Mackenzie Heard is a reporter with ABC News Northern Tasmania, based in Burnie. He was previously a video journalist in Melbourne.
Spirit of Tasmania IV and V will cross Bass Strait with passengers for the first time tonight. But it has been a long and costly journey to get to this point.
Mental health services in Tasmania's north-west were severely impacted after part of a public hospital was damaged in a fire. The government says most of those services will be restored next month.
An inquest into the 2021 Hillcrest Primary School jumping castle tragedy that claimed the lives of six children has heard from a senior Tasmania Police officer.
Travellers hoping to jump on the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries with their cars and caravans in the coming months may have to wait, with bookings still limited to the capacity of the current ships. But TT-Line says that's not forever.
Topic: Tourism and Leisure Industry
A man who escaped police custody wanted to kiss his partner goodbye, a Tasmanian court has heard.
Emergency crews have contained a fire at Tungatinah Power Station and an investigation is set to be launched.
One of Tasmania's bus companies will start its new system to reduce unused tickets, which have risen in the five months public transport has been free.
The clean-up bill for the Liberty Bell Bay manganese smelter site may ultimately may be paid by the Tasmanian government, according to legal experts, following administrators' failure to secure a buyer for the embattled operation.
Here's what's making news in northern Tasmania today.
Launceston General Hospital's emergency department was overflowing on Monday night, with the nursing union describing the scenes as "chaotic" and "unsafe" — as Tasmania's health minister blames the federal government for a lack of action.
A Tasmanian man has been charged after being allegedly caught drink driving for the third time in just over a week, with him having to be cut from his car in one instance.
A cancer survivor who stood alongside the Tasmanian premier at a 2025 election promise announcement says he is disappointed that the hospitals investment appears to be "on the back burner."
A coronial inquest into the deaths of six children at a Tasmanian primary school could begin in September, nearly five years after the tragedy occurred.
A pair of endangered rays taken from a Tasmanian harbour as a species "insurance policy" have been released back into the wild after helping to produce more than 400 eggs for a captive research program.
Topic: Endangered and Protected Species
A landlord's decision to deny a tenant's request to keep a 6-month-old rescue kitten in a unit has been upheld, despite new Tasmanian laws intended to make it easier to keep pets in rentals.
The crossbreeding of Pacific black ducks with introduced species has devastated the native species in New Zealand — and conservationists say there's a risk that's happening in Tasmania too.
The owner of a bulk cement carrier has been charged with environmental offences following a 2022 crash that sank two tugboats in north-west Tasmania.
In the push for gun law reform in the wake of the Bondi attack, Tasmania's police commissioner urged the state government to limit the number of firearms a person can own, citing the murder of an officer the year before in her plea — but to no avail, documents show.
Teachers in Tasmanian public schools will refuse to administer the nation-wide tests, as part of escalating industrial action calling for improved pay and conditions.
Experts believe "countless" artworks by a famed colonial artist could be sitting in Tasmanian homes, with the owners unaware of their true value.
Burnie Airport has been told it will need to introduce security screening, but the airport's director says the cost of doing so will make some services commercially unviable and threaten the airport.
Each summer, tourists flock to Tasmanian beaches to marvel at penguins, but for some, admiring the birds from afar is not enough.
The 32-year-old man went into a bushland with a friend to collect firewood on Sunday. Police say he has been found alive at the bottom of a steep incline.
Crayfish, a bottle of whiskey and pieces of timber are among the items on one local council's gift register, but the integrity commissioner finds some councils may be receiving a lot more than they are disclosing.
Investigations are continuing into the theft of a large quantity of poppy capsules from a Tasmanian farm. Police have confirmed the harvested area equates to 10 tennis courts, or 2,500 square metres.
