Stories by Lois Williams

Support is growing in the Far North for a popular aged care worker from the Philippines who fears she'll have to leave the country she thinks of as home.

A Māori charter school in Whangārei says it will lose staff who have been critical to its success when it comes under the state education umbrella.

Power and water was cut off, part of the building was flooded and there was rubbish everywhere - now volunteers are transforming the old army barracks into a day centre for homeless people.

Northland people who dread the prospect of living near New Zealand's biggest chicken farm are celebrating after the project struck a setback.

A Bay of Islands boat-builder has lost his long-running battle to be able to work on a coastal reserve.

The Marsden Point oil refinery has won approval to dredge Whangārei Harbour.

Two stores in the Far North have taken glass pipes commonly used to smoke methamphetamine off their shelves, after a plea by locals.

A Northland couple are calling out shopkeepers who sell P-pipes - the glass instruments commonly used for smoking methamphetamine.

Kaipara people who don't want New Zealand's biggest chicken farm in their neighbourhood are stepping up their campaign against it.

Northland's Regional Council is ramping up its response to kauri dieback on private land.

The Ministry of Primary Industries is defending its leadership of the kauri dieback programme.

The government should be cautious about planting pine trees near northern kauri forests because they may be incubating kauri dieback, some scientists say.

A Northland contract milker who was secretly filmed striking cows has lost his job and his home.

Legal challenges to water consents in the Far North are a sign that the Department of Conservation is taking a more activist role, the Environmental Defence Society says.

The Conservation Department is to appeal against water consents granted to 17 avocado growers north of Kaitaia.

Māori in Northland lobbied hard for a US billionaire to be exempt from a ban on foreign speculators buying houses. Audio

The Office of Treaty Settlements has denied taking sides in a claims dispute between Tauranga's Ngāi Te Rangi people, and Hauraki iwi.

A Tauranga iwi has told the Office of Treaty Settlements to butt out of a claims dispute after an alleged assault on a kaumātua.

Arguments over the legality of swamp kauri exports will be heard again today, this time by the Supreme Court.

A Whangārei grandmother (pictured) who has been finding homes for the homeless says she's worried about mothers hiding the fact that they're homeless, out of fear they will lose their children.

Housing New Zealand should have consulted neighbours before buying land in Whangārei for social housing, National MP Shane Reti says.

The government inquiry into mental health has reached Northland after nearly two months on the road.

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai is appealing for help to set up a day shelter for the city's growing number of homeless people.

Northland is poised to become the avocado capital of New Zealand, with the granting of water rights for growers north of Kaitaia.

Conservationists in Northland are calling for a halt to the milling of kauri now that it has been declared a threatened species.