A crew of volunteer firefighters encountered "every first responder's worst nightmare" after arriving at a car crash to find their own family members were involved.
While thousands of public service jobs have been slashed in the past year, there are big cuts to come - and those who have kept their jobs say they are exhausted dealing with the workload.
There is no doubt the Treaty Principles Bill will greatly damage National's relationship with Māori, former Treaty Negotiations Minister Chris Finlayson says.
The government's lawyers have advised the Treaty Principles Bill is consistent with the Bill of Rights Act - but only because they expect courts would not allow it to override that law or the Treaty itself.
The mother of two children who were told by strangers to get in their car in Cashmere, Christchurch, says one of her sons is now too scared to leave the house.