UPDATE: 11.46am: The byelection will be held on March 5

Embattled MP Pansy Wong has resigned from Parliament, which will spark a by-election in her Botany seat, in east Auckland.

“I’ve not taken this decision lightly but I feel this is the right time for me to step down,” she told reporters at a press conference this morning.

Justice wonk Simon Power has been declared "Politician of the Year" by influential beltway newsletter Transtasman.

The publication compiles an annual ranking of MPs and this year gives Mr Power 9/10 for his work managing market regulation, liquor and justice reforms.

"Power is looking more and more like a leader in waiting, and the government is coming to rely on him in a way similar to Clark and Cullen," Transtasman declares.

Online prediction market iPredict will today launch new contracts asking whether or not there will be byelections in the Botany and Manurewa electorates before next year's general election.

Trading will start at 1.30 pm today.

The two new contracts will join the existing contract on whether or not there will be a byelection in Chris Carter’s Te Atatu electorate, which currently indicates a 23% probability that there will be.

Botany is the electorate of National MP Pansy Wong, who recently resigned as a minister after controversy over her travel expenses.

UPDATED - Labour’s Pete Hodgson, who this week flagged issues with a trip by Pansy Wong to China, has challenged the PM's handling of the affair.

Ms Wong resigned as a Cabinet Minister this morning, after admitting that she had used her parliamentary travel entitlement to pay for her husband's travel within China at the end of 2008.

Her husband, Sammy Wong, had conducted some business on the trip – in an apparent breach of Parliament’s rules.

Local mainstream businesses looking for global growth will find the going a lot easier if they tap into ethnic communities within New Zealand, delegates at an Asean business forum in Auckland were told today.

The forum – hosted by the Office of Ethnic Affairs – was aimed at helping New Zealand exporters take advantage of the opportunities created by free trade agreements with Asean nations.

The government has stepped up its work with New Zealand businesses to bring greater diversity to boardrooms and put more women in the hiring line – but quotas similar to those adopted in Australia are still off the drawing board.

Business NZ and the Institute of Directors have teamed up with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs to help businesses understand and utilise the benefits of having more women directors, Women’s Affairs Minister Pansy Wong said.