Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – May 08 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
Cannabis referendum
Andrew Geddis (Pundit): Reeferedum thoughts
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Non-binding referendum open to many changes
Audrey Young (Herald): Personal cannabis use promises to set 2020 election alight
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): So-called binding cannabis referendum latest dead rat for Greens to swallow
Graeme Edgeler (Spinoff): What we know about the cannabis referendum in 10 easy questions
Russell Brown: What you will – and won’t – be voting for in next year’s cannabis referendum
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Explainer: The cannabis referendum and why it isn’t binding
Jamie Ensor and Edward O’Driscoll (Newshub): Nightmare for employers if cannabis legalised – expert
Dominic Harris, Oliver Lewis and Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): A joint with your beer could be some way off, even if cannabis is legalised in New Zealand
RNZ: Cannabis referendum: No simple fix to drug law – community worker
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): There’s hope we can stop the legalisation of cannabis
RNZ: Cannabis legislation will be drafted ‘well in advance’ of 2020 election – Little
Zane Small (Newshub): Winston Peters calls for more police if cannabis vote doesn’t pass
Simon Collins (Herald): Minority scared to speak up on cannabis
Dominion Post Editorial: Public to have big say on framing possible cannabis legislation
1News: Kiwis could grow cannabis, buy from licensed retailers if it’s legalised after referendum
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Cannabis referendum: A simple yes or no question on reform at 2020 General Election
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Cannabis referendum to be a yes/no question, govt confirms
Anna Whyte (1News): Details of 2020 cannabis referendum released, including proposed purchase age
Derek Cheng (Herald): Special cafes and approved retail outlets proposed for legal cannabis market
Zane Small (Newshub): Government reveals details of cannabis referendum
Zane Small (Newshub): Cannabis referendum: Why the Government decided on legal age of 20
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Draft law will legalise cannabis for over 20s
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Govt confirms yes/no question for cannabis referendum
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Govt releases 2020 cannabis referendum details
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern tempers expectations of binding cannabis referendum
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party won’t commit to enacting result of 2020 cannabis referendum
No Right Turn: Not binding
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Chlöe Swarbrick, Patrick Gower butt heads over cabinet leak
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Cannabis referendum: A snapshot of MPs’ views
Herald: MPs asked whether they have ever smoked cannabis
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Revealed: The MPs who have smoked marijuana
Sam Kilmister (Manawatū Standard): Manawatū addiction worker gives thumbs up to legalising cannabis
Environment, primary and extractive industries
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Details of how the Govt will fight climate change to finally be revealed
Jonathan Watts (Guardian): Human society under urgent threat from loss of Earth’s natural life
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): ‘We have to react with speed, scale’ – Iwi leaders on climate change
RNZ: Bleak biodiversity report: ‘It is going to take quite transformative change’
Greg Roughan (RNZ): Sacrificing freedoms to halt decay of nature: Is this the biggest scroll-past-me headline ever?
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Behind the scenes of the biodiversity report
AAP: Why biodiversity matters to you
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): NZ Petroleum Conference hides date and location to thwart protestors
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Mayor says jobs will suffer after Minister Eugenie Sage cans mining company’s land buy
Robin Martin (RNZ):Seawall stoush leaves Taranaki pensioner in the lurch
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Limit water allocations and make rights tradeable – report
Indira Stewart (RNZ): Fonterra changes tanker schedule for #1 fan
Welfare
1News: Welfare Advisory Group member ‘disappointed’ at Government’s response to its report
Gordon Campbell: On the government’s timidity on welfare reform
1News: Government won’t lift benefits before next election
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Ministry of Social Development appoints top of the south regional commissioner
Health
Carl Shuker and Robin Gould (Spinoff): The numbers don’t lie: how inequality is baked into the NZ health system
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Health Minister David Clark sacks Waikato DHB, replaces with commissioner
Stuff: Health Minister David Clark sacks Waikato DHB board
RNZ: Health Minister replaces Waikato DHB board with Commissioner
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Health Minister David Clark sacks board, appoints commissioner for Waikato DHB
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Waikato DHB sacked, replaced with commissioner
David Farrar: Waikato DHB sacked
RNZ: Schools asked to consider excluding unvaccinated children
Herald: Toddler death: Health Minister expects DHB to review policie
RNZ: DHB failed child taken to hospital four times before dying – report
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Council vaping-bans ‘out of sync’ with new Government recommendations
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Doctors demand change in way pain is treated to tackle opioid problem
Katarina Williams (RNZ): It costs DHBs far more than other sleep drugs, yet melatonin prescriptions for children are skyrocketing
RNZ: Te Anau residents concerned about holes in maternity services
Laura Dooney (RNZ): Healthier homes for healthier children in Porirua
Miranda Cook (ODT): Agencies unite to tackle air pollution
Tara Jackson (Stuff): Why do we allow these cruel animal tests to continue in NZ?
