Hone Harawira says he has no concerns about the Speaker looking into exactly what he did on his taxpayer-funded trip to South Africa.

Prime Minister John Key will get a $9500 pay rise this year and all MPs a $3500 increase under changes announced this afternoon.

This is the time of the year for resenting pay increases for members of Parliament, writes Bruce Slane.

To the extent the public took any interest in the recent local government elections, council debt levels were a common debating point, writes Bob Jones.

Editorial: Parliamentarians would face less wrath over salary increases if they demonstrated a genuine desire to rein in other ways they spend public money on themselves.

Prime Minister John Key has hinted the Remuneration Authority is lining up a good pay rise for MPs this year - but he believes it should be a small one.

Editorial: The Govt's finances have finished the last fiscal year in much better shape than expected - so it's time contributions to the NZ Super Fund resumed.

The Government's deficit shrank to $4.4 billion in the year to June, the smallest it has been for four years.

A Maori women's refuge is working with inmates inside and out.

Treasury officials, it seems, think a lot about inequality these days.

The Govt did a backroom deal with a private casino operator and is now demanding the right to tell the private operator what events it can run there, writes Deborah Hill Cone.

An new interactive tool developed by a Victoria University professor in conjunction with Treasury lets people address the Government's long-term financial pressures.

Government Chief Information Officer Colin McDonald is to get more powers and a bigger budget as the Government seeks to keep a lid on IT debacles like Novopay.

When the Government announced they'd be chipping in $36 million to get Dean Barker and his crew on the startline, there were howls of protest across the country.

The economic forecasts underpinning Thursday's Budget will need to differ substantially from those the Treasury offered in its half-year update six months ago.

The government kept a smaller operating deficit than forecast in the first nine months of the financial year, even as the cost of the Canterbury earthquakes grew.

The Government says there are 29,000 fewer Kiwis receiving benefits since the last quarter - including hundreds who had theirs cut after being caught claiming them unfairly.

We can expect some scary numbers when the Treasury updates its statement on the long-term fiscal position this year, writes Brian Fallow.

The New Zealand government had a smaller operating deficit than expected in the first eight months of the financial year as it took in more income tax than it had forecast.

New Zealand's research and development spend rose to $2.6b last year but remains far below many other OECD countries as a proportion of GDP.

Half of the $21.4 million spent on SuperGold Card public transport last year was in Auckland, although it is home to only one quarter of the country's senior citizens.

The news the Govt is looking to reduce access to certain elective surgical procedures is likely to raise the blood pressure of many across the country, writes Dr Justin Vaughan.

This has been another testing year for New Zealand businesses as they rock along the decade of "grumpy growth".

Newly released Treasury papers show it was sceptical about the chances charter schools will improve student performance .

Economists and psychologists have long been engaged in understanding behaviour when compromise and self-interest collide, writes Ananish Chauduri.

Editorial: Ultimately, this revenue-raising exercise may be less significant than the check on the Government's spending programme.