Have your say. Workers' unions have been quick to write off the Government's plan for a new, low, starting pay, while business leaders say it will help create jobs.

Five years after they were thrust unwillingly into the political spotlight, things have changed for the residents of McGehan Close - much of it for the better.

Good policies require good information, not prejudices and ill-informed judgments expressed from the sideline, writes Michael O'Brien.

"Paula Bennett is right when she says poverty isn't an excuse for child abuse," writes Tapu Misa. "There is no excuse for child abuse."

A conservative Christian lived an an 'undercover' gay man for a year, after his beliefs were challenged. So what did he discover?

A Green MP says his bill to reform adoption law is much broader than gay adoption and will provide a much needed overhaul, including open adoptions.

A key recommendation in the landmark coroner's finding into the Kahui twins' deaths has been ignored by the Government in its child abuse white paper.

A database of about 30,000 "at risk" children is to be created and accessed by government workers without parental knowledge as part of an overhaul of laws tackling child cruelty.

The proposed new multi-agency plans for each child, backed by an IT system accessible by all agencies, should have been set up years ago, writes Simon Collins.

Two of New Zealand's top children's doctors are proposing an increase in the state pension age to pay for more services to stop child abuse.