Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive

House prices have been falling, but the tide may turn soon enough.

HSBC predicts house prices will rise again by 5 percent in 2024, with a strong rebound in migration supporting demand.

Chief Economist Paul Bloxham says the increased number of migrants will drive prices up again, as this has already happened in Australia.

"Now you're seeing really strong inward migration and we think that will start to lift house prices. It's certainly what's happened here in Australia already."

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According to recent political polls, both major parties are struggling to connect with middle voters.

BusinessDesk’s poll of polls shows combined support for National and Labour is at 67 percent, a historic low. 

BusinessDesk senior correspondent Dileepa Fonseka says the changing demographic of voters is creating a fractured political climate.

"That basically makes the centre more meaningless than it has before. Makes it difficult, because once you go with a whole bunch of people without a core centre or shared experience, it's harder for these big, mass-market parties like National and Labour."

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Auckland Council has explained what's causing the sinkhole on College Hill Road.

The metre-by-three-metre hole opened up yesterday afternoon, disrupting traffic between Ponsonby and the CBD.

Head of Healthy Waters Andrew Chin says there's a clay stormwater pipe over a hundred years old which has a hole in it.

He says the surrounding fill is being washed into that hole.

"Once the road seal breaks, the process accelerates and that's where all the fill's going, it's going down into the stormwater pipe. It's created this sinkhole." 

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New research reveals excessive screentime for kids may lead to metabolic syndrome developing later in life.

A study has confirmed that those who watch more television between the ages of 5 and 15 were more likely to suffer adverse medical conditions by age 45.

Otago University preventive and social medicine researcher Bob Hancox explained the syndrome refers to a cluster of conditions, including high blood pressure, poor cholesterol and excess weight.

"We would recommend- and there's a previous guideline that has been out for a number of years- about two hours is probably a good limit to aim for."

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The Philippines lead the Football Ferns 1-nil into the second half of their FIFA Women's World Cup contest in Wellington.

New Zealand's had 56 per cent of possession compared to the Filipinas' 24 per cent and they've had seven attempts on goal compared to their opponents' two.

Former All White David Chote says the Philippines are playing well, but there's still time for the Football Ferns to turn the match around.

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I don’t buy this debate about Chris Hipkins’ judgement as a leader and whether he made a mistake bringing Kiri Allan back to work from mental health leave too early.

That wasn’t the mistake that he made. His mistake was that he didn’t fire her last month when he should've.

I'm not convinced mental pressure is the sole explanation for what happened on Sunday night.

I'm sure Kiri Allan is under a lot of mental pressure right now, it would be extremely difficult to deal with the break-up of a relationship and the embarrassment of being stood down from your job-however temporarily- at exactly the same time.

But her lapses in judgement pre-date any mental health strain she’s currently under 

The bullying allegations, which she’s now apologised for, date back to last year. The failure to declare the Meng Foon donation and conflict of interest dates back to 2020, and the ill-advised rant at the RNZ party dates back to March.

So mental pressure or not, it was obvious after three lapses in judgement that there was a very good chance there would be a fourth one. Because the best predictor of future behaviour is past behaviour.

If I were Chris Hipkins, I would have fired her after the third. I'm not saying that with hindsight, I said that after the third lapse on June 29, on this show, that Kiri Allan would stuff up again was predictable. Because it was predicted.

I agree that Hipkins can blame Jacinda Ardern for the shambles in Cabinet because she clearly ran a loose ship.

But he is now just as much to blame as Ardern, because he has, three times, had a minister in front of him who'd earned a sacking and then not sacked them- and then had another problem and had to sack them. Stuart Nash, Michael Wood, Kiri Allan- you know the story.

If you want to blame Hipkins for anything, blame him for not forcing Kiri Allan to leave a month ago, before she crashed her car after drinking on a Sunday night and brought huge embarrassment to herself.

Blame him for not seeing a pattern of errors of judgement and blame him for making the wrong call for the Labour Party by letting there be another crisis for them to have to deal with.

What happened on Sunday was completely avoidable if Kiri Allan wasn’t in Wellington because she wasn’t a minister anymore.

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The opposition parties have been accused of politicising Kiri Allan's mental health crisis, but ACT's David Seymour says that's not the case.

MPs across the house have been debating Kiri Allan's resignation from Cabinet and her decision to not stand in the 2023 election.

Leader David Seymour says Kiri Allan has been subject to a tragic sequence of personal events- but Parliament still needs to address key issues.

"Unfortunately, things don't stop because of one tragic circumstance, we represent 5 million people who are paying the bills and we've got to stand up and reflect on where this Government is going." 

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The Football Ferns match against the Philippines is kicking off at Wellington Regional Stadium.

Azaria Howell is at the capital's waterfront FIFA Fan-zone.

She says everyone is very excited.

"All wearing football shirts, some people with flags, people cheering, people watching on- it is such an incredible vibe and just so much happiness going around Wellington."

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Lauren Dickason told police she hadn't felt normal for months before killing her children in Timaru.

A jury at the High Court in Christchurch has watched her police interview, filmed the day after the deaths.

She admits the killings but says it wasn't murder, with a defence of insanity and infanticide.

The Herald's Anna Leask says Dickason told police she'd been "thinking about it... for a while."

"She told the police she'd been diagnosed with a major depressive disorder, however in the month before she came to New Zealand, she'd come off her meds because she was feeling better." 

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25-year-old Rafferty Rolfe has been charged with three counts of murder after a serious highway fatality in Queensland.

Rolfe is accused of pursuing a Nissan Navara ute driven by retiree Terry Bishop and carrying passenger Gypsy Satterley.

Both were killed in the crash along with Jessica Townley, who was driving the Great Wall.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds says Rolfe was after Gypsy Satterley after she broke off their relationship, and Terry Bishop was rescuing her.

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