Neither the people in favour of Polanski being granted unconditional liberty nor the moral guardians and self righteous accusers are likely to have their opinion much altered as a result of this superficial, yet devastatingly powerful record of an extraordinary life.

There's nothing quite like a portrait exhibition to bring the crowds in. A steady stream of visitors has been arriving at the Lismore Regional Gallery since the 2013 Northern Rivers Portrait Prize opened on June 8.

The October long week was a weekend of festivals. It had me zooming from Tyagarah for the Boomerang indigenous arts festival, on to Nimbin for a spot of basketweaving at the Weave and Mend Festival and then out to Mullumbimby for the Circus Festival on Sunday. And I still didn't make it down to Ballina for their Country Music Festival.

Abner Bradley, Alirio Zavarce, Ben Wishart, Damien Turbin, Duncan Luke, Kym Mackenzie, Ryan Rowland, Richard Samai

Politics loves the stage and it seems the stage loves politics.

Funny and disturbing, this play is a must see.

After Damien Ryan's energetic and enjoyable Henry V last year, it is pleasing to see that Bell Shakespeare has brought the director back to tackle Shakespeare's most complex and nuanced tragedy, Hamlet. And the marriage is a solid one. To start, casting Josh McConville as the grief-struck prince of Denmark has paid off handsomely. McConville approaches Hamlet's descent into his 'prison' of madness with powerful and dexterous complexity, bringing the contradictions that render the character into a fulsome and multi-faceted presentation of Shakespeare's vision for Hamlet.

Australia's first liquid natural gas import terminal will be built at Port Kembla, south of Sydney, with hopes it will secure thousands of jobs and meet the bulk of the state's gas needs.

A Chinese mining giant is being accused of underestimating the impact a proposed open cut mine will have on groundwater on the New South Wales Liverpool Plains.

As a river runs dry in the northern basin, the blame game continues, and farmer Andrew Watson says irrigators are being unjustly targeted over water use.

The Game of Thrones drama ends today for millions of fans, but in one Aussie household it will live on for this pampered pooch which has its own GoT-inspired iron throne.

A report into hazing at the University of New England finds female students were pressured into sexual acts, "slapped on the arse" by a line of men before entering a party and told to lock their doors at night.

Communities in the grip of drought are doing everything they can to keep their local kindergartens from shutting down, but they fear they're running out of options.

A decision to prioritise a controversial coal project over the protection of Indigenous sacred sites has landed the Federal Environment Minister at the centre of a fierce legal battle.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses has collated data from official stewards' documents and found 122 horses died in the past year.

With dams and creeks bone dry in drought-stricken towns, firefighters are being forced to find ways to combat blazes that are almost impossible to extinguish.

When people started getting sick from a particularly potent strain of salmonella last year, a team of experts rushed to try to trace the source of the outbreak.

The remains of a 77-year-old man and a 68-year-old woman are found on a property destroyed in the bushfires which ripped through northern NSW earlier this week.

A man is charged with two counts of murder after a woman and a young boy are found dead in a Tamworth house fire that police believe was deliberately lit. Two other people are in hospital with burns.

Two men are arrested over the disappearance and suspected murder of a New South Wales man who has been missing for almost a decade.

If you are hoping to be buried in Launceston's main cemetery, you'll need deep pockets, with the cost of a single plot "skyrocketing" more than 225 per cent in recent years, and it's set to go up again. Why does it cost so much?

The number of people who have tested positive for coronavirus in Tasmania jumps to 16, with five cases being diagnosed on Saturday, the director of public health says.

Gambling giant Federal Group is demanding Tasmanian pub owners continue paying rent on leased poker machines, even while hoteliers have been forced to close due to coronavirus — a move blasted by Senator Jacqui Lambie as "trying to make a quid" during a "wartime scenario".

Small businesses are struggling across Australia as the coronavirus outbreak unfolds. But there are ways you can help keep them going — and stick to social isolation guidelines.

