Stories by Craig McCulloch

Tauranga's leaky courthouse is to be replaced with a new $100 million facility designed to be "more humane" and "family-friendly" and could see judges dropped down from their raised platforms.

Winston Peters is bemoaning how long a decision on Northport is taking, saying if you're faced with inevitability, you should act. But Cabinet ministers have put off making a call until next year.

National is asking its supporters whether District Health Board elections should be scrapped in favour of an appointment process.

Cabinet minister Kris Faafoi has apologised to the Prime Minister for his messages to Jason Kerrison regarding an immigration case, but will not lose his job.

New Zealand First has spoken out in opposition to a planned hike in tobacco tax, invoking the "Agree to Disagree" provision in its Coalition agreement for the first time.

National is proposing an elite police squad be set up - modelled on Australia's "Strike Force Raptor" unit - to target and harass gangs with the goal of eliminating them.

A medical student overseas placement rort appears to have been going on for years, even decades, with several GPs telling RNZ they believe authorities have been turning a blind eye.

Nearly 90 percent of eligible schools have agreed to stop asking parents for donations in exchange for receiving $150 per student every year from the government.

Landlords say they feel under siege with the government planning to make it tougher for them to boot out troublesome tenants. Audio

A review into Corrections' mail system identified multiple "deficiencies" and has recommended the department be given more powers to read, copy, and store letters coming in and out of prison.

The National Party has suggested scrapping the fees-free policy and replacing it with a scheme like KiwiSaver to pay for tertiary education. Audio

The manager who investigated whether ministry staff had leaked details of Winston Peters' pension overpayment has accepted a determined person could have covered their footprints.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters' attack on top civil servants is "scandalous and improper" and the allegations should never have been made, a court has heard.

Former National minister Anne Tolley has admitted telling her sister about Winston Peters' pension overpayment while she was "tired" and "cross" in a conversation she regretted.

A Ministry of Social Development manager has been called by the Crown to give evidence as part of Winston Peters legal action claiming a breach of his privacy in Auckland's High Court.

Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters has accused some of those defending his High Court action of "covering their butts" and others of suffering a "memory lapse".

Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters says the leak about his pension overpayment continues to hurt his reputation with many people still wrongly believing he was involved in a "shady deal".

Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway has directed his officials to come up with a solution so Indians aren't unfairly excluded from receiving partnership visas.

Simon Bridges said he made no apology for National's "hard-line approach" saying it was "profoundly irresponsible" to abandon families to welfare dependency.

Labour's Māori senior vice president Tane Phillips has announced his candidacy for president, and says he distanced himself from the storm which embroiled the party for weeks and forced Nigel… Audio

Emails reveal Finance Minister Grant Robertson's staff tried to keep secret Treasury's criticism of a government proposal.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has backed up former National Party Minister Todd McClay, stating he did not discuss donations with a Chinese billionaire

The Labour Party has been labelled a "dinosaur" for trying to keep some restrictions in place around political attack ads during a tense exchange at Parliament. Audio

New Zealanders will almost certainly face a referendum next year on whether to legalise voluntary euthanasia after a make-or-break vote in Parliament cleared the way.

Security footage of NZ First MP Clayton Mitchell being thrown out of a Tauranga bar looks unlikely to ever be aired - despite his leader Winston Peters promising a screening.