The most unpopular features of MMP could be ditched if voters opt to keep the electoral system in the referendum on it at next year's election.

John Key says he offered controversial under-performing mining shares he owned to his 12-year-old son, "but even he didn't want them", Parliament heard today.

An MP's bill proposing an increase in maximum sentences for animal cruelty offences has earned Govt support.

Public service chief executives should never be paid more than the prime minister, Labour Party leader Phil Goff says.

Prime Minister John Key arrived far too early for the party, but got the present he wanted at the annual Ratana celebrations yesterday.

A NZ toddler and his Indian-born mother were turned back from India and interrogated on their return to Auckland Airport because their names were on a terrorism blacklist.

Just over a year after being voted out of office, Helen Clark has been awarded the country's highest honour.

Peter Dunne has given up on his annual list of worst-behaved MPs, saying Speaker Lockwood Smith's reign has ushered in a new era of propriety.

Phil Goff has pleaded ignorance about how his "Nationhood" speech ended up with the same title as Don Brash's infamous Orewa address.

Treasury now believes unemployment will peak at 7 per cent, less than what it predicted when the recession first hit, John Key told Parliament today.