The top 10 consultants and contractors to core Government agencies.

The $5b Covid fund top-up was spent at a record clip - on mostly unrelated plans.

PSC declines sweeping probe, but some contracts for Henare-linked firm under review.

What, we must ask ourselves, is the grande dame worth?

OPINION: How the Crown came to write cheque after cheque for Mt Ruapehu's ski fields.

The seismic report for the Chateau Tongariro throws its future into question.

Opinion: Free school lunches and a side of rhubarb: Why we're missing NZ's hungriest kids.

Water cycle: Taxpayers' Union hopes a new government will pick up its water reform plan.

OPINION: Money like water - the execs now presiding over diminished Three Waters fiefdoms.

Gov't defends Māori language bonuses for civil servants; opposition vows to scrap them.

Taxpayers, and potentially ratepayers, will foot $1 billion cost overrun for water reform.

Pushing for targets the $400m shared equity home scheme under fire over priorities.

There are more tweaks to the Government's water reforms in the new bill.

Auditor General's damning review of the last $640m spent from the Provincial Growth Fund.

Budget shortfall prompts the Department of Conservation to call in the consultants

Unprecedented interest likely in Commerce Commission’s grocery watchdog patrol.

OPINION: The Government's 'scrap and replace' budgeting came at a sunk cost of $46m.

Covid money funded free school lunches, now the chicken (wraps) are coming home to roost.

A trail of redundancies and contractor termination costs follow in its wake.

Gannin Ormsby failed to win apology over terminated contract.

What the doctor ordered? A $9m bill for outside help at Māori Health Authority

Three Waters Reform a fountain of funds for the hourly crowd advising the government.

Fuel tax reductions were Ministers' choice, Ministry of Transport preferred targeted help.

Alleged misrepresentation corrected, not material to $6m Creative New Zealand contract.

The marriage at the heart of the conflict in evaluating U of Auckland vaccinator training.

Covid underspends: the long tail of emergency funding and fuel tax cuts.

Reforming the Three Waters Reform will take more than a new(ish) ministerial face.

Gov't declines to release cost-benefit case for supermarket break-up, but idea persists.

How a burgeoning repair movement hopes to mend our clothes and our throw-away habits

Top five columns of the year from Kate MacNamara.

$2m and the riddle of how many consultants it takes to prepare for one interview.

Public Service Commission advice unheeded in MfE review of Mahuta family contracts.

We Are Indigo wins multi-million dollar public contract despite past difficulties.

Former Treasury adviser says it was an “accounting trick”.

Crown housing agency thickens management layer by 86 per cent in two years.

Covid response money repurposed for spending on Government's contentious water reforms

Uncertainty for the iconic hotel in need of urgent capital investment.

Minister Nanaia Mahuta's hand in relative's appointment controversial despite disclosure.

Govt investigation probes allegations of staff mistreatment at iconic Tongariro hotel.

Documents reveal more about Govt contracts to firms linked to relatives of Nanaia Mahuta.

A $28,000 grant made from a suicide prevention fund is being looked into.

Review follows error in process of contract award to Minister's spouse's firm.

Katherine Rich on fighting supermarket power and passing the torch.

DoC scrutinising award of contracts to Gannin Ormsby consultancy.

The dream of supermarket break-up is alive; its chance of coming true is as slim as ever.

And what the Cabinet manual says.

The contract was awarded to Nanaia Mahuta's husband on a "sole source basis".

The housing agency failed to price risk in the land purchase.

Agency under fire for above-market price.

A string of departures and claims of unhappy staff.

It is the second govt payment to the consulting firm.

Government's 'social listening' surveillance more extensive than previously disclosed.

'Astonishingly slow':NZ on track to take seven months to approve popular, fast Covid test.

How Covid caution captured the PM, even when the advice differed.

The fishermen caught in the unforgiving net of regulation.

Rodney Jones' pleas for more testing of Auckland Pasifika in the struggle to eliminate.

The public relations spend that helped the Government spin the story of vaccine buying.

A breakdown of who's providing Covid modelling advice to the Government.

Will NZ's low productivity will be solved by cutting the temporary migrant count? Maybe.

Miners were caught between a rock and a hard place when protests hit the Minerals Forum.

On the South Island's West Coast the underground hunt for gold is heating up.

Research found broad dissatisfaction among supermarket suppliers.

Rising numbers of temporary migrants haven't boosted horticulture's productivity.

RSE workers on government help peaked last year, just as horticultural hiring crunch hit.

Medical cannabis company with a chequered past "not suitable" for stock exchange listing.

The wine industry is the latest sector to struggle due to a lack of foreign workers.

There's nothing to suggest holiday driving is especially risky, so why the 'awareness'?

Scarce labour this season stems from another chronic shortage: fresh Government thinking.

Government will seek a cheaper solution to treating costly acid runoff from coal mining.

NZ horticulture stalwart, Francie Perry, is throwing in the towel on strawberry growing.

Stuck in Toronto, a Canadian entrepreneur is selling his Westport brewery.

The logjam at the port is causing havoc for importers, writes Kate MacNamara.