Anthony “AJ” Elfalak was last seen on a rural property in the NSW Hunter Region on Friday morning.

An inquiry into Victoria’s judicial system, from the perspectives of victims of crime, will aim to find improvements to the way things are done.

Of the 1041 patients in the state’s hospitals, 173 are in ICU and 62 of those require ventilation.

Case numbers across Victoria and NSW are expected to grow, while the Prime Minister has said a new deal will double Australia’s vaccine supplies for September will speed up reopening.

Victorian pubs and restaurants in regional Victoria where COVID-19 cases remain low, could open by mid-September under a trial for fully vaccinated customers.

A boxing promotion company was allowed to run a combat sports event in Melbourne despite police warnings of the potential for acts of violence from attendees.

Kayaking or paddle boarding during lockdown is booming.

Victoria Police have confirmed that Melbourne influencer and ex-AFL WAG Nadia Bartel has been assisting with their enquiries into an alleged COVID rule breach.

Thirty motorhomes will serve as an isolation village for people in the far west NSW town to help alleviate overcrowding.

Click-and-collect retail services are struggling to handle the large volume of orders during lockdown that is as high as the peak Christmas period.

Victorians are being warned to limit their food shopping outings as more supermarkets are being visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases.

Of 1000 extremists monitored by police, about 80 are being closely tracked as posing a violent threat to people in NSW. 

The best photos from the international wire agencies as chosen by our picture editors.

Kerry Giakoumis, 29, was last seen at the Hells Angels’ outlaw motorcycle gang clubhouse at Thomastown in the early hours of June 10 last year.

There have been 123 COVID-19 related deaths in NSW since June 16, and 179 in total since the start of the pandemic.

Queensland recorded two new virus cases on Saturday, one a four-year-old girl linked to the Logan truck driver, as authorities work to prevent another outbreak.

A change to the way states could calculate their Gonski targets means NSW public schools are getting $600m less this year than under the original plan.

NSW Police officers are conducting daily welfare checks at every single home in Wilcannia, as the remote community struggles under tough lockdown restrictions.

It’s up to the state government to provide the details to get Victoria moving again and to give people certainty.

Victorian hospitals are preparing for another wave of seriously ill coronavirus patients, with staff shortages, workforce burnout and overrun emergency departments fuelling a crisis across the state’s public health system.

The Opposition has described the rollout of new contracts for mobile speed cameras in NSW as a “massive administrative failure”.

Political opportunism is clouding the hard truth: we need to open up, but higher vaccination rates alone will not be enough to allow it; some measure of social and population control will be required for a long time, possibly years.

Women’s domestic workloads have risen during lockdown and the pay gap has widened. In truth, we entered the workforce but never left the home.

A COVID-19 struck community with severely limited open space has been asked to review a plan to increase the number of homes by more than 70 per cent while enduring the strictest lockdown the city has seen.

The lingering threat to democracy isn’t people who want to convince you of their nonsense. It’s people who don’t care.

In the pandemic, many have found solace and joy from daily habits and creative practices that mark the day and distract them from doomscrolling the latest COVID-19 case numbers.

Like many men, Rory Murray thought he would never be like his father: long periods away from his kids, ending up saddled with regret about missed opportunities.

Even with limited COVID-19 cases, almost every aspect of the system is already deteriorating: ambulance responses, mental health, urgent treatment. What’s going on?

The variant has attracted panicked headlines due to its collection of mutations but so far there is no evidence of a serious increase in transmission.

I hope someone is modelling the adverse effects of this “rush for the exits” strategy the PM and NSW Premier are foisting on Australians.

The investigation was launched in December last year after Australian Border Force agents in Sydney found almost 350 kilograms of heroin concealed inside a consignment of vertical construction mixers that arrived via air cargo from Malaysia. 

Gladys Berejiklian is walking a high-wire as she seeks to steer the state towards gradual freedoms even as hospitals brace for a Delta wave.

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

Playgrounds are reopening in Melbourne, NSW plans to scale down its contact tracing efforts and half a million extra Pfizer doses have landed in Australia as part of the PM’s deal with Singapore.

NSW residents have been told to prepare for things “being done differently” in the state’s health system, as surge plans are activated to deal with rising COVID-19 cases.

Jamila Yaghi, who died a day after testing positive for COVID-19, has been remembered as an “absolutely amazing friend and a sister”. 

Jessica Watson’s partner Cameron Dale, 29, died after suffering a stroke six weeks ago.

Around 40 per cent of cases in Victoria’s current outbreak emerged from childcare centres and schools, new Health Department data shows.

The national conversation is locked on ‘opening up’, but what does it mean for the sickest Australians?

The week in photos from the award winning Sydney Morning Herald and Financial review photographers.

In June 2019, one of Australia’s most powerful labour movement leaders declared he had “nothing to be ashamed of” from domestic violence charges. What came next brought his union to its knees.

Our new audio flash briefings are all about reaching more people with our journalism and meeting you where you get your news.

China restricted the time kids spent on video games, there was a flashback tribute from Margaret Whitlam to Dame Enid Lyons and a rude word from Warren Mundine in the news of the week.

The former Saturday editor of The Age will oversee the federal politics, business, world and environment coverage for Herald and The Age.

Maha Al-Shennag told a court a water bottle fell into the footwell and may have become jammed under the brake pedal. A prosecutor disputed this.

The girl is believed to be a close contact of a 46-year-old Logan truck driver who tested positive.

Thousands of people have taken day-13 COVID-19 tests in Shepparton amid plans for mobile vaccinations.

Andrew Conduit found out he was one step closer to marrying his partner Nina Miranti when his mother shrieked at them to turn on the television.

A Melbourne woman who kept an Indian woman as a slave in her home for eight years has been charged with allegedly intimidating the victim ahead of her Supreme Court trial, calling her from a payphone under the guise of being a tamil translator.

Life in NSW during COVID lockdown.