The Ministry of Health needs to sit down and talk with families who are caring for their disabled relatives, say the Greens.

It is 25 years this week since the great Jack Nicklaus did what no man had ever done before him at Augusta.

The Greens say they are extremely unlikely to go into a formal coalition agreement with a National-led Government after the election.

Amid cries of racism and snipes between the Maori Party and its former colleague Hone Harawira, the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Bill was passed yesterday.

Legislation that repeals the Foreshore and Seabed Act and gives Maori the right to seek customary title to parts of the coastline has been passed into law after a passionate debate in Parliament.

Government permits its MPs to comment after attempt to speed up progress on legislation fails

The organiser of a hikoi which marched peacefully down Auckland's Queen Street today says the new foreshore and seabed legislation breaches the Treaty of Waitangi.

Hone Harawira says it was "dumb" and shameful that he forgot to vote on the bill that was the main reason for his break with the Maori Party.

The second reading of the bill to replace the Foreshore and Seabed Act has passed through Parliament and former Maori Party MP Hone Harawira wasn't there to vote against it - despite the bill being the reason for him leaving his party.

A proposal to put an iconic Coromandel beach into public ownership has been withdrawn, but a new estimate that halves the land's value has given the Green Party hope a deal could still be done.

One of the world's biggest reinsurers estimated today that last week's Christchurch earthquake would cost insurers between $8.1 billion and $16b.