TASMANIA Police is investigating allegations of pedophilia against a former teacher believed to be dead until found alive in NZ.

The boy died after falling down a flight of stairs in the Victorian town of Wodonga.

ACADEMIC Barry Spurr has resigned from the University of Sydney in the wake of controversy over racist emails.

SYDNEY siege gunman Man Haron Monis had evil in his heart and a long list of targets on his warped mind.

The world of virtual reality is set to explode with the release of Sony’s PlayStation VR headset just a fortnight away.

Collingwood's Steele Sidebottom loomed as a surprise winner, but favourite Tom Mitchell held off the charge to claim the medal. See how all the night's action unfolded in our live blog.

Ruth Harper runs a not-for-profit childcare centre in Melbourne. She says the Federal Government's support package for Victorian operators will be a huge relief for many centres — but not ones like hers.

ARTHUR Sinodinos has taken a second bullet for the Abbott government by resigning from the ministry.

Two former ACTU chiefs have joined business leaders in backing Bill Shorten’s negotiation of workplace deals.

ASADA’s investigators recommended against pursuing current and former Essendon footballers over the club’s 2012 supplements program.

The royal commission is exposing that Commonwealth Bank bosses opted to put out the nearest spot fire and move on, rather than actually acknowledge the cascading scandals starting a towering inferno around them.

Retired General David Hurley will replace current governor-general Peter Cosgrove when the latter's five-year term as the Queen's representative in Australia comes to an end in March next year.

Australia's two-year winning streak against New Zealand comes to an end, with the Silver Ferns comfortably defeating the Diamonds 55-44 in the third Constellation Cup Test.

Israel Folau tells members of his church he is worrying about finances "for the first time" in over a decade as a panel decides the future of his rugby career after controversial social media posts.

TONY and Margie Abbott have visited Martin Place to pay tributes to the victims and hostages of the Lindt cafe siege.

ARTHUR Sinodinos has taken a second bullet for the Abbott government by resigning from the ministry.

An AirAsia flight from Sydney bound for Malaysia ended up in Melbourne by mistake, it has been revealed.

Australia's Hannah Green is playing some extraordinary golf to be three shots clear at halfway in the Women's PGA Championship in Minnesota.

Reporters can be abrasive characters and are not above the law, but undermining fearless, independent reporting also damages our healthy democracy, writes Craig McMurtrie.

A TEENAGER has died after being bitten by a shark while spear fishing over a reef in far north Queensland.