There are fears Aotearoa could end up with a "motel generation" as whānau struggling to afford rents are bumped across emergency accommodation providers.

Nearly 30 years on since the disappearance of two-year-old Amber-Lee Cruickshank, her mother Nicola is welcoming the police's new offer of $100,000 for information that leads to a conviction.

The close 'no' vote in last year's cannabis referendum has left Tairāwhiti cannabis growers and its isolated communities in a rut.

Parliament's health select committee has raised concerns about the growth of syphilis in South Auckland and the need for extra funding for primary and sexual health services to stop its spread.

Disgruntled Ports of Auckland workers have walked off the job to cast a vote of no confidence in senior management and the company's board.

Government security roles have only recently been advertised, eight months after the government decided to hire its own security force instead of using private firms.

The government will make an announcement soon on when it will restart the process for skilled migrants to become residents, it says. A suspension review was expected at the end of March.

The charges state that the 31-year-old woman, who has name suppression, used a company credit card several times then altered the card's monthly summary to make it look legitimate.

Education Minister Chris Hipkins has defended the ministry's handling of serious problems that forced Hutt Valley High School to close an entire block of classrooms.

A man has been charged with threatening to kill over comments made at a Hastings mosque.

One man is injured and another is being hunted by police in Motueka this afternoon following a firearms incident.

Unless there are better community services for less severe cases, building a new mental health unit will not alleviate the problem, a review has found.

Four new cases of Covid-19 have been found in managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) facilities since yesterday, the Ministry of Health says.

The police have been found to have unlawfully detained a Māori woman and taken photos of her at a road checkpoint, breaching the Privacy Act.

Medsafe is meeting to consider whether to approve the single-dose Janssen Covid-19 vaccine for use in New Zealand.

A man has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter over the death of a man who was assaulted outside Te Papa in Wellington.

Amber-Lee Cruickshank went missing as a toddler in 1992. Now, police are offering a reward for information.

A man has been charged with robbing a restaurant in the Wellington suburb of Miramar on Saturday and assaulting a member of its staff.