Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – November 28 2018
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
NZ-China relationship, foreign affairs and trade
Richard Harman (Politik): Peters suggests China spies on Kiwis
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Winston Peters issues dire warning over Chinese spying in New Zealand
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Raising the red flag on China
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Academic Anne-Marie Brady draws long bow on China
Herald Editorial: Anne-Marie Brady suspicions should not sour NZ’s relations with China
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Navigating allegations of illegal foreign state meddling in NZ
Audrey Young (Herald): Bridges says Jacinda Ardern’s failure to secure visit to Beijing is a clear message from China
1News: ‘I can’t really meddle’ – Jacinda Ardern declines to speak out on academic intimidation allegations involving China
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Upgraded China free trade agreement won’t deliver for dairy
RNZ: Oil price rise fuels trade deficit to 11-year high
Eric Crampton: Disgraceful
Ben Strang (RNZ): ‘Breach of rights’ as child ordered to return to Australia
Edward Gay (Stuff): Mother to be deported to New Zealand, leaving 6-year-old daughter in Australia
Health and disability
1News: Dr Lance O’Sullivan plans to quit serving as physician, seek $5m from iwi to create radical new healthcare model
Derek Cheng (Herald): Northland DHB lobbying for meningococcal vaccination programme for ‘some months’
RNZ: Vaccination no ‘silver bullet’ against meningococcal disease
RNZ: Lance O’Sullivan: NZ health system is ‘f*****’
Moana Makapelu Lee (Māori TV): O’Sullivan fumes after Northland deaths
Tom McRae (Newshub): Lance O’Sullivan blasts health officials over handling of deadly meningococcal outbreak
Gordon Campbell: On the meningococcal vaxing, and NZ’s response to Brexit
RNZ: Doctor urges Northland families to vaccinate for MenW
Emma Espiner (Newsroom): How we fought meningitis last time
Scott Yeoman and Jared Savage (Herald): Released emails and memo reveal fallout from Bay of Plenty DHB’s damning internal report
David Clarkson (Stuff): Sex offender still a ‘doctor’ after 13 indecency convictions
Jamie Morton (Herald): Growing worry over bugs that beat even last-resort antibiotics
Britt Mann and Jason Dorday (Stuff) Last Resort: Getting clean in paradise
Stephanie Mitchell (Stuff): Hospital service workers ‘over the moon’ with news of pay rise
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Midwives’ protest moved away from hospital’s birthday bash
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Nurses make their voices heard
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Contractor replacing non-approved pipes installed in hospital
RNZ: More woes for new Christchurch hospital building
Samantha Gee (Stuff): Nelson Hospital stretched to capacity as summer season looms
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): 46 percent of Kiwis don’t want their kids playing with someone with living with HIV
Nikki Preston (Herald): Autistic boy turned away from McDonald’s who rejected his assistance dog as a ‘pet’
Harris Christian (Stuff): Woman handcuffed to prison staff 24/7 was ‘turned away’ from mental health services
NZ Post, Kiwibank
RNZ: Government urged to act over Post Shops closures: ‘It’s worth preserving’
RNZ: Post shop closures: Regional hubs considered by govt
Jason Walls (Herald): The Govt is looking into creating ‘regional hubs’ for banking and postal services
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Challenging times’: 79 New Zealand Post shops to close amid KiwiBank restructuring
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): PostShops to be replaced with ‘business partnerships’
Parliament bullying and harassment review
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Parliament review will reveal drinking, cheating, sexual abuse, bullying – Duncan Garner
RNZ: MPs need extensive training – Trevor Mallard
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Inquiry’s sunlight the best disinfectant for Parliament
Melanie Reid and Cass Mason (Newsroom): Bullied at Parliament -and nobody helped
Derek Cheng (Herald): Winston Peters has ‘no idea’ why bullying review into Parliament is taking place
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Overdue review into harassment and bullying in Parliament
Henry Cooke (Stuff) :Extensive review into bullying and harassment at Parliament
Derek Cheng (Herald): Parliament bullying and harassment to be scrutinised in independent review
1News: Independent review launched into bullying and harassment at Parliament, Speaker announces
Jo Moir (RNZ): Parliament review to look into bullying and harassment of staff
Anna Whyte (1News): Independent review launched into bullying and harassment at Parliament, Speaker announces
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Parliament launches external review into bullying and harassment of staff
National Party
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Pledging no new taxes is either meaningless, unworkable or irresponsible
Peter Cresswell: No new taxes?
