Food programmes for hungry Kiwi schoolchildren may soon get a boost from the Government to top off an overwhelming public response to recent media appeals.

Disabled hunger striker Sam Kuha is hoping to meet Social Development Minister Paula Bennett in Auckland tomorrow.

Good teachers matter, but the problem with conflating education and poverty is that the focus can narrow unhelpfully on one piece of the puzzle, writes Tapu Misa.

More than 1400 New Zealanders attempted to make do with only $2.25 worth of food and drink for each of five days.

Sexual assaults by players and supporters in last year's Rugby World Cup helped set a new record for assaults on women reported to an Auckland sexual abuse service.

A Putaruru school serving up compulsory breakfasts and hot lunches for just $1 a meal says the benefits are showing in students' dental records.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett has admitted the Government does not have the resources to test all beneficiaries under tough new welfare reforms.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says she believes some parents do not need to enrol their children in early childhood education - but concedes her welfare reforms will force beneficiaries to do just that.

A quarter of primary and intermediate pupils in poorer Waikato areas go to school hungry, researchers have found.

Teens among the first "guinea pigs" for a new money management system for welfare say they get enough for food - but not for transport, baby supplies and medical costs.

Monetary policy is always contentious when the dollar is high, and at the moment it is very high.

The bill pushing ahead with the Government's second wave of welfare reforms passed its first reading in Parliament today.

New Zealand's most popular sports have taken nearly $1 billion in gambling proceeds in the last seven years, records show.

The Government's latest welfare reforms will help get people out of the "trap" of benefit dependency, Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says.

Second bill in welfare reform cancels payments for those who refuse offer of 'suitable' job.

Legislation introducing an "investment approach'' to welfare has been signed off by the Cabinet and will go before a select committee after its first reading in Parliament.

Anyone who can understand the difference between rape and lovemaking can understand the difference between killing and compassionate assistance to die, writes Ann David.

Cost should not be only driver of social policies; principles matter, too, writes Tapu Misa.

Kawerau has one of the country's highest proportion of beneficiaries, with 1725 of its 6921 residents receiving some kind of assistance.

Dr Andrew Cardow says Paula Bennett appears to be working under the belief that beneficiaries do not have the wherewithal to decide what is best for their children.

The Herald continues its series looking at our changing National identity. Today, those aged 20 - 39, the children of Rogernomics.