There were tense scenes outside court when two teenagers accused of murdering a 28-year-old in Auckland on Friday night appeared in court.

The 17 and 14-year-old are accused of killing Joshuah Tasi in a road rage attack in Beach Haven.

Now, those social workers who come face to face with at-risk young people everyday say compassion is needed.

Finn Blackwell has the story.

Teachers agree the Qualifications Authority unwittingly made trial NCEA tests too difficult last year.

Documents show the Education Ministry warned the authority that the way the reading, writing and maths tests were designed made them harder for some students.

The assessments become a compulsory part of NCEA next year and teachers are worried because just 34 percent of students passed the trial writing test.

Here's our education correspondent, John Gerritsen.

Only about 1 million census forms have been filled out ahead of the official Census night - Tuesday 7 March.

Data from the survey is used by the government and other agencies to form policies, provide resources and address social issues.

But it comes at time when large parts of the country are in complete turmoil.

Deputy chief executive census and collection operations Simon Mason talks to Lisa Owen.

The father of a three-year-old found dead in a council sewage pond has used today's sentencing to voice his concerns about the police investgation.

Gore District Council appeared in court today - after Lachlan Jones died in January 2019.

The toddler's father - Paul Jones - does not believe he drowned.

Timothy Brown was in the Gore District Court.

Auckland Council's head of engineering resilience says it could be six months' wait for homeowners on two roads affected by landslips at Muriwai, before they know if they can live in their properties again.

Geotechnical engineer Ross Roberts told Checkpoint it will be one or two months before the future of the affected properties can be confirmed, as the earth around them is still unstable.

"It's going to vary depending on particularly how far they are from the slope... The ones further away from the slope, we're likely to be able to get a good idea, within a month or two... it really does depend on how those slopes respond to changes.

"It could certainly be longer... Examples from other areas around New Zealand have shown that where you get landslides, it can take six months or sometimes longer before you can actually have enough information to give people confidence to be able to get back into the homes in the worst locations."

There are 128 red-stickered properties in the West Auckland beach settlement, with an additional 48 yellow-stickered.

The Black Ferns Sevens have continued their hot run of form after beating Australia 19-12 at the Vancouver leg of the World Series. We're joined by sports reporter Bridget Tunnicliffe.

The world's first transgender politician, Georgina Beyer, has died. Friends of the ground-breaking politician and activist say she died this afternoon after a long illness.

Her friends Scotty and Malcolm of Wellington's S and M's Cocktail Bar, say the former Mayor of Carterton, Labour MP, activist, dear friend and rainbow legend, passed away peacefully at Mary Potter Hospice.

They say she was surround by her nearest and dearest 24/7 over the past week. She accepted what was happening, was cracking jokes and had a twinkle in her eye, right till the final moments.

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins paid tribute to Georgina Beyer a short time ago.

The government has pulled the brakes on its sweeping transport vision for the next three years - saying Cyclone Gabrielle has changed the game.

Cabinet last year signed off on a list of proposed transport priorities - putting climate change at the top of the list when it comes to how funding is spent.

A briefing paper from October suggests using road maintenance funding to roll out more bus and cycle lanes.

Speaking at a media briefing, the Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says a lot has changed since those decisions were made - including his promotion to the top job.

He says he now expects resilence will be the top transport priority.

Waka Kotahi's National Emergency Response spokesperson Mark Owen concedes while State Highway 25 is partially open now, more earth under the road could slip away, damaging it further.

Another day, another major state highway seriously compromised. A section of State Highway 25 in the Coromandel - from Whangamatā to Hikuai - has washed out, with the earth below the road falling away.

It's the detour for the detour, after SH25A - from Kopu to Hikuai - washed out in previous storms. In the last few hours, one lane has re-opened on the hammered highway, but the fragility of the network once again has locals worried.

Tom Taylor reports.