A bushfire that was threatening homes at Peregian on Queensland's Sunshine Coast is brought under control, with firefighters surrounding the blaze to keep it contained.

Parents are seeking answers after buses dropped off school children at a road block during the height of the Peregian Beach bushfire emergency, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast yesterday.

One of the most eroded stretches of the Mary River at Kenilworth has been transformed in an effort to stop valuable farmland washing away and polluting the Great Barrier Reef.

Residents were forced to evacuate the Teewah township last night, but have now been allowed to return.

Severe bushfire conditions are expected later in the week as residents describe their terror at having to evacuate when a fast-moving bushfire threatened a township north of Noosa overnight.

It has been three weeks since the NT's last COVID-19 diagnosis and this weekend some Northern Territory parks will reopen.

When Professor Anna Ralph's six-year-old daughter starting asking about COVID-19, the infectious diseases specialist decided to write a children's book about finding a cure.

From May 15, Territorians will be able to sweat it out at the gym, dine at a restaurants and get their nails done. And from June 5, they can get a tattoo or head to a nightclub.

Defence says it "proactively tested" members for COVID-19 in the Middle East after it was notified a number of locally engaged contractors had tested positive to COVID-19.

Northern Territorians are hitting the roads, pools and sportsgrounds in droves today, for the beginning of one of Australia's largest wind backs of coronavirus restrictions.

Signs urging people to stay 1.5 metres apart mark the entrance to Litchfield National Park, and police patrols ensure the instructions are obeyed.

Official data indicates no Aboriginal people in the NT have tested positive to COVID-19, and as restrictions start to ease, health leaders say it's time to address some of the fundamental holes in Aboriginal health care.

New Zealand has aimed for elimination of SARS-CoV-2 — or as close as you can get.

How much is SARS-CoV-2 mutating, and does it matter?

Twin studies allow researchers to study the impact of the environment, separate from genetics.  

An increase in the diagnosis of cancers and their subsequent treatment could get caught up in the potential widening of health disparities in the community as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last week, the US announced approval to use a drug named remdesivir, made by Gilead, in people sick with COVID-19.

Bourke, outback NSW, has not seen meaningful rain in seven years and while its 2,500 residents prepare for unprecedented water restrictions, their dire plight has helped propel environmental concerns into NSW's political spotlight.

There is a part of Australia where the rivers are high but the crops are dying, where farmers can see plenty of water but have no access to it. And that could mean a change in political fortunes.

The most remote voters in New South Wales say they feel forgotten by politicians as the state election draws closer.

Taxi driver Reg Kelly will bear the scars of a murder attempt for the rest of his life, but he wants to thank his home town for rallying to his side.

In the shadow of mass fish kills at the start of the year, residents of Menindee in NSW are now worried for the rich and rare birdlife that relies on the area to breed.

Wilcannia locals worry their weir won't ever be built, despite State and Federal Government pre-election promises.

Flights resume arriving and departing from Adelaide Airport after delays and diversions this morning because of the heaviest fog since 2003.

A group of photographers in Albany are taking the town by storm.

Police are investigating the second robbery from an Albany volunteer bushfire brigade within weeks.

The receivers of the collapsed Rare Coin Company say the return of stock, owned by customers caught up in the company's demise, will not begin until next year.

An investor, who has been left waiting months for the return of rare bank notes he owned through a collapsed Albany dealer, says further delays to that process are distressing.

I'm inspired by our local farmers, community spirit, agricultural knowledge and leadership.

A bushfire watch and act remains in place for the Shires of Plantagenet and Denmark as an uncontrolled fire that started on Friday in Mount Roe National Park continues to burn.

Pledging to quit smoking, lose weight and get fit is pretty popular on New Years' Eve, so why do many people fail?

Authorities are warning the Great Southern and lower Wheatbelt need to be on alert over the next few days, with sweltering conditions expected to create a serious fire danger.

Fire authorities have issued the all clear after a major bushfire that was burning in Western Australia's Great Southern.

The Denmark Shire is proposing a plan to replace the leases at a popular holiday spot with more traditional ownership rights.

The Fair Work Ombudsman will be auditing retailers across Perth and regional Western Australia, in response to a spike in complaints.

Local governments have expressed concern about a decision to kill off merger discussions between four Wheatbelt shires.

Firefighters will continue to strengthen containment lines around a bushfire in Riverslea in the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River.

The Town of Narrogin says the latest proposal to merge with the neighbouring Narrogin Shire is just weeks from being finalised.

Police are investigating a spate of bushfires in Albany over the weekend, which it is suspected may have been deliberately lit.

Leaseholders in the Western Australian south coast holiday community of Peaceful Bay have expressed concerns over a proposal to transfer their property leases to more conventional ownership titles.

A prominent businessman on Western Australia's south coast has been sentenced to eight years and six months in jail for attempting to hire a hitman to murder his estranged daughter-in-law. Brian Vincent Attwell paid $10,000 to an undercover police officer who had posed as a hitman in September last year. The court heard the 74-year-old was angry over legal action after his son's divorce and he was motivated by "sheer hatred" of Michelle Attwell. The trial was played recordings of the businessman saying his daughter-in-law had cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars, and he wanted her "strangled and buried".

The Local Government Advisory Board says its decision to terminate the proposed merger of four Western Australian Wheatbelt shires was driven in part by financial concerns, a lack of common goals and the community's reaction.

Farmers are gathering in Merredin this weekend to give thanks for what they believe was 'divine intervention' in the last cropping season.

Police have charged an Albany man with lighting three fires last month.

A 40-year-old Albany man is due to appear in court this month after being charged with deliberately lighting three fires in Narrikup.

What is it that drives somebody to strike a match that has the potential to destroy homes and lives?