The man who fatally stabbed six people in Sydney had mental health issues in the past.

A knife-wielding man who killed six people in a Sydney shopping centre before being shot dead has been identified by Australian police.

Sydney police on Sunday ruled out terror or ideology as a motive after a man killed six people in a random stabbing attack on Saturday in one of the city’s busiest shopping centres.

Crowds in Australia have fled a Sydney shopping mall near Bondi Beach and police have confirmed that at least five people have been killed.

Australian authorities on Saturday said 152 people had been rescued from floodwaters in the eastern state of New South Wales after torrential rains sparked warnings for residents to move to higher ground.

Residents in parts of Australia’s Northern Territory and Queensland state were urged on Sunday to prepare for a tropical cyclone that is forecast to make landfall in coming days.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his centre-left government would soon legislate changes to planned tax cuts.

Large swaths of Australia sweltered in a heatwave, the nation’s weather forecaster said.

The Australian government says it will halve the migration intake within two years in a bid to fix the country’s “broken” immigration system.

Sydney gangland figure Masood Zakaria will face court two years after police allege he fled the country and entered Turkey using a fake passport.

One of Queensland’s busiest hospitals will be upgraded after a grandfather died following a three-hour wait in an ambulance.

Millions of Australians were left without a phone or internet connection on Wednesday after the country’s second-largest telecommunications provider experienced an unexplained nationwide outage.