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ASB Bank have posted record annual profits, but the signs of an economic slowdown impacted their earnings.

The bank reported a net profit for the year ended June of $1.56 billion, up 6 percent on the year before.

ASB CEO Vittoria Shortt says the bank has deployed nearly $1 billion worth of capital into New Zealand marketplace, impacting their total capital.

"The more lending we do, the more deposits- there's definitely growth that drives the profitability."

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New Zealand's public sector watchdog has slammed the Ministry of Pacific Peoples for spending tens of thousands on a farewell event.

It's been revealed the Ministry splashed nearly $40,000 on a goodbye event for former chief executive Leauanae Laulu Mac Leauanae, who was moving to another ministry. 

ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says an event of this scale funded by taxpayers' money gives ACT ammo to slash the department.

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The Government is defending softer rules for Buy Now, Pay Later lenders than initially promised.

Providers like AfterPay and LayBuy will soon be made to complete a credit report for new customers.

It had proposed full affordability assessments to force providers to check shoppers can afford debt repayments.

The lenders offer people interest-free loans and make money by charging when payments are missed.

Consumer Affairs Minister Duncan Webb says a full assessment would have been too cumbersome.

"We want to make sure that we get a proportionate regulation, and they do need to check whether there's defaults and other card and things like that."

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Petrol prices continue to climb higher.

The average price of 91 is expected to hit $3 within weeks, and the Government has already ruled out another discount.

AA Principal Advisor Terry Collins says there are a few reasons for the hike.

"The Saudis announced they'll take a million barrels of production out a day, Russia said it's taking some oil out of the market, and in the last month or so- the landed price of Singapore petrol's gone up by about 14-15 cents a litre."

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National is slamming the Government for a rise in home detention breaches.

Official figures show the number of charges for an offender breaking electric monitoring conditions hit a new high of 2035 in the past year.

It's estimated to be the highest annual figure on record.

National justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith says while it's appropriate for some, it's time to raise the bar for eligibility.

"It's a good thing for some people to not put them in prison, but for the serious end- it's not appropriate for serious, violent offenders, and that's where the issue is."

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An Auckland school that's banned phones for years is supporting National's promise to crackdown on cellphone use in schools.

If elected, National will axe phones for all year groups - with some exemptions for those needing the devices for health or learning purposes.

Auckland Grammar School has banned student phone usage for decades.

Headmaster Tim O'Connor says it's a method that works.

"As long as you set the standard and you're applying it in consistent basis, we find students comply- and that gives them a five hour window in the school day where they can actually concentrate on learning."

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A food dehydrator is under the spotlight in relation to an alleged mushroom poisoning in Victoria.

Three people are dead and another is in critical condition in hospital awaiting a liver transplant after eating the deadly lunch.

A former daughter-in-law of some of the victims made the lunch, and is now being investigated.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says the dehydrator is among the latest developments.

"They found one at a tip not too far from Leongatha, where the deadly lunch was served up. Now it's undergoing forensic examination."

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The Crown have appealed the $450,000 compensation awarded to an individual sentenced to 7 years jail for an indecent assault charge.

Daniel Fitzgerald was convicted after forcibly kissing a woman on Wellington's Cuba St, his third-strike offence after incurring two other indecent assault convictions.

Otago University law expert Andrew Geddis says the Crown is arguing against compensating Fitzgerald because the prosecutor chose to bring these indecent assault charges forward. 

"What the High Court found was that the prosecutor ought to have looked at this case, recognised that that was a disproportionate sentence for the fact for what he did and not brought those charges." 

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I'm not going to say no to a ban on phone use in schools. I think we all know phones are not the biggest problem with education, truancy and a crap curriculum are the biggest problems.

But banning phone use can’t hurt, can it? 

There is no upside in having phones in classrooms. Unless they’re being used for a particular lesson, they’re just a distraction.  

Think about how distracting they are to you, how tempting it is to check Facebook and Insta and your emails and watch a clip- and you’re an adult. It's so much worse for kids whose brains are still forming.

Frankly, we can’t leave it to them to self-regulate- we adults have got to do it for them.

It says a lot that most of the states in Australia are doing it already. They seem to be several steps ahead of us in trying to sort out education, so surely if they think it's necessary, we should be thinking it too. 

And it also says a lot that a major UN report recommended it too, just last month.

My only reservation with this policy from the Nats is that I wouldn’t want anyone to kid themselves that this solves the education problem. It won’t. It's helpful, but our problems are bigger than this.

We have got to get all the primary school kids learning phonics again, so they can actually start learning to read.

We’ve got to make sure the Education Ministry leaves gravity in the science curriculum.

We've got to get the kids out of those giant shared classrooms, so they stop being distracted by each other.

And we’ve got to stop sending them home at the drop of a hat.

I'm looking for policies that deal with those problems, and I cannot wait to see what the parties are offering. This makes a nice start though.

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The remains of Matthew Flinders, the first explorer to circumnavigate Australia, will be buried in his home town of Lincolnshire in 2024.

His remains were identified after they were discovered in HS2 rail project dig at St James's burial ground in Euston in 2019.

UK correspondent Enda Brady says his body went missing after his death in 1814, and a local group has been campaigning to bring his remains home for the last four years. 

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