Island has had only 12mm of rain all summer and dams and water tanks are running dry.

The drought could have major implications for life-saving medical procedures, such as dialysis with patients needing up to 4,000 litres each week for treatment.

Cobar's Endeavour mine to cut 130 jobs

As the Cobar Endeavor Mine comes to the end of its lead and zinc reserves, CBH Resources announces it is cutting 130 jobs from the drought-stricken outback town.

The Federal Government has handed Norfolk Island a lifeline to save its tourism industry, but locals have railed against their offering saying it could turn tourists away.

This state-of-the-art shearing shed hopes to attract and retain good shearers in a safe environment.

Water is fast running out across the Macquarie Valley, with one town preparing for the possibility of closing the hospital

Graham Morrison, 55, is given a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence after hitting a family car on the Newell Highway near the end of an 11-hour trip.

John Bowie is arrested in Brisbane over the suspected murder of his wife Roxlyn, who disappeared from their home in Walgett in northern New South Wales in 1982.

At the end of the bitumen road and surrounded by parched grazing land, Ivanhoe, like many outback towns, is fighting for survival.

A Dubbo man is handed a community correction order and community service after pleading guilty to animal cruelty following his appearance in a video of an emu being plucked.

The Yetta Dhinnakkal Centre, meaning "right pathway" in traditional language, was established as Australia's first prison exclusively for young Aboriginal men but next year it will close and locals are warning the impact will be disastrous.

Indigenous dancers from three states gather on the banks of the Darling River to honour a waterway that's underpinned their cultures for millennia.

Parched parts of NSW received a welcome dump of rain over the weekend.

Heavy rainfall has filled up dams in the drought-stricken region of Coolabah in New South Wales.(credit: Anthony Hyde)

The commission, sitting in Mudgee, hears how home care providers are charging for services that haven't been delivered in rural and remote areas.

After years of funding cuts, many arts organisations will struggle to survive the COVID-19 pandemic without more government support. Playwright David Williamson and arts academic Jo Caust, discuss what needs to happened to ensure the sector survives.

Academic and former Singaporean diplomat Kishore Mahbubani argues that the coronavirus pandemic will accelerate a power-shift, from west to east.

France has experienced one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe since mid-March. As the country moves towards ‘deconfinement’, we explore how President Macron has handled the political and economic fall-out from Covid-19 and ask what next for the EU?

The Federal Writers' Project, established by President Roosevelt in July 1935 as part of the New Deal, provided jobs for out-of-work writers during the Great Depression. Australian authors Jeff Sparrow and James Bradley discuss whether a similar literary stimulus package could work today.

Cuban doctors and nurses have been working in some of the most challenging emergencies around the globe for many years including the Ebola crisis in West Africa and the aftermath of Chernobyl. Now they are working to treat patients with COVID-19 in 22 countries including Italy.

Indicted as a mass murderer in 1945, prominent Nazi Otto von Wachter goes underground. In a revealing and personal account, renowned human rights barrister, Philippe Sands retraces his movements and tells the intimate story of the inter-generational impact of such crimes.

Conservationists are hoping the coronavirus pandemic will force governments to take action against the wildlife trade. But will stricter legislation push wildlife traffickers deeper underground?

A compelling account of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident . Not only did the fallout contaminate half of Europe it changed the course of history. When the nuclear reactor exploded it set off another explosion that no-one had predicted -the collapse of the Soviet Union.  

Mahatma Gandhi lived a life committed to social justice and human rights. In this year's lecture to honour his memory five Australian women talk about their work in indigenous communities, for people with disabilities, refugees , LGBTIQ and campaigns to reduce domestic violence.

The world’s first university was founded in Bologna, Italy in 1088. The university has been an enduring institution. But universities are confronting big challenges - and not just COVID19. The world has changed. So how much do universities need to adapt in response? What is their future?

Technology is driving immense social and economic change and it's time for governments to step up and actively shape the future. If we simply leave it to the market we risk social dislocation and economic disruption. Former US Ambassador to Australia Jeff Bleich says the five trends demanding urgent attention from governments are automation, education, climate change, cyber security and self-governance. And Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz on the price of inequality

Are some people born evil? If modern science could identify ‘evil’ people, would we have the responsibility to remove them from society? What is the difference between evil and merely bad? On Big Ideas a panel of experts explores the meaning of evil in a contemporary and historic sense. Evil is often seen as “profound immorality”. Yet at the same our notion of evil varies with culture, century and context.

The second part of a discussion examining the future of the university in a post-COVID19 world. The university has been an enduring institution, going back nearly a thousand years, but it is confronting a time of massive disruption. How should universities change and adapt to meet the new challenges, without compromising their essential values?

Artificial intelligence and machine learning are increasingly entering the realm of art and also advertising. What does that mean for our notion of creativity? And how do persuasive algorithms work?

Indigenous women who are victims of family violence often also suffer from multiple disadvantage. A specialist indigenous legal service provides culturally appropriate support and counselling. And the long struggle for indigenous women to gain equal voting rights with their white sisters.

Small is beautiful as the saying goes. But there’s small and then there’s nano small. Engineers who work in the nano world are working with single atoms. Nanotechnology helps to power your mobile phone and nano machines might one day be working in your body to deliver medical treatment.

This year is crunch time for determining whether it is still possible to save our planet. In 2020, all major conventions dealing with climate change and biodiversity will meet and decide on the emission levels ambitions that every nation must adopt. While leaving no doubt about the urgency of action on climate change, conservationist Aila Keta is optimistic. She sees very encouraging new initiatives coming out of the finance and the banking sector.