National News

Australia's major banks have agreed to extend a six-month repayment holiday for home loan customers struggling financially on account of the coronavirus pandemic.

Local mayors are trying to extend the boundary for exemption permits beyond Albury and Wodonga as the twin towns manage life with a closed NSW-Victoria border.

Melbourne and some regional Victorian towns have been ordered back into lockdown for six weeks after the state was hit with a record 191 coronavirus cases.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has warned Melbourne's coronavirus outbreak could be replicated in other parts of the country, as the city reverts to a six-week lockdown.

MELBOURNE'S SECOND LOCKDOWN* The six-week lockdown starts at 11.59pm on Wednesday.AREAS BACK UNDER STAGE THREE RESTRICTIONS:* Metropolitan Melbourne covering 30 Local Government Areas - Banyule, Hume, Moreland, Bayside, Kingston, Mornington Peninsula, Boroondara, Knox, Nillumbik, Manningham, Port Phillip, Cardinia, Maribyrnong, Stonnington, Casey, Maroondah, Whitehorse, Darebin, Melbourne, Whittlesea, Frankston, Melton, Wyndham, Glen...

Hundreds of Australian Defence Force troops are being deployed to help ringfence Melbourne as the Victorian capital is forced into a second coronavirus lockdown.

Victoria is shut off from the rest of the country after a record number of coronavirus cases prompted NSW to close their border.

VICTORIA-NSW BORDER CLOSURE* The border will close from 11.59pm Tuesday night to all Victorians* Police and health officials are already on the border stopping anyone arriving from Melbourne* No timeframe for how long the closure will last* 55 border crossings will be affected - including 33 bridges and two waterway...

The television industry says being forced to produce children's programming, some of which is watched by fewer than 1000 children, is preventing investment in other content.

Authorities in a city in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia have issued a warning a day after a hospital reported a case of suspected bubonic plague.