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Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – December 04 2018

Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.

The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.

Petrol prices inquiry
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Q+A: Will the fuel probe find profiteering?
1News: Winston Peters puts retail fuel industry on notice: ‘If we have to legislate, we will’
Derek Cheng (Stuff): Deputy PM Winston Peters says fuel and menswear companies and banks fleecing Kiwis
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): What can we expect from Govt’s fuel price inquiry?
Mike Hosking: Sorry PM, where’s the scandal in petrol prices?
Jo Moir (Stuff): Tight deadline for fuel price investigation – ComCom
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Government announces probe into retail fuel industry, amid ‘concerns’ over competition problems
Jason Walls (Herald): Watch: The Prime Minister has officially announced the flagged probe into retail fuel market
1News: Retail fuel market to be investigated by Commerce Commission after importer margins double
Zane Small (Newshub): Government launches investigation into retail fuel market, despite expected price drop
RNZ: Fuel prices to be investigated by Commerce Commission
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Commerce Commission will have a year to do a market study on the retail fuel market; more industry probes to follow
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Trucking company warns strike could impact motorists just before Christmas
Liam Dann (Herald): Petrol prices to fall further for Christmas – analyst
1News: Petrol price fall good news for Kiwi motorists as holiday season approaches
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Get set for petrol price falls this summer
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Cut-price petrol stations planning massive New Zealand expansion

Foreign affairs and trade
Herald: Korean leader Moon Jae-in greeted with a hongi in Auckland
Gordon Campbell: On five lingering questions about the Huawei ban
Matt Nippert (Herald): New Zealand ‘particularly vulnerable’ to China: US think tank report
Zane Small (Newshub): New Zealand offers potential for ‘Chinese espionage’ – Hoover Institution
Sara Vui-Talitu (RNZ): China’s disappearing Uyghurs
Richard Harman (Politik): Peters off to Washington
Derek Cheng (Herald): US intelligence officials in Wellington for high-level visit
Newstalk ZB: Kelvin Davis to represent NZ at Bush funeral
Beatrice Fihn (Spinoff): How small states like NZ could save the superpowers from disaster
Ben Strang (RNZ): New Zealand woman stuck in Australia fighting custody battle

Christmas
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Raining On The White Tribe’s Parade
1News: ‘I knew the thing hit the fan’ – Nelson parade organiser apologises for non-traditional Māori-inspired Santa
Tracy Neal (RNZ): It all went sour when Santa removed his hat – director
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): So the Māori Santa in Nelson replaced the redneck Confederate Flag Santa???
Newshub: ‘We are truly sorry’: Nelson Christmas Parade apologises for Māori Santa
Herald: Apology issued over lack of traditional Santa in Nelson parade
Skara Bohny (Nelson Mail): Hana Kōkō might have worked with a bit more warning
Tim Newman (Stuff): Nelson Santa Parade organisers apologise for Māori Santa
Newshub: ‘I’m bloody angry’: Patrick Gower urges NZ to ‘stop the fight’ over Nelson’s Māori Santa
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Duncan Garner bashes Nelson’s Māori Santa
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Auckland City Mission prepares for biggest Christmas ever
Cira Olivier and Maia Hart (Stuff): Sending Christmas cards a simple gesture to help lonely older people
Newshub: Christmas cake with Gerry Brownlee (video)

Workplace bullying: Maggie Barry, Parliamentary inquiry
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters can’t be sure he hasn’t been a bully
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Exclusive: National MP Maggie Barry hit with fresh bullying allegations
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Bullying and bad behaviour in Parliament
Jesse Mulligan (Newshub): Maggie Barry’s secretly recorded comments about me sign of a bigger issue

Workplace bullying: Retirement Commissioner
Sam Sachdeva and Melanie Reid (Newsroom): ‘Relief, vindication’ at Maxwell bullying inquiry
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Maxwell stood down as bullying investigated
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Bullying probe into Diane Maxwell could find wider issues – PM
Herald: Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell stood down amid bullying investigation
RNZ: Retirement commissoner put on leave, investigation into alleged bullying launched

Opinion polls
Dominion Post Editorial: National’s Groundhog Day of political support
Derek Cheng (Herald): Labour MP Greg O’Connor blames poll drop on Govt handling of Sroubek case
1News: Analysis: ‘They still don’t like him’ but Simon Bridges ‘safe’ as party leader despite dismal support
1News: 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton poll: Should Simon Bridges boot Jami-Lee Ross from Parliament using waka jumping law?
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘You’re so cruel’ – Simon Bridges, Duncan Garner exchange barbs after poll result

