Stories by Phil Pennington

The cost of Tauranga's Baypark to Bayfair highway link has risen by another $30 million, reaching nearly $300m.

An Australian cloud computing trailblazer says New Zealand is in real danger of giving away its capabilities to big foreign firms.

The Department of Conservation has botched its management of a $25 million IT finance project.

US tech giant Microsoft pushed the Education Ministry to adopt an AI programme for continuous live reporting on children and teachers in the classroom.

The latest cost blowouts for hospital projects include two Bay of Plenty mental health units poised to triple in price to $150 million. Audio

Critical equipment for fixing telecommunications was unloaded from aircraft and replaced with other gear, on flights into regions cut off by Cyclone Gabrielle.

The country is scrambling to deal with flood rescues in the face of growing threats fuelled by climate change.

Surf Lifeguards say they have been told they should not have responded to calls for help during Cyclone Gabrielle if they did not have the right gear.

Firefighters have warned Auckland Council the city's rapid growth means they sometimes run low on water to put out fires.

A doctors' union says the programme for junior doctors could be set up within weeks - but the health agency is still looking for someone to lead it.

Vital changes for disaster-proofing critical infrastructure like phones, power and roads have serious flaws, warn government officials.

Community Law Aotearoa said the government was being far too slow to address the right of emergency housing residents to be safe. Audio

Fire inspectors attending emergency housing providers have been coming across tampered alarms, missing smoke stop doors and aggressive dogs. Audio

The Transport Agency has given out a quarter of a million dollars in bonuses, with much more of it going to its better-paid staff than to lower earners.

Councils claim they are doing better at checking fire safety systems in buildings, and especially boarding house-type accommodation like Loafers Lodge.

Bay of Plenty firefighters have not inspected any emergency housing for almost a year, after they asked for stab-proof vests and did not get them.

An asbestos scare around air tanks for emergency crews has spread to encompass five agencies including police and defence.

Fire and Emergency is blaming urban sprawl and traffic jams for the slower response rate to attend blazes. So it moved the goalposts and gave them more time to respond.

Failure-prone safety netting allowed a tramper to fall from the height of three storeys into a West Coast river, sparking nationwide checks and upgrades of almost 150 swingbridges in 2020. Video

Analysis - After National took a stance against bilingual road signs, then walked-back on it, what does the research say?

The workplace safety regulator has ordered a review of asbestos management plans at about 300 of the country's fire stations.

A cycling lobby group is questioning why the transport agency has not already done the work required to take the wobble out of Auckland Harbour Bridge.

The Auckland Harbour Bridge wobbles when enough people walk on it, to the extent it could result in "serious crushing injuries".

Te Whatu Ora is delaying its decisions on a mass restructure involving about 1600 hundred jobs, the national health agency says.

Meanwhile, Wellington City Council will carry out more building audits in response to a critical finding by MBIE, the mayor says. Audio