Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – August 17 2018
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Housing
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Foreign buyer ban comes as Reserve Bank pours a little petrol on the housing market
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Who does the foreign buyer ban affect and will it make housing more affordable?
Tom Furley (RNZ): ‘Foreign buyers will continue to be an important part of the market’
Zane Small (Newshub): How the world reacted to New Zealand’s foreign buyers’ ban
David Hargreaves (Interest): Top Chinese property website says if anyone has been driving up house prices, ‘it’s your rich dad and uncle, not rich Chinese’
Guy Schrubsole (Guardian): There’s no need for New Zealand-style xenophobia to curb UK house prices
Ryan Boswell (1News): Housing New Zealand accused of making a ‘mockery’ of the housing crisis by rejecting homes because of their age
1News: Watch: Housing Minister to look into claims state housing tenants renting out rooms on Airbnb
Chelsea Boyle (Herald): ‘Entrepreneurial’ state-house Airbnb case a storm in a teacup, says housing minister
Ben Leahy (Herald): It is not a question of whether Auckland’s house prices fall, but by how much: Analyst
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Time to stop the housing hysteria
Greg Ninness (Interest): ‘Ongoing uncertainty in the housing market is fuelling caution about market prospects’ – ASB Housing Confidence Survey
Collette Devlin (Dominion Post): Shelly Bay height debacle spurs Wellington City councillors to vote 8-7 against special housing areas
National
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Simon Bridges expenses leak: ‘Chatter’ centred on National MP
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Bridges leak: Stakes are high for MPs amid investigation
Herald Editorial: Bridges’ expenses leak inquiry is another excessive expense
RNZ: Simon Bridges expense leak: what we know so far
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Simon Bridges skulduggery – expenses leaker the real story
Newshub: ‘Promise. Win. Fail. Apologise’: David Seymour rips into National’s ‘failure’ in Government
Government, NZ First, Greens
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern sets sights on 2020, angles for deal with NZ First in Wairarapa
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Winston Peters claims Simon Bridges tried to do a deal with Ron Mark
Wayne Mapp (Spinoff): Ardern says she wants radical transformation. Time to start believing she means it
Jo Moir (RNZ): PM on Māori relations: ‘I think our relationships are strong’
Piers Fuller (Stuff): Babies, bread and boomers on PM’s first regional visit back
Herald: Baby Neve’s first ever radio interview
Lucy Bennett (Herald): NZ First MPs sign $300,000 contract to stop party-hopping
Laura Walters (Stuff): NZ First MPs could end up $300k out of pocket if they flout party rules
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Nick Smith lodges complaint over NZ First’s good behaviour contract
1News: National says NZ First party rule turns MPs into ‘bonded slaves’
No Right Turn: A contempt of Parliament?
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Cracks in the green revolution
MPs’ expenses
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Full list of MPs’ expenses shows spending topped $2.1 million
RNZ: MPs’ spending expenses revealed
Emma Hurley (Newshub): Parliament expenses released: Top 10 spenders
1News: List of New Zealand MPs’ expenses released
Lucy Bennett (Herald): MPs’ travel and accommodation expenses for past quarter released
1News: Jacinda Ardern says Labour is ‘trying our best’ to keep MP expenses down
Parliament
Liam Hehir (Newsroom): More is more for MP numbers
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Parliament is a circus and I’d be laughing if it wasn’t so tragic
Morgan Godfery (Mãui Street): The Māori Party want Rawiri Waititi. Can he win back Waiariki?
Environment and conservation
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Iwi leaders reject govt freshwater initiative
RNZ: Govt admits it wants final say on water body
Audrey Young (Herald): Iwi boycott of alternative water group is followed by demand for talks by Ngai Tahu
Jennifer Eder (Stuff): Iwi consider fire foam risks at air force base in land rights sale
David Williams (Newsroom): Green light for Mackenzie station tourism plans
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Protesters dressed as cows oppose Mackenzie Basin farm
Jamie Morton (Herald): Researcher launches petition to close all kauri forests
Mere McLean (Māori TV): Four of five whitebait species are at risk
Don Rowe (Spinoff): You wouldn’t eat a kiwi – so why is whitebait okay?
Kate Gudsell (RNZ): Ban on whitebaiting would force black market trade – fishing group
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): DOC failed to consult iwi regarding cow burial on Motutapu Island – Conservation Minister
Jacqueline Rowarth (Herald): Enough of the bee-apocalypse stories
Dave De Lorean (Stuff): We’re banning bags, but what about all the other single-use plastic?