Chorus
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Allegations of bribery and ‘improper behaviour’ investigated in broadband roll-out
Herald: Chorus probes claims of ‘improper behaviour’ by broadband contractors

Housing
Susan St John (Daily Blog): Will the Tax Working Group actually address housing inequality?
Laine Moger (Stuff): Record number of Auckland children spending Christmas in homeless shelter
Cleo Fraser (Newshub): ‘We lost our life’: Wrongfully evicted Housing NZ tenants just want new homes
Zane Small (Newshub): Housing NZ meth testing botch: Government forks out $440k for evictees
Jacob McSweeny (Whanganui Chronicle ): Whanganui mother of six desperate for new rental home after being told to leave
Anne Gibson (Herald): NZ door still open to foreign buyers: The Pacifica apartments granted foreign buyer exemption
Rodney Dickens (Interest): Why section prices are high in most major urban areas, and solutions

Health, disability
RNZ: Govt to release Mental Health Inquiry report today
Mandy Te (Stuff): Government to publicly release mental health inquiry
Victoria Mulligan (Stuff): Sugar industry’s fight against tax takes tips from tobacco’s playbook
1News: Dr Lance O’Sullivan deletes controversial Facebook tirade following head-to-head with Willie Jackson
Samantha Gee (Stuff): Warning after four cases of bacterial meningitis in Nelson this year
Robin Martin (RNZ): Kaumātua facing looming crisis: They ‘are really doing it hard’
ODT Editorial: Time for tai ho on tobacco taxes
Jennifer Eder (Stuff): Should ambulances be charities? St John can’t keep asking the public for money, says CEO
Hannah Martin (Stuff): St John community health pop-up pilot ‘might have saved a life or two’
RNZ: Checkpoint: Inside New Zealand’s newest seclusion rooms
Aroha Mane , James Perry (Māori TV): Dr. Trevor Clark: Life after league
Tom Dillane (Herald): The suicide attempt that defined the top 2018 Movember fundraiser
Phil Taylor (Herald): How strong man Karlpat was brought down by diabetes
Phil Taylor (Herald): A day at the eye clinic

Assaults on health workers
Logan Church (RNZ): Checkpoint: Mental health nurses say CDHB bosses are ‘out of touch’
Spinoff: ‘I shouldn’t have to fear the people I’m there to help’: The violent reality of working in healthcare
Astrid Austin (Hawkes Bay Today): Hawke’s Bay mental health worker recovering after being choked unconscious by a patient
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Nurse assaults sparks urgent WorkSafe meeting request
Mei Logan and Megan Sutherland (Newshub): Patient who stabbed Christchurch nurse trying to harm himself, police allege
1News: Man due in court after nurse was stabbed at Hillmorton Hospital in Christchurch

Environment and conservation
Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): David Attenborough says climate change ‘our greatest threat in thousands of years’
David Cormack (Herald): The great climate change swindle
Cordelia Lockett (Spinoff): What’s behind the surge of new energy in the climate movement?
Steven Cowan: A Green New Deal for New Zealand?
Mike Watson (Herald): National’s climate change policy not focused on being “first, fast and famous”
Rob Stock (Stuff): Cutting global carbon emissions ought to be big business
Lauren McLean (Stuff): You’ll do anything for your kids? How about saving the planet?!
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Campaigners head to Parliament calling for Government to support new cash-for-trash scheme
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Plastics industry calls for time to restructure itself
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Is it time to consider burning New Zealand’s plastic waste?
Alice Wilkins (Newshub): NZDF helps prepare Waitakere ranges for summer tourists
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Victory for Yaldhurst residents in $100,000 quarry battle
Denise Piper (Northeland Age): Nearly two thirds of Northland swim spots fail water quality tests

Primary industries, animal welfare
Matthew Littlewood (Stuff): Ship picking up 3700 live cattle worth $6m in Timaru
Heather Chalmers (Stuff): Controversial Simons Pass dairy development starts milking
No Right Turn: What’s special about Simons Pass?
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Higher standards for farming here to stay if industry is to retain social licence
Glen Herud (Stuff): Replacing cows with vegetables wouldn’t be better for our waterways at all
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Carbon calculator simplifies farmers’ greenhouse gas footprints
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Industry welcomes new legislation for organic sector
Maja Burry (RNZ): Flock decline threatening lamb export potential

