Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – April 12 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.

Today’s content

Spy agencies, foreign political influence
RNZ: MPs to consider ban on foreign political donations
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Spies shine light on interference, in spotlight over terror
Jo Moir (RNZ): Foreign political interference in NZ from ‘a range of actors’ – spy agency heads
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Spy agencies concerned about foreign political donations and influence campaigns
Lucy Bennett (Herald): SIS and GCSB chiefs brief MPs on potential for foreign interference in NZ politics
BusinessDesk: No election interference found
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): NZSIS sees concerning activities by state actors when it comes to donations being used to influence NZ elections
Zane Small (Newshub): GCSB boss Andrew Hampton warns against local election online voting
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Lone wolf attacks difficult to prevent – SIS head
Lucy Bennett (Herald): SIS chief Rebecca Kitteridge and GCSB head Andrew Hampton answer questions about Christchurch mosque terror attack
Lucy Bennett (Herald): SIS chief Rebecca Kitteridge’s condolences for victims
Jane Patterson (RNZ): SIS director Rebecca Kitteridge offers condolences to Christchurch attack victims
No Right Turn: How the SIS can protect NZ elections
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Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Spy bosses dragged into Jami-Lee Ross-Simon Bridges saga
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jami-Lee Ross makes new claim of Chinese influence
Herald: Jami-Lee Ross raises issues of foreign interference at select committee
Zane Small (Newshub): Jami-Lee Ross brings more allegations against National’s Simon Bridges
MIchael Reddell: Foreign interference and deference to foreign powers

Government MPs vote down Pharmac inquiry
RNZ: Labour MP rejects claims she said Health Minister nixed Pharmac inquiry
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Select committee inquiry into Pharmac would be too slow – Labour
Alan Kenyon (1News): Peters accuses Bennett of using people’s illnesses to gain ‘political points’ in exchange about Pharmac funding
Peter Dunne: A ‘wide ranging, fundamental investigation’ is required
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Duncan Garner complains to Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier on air about breast cancer drug funding

Hate speech, racism
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): “We’re All Behind You.”
Peter Cresswell: “Hate speech is whatever I say it is.”

Israel Folau
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The tiny victory of making Israel Folau a martyr for homophobia
Morgan Begg (Sydney Morning Herald): Israel Folau’s banning for expressing an opinion would be ‘totalitarian’
1News: Watch: Jacinda Ardern worried about impact of Israel Folau’s latest anti-gay outburst on vulnerable young people
Herald: Jacinda Ardern fires back at Israel Folau and social media comments
Stuff: Jacinda Ardern ‘totally disagrees’ with Israel Folau anti-gay social media posts
Emma Clark (Newshub): ‘I totally disagree’: Jacinda Ardern rubbishes Israel Folau’s ‘damaging’ anti-gay post
Stuff: Politicians react to Israel Folau’s social media post about hell-bound sinners

Transport
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Shane Jones will only be encouraged by calls for him to resign
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Shane Jones called on to resign over intervention in prosecution of a Northland transport company
Nick Truebridge (Stuff): SkyPath Trust set to demand $1.6m NZTA payment after ‘unauthorised’ use of designs
Simon Wilson (Herald): Time for bikes to slow down too
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The simple truth is people love cars, not public transport

Social media
Gordon Campbell: On the policing of social media content
Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern says Facebook should have removed gunman’s livestream immediately
Alan Kenyon (1News): Ardern responds to Facebook’s claim terrorist attack video wasn’t gruesome enough to be picked up by algorithm
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Christchurch shooting live stream reportedly didn’t have ‘enough gore’ for system to catch it
Chris Keall (Herald): Privacy Commissioner deletes Facebook ‘pathological liars’ tweet
Chris Chang (1News): Some companies resume ads on social media after withdrawal over Christchurch terrorist attack livestream
Damien Venuto (Herald): Advertising after Christchurch – when is it okay to go back?

