Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – March 14 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.
SFO investigation into National Party
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Could electoral fraud be widespread in NZ?
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Every political party mishandles election donations – Peter Dunne
Hearld Editorial: National needs to explain how big donation was handled
David Farrar: Donation legality
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Shane Jones makes outrageous claims about National Party donations in Parliament
RNZ: ‘Kiwis don’t want our democracy to be hijacked’ – Ross
Provincial Growth Fund
Claire Trevett (Herald): Shane Jones’ fatal attraction for pork barrels
Liam Hehir (Spinoff): Sorry but Shane Jones is Chris Finch from The Office
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Shane Jones saga isn’t sackable – but it’s shonky, shady, loose and arrogant
1News: Shane Jones says ‘common sense has to prevail’ over Northland organisation’s $4.6m funding boost scandal
1News: Bridges suggests Ardern is ‘making excuses for her Ministers’ appalling behaviour’ due to them being ‘stressed’
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Shane Jones is ruining the Government’s reputation
Official Information Act
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Protect the public’s right to know: cure the unhealthy Official Information Act
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Hide and Seek: How politicians seek to hide your information away
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Official information Act complaints rise by 34 per cent
Hit and Run inquiry
David Fisher (Herald): Big Read: Lawyer Deborah Manning, the NZSAS and her fight to have the voice of slain Fatima, 3, heard in New Zealand
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Hit & Run inquiry heads shrug off criticism and say they’ll ‘get at the truth’ of Afghan raids
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Afghan villagers taking new legal action against ‘Hit & Run’ inquiry
1News: Lawyers for Afghan villagers affected by NZSAS raid to file in High Court over decision to hold closed inquiry
RNZ: New legal action taken against ‘Hit and Run’ inquiry
No Right Turn: A British-style whitewash
Ron Mark
Derek Cheng (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern says Ron Mark should not use Ministerial position to plug NZ First
RNZ: Ron Mark denies canvassing for votes for NZ first during a ministerial speech
Derek Cheng (Herald): Ron Mark accused of threatening to cut Govt funding if veterans don’t vote NZ First
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Ron Mark accused of using his position as a Cabinet Minister to get party vote
Parliament
Richard Harman (Politik): Parliament buffeted by scandal allegations
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Entrenching Māori seats in parliament ‘a question of equality’
Phil Smith (RNZ): Accidental coup d’etat: the Government did what?
Phil Smith (RNZ): Oral questions versus the general debate
Phil Smith (RNZ): Parliament’s to do list: 13 Mar – One general, many committees
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): The House’s weekly plan: 12 -14 March
Insurance
Rob Stock, Julie Iles, Lee Kenny and Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Wellington’s insurance shake-up: IAG’s ‘conservative’ approach set to ripple across industry
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Here’s what you need to know about New Zealand’s changing insurance market
Laura Dooney (RNZ): Real estate agents fear effects of insurance difficulties in capital
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Woods ‘perplexed’ at insurer’s change of tune
RNZ Checkpoint: ‘No secret’ about Wellington insurance risk – Insurance Council
Rob Stock (Stuff): State and AMI deny Wellington home and contents insurance retreat
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): IAG responds to claims it’s stopped taking on new Wellington clients
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Insurance Australia Group not withdrawing from Wellington market
Tax
Gareth Morgan: Cullen’s Tax Working Group: High on politics of envy, low on economic literacy
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Surprise card could help Labour sell a capital gains tax ‘light’
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Tax Working Group dissenters less opposed to ‘CGT light’ but National unmoved
Greg Ninness (Interest): How businesses are affected by Capital Gains Tax will depend on how much it redistributes the tax burden
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Simon Bridges has a year to turn things around
Muriel Newman: The Partnership Deception
Jacqui Dean (Stuff): Capital gains tax has massive, destructive ramifications for south
Gordon Campbell: On tax dodges, and the Brexit vote
Chris Hutching (Stuff): Eric Watson’s battles: has the high flyer been brought low?
