There's only a handful of suburbs left in all of Auckland where first home buyers can get a helping hand from the government.

Opetaia Siale won't be spending Christmas at home - he'll be cleaning Wellington's public toilets while his family forgo presents so they can afford a Christmas meal.

Tanya Quedley, 48, was sexually abused by her own father from age 9 or 10 until she ran away at 14.

Social issues reporter Simon Collins visited three communities to look for the root causes of that bad child abuse record. Second stop: Kaikohe. For as long as Destiny O'Brien can remember, her father has been in and out of jail.

COMMENT: While we score high in the indices for peace and transparency, our poverty and inequality gaps have grown.

New Zealand has the fourth-highest rate of child deaths from assault in the OECD. Simon Collins visited three communities to look for the root causes of that bad child abuse record. First: Flaxmere.

NZ has the fourth-highest rate of child deaths from assault in the OECD. Simon Collins visited three communities to look for the root causes.

Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a banquet lunch be delivered to his Auckland hotel ahead of his expected departure later today.

A survey which revealed access problems to the child disability allowance has raised more questions than answers.

COMMENT: Does the success of outsider Republican nominee Donald Trump signal the time for a political revolution in Godzone too?

Emergency housing funding marks the Government's acceptance that it must ensure every New Zealander has adequate shelter.

Government reshuffles fever programme money to boost awareness in Auckland

Are the National Government and Murray McCully guilty of corruption? The official verdict is now in, but not everyone agrees.

Are you angry about the widening gap between rich and poor? Or are you sceptical about the stats?

Art gallery owner Benji Hinch is trading free art for sanitary products so he can put together care packages for people living rough.

COMMENT: Kiwis encounter a steady stream of political messages that individuals, families and communities should "step up" and take responsibility for their problems.

COMMENT: Riding buses reminds your columnist of what he might have become had not a bit of genetic blessing come along and saved him.

COMMENT: We simply have to do better for children in NZ. Choosing not to - to count rodents because it is easier - is completely unacceptable.

Women's refuges, church agencies and other community groups will soon have to hand over their client details to the Government in

The Prime Minister has visited more than three times as many high decile schools this year, than low decile.

New Green MP Barry Coates says he has achieved change from outside politics and now he wants to achieve change from within the political system.

Auckland Council has pulled down a public art installation depicting homelessness because they thought the piece was a pile of trash.

Vegetarian cafe Revive will again donate leftover food to the Auckland City Mission.

Minister Anne Tolley says the UN Rights of the Child committee in Geneva asked her 250 questions but only one on child poverty.

Prime Minister John Key finds it remarkably hard to measure child poverty when so many other challenges are possible, says Toby Manhire.

Data shows students at underprivileged high schools are less likely to sit exams than those from wealthy families.

COMMENT: Hurimoana Dennis, chair of Te Puea Memorial Marae, looks back over the marae's efforts to help homeless people during the winter.

When Hannah and Jordan 'Pedro' Miller did their grocery shopping this week, they allowed themselves to splurge - on an extra can of tuna.

A brief liaison with a man she didn't know cost a young Auckland woman $28 a week off her benefit for two years.

Maori Party co-leader and Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says he is sick and tired of attending tangi of Maori who have died as a result