The migrant vote could "swing the political ballot" as the number of overseas-born New Zealanders reach over a million, a diversity expert says.

A new Upper Harbour electorate has been confirmed for Auckland, as well as other major boundary changes in both Auckland and Christchurch.

Labour's truck ban could cover 0.7 per cent or 7 per cent of New Zealand's motorways - depending on who you listen to.

A Labour Government would adopt an "unashamedly pro-kiwi'' policy to favour New Zealand suppliers, David Cunliffe said this morning.

Business, money and politics are always drawn towards each other as natural bedfellows, but leaves behind a bad smell, writes Bryce Edwards.

Editorial: Housing could be the big issue in the coming election. It has been a "sleeper" for some years as young couples seeking their first home have struggled at auctions against investors.

National MP Mark Mitchell has claimed Kim Dotcom was "intimidatory" and made "direct threats" towards the Prime Minister to Mr Mitchell at a barbecue late last year.

New Zealand has a long and ignominious history of suspicion and hostility towards people of Asian descent.

The pre-election fumblings behind the bikesheds as our increasingly twitchy politicians seek a mate for the next three years are beginning to become rather R18, writes Brian Rudman.

John Key says his attendance at a fundraising dinner for the Maori Party had no strings attached and did not mean a guarantee it will go with National over Labour after the 2014 election.

Kim Dotcom's Internet Party says discussions with a sitting electorate MP who was poised to join the party have ended due to the prospect of a tie up with Hone Harawira's Mana Party.

John Key helped the Maori Party throw a $5000-a-seat fundraiser at which diners at the event were promised the chance to "chat confidentially" with the Prime Minister.

Les Mills gym boss Phillip Mills has donated a total of $125,000 to Labour and the Green Party in recent weeks.

Labour leader David Cunliffe has signed up well-known lawyer Deborah Manning into a senior role in his office.

A tie-up with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party is finding favour among the Mana Party's younger grassroots members as a means of engaging young voters, Mana's president Annette Sykes says.

In the run up to the election, Otago University politics lecturer Dr Bryce Edwards is hosting a series of live interviews on political issues. Winston Peters is in the studio with Bryce five months out from the NZ General Election.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters questioned in a live interview with politics blogger Dr Bryce Edwards. Watch the live video here.

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters has accused the Green Party of attempting to destabilise the Labour Party over its approach to Labour for a pre-election coalition agreement.

Prime Minister John Key has disputed a suggestion that the issue of absentee foreigners buying houses in New Zealand has always been a bottom line for Winston Peters'.

Internet Party founder Kim Dotcom will address the Mana Party annual conference in Rotorua next weekend.

New Zealand First is doing "far better'' among voters than recent polls would suggest, leader Winston Peters says.

PM John Key knows homeowners in the electorally crucial mortgage belts of Auckland are nervous about rising mortgage rates, writes Bernard Hickey.

When a worthy public project is not having its desired result, the first instinct of bureaucrats is to rearrange its deck chairs.

If voters swallow John Key's line that a vote for Labour is a vote for higher interest rates, they will swallow anything the PM puts in front of them, writes John Armstrong.

National has fallen two points to 43 per cent in the latest Roy Morgan poll.

Claire Trevett asks: "Who is the mystery electorate MP Kim Dotcom has claimed will soon shed his or her political clothing of yore and emerge in the royal purple of the Internet Party."

Robert Peden made a plea on this page for voter participation as fundamental to a healthy democracy.