Newsroom: Nats suspended man only after story broke
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Woman’s ID not checked at Young Nats event
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): National doesn’t know who groped teen at youth wing event
Jason Walls (Herald): National unaware of the identity of alleged victim of ‘inappropriate touching incident’
Collette Devlin (Stuff): National Party defends handling of Young Nats incident
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins praises response to sexual advance on teen at Young Nats event
Zane Small (Newshub): Simon Bridges laments ‘regrettable’ sexual advance on teen by Young Nats eventgoer
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Police investigating after incident at Young National event
David Farrar: An incident after a Young Nats event
Workplace Relations Amendment Bill
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Toothless Union law highlights how genuinely power vacant new Government is
Gia Garrick (RNZ): Coalition compromise gets workplace bill over the line
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Winston Peters to the rescue on Labour’s ropey union law
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Beehive raises white flag to NZ First over Workplace Relations Bill
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Labour concessions secure NZ First support for employment law changes
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Workplace Relations Amendment Bill passes second reading
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): BusinessNZ credits NZ First for softening proposed employment relations law
Simon Hartley (ODT): Labour sweetens employment reform Bill
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Controversial workplace relations bill softened somewhat to get support from NZ First
RNZ: Employment bill passes after union provision changes
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Workplace Relations Amendment Bill back in Parliament for second reading
Environment and conservation
Patrick Crewdson (Stuff): Quick! Save the Planet: We must confront climate change
Leith Huffadine (Stuff): The worst climate change denial myths, debunked by experts
Stuff: Beach Rd: The rising sea and the reshaping of New Zealand
NIcholas Boyack (Stuff): Lower Hutt suburb could be swallowed up by sea level rise in just 80 years
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): What’s the beef with methane?
RNZ: Climate change: CO2 emissions rising for first time in four years
Fiona Harvey (Guardian): World must triple efforts or face catastrophic climate change, says UN
Laurel Stowell (Whanganui Chronicle): Horizons receives award for river it ‘completely failed’, campaigner says
RNZ: Fish & Game urges no more cows on Canterbury plains
Sharon Reece (ODT): Tulip growers fined for illegal water takes
Che Baker (Stuff): Tulip company and manager fined for unlawfully taking water for flowers in drought conditions
David Williams (Newsroom): When can-do conservation goes wrong
Jono Edwards (ODT): Death of takahe chicks ‘reality’
PIers Fuller (Stuff): Mudfish discovery throws spanner in wastewater works
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Marine “hope spot” to protect endangered dolphins
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Hutt council preparing for hostile biodiversity meeting with residents
Jo Lines-Mackenzie (Stuff): Dogs detecting invasive fish to help our waterways
RNZ: Thirty tonnes of mussels to help Hauraki Gulf restoration
1News: Could bringing back bottles for cash recycling scheme help clean up the Hauraki Gulf?
1News: Four of six pygmy whales refloated from Northland beach are ‘extremely’ close to shore
RNZ: Refloated pygmy whales spotted near shore
Peter de Graaf (Northern Advocate): Anxious scenes during attempts to refloat stranded whales on opposite Northland coast
Danielle Clent and Bayley Moor (Stuff): Two whales euthanised during refloat of stranded whales on Northland beach
RNZ: ‘Horror’ pilot whale stranding: ‘We could do nothing to save them’
1News: Expert says two recent whale strandings at either end of New Zealand are not related
Pouakai project
BusinessDesk: 8 Rivers hydrogen a ‘last gasp’ effort by oil and gas sector – Greenpeace
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Magic Beans
Neil Holdom (Herald): Govt should support gas for power generation
Waimea Dam
Skara Bohny (Nelson Mail): Waimea dam secures $5 million grant from Nelson
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Waimea dam flyer claims tidal wave would wipe out township
Derek Cheng (Herald): MP says anonymous brochure warning of 8m Waimea dam tidal wave ‘scaremongering’
Kaitlin Ruddock (1News): Pamphlet drop warning of catastrophic impact if proposed Waimea Dam collapses, labelled misleading
Auckland Pride, sex, gender, sexuality
Rachel Stewart (Herald): TERF a derogatory term to shut down debate
RNZ: Louisa Wall explains ‘terf’ comment, suggests police wear ceremonial uniform
David Farrar: Labour MP wants Pride to exclude even more people
Sarah Murphy (RNZ): Pride and police: The history, issues and decisions behind the debate
Will Hansen (National Library blog): Queering up Kiwi history
Transport
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Review after transport safety agency’s WOF system failure
Chris Hutching (Stuff): Twyford reassures Kiwis on road safety after NZTA revelations
RNZ: Transport Agency not fit to regulate rail – lawyer
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Locals unimpressed with fixes for ‘NZ’s Worst Intersection’ with 55 turn combinations
Peter Griffin (Listener): Are thousands of Kiwi Nissan Leaf owners at risk of brake failure?
