There are calls for better police training in mental health after a man was shot dead following a nine-hour stand-off at his home on the NSW Mid North coast.

A NSW Mid North Council apologies for the grief it caused the community for knocking over headstones.

Toddler William Tyrrell, who vanished from his foster grandmother's home in the sleepy town of Kendall almost five years ago, was likely abducted by someone who chose to "act on their desires", an inquest into his disappearance hears.

A wooden cross marked "2014" the same year that William Tyrrell went missing was among several false leads found during a large police search for the toddler around Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast, an inquest hears.

Crescent Head is currently experiencing wind gusts of up to 40kph.

Emergency services are keeping a close watch on large blazes at Middle Creek Road, Kangaroo Creek north of Coffs Harbour, and at Verges Creek north of Crescent Head in northern NSW, after residents were warned to seek shelter.

A woman whose house burnt down in bushfires affecting the NSW North Coast said that she and her husband now plan on leaving the bush due to the hazard.

Submissions to a NSW inquiry into koala protection call for design guidelines to protect the marsupial's habitat, which is under threat from housing developments.

Robert Donohoe interviewed in Wagga Wagga by NSW Police detectives

An inquest into the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell hears an SES volunteer who was involved in search efforts for the toddler on the NSW mid-north coast, did not respond to police questions.

As debate continues over the best way to teach children to read, parents and experts say dyslexic students are falling through the cracks and struggling academically and emotionally.

MORNING BRIEFING: A guest is taken to hospital after fire guts a backpacker hostel in Coogee, while Mert Ney is due back in court over the alleged murder of Michaela Dunn and stabbing of Linda Bo.

Ross Miller has no intention of putting the rod into the rack. Instead, he is building another prawn trawler as a legacy to his son.

The former chief investigator who led the investigation into the disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell on the NSW mid-north coast is accused of misleading a neighbour during a police interview two years ago.

Experts say bushfires coupled with decreasing habitat in an urbanised landscape is taking its toll on wildlife and improved land management is crucial.

People in a packed gallery sit up when inconsistencies begin to appear in the testimony of "person of interest" Paul Savage, a neighbour who claimed he joined in the search for the missing three-year-old.

As the Coronial inquest into William Tyrrell's disappearance had a special sitting in Taree just 40 kilometres from where the toddler was last seen family members have been left frustrated by delays and disappointed by its failure so far to turn up any substantial new leads.

Whitegoods repairman Bill Spedding tells an inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell he was having coffee with his wife on the day the toddler vanished, before revealing the "devastating impact" of the police investigation on his life.

Today the Macleay Valley is suffering unprecedented drought, but 70 years ago it was inundated with "mighty waves as high as telegraph poles" that flooded the region and left 2,000 people homeless.

A Kendall resident says he is certain he saw William Tyrrell being driven away by a blonde woman in a car at high speed moments after the toddler vanished from the New South Wales mid-north coast almost five years ago.

Washing machine repairman Bill Spedding is seeking up to $1 million in compensation after accusing NSW Police of causing him "reputational damage" by wrongly linking him to the disappearance of William Tyrrell.

The winds are not giving firefighters any breaks as a fire in the Clarence Valley moves in on properties and blazes near Armidale and Tenterfield remain "absolutely enormous", according to the Rural Fire Service.

MORNING BRIEFING: NSW Sports Minister John Sidoti says claims he misused his position in a conflict of interest are 'gross misrepresentations', while Deputy Premier John Barilaro urges governments to take climate change seriously.

Five new photos of William Tyrrell are made public by the NSW Coroner as well as the transcript of a key witness who said he cursed a woman he saw driving with an unrestrained child in the backseat.

Farmers along Australia's normally green east coast are reeling from the worst drought they have ever seen and face a tough summer if it doesn't rain in the next few months.

A common struggle for Aboriginal elders is how to make their language and culture appeal to young people in order for it to be carried on.

Members of a NSW rugby league club who were photographed at an airport wearing offensive t-shirts emblazoned with a topless mermaid look set to face the wrath of the sport's officials.

A search is underway for a small plane that has gone missing while flying two people from Murwillumbah to Taree in northern New South Wales, after it failed to arrive at its destination.

NSW Police confirm two men, reported to be father and son, died in a plane crash west of Coffs Harbour.

Wazza the koala has left carers astounded after she was collected by a car and endured a 10km trip down a major NSW roadway, only to bolt up a tree afterwards.

Police are appealing for witnesses after a car hit two women in an "horrific" incident in Nambucca Heads on Saturday night, with the mother of one of the women later charged with manslaughter.

MORNING BRIEFING: A woman has been charged with murder after a man was found with multiple stab wounds in a Sydney apartment complex, while easing weather conditions have helped firefighters in Tenterfield gain the upper hand on a bushfire.

Coastal dairy farms are culling their herds because they can not afford to feed them while they and their communities feel the flow-on effect of drought.

A plea made by a group of patchworkers to help find their stolen quilts has been heard internationally.

750-year-old Indigenous bones, discovered under a house on the New South Wales mid-north coast, are returned to the place where they were found.

They were Australia's worst bus-crash tragedies and they happened within weeks of each other on the Pacific Highway. Fifty-six people were killed and 63 injured and 30 years on the pain still lingers for many.

Australia's reigning Indigenous Drag Queen says it's tough being Indigenous, gay, and drag but it's important to be true to who you are.

There are reports of property damage in the town of Darawank, north of Forster-Tuncurry on the NSW north coast where a bushfire is burning at emergency level.

Social media vision of three bushfires burning on the NSW north coast. An emergency declaration has been issued by the NSW RFS with homes under threat.

Irish empty-nesters Derek and Jackie Edwards are living the dream on the other side of the world, working on farms for food and board in Australia.

Emergency crews gain the upper hand in fighting 85 fires across NSW but two blazes near Forster-Tuncurry escalate again.