Gun laws, firearms
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Second tranche of new gun laws on horizon after Christchurch massacre
Daisy Hudson (Mountain Scene): Top Queenstown cop doxxed by US anti-gun control group
RNZ: How police plan to implement new firearms laws
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Potential loophole exposed in semi-automatics ban
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Police deputy commissioner Mike Clement tells gun owners to resist urge to shoot prohibited firearms
Derek Cheng (Herald): Police to gun community: Amnesty doesn’t apply to gun use
Herald: People in possession of banned firearms must tell police
1News: Governor General signs Arms Amendment Act into law
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy officially signs gun ban into law
Washington Post Editorial: ‘Common sense leadership’

Christchurch mosque shootings, extremism
John Battersby (Herald): We are repeating common counter-terrorism mistakes
Stephen Franks: Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Christchurch attack
Muriel Newman: The Consequences of a Tragedy
Breanna Barraclough (Newshub): Man arrested after abusive confrontation at Christchurch mosque
RNZ: Man arrested over anti-Muslim tirade outside Christchurch mosque
Mark Quinlivan and Annabelle Tukia (Newshub): Police dismissed Trump fan’s abuse at Christchurch mosque as ‘free speech’, witness claims
Oliver Lewis and Tom Kitchin (Stuff): Trump shirt-wearing abuser ‘should have been arrested on the spot’ outside Christchurch mosque
1News: Jacinda Ardern’s message of ‘love triumphing over hate’ hailed by UN official on visit to Christchurch
Herald: Women in the World summit 2019: Oprah praises Jacinda Ardern’s leadership
Stuff and AP: Oprah Winfrey praises PM Jacinda Ardern for Christchurch mosque shootings response
1News: Oprah Winfrey praises Jacinda Ardern after Christchurch terrorist attacks – ‘Never seen such leadership’

Anzac Day
Rebecca Moore (1News): Aucklanders threaten to organise rogue Anzac Day services in face of police cancellations
RNZ: Queenstown’s Anzac dawn service to go ahead but parade axed
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Queenstown’s Anzac Day march called off amid security concerns

Primary industries
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Commercial fishing company becomes first to be banned in New Zealand
RNZ: Company banned from fishing for three years
Sam Kilmister (Manawatū Standard): Farmers up to the challenge of reaching climate change targets

Environment, climate change
Stuff: New Zealand’s greenhouse gas emissions are increasing
Jamie Morton (Herald): Rising NZ emissions sparks call for transport crackdown
BusinesDesk: Insurance hikes needed for climate change, says Greens leader James Shaw
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Beach-loving New Zealanders living near rising seas could face relocation plans within a decade
No Right Turn: Climate Change: The latest inventory
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Climate change plan aims to make Christchurch carbon neutral ahead of 2050 target
Kate Gudsell (RNZ): Climate change: Wellington council’s coastal erosion buffer plans lauded
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior discharges ‘discoloured material’ into Bluff Harbour
Amy Williams (RNZ): Auckland parks with unprotected kauri trees a worry for locals
Margaret Stanley (Newsroom): Conservation has to be in our own backyards

Education and immigration fraud
RNZ: International College of Auckland fined $40,000 for immigration fraud
RNZ: National questions fees-free policy after student survey
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Otago University calls hui to address safety of women in residential college
Josephine Franks (Stuff): White supremacists going unchallenged at Auckland University, students say 
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): White supremacist movement growing at Auckland uni, students say
Herald: University of Auckland say they have taken action against student who harassed others
Imran Ali (Northern Advocate): Nearly 3000 teachers in Northland give the Government ultimatum

Health
Hannah Martin (Stuff): ‘Appalling’ child tooth decay rates in Northland and Auckland
1News: Two in five Kiwi kids have one or more teeth missing, filled or decayed when they start school – study
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Government support for rural medical training hubs puts Waikato medical school proposal on backburner
Liu Chen (RNZ): Baby with rare cancer, brain abnormality fights to survive
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Distraught woman gives up on Lifeline after phone call put on hold

Child welfare, state care inquiry
MIchelle Duff (Stuff): Ongoing issues with the inquiry into state care risk its very survival
Jamie Morton (Herald): Home truths: what hurts and helps Kiwi kids’ development