1News: Workers over-taxed over incorrect secondary tax codes set for relief after legislation passes through Parliament
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Tax experts call for one more tax-free Christmas for internet shoppers
Measles outbreak
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Unvaccinated kids won’t be blocked from school – Health Minister David Clark
1News: ‘No jab, no school’ – Dr Lance O’Sullivan says vaccination should compulsory for kids
1News: Should kids who aren’t vaccinated be banned from going to school in New Zealand?
1News: Canterbury measles vaccine supplies set for further boost today as outbreak tipped to worsen
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern’s ‘strong message to everyone’ on Canterbury measles outbreak
Kim Nutbrown (Stuff): Unvaccinated children putting others at risk at Canterbury school – medical officer
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Canterbury measles outbreak: Unimmunised cases new priority
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Call to delay flu vaccine in Canterbury as GPs struggle with measles outbreak
RNZ: Measles outbreak: GPs inundated with vaccination jobs
Alice Webb-Liddall (Newshub): Expert says herd immunity is threatened by anti-vax movement
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Auckland measles map: Track the fast-moving outbreak
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Two infected in Auckland measles outbreak
Herald: Warning after two measles cases identified in Auckland
1News: Nigel Latta weighs in on psychology behind the anti-vaccination campaign as Christchurch measles outbreak takes hold
Chris Morris (ODT): Measles: two cases in Dunedin
Amy Wiggins (Herald): Measles: Rest of NZ just as vulnerable to outbreak, experts warn
Pharmac and cancer drug funding
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Givealittle not a Pharmac substitute: Terminal breast cancer patients push for Pharmac inquiry and the funding of life-preserving drugs
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Pharmac funding should be doubled – breast cancer advocate
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Medavivors tell their story to select committee
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Women with advanced breast cancer appear before health select committee to plead for drugs
Peter de Graaf (Northern Advocate): Northland family’s race to raise $100k for Whitinga Harris’ cancer treatment
Health
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Held to Account: Mental health a crisis the Government knows how to fix
Isaac Davison (Herald): ‘Every hour is questioned’ – Advocates say Health Ministry quietly reducing funding for disabled after ruling out big cuts
Pam Jones (ODT): St John requests more government funding
1News: Tobacco giant Philip Morris will stop selling cigarettes in NZ tax break or not
Newhsub:Vaping saving lives and money – study
Phil Pennington (RNZ): DHBs unsure how to pay possible millions owed to staff
Phil Pennington (RNZ): District Health Boards owe staff $45m in underpayment – union
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Left inside: Drill bits among items left in patients
Aged care
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Overstretched aged care staff say residents ‘lie in pain rather than making a fuss’
RNZ: Aged care workers ‘sitting in their cars and crying’
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Damning survey shows aged care workers are burnt out, understaffed and unable to provide adequate care
Melissa Nightingale and Emma Russell (Herald): ‘Rotten care’: Elderly rest home residents dying due to low level of help – union
Pike River
Martin van Beynen (Stuff): Pike River secrecy agreement about ‘tightening up’
Derek Cheng (Herald): Pike River Recovery boss says he is under no political pressure
1News: ‘This is a chapter of NZ’s history that is not closed’ – Pike River Recovery on latest developments
RNZ: Pike River Recovery Agency boss says he underestimated re-entry works
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Pike River recovery operation fraught with danger – chief executive
Climate change
Joanne Black (Listener): Why the growing alarm over catastrophic climate change is justified
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Zero Carbon Bill ’95 percent of the way there’
Zane Small (Newshub): Student asks Jacinda Ardern what difference School Strike 4 Climate will make
1News: As mass school walkout looms Jacinda Ardern says climate change is ‘biggest issue facing next generation’
George Heagney (Manawatū Standard): Some schools will allow students to strike for climate change
Jono Edwards (ODT): Pupils air climate change frustrations
Katy Jones (Stuff): Primary schools back Nelson’s climate change ‘strike’
Josephine Franks (Stuff): School climate strike: What’s planned in Auckland
Herald: Kindergarten kids join school strike for climate in Waihi
Astrid Austin (Hawkes Bay Today): ‘We should have a voice’: Hawke’s Bay students to strike for action on climate change
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Climate change strike: What goes into planning a school strike
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern meets student climate change protesters in Wellington
Herald: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Green Party minister James Shaw talk climate change with Wellington school students
Mia Sutherland (Stuff): Climate change: Why are we striking?
