The Canberra Press Gallery's Midwinter Ball is the political affair that would make headlines every year if it wasn't kept off the record. But this year the cone of silence has been lifted and the speeches are in the open for all to see.

Former Canberra taxi driver Neelander Sirohi loses a racial discrimination case he launched after he was expelled from a sex offender's course while serving time for raping a vulnerable woman in 2013.

A parliamentary inquiry into how Canberra schools handle bullying complaints reveals tragic stories of desperate parents and students, prompting a raft of recommendations.

Already waiting for two previous inquiries to be acted upon, support agencies say the new family law inquiry announced last week will require they take resources away from frontline services in order to participate.

The ACT becomes the first Australian jurisdiction to legalise the possession, use and cultivation of small amounts of cannabis.

The Raiders withstood a tremendous South Sydney Rabbitohs onslaught to reach its first grand final since 1994 with a 16-10 victory at a sold-out Canberra Stadium.

The NRL has been revolutionised by an Englishman, his Canberra Raiders teammates and their secret code and it could hold the key to the NRL grand final.

Harry Souttar scored a brace in his first match for Australia while Jamie McLaren got a hat-trick in a match the Socceroos dominated from start to finish.

Australia beats Nepal 5-0 in Canberra thanks to a Jamie Maclaren hat-trick and two goals from debutant Harry Souttar.

Several hundred online enthusiasts generate thousands of leads for investigators after a single day of competitive 'ethical hacking' across Australia.

It's impossible to count the millions spent on Australia's biggest police hunt, two trials, two High Court challenges, a judicial inquiry and 19 years of imprisonment.

What do John Farnham, Olivia Newton-John and Savage Garden all have in common? Apart from producing bona-fide pop bangers, they've all just been added to the official Sounds of Australia archive.

A decade of dry conditions and lower rainfall has left parts of northern Australia facing an early and "above normal" bushfire risk in parts of northern Queensland and the Northern Territory.

The Great Barrier Reef has already been devastated by climate change, but one southern island is showing signs of recovery after cyclone damage

A social media project inspired by the Humans of New York photoblog helps transform perceptions about Queensland's largest Aboriginal community, which was being torn apart by fights and bad press.

More dead wallabies have been found on a Cairns sporting field, taking the total number of carcasses in the past week to more than 30.

Drought has collided with high demand for soybeans, lifting prices by around $500 a tonne, prompting warnings of a price hike for soymilk, tofu and tempeh.

Grant 'Scooter' Patterson may be half as tall as most people but he does not do things by halves. He works hard, plays hard and pushes himself in the pool, chasing his dream of winning a Paralympic medal.

What's driving Australian families overseas to gamble on "magical" stem cell treatments at sky-high prices?

Also known as huffing, sniffing or rexing, chroming is the practice of inhaling solvents or other household chemicals to get high. It's caused the death of several children across the country and happens often on public transport but it's not illegal and this is why.

A marine physicist, who was awarded more than $1.2 million for his wrongful sacking earlier this month, has now raised more than half a million dollars to fight an appeal by James Cook University.

Health professionals who say they have seen an increase in the number of "very young children" under the influence of solvents and inhalants warn the consequences of their actions are irreversible.

Mango fans get ready, because the season is ramping up in the Northern Territory with more than 200,000 trays picked last week.

The world's second-deadliest fungus, the poison fire coral, is found in Far North Queensland for the first time, a long way from its usual home in the mountains of Japan and Korea, and can cause a "horrifying array of symptoms".

The family of the man who died while zip-lining in Far North Queensland has described him as a "loving husband, father, son, brother and friend to all".

As the wet season approaches, saltwater crocodiles are getting ready to lay their eggs and at croc farms across the north hay is an essential ingredient for good breeding.

The Saints fall to the ladder-leading Cats in Geelong, the Crows humiliate the Suns by almost 100 points, the Bombers pipped the Kangaroos, while the Hawks and Blues also posted wins.

A Queensland couple have climbed the biggest sand dune in the Simpson Desert to get married at the world's most remote music festival.

Ten years after being Hamilton Island's winter caretaker in a popular campaign, its winner Ben Southall is calling on people to disconnect from their devices and reconnect with each other.

An endangered marsupial known for mating itself to death disappears from one of its most prominent Queensland habitats.