New research shows students who set specific, self-referenced goals with the support of their teachers demonstrate greater perseverance, aspirations and homework behaviour.

Acting Premier James Merlino has revealed the Delta strain has been linked to a returned traveller in Victorian hotel quarantine. Meanwhile, the number of official COVID-19 exposure sites has jumped back above 300.

Health authorities have found a genomic match between the Delta variant circulating in Melbourne and hotel quarantine, but Melbourne is still on track for eased restrictions by Friday.

Australian police have publicly urged Hakan Ayik to turn himself in and protect his family after he was duped by operatives into distributing an app that was used to monitor 12,500 crime figures around the world.

Victoria’s alpine region received a timely dump of snow this week, but last year’s snowfall figures suggest worrying signs for the future.

Abraham Sinai is on trial in the NSW Supreme Court accused of collaborating with a man who is shown on CCTV running up to Ho Ledinh and shooting him.

A Tamil asylum seeker family’s hopes of returning to the Queensland town of Biloela appear to have been dashed by the Morrison government, with resettlement in the United States or New Zealand now appearing more likely.

Sydneysiders will soon have a new foreshore park to enjoy once a World War II-era factory on the lower north shore is demolished. 

In 2019 three youths were forced to strip naked, lift their penises and in one case part their buttocks for inspection with a torch at a NSW juvenile jail.

The Australian Federal Police and the FBI joined forces for the three-year operation, which culminated in the arrest of alleged bikie and mafia figures in raids this week. Officers say it has helped stop 21 planned underworld killings in Melbourne.

Australian investigator Professor Dominic Dwyer says China appeared open and co-operative when international investigators visited in January.

Western Australia’s vaccination program has moved into its next phase, with 30 to 49-year-olds able to get a jab from Thursday.

The state government says the only greenery to be removed is a single frangipani tree.

Victoria recorded two new local cases on Tuesday, the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial entered its second day and Dylan Alcott has won another grand slam in France.

Snow could fall in the Blue Mountains from Wednesday with a cold front sweeping east, bringing potential thunderstorms, small hail and freezing temperatures across NSW and ACT.

More students and families from North Melbourne Primary School have been sent into 14-day isolation following Monday’s positive new case at the school.

Today on Please Explain federal political reporter Lisa Visentin joins Nathanael Cooper after ABC managing director David Anderson’s appearance at Senate estimates on Monday.

The US and its allies are pulling out but 300 Afghan interpreters are still in the country and likely to be Taliban targets.

A Melbourne policeman has been charged after allegedly sharing video of a friend’s former partner after he pulled her over for speeding.

Lars and Vivian Falkholt and their daughters Jessica and Annabelle were fatally injured in the crash on the South Coast on Boxing Day 2017. The other driver, Craig Whitall, also died.

The former special forces soldier’s barrister told the Federal Court that public speaking work “evaporated” for his client after stories ran in The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.

Our bureaucratic systems are built for the predictable needs of a population, but this won’t help us with volatile situations such as the pandemic.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says organised crime has been dealt a heavy blow after a cross-border law enforcement operation yielded mass raids and arrests using intelligence from a compromised encrypted app.

A doctor in Sydney’s eastern suburbs will face court on Tuesday accused of inappropriately touching three female patients.

Thanks to Jurassic Park, most kids know an awful lot about American dinosaurs, but we have a growing list of unique beasts.

A woman has died after she was attacked by a group of dogs in Maryborough on the Fraser Coast.

In Australia, pressure was on to televise the 1956 Melbourne Olympics.

Today was supposed to be the start of school camp for one of our diarists. Another helped his housemate audition for a gig from the lounge room. (Use of the word help has been applied loosely.)

At inquest into 12-year-old Logan schoolgirl’s death, foster father Rick Thorburn unleashes an expletive-laden outburst, yelling “Carry on and I’ll just f---ing walk out of here.”

Untreated pneumonia could cause complications for three-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan who is now in a Perth hospital.

I had thought that I had known David but what I knew was really only a part of who he was.

The youngest daughter of a Tamil family detained on Christmas Island has been medically evacuated to a Perth hospital, supporters of the family say.

Mary Tino died in hospital in 2020 due to what her husband believes was gross negligence. He wants an investigation into her death and won’t stop until he gets answers, even if it means taking the hospital to court.

One of Australia’s largest disability service providers has opened its own COVID-19 vaccination hub in Melbourne amid concerns about delays in rolling out the vaccine in disability homes.

With rising fees and falling class time, domestic university students are starting to feel like cash cows.

Demand for psychologists is exceeding supply amid the coronavirus pandemic, and we need tangible solutions to our mental health crisis. 

The G7 agreement puts Australia’s claim to tax the profits of BHP and Rio in play.

Secret trials are the hallmark of authoritarian regimes yet Witness J was tried in complete secrecy in Canberra.

New wind farms are being prevented from delivering clean power to homes and businesses across Victoria as problems plaguing the state’s outdated, coal-based electrical grid jeopardise a smooth transition to renewable energy.

South-west Victoria is emerging is a key corridor for wind energy, but a battle for hearts and minds is playing out as the turbines add up.

ABC’s former foreign correspondent Phil Williams has reinvented himself as the frontman of a country-folk outfit.

The NSW coal industry is set to rapidly shrink and may even end within 20 years, according to Treasury projections.

The NSW government has put millions of dollars in taxpayer funds on the table to keep the flying kangaroo in NSW, according to a confidential letter.

Shayne Ryan and his family waited eight months to secure a spot on a repatriation flight to Australia – and when the chance finally arrived, they almost missed it.

Just because a state government report predicts massive population growth for NSW doesn’t mean that’s what we should, or must, accept.

Prime Minister, Mr Chifley, tomorrow will establish a new record for continuous service as a Labour Prime Minister.

After being ambushed outside a Rocks hotel, ex-boxer and standover man Joey Manners died in the arms of the wife of a well-known Sydney criminal lawyer.

Trivia buffs: test your knowledge with today’s interactive superquiz and target.

The number of official COVID-19 exposure sites has jumped back above 300 after health authorities added 18 new tier-2 sites late on Monday.

And a way to get mathematics back on course.