Scarlett Powell (Stuff): High school student explains School Strike 4 Climate NZ to her elders
University of Auckland: Q+A: Is New Zealand ready to go carbon zero?
Aziz Al-Sa’afin (Newshub): Opinion: Climate change strike should be celebrated, not ridiculed
Emily Writes (Spinoff): The kids of NZ are absolutely owning adults and it’s bloody magnificent
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Kids need to care about our climate but don’t need to protest
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Climate strike just a day off school
Brian Easton (Pundit): Up in the Clouds
Environment and conservation
Jamie Morton (Herald): Kahurangi National Park grows by 64,400ha after Mokihinui conservation land added to area
Manawatū Guardian: Little Penguin loses eye in Himatangi Beach dog attack
Water bottling
David Farrar: Influence trading in Christchurch
Steven Cowan: Water for need, not profit
Transport
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Lime lobbying rushed NZTA to exempt e-scooters from vehicle regulations
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Confusion over e-scooters’ vehicle status
Nicole Lawton (Stuff): Onzo abandons plans to enter New Zealand’s e-scooter rental market
Tim Miller (ODT): Authorities to keep an eye on Lime race
Damian George (Stuff): Transport Minister Phil Twyford rejects calls for Government intervention in Wellington’s bus ‘debacle’
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Some road barriers on SH1 and SH2 may be unsecured – report
Anuja Nadkarni, Debrin Foxcroft and Amanda Cropp (Stuff): NZ suspends Boeing 737 Max 8s after Ethiopian Airways crash
1News: Civil Aviation Authority temporarily suspends Boeing 737 MAX aircraft from entering, leaving NZ
RNZ: CAA suspends operations of Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft both in and out of NZ
RNZ: Fiji Airways suspends use of Max 8 aircraft
Housing
Charlie Gates (Stuff): Canterbury KiwiBuild house was on market last year and did not sell
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): KiwiBuild house was already built and on the market
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Waitlist for public housing over 11,000 as ‘hidden homeless’ come forward
Heta Gardiner (Māori TV): “If there is a fire, throw yourself out of your wheelchair, and crawl outside”
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Stats NZ index shows housing rents rose 3.3% in year
Mark Price (ODT): Thousands more houses needed as Queenstown booms
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Westpac rolls out loans for factory built houses
Herald: Number of properties sold in Auckland through February sees dramatic decrease
China-NZ relations, Huawei
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): How to handle Chinese interference
Audrey Young (Herald): Shane Jones blasts Spark for going public over GCSB’s interim decision on Huawei in 5G
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): NZ should not relent to Huawei pressure – former diplomat
Mike Smith (Standard): More political interference on Huawei
Peter Griffin (Listener): What the controversy over Huawei and 5G is all about
Police chases
Andrew Becroft (Herald): The Chase: Why I’ve changed my mind
Chelsea Boyle (Herald): The Chase: Police pursuits a life and death issue – step on it or ba
Chelsea Boyle (Herald): The Chase: Police pursuits – how it’s done around the world
Education, vocational training
Pat Lynch (Herald): Careful what you wish for on school reforms
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Govt frustrations rise over teacher pay negotiations
Adele Redmond (Stuff): Government cash injection needed after multi-million budget blowout on Christchurch Schools Rebuild
George Heagney (Stuff): Ministry offer doesn’t scratch the surface of teacher workloads, educators say
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Mother reveals fears as Hutt childcare centre is closed over claims of mistreatment
Elena McPhee (ODT): Relationships with Maori would continue
Vaneeta D’Andrea (ODT): Govt looking in the wrong direction
Migration
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Government’s quiet immigration crackdown: 600 fewer residence visas a month
Michael Reddell: What is going on with residence approvals?
