Hundreds of Tasmanians have fled their homes as bushfires fuelled by heat and strong wind gusts threaten numerous communities across the state.

Australia Day festivities have been called off or moved in far north Queensland amid heavy rain as people brace for a tropical cyclone in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

Two men are in hospital under police guard following a raid on a large-scale drug lab discovered inside a home in Sydney's southwest.

Two dogs that attacked a 40-year-old man at a home he was visiting in Sydney's west are expected to be put down within hours.

Melbourne stalwart Cameron Smith has come out strongly in support of calls for harsher penalties for NRL players whose off-field indiscretions tarnish the game's reputation.

More than 100 Ford workers in Victoria will lose their jobs as the automaker shifts some of its engineering work to the United States.

South Sydney captain Greg Inglis could miss the Rabbitohs' NRL pre-season trial program after aggravating a knee injury.

A gunman who overtook a bank branch in Florida apparently made five women inside lie down on the lobby floor before shooting them in the backs of their heads, police say.

AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR WINNERS2018 - Professor Michelle Yvonne Simmons, quantum physicist2017 - Emeritus Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, biomedical scientist treating spinal cord injuries2016 - David Morrison, equality advocate and former Army chief2015 - Rosie Batty, family violence campaigner2014 - Adam Goodes, AFL player and community leader2013 - Ita Buttrose, media...

Former St George Illawarra coach Steve Price hopes Cronulla's disgraced former premiership-winning boss Shane Flanagan won't be lost to rugby league.