Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – December 06 2018
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry report
Kyle MacDonald (Herald): Government Inquiry into Mental Health could look like this
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): We all know how bad this mental health crisis is, there’s no time to waste
MIchael Daly (Stuff): The role of modern life in our ‘rising tide of mental distress and addiction’
ODT Editorial: Action not words needed
Peter Dunne: Mental health challenge now only just beginning
Jessica McAllen (Stuff): Mental Health and Addiction Inquiry vague in parts and needed to deliver more to provide meaningful help
Fiona Connor (Newshub): ‘He didn’t take his life, mental health did’: Why an ‘inadequate’ system couldn’t help father-of-three
Stuff: Matt Chisholm shares his search for mental health help
National Party leaks, protest
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): National Party history repeating itself
Chris Bramwell (RNZ): Leaker claiming to be National MP sends another text
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Should National pull a Jacinda Ardern and leave it to the last minute to roll Simon Bridges?
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Nats walk-out: ‘It was seriously disorganised’
1News: Winston Peters jokes about loyalty of National MPs over walkout – ‘went out in drips and drabs’
Audrey Young (Herald): Bridges punishment was fair but Mallard’s intolerance is an ongoing problem
Richard Harman (Politik): What is National trying to do
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Simon Bridges’ ‘song and dance’ under scrutiny
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Odd’ to shut down Karel Sroubek debate – Gerry Brownlee
Watch: Fired up Paula Bennett ‘demands answers’ from Govt after Bridges and Brownlee kicked out of Parliament
1News: Watch: Simon Bridges and Gerry Brownlee kicked out of Parliament by Speaker after Ardern quip, National MPs walk out in solidarity
Collette Devlin, Stacey Kirk and Henry Cooke (Stuff): National leader Simon Bridges kicked out of the House after questioning PM on Sroubek
Sophie Bateman, Zane Small and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Simon Bridges, Gerry Brownlee kicked out of House
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Frustration is building’: National MPs erupt in protest over Simon Bridges’ removal from House
RNZ: National MPs walk out of debating chamber
Herald: National MPs walk out of Parliament after Simon Bridges ordered to leave
Maggie Barry allegations, workplace bullying
Graham Adams (Noted): Maggie Barry: Bias and bullying in the euthanasia debate?
Kirsty Johnston (Herald): Complaint laid with Auditor General over Maggie Barry allegations
Anna Bracewell-Worrall and Sophie Bateman (Newshub): Complaint laid with Auditor General over Maggie Barry’s alleged use of Parliament staff for party work
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Complaint laid with Auditor General over National MP Maggie Barry
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: The Seriousness of the Maggie Barry bullying allegations
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Russel Norman says Maggie Barry’s behaviour was ‘appalling’ in Parliament
Mike Webster (Newsroom): A little compassion in an age of bullying
Pattrick Smellie (Stuff): Bullies I have met and lessons learned on how to deal with them
MMP
Bryce Edwards (Newsroom): The death of minor parties under MMP
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Let’s get rid of MMP altogether
Environment and conservation
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Green investment fund faces challenges of size and scope
Andrea Vance (Stuff): $100 million green fund to fight climate change – and make money
Jason Walls (Herald): Jacinda Ardern and James Shaw launch $100 million green investment fund
Gia Garrick (RNZ): New $100m green fund launched by government
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Investing to fight climate change
1News: Government injecting $100 million into effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Govt launches $100m green investment fund
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Helping the market
Newshub: Waiheke’s plans to go carbon neutral
Donna Awatere Huata (Daily Blog): The position of Māori Climate Commissioner
William Rolleston (Stuff): Farmers are up to the challenge of meeting climate change targets
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Kiwis’ recycling is piling up in Malaysia and being burnt in secret, environmentalists say
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): Playing chicken with the government on rising seas
