Latest National news
A bone breaks every 3.4 minutes in Australia: report
Kate Aubusson 2:36 PM Online tool to predict your risk launched as osteoporosis rate rises in Australia.
'No leadership and no commitment'
![Renewable energy accounted for 36 per cent of SA's electricity in May – and only one quarter of that total in NSW.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/h/s/g/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplh8k.png/1466213328457.jpg)
Peter Hannam 11:28 AM It's the one issue on which NSW is being outpaced by almost every other state.
Barnaby Joyce warns live cattle exporters after Vietnam abuse revealed
![Footage depicts a bull being sledgehammered to death in Vietnam.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/l/1/k/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpln1f.png/1466160100969.jpg)
8:41 PM Distressing footage appearing to show Australian cattle being bludgeoned to death with sledgehammers in Vietnam has sparked renewed calls to ban live cattle exports.
Labor pledges $1.2b for science
![Labor has promised to set up a new biosecurity research centre.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/c/u/j/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpljh7.png/1466153670970.jpg)
Peter Hannam 6:40 PM A Shorten government would spend an additional $1.2 billion over four years on science and research to restore part of the $3 billion taken out by the Abbott-Turnbull governments, says Kim Carr, the opposition's science spokesman.
Australian cattle 'killed with sledgehammers' in Vietnam
![Footage depicts a bull being sledgehammered to death in Vietnam.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/l/1/k/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpl1of.png/1466147079436.jpg)
Chloe Booker Distressing footage appearing to show Australian cattle being bludgeoned to death with sledgehammers in Vietnam has sparked renewed calls to ban live cattle exports.
Canberra eateries' worst-ever hygiene result
![Cockroach.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/l/q/t/2/x/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpkbmp.png/1466128504283.jpg)
Markus Mannheim Three in 10 of the premises tested failed health inspections last year.
'It didn't work': The program that put more people in hospital
![Common law and legislation relating to futile care are "counter intuitive", says one of the co-authors.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/5/l/o/1/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjcda.png/1466134391524.jpg)
Kate Aubusson It was supposed to keep people out of hospital. It didn't quite work out that way.
Drugs aren't working for our economy
![Many pain drugs have been linked with weight gain.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/1/g/i/k/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpj9cw.png/1466115366503.jpg)
Michael Heath Futile attempts to regulate the sale of codeine-based painkillers illustrate the wider impasse on structural reforms putting a brake on growth.
TAFE: enrolment system dumped
![TAFE enrolments have been in chaos during roll out of the LMBR system.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/z/q/r/9/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpkhtv.png/1466089800962.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw The NSW government had dumped part of a $531 million enrolment system from the state's TAFE network after years of chaos and budget blowouts.
'Billions of tax dollars being squandered'
![Taxpayers spent $10,500 per graduate in TAFE courses in 2014.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/0/k/4/b/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpk7bf.png/1466062040174.jpg)
Kelsey Munro Private vocational courses cost taxpayers seven times as much as TAFE, new analysis finds.
Medibank's secret changes to boost profits
![Medibank has been taken to the Federal Court by the ACCC.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/t/h/h/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpk555.png/1466123867018.jpg)
Esther Han Medibank has been accused of failing to disclose policy changes to members in a bid to boost profits ahead of its privatisation.
Threats and spin will not deter us from reporting on Unaoil
![The Ahsani family: Saman, Cyrus and Ata.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/v/w/c/t/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpiztf.png/1466073855302.jpg)
Nick McKenzie, Richard Baker, Michael Bachelard Over the past few months, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice, the UK Serious Fraud Office and the Australian Federal Police have been running a major international corruption probe into Monaco company, Unaoil.
'We don't know how we'll cope through winter'
![Nepean Hospital has been allocated $1 million in funding for planning in the next budget.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/g/t/p/g/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpk64b.png/1466057753037.jpg)
Kate Aubusson A Sydney hospital in 'crisis mode' will get just $1 million in next week's state budget.
A good eye and a little bit of luck
![Singaporean news cameraman Willie Phua share his extraordinary story spanning three decades of reporting for the ...](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/i/v/1/p/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpiut3.png/1466057091061.jpg)
April Dudgeon Willie Phua's philosophy is simple: "Get the best picture possible, stay away from danger, and have a lot of luck."
