Stories by Phil Pennington

Almost all road building bitumen is being taken over by the Transport Agency, which believes it's being ripped off by suppliers.

The Security Intelligence Service was calling the LynnMall knife attacker a terrorist for years, at the same time as courts were hearing he was a high, medium or even low-risk threat.

The Transport Agency says it is dealing with almost 100 vehicles with flawed emissions data under the Clean Car Discount Scheme.

Car dealers are worried they will have to pay the bill for errors in the Clean Car Discount Scheme that could cost buyers hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Two youth organisations have pulled out of a $2.4m Oranga Tamariki campaign saying it verges on exploiting young people.

A Taranaki company is about to make its own bitumen, stepping into the void left by the Marsden Pt oil refinery shutdown.

The shutdown of Marsden Point oil refinery is causing ructions in the road building industry which is already under intense pressure.

The uplift of children from their families increased on average in the four months after the minister in charge ordered a step change. However, the overall trend is steeply down.

Planners at Auckland Council are resisting calls for a clampdown on helipads on the eve of a key meeting, amid whirling discontent in the Hauraki Gulf.

Children are being harmed at an increasing rate while in the care of Oranga Tamariki. Audio

Questions are being raised whether hospitals are accurately reporting their massive spending on often highly paid contractors.

Law changes aimed at cracking down on poor engineering are being hailed as a landmark.

Researchers have found big holes and major discrepancies in records of how almost half a billion dollars is spent propping up the country's public health system.

Contractor pay in the public service has rates ranging from close to the minimum wage on helpdesks to as high as $185 an hour in IT - or almost $1500 a day, before tax.

Police have split with a research institute leading an investigation into bias against Māori and others.

Two leading Māori social workers are scathing of Oranga Tamariki's attempts to fix huge gaps in sexual violence crisis support for children.

Oranga Tamariki has not had any meetings with Māori to design new sexual violence services for children even as unmet demand ratchets up.

The Wellington region has been left with no coverage by large firetrucks this week after the latest breakdown.

Desperate construction companies are poaching workers off each other at a destabilising rate.

The hold-up at Watercare's new Interceptor tunnel is just one casualty from the virus rampaging through the construction sector.

More trucks are being fitted with safety systems, and handbrake testing is changing, to guard against potentially fatal rollaways.

Heritage New Zealand wants helipad planners to consider the wealth of archaeological sites on Aotea Great Barrier Island.

Māori on Aotea / Great Barrier Island have told Auckland Council to stop helipads being put in, and to start paying them more heed as kaitiaki.

A cycle and pedestrian lane trial for the Auckland Harbour Bridge has been blocked by Waka Kotahi NZTA, who is planning a celebratory bike ride instead.

Aotea Great Barrier islanders fear they will go the same way as Waiheke Island with lots of helicopters buzzing their skies.