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A week of the House included a near miss by Chris Luxon, a lot of debate over a confidence motion and near completion for a bill to ban attempts to 'convert' gender and sexual orientations.

With the amount owed in unpaid MIQ bills climbing to $38.7 million, one academic says it could be time to start charging interest.

The minimum wage increase of $1.20 has been confirmed for 1 April by the government, a 6 percent increase.

Vaccine mandates and passes should eventually end and the government should set a timeline for that, opposition parties say, but they do not support today's protests.

A ministry statement admitting rapid antigen tests in the government's order were already in the country has led to incorrect conclusions, the minister says. Audio

In today's Focus on Politics podcast, Deputy Political Editor Craig McCulloch recounts the siege of Fortress New Zealand and reckons with its reconnection to the world.

The government's plan to re-open the border, allowing people to bypass what the prime minister has described as "the anguish of MIQ", is being shot down by the opposition as both too slow and too…

Covid-19 experts have given their stamp of approval to the government's staged border re-opening plan but say one of its weak points is how self isolation and testing is managed.

One of New Zealand's key performances at the World Trade Expo has been unable to go ahead after members of Parris Goebel's Royal Family Dance Crew tested positive for Covid-19.

Support for Jacinda Ardern has dropped in the preferred PM stakes to her lowest result since 2017 in the first major political poll of the year, but Labour could still form a government with the…

The New Zealand Medical Association says doctors will not have the capacity to be calling patients actively if there are tens of thousands of Omicron cases a day.

Businesses feel the prioritisation for the government's order of rapid antigen tests has tripped up their pandemic planning, says the Food and Grocery Council. Audio

Rapid antigen tests have not been commandeered, Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield says, but suppliers have been asked to prioritise the government's order.

Officials will announce more details on rapid antigen tests, the treatment of close contacts, and quarantine and isolation periods later today.

Border restrictions are still needed, and MIQ will remain valuable even if Omicron is spreading widely in the community, the epidemiologist says.

New Zealanders are being urged to prepare for potentially thousands of daily Covid-19 infections once the Omicron variant starts spreading in the community. Audio

National's leader Chris Luxon says the government has no plan for tackling Omicron, and decisions today show Labour "took a month off".

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins fronted to media after a decision yesterday to delay the next MIQ release due to an increase in Omicron cases at the border.