No Right Turn: We should steal Norway’s electric vehicle policy
David Loughrey (ODT): Huge drop in cycle tickets
Michael Neilson (Herald): Kaikōura cycleway canned after modelling shows effects on protected surf break Mangamaunu
Edward Gay (Stuff): Witness: Truck driver’s licences for bribes – no need to turn up for test
Emma Cropper (Newshub): Concerns as more e-scooters to hit Auckland streets
Aine Kelly-Costello (Newshub): Don’t make your e-scooter our safety hazard – blindness advocates
Shane Jones on Air NZ;s safety video
RNZ: Air NZ video a ‘weird mish-mash’ – Shane Jones
Jason Walls (Herald): NZ First MP Shane Jones launches another attack at Air NZ – this time taking aim at its safety video
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Shane Jones attacks Air NZ’s hip hop safety video as ‘trivialising safety’
Vita Molyneux (Newshub):‘A lame attempt’: Shane Jones slams Air New Zealand safety video as ‘cringe’, ‘juvenile’
Economic policy
Bryan Gould: Fads and fashions in economic policy
Point of Order: Minister of Finance is ready to change gear – but he didn’t signal to what effect
Housing
Brian Rudman (Herald): Draconian power wrong way to fix housing
David Hargreaves (Interest): Obvious potential conflicts of interest and purpose emerging within the so-called housing and urban development authority
RNZ: Nine to Noon: A year of Kiwibuild, can shared equity meet targets?
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Prefab industry piles in to help with Kiwibuild
Anne Gibson (Herald): NZ Super Fund in KiwiBuild off-site home pitch, as Twyford reveals 102 bidders
Rob Stock (Stuff): Stephen Tindall: KiwiBuild could do for NZ house buyers what The Warehouse did for shoppers
Alan Kenyon (1News): Watch: Jacinda Ardern accuses Simon Bridges of having no ‘credibility on numbers’ during KiwiBuild debate
Joel Ineson (Stuff): Social housing provider bubble wraps windows after tenant complains of cold
Mānia Clarke (Māori TV): Tāmaki Iwi welcome new urban housing agency
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Carving a new path for the homeless
RNZ: Lending restrictions for first home buyers, investors to be relaxed
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Home-lending restrictions to ease from January
David Hargreaves (Interest): RBNZ eases housing lending restrictions
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): It will soon become easier to get a mortgage
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Reserve Bank to ease restrictions on loan to value ratio lending
1News: Lending limits tipped to be eased to help home buyers as Auckland market cools
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Here’s why you should (or maybe shouldn’t) buy a house
Immigration and refugees
RNZ: Visa change needed to end ‘inhumane practices’ – Union
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Govt urged to make refugee ‘community sponsorship’ pilot programme permanent
Collette Devlin (Stuff): National questions immigration minister about residency for Sroubek’s mother
Education
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Who wore it stupider? Comparing Hosking and Hawkesby’s cycling columns
1News: Protesting plumbing students allege broken job promises, no proper tools at NZMA
Simon Collins (Herald): Tongan student pleads: ‘Don’t make me a brown Palangi’
Zizi Sparks (Rotorual Daily Post): Exam student numbers low in Bay of Plenty for some subjects
Jake McKee Cagney (Stuff): NCEA assessments lost in linseed oil fire at Mercury Bay Area School
Kathleen van Rooyen (Stuff): My life is more important than my school’s extra-curricular activities
1News: Paula Bennett questions if $236 million for fees free education is a good use of taxpayer money
Children in state care
Jo McKenzie-McLean (Stuff): Man locked in psychiatric hospital as young boy, abused in state care, wants inquiry to ‘set him free’
Mihingarangi Forbes (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern’s personal apology to a family split up by the state
Local government
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Phil Goff full of praise for pedestrian-friendly Queen St
1News: Plan to make parts of central Auckland a car-free zone ‘about building a pedestrian haven’
Simon Wilson (Herald): Council votes to trial turning central Auckland into a car-free zone
Todd Niall (Stuff): Cars will be banned from Auckland’s Queen St, and it could spread
RNZ: Car-free CBD in Auckland comes one step closer
Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): Car-free CBD trial to go ahead after unanimous Auckland Council vote
