Stories by Phil Pennington

Rapid checks missed serious hidden damage in 11 buildings, according to a new report. Audio

The number of New Zealanders granted permanent residency in Australia has plummeted from 2500 five years ago to just 45.

Making New Zealanders in Australia pay to send their children to school is a real possibility, the government is being warned.

A structural engineering company has shut its doors while facing both an unresolved complaint and a call for a review of its seismic assessments and other work.

Horowhenua's mayor Michael Feyen has stared down his council - and the law - and put his old deputy mayor back into the job.

Tenants of a Wellington high-rise have no idea whether their building is safe after three engineering firms released wildly different seismic assessments.

A Wairarapa couple are locked in a battle with social workers over their two children, triggered by fractures one of them suffered. Audio

An engineer is defending his assessment of a Wellington building damaged in November's earthquake, despite it having floor supports the industry was warned to avoid.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are in talks to house hundreds of workers on a cruise ship off Auckland if they win huge rail contracts.

Child Youth and Family in Masterton has called in extra social workers after weeks of complaints that a backlog of cases is putting families in danger.

Civil Defence delays held up the red-stickering of damaged homes at the epicentre of last November's earthquake.

Child Youth and Family put a three-year-old girl at unacceptable risk by providing misleading information about her father, a Family Court judge has said.

Permanent residency has been granted to a Filipino man living in Auckland who was ordered by a US court to pay $35 million for internet piracy.

A big rural company is being accused of bullying after making its main suppliers wait longer to be paid..

Corrections is paying for guards from three more prisons to stay in hotels as a stopgap to cope with growing inmate numbers.

Seismic grade steel reinforcing bar that is not as strong as it should be has been sold in the New Zealand market.

Waiau's fire brigade had to borrow a water pump to fight a major blaze, in the latest difficulty for a town that feels it's been forgotten since the November quake.

Police refuse to say if they monitored a convicted child pornographer in the months before he was arrested to face child sex abuse charges in Australia.

It is unacceptable that child services could end up policing their own failings without outside scrutiny, advocates say.

A Child Youth and Family manager admits the agency failed multiple times when it sent a Southland toddler back into a P-using household where he died.

Scores of New Zealand dairy farmers in Australia are relying on food parcels because they are blocked from getting any government support.

A last-minute court challenge has overturned a mobile phone ban for New Zealanders in Australian immigration detention centres.

Quarries are warning that rising building costs will be propelled higher still by pressure on them to move further away from cities and towns.

A civil liberties lawyer has accused the Australian Prime Minister of using "weasel words" over detaining and deporting New Zealanders.

Another big office building in Wellington has been temporarily shut after engineers ordered it be strengthened.