Latest National news
Parents' "risky" drinking encourages teens
Miki Perkins 11:40 PM Charlotte, 13, has no interest in drinking. But her mum Emma knows this might change, and tries to be a good role model.
Make maths and science compulsory: PM
![Students need to do the 2 unit maths course at least to cope with university STEM courses](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/d/l/p/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpmobe.png/1466342795993.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw 11:26 PM Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called for maths and science to be made compulsory for all students finishing high school to arrest a steep decline in Australia's standards across both subject areas.
'Narcissistic' surgeons charge cancer patients exorbitant fees
![Mark Brandt and his wife Linda used their savings to pay his out-of-pocket health costs.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/m/e/d/n/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpmebg.png/1466333957150.jpg)
Kate Aubusson 12:15 AM Cancer patients are being charged exorbitant out-of-pocket costs for "flashy" surgeries by surgeons who don't disclose the full financial burden or equally effective alternatives in the public system, cancer experts say.
Could you beat the Class of '67?
![Cumberland prefects of 1967. David Cook (Far left, second row) Malcolm McDivitt (Centre, bottom row).](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/m/m/2/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplr6y.png/1466359357607.jpg)
Eryk Bagshaw 5:14 PM The very first students to sit the HSC had no calculators. Can you answer the questions they faced?
Junior Rugby clubs forfeit games as fears deepen for player safety
![Some juniors are competing with players twice their size.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/g/a/c/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpksh1.png/1466276532398.jpg)
Eamonn Duff Teams are refusing to show up for matches because of the perceived risk that awaits their young sides.
The hardest schools to get into in Sydney
![Published minimum entry scores show how well students need to perform on the selective schools test to gain entry.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/2/u/3/h/j/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpm8i4.png/1466260744566.jpg)
Catherine Armitage Two out of three students who competed for a Year 7 place at a selective high school this year missed out, Department of Education figures suggest.
'It's not just a free-for-all playtime'
!["They're definitely learning, it's not just a free-for-all playtime": Emilie Capes, with husband, Jeremy, and their ...](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/m/b/8/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpllpu.png/1466260877901.jpg)
Kelsey Munro For Randwick mum Emilie Capes, sending her two- and three-year-old to preschool is a crucial investment.
'For me, the door is shut now'
![Geraldine Hewitt searched for years for her biological father.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/n/h/8/e/e/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpki4j.png/1466244783105.jpg)
Harriet Alexander Geraldine Hewitt searched for her anonymous sperm donor father, until a phone call changed everything.
A bone breaks every 3.4 minutes in Australia: report
![Hip fractures and other common breaks are predicted to increase with the ageing population.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/m/a/4/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpm9yq.png/1466299637454.png)
Kate Aubusson Online tool to predict your risk launched as osteoporosis rate rises in Australia.
Rye Hunt's sister bids goodbye to brother, welcomes son home
![In happier times: Rye Hunt with his girlfriend, Bonnie Cuthbert.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/e/v/e/w/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpm9cs.png/1466285586549.jpg)
Neelima Choahan With a gap of nearly seven years between them, Romany Brodribb always considered her younger brother, Rye Hunt, her baby.
'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/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/o/h/s/g/u/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplh8k.png/1466213328457.jpg)
Peter Hannam 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/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/l/1/k/h/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpln1f.png/1466160100969.jpg)
Distressing footage appearing to show Australian cattle being bludgeoned to death with sledgehammers in Vietnam has sparked renewed calls to ban live cattle exports.
Beefed up action figures warping boys' body image
![Charles Winnett playing with his Tree Fu Tom toys.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/m/g/6/l/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gplfu9.png/1466285181535.jpg)
Cosima Marriner Muscly body ideals are being inculcated early in life with kids preferring to play with bulked-up versions of their superheroes.
Labor pledges $1.2b for science
![Labor has promised to set up a new biosecurity research centre.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/3/c/u/j/b/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpljh7.png/1466153670970.jpg)
Peter Hannam 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.
Textiles and Design
![A 'Pachajar doorstop' by Lucy Powell of St Patrick's College.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/k/n/v/6/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpkjp5.png/1466144197532.jpg)
Jackie Breden 12:00 AM By now you should be working steadily on your Major Textiles.
Australian cattle 'killed with sledgehammers' in Vietnam
![Footage depicts a bull being sledgehammered to death in Vietnam.](/web/20160619182402im_/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.
Male sex workers call for respect, understanding
![Male sex workers still face daily discrimination.](/web/20160619182402im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/i/k/d/x/7/image.related.thumbnail.90x60.gpf5qy.png/1466259835412.jpg)
Clare Kermond When Cameron Cox came out to his gay friends, letting them know he was a sex worker, about half turned their backs on him: "that was it, I was socially beyond the pale".
Canberra eateries' worst-ever hygiene result
![Cockroach.](/web/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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.Â
'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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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/20160619182402im_/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.