The recurring political debate about immigration tends to ignore the demand and employment that new communities create, writes Daniel Ziffer.

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.

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.

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian will announce the plan to start relaxing lock down restrictions from Friday, but local and regional travel is not yet back on the menu.

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.

Min Min lights are a mysterious phenomenon that have spooked many people in the outback of Australia. Is there any scientific proof that the lights exist or is it simply an Aboriginal folktale that has been passed down for generations?

Katherine Comparti says "everything you could imagine" went through her mind when she became lost in thick jungle during a holiday to the remote island of Christmas Island off the West Australian coast.

A decision more than two decades ago to stop births at the hospital on Christmas Island has had significant financial and social effects on locals in the years since.

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.

A boy who stole from a pizza delivery driver and caused $6,000 damage to a vehicle at a construction site was being given cannabis by his family at the time, a court has heard.

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.

A West Australian MP says he will push for major iron ore industry players to buy up residential properties in Port Hedland, amid a long-running dispute over dust pollution levels in the Pilbara town.

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.

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

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.

Cancer patients in the remote Pilbara will soon be trialling chemotherapy via video link, saving them a 1,500-kilometre trip for life-saving treatment.

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 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.

Many Western governments continue to struggle with free speech. It’s not that they’re necessarily against it, it’s just that they don’t know how to effectively regulate out the offensive stuff.

The dystopian best-seller 1984 was published exactly seventy years ago. Its influence has been profound. But does it really speak to today’s politico-cultural environment?

Automation and outsourcing are dirty words for many people in Western countries worried about their future employment prospects. Developing countries are seen to be the major beneficiaries of off-shore labour, with multinationals hoovering up increased profits. But the reality is a lot more complex and even messy. Now, even developing countries are starting to feel the pain.

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?

Netflix dominates online TV streaming, but for how long? Also, Cory Doctorow on how more government regulation could inadvertently make the tech giants even stronger.

Nature Based Solutions is an environmental approach that seeks to counter the negative effects of climate change by working with nature.

Why do we see the past through rose-coloured glasses, but not the future? Psychologists tell us that human beings have a tendency to be fearful and pessimistic about the future, while simultaneously romanticising the past. If the theory is true, it might help explain the difficulties we often have in making informed decisions and effectively planning for the future.

Get an update on Google’s controversial proposal to take over the construction and regulation of a section of Toronto; learn about how the ancient Athenians used Tragedy to guide their future decision-making and follow the rush to develop low-orbit satellites to secure the future of the Internet.  

When the hype around 3D printing was at its peak, it was confidently predicted that every household would soon have a personal printer. That’s not the way it turned out. But 3D printing is coming back and it’s slowly making its way toward the verdant “plateau of productivity”.

There’s a new emphasis on land reclamation and building floating structures for everything from accommodation to marine farming to energy generation. Re-defining the use of the ocean is part of the emerging “blue economy” – one that can be both economically beneficial and environmentally responsible. How well can these often contradictory goals be reconciled?