Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – May 07 2019
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Today’s content
Environment
Spinoff: You live on a planet facing a million-species extinction
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Million species facing extinction: report
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): A million species are threatened with extinction, and the rates are accelerating
RNZ/BBC: Wildlife and ecosystem biodiversity in ‘unprecedented’ decline
Herald: Humans at risk as planet enters sixth wave of extinction, UN report shows
Georgie Ormond (Herald): Local Focus: 1080 debate rages on in Whanganui
Drug policy, cannabis referendum
Alexander Gillespie (RNZ): New Zealand’s drug policy revolution
Derek Cheng (Herald): Special cafes? Home-grown? Cannabis referendum details out today
RNZ: PM: No investigation into Cabinet leak on cannabis poll options
1News: Prime Minister says there’ll be no investigation into leak of details about cannabis referendum
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Leaks form backdrop to cannabis referendum
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Cannabis referendum question decided by Government
Jo Moir (RNZ): Cannabis referendum: Government to announce consensus on question
Derek Cheng (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says cannabis referendum announcements will be later this week
Derek Cheng (Herald): Legal cannabis proposal could see special cafes or bars for ‘safe’ consumption
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Cannabis referendum: The forms of cannabis the Government is considering including
Zane Small: Legalising cannabis in New Zealand: Lessons from Canada
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Why I believe the Government’s drug reform plans are insane
Russell Brown: Cabinet and the Reeferendum
Methamphetamine
Kirsty Johnston and Jared Savage (Herald): New Zealand tried for 20 years to curb its methamphetamine crisis. It failed.
Kirsty Johnston (Herald): Fighting the Demon: She’s lost friends, family and almost her life. But she can’t quit meth.
Herald Editorial: Grappling with the demon of methamphetamine
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Media and meth: The NZ Herald goes deep on the destructive drug
China-NZ relations, Huawei
Richard Harman (Politik): Ardern in charge of China
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Govt stresses strength of China relationship
Andrew Bowater (Stuff): Huawei NZ: ‘We know the rumours, gossip and innuendo about us’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Huawei boss says they’d have been ‘kicked out’ of NZ if they were spies
Katie Bradford (1News): Huawei boss: ‘Lots of friction, little fact’ after GCSB’s 5G decision
John Anthony (Stuff): Huawei staff left in tears following GCSB decision, boss says
Nikki Mandow (BusinessDesk): Huawei calls for talks with GCSB minister on 5G
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Huawei lashes out at Government
Barry Soper (*Newstalk ZB): Difficulty of doing business with China highlighted by Air New Zealand
Nikki Mandow (BusinessDesk): Air New Zealand’s $100m struggle in China
Michael Reddell: A certificate of shame
Elena McPhee (ODT): Otago lecturer’s article censored by China
Welfare, inequality
Arthur Grimes (Newsroom): The wellbeing Government’s empathy for the rich
David Cormack (Herald): The poor shall eat the wealth (paywalled)
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Expediency rather than transformation on welfare reform (paywalled)
Newshub: Welfare reform: Children’s Commissioner attacks Government’s ‘timid’ response to report
Newshub: Welfare system has ‘lost’ what it ‘should be about’ – PM Jacinda Ardern
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): That disgusting benefit sanction is gone
Steven Cowan: Why is Marama Davidson in Parliament?