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Plastic, paper, or polypropylene? It’s complicated
No Right Turn: More pillage
Euthanasia
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): High-profile passion in euthanasia debate
Chelsea Boyle (Herald): The euthanasia debate: NZ’s most vocal proponents and opponents weigh in
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Lecretia Seales’ husband, Matt Vickers, seeks a tempered End of Life Choice Bill
Anna Whyte (1News):In this bill there are no consequences’ – Sir Bill English speaks out against proposed euthanasia legislation, supporter Matt Vickers wants restrictions
Emma Hurley (Newshub): Sir Bill English and Dr Mary English visit Parliament to oppose assisted dying
Health
Belinda Feek (Herald): Unannounced inspection discovers issues remain rife at St Kilda Care Home, Cambridge
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Waikato elderly care home found to have further problems
RNZ: Higher alcohol tax needed to reduce harm – economist
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Minister under fire over Lumsden Maternity downgrade
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Jacinda Ardern meets with intergenerational playgroup in Wairarapa, helping alleviate loneliness in the elderly
Newshub: ‘Interesting but concerning’: NZ antipsychotic use up 50 percent in under a decade
Education and pay negotiations
Bryan Gould: Teachers’ strike
Jessica Long (Stuff): Primary teachers union appears to back down on rolling strike threat
Nelson Mail Editorial: What lessons do we take from the teachers’ strike
Kirsty Gilroy (Stuff): Teachers hide behind ‘public smiles and private agony’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): How teachers’ pay has fallen behind over the decades
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): It’s time for striking teachers to get real
Katarina Williams (Stuff): School support specialists next group to strike after ‘insulting’ Ministry pay offer
Adele Redmond (Stuff): Rare truancy prosecution a case of ‘last resort’
Retirement, Kiwisaver and superannuation
Michael Littlewood (Herald): Our pensions are affordable for future taxpayers
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Most Kiwis fail to notice changes to KiwiSaver statements
Madison Reidy (RNZ): More ‘work to do’ on KiwiSaver fee transparency – regulator
Geoff Pearman (Southland Times): The end of retirement as we’ve known it
Employment
Southland Times Editorial: Is Alliance a dire hirer?
Gordon Campbell: On another reason to loathe and detest HR departments
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): New Zealander of the year Kristine Bartlett left ‘ropeable’ by labour law campaign
Michael Reddell: Not very useful data at all
Rob Campbell (Stuff): We can’t leave it to women to fix inequality in the workplace
Ben Strang (rNZ): Cafe opens doors of opportunity for released inmates
Free speech and debate
Simon Wilson (Herald): The speaker’s pulpit is open for business
Henry Cooke (Stuff): US firebrand Cornel West on why the left must keep debating the right
David Cumin and Paul Moon (Herald): Law against hate speech helped Hitler’s rise
Derek Alan Woodard-Lehman (ODT): Contempt has no place in free speech debate
Jonathan Tracy (Hawke’s Bay Today): Free speech or ‘no platform’? – a classicist’s plea
Herald: ‘If I had a dollar per click’: Herald cartoonist’s free speech cartoon goes viral
Police and justice
Jared Savage (Herald): Chris Bishop asks for State Services Commission inquiry into three conflicting statements about Wally Haumaha bullying allegations
Rosemary McLeod (Stuff): Nicholas’ role in the Haumaha controversy leaves me uneasy
Meghan Lawrence (Herald): ‘Cocktail of disabilities’: Judges to develop new model for youth offenders
1News: ACC to spend $1.7m on accommodation and counselling service for male domestic abusers
Michael Allan and Ben Leahy (Herald): Family violence is up but prosecutions are ‘disturbingly’ down, new figures show
1News: Cop justified in shooting man who brandished wood wrapped in singlet at officers, police watchdog finds
Matthew Rosenberg (Stuff): Ex-NZ Police area commander speaks out over 173 per cent increase in injuries and deaths in his old patch
Edward Gay (RNZ): NZer deported from Australia turns to crime to pay for family visit
Primary industries
Gia Garrick (RNZ): Rushed legislation on animal tracking system faces scrutiny
Newshub: Fears changes to NAIT could be too little too late to stop Mycoplasma bovis
Herald: National blasts Government over rushed NAIT changes to fight M. bovis
Dan Satherley (Newshub):Labour using law it called ‘dreadful’ to target farmers – Collins
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Call for action after whistle-blowers report death threats
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Ministry accused of seven-year delay in check-up on biosecurity facility
Patrick O’Meara (RNZ): Fonterra urged to dust off plan to split business in two
Kīngitanga
John Boynton (RNZ): Media banned from Māori King’s koroneihana celebrations
Leo Horgan (Māori TV): Media banned from Koroneihana 2018
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): King Tuheitia set to commemorate his 12-year reign
Mānia Clarke (Māori TV): Loyalists hit back at King’s former advisor
Inequality and poverty
Newshub: Record number of food aid requests as New Zealand families starve
Steven Cowan: Good times for NZ’s rich elite
Foreign affairs and trade
RNZ: NZ advises Pacific countries to ask China for debt forgiveness
Richard Harman (Politik): Our champion bureaucrats
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): UK Investment Minister says British infrastructure firms will ‘literally help build NZ’s future’
Construction, RMA reform, infrastructure
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Saving the construction industry
RNZ: Forcing builders into risky contracts: ‘How crazy is that?’
