With influenza killing 546 people nationally this year, NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard says state and federal authorities must ensure the best vaccine is made available.

Balloons of laughing gas for $5, BYO booze and a room full of sweat — Australia's secret rave scene is alive and well, you just need to know where to find it.

Australian Federal Police find almost four tonnes of the drug precursor ephedrine — enough to make up to $3.5 billion of methamphetamine — hidden in green tea bottles sent from Thailand.

Police claim a man who was stomped on and tasered by police during a violent arrest on Sydney's north shore tried to pull a gun on officers.

Western Sydney faces major employment headaches and a jobs deficit of around 300,000 as its population balloons in the coming decades, according to a new report.

All Blacks security guard Adrian Gard has a charge of public mischief dismissed in a Sydney Court, but is found guilty of a second charge relating to carrying out a security operation without a licence.

Australia's second-longest serving federal politician Philip Ruddock is coming out of retirement to run for Mayor of Hornsby amid "negativity" within the local Liberal Party.

Papua New Guinea police reject claims by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton that concerns for a small boy led PNG soldiers to attack the detention centre on Manus Island.

Nationals MP Andrew Broad and Labor MP Pat Conroy are launching a new inquiry into modernising the power grid.

The "patchwork" of different renewable energy targets from the states and territories will "create widespread power system security problems", according to Danny Price, a respected expert who helped design Australia's national energy market rules.

Export tariffs to China for many Australian products, including human hair and some military weapons, are decreased for the new year.

Crossbench senator David Leyonhjelm says people who receive pension payments should not be proud because it shows they are poor, a day after the Government tightened the assets test for 300,000 older Australians.

Tony Abbott urges conservative Liberal MPs to "stay in and fight" in comments directed at ally Cory Bernardi, who has previously threatened to start a new party for disenchanted conservative voters.

The Federal Government denies its decision to lease the 38-hectare Anzac Rifle Range on prime Sydney waterfront land for around $510 a week is a quid pro quo deal with Liberal Democratic senator David Leyonhjelm.

Sporting shooters in New South Wales are paying less than $30,000 a year to lease prime property from the Federal Government in a 50-year deal, according to Finance Department documents.

The sails of the Sydney Opera House were turned green to promote the trouble-plagued 2016 census at a cost of $14,850 internal documents reveal, a "major public relations opportunity" that did not include any information about the national survey.

The Federal Government insists Australia can still meet its climate change targets after a report reveals greenhouse gas emissions rose in the year to June, as the Australian Conservation Foundation warns the country is "not on track" to meet 2030 commitments.

Increased investment in renewable energy is leading to the closure of coal-fired power stations and contributing to rising electricity prices, the Australian Energy Market Commission says.

Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie is urging state MPs to vote against the heavy restrictions on the seven-shot Adler shotgun, saying they are not based on evidence.

The maximum fines for retailers who sell unsafe products, like some hoverboards, could be 10 times as high, according to suggestions from the Productivity Commission.

A possible new price on carbon is taken off the table by Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, after a backlash from some government backbenchers.

The White House casts doubt over the future of Australia's refugee resettlement agreement with the United States, conceding the incoming Trump administration could scuttle the deal.

Politicians charge taxpayers for anti-abortion books, car cleaning, and how-to guides on being a minister, expenses records reveal.

Pro-refugee protesters who brought Parliament to a halt yesterday should be punished, a Federal Cabinet Minister says.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott is calling for a "big new push" on budget repair and has suggested the Government revisit some of the measures he announced in 2014.