Perth and Brisbane to swelter through hottest conditions of Australia’s capital cities on Thursday. Wildly different weather is on the way across Australia for Christmas Day, as a clearer picture emerges of the forecast for celebrations on Thursday. The Bureau of Meteorology has tipped Perth, at 4…

Reality TV star jailed for trying to cover up evidence after the 2022 crash that killed co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson. The reality TV star Matt Wright has been given a 10-month jail sentence for attempting to pervert the course of justice after a fatal helicopter crash. The 47-year-old was sentenc…

Gavin Morris, a former NRL referee, found guilty of putting pupils in choke holds and twisting their ears. A former NRL referee has been spared jail after abusing his position of trust as a school principal by putting Indigenous students into choke holds and painfully twisting their ears. Gavin Mo…

Separate independent investigation also found ‘serious issues’ with school’s governance, prompting redundancies which community says threaten the school’s viability . One of Australia’s oldest independent Indigenous schools is in crisis after its former principal was found guilty of physically ass…

New South Wales south coast faces highest heatwave category, with extreme temperatures forecast elsewhere, including in Western Australia and the NT. Communities across large parts of Australia have been urged to take precautions as temperatures begin to soar ahead of severe and extreme heatwave c…

A smartphone game is part of a push to save critically endangered Nyiyaparli in the Pilbara, while an NT radio station helps keep Yolŋu matha strong. Preston Taylor is deep in the heart of the Pilbara’s largest wetland. The 12-year-old is on a mission to collect precious cultural items scattered a…

Lachlan Marchant was one of several mineworkers who saw a huge dust storm as it moved slowly across the landscape. He described fleeing to safety after a storm on Sunday before an even bigger one appeared on Monday. 'To see one the next day coming over the horizon, you’re like, "holy crap, this th…

Massive cloud over Tanami desert in Northern Territory reminiscent of Uluru, onlookers say. Lachlan Marchant and his colleagues were driving their golf buggies back to their shed when they saw the earth sweeping towards them. “It reminded us of Uluru, the sheer size and width of this thing,” March…

Rental changes were introduced in Northern Territory without giving notice to tenants, which the court unanimously ruled was a denial of procedural fairness. A public housing policy which saw tenants in the Northern Territory charged a flat rental rate based on the number of bedrooms in their home…

Destruction wrought by swine-borne disease is thinning the canopy of bunya pine forests and the problem is getting worse, experts say. High up in an ancient conifer rainforest, at what was once the largest Indigenous gathering place in eastern Australia, there is sunlight where there shouldn’t be.…

Environment group warns of ‘major risk’ to groundwater, which supplies 90% of Northern Territory water supply. A plan by fossil fuel company Santos to expand gas exploration in the Beetaloo basin has been criticised by environmentalists who fear it may mark the beginning of a fracking rush in the …

Criminal defence lawyer Asta Hill says she is putting human rights at the centre of her leadership – without shying away from addressing community safety. When Asta Hill drives into Alice Springs after swimming in one of the waterholes that dot the red centre, she is still struck by the shades of …

Category 3 system the strongest cyclone to approach Darwin since Tracy in 1974, but no serious injuries reported by Sunday morning. Top End residents are preparing to launch into cleanup mode after a night of damaging winds and heavy rain from Tropical Cyclone Fina. With top gusts of 195km/h and s…

Top End residents told to stay sheltered at home until authorities give the all-clear. Follow updates live. Even though the worst of the storm has passed, authorities say residents should stay in their shelters until given the all clear. The bureau of meterology in its latest advice states: [The N…

It is the first cyclone of that strength in Australian waters in November in 20 years, with sustained winds of 120km an hour. Severe tropical cyclone Fina has intensified to a category three system as it closes in on Darwin today, making it the first cyclone of that strength in Australian waters i…

SunCable says massive energy project proposed in NT could position Australia as global leader, but critics are concerned about scale. Energy company SunCable says a massive solar farm it has proposed building in the Northern Territory could power an AI data centre precinct in the region to positio…

Indonesia’s Mount Semeru is the highest peak on Java island and its eruption has prompted evacuations. Follow today’s news live. Government reaffirms that best Cop outcome is one that elevates Pacific voices Pat Conroy , the minister for defence industry, said Australia is still seeking to host th…

If it makes impact on Friday, it would be the earliest cyclone of the season to make landfall in Australia since 1973. If tropical cyclone Fina crosses the Northern Territory coast on Friday, it could equal the earliest cyclone to make landfall in Australia. Fina, a category one cyclone about 370k…

Climate advocates fear the project, proposed by Japanese oil and gas giant Inpex, would turn the area into the ‘world’s largest carbon dumping ground’. Oil and gas giant Inpex has proposed Australia’s largest carbon capture facility in waters off the Northern Territory, which climate advocates hav…

Analysis says $30bn given to expand existing coal, oil and gas projects. Follow today’s news live. Homelessness advocate welcomes expansion of NSW crisis accommodation A Salvation Army leader working first-hand with homelessness has said the NSW government’s crisis accommodation announcement respo…

Wayne Hunt didn’t receive full medical assessment after seizure in cell and died days later, coroner hears. Confronting footage of a disabled inmate being roughly handled and placed in a spit hood by prison guards after an epileptic seizure has been played at an inquest into his death. Wayne Hunt …

Protests on an outback road in the Northern Territory have refocused attention on Pine Gap, the secretive US satellite base near Alice Springs. The protesters have tried to block workers from accessing the facility, which they claim is aiding Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Nour Haydar speaks with seni…

Wayne Hunt was kept in detention after a seizure instead of being taken to hospital, coroner hears. An inmate who suffered a seizure was put in handcuffs and a spit hood by prison guards who left him naked in an “at-risk cell” before he died two days later. At an inquest into his death in Darwin o…

