Low-wage workers look likely to get a small pay rise of under 3 per cent next April after the Government removed social factors from the criteria for setting the minimum wage.

Winston Peters has defended the expulsion of NZ First list MP Brendan Horan from the party.

Northland has the highest rates of rheumatic fever in the country and last week visiting US expert Dr Stanford Shulman met health professionals to help with solutions.

Drug policy has to start from a base of logic, writes Kevin Tamati. "Peter Dunne has reasoned that it's the health consequences that provide a rationale."

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders will be excluded from Australia's new national disability insurance scheme.

Paula Bennett has admitted that Work and Income may have paid airfares for some beneficiaries to take up job offers in Australia.

A campaign has been launched to demand equal pay for women after finding that, on average, men are paid at least 10 per cent more than women. Have your say here.

The sex industry is expanding in central Auckland, with approval yesterday for the Chow brothers to build a 15-storey brothel and hotel building.

Groups opposed to a proposed high-rise brothel in central Auckland say the decision to grant resource consent is "disappointing but not surprising''.

Prison bosses have admitted that they expected riots when they banned smoking in jails last year.

When Mike King used Twitter to help find a high-profile sports star to promote the marriage equality bill, you could almost see the tumbleweed roll by.

Here's a quick quiz. You are a child. Who is most likely to kill you. Your mum? Your dad? Stepdad? Rodney Hide says police have the answer.

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage is likely to be amended to explicitly state that churches would not be forced to marry same-sex couples.

A man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia tried to kill his brother-in-law days after being released from a mental health unit at Auckland Hospital.

The respected policy expert charged with finding solutions to child poverty has challenged men to take responsibility for children's well-being - it's not enough to leave it to the womenfolk.

Newborns and unborn babies in later pregnancy have been dying in South Auckland at a higher rate than the national average for most of the past decade.

Have your say. Workers' unions have been quick to write off the Government's plan for a new, low, starting pay, while business leaders say it will help create jobs.

Five years after they were thrust unwillingly into the political spotlight, things have changed for the residents of McGehan Close - much of it for the better.