Maori Party co-leader Tariana Turia says she will need some convincing over sweeping changes made in an effort to stop child abuse and death in New Zealand.

New rules for KiwiSaver subsidies to help people buy their first homes will help middle-class couples but will knock out lower-income families.

Wide-ranging restraining orders will soon be in use to keep suspected child abusers away from children for up to 10 years.

Disability advocates have warned the Government it could take years to regain their trust

House price inflation creates no new output and few jobs. It consigns young first-home buyers to a life of debt servitude, writes Peter Lyons.

Churches have become corporate onshore tax havens which are subsidised by taxpayers so that the religious can pursue the supernatural, writes Max Wallace and Robert Nola.

"Be content with what you have". That's just one of the slogans on a mural at the Cannons Creek Four Square.

Students at one Auckland high school are not convinced drinking, smoking and drugs are as rare as an Auckland University survey suggests.

When politicians talk about making the labour market more flexible, it means ensuring that the demand and supply of labour determines the wage rate. writes Peter Lyons.

For decades, we've been told that if we worked hard and were patient, eventually the gender pay gap would close, writes Catriona McLennan.

Parents battling to get their children back from state foster care are being stymied by two-month delays to get hold of their official files, a lobby group says.

Just over half of voters support extending Working for Families in-work tax credits of at least $60 a week to beneficiaries.

"Our economy would be lost without these people," writes Michael Cox. Volunteering is big business. Over one million of us together contribute 270 million volunteer hours a year.

In Pyongyang, Kim Jong Un enjoyed perhaps the proudest moment of his nascent leadership as North Korea beamed its now familiar images of strength to the world.

School's back today after the holidays - but not all students will be. And in many cases it's the parents' decision to let them skip classes.

A year after Auckland Mayor Len Brown promised to crack down on central city alcohol issues, booze-related assaults are "bog standard".

Martin Johnston reports on the growing pressure to expand taxpayer subsidies and lower the cost.

Pokie numbers in pubs and clubs across Auckland will drop under a new unified Super City policy.

When Robin Vinod turned 17, he couldn't sign a tenancy agreement or be responsible for bills - but that was when CYF left him to fend for himself.

He will be heir to riches of which the other 361,480 babies who share his birthday can only dream, writes Brian Rudman.

Police smashed a window in Hone Harawira's car after he ignored repeated requests to move out of the path of a truck at an Auckland housing protest last year, a court has been told.

Sir Owen Glenn's inquiry into family violence will go ahead with only half of its original budget remaining and with Sir Owen's own role still in doubt.

We don't really see the street. Most of us don't even look. Kids look, as I'm about to find out, but we adults, most of us walk on by, our attention fixed on anything other than that dude over there

The idea that New Zealand has become one of the most unequal societies in the developed world is just not supported by the data, writes Brian Fallow.

A doctor's certificate is often a ticket to social welfare. From this week it becomes a recipe for work. At least - that's the hope.

Identification numbers attached to children as young as three could be used to track and punish their parents.

Drug and alcohol addicts may face longer waiting times for treatment.