Labor's plan for a female-friendly public service
![Labor also wants to extend the success of the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which has achieved a big boost in female ...](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/t/k/z/y/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpj6j8.png/1466024697022.jpg)
Noel Towell Careers will be on the line if public service diversity targets aren't met, says Labor.
Federal election 2016: Labor promises to restore Trove funding if elected
![Federal Labor would pump millions of dollars into the National Library of Australia if elected.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/f/8/o/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjjby.png/1466030793522.jpg)
Henry Belot Federal Labor would pump millions of dollars into the National Library of Australia if elected.
Canberrans want 3am last drinks: alcohol poll
![Most Canberrans want the sale of alcohol in pubs, bars and clubs to end at 3am, a new poll shows.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/c/z/t/8/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpixwq.png/1465986562216.jpg)
Natasha Boddy Most Canberrans want 3am last drinks for bars, clubs and pubs, and many feel more threatened in the city by drunks than people high on drugs.
Teacher withdrew $1.9 million in cash, court told
![Amarjit Singh outside the NSW Law Courts in Sydney.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/f/5/o/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjn16.png/1465985215847.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw Teacher was a relative of the college's owner and told the court she could not remember where the money came from.
Superbugs could send us back to 'dark ages'
![A coloured transmission electron micrograph of a deadly cluster of MRSA Staphylococcus aureus bacteria, resistant to ...](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/z/t/4/g/0/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpj7f3.png/1465979519367.jpg)
Kate Aubusson Australia's high rates of antibiotics misuse risk sending us back to the dark ages of medicine.
Rosie Batty blasts Family Court
![Rosie Batty says all judges and magistrates involved in Family Court matters should undergo training in domestic violence.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/u/i/r/2/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjocz.png/1465984074427.jpg)
Rachel Browne Domestic violence campaigner says "comprehensive training is crucial" for judges and magistrates.
Needle assault accused anti-vaxxer sells 'ancient oil' to fund defence
![Anti-vaccination campaigner Chris Savage says an assault charge he faces is the result of "helping a vaccine injured ...](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/j/w/a/c/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjwcv.png/1465978492486.jpg)
Simon Hendery An anti-vaccination campaigner accused of assaulting a man with a needle has been offering to sell "ancient magnesium oil" to fund his defence against the charge.
Male CEOs with daughters more likely to back women for top roles
![Illustration: Michael Mucci](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/c/r/v/z/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjdwx.png/1466024992328.jpg)
Beau Donelly Male chief executives are "sitting on the fence" when it comes to championing gender diversity in their companies, research shows.
'Poisonous' gag clause in WHO's Olympics talks
![A municipal health worker prepares to spray insecticide on Monday in a junk yard in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, to combat the ...](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/1/z/d/s/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjp2m.png/1466027576114.jpg)
Harriet Alexander WHO says the Olympics should roll on despite Zika, but there is less consensus than appears.
NBN boss 'breached caretaker conventions'
![National Broadband Network chair Ziggy Switkowski.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/u/8/2/m/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpj809.png/1465990930314.jpg)
Mark Kenny Ziggy Switkowski was strongly warned his plan would breach the rules. He went ahead anyway.
'Potential for more severe weather'
![Coogee Surf Life Saving Club staff survey the damage after the big storm earlier this month.](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/f/z/1/g/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpj8se.png/1466037404220.jpg)
Peter Hannam Residents across an arc of eastern Australia stretching from Queensland to Tasmania should be on watch for more potentially severe weather this weekend as another winter storm loom, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
'A casualised, unstable world of work'
![About 19 per cent of HELP loans are now "doubtful".](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/k/b/s/2/v/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpjc7l.png/1465966073186.jpg)
Kelsey Munro Young people have it a lot tougher than their parents' generation, new study shows.
'Journalists are not monsters': Defence told to drop 'shut-up or shut-out' media strategy
![Senior ADF officers are prolific users of social media, including the Chief of the Defence Force, Air Chief Marshal Mark ...](/web/20160618045004im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/m/q/i/n/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpiogo.png/1465961653890.jpg)
Henry Belot "Defence shares the secrecy habit with everybody else in official Canberra", think-tank says.