The parents of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez, who disappeared in Byron Bay in May shortly before he was due to fly home, say they are hopeful their son will still be found alive.

Alex Ross-King died of an MDMA overdose during a music festival in January. Now her mother is calling for changes to ensure no-one else dies.

After a US magazine visited the far-north NSW coast town, Byron Bay was abuzz. Dig a little deeper and the stories pour forth from angered locals.

A magistrate who found a Nimbin Mardi Grass festival worker not guilty of drug driving has blasted the NSW Government's advice to motorists, saying it "lulls them into a false sense of security".

Too Much Lip is a raucous family yarn that explores intergenerational trauma, class and the lives of Aboriginal women, and it has just won its author a prestigious $60,000 prize.

There are fears important wildlife habitat is being destroyed as a developer tries to enact a 1984 site approval on the New South Wales north coast.

MORNING BRIEFING: A NSW police officer is left with bite marks after an attack by a man who also swallowed a balloon, while divers resume their search for a car that crashed into the Hawkesbury River last night.

Acting detective Eric Walsh sought advice from police colleagues on ways to silence online criticism of Universal Medicine, a group found by a jury to be a "dangerous cult", the ABC can reveal.

In 1979, protesters blocked the path of bulldozers to stop the logging of a rainforest on the New South Wales north coast, the first blockade of its kind in Australia.

A father who lost his son in a shocking crash 13 years ago channels his grief into a mission for better road safety with a driver-training centre that could save countless lives.

The 18-year-old has been missing for over three months, and was last seen in Byron Bay at the end of May.

At least 11 homes had already been destroyed at Binna Burra.

Flames fanned by strong winds caused extensive damage to the resort site, destroying the heritage-listed wooden lodge building that had stood since the 1930s.

A Brisbane multi-millionaire who donated $300,000 to a charity associated with a group later found in court to be an "exploitative cult" says he gave the money freely as a reward for treating his chronic pain.

Police say a pipe bomb found in Mullumbimby on the NSW far north coast has been rendered safe and has been taken away for forensic examination.

The tourist mecca's potholes are legendary, and locals are taking matters into their own hands as the mayor laments that the town's affluent profile means little to its financially-struggling council.

Up to 20 homes and structures are destroyed in the village of Rappville, as watch and act warnings are issued for several bushfires burning within 100km of each other in northern NSW.

An RFS crew drives through the northern NSW village of Rappville, one of the areas worst affected by a series of bushfires in northern NSW on October 8, 2019.

Rappville residents share stories of survival after a bushfire swept through their small community in northern NSW, with one 82-year-old pensioner hiding in his shed in a bid to escape the inferno.

Police are investigating the "suspicious" origins of a devastating bushfire, which is believed to have started late Friday and yesterday destroyed 21 homes in northern NSW.

After watching their home burn on the news, Tina Hag, Robert Collier and their four children return to Rappville, wondering about the future of their northern New South Wales town, which lost 15 homes and 20,000 hectares of grazing land to a bushfire.

The community of Rappville in northern NSW is banding together to make sure everyone gets back on their feet, but Allan Robertson is dreading having to tell his partner that their home is now just ashes.

Whale watchers off the north coast of New South Wales have held a front-row seat to the rarely witnessed and gruesome spectacle of a pod of killer whales devouring a juvenile humpback whale.

As ferocious blazes tore through Rappville last week, many of the community's young people displayed extraordinary bravery, rescuing their neighbours and animals while fighting tooth and nail to save homes.

Police praise bystanders who rushed to help two men involved in a hang-gliding incident that killed the 67-year-old instructor, from Byron Bay, and left his Irish passenger critically injured.

A student critical of the University of Queensland's ties to Chinese Government organisations says he is facing expulsion over his activism, but authorities say it's a matter of policy.

Toowoomba Regional Council's motto is "Rich traditions, bold ambitions" — and it has boldly created a new tradition in choosing its deputy mayor.

The Vietnam vet, master of ceremonies at Currumbin's Elephant Rock dawn service for 25 years, says this year's Anzac Day cancellations prove we sometimes don't know what we've got till it's gone.

The decision to not award several thousand Vietnam veterans the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal leaves some feeling ashamed in the company of decorated veterans.

From phoning war widows and having a chat to ease isolation, to walking a service dog down the driveway, younger veterans are finding creative ways to make this Anzac Day count.

Semi-retired Keith and Glenda Drake, both in their 80s, will donate the proceeds of their seaside penthouse to help researchers develop a treatment for coronavirus.

As southern parts of Australia look set for a wet winter, the northern part of the NT is grappling with its second poor wet season in as many years.