The Agriculture Department is standing by a controversial water buyback deal worth $80 million, which Labor leader Bill Shorten says is a "scandal" worthy of inquiry.

A Murray-Darling Basin community leader says the former agriculture minister originally opposed water purchases as the Queensland Government suggests there was a better deal.

Labor is intent on pushing the so-called "watergate scandal". What exactly it is alleging is about as clear as the water flowing through the Menindee Lakes, writes Kath Sullivan.

Fair water trading and cheap on-farm loans are at the centre of a Coalition pre-election promise to boost Australia's agriculture sector.

Police charge a woman with common assault after the Prime Minister is egged while meeting with delegates from the Country Women's Association in Albury, on the NSW-Victorian border.

Energy policy is confusing. There are no shortage of acronyms and the policies change almost as often as the leaders do. Here we've tried to answer your questions.

The Country Women's Association of NSW has launched a virtual branch, aiming to cater to its grey nomads members while they are own the move.

Volunteer detection dogs have been trained to find the endangered alpine stonefly at Falls Creek, an insect measuring just 50 millimetres in length.

The family of brutally murdered woman Karen Chetcuti, whose killer was a rapist on parole, is suing the Victorian Government for her wrongful death.

A hailstorm blankets Gippsland beaches in white as a cold front sweeps across Victoria, downing trees and causing flash flooding as it dumps 50 millimetres of rain west of Melbourne.

Two items salvaged from the ruins of the Glenrowan Inn, which burnt to the ground in a siege between the Kelly Gang and police almost 140 years ago, will be brought together again for an exhibition in north-east Victoria.

A group of nine irrigators has lodged a class action in the NSW Supreme Court against the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, claiming its negligent water management has caused $750 million in losses.

A fortnightly welfare payment for farmers, considered to be the cornerstone of drought assistance, should be removed from social security legislation, an independent review recommends.

Regional seats proved the toughest battleground for the Coalition at the NSW state election, and with just days to go until the federal poll the pressure remains.

As the water dries up in drought-affected Australia, so does the money that keeps many country towns afloat.

Helen Haines is set to make history by becoming the first independent to succeed another in Federal Parliament, replacing Cathy McGowan in the northern Victorian seat of Indi.

Australian aquatic ecologists say the National Carp Control Plan falls short on safety and efficacy as the deadline for advice to Federal Government approaches.

Amber Holt, who is accused of throwing an egg at Scott Morrison during a CWA meeting in Albury earlier this month, pleads guilty to possessing a prohibited drug but her lawyer says a charge of common assault requires "further representation".

How will the Victorian Government find the cash to deliver its costly promises as stamp duty falls and federal funding hopes are not realised? Through what the Treasurer warned would be a "Budget of hard choices".

Four children are among eight people rescued from cars trapped in snow as Victoria is hit by unusually heavy May falls.

By the time the young platypus was discovered in a river in Victoria's Alpine Shire, the bands had worn wounds down to the bone.

A program supporting the homeless with a mentor once they're housed is being hailed as a way to reduce the number of people sleeping rough.

Wangaratta Council has issued the pig's owner with a cease and desist notice, stating he has broken a local law by walking Grunt the pig in public and will be fined $806 if he continues.

Eight popular milk brands sold in supermarkets across Victoria and southern New South Wales are being recalled over fears a cleaning solution made its way into the batch.

Australia's largest timber building, the Mount Buffalo Chalet, will stay mothballed through another Australian winter without undergoing any development works.

A man who was shot by police in northern Victoria last week, after he and his brother allegedly threatened officers with a knife and a tomahawk, appears in court charged with assaulting police.

Regional communities have been left reeling, following WIN News' announcement it would be axing four commercial television newsrooms in New South Wales and Queensland.

Victoria's high country huts, preserved and maintained by around 240 volunteers, are each a little piece of history with an important job to do.

Relatives are mourning the death of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who died on Saturday when a microlight flown by her uncle crashed into the waters of Lake Eildon in central Victoria.

Police recover the body of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who was a passenger in a microlight aircraft that had crashed into Lake Eildon, in central Victoria. The pilot was rescued by a fishing boat and taken to hospital.

A former primary school teacher who abused 38 of his students at several country Victorian schools is sentenced to 12 years in jail, but some of his victims say the sentence should be longer.

More than 1,000 pipes from Albury's St Matthew's Church's renowned Letourneau organ will be removed and restored after being damaged by fire three years ago.

Two teenagers accused of killing a man in north-east Victoria admit they "bashed" him because he offered to pay one of their girlfriends for sex, a court hears.