IN 1997 Walter Mikac launched the Alannah and Madeline Foundation, named after his young daughters who were shot and killed by Martin Bryant at Port Arthur, Tasmania, on April 28, 1996.

TASMANIANS are again grappling with the prospect of minority government, the third since 1980 involving the Greens party.

LAX security at home, a spate of gun thefts from armoured van guards and people keeping weapons in unlocked cars and under their pillows has contributed to an 11 per cent jump in the national gun theft rate.

A young playwright who took on Australia's worst massacre as a subject turns his eye to the difficult territory of suicide and euthanasia, writes Andrew Stephens.

IN THIS confusing economic calamity where the price of men's undies goes down but women's up one Australian export is under particular threat: criminals.