Today the people of Tathra have been returning to what - if anything - is left of their homes after bushfire tore through the community on the New South Wales south coast, and recriminations are continuing over how the emergency was handled.

Don Tetley is one of the many who lost their homes in Tathra, and he said many were very distressed to see the extent of the damage the fire had done to their town.

Banking staff have come forward to report concerns that dementia patients in the Northern Territory are being coerced out of large sums of money, in a spate of suspected cases of financial abuse.

Australia's information commissioner has asked Facebook to explain what information has been acquired about Australians by Cambridge Analytica, the controversial consultancy that builds profiles political parties can use to target voters.

Speaking at the end of China's annual session of parliament, China's President Xi Jinping has given his strongest warning yet to Taiwanese activists pushing for formal independence.

In Melbourne, a court has heard that George Pell had no opportunity to act inappropriately after he conducted Mass at St Patrick's Cathedral in 1996 because he was always in the company of Church officials.

Huon Aquaculture is taking federal court action against a 2012 Federal Government decision to allow the expansion of fish farming in Macquarie Harbour on Tasmania's west coast.

In her autobiography Finding My Place, out today, Federal Labor MP Anne Aly documents beatings at the hands of her first husband, and her subsequent struggle to make ends meet as a single mother, as well as the impact her faith has had on her journey.

Twenty-four hours after bushfire raged through the New South Wales town of Tathra, there was there was still a watch and act warning in the Bega Valley. The ABC's Gordon Taylor says many of the town's residents remain at the evacuation centre at Bega Showground.

The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has been meeting people evacuated in Bega. He thanked volunteers, fire-fighters, emergency workers and the community for coming together at a time of crisis.