Justice, corrections
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Checkpoint: Community fights plans for 4th prison within 4km
Imogen Neale (Stuff): Four prisons in 4 kilometres: locals say ‘no’ to youth prison proposal
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Judges ordered cultural reports ‘in error’
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Guards refused to give inmates ice blocks
Police
Andrea Vance (Stuff): New Zealand Police halt review into adopting body cameras
Tim Watkin (Pundit): The mysterious case of the door left open and the disappearing guns
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): Police have 11,000 reports following move to online services
Julie Iles (Stuff): Auckland police officer says NZ Police could do more to cater to Deaf community
National Party
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party’s ’emotional junior staffer’ Brian Anderton resigns
Derek Cheng (Herald): ‘Emotional junior staffer’ quits National Party
RNZ: National Party ’emotional, junior staffer’ formally resigns
1News: National’s ’emotional junior staffer’ resigns
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Emotional ‘junior’ staffer resigns
Richard Davidson (ODT): MP says move will benefit rural constituents
Auckland
Todd Niall (Stuff): City Rail Link: Government rejected bid to fund more of project
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Councillor says decision to approve $500 million funding increase for City Rail Link was flawed
Greg Sayers (Herald): Auckland missed a chance to dig itself out of the CRL hole (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Two biggest threats to $4.4b City Rail Link tunnels: CEO names potential issues (paywalled)
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Elderly women take a stand as Auckland Council fights its own organisation
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Phil Goff wants unelected council-controlled organisations reviewed
Housing
David Hargreaves (Interest): Putting our houses in order
RNZ: Demand for state housing continues to outstrip supply
Lois Williams (RNZ): Whangārei people with disabilities join city’s homeless
George Block (ODT): First-home buyers taste bitter reality
Ihumātao
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Police prepare to clear Ihumātao protesters
1News: Protestors blockade access road to planned Auckland housing development
Health
James Perry (Māori TV): Māori nurse backs sugary drinks tax, but says solution closer to home
Herald: Up to eight patients exposed to unsterilised equipment at NZ hospitals
Matthew Rosenberg (Stuff): Toddler dies after hospital staff failed three times to identify possible abuse
Amy Wiggins (Herald): Three doctors ignored suspected abuse before toddler’s death
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): ‘A series of failings’: DHB blasted after toddler dies despite four hospital visits
Libby Wilson (Herald): New Zealand needs a rural health commissioner to oversee health training hubs: NZ Rural GP Network
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Measles continues to spread across New Zealand
Cancer, Pharmac
Duncan Garner (Newshub): ‘Well-being’ budget should fund cancer treatment
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Pharmac funding: How it works – and the changes its critics want (paywalled)
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Pharmac chairman backs early access scheme for new drugs (paywalled)
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Parliament rally to present eight petitions for more Pharmac funding for medicines (paywalled)
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Physician and breast cancer patient Claire McLintock on the benefits of Ibrance (paywalled)
Emma Russell (Herald): Too many people are dying of cancer because their symptoms are being ignored (paywalled)
Emma Russell (Herald): Cancer: Couple’s dreams shattered after man waits months for life-saving scan (paywalled)
Emma Russell (Herald): Cancer: Dying solo mum says she trusted her doctor and was let down (paywalled)
Mental health
1News: Rate of teen suicide ‘getting ridiculous’, protesters call for better funding from Government
Newshub: Hundreds gather outside Parliament to call for better mental health funding
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Hundreds march to Parliament for teen suicide awareness
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Bereaved father urges the govt to refocus on suicide
Anna Whyte (1News): Free mental health services for young adults rolled out across Wellington
Salient: Chlöe Swarbrick – Piki Interview
Transport
Ben Strang (RNZ): Speed limits on ‘most dangerous roads’ will drop – Genter
Zane Small (Newshub): New Zealand will support ‘more appropriate’ speed limits – Julie Anne Genter
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): Never on a Sunday – the new rule for Wellington buses
Education
RNZ: Teacher’s unions release survey showing public support
Imran Ali (Northern Advocate): Ministry offer for Northland teachers the same, union says
RNZ: Tomorrow’s Schools
Simon Collins (Herald): Modern learning: Self-directed ‘inquiries’ motivate kids to learn (paywalled)
Hayley McGlashan (Newsroom):Schools must support rainbow youth
Dileepa Fonseka and Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Victoria University of Wellington abandons plans to change its name
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Victoria University puts to bed more than just its name-change fight
Ben Strang (RNZ): Victoria University of Wellington to keep name
Herald: Victoria University of Wellington drops fight over name
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Victoria University of Wellington will keep name but undergo ‘branding refresh’
Salient: Far Right Activity at University of Auckland
Employment, migrant exploitation
Liu Chen (RNZ): Chinese construction workers caught between immigration and former employer after failed mediation
Dan Satherley (Newshub): The new meal and rest break laws – how they affect you
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Simon Bridges issues dire warning on new employment rules
1News: Four-day work week sees 40 per cent rise in engagement levels, decrease in stress – business owner
Christchurch mosque shootings
1News: Police Commissioner reiterates alleged Christchurch gunman was not ‘on anyone’s radar’
Conan Young (RNZ): Checkpoint: Donors upset at slow pace of funds distribution
RNZ: Gun lobby group want say in second amendment of firearms legislation
Brian Tamaki
1News: Brian Tamaki says he may call Hone Harawira about taking Kelvin Davis’ seat
1News: Destiny Church’s Brian Tamaki says he didn’t know Man Up members were protesting outside Christchurch’s Al Noor Mosque
Steve Braunias (Herald): Secret diary of Brian Tamaki (paywalled)
David Slack (Stuff):Brian Tamaki is not the Messiah, he’s just a very naughty boy on Twitter
Pākehā
1News: Scotty Morrison smooths troubled waters after ‘Pākehā’ called a racist term
Alex Perrottet (RNZ): Checkpoint: Is the word Pākehā racist?
