Residents in the Hobart suburb of Risdon Vale say they are double checking their doors are locked as the search for a prison escapee enters its second day.

Three-year-old Chase has come ahead in leaps and bounds in this past year, his family credits a program giving kids like him free access to early learning.

The Peck family want the Tasmanian Government to overhaul the Mental Health Act so clinicians can consider a patient's history and risk of self-harm when considering involuntary treatment orders.

A bench shaped like a butterfly marks the spot where seven-year-old Rebecca Jackson was fatally struck by a falling tree limb. For her family, it's provided a quiet spot to heal.

As Tasmania lures more tourists with its wilderness charms, there are fears the method of holding tour operators accountable for licence breaches in precious wilderness areas is not up to the task.

In the town of Miena there are just 100 people and human interaction can be scarce, but Kaylee Hattinger has done her bit to bring life to one of the coldest places in the country.

A Tasmanian councillor announces her resignation live on radio, saying ongoing "personal attacks" and negative comments on social media have taken "too much" of a toll.

Scuba divers can reach depths of 40 metres, but there's a small group of hardcore divers who venture more than twice as deep. You just need a sense of adventure and the right gear.

Photos and documents show nurses in the Roy Fagan Centre for aged psychiatric patients use old pagers and duress buttons held together with sticky tape.

As Tasmania heads towards its busy summer tourist season, residents in popular locations are bracing themselves to share the road with tourists.

A cancer patient whose hysterectomy wound was split open after an assault by her former partner and carer, who has now won an appeal against his jail sentence, says she wants to see justice before she dies.

David Warner's much-queried spot in the Test side looks a little more secure after the Australian opener makes a Shield century for NSW against Queensland.

A botched effort at censoring a scathing report on Tasmania's juvenile detention centre reveals a litany of shortcomings, including "very little real security", CCTV that is "rarely monitored", inadequate reporting of force being used and a fence that would not stop an escape attempt, only "slow it down".

DAILY BRIEFING: A Tasmanian architect releases concept plans for an AFL stadium at Mac Point, and Hobart's Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds survives a no-confidence vote during a heated meeting.

A draft report has found a $260 million development of Glenorchy's Wilkinson's Point would great 1,100 jobs and inject millions into Hobart, but it could come at a cost to locals.

DAILY BRIEFING: Two bushfires are burning near the small communities of Glen Huon and Miena, but authorities say there is no immediate threat to people and property, and seven little penguins injured in a dog attack have been released into the wild.

DAILY BRIEFING: On a day of total fire ban in Tasmania's south, the fire service is being kept busy dealing with several outbreaks, including at Elderslie and Lachlan, where communities are on watch-and act-alerts.

DAILY BRIEFING: The prisons watchdog says he was pressured to redact a report on the Ashley youth detention centre and he will strongly resist requests to do so in the future.

A woman resigned from her job after her employer "expressed disgust and made comments" about her facial hair and another was suspended for shaving her hair to support her cancer patient mother, an anti-discrimination report says.

A public servant improperly awarded, or attempted to influence, millions of dollars' worth of government contracts for the benefit of a close friend, an inquiry finds.

A series of UFO-shaped clouds spotted in the skies over Tasmania this week have shutterbugs working their cameras overtime, but there's a scientific explanation for why they're a more common sight in Australia's island state.

The Aboriginal Land Council of Tasmania says more private landowners are investigating handing their land back to Aboriginal people, to protect it from development and "to do the right thing".

DAILY BRIEFING: Almost 30 tourism operators have received breach notices for missing parks passes, and a Tasmanian Senator acknowledges "shocking" aged care findings.

Parents in Tasmania are struggling to access speech pathology treatment for their children because NDIS funding has caused an explosion in demand for services.

A national fertility business attached to clinics in six Australian states and territories says its email system has been subjected to a "malicious cyber attack", with patients reporting receiving bogus messages that appear to be from the company.

A late spring blast of icy air from Antarctica has deposited up to 10 centimetres of snow on parts of Tasmania, but people are being urged to "get their skis on" quickly if they want to play in it.

A high school PE teacher cuts his long hair in honour of his mum, as donations of human hair for medical wigs increases.

The man accused of murdering a 29-year-old man on the Nullarbor Plain is remanded in custody after appearing briefly in court in Ceduna, in South Australia's far west.

International student associations call for more regulation of overseas migration agents as they reveal cheating on English tests required for Australian universities can be common practice.

AFL star Eddie Betts again becomes the target of "abhorrent and disgusting" racial abuse on social media, with the Crows releasing a strident statement demanding an end to what it said was the cowardly behaviour.

The AFL industry rallies behind Eddie Betts, with the peak body for players set to "name and shame" the person behind a racist attack on the Adelaide Crows star made on social media.

The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting floodwaters will reach Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre in South Australia's outback within weeks, but the lake is unlikely to fill.

The proud railway identity of Cummins is to become history as the farming community prepares to tackle 50 extra trucks on its roads each day.

Leonora, a small town in the West Australian Goldfields, is being touted as a suitable location for an underground, low and intermediate-level nuclear waste storage facility.

Greenpeace questions the independence of the national offshore oil and gas regulator, amid revelations the authority will speak at a Parliamentary dinner in favour of oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight.

Legal action is threatening the latest proposed sites for storing nuclear waste in South Australia, and the debate is dividing communities and traditional owners.

A sporting great and the South Australian Government express hurt and shock after revelations Aboriginal football fans were denied entry to Adelaide Oval for an AFL match during NAIDOC Week.

Swiss sailor Peter Baggenstos is repairing his boat in Port Lincoln nine days after it was badly damaged in a Southern Ocean storm he feared could have ended his life.

The remains of 12,000 World War I diggers are believed to be buried in unmarked graves not at Gallipoli or the fields of Flanders, but in suburban cemeteries across Australia.

It comes as no surprise to researchers that densely-populated beaches in Australia are contaminated with microplastics but what about our remote coastal areas?

It has been described as "a little peculiar" but the 18-hole Nullarbor Links outback golf course is growing in popularity with tourists and golfers from all corners of the globe.

When the Foster family bought their new family home, they had no idea they would become lavender farmers and the work it would involve.

This is Phil Gregurke. He is havingtotravel 200kmjust topickup acartonofbeerand some toiletpaper for his pub on the Birdsville Track.

An 'island-rock' formation in South Australian is believed to have formed billions of years ago and while it is eroding, experts say it is not likely to disappear anytime soon.

Foster carers have historically been able to apply for house and car upgrades to enable them to care for extra children, but the ABC can reveal the category of support was suspended in September 2018.