Kate Gudsell (RNZ): Sea-level rise: Report highlights risks to approach
Michael Neilson (Herald): Critically endangered shore plover chicks hatch on pest-free Motutapu Island in Hauraki Gulf
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Educational sea life sanctuary sends warning to poachers
Emergency Meningococcal vaccination programme
Vera Alves (Herald): Grieving mother’s plea to Government following daughter’s death from meningitis
RNZ: DHB reassures parents over meningococcal vaccine
RNZ: Hundreds line up in rain for meningococcal vaccinations
RNZ: Huge turnout for Northland meningococcal vaccinations: ‘I think people are scared’
Northern Advocate: Thousands line up on first day of Northland MenW vaccine
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Ministry of Health accused of slow response to Northland menW outbreak
Zane Small (Newshub): Northland meningococcal outbreak: Ministry of Health missed 7 ‘red flags’
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Hopeful turning point to stop Meningococcal in Northland
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Northland meningococcal immunisation programme for 22,500 children begins today
Chief Censor’s NZ Youth and Porn study
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Blocking porn from kids only part of the solution – Chief Censor
RNZ: One in four pre-teens exposed to pornography – survey
Jessica Long (Stuff): Porn ‘a fact of life’ for Kiwi children with ready access to sexual content, study finds
Bernard Beckett (Spinoff): What the censor’s report says about teens and porn – and what should happen next
Emma Jolliff (Newshub): Porn study reveals Kiwi teens ‘uncomfortable’ with what they see
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): NZ Youth and Porn report reveals teens struggling to cut back
1News: Porn easy for teens to access and it’s informing their views about sex – report finds
Child welfare
Thomas Manch (Stuff): MSD answers questions on placing families in motels with sex offenders
RNZ: Hague Convention to protect children, no law change at this stage – Minister
Coroner plea to raise drinking age
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): ‘Incontrovertible evidence’: Coroner’s plea to Govt to change legal drinking age
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Legislation could curb NZ’s dangerous drinking culture, expert says
Michael Neilson (Herald):‘It could have been prevented’: Coroner calls for drinking age to be raised to 20 following death of Blenheim teen
Firefighting foam contamination
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Sites contaminated with firefighting foam cannot be made public
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Study finds firefighting foam is threatening NZ’s ecosystem
Foreign affairs and trade
Matt Nippert (Herald): International China-watchers express alarm over Brady affair
Paul Buchanan: Tacitly encouraging local conspiracy theories
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): An ASEAN out to the US-China pressure?
No Right Turn: NZ should sign the UN Global Compact on Migration
RNZ: Labour deputy leader Kelvin Davis to attend former US President George HW Bush’s funeral
Gordon Campbell: On why we politely fake the obituaries for politicians
Health
Janet Hoek, Richard Edwards and Anaru Waa (ODT): Smoking elimination impetus must persist
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Can’t come home: New Zealand a ‘death sentence’
Emma Russell (Herald): Patients at Waitemata DHB waiting up to 12 months for heart ultrasounds
Willie Jackson (Daily Blog): Debate on Māori Health
RNZ: Safety concerns at Hillmorton Hospital: ‘It’s a terrifying workplace’ – former psychiatrist
Elena McPhee (ODT): Maori health graduates landmark
Stuff: Record number of Māori health professionals set to graduate
Oliver Lewis and Cate Broughton (Stuff): Canterbury District Health Board and Health Ministry start mending old wounds
Tina Law (Stuff): Fatty foods, sugary drinks could be cut from city council-run events and facilities
Mike Houlahan (ODT): SDHB’s new food, drink policy offers healthier options
Brianna McIlraith (Taranaki Daily News): CanTeen’s Taranaki branch may face closure after proposed restructure
Newshub: Unhappy St John workers ditch their uniforms
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Midwives strike for change, to keep the job they love
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Southland Hospital midwives go on strike
Marta Steeman (Stuff): ACC challenges “outrageous” management fees of Canadian manager of New Zealand hospital and healthcare buildings
State Sector
Glenn Barclay (Stuff): Changes to Protected Disclosures Act need to go further
