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NSW

POLITICS

All eyes will be on Gladys Berejiklian as the NSW premier faces the fight of her life to win another term for the coalition government against a refreshed Labor party.

Voters head to the polls in March with cost of living and the government's controversial $2 billion stadiums spend in the spotlight.

Opinion polls suggest Ms Berejiklian will face a tougher fight against new Labor leader Michael Daley than she would have against Luke Foley who resigned as opposition leader following a groping scandal.

TYRRELL

A state coroner will delve into the disappearance of William Tyrrell more than four years after the toddler in the Spider-Man suit went missing on the mid north coast.

William vanished while playing in his grandmother's front yard at Kendall in September 2014.

COURTS

A judgement is due after actor Geoffrey Rush brought a defamation case against The Daily Telegraph and a journalist in the Federal Court in NSW. The tabloid accused the Oscar winner of behaving inappropriately toward a co-star during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015 and 2016.

The high-profile case of ex-rugby league player Chris Dawson will continue working its way through the justice system. Dawson was charged in late 2018 with murdering his 33-year-old wife Lynette on the northern beaches in early 1982.

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VICTORIA

POLITICS

Voluntary assisted dying becomes available to suffering Victorians from June 19.

The controversial law passed state parliament in November 2017 and following a legislated 18-month implementation period, will be available under strict conditions to patients with less than six months to live who are in pain and choose to end their life with the backing of a doctor.

RISTEVSKI

The body of 47-year-old Karen Ristevski was found in bushland in February 2017, eight months after she went missing from her suburban Melbourne home.

Husband Borce Ristevski is charged with her murder, but denies the allegation and will go before a jury in March for a trial expected to last up to five weeks.

ROYAL COMMISSIONS

Victoria Police's recruitment of a gangland lawyer to report information on her clients has inspired a royal commission. The unidentified lawyer was used by police to secure convictions against big-name Victorian crooks including drug lord Tony Mokbel. Her actions could lead to appeals by people jailed using the information she fed to detectives.

And after a promise from the Labor government as it campaigned for re-election, Premier Daniel Andrews said a royal commission is needed to look at the cost of care, early intervention and workforce of the sector. Terms of reference are due to be finalised by February with hearings due to start thereafter.

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QUEENSLAND

ADANI

The Adani coal mine has long been a thorn in the side of Queensland's Labor government, which has tried to walk the line between supporting job creation in central Queensland and concern for the environment.

The state government will have to take a stronger stand in 2019, as the Indian coal miner has a fully financed, downsized project ready to go and create jobs and is advertising this in Brisbane.

Adani insists it has met all the criteria to start the project. Critics say Labor can't be serious about protecting climate sensitive ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef while also supporting the fossil fuel industry.

ELECTION

Queensland will be a major battleground in the upcoming federal election with the electorate likely to see repeat visits from Labor and Liberal candidates as well as the election caravans of colourful and polarising locals like billionaire Clive Palmer and One Nation's Pauline Hanson.

The usual campaigns on high electricity prices, jobs and crime are already being dusted off from the last elections and rolled out.

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Australian Associated Press