Police recover the body of a 23-year-old Melbourne woman who was a passenger in a microlight aircraft that had crashed into Lake Eildon, in central Victoria. The pilot was rescued by a fishing boat and taken to hospital.

A former primary school teacher who abused 38 of his students at several country Victorian schools is sentenced to 12 years in jail, but some of his victims say the sentence should be longer.

Taxpayer investments and the water market are making irrigation more efficient and reducing Murray-Darling's base flow. Here's what needs to happen next, write Q J Wang and Avril Horne.

High water prices in the Murray-Darling Basin are blamed on foreign investors and corporate speculators. The simple truth is they are caused mostly by lack of rain.

More than 700,000 people could lose their primary connection to the outside world as the NDIS rollout leaves Vision Australia Radio without essential government funding to stay on air.

A woman apologises for throwing an egg at the Prime Minister's head during the election campaign, describing her actions as "selfish and stupid". She is ordered to complete 150 hours of community service for the egging and is fined $100 for drug possession.

The Sloane's froglet used to live and breed across vast areas of Victoria and New South Wales, but now it survives in just a few wetland pockets, which are being replanted to help it thrive.

Gilbert Parker is remembered by friends as a "fine man", after he went missing in seas off Fiji when his helicopter crashed as he attempted to take a mother and her two-year-old son to hospital.

Wodonga grandmother Janice Marcuzzi is among those residents crossing state borders to take advantage of container deposit schemes.

Emergency services are warning Victorians to brace for a cold snap and wind gusts of up to 130kph in parts of the south-east, while alpine areas may enjoy heavier snowfall.

Heavy snow, freezing temperatures and "treacherous driving conditions" close access to a popular snow resort as Victoria shivers through its third day of an extreme cold snap that's blanketing towns in snow.

The Government believes the projects will create more than 600 jobs and generate enough clean energy to power more than 80,000 homes, while farmers have labelled the decision as "gutless".

Murderer Michael Cardamone, who tortured and callously killed Victorian woman Karen Chetcuti-Verbunt in 2016, has his life jail term upheld by appeal judges who say the "dreadful punishment" is fit for "a dreadful crime".

Authorities discover more than 120 dead native birds, believed to have been poisoned, on a rural property in northern Victoria.

Victims of a bushfire almost a decade ago are set to receive millions of dollars in compensation following a ruling by the High Court.

Voting opens for Victorian Aboriginal communities to elect the people who will help make the rules for what are expected to be the first treaty negotiations in Australia.

A $30 million proposal for a sheep abattoir that would employ 150 full-time workers is opposed by a group of residents, who are concerned about potential health impacts and devaluation of their properties.

Operations will cease at Albury's Norske Skog paper mill, with 183 employees to lose their jobs after the company announced the sale of its Ettamogah site to Australian papermaker Visy.

Equestrian sports are set for a major safety overhaul following an inquest into the deaths of two teenagers who died while taking part in separate eventing competitions three years ago.

A Gippsland couple missing in Victoria's High Country since Monday has been found safe and well.

Police have confirmed the body of a man found in missing NSW woman Ruth Ridley's car in Victoria is that of her estranged husband.

The Victorian Government's historic treaty negotiations with the state's Aboriginal communities are one step closer this week, with the election of the First Peoples' Assembly. But the toughest yards to meaningful treaties still lie ahead.

The group representing Victoria's councils calls for organisations like independent schools, pokies clubs and churches to pay their fair share of rates because "mum and dad homeowners" are unfairly cross-subsidising private and commercial enterprises.

The sister of missing hiker Niels Becker hopes he will be found with an "epic story" to tell after failing to return from five-day hike in cold conditions in Victoria's alpine region.

A tour guide, who says he has "never seen anything like this before", thought there had been a massive oil slick when he first saw the thick black water flowing out past a tourist hot spot in the Northern Territory.

Five years ago up to 10,000 magpie geese helped themselves to fruit on a mango farm. Now the birds deliberately fly around the property.

A new foundation to help fund lawsuits against perpetrators of child sexual abuse is launched, with profits from successful legal action used to help victims and survivors.

A convicted violent rapist who was found to be at risk of reoffending was on the run for a week before being arrested in the Northern Territory, with no public notifications or warnings issued by NT Police.

Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show almost 78 per cent of Katherine residents are now either overweight or obese, the highest proportion in the country. But the town's Mayor is not quite convinced.

Michael Gunner says a nine-hour blackout which left thousands of residents across Central Australia without power during the heat of the day on Sunday is "unacceptable" and calls for a review into the region's power supply.

Police say charges for a 14-year-old boy are expected after an aggressive episode lasting five hours in Darwin's northern suburbs.

It was the first jurisdiction in the country to roll out a floor price on alcohol, alongside a raft of other measures, and data shows is it having a significant effect in the Northern Territory.

The wrongful arrest of a man who spent 103 days in custody over an alleged rape, while awaiting DNA results, prompts a review into the NT Police forensics branch.

With Tasmania committed to changing its laws, the Northern Territory will be the only place in Australia where sexual assault survivors are not legally allowed to share their own stories and journalists can face time behind bars if they name victims.

The incident left more than 60 residents without running water for five days as temperatures soared into the mid-30s.

You'll need a week's worth of supplies, plenty of spare tyres, and a sturdy four-wheel drive would you take on this epic, ancient journey?

Manal Aqrawe is a doctor with more than 20 years of experience, but she can't get a job in Australia even outside medicine. Her story is sobering, but far from isolated.

Four-time Hawthorn premiership player Cyril Rioli kicks the last goal of the game to steer the Tiwi Bombers to a one-point victory in his return to the football field after retiring from the AFL.

Northern Territory Police send in reinforcements after a woman is shot with a crossbow during a violent outbreak in a remote Arnhem Land community

A service available to many Australians will finally be provided to Canberrans, with the ACT Government hoping a kerbside collection service starting next year will help to curb illegal dumping in the territory's national parks.

From smart watches to exercise monitors and devices that correct your posture, wearable tech is everywhere and now cancer survivor Kathy Reid has invented a smart breast.

Australian Federal Police leave the home where Australian Signals Directorate officer Cameron Gill was living in Canberra. The home was raided by the AFP in the early hours of this morning

Garry Marsh, 73, pleads guilty to indecently assaulting a student while he coached him in rugby union at Canberra's St Edmund's College in 1979, and will spend two years behind bars.

A Victorian man who sent 52 packages filled with asbestos to embassies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra has been sentenced to one year in prison.