Some teachers need to get over their victim mentality and recognise the benefit of cutting their holiday time, a leading principal says.

A bill which would legalise voluntary euthanasia has been dropped by Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway at the request of his leader Andrew Little.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott plans to hold a referendum in 2017 to change the constitution and finally recognise Aborigines as the nation's first people.

Hundreds of families from as far away as Hamilton are queuing at the Auckland City Mission for help to put food on the table this Christmas.

It's ten years today since smoking was banned in bars, but Maori are still more likely to smoke than Europeans. We map where the ethnic smoking gap lies.

Doctors question if an already stretched workforce can cope with the govt's ambitious target to treat every cancer patient within two months.

A new study has found that two-thirds of children in private rental housing in Auckland and the Waikato move house within their first two years.

I liked to drink. I liked to be drunk. "You self-medicate," my psychiatrist said, kindly, writes Deborah Hill Cone. Strangely, I even liked hangovers.

He's 28 and a former mechanic - but had to go to jail to learn that it's useful to save some of your money.

"I only do boys - so what's the problem?", asked the sex offender denied the chance to meet his daughter. Lucy Lawless came face to face with him.

The Families Commission is rebranding today taking a name which almost identical to that of a French supermarket chain.

President Obama's executive order would spare from deportation five million immigrants who have lived illegally in the US for at least five years and have children who are citizens.

Black America has again been reminded that its children are not seen as worthy of being alive - in part because they are not seen as children at all, but as threats to white lives.

Sir Owen Glenn's report also recommends tough new alcohol laws, including higher taxes and raising the legal drinking age to 20, plus a new dedicated family violence agency.

Next month Sio Talakai-Alatini is due to give birth to her fourth daughter - and thanks to a brave decision she will also graduate with a masters degree.

A psychiatric report delivered to the Parole Board found Ewen Macdonald still has a "significant personality disturbance" and has not addressed the factors underpinning his offending.

The number of state houses has dropped by 1600 in the past three years as grand plans for more state homes in Auckland appear to have been hit by rising land values.

For a long time the Lucky Country drew Kiwis to its shores, but as its economy changes we look at some of the risks of relocating to Australia.

Men's refuges and a ban on alcohol sponsorship of sports are the latest ideas from the Glenn Inquiry for tackling family violence.

Matt Heath writes: Who knows why people post mean stuff? Maybe their life is crap or maybe they're psychotic - but before you start crying you need to check credentials.

Incidents such as the "Roast Busters" case show sex education needs to be more than a component of the health and physical education curriculum.

New guidelines for sex education will be released in a few weeks, but the Govt will shy away from ordering schools to teach more than basic biology.

I was horrified to read zero-hour contracts are common among many multinational fast-food companies and are increasingly being used by supermarkets and retailers.

Imagine growing up not knowing your father because he has been declared an enemy of the people and has to live in another country you are forbidden to visit.

Certainly New Zealand offers a lot less than Australia in many ways, but at least we can still have the conversation about inequality, writes Dita De Boni.