Wellington, June 25 NZPA - The Privacy Commissioner has largely backed proposed changes to the Privacy Act in a 105-page submission to the Law Commission and has called for the creation of a chief privacy officer role in government.

Wellington, June 25 NZPA - Conscience votes in Parliament on liquor legislation often produce "perverse and unworkable" results and should only be used for important matters of principle like the minimum purchase age, says Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne.

Wellington, June 24 NZPA - The collapse of a meeting seeking international agreement on the future of whaling has come as no surprise to a New Zealand anti-whaling representative monitoring the talks in Morocco.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - The controversial International Whaling Commission (IWC) proposal to allow some commercial whaling is a mistake and New Zealand should join Australia's court action to stop Japanese whaling, Green Party co-leader Russel Norman says.

Wellington, June 20 NZPA - Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says he is pessimistic about an acceptable outcome from the International Whaling Commission's (IWC) annual meeting which starts tomorrow in Morocco.

Wellington, June 14 NZPA - New Zealand will push ahead with attempts to get a diplomatic solution to whaling in the Southern Ocean at the International Whaling Organisation despite new revelations of corruption.

By Maggie Tait of NZPA Wellington, June 8 NZPA - Labour leader Phil Goff says it would be unacceptable for Israel to reject an international inquiry into the raid of the Gaza-bound aid flotilla last week which left nine dead.

Wellington, June 8 NZPA - The proposal to appoint former prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer to head an inquiry into the raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla a week ago reflects well on Sir Geoffrey's achievement's and New Zealand's record, John Key says.

Wellington, June 6 NZPA - Former New Zealand prime minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer has been proposed to head an inquiry into the raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla a week ago.

Wellington, June 6 NZPA - The United Nations has proposed to Israel that former New Zealand Prime Minster Geoffrey Palmer lead an international commission of inquiry into the raid on the Gaza-bound aid flotilla a week ago.