Thomas Manch (Stuff): State Services Commissioner to look at handling of Wally Haumaha bullying claims
Jessica Mutch-McKay (1News): Review ordered into two Government agencies’ response to alleged bullying by Wally Haumaha
Steven Cowan: The trickle-down feminism of Julie Anne Genter
Employment
Sam Kilmister (Stuff): Father creates business for bullied autistic son who couldn’t get employment
Newshub: 90-day trials scrapped for medium, large firms
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We are a country of lazy, excuse-making sloths
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Labour law reforms making business jittery
IHC National Kapa Haka Festival
1News: Watch: Proud Kiwis with intellectual disabilities take part in IHC’s first kapa haka competition
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Kapa haka for people with intellectual disabilities: ‘We shouldn’t be in the shadows’
Mānia Clarke (Māori TV): Te Anga Pāua o Āotearoa kapa haka festival a hit
Stuff: Proud moment as kiwis with intellectual disabilities take centre stage
Housing
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Exclusive: PM Jacinda Ardern may review Housing Minister’s KiwiBuild house flipping penalty
Joel McManus (Stuff): ‘Mistake’ for Kiwibuild properties to be listed on open market
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): KiwiBuild fiasco could bring this Government down
1News: Five Auckland KiwiBuild apartments fail to sell on ballot, offered up on a first come, first served basis to those who qualify
Ben Leahy (Herald): Five Auckland KiwiBuild homes that failed to sell through the ballot set to hit the market
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Auckland house buyers, sellers tried to beat foreign buyer ban: Economist
Laura Dooney (RNZ): Lower Hutt hard-hit by affordable housing shortage
RNZ: House prices skyrocket in affordable regions
Education
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Schools struggling to teach children how to swim
SImon Collins (Herald): Commissioner takes over troubled Henderson Valley School
Leah Te Whata (Māori TV): Oranga Tamariki award winner defies all odds
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): ‘Trash and filth’: Emails released over controversial Critic menstruation cover
Vaughan Elder (ODT): Critic slammed as ‘trash and filth’ in internal emails
Sport
Gregor Paul (Herald): Targeted, deliberate, cynical – How St Kentigern College pushed things too far
Dylan Cleaver and Gregor Paul (Herald) Elite Auckland school St Kentigern College kicked out of top rugby competition as rivals promise boycott
Ben Francis (Newshub): Rugby: Rotorua Boys High School hits out over St Kentigern’s ‘targeted recruitment’
Matt Manukia (1News): ‘We’re not really prepared to put up with that’ – Auckland colleges boycott St Kents 1st XV over allegations of player poaching
Kevin Norquay and Marvin France (Stuff): St Kentigern head David Hodge says it plays by the book as boycott action taken by rivals
RNZ: St Kentigern scholarships ‘a good thing’ – rugby ranker
1News: ‘Don’t run from the competition’ – All Blacks star Rieko Ioane weighs in on St Kents’ 1st XV boycott
1News: Opening doorways or chasing rugby titles? TVNZ1 Breakfast crew weigh in on Auckland schoolboy player poaching saga
Rachel Froggatt (Newsroom): It’s time to say ‘non’ to abuse and sexism in sport
Teachers’ pay and conditions
RNZ: Primary teachers hold out for deal to reduce ‘unreasonable’ workload
1News: Strikes not ruled out as teachers reject Government’s latest offer on pay and conditions
Alice Wilkins (Newshub): ‘Super strike’ not off the table after primary teachers reject new offer
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Teachers reject further pay offers
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Secondary teachers’ union rejects ‘inadequate’ pay offer
Point of Order: Teachers want ‘crisis’ resolved – then exacerbate it with their intransigence
Te Puni Kōkiri and Whānau Ora
Morgan Godfery: Exclusive: Whānau Ora Review Panel recommends changes to North Island commissioning
1News: Whānau Ora Minister demands explanation after commissioning agency pays $600k to its shareholder
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Major financial concerns raised for Te Puni Kōkiri
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Whānau Ora surplus questions raised at TPK review
Newshub’s 2018 political year in review
John-MIchael Swannix (Newshub): Recap: The Year in New Zealand Politics 2018
Newshub: ‘Acting’ Prime Minister’s Christmas Message for Newshub Nation
Global ranking schemes
David Cohen (RNZ): Do global ranking lists and surveys actually reflect performance?
