The financial regulator has asked ME Bank to explain why it has taken cash from accounts linked to its customers' home loans to reduce the risk of mortgage default.

Josh Frydenberg will tell the National Press Club he is happy a discussion about lifting coronavirus restrictions is taking place earlier than first planned as new analysis says the Australian economy is losing $4 billion a week.

James and Victoria Sylvester were refused a refund when their $10,000 holiday to Dubai was cancelled because of coronavirus. Now hundreds of consumers in similar situations are considering launching a class action.

While oil and wholesale fuel prices have been at two-decade lows, pump prices have not come down so quickly or consistently across the country. But service station owners say they too are struggling to survive the COVID-19 downturn.

Australian shares rise, Qantas secures extra funding to get through the coronavirus crisis and US markets edge higher led by Microsoft, Apple and Amazon.

Up to a million Australians may have lost their jobs since social-distancing measures to limit the spread of COVID-19 ramped up, new ABS data suggests, while the Reserve Bank expects the economy to take a 10 per cent hit.

Norfolk Island is the only place in Australia you can dine in a cafe and gather outdoors with 50 people.

Work begins on the Gold Coast's $1 billion Pacific Motorway upgrade, with promises it will benefit motorists and the economy.

A journalist left out of work after Australian Community Media shut down his regional printing press starts his own online newspaper in an effort to keep the community informed.

A peak industry body says South Australia's 12-day stretch without any new coronavirus cases has created a "high level of expectation" that pubs will reopen.

An Adelaide mother is jailed for stealing from the Catholic Church to pay for expensive overseas holidays and indulgent consumer goods, while a former accountant is also sentenced for stealing from his clients.

One WA couple who fell victim to a tractor ad scam wants others to know about the dangers, as NT Consumer Affairs uncovers more than 20 similar sites.

Are you a business that wants to reopen on May 15? The Government has released the COVID-19 Safety Plan checklist you must complete before doing so.

While tough coronavirus restrictions have saved thousands of lives, Scott Morrison says the country is now in a position to start clawing back some of the $4 billion lost every week that restrictions continue. Here are the key takeaways from his press conference.

As the Government begins easing social-distancing restrictions, there are doubts once-bustling workplaces in Sydney's CBD will ever return to the way they were.

New data shows how hard the impact of the coronavirus has been on women's jobs as a leading economist worries about the long-term impact for women in the workforce.

Under siege from much cheaper rivals and with lenders unwilling to support it, pay TV operator Foxtel is increasingly looking like a threatened species.

US meatworks have been epicentres for coronavirus outbreaks and shutting them down has disrupted the supply chain. But Australia is set up differently.

Just weeks after Virgin Australia goes into voluntary administration, UK-based Virgin Atlantic is forced to lay off thousands of workers as the coronavirus pandemic takes a heavy toll.

Michael Gunner issues his "first and final warning" to petrol companies to take action as the ACCC puts in its two cents on the NT's comparatively high fuel prices.

The local share market closes lower, despite some retail stocks rallying after sales surged in March, while the corporate regulator warns of the dangers of day trading for individual investors.

A small exploration company drilling for gold in Western Australia's Goldfields wants to change the perception that the resources sector is a "dirty industry" by using biodegradable bags for drill samples.

Fewer than 250 people have been on the International Space Station but Mission Impossible actor Tom Cruise looks set to become one of them, in part to "inspire a new generation of engineers and scientists".

Huge flames are filmed shooting up the side of a Middle Eastern residential tower shortly after residents finish their nightly Ramadan meal.

It was the first alternative-meat company to debut on the American stock exchange. But how is Beyond Meat coping 12 months on during a global pandemic?

The two cottages are up for sale in a historic part of Launceston but one of the buildings will likely cost hundreds of thousands to repair.

The state's peak body for local councils is calling on the Victorian Government to help more than 5,000 council staff who are without work and ineligible for JobKeeper, amid calls for a rates freeze for property owners.

Companies owned by the Chinese Government have been buying Australian water assets, with concerns raised about the level of scrutiny foreign investment of water is receiving.

With nearly 730,000 businesses and 4.7 million employees signed up, JobKeeper looks like riding to the rescue of many livelihoods. But, as a key deadline looms, many look set to be locked out.

Whether or not employers can demand eligible JobKeeper workers do extra shifts to meet the $1,500-a-fortnight payment is causing confusion and chaos in the hospitality industry.

Regional Queensland communities with no coronavirus cases want to reopen their businesses, saying their local economies should not suffer because of outbreaks in the state's south east.

Almost 7,000 square kilometres of land will be released for coal and gas exploration in central and north Queensland as part of measures to ensure the survival of the resources sector through the coronavirus pandemic, the State Government says.

Australia's largest organic edible hemp crop is being harvested in Victoria's north west with agronomists talking up its food and fibre potential.

A major redevelopment was hoped to revitalise WA's historic port city, but the coronavirus pandemic has instead left businesses empty with workers, tourists and locals forced to stay away.

The collective European economy will contract by 7.7 per cent this year and debt will skyrocket, with Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal among the hardest hit by the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Australian share market falls but iron ore mining stocks make gains after Australia posted a $10.6 billion trade surplus in March and iron ore exports rose.

Premier Daniel Andrews defends the work of contact tracers as 13 more coronavirus cases are linked to a cluster at Cedar Meats in Melbourne's west.

A new player emerges in Australia's live-export industry, with its maiden voyage due to leave Townsville port tonight.

South Australia's Independent Commissioner Against Corruption confirms he is investigating allegations of improper conduct by the vice-chancellor of the University of Adelaide.

Some festivals are pushing ahead with dates for later this year, despite uncertainty around how to safely mingle once public gathering laws are eased and what the spread of the virus will look like in the second half of 2020.

Logic suggests a coronavirus slump may provide a window of opportunity for first homebuyers to enter the market. But a new report suggests the opposite may be true.

At least 11 people have been killed and hundreds more are in hospital after a chemical gas leak at an LG Polymers plant in southern India.

CBA says today's closure of 114 branches nationwide is temporary and due to a massive increase in online and telephone banking.

Vodaphone Hutchison Australia's boss says the deal is now a step closer to reality and plans are in place to bring the two companies together mid-year.

The retail giant Cotton On reverses its decision to exclude 200 staff from the JobKeeper program as it faces uproar from casual workers who say they are being unfairly denied the wage subsidy.

A Queensland dairy farmer says the Dairy Code of Conduct is 'worthless' in its current state after negotiations with a processor for a new milk contract failed.

Premier Daniel Andrews says his Government will explain changes to the state's coronavirus restrictions on Monday, after the National Cabinet agrees to a three-step process of lifting restrictions to create a "COVID-safe economy".

The rate of new homes being built in WA falls to a historic low, as the housing industry is hit by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic just after it was emerging from a five-year slump.

SunRice says it will guarantee Australian-grown rice returns to supermarkets in April if the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is changed so environmental water can be used to grow rice.

A coronavirus outbreak at a Melbourne abattoir has left consumers wondering about food safety — but experts say meat is still very safe to eat, and any risk is "ridiculously small".