The Green Party is upset that Trade Minister Tim Groser's international travel costs soared to almost $250,000 in the first three months of this year as he lobbied for support for his bid to be the director-general of the World Trade Organisation.

The Labour-Green proposal to cut Kiwi householders' power prices through radical market reform has been given the thumbs-up by consumer groups, but energy sector commentators are divided on the plan.

History shows that minority parties entering into coalitions with major parties are decimated at the next election, writes Bob Jones. One can only speculate why. .

The Green Party will launch a campaign on Sunday to pressure the Government to fund the proposed Auckland city rail link.

The Maori Party and the Green Party are asking the Government why prosecution rates of young Maori appeared to be far higher than Pakeha for the same crimes.

Were senior Cabinet ministers asleep at the wheel? Did they fail to step in soon enough when problems at Solid Energy were apparent? John Armstrong investigates.

A Green Party conference in Napier has been told plans for the Ruataniwha water storage scheme in Central Hawkes Bay are "subsidised pollution".

National has risen above 50 per cent again in the latest 3 News political poll, while Labour and the Greens polled 43 per cent between them - well short of a majority.

A proposed levy increase on the maritime industry to pay for cleaning up possible oil spills has been labelled "madness" by an MP.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will not meet a West Papuan freedom fighter who was refused a public forum at Parliament.

Proposals to change the Official Information Act are at odds with the Government's claims it is committed to openness and transparency, the Green Party says.

Times are very tough in manufacturing. The global recession has merely contributed an additional woe to a sector whose share of economic activity has been declining for more than two decades.

Auckland Green MP Julie-Anne Genter is trying to find a woman who retrieved her luggage after a driveby theft from a bus stop.

More leading export companies are on the verge of moving overseas due to the high dollar, Opposition MPs were told yesterday by manufacturers.

The Government says the Green Party's shared equity housing policy would lead to more debt without solving New Zealand's housing affordability crisis.

John Key says Hollywood finds New Zealand more attractive than other countries because it does not have a strong union movement.

The Green Party has ambitious plans for a shared-equity housing ownership model designed to help low-income families with dependent children into home ownership.

Having done his utmost to get the Maori Party into the intensive care unit, Harawira has put on his quack's white coat and offered to give it the kiss of life, writes Claire Trevett.

Green Party list MP Gareth Hughes talks to political editor Audrey Young about heroes and holidays.

Eugenie Sage, Christchurch-based Green Party list MP, talks to political editor Audrey Young.

A Christmas story from an associate, who was in a Salvation Army op shop when a family - mum, dad, and three children - stopped by to drop off a new bike.

It is never easy seeing a dream lie in shreds, and for all the inevitability, the end of National MP Tau Henare's tilt to be Speaker was no exception, writes Claire Trevett.

Government-backed low-interest loans to undercut "loan sharks" could be on the cards in the wake of a pragmatic final report of an expert group on child poverty.