The Liberal senator ‘tarnished’ reputation of Central Land Council chief, court hears, but she says there was public interest. A Liberal senator accused of defaming the head of a large Aboriginal land council was an evasive witness who made baseless allegations and gave “illogical and self-serving…

A protest over Pine Gap’s claimed role in genocide has refocused attention on the secretive US satellite base near Alice Springs. Straight and bare, Hatt Road runs south-west from Mparntwe-Alice Springs before it suddenly swings north through a narrow gap in the MacDonnell Ranges. It is what lies …

Central Land Council chief executive Lesley Turner alleges the Liberal senator defamed him in a 2024 press release. Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price should have verified claims about the head of an Aboriginal land council before publicly harming his reputation, a defamation trial has heard…

Birdsville sets new high as BoM forecasts more record hot weather, with heatwave warnings in place in some states. October heat records have been broken in several states this week as authorities in New South Wales prepare for “temperatures way above the norm” to hit Sydney and the east coast of A…

High-profile lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC is representing the Central Land Council boss in the case against NT senator. Liberal senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price plotted with a school principal to oust the chief executive of an Aboriginal land council she defamed in a media release, a court has been t…

Ameeta Patel was introduced to a seemingly alpha male called ‘Jungle Jim’. When he talked about his psychologist, she did a double take. At 40 I was a divorced mother of two. I uprooted myself from New South Wales and headed to Alice Springs to work as a GP. A year later we were all so happy we de…

Inquest is hearing evidence about the 2023 death of Mitchell Thomas at Larapinta in Alice Springs. Warning: This article contains an image and reference to an Indigenous Australian who has died An inquest in the Northern Territory will examine whether faulty electrical wiring in social housing cau…

Film-maker Rachel Perkins says Larrakia people ‘would have never agreed’ to the planned 11-storey building. A legislative change that will allow a multi-storey hotel to be built over a sacred site on Darwin’s waterfront without triggering a new heritage assessment is “appalling” and an act of “leg…

Walking the rocky and remote Northern Territory terrain, Tegan Forder finds lush ravines, undulating trails, delicate native flowers and stunning sunsets. The first day of a multi-day hike is often filled with optimism, despite the heavy load on your back. You’re leaving a busy life behind and ven…

Marie-Clare Boothby faces questions after revealing she is related to man spared prison over a crash that killed Aboriginal pedestrian. The Northern Territory’s attorney general, Marie-Clare Boothby, has faced criticism after confirming she is related to a man who was spared prison last week over …

Just weeks after giving birth to her second child, the actor and writer discusses Darwin, her first love and her commitment to creating complicated Indigenous characters. It’s an unusually hot afternoon in Surry Hills and the actor Miranda Tapsell is standing outside Belvoir Street Theatre, squint…

Children’s commissioner says young Indigenous person kept in isolation for 12 hours longer than permitted under NT youth justice laws because they refused to move cell blocks. A young Aboriginal person detained at the Don Dale detention centre was kept in isolation for 84 hours, unable to leave th…

Having overcome childhood adversity and language barriers, McGrath is using his platform to help address the root cause of health inequality in Indigenous communities. At 14, Stuart Yiwarr McGrath made a radical decision that would change the course of his life. Orphaned at 12, he had spent years …

Objects including three-metre spears were collected in late 19th and early 20th centuries and donated to city’s museum. For decades, they have languished in storage in the basement of a museum in the English West Country. Finally, an extraordinary collection of weapons and ceremonial objects taken…

In federal court documents, the 24-year-old’s family claim officers acted unlawfully in apprehending him and ‘applying force to him such as to cause the loss of his life’. The mother of Kumanjayi White, a Warlpiri man who died after being restrained in an Alice Springs supermarket by police, is su…

Reality TV star accused of trying to cover up evidence following the February 2022 crash that killed co-star Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson. Reality TV star Matt Wright has been found guilty of two counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice after a deadly helicopter crash. But a supreme court ju…

Matt Wright has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The reality TV star Matt Wright’s home was bugged with listening devices and phone taps for three months as police sought evidence of a cover-up following a fatal helicopter crash, a jury has heard. …

Reality TV star Matt Wright has pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Reality TV star Matt Wright told an associate to collect the phone of a severely injured pilot following a fatal helicopter crash, a jury has heard. The Outback Wrangler star has ple…

Sebastian Robinson accused of concocting a story that Wright had asked him to manipulate helicopter flying hours. A helicopter crash pilot has been accused of concocting “absolute falsehoods” that reality TV star Matt Wright tried to get him to falsify flying hours and deleted phone messages, a ju…

Text messages from Sebastian Robinson’s phone were read out in Darwin’s supreme court, detailing regular exchanges about the alleged supply of cocaine. A pilot who was seriously injured in a deadly helicopter crash has denied being a drug dealer but admitted to sourcing small amounts of cocaine fo…

Reality TV star Matt Wright has pleaded not guilty to three charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice. Reality TV star Matt Wright visited a pilot while he was heavily sedated in hospital after a deadly helicopter crash and asked him to manipulate flying hour records, a court has been…

Sebastian Robinson, who was left a paraplegic by a February 2022 crash that killed Chris ‘Willow’ Wilson, gave evidence on Tuesday. A pilot panicked and lied to air crash investigators after a helicopter accident that killed Outback Wrangler co-star Chris “Willow” Wilson, a court has been told. Se…

Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year. Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year aw…

Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year. Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year aw…

Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year. Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year aw…

Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year. Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year aw…

Warnindhilyagwa singer also wins film clip of the year, while Malyangapa Barkindji rapper Barkaa wins album of the year. Emily Wurramara expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and “all Indigenous peoples around the world” experiencing oppression as she accepted the artist of the year aw…