Wellington, July 23 NZPA - Maori, Pacific Islanders and other ethnic community members are being urged to stand in this year's district health board (DHB) elections. Nominations open today and run until August 20.

Wellington, July 22 NZPA - A new website will help event organisers, including those for the Rugby World Cup 2011, find volunteers. The website, VolunteerNet, was launched today. It is a free online volunteer recruitment management tool.

By Kate Chapman of NZPA Wellington, July 21 NZPA - Whanau Ora Minister Tariana Turia expects to see results from the new welfare policy within a year, but says it will take a generation to see changes in some families.

Wellington, July 21 NZPA - Any minerals found in conservation land in Northland could re-open Treaty of Waitangi settlements with iwi who were told the conservation estate was off the table in earlier negotiations, Maori Party MP Hone Harawira says.

Wellington, June 28 NZPA - Banning the sale of duty-free tobacco in New Zealand is not on the radar, despite urgings from anti-smoking lobby groups, says Prime Minister John Key.

Wellington, June 24 NZPA - Community Max programmes in Northland, Bay of Plenty, Waikato and the East Coast will get a $17.4 million boost to tackle unemployment, Social Development and Employment Minister Paula Bennett says.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - Whanau Ora Minister Tariana Turia says the welfare policy is about transformation.

Wellington, June 21 NZPA - More than 1.2 million New Zealanders do volunteer work, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Tariana Turia said today at the start of Voluntary Awareness Week. The free labour was worth about $3.3 billion to New Zealand communities.

Wellington, June 16 NZPA - Maori Development Ministry Te Puni Kokiri (TPK) is well capable of administering Whanau Ora without affecting its core duties and will mainly play a hands-off support role, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples has told a select committee.

Wellington, June 15 NZPA - The Maori Party today brushed off criticism of the foreshore and seabed agreement by one of its MPs while in Parliament the Government said it had restored to a fundamental human right taken away by the 2004 Act.