Stories by Phil Pennington

The earthquake-prone Carillon bell tower in Wellington may take more time to fix than deadlines allow.

A complaint about the safety of a common earthquake bracing system has been rejected by officials, but has exposed weaknesses in the engineering system.

The SIS has adopted new terminology to describe threats and says the concern should be with violent extremists of varying ideologies, not be conflated with communities.

The Ministry of Health wants to change the way people's medical records are shared nationwide, with IT health experts growing frustrated in the meantime.

Investigators are looking into claims highly toxic waste has been buried in unmapped sites at Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.

Authorities are struggling with what to do about a second lot of truck brakes involved in serious accidents causing death.

An Auckland mechanic who witnessed a trucker threaten a heavy vehicle engineer with violence warns the transport safety system is "at the point of madness".

A dodgy truck handbrake involved in at least two deaths and multiple serious crashes has only just been banned, though authorities have known for years it was dangerous.

The foundations of the tallest residential skyscraper being built in central Auckland have finally been approved after years of Investigations and repairs.

Police trialled drones before looking into security concerns swirling in the US about data from the flying machines being hijacked or hacked.

The Islamic Federation is questioning what it calls "inconsistencies" in a review of the Security Intelligence Service (SIS) such as why it did not do more before March 2019 to detect lone wolf…

A newly released report on the Security Intelligence Service shows faster and wider harvesting of data about people was identified as a priority for bolstering counter-terrorism efforts.

A revolt is escalating against the Transport Agency in its role as the watchdog keeping trucks safe on the road.

"Catastrophic" consequences of environmental damage and even loss of life is being forecast from sea level rise breaching a giant landfill including toxic waste at Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in…

The Education Ministry's sale of Taihape Area School's educational farm asset to put into the Treaty settlements landbank has divided a community and raised issues over the legality of the move.

Government officials are being accused of stealing a farm bought by a central North Island town for their schoolchildren to learn agriculture.

The government has suspended talks over the Bluff aluminium smelter until it gets environmental commitments over cleaning up its landfill and spent cell-liner waste.

A massive double-trailer truck lost half its load on a highway outside Kaikōura because most of the welds holding the refrigerator box on the chassis had snapped.

The Bluff aluminium smelter has revealed it has another 75,000 tonnes of highly toxic hazardous waste stored in buildings at Tiwai Point - and does not have a solution what to do with it yet.

Police are using drones that have been partly banned in the US over fears that China is using the technology to spy.

At least 2900 tonnes of toxic aluminium waste has been removed from a paper mill at Mataura.

Muslim groups are calling for more action and accountability over the mosque attacks in a new report out today. Audio

A country town's school blighted by leaks and backed-up sewage is finally getting a rebuild, but that won't be until next year - a decade after the flaws were exposed.

Engineers who keep the country's truck fleet safe are crying foul over a government agency they say is broken, biased and rife with bullying.

The government tried to get Tiwai Point aluminium smelter to clean up toxic waste at its Southland site but failed. Audio