RNZ: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern named as one of most powerful women in world
Stuff: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern named one of the world’s most powerful women
Daniel Rutledge (Newshub): New Zealand passport named world’s 6th ‘most powerful’
Abortion
RNZ: Hundreds march to Parliament to call for deciminalisation of abortion
1News: Rally for abortion rights hits Parliament – ‘our bodies, our choice’
Sam Tattersfield and Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Hundreds march on Parliament calling for abortion law reform
Herald: Abortion rally draws hundreds to Parliament
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Call to change abortion laws
Christmas
Skara Bohny (Stuff): Nationwide debate on Nelson’s Santa parade exposes underlying racism
Jean Balchin (ODT): Māori Santa one of many versions
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Dutch Sinterklaas party trades Black Petes for plain Petes
Astrid Austin (Hawkes Bay Today): Women’s Refuges appeal to community for support during festive season
Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): The key to saving money at the supermarket
Transport
Phil Pennington (RNZ): NZTA allowed dodgy brake tests to go on for years – documents
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Auckland vehicle inspector suspended by New Zealand Transport Agency
Melissa Davies (Newshub): Fears more than 21,000 cars are driving with dodgy WOFS
RNZ: Dodgy WOFs: Another suspension, thousands more cars affected
Jo McKenzie-McLean (Stuff): MP’s criticism of cycle rail route near her property ‘plain wrong’
Edward Gay (Stuff): Pair accused of taking bribes wait to discover fate
Primary industries, animal welfare
Jamie Gray and Andrea Fox (Herald): Bad news for farmers: Fonterra slashes milk price forecast, confirms Tip Top for sale
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Dairy to pay bulk of industry costs for M bovis eradication
Maja Burry (RNZ): Dairy industry unhappy with M Bovis cost split
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Industry cost share for Mycoplasma bovis finalised
Construction industry
Eva Corlett (RNZ): Homeowners ‘gobsmacked’ after collapse of Corbel Construction
Anne Gibson (Herald): Parnell Terrace owners: ‘We’re the $29 million victims, not Corbel’
Domestic violence
Catriona MacLennan (RNZ): Strangulation a red flag for future serious abuse
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): How changing sexist attitudes could help prevent domestic violence
Justice, corrections
Edward Gay (Stuff): Teen allowed out of cell for two hours a day – to spend time with child killer
Hawkes Bay Today: Hastings rapist gets preventive detention, and fined and de-patched by gang
Police
Megan Sutherland (Newshub): Woman killed in fatal police chase believed to be pregnant
RNZ: Three injured in police pursuit south of Auckland
Media, broadcasting
Alex Loo (Stuff): Radio Reading Service could be silenced
James Croot (Stuff): RadioLIVE: Farewell to my years of fear, fun and talking about films
Legal profession
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Law firm alters photo to avoid reputational damage
Mandy Te (Stuff): Law firm Simpson Grierson deletes drinks from staff photo
Local government
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Deputy Auditor-General slams Auckland Council for not issuing building and resource consents on time
Evan Harding (Stuff): Toni Biddle to battle Tim Shadbolt for Invercargill mayoralty
RNZ: Lambton Quay littered with commercial plastic rubbish
Race-fixing inquiry
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Race-fixing inquiry: New charge alleges horse was drugged before race
Megan Sutherland (Newshub): Operation Inca: Man drugged horse to fix race, police allege
RNZ: Further charges laid in harness racing probe
Kim Dotcom
Stuff: Bid to see Kim Dotcom extradited to United States only at ‘halftime’ point, court told
RNZ: Dotcom case rolls on in Supreme Court
Jan Antolik/Karel Sroubek residency decision
Derek Cheng (Herald): Good riddance, never come back – Police Minister unleashes on Karel Sroubek
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Karel Sroubek’s estranged wife is ‘afraid for her life’
Other
Jason Walls (Herald): $22.5 million in extra funding for America’s Cup was needed for the event to proceed
Malcolm Mulholland (Stuff): ‘Observation days’ a great way to learn about our history
Herald Editorial: Jones’ loan to Westland is needless and unfair
Nicholas Jones (Herald): No answer on forced adoption: ‘There must be some compassion somewhere’
Gia Garrick (RNZ): Landcorp apologises for not telling minister of tax submission
Michael Gousmett (NZCPR): Ngai Tahu’s tax exempt charitable status
Claire Trevett (Herald): Want a fuel tax reprieve? Follow France and get out the hi-vis vests
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Last Christmas for GST-free internet shopping, as ‘Amazon tax’ law tabled in Parliament
Tim O’Connell (Nelson Mail ): Eating child-free at Abbey Road goes down a treat for burger lovers
Martin Johnston (Herald): Wesley in Auckland looks set for official tick to keep its name after developer backs off
John Boynton (RNZ): Legal protection sought to preserve haka in Germany
Katrina Biggs (Stuff): #MeTooNZ: Men, don’t sabotage women’s stories, tell your own
Julie Hill (Spinoff): ‘They’re about to destroy nearly 35 years of gay progress with the police’
RNZ: Flaxmere heroes: Calendar shines light on positive community work
1News: Māori tattoo artist temporarily banned by Facebook over images of tāmoko on buttocks
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Ten owners hold almost two-thirds of Nelson’s undeveloped residential land
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): BNZ customers get refund due to errors in loan documents
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): BNZ giving $3.8 million back to customers after discovering banking error
