Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – January 31 2019
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.
National Party
Richard Harman (Politik): Big caveat on new National tax policy
Claire Trevett (Herald): ‘Winning ugly’ for National may mean driving out Winston
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Engage with your audience National
Claire Trevett (Herald): National leader Simon Bridges sticks to safe ground in tax pitch to middle NZ
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Bridges puts finances to the fore, but lacks ‘vision thing’
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Politics, not tax, the point of Simon Bridges attack on ‘income bracket creep’
Newshub: Rising rents will swallow National’s tax breaks – expert
Zane Small (Newshub): How New Zealand’s income tax ranks against the world
Derek Cheng (Herald): Finance Minister to Simon Bridges: Show me the money
Zane Small and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Finance Minister Grant Robertson blasts National’s ‘reckless, empty’ tax promise
Michael Reddell: Bridges and the State of the Nation
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Bridges proposes end to ‘bracket creep’
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): National promises three-yearly income tax cuts in first major speech of 2019
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): National’s Simon Bridges pledges tax indexation to protect incomes
Derek Cheng (Herald): National’s tax plan to give the average worker an extra $430 a year
Jane Patterson (RNZ): National puts tax back on the political agenda
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Bridges targets middle class by committing to changing income tax brackets in line with inflation; Robertson says Bridges has found Joyce’s fiscal hole in his backyard
1News: National promises ‘rolling tax relief’, adjusting thresholds in line with inflation
Zane Small (Newshub): National-led Government would link income tax to inflation – Simon Bridges
Newshub: National leader Simon Bridges’ full ‘State of the Nation’ speech
RNZ: Jami-Lee Ross blocked from National Party corridors
Government
Audrey Young (Herald): Informality rules as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern kicks off Labour’s first caucus and declares 2019 the Year of Delivery
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern says 2019 year of ‘delivery’ for Government
Chris Bramwell (RNZ): 2019 ‘an incredibly critical year’ for Labour – Ardern
1News: ‘The year to deliver’ – Jacinda Ardern talks about expectations for 2019 at Labour retreat
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern outlines 2019 as year of delivery for Government
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Three threats to the economy may come crashing together
1News: ‘Rather dignified’ – Jacinda Ardern deals with rogue bug that pesters her during press conference with aplomb
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk): What a dag! Is this really how Labour Party MPs dress for a retreat?
Emma Clifton (The Australian Women’s Weekly: Jacinda Ardern: Our new life with Neve
Housing
Duncan Garner (Newshub): KiwiBuild failure shows royal commission of inquiry into building sector is necessary
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: KiwiBuild – fix it or ditch it?
1News: KiwiBuild’s interim targets dropped, Ardern and Twyford say programme is going through ‘recalibration’
Henry Cooke (Stuff): KiwiBuild to be ‘recalibrated’ as interim targets are scrapped
Chris Bramwell (RNZ): KiwiBuild: Interim targets reviewed as scheme is ‘recalibrated’
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern drops KiwiBuild interim targets
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Developers feedback on ‘pretty cold, harsh’ KiwiBuild
Jason Walls (Herald): Housing Minister Phil Twyford to give property developers a sweeter KiwiBuild deal after scheme struggles
Herald Editorial: KiwiBuild not only weapon in armoury
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Changing Kiwibuild targets unacceptable sophistry & privatisation of state housing a slap in the face
Joel Ineson (Stuff): Christchurch housing trust opens first new complex since taking over council-owned social housing
Ben Leahy (Herald): Kiwibank’s two-year 3.99 per cent rate the latest ultra-low deal in bank’s mortgage wars
Jo Moir (RNZ): Insulation subsidy: ‘Mum is getting old and needed it’
Insurance, banking industries
Herald Editorial: Customer-first rule should not do harm
Press Editorial: Insurance review could have hit harder
Rob Stock (Stuff): Lobbying heats up on best ways to fix banks and life insurers
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Life insurance docs ‘unreadable’ for average Kiwi, says academic
Lynn Grieveson (Newsroom): Is it time for banking CEOs to be regulated?
Capital gains tax
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): What would capital gains tax mean in reality?
