AAP

Schools in Perth are set to resume after last week's lockdown, with masks to be mandatory for secondary students.

Health Minister Greg Hunt has downplayed concerns about the effectiveness of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine as medical professionals begin training to administer jabs.

Reserve Bank governor Philip Lowe says the central bank "does not and should not" target housing prices.

UPDATED: More stranded Australians will be able to return home from later in the month when international arrivals caps are returned to higher levels.

Officials are expecting the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine to receive approval by the middle of February.

Negotiations over the government's media code has reached the highest levels, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison having a "constructive" meeting with Google's global boss.

Investors' run of three days of gains on the Australian share market has ended, and an analyst cited inflation expectations as hampering results.

Labor is standing by calls to extend the JobKeeper scheme despite the Reserve Bank governor downplaying the need.

WA has quietly entered campaign mode for the March state election against a backdrop of empty streets and bushfire destruction.

A third consecutive day of ASX gains may sound impressive, but an analyst said investors were finding it hard to go higher.

Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe has restated his support for permanently increasing the rate of JobSeeker unemployment benefits.

Jeff Bezos, who founded and turned Amazon into an online shopping behemoth, is stepping down as the company's CEO, a role he's had for nearly 30 years.

The federal government's JobKeeper wage subsidy scheme will come under the auditor-general's microscope.

Western Australia is likely to remain subject to COVID-19 restrictions beyond the five-day lockdown despite highly-encouraging test results.

Businesses struggling from coronavirus restrictions could be in line for targeted relief packages when wage subsidies are scrapped.

UPDATED: Elderly Australians have been given the medical regulator's okay to get the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine after concerns raised from overseas were allayed.

Investors had their highest gains in almost four weeks on the Australian share market, as the Reserve Bank said it would extend its bond-buying to keep economic recovery on track.

The Reserve Bank has left the cash rate and its other monetary policy rates unchanged after its first board meeting for 2021.

UPDATED: A hotel quarantine security guard who roamed the streets of Perth while infected with COVID-19 "did everything right", a Western Australian health chief says.

Scott Morrison shows no signs of blinking first in response to Google's threat to remove its search engine from Australia over the proposed media bargaining code.

Australia's share market turned around mid-session and followed Asian markets higher to record its biggest gain in almost two weeks.

Clive Palmer's Mineralogy and Woodside Petroleum were among the biggest political donors last year, having contributed a combined $6.2 million to federal parties.

The chief executives of ExxonMobil Corp and Chevron Corp reportedly held preliminary talks in early 2020 to explore combining the two largest US oil producers.

Almost $2 billion will be spent equipping hospitals and other health centres to administer coronavirus vaccines.

Western Australians have completed their first night of lockdown, triggered after a hotel quarantine security guard attended more than a dozen venues while infected with COVID-19.

Australia's share market has experienced the ripple effect of the US GameStop controversy, closing lower for a third consecutive day as US hedge funds sold stock to recover huge losses.

The chair of Australia's corporate regulator has been cleared of misconduct after an expenses investigation, but will still resign.

Most Australian farmers are set for a profitable year with the rebound from drought set to outweigh coronavirus and trade tensions with China.

Australians stranded in Europe are facing yet another hurdle to return home after Emirates suspended outbound flights from the United Kingdom.

Google's power over the multi-billion-dollar online world of advertising is front and centre of a new consumer watchdog report.

UPDATED: Commonwealth Bank boss Matt Comyn expects scrutiny and regulatory concerns to increase for buy now, pay later providers.

Australia's share market had its biggest loss since September, but an investment analyst believed the decline could be good for investors.