Katie Fitzgerald and Hayley Jacobsen (Newshub): Half of male doctors suffering burnout in New Zealand
RNZ: Social media effect ‘tiny’ in teenagers, large study find
Pharmac, cancer funding and treatment in NZ
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Winston Peters supports drugs early access trial
Emma Russell (Herald): Cancer sufferers wait up to six months for treatment – ‘it’s costing lives’ (paywall)
Emma Jolliff (Newshub): Hundreds demand Government funding for cancer drugs
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ‘You can’t put a price on someone’s life’: 30 year-old breast cancer survivor marches to demand Pharmac fund the drugs that saved her life
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Cancer sufferers deliver eight Pharmac funding petitions to Parliament
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Another march towards Pharmac funding
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Petitioners march on parliament calling for funding for lung cancer drugs
RNZ: Petition calls on government to fund more lung cancer medications
Shelly Bay
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Sell or die: Trust reveals why it had to sell Shelly Bay
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Peter Jackson hires quantity survey company in Shelly Bay saga
Education
Andy Fyers (Stuff): New statistics show that NCEA ethnicity gaps widen as pass rates fall
Stuff: Government’s new $1.2b offer for teachers ‘best in a decade’
RNZ: Rising rates of violence against teachers – survey
1News: Should New Zealand history be compulsory in schools?
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Free tablet a ‘slap in the face’ for those who can’t pay school donation, parent says
Michael Neilson (Herald): Māori youth say better cultural awareness needed in schools – Unicef report
Kelley Tauntau (Stuff): Safety for schools along state highways a ‘concern’, minister says
Foreign affairs
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Experts fume over foreign interference ‘shambles’
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Trade Minister David Parker pays lip service to China’s ‘broader, cleaner, greener’ Belt and Road Initiative
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Many ways China could be spying on Kiwis – expert
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Any Huawei ban should not come down to geopolitics (paywalled)
Christchurch mosque shootings
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): More leaders commit to attend social media summit prompted by Christchurch shootings
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): ‘Christchurch Call’ fall short of the scale of terror online, report says
Chris Keall (Herald): Jacinda Ardern’s ‘Christchurch Call’ Paris summit will fall short: Law Foundation (paywalled)
Simon Collins (Herald): Ardern urged to tame Facebook and YouTube programs that feed extremist content
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Victim Support releasing plan for Christchurch terror attack funds this week – Prime Minister
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern says details of the distribution of money raised after the Christchurch attack is coming soon
RNZ: Plan for distributing rest of mosque donations to be released
RNZ: Christchurch mosque first in world to use high-tech security cameras
Mark Quinlivan and Mel Logan (Newshub): Christchurch’s Al-Noor Mosque first in the world to try new weapon detectio
Welington
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Wellington council boasts of living wage as some workers on minimum pay
RNZ: Woman’s work shifts cancelled after asking for mat to stand on
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Wellington Central Library: ‘Knock it down and start afresh’ option with earthquake rating pending
1News: Mum defends decision to breastfeed child in public pool after being told to get out by staff
Auckland
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Third ‘name’ considers Auckland mayoral bid
Tom McRae (Stuff): Auckland Council takes itself to court over luxury apartment block
NZ-Aus cities comparison
1News: Aucklanders’ annual discretionary income falls $5000 in a decade – new report
Zane Small (Newshub): Housing Minister’s concern as report reveals New Zealand cities ‘performing poorly’
Justice and corrections
Jarrod Gilbert (Herald): All win when inmates take hire path (paywalled)
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): First Māori on the Supreme Court bench wants a focus on his culture
RNZ: NZ First calls for culmulative sentencing for inmates who attack prison guards
Brian Tamaki
1News: Destiny’s Brian Tamaki insists he spent two years applying for Man Up programme to get access to prisons
Jason Walls (Herald): Brian Tamaki’s political involvement in 2020 election would bolster his rival’s campaign bank account, Kelvin Davis says
Parliament
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): The Annual Review Debate 2019 – signing off on financial performances
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): Parliament’s to do list: Tuesday 7 May 2019
1News: Bridges kicked out of House after denying making ‘barnyard noise’, calling Speaker’s comment ‘unprofessional’
Jason Walls (Herald):National Leader Simon Bridges has been kicked out of the House and accused of making ‘barnyard animal’ noises
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): National Party leader Simon Bridges ejected from Parliament during Question Time
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party leader kicked out of the House for arguing with Speaker Trevor Mallard
Vita Molyneux (Newshub):‘Naughty boy’ Simon Bridges booted from Parliament for ‘barnyard noise’ during question time
Other
Audrey Young (Herald): The PM’s inner circle – the 12 people who have her ear (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Minister wants radical new rresponse to abuse inquiry
Paul Buchanan: Launching into trouble?
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): As employment and inflation weaken, just how low could interest rates go?
Wilhelmina Shrimpton (Newshub): Major uncertainty surrounds official cash rate announcement
1News: Top cop does not see armed police as NZ’s future
Tom McKinlay (ODT): Parking the cars
1News: Urban Māori should be encouraged to learn about culture, not criticised, says Melodie Robinson
Stuff: K Rd Chronicles, episode 1: Six the journalist
Kim Baker Wilson (1News): Veterans gather in Christchurch to mark 50 years since they were sent to Vietnam
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): KiwiSaver calculators show lack of consistency
Sally Round (RNZ):Invest in people for growth World Bank urges Pacific
RNZ: Refugee suicide attempts ‘epidemic’ on Manus Island
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Surge in Auckland building activity with new home consents up 24 per cent
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): What if you don’t have a ‘bank of Mum and Dad’?
Chris Morris (ODT): Call for cheaper alcohol
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): North Island military exercise begins today
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Captain Cook statue relocated
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Historic Feilding buildings locked into quake strengthening regime
Vernon Tava: Policy Outline for the Sustainable New Zealand Party
Heta Gardiner, Kawe Roes (Māori TV): Te Wharehuia Milroy – A life in service of Māoridom
RNZ: Te reo Māori expert Wharehuia Milroy dies
