Latest fromSocial Issues

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

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

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

PM: It's okay to give light smacks
John Key says a new review gives parents the go-ahead to lightly smack their children without the fear of prosecution.

Police vow to hunt down festive season drink drivers
"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.

Parents fume over delay in home-care pay decision
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.

New scheme aims to shield children from violence
Preventing two-year-olds witnessing family violence is at the heart of a new First Response pilot launched today.

Call to raise off-licence buying age
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.

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

Australia leads NZ in 10 of 11 categories
Australians live longer than we do, in bigger houses, and have more leisure time.

<i>John Armstrong:</i> 2025 report too extreme to promote
The 2025 Taskforce has delivered exactly the kind of extreme right-wing-policy prescription its critics had predicted it would.

'Too radical' - English rejects Brash plan
A plan to close the wealth gap with Australia is "too radical" for Bill English, who says economic parity by 2025 is an "aspirational" rather than realistic goal

Two-salary family struggles to pay bills
Even with two earners, Donna and Terry Victory struggle on below-average wages to feed themselves and their 14-year-old daughter.