The return of hooved mowers will tickle the olfactories.

Temperatures in Melbourne dropped from more than 30 degrees before the storm hit to 17.6 degrees at 5pm, as gusts of up to 100km/h brought down trees in Frankston.

South Australia reopened its domestic borders on November 23 and has recorded 29 community cases since as it adjusts to life after COVID-zero.

A cluster of COVID-19 cases linked to an Adelaide high school reunion has grown, as South Australia grapples with the inevitable spread after reopening borders.

Dubbo South Public School will be closed on Friday after a fire tore through multiple rooms. One person was taken to hospital in a stable condition for smoke inhalation.

The state government said that “heavily reduced” services will operate on multiple lines on December 7, while intercity trains will run to a weekend schedule.

Additional cases of the Omicron variant have been detected in Sydney, casting doubts on the effectiveness of the state’s two-tiered quarantine system for international arrivals.

The Andrews government has given its clearest indication yet of the criteria it will use to scrap controversial vaccine mandates as criticism grows of rules forcing people to prove their vaccination status in shops and other settings.

There is growing speculation that Greg Hunt will retire from federal politics, Victoria’s pandemic laws are due to pass the state’s upper house today and South Australia’s Parliament has been adjourned for contact tracing.

What was once known as the W-League is now called the A-League Women. Can a new name, logo and strategy revive interest in the competition?

“Our navy is more capable, more professional and more lethal than it has ever been,” Thursday’s graduates were told.

The United Nations Secretary-General, meanwhile, criticised travel restrictions imposed over the new Omicron variant as “travel apartheid”.

Peng Shuai’s situation has become emblematic of growing concerns about China’s authoritarian power, the role of sport in politics and the 2022 Winter Games. 

James Hayward is a South West MLC and was vice-president of the federal branch of the Nationals.

The redevelopment of the Queen Victoria Market will cost $268 million and is expected to attract 18 million visitors a year, according to a new business case for the precinct. 

A political storm forced the PM to sideline a minister as the government struggled to gain ground on key bills and both parties prepared attack lines for an election.

The new approach could be a significant turnaround for a government often accused by environmentalists of being too close to the gas industry that is the principal cause of the state’s rising emissions.

More than 40 years ago Bob Hawke called for the abolition of the states. Perhaps he had it the wrong way around.

Health executives were grilled about the condition of hospitals in the state’s far west at a parliamentary inquiry on Thursday.

Male politicians have long been treating their female colleagues badly. Sometimes it is a female parliamentarian who offends, as happened this week.

Australia has one of the lowest employment rates for people with disability in the OECD.

As the bill they have demonised was debated and voted on by MPs on Thursday, the tone of demonstrators on the steps of Parliament softened.

The Coalition’s $660 million car park fund was used to channel cash into key marginal seats in 2019. A Senate report warns a repeat could play out in 2022.

Unusually for sports administrators, the WTA are aligning their mouth to their principles, not their money.

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan is still set to feature on Fox Cricket’s Ashes coverage this summer, provided he can get to Australia after testing positive to COVID-19.

With border restrictions lifting, international comedians will return to next year’s comedy festival. Are the locals entirely happy about that?

Queen Bellissimo put herself on the map with a dominant win first up and has subsequently been installed favourite in the final race of the day at Rosehill.

Education Minister Alan Tudge has stepped aside cabinet while an investigation is underway into his former adviser Rachelle Miller’s claims their affair became physically abusive.

The body was found to have “failed in its duty” when charging seven Logan councillors and the city’s mayor with fraud, charges that were ultimately dropped.

In a week when a report found widespread sexual harassment and bullying in parliament house, parliamentarians themselves indulge in an outbreak of bad behaviour.

Liberal senator Hollie Hughes believes the comment was directed at her son, who has autism, and was an outrageous slur that crossed a line.

The murder of Hannah Clarke and her three children drew the issue of coercive control into the spotlight.

Belinda and Luke McCarthy became the first trainer-driver combination to sweep a night of heats in the Inter Dominion at Bathurst on Wednesday.

Climate change and land clearing are placing the state’s native plants and animals under significant pressure, an inquiry has found.

After months of debate and protest, Victoria’s pandemic law passed the upper house and will take effect in a fortnight.

After leading Australia’s health response to the pandemic, Greg Hunt will leave Parliament at the 2022 election. He says it’s time to be a ‘proper dad’ to his children.

Everything you need to know to find a winner on the seven-race card.

Gerald Ryan and Sterling Alexiou have primed Mr Mosaic to ensure his  perfect first-up record of three from three isn’t tarnished when he resumes as a gelding at Rosehill on Saturday.

The author’s last book, Last Letter to a Reader, looks back at all the works he has published.

The stable will saddle four runners at Rosehill on Saturday. All four are set to start favourite, and three have much more lucrative plans ahead of them.

A Brisbane man who was sending money to Thailand and the Philippines to facilitate the sexual abuse of children has been jailed.

After 32 years, Bangarra’s artistic director Stephen Page will hand over to his one-time muse Frances Rings.

The new grandstand – which is open for the price of a general admission ticket – will first be put to use at Villiers Day on Saturday week.

Peter Jenkins, a former Army Reservist and retired Victorian and Queensland police officer, tells the story of his late son, Shaun.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet will overhaul a 2017 state government plan to divide Sydney into three “30-minute” cities by expanding it to six and appointing a new cities minister in his upcoming cabinet reshuffle.

The federal government’s plan to tackle online abuse will not necessarily create a safer environment.

Alex Carey will step straight into a vital leadership role within Australia’s Test team from the moment he walks out on debut.

NSW taxpayers have funded more than $26,000 in legal fees for disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire while he remains the subject of a corruption probe.

The NBL season tips off on Friday night and here is how all 10 teams are shaping up.

What’s interesting about Spotify and Apple Music’s end-of-year lists isn’t which musicians are on them – it’s the narrow demographics they share.