Jason Walls (Interest): Twyford’s action plan to abate construction sector woes
Catherine Harris (Stuff): National, Govt spar over solutions for the construction crisis
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Construction and business leaders: Not enough skilled workers
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Construction bosses say industry is doing badly, even terribly
Jason Walls (Interest): Opposition Leader Simon Bridges says National will have a ‘significant’ RMA bill ready some time in 2019
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party starts prepping RMA reform bill for 2019
Susan Freeman-Greene (Spinoff): It’s not only engineers who have a stake in engineering a better New Zealand
Alexia Riussell (Newsroom): All talk, no action on infrastructure problems
Richard Harman (Politik): Paying for the sewage
Business, economy
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Why should only paid work count?
Brian Fallow (Herald): How ready is NZ to face the next crisis?
Christian Hawkesby (Interest): Adrian Orr-led regime at the Reserve Bank may result in increased volatility in interest rates and foreign exchange markets
Newshub: Revealed: The companies that receive most complaints in New Zealand
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Revealed: New Zealand’s most complained about companies
Kirk Hope (Stuff): Evidence that a downturn in business confidence is impacting actual activity is now indisputable
Jess Berentson-Shaw and Tze Ming Mok (Newshub): What is business confidence – and does it even matter?
Local government
Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): Councillors do not eat dogs – Wellington City Council’s curious memo
Skara Bohny (Nelson Mail): Hole in Nelson council staff reporting of $8m “even more concern than Greenmeadows”
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Major recycler urges councils to pitch in to deal with rubbish crisis
Christchurch
Sam Clarke (1News): Construction underway on Christchurch’s half-billion dollar convention centre – ‘A 21st century building’
RNZ: Delay for earthworks at Christchurch’s Metro sports facility
Media and Broadcasting
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): The price of premium Herald journalism
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZ on Air criticised for providing only the edited highlights
Moana Makapelu Lee (Māori TV): Te Māngai Pāho and NZ on Air to report all rating
Philip Matthews (Press Editorial): The media is not the enemy
NZ Servicemen repatriation, memorial
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Family devastated NZDF unable to repatriate brother’s remains
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): C Company descendants support A Company memorial house
Transport
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington bus drivers tell councillors they’re tired, and it’s a risk to public safety
Newshub: Road safety campaigners say speed limit should be lowered to 30km/h in certain areas
RNZ: Wellington bus route reinstated after complaints
Other
Tommy Livingston (Stuff): Children’s Minister ‘alarmed’ at numbers of proven child abuse
David Fisher (Herald): Māori leaders pitch to Māori landowners – let us pay to plant trees and we will share the carbon credit profits
Newshub: Auditor-General asked to look into Tokoroa pokie mega venue
Chris Hutching (Stuff): What is the Overseas Investment Office and why is it controversial?
Robin Martin (RNZ): Whanganui heritage building saved from demolition
Laura Dooney (RNZ): Wellington submarine pipe to supply water in an emergency
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Tolaga Bay: Council says MetService didn’t warn about deluge
Jo Cribb (Herald): Russell McVeagh report a wake-up call for many
Kyle MacDonald (Herald): Why gay conversion therapy should be banned
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): ‘The South Island does not stop in Christchurch’
Herald: Westpac NZ issues 30,000 replacement cards due to fraud risk linked to Ticketmaster security breach
Stuff: Westpac cancels and re-issues 30,000 cards after ‘low risk’ Ticketmaster fraud
Jonathan Guildford (Press): Helen Clark to feature at upcoming Word Christchurch festival
