MELBOURNE -- Politicians of all stripes are desperate for Rupert Murdoch's support when they are in power, but one former Australian leader is taking on the media baron in a bid to curb his vast empire of influence around the world. Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has accused Murdoch's media empire of undermining democracy, and says a rigorous inquiry into Murdoch's News Corp is needed in the wake of a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in the U.S.

MELBOURNE -- As another long, hot summer looms in Australia, its 26 million people are bracing for a season of climate change worries on top of the cost-of-living concerns and economic jitters that dominate life the world over these days. For Indigenous communities, who represent nearly a million of them, there is another, perpetually pressing issue: The country's constitution doesn't even recognize they exist.

Newcastle, the world's biggest coal export hub once known as Australia's "steel city," is a growing gem of a metropolis on Australia's eastern coast. Its million-dollar ocean views come with a sprinkle of the 4,400 ships that deliver millions of tons of the black stuff to customers across the globe every year. The port's operator, however, believes the future is green and does not want to be left behind.

Almost eight months after he miraculously survived a fall of 10,000 feet in a horrific skydiving accident, Christopher Rantall says not a day goes by when he doesn’t think about the man who saved his life. When his parachute malfunctioned in the air on July 30 last year, Christopher prepared for the worst and turned to God.

EXCLUSIVE: More than 600 Victoria Police employees who were sexually assaulted or harassed in the workplace have accessed a scheme that has paid out $11 million in redress payments. The Saturday Herald Sun can reveal the Restorative Engagement and Redress Scheme, which was launched in December 2019, has supported hundreds of former and current Victoria Police employees with counselling, case management and compensation.

Papua New Guinea long appeared to have escaped the worst of the coronavirus crisis. But a surge in cases since February has brought the remote Pacific island's largest hospital to the brink of collapse. For the nation's much larger neighbor, Australia, the outbreak is considered a serious threat as well as a critical moment in a broader "vaccine diplomacy" campaign.

Matt Quinn was once a youth leader with a passion for tackling injustice -- an unlikely candidate, perhaps, to form a white supremacist gang. But the Australian says he was also bullied as a teenager. "I just kept getting beaten up," recalled Quinn, now 40. "Having this group was like protection for me, nobody would touch me."

After a year of steadily worsening relations with China, it was a tweet that seemed to really get under Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's skin. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian earlier this month posted a doctored image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child, trolling Canberra over alleged war crimes by its soldiers. Morrison called the tweet "repugnant" and demanded an apology. One has not been forthcoming.

EXCLUSIVE: Australia's former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is sounding the alarm about U.S.-China tensions over Taiwan, warning a full-blown crisis is an all too real possibility -- especially during a potentially rocky period following Tuesday's American presidential election. Friction between the two superpowers continued to escalate this week after the U.S. approved a $2.37 billion missile sale to Taiwan. Rudd, in an interview with Nikkei Asia, said he is hopeful that "calmer heads will prevail" but remains wary of Washington's and Beijing's tit-for-tat moves.

Today, The Salvation Army launches its fifth consecutive Economic Social Impact Survey (ESIS), a report exploring the levels of deprivation and disadvantage experienced by those who access our emergency relief services. ESIS is essentially a snapshot of the daily realities of life for those living on the margins and the results in this year’s survey are startling.