Zane Small (Newsub): Statistics New Zealand no longer measuring ‘brain drain’ to Australia
1News: Auckland restaurant owner appeals to MPs to remain in New Zealand
RNZ: Please let us stay in New Zealand’, says family being deported to Ukraine
Justice, family violence, child abuse
Isaac Davison (Herald): Law Commission recommends tighter controls for evidence in sexual and family violence cases
Blair Jackson (Southland Times): David White in Invercargill for family violence discussion after daughter’s death at hands of Gregory Meads
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Teacher who indecently touched young pupil allowed to have contact with children
Sam Hurley (Herald): Child, Youth and Family caregiver pleads not guilty to sexual, physical abuse charges
Local government
Southland Times Editorial: Where was the good grace, Sir Tim?
Elton Rikihana Smallman (Stuff): Hamilton mayor’s political opponents label beggar billboards as early electioneering
Alice Angeloni (Stuff): Golliwogs banned from Picton market after complaints from cruise passengers
Auckland
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Plans to sell Auckland Council owned land for development at Westpark and Gulf Harbour marinas still on ice
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland’s new $1.2 billion sewer tunnel the size of a giraffe
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Monster $1.2 billion sewer pipe to clean up Auckland beaches gets the go-ahead
Todd Niall (Stuff): Western Springs speedway: Announcement expected on track’s future
Vanita Prasad (Newsroom): City air pollution still too high
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council top executive resigns
Primary industries
Kirsty Lawrence (Manawatū Standard): All-women panel challenges the status-quo at AgriFood Week
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Dutch company DSM keen to trial methane cutting tech this year
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Controversial Greenpeace billboard ruled ‘misleading’
MIchael Jackson documentary
MIchelle Duff (Stuff): Can we continue to enjoy the art of Michael Jackson and others?
Sinead Corcoran (Stuff): Cotton On staff ‘told not to sell Michael Jackson apparel’
Herald: Psychologist: Kiwis ‘triggered’ to get help by Michael Jackson doco Leaving Neverland
Other
Chris Keall (Herald): Privacy Bill: Commissioner misses out on two wish-list items
Shane Te Pou (Stuff): Why Nats need to start planning for life after Simon Bridges
Bryan Gould: The health of the public debate
Herald: Commerce Commission scrutinises upmarket fashion label Adrienne Winkelmann
Lynn Prentice (Standard): Human Rights decision is quite pointed
Pete George: Why did the Human Rights privacy decision against Slater take so long?
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Fonterra making move to environmentally cleaner fuel option
Newshub: Could the new tourism levy create travel chaos? (video)
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Northlake residents fear speaking out on hotel development
RNZ: Pacific peoples fight to find themselves in NZ’s Far North
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Revealed: Large majority of Kiwis want abortion law change – Newshub-Reid Research poll
RNZ: Funeral grants not keeping up with rising costs of burial
Chris Morris (ODT): Sports club’s approach to alcohol ‘bewildering’
Tim Miller (ODT): Student bar fights to keep longer hours
Leighton Smith podcast: Talking Michael Jackson, climate change and addiction
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Does NZ want corporates producing potent cannabis here?
Bill Ralston (Listener): What the Govt should do about Kiwi jihadist Mark Taylor
Amy Ridout (Nelson Mail): ‘Feminism is for everyone’, say the women bringing Pussy Riot to Nelson
RNZ: NZ to boost its policing support to Vanuatu
Tina Law (Press): New $11m golf driving range planned for QEII Park a step closer
Cas Marrett (Stuff): Life yet for earthquake-damaged Lancaster Park
Jamie Morton (Herald): NZ scientists call for moratorium on human genome editing
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Calls for a freeze on editing reproductive DNA
Dionne Christian (Herald): Auckland Writers Festival 2019 lineup revealed: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to star
Herald: NZ’s ‘First Baby’ Neve hit by bird poo, reveals Jacinda’s Ardern’s partner Clarke Gayford
