Parents will face fines of up to $5000 if they fail to attend meetings about their child's school truancy, under new laws proposed in South Australia.

A driver has died after a two-vehicle smash in Tasmania's north.The man, believed to be in his 50s, became trapped after a car and truck collided on the Bass Highway near Deloraine, 50km west of Launceston, on Monday morning.

Google will invest $US550 million ($A740m) in Chinese e-commerce powerhouse JD.com, part of the US internet giant's efforts to expand its presence in fast-growing Asian markets and battle rivals including Amazon.com.

The Sydney biohacker who fell foul of the law when he implanted a NSW travel card chip into his arm says "cyborg justice has been served" after a court overturned his conviction.

Two men who spent a night clinging to their overturned boat in Queensland waters were undone by a malfunctioning emergency alerting device.

Cost of living is expected to be "front and centre" of this week's NSW budget, with Treasurer Dominic Perrottet planning to mix the state's record infrastructure spend with tax cuts and concessions.

They may be no strangers to a comeback but a desperate Queensland admit they must overcome the "fear factor" in Sunday's must-win State of Origin game two in Sydney to keep the series alive.

A driver charged over the death of a pedestrian in an alleged hit-and-run incident in far north Queensland knew he had struck the victim, police say.

A 24-hour arts and music festival in the US was on the verge of being shut down due to numerous fights when gunfire erupted with one gunman shot dead and 22 others, including two other suspects, injured.

NSW could soon be home to more driverless cars, with the state government setting up a special $10 million fund for more trials of the technology.