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council digs in over a possible port move
Simon Wilson (Herald): ‘We’re right here!’ Council worried about Government plans for port
David Norman (Interest): Auckland is adding new jobs fast, and consenting much more housing. But housing isn’t being built near where the jobs are
Thomas Manch (Stuff): A plan for Wellington indoor arena settles on waterfront location
Laura Dooney (Stuff):Site for 12,000-seat indoor arena in Wellington revealed
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Chooks and pigs on council agenda
Elena McPHee (ODT): ‘Merry Christmas’ message back on city tree
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Who mows the berms? Requests for safety, sickness and scruffiness prompt Waikato District Council rethink
Media
RNZ: Stuff confirms plans to axe 19 community journalism jobs
Joe Cederwall (Scoop): Why We Care about Scoop, and Why We Think You Should
RNZ: ‘The people’s voices need to be heard’
Suffrage
Spinoff: Can’t: the NZ women still unable to vote, 125 years after suffrage
Awatea Mita (Spinoff): A society that denies the incarcerated a vote is a society stamping on human rights
Jennifer Curtin (Newsroom): Women in NZ: a country of firsts
Police
Kate Nicol -Williams (1News): More efficient handling of 111 calls the goal as new police digital communications centre opens on Kapiti Coast
Ben Bootsma (Southland Times): Gerken: Some officers not opposed to being armed
RNZ: Police censured after self-harm incidents at Manukau station
Primary industries
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Report demolishes ‘vertical farming’ solution model
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Needles found in strawberries and capsicum not cause for panic, MPI says
Fonterra
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Fonterra does a U-turn on its election rules, without quite saying so
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Fonterra board candidates failed to muster the votes, so rules are changed
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Voting dates confirmed for Fonterra board vacancy
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Fonterra’s Lukas Paravicini follows CEO Theo Spierings and chairman John Wilson out the door
Haka
Aroha Awarau (Stuff): Haka in K-Pop music video ‘offensive’, says Māori lecturer
Herald: K-Pop band slammed for ‘hurtful’ use of haka in new song
Harmful Digital Communications Act
Herald: Fashion designer Pebbles Hooper faces prosecution under the Harmful Digital Communications Act
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Pebbles Hooper accused of breaching Harmful Digital Communications Act
Other
Anna Leask (Herald): ‘Extreme remorse’ in courtroom – partying afterwards. Sex abusing youth worker celebrates home detention sentence
ODT Editorial: Sport and booze don’t mix
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Tax Working Group reaches consensus on introducing capital gains tax
Jason Walls (Herald): Upgrade costs for Premier House, official Wellington residence of PM Jacinda Ardern, triple to $3 million
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Pike River mine re-entry good politics, but might not be worth it
RNZ: Quake gathering politicised attempt to rewrite history – Brownlee
No Right Turn: A referendum on MMP?
Stuff: Former United Future MP Gordon Copeland dies
John Anthony (Stuff): NZ investor fears money lost after Halifax NZ’s Australian parent company goes into administration
Madison Reidy (RNZ): Bust broker could owe up to 4000 NZ investors
Stuff: Why weren’t bank processes strong enough to save me?
Elena McPhee (ODT): Leaning power pole rotten
RNZ: Waitangi Tribunal gets new members
Warren Gamble (Stuff): Redneck float will not feature in Nelson Santa parade
RNZ: Cruise ship explosion: Company could face hefty bill
Ben Bootsma (Southland Times): Prison programme raises money for Victim Support
Rob Stock (Stuff): ‘Rednek’ Float furore: Businesses humour fails
Sam Hurley (Newsroom): Former finance high-flyer Allan Hawkins’ firms appeal $720k court fine
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Commerce Commission looks closer at port pricing after receiving complaints
Ruby Nyika (Stuff): Fake freedom camping officers sell ‘permits’ in Raglan
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Waikato council staff impersonators demanding money for fake freedom camping permits
Janna Sherman (Hokitika Guardian): Seddon homestead plans shelved
