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The eyes of the basketball world have turned to Wollongong in regional New South Wales today after American teen sensation LaMelo Ball signed up with the Illawarra Hawks. And a $2 billion plan, by an indigenous-led group, to build a coal fired power plant near Collinsville in the Whitsunday region of Queensland.

Narooma is supposed to be a sea-changer's paradise, but many young people are finding it impossible to rent in their own home town. The rental property shortage isn't limited to coastal areas, either. What can local councils do to deal with an increasing and serious problem?

This week, the High Court made a decision about the 'Book-Up' system, where people in remote Aboriginal communities handed over their debit cards and PIN to a storekeeper in an informal credit system. The initial Federal Court case against the storekeeper found him guilty of unconscionable and unlicensed conduct, but this week the High Court overturned that decision.

The Queensland government has approved Adani's ground water plan - its final environmental approval. Work can now begin on its Carmichael mine after eight years of planning, fierce protests and endless political debate. But the Queensland Environmental Defenders Office says it has requested all paperwork as it plans to scrutinise whether due process was followed by the regulator.

Infectious disease experts say urgent action is needed to tackle antibiotic resistance in remote Aboriginal communities. Half of children living in these communities have had at least 6 prescriptions before their first birthday. And a free mental health service for young people in northern Tasmania says its struggling to keep up with demand.

Senate Committee Inquiry into the high cost of regional air travel has rejected claims travellers are victims of price gouging. It recommends international airlines be able to operate domestic routes through Darwin. Sick of a lack of jobs in Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, a group of workers have opened up their own solar panel factory.

Political and community leaders lament "unfinished business" over a treaty with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; and calls for action on remote housing crisis.

Barunga is a celebration of arts, footy and culture — and the site of a promise, 31 years ago, of treaty between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. That treaty still does not exist. We talk to local who were there in 1988 about how they see the future, and a young Gumbaynggirr hip hop artist about what treaty means to his generation.

In the wake of two AFP raids targeting journalists exposing sensitive information, questions are being asked about the adequacy of  protections for whistle-blowers. Inside information has been critical in breaking important regional stories such as water theft and sham labour hire contracts. And if the regional NSW town of Walgett wasn't already doing it tough between the drought and the town's water supply failing, now their only supermarket has burned down.

An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report into family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia found that rates of violence and hospitalisation were much higher in rural and remote areas. We speak with a New South Wales advocacy group about the lack of services and disadvantage in the bush. And paleo-climatologist Dr Bradley Opdyke is studying past climate records against current data to see what it might tell us about future climate conditions.