Stories by Phil Pennington

Auckland builders have an expanded list of materials they can substitute to cope with the supply crunch caused by Covid-19.

Tests at Tiwai Pt aluminium smelter have turned up soil, drains and groundwater contaminated at levels that exceed key thresholds.

Owners of large motorhomes and horse trucks with modified cabs have won reprieve from a crackdown that has forced some off the road.

Hugely significant; hugely costly; hugely wrong. They are all ways being used to describe the largest overhaul of the main street heading into the centre of Tauranga.

New research shows there are tangled earthquake rules that could lead to owners strengthening the wrong parts of buildings, or having to pay twice to find out if their floors are safe.

More Aucklanders are dying or being maimed on the roads because police are doing only half what they said they would to tackle speeding and booze.

Some builders caught up in desperate times are resorting to desperate measures - backed into a corner by the squeeze on construction supplies, they're looking to substitute products.

Horowhenua locals are counting an environmental win over the temporary end to dumping at a controversial landfill.

Auckland builders are being told to plan carefully to avoid chaos when they return to work tomorrow.

Some motorhome and horse truck owners are demanding the Transport Agency drop a clampdown that is forcing more and more vehicles off the road, or pay the costs itself.

Tests of the main facial recognition system used to produce passports did not record how accurate it is on Māori.

A multimillion-dollar investigation into truck safety inspections has uncovered some shockingly bad welding and other dangers signed off as OK by specialist engineers.

A Taihape farmer who helped win an apology over lost land from the Ministry of Education says it is little consolation.

Fire and Emergency has yet to plug a gap over who should test for toxic smoke and warn the public.

The Chief Ombudsman has found the Education Ministry was wrong to take a small farm used for agricultural lessons off a Taihape school.

The increasing cost of building materials is jeopardising first home buyers' finances.

The government is dismissing calls for more protection of personal information in the Covid-19 contact tracing system.

House builders are being deterred from offering fixed prices on jobs by escalating prices and critical shortages of materials.

Pink Batts insulation is not the only building material that is running short as alert level 4 in Auckland cuts off both manufacture and distribution of all but essential building supplies.

The former head of Auckland's water services says ratepayers face hikes in charges that are wrong and unnecessary.

Thousands of building sites are reopening today amid warnings common products could run out within days.

Intelligence systems meant to back up investigations into identity fraud, money laundering and other threats became so degraded at the Department of Internal Affairs that most staff avoided using…

A major government ministry has hauled back on extremely high rates of staff churn.

Nearly two years on from the SkyCity convention centre blaze, the country's largest fire trucks keep breaking down and no new ones have been ordered.

As resignations continue at Veterans' Affairs the Defence Force has begun an internal review of "workplace culture", but there is no formal investigation.