Stories by Phil Pennington

The family of a Southland toddler who died want to know why his mother was put in charge of protecting him when she was suspected of injuring him.

A toddler died in a Southland house just five days after social workers sent him back there from hospital, despite knowing it was unsafe, records show.

An Invercargill man who witnessed a great white shark bite his rubber raft says cage diving is to blame for them becoming more aggressive around Stewart Island.

More than half of quarry managers sitting a crucial exam are failing, and have missed a deadline to prove they are fit to run a quarry safely.

Northland farmers facing big losses are counting on a bit more support now that drought has been declared.

One of nine Indian students facing deportation is being asked at the very same time to help with a government investigation into the Auckland school he attended.

The government is considering launching an inquiry into growing petrol price margins - but in the mean time people are shopping around.

Two government agencies are in a legal scrap over an Indian student who claims he did not know his visa application was tainted by fraud.

While February is generally warmer and drier for most of New Zealand, it varies across the country, a climate scientist says.

Moving six salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds would help clean up the seabed and boost production, the government says.

China's warning that a New Zealand government investigation into steel dumping will risk trade should not be seen as a threat, New Zealand experts say.

New Zealand has launched an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese steel.

A union is calling on MPI to overhaul the fishing industry so that three quarters of jobs go to New Zealanders. But Seafood New Zealand says they already do.

A police report into a special needs school that used a seclusion room details how one child said his arm was twisted 25 times.

The Ministry for Primary Industries has brought just four successful fish-dumping prosecutions since 2009, newly released information shows.

The rules around using public money to fund students' overseas travel need to be clarified, says the principal of the Rotorua school that went on a $700,000 trip to Hawaii.

The Corrections Department has paid about $2 million for hotel rooms for extra guards it needs at Mt Eden prison.

People ignored by choppers following the Kaikōura earthquake are warning the same thing will happen in the next disaster unless Civil Defence improves.

The family of a prisoner whose death helped spark the Mt Eden Prison fight club inquiry says a new report raises disturbing questions.

A Clarence River woman is writing to authorities claiming the residents of the valley north of Kaikōura have been forgotten after the mid-November earthquake.

A Clarence River rafting guide has launched a cookbook sharing local stories from before and after the area was rocked by last month's earthquake. Audio

The prosecution of three steel companies shows the government has been negligent in monitoring building product quality, the Labour Party says.

Hundreds in Kaikōura whose livelihoods rely on tourists are facing a tough summer, with holidaymakers cancelling bookings at an alarming rate.

Scientists are checking every few days on 11 landslide dams in Kaikōura and Marlborough that may breach. Audio

The Office of Human Rights Proceedings will take legal action after CCTV footage was not given to a prisoner who was attacked in Mt Eden prison, leaving him with brain damage.