Migration pressures which Labour says are contributing to a housing crisis were worse under Helen Clark's Government.

I hate Budgets. I lack the financial analytical skills to be able to see through all the smoke and mirrors and for years they were basically boring.

Finance Minister Bill English may have lived up to his promise there would be no lolly scramble in the Budget.

Auckland motorways have been paved with gold in the Budget, while not an extra cent has gone to public transport.

Social security and welfare spending rises $625 million to just under $24 billion. Much of that is down to a $687 million increase in New Zealand Superannuation payments offset by small falls elsewhere.

Police officers have warned "something will break" if their budget is squeezed any further after the Government sliced a little more off their funding.

The Government is putting another $100 million into getting beneficiaries such as solo parents and the sick into work and stopping them ending up on welfare in the long term.

Groups fighting a kauri-killing disease are relieved the Government has committed millions more dollars to the battle, allaying fears that research funding would dry up.

TV3 has defended broadcaster and lawyer Linda Clark following questions about her work for the Labour Party.

Sausagegate? The PM was snapped at the weekend dispensing free sausages at a National Party conference just 100m from pupils fundraising by selling the same product.

Voters are split over whether Judith Collins she should step down as a minister, a new political poll shows.

Screwing up in politics is forgivable and survivable, writes Rodney Hide. What is not forgivable - or survivable - is not killing the story stone dead.

Embattled MP Maurice Williamson is facing fresh trouble after it emerged he failed to declare a top-of-the-range $899 smartphone.

A business strategist has been named as the National party's new candidate for Wigram.

To understand the demise of Judith Collins, it helps to understand what a powerful role she has carved out for herself in the National Party.

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse has confirmed he was lobbied by Maurice Williamson about rule changes for wealthy foreign investors - as sought by Donghua Liu.

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."

Embattled Justice Minister Judith Collins faced a huge test this afternoon as she fronted up to Parliament's Question Time over her Oravida conflict of interest affair.

John Key is punting on the Opposition attack running out of steam by the time Judith Collins goes on leave, writes John Armstrong. That is not a safe bet.

Prime Minister John Key laid out the welcome mat for foreigners yesterday and said it was a point of contrast between National and other parties.

Labour could still win power at the next election, National deputy leader and Finance Minister Bill English said in a speech warning against complacency.

Prime Minister John Key says Police Associate president Greg O'Connor should present any evidence he has that MPs are increasingly interfering in police work.

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.

The National Government is leaving nothing to chance in its bid to be re-elected. National executed a screeching u-turn on legal highs and locked in the drug dealer vote.

This has been by far the best week for Labour this year, due in equal parts to the Williamson scandal and Labour's management of an important policy, writes Audrey Young.

Judith Collins’ staff sought a briefing from MFAT staff before the "private" dinner she had with Oravida bosses and a Chinese border control official.