Focus on Politics

July the first marks the beginning of the new financial year - and with it comes a raft of changes heralded by the new Government. Its flagship families policy will deliver a boost for low and… Read more Audio

New Zealand is now in formal negotiations with the European Union to nail down a Free Trade Agreement, with negotiators to meet in Brussels in about three weeks time. The EU is New Zealand's third… Read more Audio

More from Jane Patterson and the focus team... Read more Video, Audio

The apologies have been coming in thick and fast over the last week after the Prime Minister's chief scientific advisor delivered a king hit to the country's meth testing industry. It's now clear… Read more Audio

Focus on Politics for 1 June 2018 Audio

New Zealand's prison population has been increasing quite rapidly over the past few years. In 2013 there were just over 8200 people incarcerated in New Zealand, the prison muster as of now is 10,481… Read more Audio

The Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, delivered the coalition Government's first budget this week, spreading the spending widely, but also keeping three-billion dollars in the kitty. Our Deputy… Read more Audio

The Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has promised her Government will bring down the rates of child poverty, and wants to address one of the key drivers of that - family violence. New Zealand's domestic… Read more Audio

While the Finance Minister Grant Robertson puts the final touches on his first Budget, the blame game has already begun. The government's been dampening down expectations as it comes under scrutiny… Read more Audio

Budget day is looming and political parties are starting to position themselves. Coalition government ministers are claiming big funding holes in several portfolios - one of those is education. Our… Read more Audio

The Green Party finally has a new female co-leader after several months, but Marama Davidson has her work cut out for her. Since the election there has been fierce debate within the party's membership… Read more Audio

From the moment she became leader, Jacinda Ardern, has made it clear that tackling climate change is one of her primary focuses. So it should have been no surprise this week that she announced her… Read more Audio