Across the country, schoolchildren are recycling, reducing energy consumption and growing their own food. And these pint-sized eco-warriors are hoping their parents will act more responsibly on environmental matters, too. Kim Dungey looks at the kids who are turning their families green.
Fraud on a massive scale has been in the headlines, from Michael Swann's $17 million efforts at the Otago District Health Board, to US financier Bernard Madoff's Ponzi-scheme billions But fraud is often much more everyday than that, as Kim Dungey and Shane Gilchrist report.
In nine years at the Meridian Mall, Jamie Leckie has seen protests, marriage proposals and nude pranksters.
They are the temple where we worship. And Dunedin is about to get more hallowed ground. Kim Dungey goes to the mall.
New Zealand's birth rate for the 12 months ending September 30 was the highest in 17 years. But what kind of futures do those born this year face, given that much of the world is now in economic recession?
You've been dismissed from your job, fobbed off by your landlord or pestered by mail-order companies. Where do you go? For many people, it's the Dunedin Community Law Centre. Kim Dungey looks at the award-winning service that helps 8000 people a year.
Balclutha woman Marilyn Davidson, who has won a lengthy battle with a government department. Photo by Glenn Conway.
Marilyn Davidson felt as if she had won Lotto when told the Government would no longer be trying to recover $25,000 from her.
"I could feel the relief and the pressure come off me. It was fantastic," the 59-year-old recalls.
"I rang the kids at work and said `I've won'."
The golden age of cinema is gone but not forgotten, as Kim Dungey reports.
In 2001, 58 Otago secondary school pupils won Class Act awards for excellence. Now they are out in the big wide world. Kim Dungey tracks them down and finds out what they're up to.
Andrew Boyens is fulfilling a childhood ambition of playing professional football overseas.
Paul Young is convinced that wave energy has potential in places like New Zealand.
When Irene Ballagh says there are some amazing people at Columbia University, she is not exaggerating - a Nobel Prize winner works just down the hall from her lab.
A chance encounter with a vodka distributor in Shanghai led to Marty Newell working first in China, then London.
Playing an intergalactic ninja warrior has been Ria Vandervis' most interesting acting role to date.
When Dunedin man Clem Wright died a virtual recluse, his stepbrother Vince claimed he was one of many former foster children whose lives had been ruined by abuse. Vince Wright vowed to tell their stories and as Foster Care Awareness Week draws to a close, he describes what he found. Kim Dungey reports.
New Zealand's favourite funny man, David McPhail, has been playing serious roles on the stage. But now he's in a cheeky pantomime at the Fortune Theatre and planning to bring satire back to television. Kim Dungey reports.
Labour Day commemorates the struggle for an eight-hour working day but as it rolls around this year, many New Zealanders are working far more than that. At the same time, politicians are talking of work-life balance and flexible work arrangements. Kim Dungey reports on the ultimate juggling act - balancing work with the rest of our lives.
Kim Dungey looks at two more workplaces already providing flexible working arrangements and gets the view from the employer's side.
The help new mothers need when the black dog attends their birthing suite is being paid for by charity. Kim Dungey looks at a widespread problem struggling for recognition.
Christchurch GP Denise Nicholson believes doctors will see increasing numbers of women with postnatal depression.
