OPINION: We don't have a child poverty problem in New Zealand, we have a parenting problem, says Michael Laws.

OPINION: Despite some minor surprises, there's nothing much to see in the 2013 Budget, writes Vernon Small.

OPINION: The only way to handle issues with the electoral system is to go to the public, writes Vernon Small.

OPINION: Dogboxed MP Aaron Gilmore certainly passed the test of leaving Parliament well, writes Jane Clifton.

This past week the Police Complaints Authority chastised chasing police officers after three people did a Darwin in Gisborne last July.

OPINION: Aaron Gilmore's behaviour raises some interesting questions about the qualities required of a successful backbencher, writes Chris Trotter.

OPINION: While still in his 50s, Parekura Horomia observed that as a Maori man he probably had only about a decade left to live.

OPINION: If you're Maori and you're dead then you're the patron saint of niceness. But if you're Pakeha and drunk, then everyone is on your case, writes Michael Laws.

OPINION: I am bored, bored, bored by the prospect of a New Zealand constitution, writes Rosemary McLeod.

OPINION: National may face some hard coalition partner decisions in the 2014 election, writes Vernon Small.

TRACY WATKINS - © Fairfax NZ News

OPINION: There is a lot more riding on Labour's power play than an argument over electricity prices, writes Tracy Watkins.

© Fairfax NZ News

OPINION: The notes of The Last Post have faded into the dawn skies of Anzac Day for another year.

OPINION: For once, a minister put on the spot in Parliament had a really good excuse for ducking culpability for his party's past policies.

OPINION: Andrea Vance asks, did Prime Minister John Key just bust out his own WMD dossier?

OPINION: It's time we debated the big question of whether some people should be allowed to have - and keep - children, writes Michael Laws.

OPINION: The standard of news and current affairs has for years been subject to strong criticism.

OPINION: The firestorm over the potential - make that probable - illegal spying on New Zealanders comes down to one central question, writes Vernon Small.

JANE CLIFTON - ABOUT THE HOUSE - © Fairfax NZ News

OPINION: Some Government documents are so secret that even the people who are allowed to know about them daren't find out who else knows about them, or even who else knows who knows about them, in case they get asked about it in Parliament. Or something like that, anyway.

Primary school teachers have no right to use their charges as political pawns in their fight against the Government, says Michael Laws.

OPINION: Why didn't PM John Key come clean last week, Andrea Vance asks. | Key forgets tip to friend