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Commentators agree Capital Gains Tax won’t be an easy sell for Labour
Hannah McQueen (Stuff): Capital gains tax: Businesses are productive, don’t tax them so they’re not
Environment and conservation
Andrea Vance (Stuff): ‘This moment will not come again’ – councils’ $8bn climate change warning
Jamie Morton (Herald): Up to $14b in council infrastructure at risk from rising seas – report
RNZ: Sea level rise could cost NZ $8b in damaged infrastructure
Laura Mills (Greymouth Star): Chairman: climate stance not embarrassing’
Laura Mills (Greymouth Star): Council climate response embarrasses
RNZ: ‘We’ll probably be the first ones affected by climate change’ – West Coast MP
Dominic Harris (Stuff): ‘Lax’ nitrates rules leave pregnant women and babies at risk from polluted drinking water
David Williams (Newsroom): Court to rule on $100m Mackenzie dairy conversion
Sally Blundell (LIstener): What Ihumātao reveals about NZ’s protection of Māori heritage sites
Jim Salinger and James Renwick (The Conversation): Fish are dying and grapes are harvesting early because of last summer’s heatwave
1News: Protected penguin bashed to death near Napier, two others stolen in suspected smuggler raid
Laura Mills (Greymouth Star): Minister defends no cycle way on her land
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Three little blue penguins stolen from their burrow with a crowbar in Hawke’s Bay
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): DOC calls on public to help find stolen penguin
Thomas Mead (Newshub): Kaikōura Coast seal colony returns, captivating tourists
Luke Kirkeby (Stuff): ‘Unruly’ swimmers shock Blue Spring visitors
Cancer
Ruby Macandrew (Stuff): Cancer Society renews calls for a national cancer agency to replace DHB-led system
Katie Fitzgerald and Jared McCulloch (Newshub): New Zealand’s fight against cancer stalling – doctor
Emma Russell (Herald): Dying father speaks out about failing health system
Karen Brown (RNZ): National cancer response needed as health system failed – terminal patient
Health
RNZ: Striking junior doctors to restart mediation talks next week
Evan Harding (Stuff): About 460 surgeries/appointments postponed in south due to junior doctor strikes
Mānia Clarke (Māori TV): Criticism against doctor’s strike action
Nicholas Jones (Herald): A knock at the door, then a life-saving kidney transplant for West Auckland grandmother
RNZ: Midwives’ union issues strike notice as pay dispute rolls on
Katie Fitzgerald and Jared McCulloch (Newshub): Midwives’ union back to battling DHBs over pay
1News: Consumer NZ reveals five sunscreens they say aren’t living up to their SPF factor
Adele Redmond (Stuff): More sunscreens fail to meet SPF standards on their labels, Consumer NZ says
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Skinnies kids sunscreen SPF50 passes tests, but Consumer NZ says two tests not enough
Newshub: What you need to know about Alzheimer’s
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Māori not immune to melanoma
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Condoms rationed as supplies of a popular contraceptive pill run low
RNZ: “Fat-shaming’ compounds racism toward Māori – researcher
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Number of staff at Timaru’s ACC office to be slashed by half as part of wide-ranging restructure
Education
Max Towle (RNZ): Indian students deported and destitute say New Zealand failed them
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Back to school costs limiting Kiwi kids’ future success – children’s charity
Simon Collins (Herald): Teacher shortage: Taxpayers pay $10,000 for each overseas teacher to fill gaps in schools
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Bullying claims ignored at girls school
Zoe Hunter (Bay of Plenty Times): Tauranga educators react to proposed bill to shorten summer holidays
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Fewer foreign students enrolling in tertiary study
Jessica Long (Stuff): Whitireia/WelTec programmes canned a month before students return to studies
Jo Cribb (Stuff): Parents, you’re pushing the wrong career paths on your kids
Primary industries
RNZ: Talley’s accused of illegal trawling in protected Tasman Sea area
John McKenzie (1News): Effects of Mycoplasma bovis expected to linger in farming sector, even if disease is eradicated
Glen Herud (Stuff): Farmers need to improve advertising efforts to capture public imagination
Maja Burry (RNZ): Dry weather stressing Tasman farmers: ‘Things aren’t looking that flash’
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Tributes flow in for former Fonterra chairman John Wilson
Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): Hellers cops $40k fine after mislabelled sausages cause allergic reactions