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): How many times does this need to be said? Pākehā is not a slur.
Jody OCallaghan (Stuff): Claim that Pākehā a racist word is ‘rubbish’, te reo educators say
Refugees
Sophie Bateman (Newshub): Location of New Zealand’s new refugee settlement centre revealed
RNZ: Ashburton picked out for refugee regional resettlement
PIke River
Stuff: Leaky sampling tube delayed Pike River mine re-entry
RNZ: Pike River re-entry delay caused by leaking tube – recovery agency
Primary industries
Sally Rae (ODT): Bid to assess ‘M. bovis’ scheme surge
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): Wairarapa community worried pine plantations replacing farmland
Glen Herud (Stuff): Family farms going out of business but small-scale dairying could still be the future
No Right Turn: Climate Change: No future for farming II
Foreign affairs
Stuff: UN Secretary-General will visit New Zealand and give speech at AUT
1News: UN Secretary-General to visit New Zealand this month
Missy Ryan (Stuff): US sends strike group to Middle East in rebuke to Iran
Simon Hartley (ODT): Trade war affects NZ freight: report
RNZ: NZ govt committed to Vanuatu wharf project
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Family’s tale takes tragic turn
Tax
Terry Baucher (Interest): Tax pressure on NZ Super, issues with ‘simplification’, the digital services tax, and issues with automated refunds
Andrea Black: Online shopping
PM engaged
Liam Hehir (Stuff): The growth of celebrity politics should be resisted
Herald: Watch: Jacinda Ardern on her engagement, the ring and how Clarke proposed
Sophie Bateman (Newshub): PM Jacinda Ardern spills details on ‘very romantic’ proposal
Stuff: PM Jacinda Ardern was ‘surprised’ when partner Clarke Gayford proposed
RNZ: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reveals details about engagement to Clarke Gayford
Other
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): More than $1m spent by public sector on BusinessNZ memberships
Michael Neilson (Herald): Iwi power: $2.4b from 30 years of Treaty of Waitangi settlements (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Analysis: NBR’s weekly political wrap: National’s leadership in question
Graham Cameron (Spinoff): The cruelty behind Willie Jackson’s attack on Paula Bennett’s Māori identity
Alex Braae (Spinoff): TOP plunged into further disarray over payments to its leader
Joss Miller (ODT): Free speech in NZ is already under threat
Tommy Livington (Stuff): Breastmilk in breach of ‘food and beverage’ policy at Wellington City Council pools
RNZ: Westpac NZ makes $555m profit in six months
Press Editorial: Financial market reform suggestions deserve serious attention
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Conduct crack-down critiqued
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Our duty to bring them back” – Māori ancestral remains returned home
Kelvin McDonald (Māori TV): Precious korowai to return home from Australia
Tina Law (Stuff): Regenerate Christchurch wants out of beach suburbs sea-level rise project
Point of Order: Makhlouf gets credit for his promotion of well-being – but what has happened to Treasury’s well-being?
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Mt Ruapehu: Emergency training exercise for ‘major volcanic eruption’
Simon Hartley (ODT): Cut or hold? Predictions official cash rate could shift as soon as tomorrow
RNZ: NZ Defence Force helps search for missing Kiribati vessels
Sean Plunket’s Working Group with Bomber Bradbury & Damien Grant: This week – Slushies, Pike River Mine, trial coverage protocols, Simon Bridges still leader, Venezuela & trans athletes
