There are big questions that beg answers arising from the Serious Fraud Office's failed action in what was billed as the biggest alleged fraud in New Zealand's history.

John Key has brought all his experience as a leading chief executive into play with the design of his third ministry.

On Twitter: Must read: Fran O'Sullivan reports from inside John Key's rectum and gets trashed by reader comments. EPIC FAIL :)

Five things for business to take on board while John Key relishes his victory and forms his next Government.

Australians woke today with a sobering realisation of how close we came to one or more of our own, on our soil, being abducted, tortured and beheaded.

John Key goes into the home straight of the election campaign with his integrity publicly intact after the Kim Dotcom fiasco.

Was there a conspiracy to defeat the course of justice after the collapse of the Hanover Group of companies?

David Cunliffe finally injected himself into the election race this week with a confident - if not triumphal - performance in the first television leaders' debate.

The South China Morning Post's editors have a sense of humour: "New Zealand MP Winston Peters accused of racism over Wong joke" was the headline.

Joe Hockey's forceful realism over the need for Western- style nations to lift the age at which their citizens qualify for taxpayer-funded pensions strikes a chord.

It's tempting to think New Zealand's chief spymaster, Rebecca Kitteridge, may have allowed herself a passing moment of schadenfreude as she put her signature to the release of declassified documents relating to Kim Dotcom.

Two key players in the Australian media space are sharing airtime this week - media titan Rupert Murdoch and investor Simon Marais.

Shinzo Abe didn't quite throw his weight around when he met John Key at Government House in Auckland this week.

John Key will have to pick his way through a diplomatic minefield when he hosts Japan PM Shinzo Abe in Auckland on Monday during his first formal visit to New Zealand.

One word jumped out when I read John Roughan's book on the PM yesterday. That word is "disciplined", writes Fran O'Sullivan.

There are plenty of pessimists, but the gains from deep economic integration are worth pursuing, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Fran O'Sullivan writes: Don't let your political enemies (that includes your frenemies) push you out of the Labour leadership ahead of the election.

Jamie Whyte has a classic opportunity to stamp his mark on Act and distance the party from John Banks, writes Fran O'Sullivan. But the Prime Minister has tried to rip that avenue away by saying Banks has options.

Financial Markets Authority chief executive Rob Everett has yet to be inducted into the club, writes Fran O'Sullivan. That's why he brings a refreshing outsider's view to the task of being New Zealand's markets watchdog.

Fran O'Sullivan asks, "Why is it that NZ still does not have comprehensive statistics to inform governments when it comes to making critical policy decisions on foreign ownership?"

When the Prime Minister is on top of his game - as he was at yesterday's post Budget luncheon - he is world-class.

Finance Minister Bill English's sixth Budget has taken the wind out of Labour's electoral sails, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Fran O'Sullivan asks, "What pushed Key to the point where he applied the choke chain to the Cabinet's Rottweiler? Pity Key didn't yank the chain earlier."

Most foreign investors who come to New Zealand bring capital and "know how" and make a great contribution to our young country, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

If Labour finance spokesman David Parker is proposing a job swap with the Reserve Bank Governor he should say so, writes Fran O'Sullivan.

Australia is on track to notch what experts are calling an "Asia Inc" trade trifecta.

Fonterra has come to a compelling realisation it will need to develop "Chinese feet".

Don Brash's autobiography reveals he is a man of principle who doesn't appear to know what side his toast is buttered on, writes Fran O'Sullivan.