1News: Hellers fined after mislabelled Sizzlers cause kids to suffer allergic reactions
Blue-Green party
Danyl Mclauchlan (Spinoff): A centrist Greens party is a compelling thought. And it’s pretty much doomed
Geoff Simmons (Interest): Does the new Blue/Green Party has a clue on freshwater – or is it simply a Trojan horse to get National back into power
Employment
Pattrick Smellie (Stuff): National Party leak a bad faith start to good faith intentions
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Employers refuse to back proposal to force all in to fair pay agreements
Jo Moir (RNZ): Businesses and unions clash over new fair pay guidelines
Jason Walls (Herald): BusinessNZ opposes working group’s proposal on Fair Pay Agreements
Jason Walls (Herald): The seven per cent minimum wage increase will cost the Government almost $100m a year
Moana Makapelu Lee (Māori TV): Treaty claim to address employment inequities for wāhine Māori
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Meetings, not technology, biggest barrier to working from home
Jackson Thomas (Stuff): Why you couldn’t pay me enough to plant trees or build fences
Trade
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): ‘Outrageous’: EU votes to reduce NZ export rights
Liam Dann (Herald): Growing risk of a ‘no-deal’ Brexit threatens NZ trade
Sam Huggard: Global Labour Perspective
International relations
1News: Government announces additional $8 million of funding for Nauru over three years
RNZ: New Zealand pumping more aid into Nauru
RNZ: US report claims China bribing Pacific nations
Local government
Robin Martin (RNZ): Council should’ve come clean on huge sewage spill – mayor
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Worksafe visits Gore wastewater pond after child dies
1News: Young boy’s drowning prompts Gore council to review fencing and security around ponds
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Napier Port could be listed on Australian stock market
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington councillor’s anti-tooting call sparks world record ‘tunnel tooting’ attempt
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ‘Wellington is biting back’: Man organising mass tooting in Mt Victoria tunnel
Jerome Chandrahasen (RNZ): Mt Vic Tunnel: Let the people beep!
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington train network struggling in heatwave
Luke Appleby (1News): Napier City Council spending almost $4000 per month dealing with brown water complaints
Laura Mills (Greymouth Star): Pros and cons to councils’ decision
Justice, corrections
Alison Mau (Stuff): Robert Roper victim Mariya Taylor begs police to drop investigation
Cleo Fraser (Newshub): ‘Today I make better choices’: How NZ’s Drug Court changed a man’s life
Sam Hurley (Herald): Jailhouse lawyer’ Arthur Taylor ponders life on parole, move to Dunedin and studying law
Aotearoa New Zealand
Peter Williams (Newshub): It’s time to add Aotearoa to our country’s name
No Right Turn: Time for Aotearoa-New Zealand
Pete George: More on Aotearoa New Zealand name recognition petition
Racist abuse from bus company
Damian George (Stuff): Bus company calls woman a ‘dumb spear chucker’ in angry text
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): NZ Coach Service under fire over racist, abusive ‘spear chucker’ text to customer
Police
Imogen Neale (Stuff): Police trial video phone service at rural Auckland station
Tara Shaskey (Taranaki Daily News): Ex-police sergeant accused of sexual assaults to go to trial mid-year
Other
RNZ: Te Puni Kōkiri chief executive Michelle Hippolite resigns
Māori TV: TPK Chief Executive Michelle Hippolite resigns
John Boynton (RNZ): Northland hapū group says forum signing undermines sovereignty
Herald: Provincial Development Unit head Nigel Bickle resigns to become Hastings District Council chief executive
RNZ: Internet concerns: More than 90 percent of New Zealanders worried about data security
Jamie Gray (Herald): Caught in Air NZ’s downdraft – is this the end of tourism’s golden run?
Newshub: Where to now for Air NZ?
Mike Watson (Stuff): Tenzing Norgay’s sons visit mountain training ground of Sir Edmund Hillary
Glen McConnell (Stuff): Give me Waitangi Day over Australia Day, it’s the world’s best public holiday
RNZ: Kapa haka fans warned about festival scalpers
Jason Walls (Herald): Almost 2000 parent visa expressions of interest lodged since 2016 despite Immigration NZ’s warnings
Tina Law (Press): Lime scooter levy would raise thousands of dollars for footpath repairs
1News: Meat company pulls ‘culturally unsound’ ad showing Te Mata Peak as a rack of lamb
Te Karere: ‘It’s perpetuating the stereotype’ – outrage over Mexican Netflix show’s rendition of haka
Emily Writes (Spinoff): What does a rapist look like?
Herald: Leighton Smith podcast: Talking Brexit, capital gain tax plans and the battle for our children’s future
