A coroner is calling for a national legal help phone line for prisoners in police custody after a lawyer could not be found for a man who later hanged himself.

As a sexual violence taskforce report languishes in the Government's in-tray, support agencies for survivors are reeling from ACC funding cutbacks.

Police in New Zealand and Australia are cracking down on alcohol related crime this weekend in the first joint operation between the two countries.

ACC board chairman John Judge today rejected an allegation he had acted politically over levy proposals.

The Govt's ACC levy increases are less than were recommended by the ACC board but still about $200 a year for an average income worker with a car.

Therapists and counsellors say tight new rules for claiming ACC subsidies for sexual abuse counselling have become "a rapists' charter"

The Labour caucus backs "the tone and content" of a speech in which Phil Goff accused the Govt of reopening old racial wounds.

John Key says a new review gives parents the go-ahead to lightly smack their children without the fear of prosecution.

Drug dealers will use new and innovative ways to combat the Government's attempts at stopping smuggling, customs and drugs experts warn.

"The number of women [caught] was just amazing. Years ago, it was just men who were dumb enough to drink drive," a road policing manager says.

Eight families who say they need help to look after their disabled children have been left waiting almost a year for a decision by the Human Rights Review Tribunal.

Preventing two-year-olds witnessing family violence is at the heart of a new First Response pilot launched today.

The age for buying alcohol outside of bars should be raised to minimise harm to children and young people, Children's Commissioner John Angus says.

Recommendations which simply endorsed currently popular measures would have meant that the 2025 Taskforce had achieved nothing at all.

A new study has confirmed a long-held Australian belief - less-skilled Kiwis have migrated there at a higher rate than skilled professionals.

Don Brash's report on catching up with Australia has sparked a new round of debate about monetary policy.