Some veterinarians in Tasmania are sceptical about suggestions animal ventilators could be used on humans during the coronavirus pandemic, with some warning making them fit for purpose may be too expensive.

Renters in Tasmania could be safe from eviction until at least September under emergency laws to shield them during the coronavirus crisis — with New South Wales tenancy advocates welcoming the development and calling on "all governments" to follow suit.

Australians are being urged to roll up their sleeves and give blood and plasma despite stricter measures on social interactions in the coronavirus pandemic.

Tasmania's economy was just picking up as coronavirus restrictions sent thousands of people out of work — but some help is out there.

The deliberate concealment of objects throughout history has been linked to superstition, but for a patient at this notorious psychiatric asylum it was an act of resistance.

Defence force personnel will help Tasmanian Police conduct spot checks to ensure people are observing new rules restricting their movements for at least the next four weeks.

The Australian Government will launch hundreds of flights to deliver fresh produce to key international markets as part of a big-spending boost for exports.

For the first time in about a fortnight Tasmania has had no new positive coronavirus tests, but the Premier says that's no reason to relax while warning parents to supervise children not at school.

A Tasmanian man who allegedly left his home without a lawful reason and told police he had coronavirus when he was pulled over is charged with failing to comply with a public health direction.

Because Niall Harden and Sarah Wyllie are not permanent residents, they are not entitled to the Government's new JobKeeper payment, which also excludes casuals who have not been with an employer for more than 12 months.

Six new cases of coronavirus confirmed in the last 24 hours has pushed Tasmania's COVID-19 tally to 80, as police warn the public they will on patrol to ensure strict measures are followed.

An investigation is underway after two staff members of the North West Regional Hospital in Tasmania test positive for coronavirus.

One of the two coronavirus cases confirmed in Tasmania is a staff member from the North West Regional Hospital, a day after two other staff cases were revealed.

The members of Facebook group Hobart Gal Pals are now asking questions about hand cleaning and self-isolation, and Chit Chat Launceston members want to know who they can visit, as a feeling of community is staying alive during coronavirus self-isolation.

A coronavirus outbreak at Burnie's hospital has prompted a plea for Tasmania's north-west residents to do the right thing over the Easter break, as a drive-through testing station opens in Hobart.

Tasmania records another four cases of coronavirus, all in the state's north-west hotspot, after Premier Peter Gutwein warned of a statewide Easter police "blitz" and an "effective lockdown" in the north-west.

A Tasmanian farmer's suggestion that people make champagne with their surplus rhubarb draws a legal warning from the French.

With helicopters in the air, police patrols of holiday destinations and numberplate scanning, leaders around the country warn there will be no tolerance for breaches of the strict self-isolation measures.

A stand-off in a suburban street between an armed man and police is captured on video, with officers pointing their weapons and ordering him to surrender before he is knocked down by a police car.

Coronavirus has forced some dramatic changes to how the ABC keeps the public informed, from home-based broadcasting to webcam interviews and recruiting people featured in a story to help film it on their mobile phone.

Tasmania records its first coronavirus infection in a nursing home, a 79-year-old woman in the state's cluster zone in the north-west, where cases linked to two hospitals prompted a mass quarantine last week.

Another five coronavirus cases in Tasmania's troubled northwest take the tally to 200, as the Health Minister urges people to remain vigilant.

A Tasmanian police officer is charged over a car crash that killed a pedestrian from New South Wales earlier this year.

The Tasmanian Government unveils a $3 million package to support around 26,000 temporary visa holders stuck in the state because of the coronavirus pandemic.

AgQuip will not run in August, as it has done since 1973, due to the coronavirus pandemic, with organisers flagging November for the event which usually attracts about 100,000 people to north-west NSW.

Tasmanian police dismiss allegations, first aired publicly by Australia's Chief Medical Officer, that an "illegal dinner party" of healthcare workers contributed to Tasmania's coronavirus outbreak.