The boss of embattled insurer Medibank says the value of the ransom demand from cyber criminals was "irrelevant" in the company's decision not to negotiate with the hackers.

Senate estimates hears allegations have been made against 19 Administrative Appeals Tribunal members, including senior officials and a deputy president, with two no longer working there.

After months of production, five houses on The Block went under the hammer... or tried to. Here's how their wildly different auction results represent Australia's current housing market.

Australians households and businesses are expected to speed up the transition to renewables as energy prices soar and payback periods for solar and batteries shorten.  

The body that runs Western Australia's biggest power system may have to spend tens of millions of dollars hiring diesel-fired backup generators as part of desperate efforts to keep the power on.

Danushka Gunathilaka will remain behind bars after a failed bail application in Sydney today. The cricketer's lawyer says he will take his client's case to the Supreme Court as soon as possible.

Knives and shovels were used to break into an Alice Springs sobering up facility before stolen cars were driven dangerously through the town.

Warnings about legal and policy problems with the proposed Robodebt scheme were "watered down" in a brief being prepared for then social services minister Scott Morrison, according to evidence given to the Robodebt royal commission.  ...

The federal attorney-general has issued a blunt warning to former prime minister Scott Morrison, reminding him that cabinet and national security meetings from his time in power should remain confidential. 

The mother of a young woman killed alongside her partner and three-week old baby in a deliberately lit house fire has told a Supreme Court hearing she will never forgive the woman responsible for the tragedy.

One business lost hundreds of thousands of dollars as Sydney's main shopping district became a "construction zone", a court hears.

Harrison School has offered counselling to students after the bodies of two boys were found with their mother, and Canberrans have offered floral tributes.

Crown Melbourne has been ordered to pay $120 million in fines after the gambling regulator found it failed to prevent gambling-related harm to patrons, who were sometimes allowed to gamble for more than 24 hours at a time.

Medical authorities are warning of a new surge of COVID-19 cases in Australia, with the chief medical officer urging people to be vigilant.

The federal government calls an inquiry into the immigration system in a bid to root out the infiltration of the visa process by criminal syndicates.

Election disclosures detail the millions of dollars raised and spent by the teal independents to defeat high-profile Liberal MPs in blue-ribbon seats at the May federal election.

Global warming is responsible for increasingly large fires in Siberia, and in the decades ahead the blazes could release huge amounts of carbon currently trapped in the soil, according to a new report. 

Last year, powerful leaders gathered in Glasgow for a UN climate conference that was billed as the "last best chance" to keep global warming at 1.5 degrees Celsius. At this year's event, things will be more subdued.

After a few quiet months, Queensland health authorities are warning against complacency when it comes to fatal mosquito-borne disease.

After his dazzling career comes unstuck, the musician, actor and provocateur reassesses his comedy, questions the dangerous allure of fame, and finds home is where the heart is.

"Just over four years ago I was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer," Taylor wrote. "Many families have experienced the slow burn of this disease and of course we are no different."

In her band Low, Mimi Parker brought a sense of calm and quiet to a noisy 90s indie rock scene.

Medibank details what personal information it believes a cybercriminal has accessed from customers in the latest update on the hack of the company's data. 

The Reserve Bank boss said "high inflation devalues your savings" but high inflation hasn't always been seen as a scourge, and the RBA and other central banks have deliberately fuelled rampant inflation, writes business editor Ian Verrend...

It's less than two days until midterm elections in the US and Republicans and Democrats are ramping up their final efforts to win support. Here's the latest.