Victorians will enter a snap five-day lockdown at 11.59pm on Thursday, Sydney is bracing for more COVID-19 cases tomorrow and Prime Minister Scott Morrison remains on the defensive after Victoria accused him of being the ‘Prime Minister for NSW’.

Premier Daniel Andrews has announced the state will enter its fifth lockdown from midnight as the state revealed two additional COVID-19 cases and three Chadstone shopping centre outlets were added as exposure sites.

Premier Daniel Andrews will hold a press conference later on Thursday with new coronavirus restrictions set to be imposed on Victoria, including a possible lockdown, after the state’s outbreak expanded to 16 cases.

Readers applauded Ash Barty not only for her victory but for her sportsmanship, saying she’d made all Australians proud. Others also celebrated Dylan Alcott’s win in the quad wheelchair singles final.

Use our interactive map to see where your 5km lockdown limit finishes from any address.

Andrew Bruce failed to properly look at the criminal history of Anthony Sampieri before the rapist went on to assault a seven-year-old girl, a magistrate found.

The latest COVID-19 outbreaks in Melbourne have prompted new restrictions. Here’s a list of the new rules.

A man who sexually assaulted four women in public places had difficulty adjusting to social interactions with women when he moved to Australia, his lawyer has told a court.

Some schools will begin their HSC trials as early as next week despite concerns of COVID-19 transmission.

Jamil Hopoate is awaiting sentence over the incident in December when police allege he struck his partner in the face, causing her to fall to the ground.

Top epidemiologists say the random nature of COVID-19 makes it hard to know if Victoria’s small outbreak will lead to sustained infections or simply peter out.

Venues including Westfield Carindale, the Brisbane airport, and sites across Aspley, Annerley, Ascot, Stones Corner and the Sunshine Coast are the latest places of concern for Queensland contact tracers.

Joseph Dean Geiger was charged as an accessory after the fact to murder over the death of 16-year-old Larissa Beilby.

Richard John Stanley QC is often described as the pre-eminent jury advocate of his generation.

The 20-year-old visited Victoria in December when there were no border restrictions. Two days after he arrived home, WA reinstated restrictions.

When danger arises, we are meant to mobilise, take action, and then return to a sense of security. But in this case, we are being asked to perpetually defend ourselves from danger, without relief.

Industry, Science and Technology Minister Christian Porter said the Bentley facility had been flagged as a potential site.

The head of the state’s soccer governing body has personally issued a message to all players, parents and club officials.

A yoga teacher sexually assaulted a 15-year-old girl while the teenager’s mother was in the class and on a mat about one metre away, a court has heard.

Today on Please Explain, industrial relations reporter Nick Bonyhady joins Nathanael Cooper to unpack the confusion around essential workers.

NSW has reported 65 new local coronavirus cases on Thursday, a significant decline from the 97 reported on Wednesday.

Some of the new contact tracing venues visited include Kmart, Vodafone, Telstra and JB Hi-Fi in Ipswich’s Riverlink shopping centre in Brisbane’s west.

‘Nobody is safe’: one in three hospital patients in intensive care

The YouTube personality is being sued in the Federal Court by NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro, while his producer is facing criminal charges for stalking.

A 12-year-old boy, his father and an unrelated airport worker have tested positive, leading authorities to leave restrictions, including a mask mandate, in place for another week.

Simiona Tuteru will face trial over allegations he knew or ought to have known truck driver Mohinder Singh was fatigued and not in a proper state to drive on the day. 

Frank Coleman, a Ngemba man born in Brewarrina and raised in Mt Druitt, is the ninth Indigenous person to die in NSW prisons or police custody this year.

There have been 27 pharmacies in Greater Sydney identified as COVID-19 exposure sites in the past two weeks as chemists say medicines need to be delivered or dispensed outside to keep staff safe.

It is hard to believe that with widespread experience over the last 18 months and buckets of health advice, the NSW government has still opted for a “soft lockdown”.

CBD has crunched the numbers and found a surprising winner for the MP with the most media mentions.

A giant birthday cake will straddle the Kings Cross tunnel as the centrepiece to Sydney’s Bicentennial celebrations.

In recognition of the tireless efforts backbenchers go to get column inches, we present the Charles Wilson “Ironbar” Tuckey Award for Parliamentary Prominence.

Population growth in the regions will require guidelines and controls to ensure positive, rather than haphazard outcomes.

A leading justice reform group says more women have been imprisoned as a result of criminal justice changes brought on by the actions of violent men.

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

Sydney has extended its lockdown, there are new COVID-19 cases in Melbourne and Victoria has slammed the Morrison government for providing additional income support to NSW.

The operating theatres at Liverpool Hospital, the largest in the city’s south-west, have undergone deep cleaning after the patient, who is believed to have been pregnant and having a C-section delivery, returned a positive test on Wednesday.

Edam be damned!

Age editor Gay Alcorn has appointed highly respected journalist Jack Latimore - the former managing editor of NITV Digital.

New laws make it illegal to release balloons outdoors in Victoria because they are a dangerous pollutant for many marine species, particularly seabirds and turtles.

The Perth Theatre Trust’s booking policies were thrown into the spotlight after it was revealed the Australian Christian Lobby in June had been barred from hiring a WA government venue.

While the judge said DNA evidence was “highly probative of guilt” for farm worker My Ut Trinh, prosecutors dropped the case because they “no longer had a reasonable prospect of securing a conviction”.

Researchers who discovered a likely cause of chronic fatigue syndrome have now found a possible treatment for the debilitating disease.

But small business owner James Howarth said the stimulus measures “can’t wipe away the tears” of losing weeks’ worth of revenue.

Schools have been urged to learn from social media and the gaming industry to make their classrooms more exciting, and incorporate elements such as rewards and level progressions to engage children in their learning.

Residents of an apartment building forced into lockdown after being exposed to COVID-positive removalists from Sydney have been told to restart their quarantine as new cases emerged.

University staff feel angry and “let down by university management and the federal government”, says Alysia Rex, a first-year co-ordinator and union branch president who was told she would be made redundant.

Cases of liver disease in dogs across Gippsland and the Mornington Peninsula have prompted Australia’s peak pet food association and dog owners to call for stronger regulation of the pet food industry.

Polling has revealed nearly half of West Australians want to be plunged into lockdown over a single case compared to just one in every 10 people nationally. So why is our state’s view so different?

Two men faced court on Wednesday charged with murdering father of five Ikenasio Tuivasa.