Education
Simon Collins (Herald): Four out of five NZ kids behind in science when they start high school
RNZ: Poor science results for primary school children
Nelson Mail Editorial: Digital NCEA exams reflect modern-world imperatives
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): NZQA to allow digital testing for 14 NCEA exam subjects in 2019
Jessica Long (Stuff): 14 NCEA subjects to offer digital exams in 2019
RNZ: More NCEA exams to be available online next year
Mitch McCann (Newshub): Kiwi teachers enticed to the UAE while NZ recruits overseas educators
Eleanor Rarity (Timaru Herald): Primary school pupil numbers rising and teacher numbers down
Adele Redmond (Stuff): New central Christchurch school Unlimited already putting pupils on ballot
Adele Redmond (Stuff): Christchurch secondary schools first in NZ to get wellbeing and resilience training
Whanganui Chronicle Editorial: Mike King delivers important message at Whanganui City College
Elena McPhee (ODT): Nudity ban among planned changes for law camps

Employment
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Labour’s declining share of national income
Will Trafford (Herald): More than money: How a living wage changes Kiwis’ lives
Jack Lawrie (ODT): Govt answering the call for equal pay
Rob Stock (Stuff):If you’re an employee, good things come in big packages
RNZ: Fire and Emergency investigates ‘very rare’ assault on firefighters

Media, journalism
Karl du Fresne: The purpose of journalism
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): 30 years broadcasting te reo Māori

Gender, sex
1News: Transgender rights debate ‘really sad’, says Jan Logie – ‘this is the most marginalised community in our country’
Point of Order:A lesson in how 0.001pc of the population can nudge MPs into changing the law on gender

Local government
Jean Drage (Briefing Papers): Strengthening local voices
Liam Hehir (stuff): Political parties may be drawn further into Auckland’s orbit
Tod Niall (Stuff): Ports of Auckland plans hydrogen fuel plant to power forklifts and cars
Jamie Gray (Herald): Ports of Auckland plans hydrogen plant to cut carbon emissions
Stuff: Court of Appeal overturns resource consents for Wellington’s Shelly Bay redevelopment
RNZ: Consents for $500m Shelly Bay development quashed
1News: Wellington waterfront housing consent quashed by Court of Appeal
Matthew Littlewood (Tmaru Herald): Economist questions need for Timaru’s hold on Alpine Energy shares

Domestic violence
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand MP speaks of abuse ordeal as new laws tackle strangulation attacks
1News: Strangling and suffocating coming under domestic violence laws in bid to hold perpetrators accountable
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Strangulation criminalised under new law

Drug laws, addiction
Russell Brown (RNZ): Flying the flag for cannabis law reform
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Māori groups support call to boost addiction treatment funding

Treaty of Waitangi
Raniera Harrison (Māori TV): Ngāpuhi hapū take to the polls for tribe’s Treaty settlement
Mere McLean (Māori TV): Ngāti Awa disputes Waitangi Tribunal claim WAI 2521

Transport
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): No way NZTA can tell if overseas licences real or not, says road safety critic
ODT Editorial: Drivers need to feel safe
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Missing info stymies NZ Transport Agency security upgrade
Tim Miller (ODT): Cycle lanes, walk ways change habits: study
Jess Berentson-Shaw (Newsroom): Get real on transport – and improve all our lives
RNZ: Growing tension between motorists and cyclists in Dunedin
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington Airport confirms it will paint birds green, orange and blue
Newshub: Jailing drink-drivers won’t save New Zealanders’ lives – Roger Brooking

Other
Ruby Macandrew (Stuff): More than a moral dilemma: The religious and community views on euthanasia
Olivia Caldwell (Stuff): Horse racing: the sport of kings, or dead cert gambling-driven animal cruelty?
No Right Turn: Inquiries, the OIA, and the Privacy Act
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Man crushed by three-tonne girder in work accident is granted residency for surgeries
MIchael Reddell: Thoughts as the immigration data disappear
1News: Shane Jones accuses National of ‘fearmongering’ over possible capital gains tax
No Right Turn: A compromised decision
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): BNZ won’t confirm reports more than 30 job disestablished
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Fears ease over Ōamaru’s water shortage crisis
George Block (ODT): Store defends bird poisoning
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Beef over Muttonbird Islands ends with Supreme Court ruling
Leah Te Whata (Māori TV): Kmart denies racially profiling Māori teen
RNZ: Calling someone a ‘Kiwi’ isn’t racial discrimination – Tribunal
1News: NZ worker who claimed racial discrimination for being nicknamed Kiwi has case thrown out by Aussie court
RNZ: K-pop band apologise for using Māori karakia in song
Joseph M. Boden (The Big Q): Abortion law in New Zealand: How does research inform change?
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): NZ Super will take money from working poor and give to rich: researcher warns
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): New Zealanders pay more than Australians for same products

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