Foreign investment
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Foreign investment focuses on forestry as sales rise
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): OIO engages early to weed out applications
RNZ: Bangladeshis trafficked to Vanuatu want resettlement in New Zealand or Australia

Corrections
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Timing of Corrections tie-down bed ban questioned by researchers
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Corrections failed to ‘prioritise’ tie-down prison bed removal, Amnesty International claims
RNZ: Corrections bans tie-down beds two years after critical report

Tax
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Māori land must be exempt from capital gains tax
Kirk Hope (Stuff): It’s a capital gains tax, but its not like all the others
Andrew Bayly (Stuff): Why I’m worried about a capital gains tax

Local government
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Local body politicians call on the NZ Super Fund to finance a new Auckland harbour crossing
Matthew Littlewood and Paul Gorman (Stuff): South Canterbury to get two ECan representatives
Jim Tucker (Taranaki Daily News): Council taken to task for lack of consultation
Christina Persico (Taranaki Daily News): New Plymouth council needs better gender balance, candidate says
Jane Matthews (Stuff): A very important council meeting at the Republic of Whangamomona
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): She spoke for the trees – Now she must pay $10,000
Adam Burns (ODT): Woman hit with $12k bill for trying to save trees
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Vote of no confidence against Buller mayor after waste-to-energy debacle
Logan Savory (Southland Times): Councillors line up for Sir Tim Shadbolt’s mayoralty job
Jared McCulloch (Newshub): Long-standing city councillor ready to battle Sir Tim Shadbolt
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Misspelled Māori Wellington place and street names may be fixed

Earthquakes
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Time to seismically strengthen Wellington buildings on key escape routes halved
RNZ: High-risk Wellington buildings handed shorter quake-strengthening deadline
RNZ: Naenae Pool closes over earthquake concerns

Foreign Affairs
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ attack used to justify China’s Muslim crackdown
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Silver lining to world’s instability
Bruce Munro and Robert Patman (ODT): Global Insight: Dangers in Brexit push

Employment
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Closing the gap between the minimum wage and the living wage
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): No Mike Hosking, not all people who can’t find work are lazy
RNZ: Kiribati wants more seasonal workers to Aust, NZ
1News: Kindy teacher awarded $30k for hurt and humiliation in ‘ground-breaking’ workplace bullying case

Colin Craig vs Jordan Williams
Herald: Former Conservative Party leader Colin Craig wins retrial in defamation case brought by Taxpayer Union’s Jordan Williams
Stuff: Colin Craig wins latest defamation duel with Jordan Williams, retrial ordered
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Jordan Williams defamation case against Colin Craig: Retrial ordered by Supreme Court

Other
Brian Easton (Pundit): Have We Abandoned the Egalitarian Society?
Rosemary McLeod (Stuff): Leave the faithful alone – they’re as entitled to hold a view as the next person
Press Editorial: NZ census: A black hole of big data
Herald Editorial: Euthanasia bill will not go far enough for some
Herald: The man National Leader Simon Bridges described as emotional junior staffer’ turns out to be not so junior after all
Steven Cowan: The failed centrism of the Green Party
Jason Walls (Herald): Justice Minister Andrew Little to attend intergovernmental meeting on terrorism financing
Heta Gardiner (Māori TV): Overlapping Treaty claim issues “inevitable” – Finlayson
Brian Fallow (Herald): Quick fix is no fix for our failing cities
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Residents want to end ‘racist’ pamphlets
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Mahuta commends Hauraki housing project
BusinessDesk: Reputation increasingly difficult to protect
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): New OIA info points to scant RBNZ analysis behind bank capital proposal
Aimee Shaw (Herald): ‘Arms race against cybersecurity’: New Zealand businesses need to take threats seriously: expert
Holly Carran (Newshub): New Zealand horse racing ‘in crisis’ as seven tracks close for good
1News: PM Jacinda Ardern takes to the phones as Plunket helpline operator for service’s 25th anniversary