Railton is full of topiary with hedges cleverly clipped into animals, words and objects but there are hopes it can reinvent itself and boost its economy like the north-east town of Derby on the back of newly-opened mountain bike tracks.

A social welfare advocate says without the Federal Government's support, poorer Tasmanians without housing will be "left behind", dismissing the State Government's latest efforts for short-term accommodation solutions.

NSW makes a massive seven changes for the must-win Origin II in Perth on Sunday, led by the return of James Maloney to the halves while injury forces two changes for Queensland.

The Giants move up to second, denying the Kangaroos a third-straight win under caretaker coach Rhyce Shaw with a victory in Hobart.

The Korean film Parasite, about a lower-class family who con their way into a wealthy household, wins in a year dominated by social issues.

Dark Mofo art experience Hrafn: Conversations with Odin sees tourists returning to the fire-ravaged Huon Valley south of Hobart to spend money and boost the local communities.

Gold Coast junior Riley Parsons shares his love of cricket, by refurbishing old gear to give to kids who need it.

When the ACT Government decided to rename William Slim Drive following allegations the former British military commander and 13th governor-general of Australia abused children, it pulled a trigger that could see history books rewritten.

Another O-Bahn extension, more Park'n'Ride services and interchange feeder services are all on the cards ahead of Tuesday's State Budget, but you might have to wait longer for a city tram loop.

MORNING BRIEFING: The father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez will front the media today as homicide detectives travel to Byron Bay to assist in the investigation, while some of the residents of Mascot Towers will be permitted to return to their homes to pick up belongings.

This kangaroo species normally lives high in the treetops but is now being found in odd places, unable to see and confused, and one ecologist is trying to find out the cause.

Brumbies star Christian Lealiifano will retire from Super Rugby at the end of the season, taking up a lucrative offer to play in Japan.

MORNING BRIEFING: Many regional Tasmanian areas are in a population decline, and Hobart scores high on drug waste water testing.

The number of older women experiencing homelessness has surged in recent years, with divorce, pay disparity and a lack of superannuation culminating in a "perfect storm" of gender disadvantage.

A tiny number of performers worldwide stuff their adult frames into cannons, to be shot across an arena at 60 kilometres per hour. Queenslander Warren Brophy is one of them.

The WA Attorney-General casts doubt on whether more than $600,000 worth of severance payouts, made to former Health Department employees embroiled in a decades-long corruption scandal, will be recovered.

Chrys Barker has been confined to a wheelchair and is in need of 24-hour care since being critically injured in a car accident in 2014. He's now been awarded what is believed to be the biggest single personal injury settlement in Queensland.

The Northern Territory Chief Minister says plans for a water theme park in Darwin are not dead in the water yet, despite his Government formally rejecting all expressions of interest in the project submitted so far.

In a shock announcement, former minister Philip Dalidakis resigns from the Victorian Parliament, effective immediately, to take a senior position at Australia Post.

A Perth woman sustains burns to 30 per cent of her body and is taken to hospital in a critical condition after a man allegedly set her alight and then threw a firebomb into a house in Perth's east overnight.

A South Australian judge has given a stark warning to a street-level drug dealer about the horrors of ice, saying it causes people to snap in bars, coward punch strangers, neglect their children and even kill.

The father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez travels to Australia to give an emotional press conference where he promises to bring his son, who has been missing since May 31, home.

WA's Chamber of Commerce and Industry releases a damning assessment of newly-elected Opposition Leader Liza Harvey's economic policies, saying they put the state's budget repair at risk.

Coroner Barry King warns police of probable adverse findings against them for their incompetence during the initial investigation into the 1975 killing of Perth brothel madam Shirley Finn, as he closes an inquest into her murder which he says will likely remain unsolved.

The Victorian branch of the CFMEU threatens to immediately cease all financial support for the ALP if Labor leader Anthony Albanese's push to expel union leader John Setka goes ahead.

Police charge two brothers, aged 18 and 20, over an unprovoked attack on an off-duty senior Victorian police officer near a Melbourne train station.

The AFL's supporter crackdown is being felt by those in the stands, but without confirmation one way or another from the AFL, the supporters are filling the void with questions of their own.

Mascot Towers building management tells residents who were evacuated on Friday night after cracks were found in the Sydney apartment building to seek help from the Salvation Army if they are facing financial hardship.

Laurent Hayez, father of missing Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez, supported by his sons Godfather JP Hayez and cousin Lisa Hayez.

A proposed $2 billion Indigenous-led coal-fired power station in Collinsville in North Queensland developed by Brisbane-based Indigenous company Shine Energy and headed by traditional Biri man Ashley Dodd is set to revive one of the country's oldest coal towns.

Harry Bowman has been the face of the Top End's crocodile cruises for more than 30 years, but the time has come for him to say farewell to his toothless old mate Brutus the giant saltwater croc.

A former finance officer for the Summernats car festival, who stole thousands of dollars from the business to fuel a drug habit, avoids prison time.

The 2016 killing of a Canberra man is portrayed as a "cold-blooded plan", designed to silence him over an earlier machete attack, on the first day of an ACT Supreme Court trial.

The crown alleges Mark Jones waterboarded Bradley Breward with a hand towel, by placing it over his face and pouring water over it, and also put a plastic shopping bag over his head twice for 40 seconds each time.

Plans to carve up the Marrickville Golf Club in Sydney's inner west to create more green space spark "aggressive" debate, as the local council turns to residents to make a final decision.

Book-loving Tasmanians are bucking the trend and turning to libraries in their thousands, less than a year after the state became the first in Australia to abolish fines and processing fees for overdue books.

People undergoing genetic testing will have more certainty about whether the variants in their genes risk causing cancer or are completely harmless, after a new international study.