News Ticker
Bushfire warning
An emergency bushfire warning is in place for Mariginiup, north of Perth. Keep up to date with ABC Emergency
Jane Norman
Jane Norman is the ABC's National Regional Affairs Reporter, based in Canberra. Originally from Perth, she joined the Canberra Press Gallery as a political reporter in 2013 and has covered almost every federal election, budget and leadership spill since. Jane has hosted the ABC's coverage of major political events, including the most recent WA state election, and has completed assignments for the ABC in Washington DC, Jakarta, Hanoi, Christmas Island, the Solomon Islands, and Antarctica.
Latest by Jane Norman
Bushfires and heatwaves set to drive 'extreme' demand for power, increasing risk of blackouts
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
A scorching hot summer could see demand for electricity spike to a once-in-a-decade high, we're being warned, increasing the risk of blackouts, and forced power outages across the country.
Sacrificing careers, becoming experts on childcare policy: Meet the women finding their way in a market that's failed them
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Forget rising costs and endless waitlists, these parents can't get any access to child care at all. And it's fuelling calls for government intervention.
Updated
Analysis
analysis:Two ministers held a meeting — one left shocked, the other bitterly disappointed, but Australian farmers were the real losers
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Free trade talks between Australia and the European Union appear as far away as ever after talks break down again, writes Jane Norman.
Australian producers to keep prosecco, feta and parmesan as EU trade deal doomed
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
A massive trade deal with the European Union appears all but doomed after "endgame" negotiations between the two sides collapsed before they even began.
Updated
Trade minister enters 'endgame' talks with the European Union that could deliver a sugar rush and even cheaper cars
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Australia's trade minister is set to resume talks with his European Union counterpart, vowing he won't sign a deal for the sake of it.
Updated
Elke is frustrated you're paying so much for beef when she can't extract a fair price for her cattle
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Cattle prices have collapsed as producers rush to sell stock before the big dry sets in. But at the supermarket, you wouldn't know it.
Updated
Tracey is one of six firefighters in a town that'll swell to 10,000 over summer. She's struggling to recruit volunteers
As firefighters prepare for the hottest and driest conditions since the Black Summer bushfires, there's a push to reduce our reliance on the defence force.
Updated
Katherine didn't think a $500 gift card was a fair trade for unrestricted access to her land, so she shut the gate
Farmers are locking their gates to level the playing field with power giants, and it's creating a roadblock on Australia's clean energy super highway. So what happens now?
Updated
Energy minister says federal government wants power grid 'as stable as it possibly can be'
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Chris Bowen's comments follow warnings from the Australian Energy Market Operator that a hot and dry summer will put Victoria and South Australia at "elevated" risk of blackouts.
Updated
Building giant tells buyers to pay hundreds of thousands extra or lose homes and deposits
Exclusive by NSW investigative reporter Amy Greenbank and national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Metricon, the biggest home builder in the country, has told some customers to pay painfully higher prices or risk losing their new homes and deposits in a contract nightmare affecting home owners.
Updated
'Absolute nonsense': Nationals rule out leadership challenge amid tensions over climate policy
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Senior members of the Nationals are locking in behind David Littleproud amid leadership chatter, adding they're "not worried at all".
Updated
Far right groups and conspiracy theorists forcing shutdowns of pride events in growing trend
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
When organisers first convinced traditionally conservative parts of the country to host a Pride ball, it was celebrated as a win for inclusion. Now thriving, these events are increasingly facing a new and sinister threat.
Updated
'It's our identity': Migrants say Australia must not give up naming rights to prosecco, feta and parmesan in trade talks
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
As free-trade talks between Australia and the EU stall, local food and drink producers fear the government might be forced to give up naming rights to hundreds of products to secure a deal.
Thinking of building a home? Here's what you need to know about the crisis in construction
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
What happens when you hear that your building company has gone broke and work on your half-built house comes to a grinding halt?
David's half-built house is an 'absolute nightmare' and might send him bankrupt
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Two years after signing a $430,000 fixed price contract, boilermaker David Niblitt can no longer afford to finish the home that he and his wife had hoped they'd be living in by now.
Updated
Two doctors helped buy and convert a church in Wagga Wagga. It attracted dozens more GPs to the town
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
A doctor couple helps to buy and fix up an old church in Wagga Wagga, NSW, fixing the town's chronic shortage of GPs.
Green hydrogen subsidies set to benefit billionaire Andrew Forrest
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
The government has injected $2 billion into green hydrogen through the federal budget amid fears Australia is falling behind in the race to become a renewable energy superpower.
Updated
Liberal Senate contest descends into smear campaign, as one member lashes 'factional players'
Exclusive by Jane Norman
A group of Liberals launch an opening salvo in the bitter factional fight for the party's vacant NSW Senate seat, questioning the ethnic heritage of candidate Maria Kovacic's family in an unsourced smear message.
Updated
Some farmers are cashing in as wind farms expand, but it's tearing towns apart
Power and money are pitting neighbour against neighbour as one old farming community grapples with a new, rapidly growing industry.
Updated
Previous government ignored advice, let Inland Rail cost blow out to an 'astonishing' $31b
Australia needs an inland rail, but a new report finds advice was ignored, the board does not have the "skills required", and there has been an "astonishing" cost blow-out to $31.4 billion.
Updated
A new reality: TV contestant turned rural GP prescribes town's childcare fix
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
When Alison Jones took a gamble on a reality TV show more than a decade ago, she never imagined it would end up transforming her life and the small rural town she'd eventually call home.
Updated
Aged care workers say 'the world knows' they cannot meet new government deadline
By National Regional Affairs reporter Jane Norman
Like so many others in aged care, Viv Allanson says it is going to be "impossible" for her facility to meet key government deadlines for new standards in the sector, saying "the pressure is absolutely enormous".
Updated
Morgan and Kylie gave up ocean views to move to the country, and they're not alone
By national regional reporter Jane Norman
Australians are moving further inland and further away from coastal capital cities, creating a rural renaissance in some "unusual" places, internal migration data shows.
Updated
Housing crisis has become 'truly national', while councils, housing groups call for $400m in funding
By national regional affairs reporter Jane Norman
Councils and housing groups say the coming budget should include a $400 million boost to Commonwealth funding for housing, arguing more Australians than ever are living in cars, caravans and tents.
Updated
Residents 'flabbergasted' as council rates increase by more than 100 per cent over two years
By National Regional Affairs Reporter Jane Norman
Households and businesses in regional New South Wales are facing "astonishing" rates rises of more than 100 per cent over two years, just to maintain existing local government services.
Updated