Stories by Phil Pennington

A Canterbury Māori health leader is outraged the region's deficit-laden DHB has built a new emergency care unit for children but cannot afford to staff it.

New services to improve emergency and acute care of children at Christchurch Hospital will not open because there is no money to staff them.

A scathing report into Transport Agency contracts is causing ructions among construction industry leaders.

Police have been quietly setting up a $9 million facial recognition system that can take a live feed from CCTV cameras and identify people from it. Video

Tauranga ratepayers face a $7m-plus bill to demolish a defect-riddled central city carpark building, but dodged a catastrophic failure.

Firefighters are warning a Fire and Emergency restructure might put less experienced staff in charge at blazes, but FENZ rejects that.

A major company at the centre of controversies over facial recognition technology in the US and UK is working closely with the New Zealand government.

WorkSafe is stepping in to investigate if quarantine hotels are keeping their staff safe, four months after these workers became a new frontline against Covid-19.

Documents show ministry penny pinchers left out vital steelwork to save money at the world-renowned but earthquake-prone National War Memorial Carillon tower in Wellington.

The target of a scathing New Zealand Transport Agency inquiry into mismanaged IT contracts has rejected its findings as "untrue".

An official inquiry has failed to track down a leaker of light rail documents, after it ran into the sieve-like culture at the NZ Transport Agency.

A leaked report has revealed serious, high-level failings in how the Transport Agency awarded major IT contracts.

The Court of Appeal is hearing two appeals against a record-breaking $2 million fine imposed on Steel and Tube after it admitted selling masses of steel mesh it did not properly test.

Faced with broken highways in Waikato and Wellington regions, the Transport Agency has staked a billion dollars on a roadbuilding method that is difficult to get right, hard to repair and that lacks a…

Problems have been identified with two new bridges being built on the Auckland Northern Corridor highway project, prompting NZTA reviews.

The government has put the kibosh on hopes hospital workers owed three quarters of a billion dollars could get an interim payout early.

Pasifika researchers are dismayed at the government's choice of a relatively cheap way of running the next census in 2023.

A world-renowned sleep research centre in Wellington has suffered a funding drop that jeopardises its standing.

Two councils have missed a key deadline for identifying earthquake-prone buildings.

Police have failed in their attempts to block an Auckland man who "annoyed and frustrated" them - while he was trying to protect his two children from a violent drug dealer - from running a security…

A Hamilton MP says the government must do more for a family whose two young sons were killed in a truck crash. Audio

A Hamilton family whose two young boys were killed when a trucker who had been at the wheel too long rear-ended their car, accuses agencies of failing to fight for justice or protect road safety. Video

Iwi leaders are urging the government to set new priorities for the next census that give Māori much more say.

The government has picked one of the least favoured options for running the next census, and the funding, though boosted, has been criticised as inadequate.

In 2017 it was estimated six major buildings would need $40 million to make them weathertight, but just two of those buildings are set to soak up $62.5m.