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
Defence
Wayne Mapp (Spinoff): This belated withdrawal suggests the 2015 Iraq controversy wasn’t all it seemed
Gordon Campbell: On the military withdrawal from Iraq
No Right Turn: Finally
Richard Harman (Politik): How Ron Mark persuaded the Greens to support our defence forces
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Defence Force’s $1b spend unnecessary – Greens
Stacey Kirk (Stuff):Why does NZ need a military? For more reasons than you might think
Jason Walls (Herald): Winston Peters: ‘A bit hard to argue’ decision to bring Kiwi troops home was a ‘Green win’
1News: NZ’s Pacific orientated defence focus not because of China’s influence in the region – Ardern
Michael Cropp (RNZ): Defence Force $20bn upgrade: Climate change driving much of plan – Minister Ron Mark
Anna Whyte (1News): Government outlines $20b Defence spend – ‘A humanitarian plan’
Zane Small (Newshub): National questions how $20 billion defence spend is ‘wellbeing’
Zane Small and Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Unmanned aircraft post-2030: Multi-billion-dollar defence plan revealed
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): NZ military $20b shopping list: Planes, boats, soldiers, satellites and drones
RNZ: NZ Defence Force spends $1 billion on newer aircraft fleet
Herald: The Defence Force $20b spending plan includes a commitment to ‘space-based activities’
Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Government eyeing replacements for old Hercules aircraft
Budget leak
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): The ugly effort to put Gabriel Makhlouf’s head on a spike (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern falls short so far in Budget ‘hack’ response
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: The Budget hack ‘cock up or conspiracy’ debate continues (paywalled)
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Poll shows whether Kiwis think Grant Robertson should resign over Budget 2019 drama
Kris Gledhill (Spinoff): Why the Treasury non-hack may still have been illegal
Jessica Mutch McKay (1News): As new details emerge of Budget leak timeline, Simon Bridges accuses PM of ‘fundamental mistruth’
Derek Cheng (Herald): Govt lays out timeline of GCSB efforts to warn Beehive over hack-gate
Zane Small (Newshub): Explained: Government provides Budget 2019 leak timeline to quash leak scandal
RNZ: Treasury’s Budget ‘hack’: timeline revealed
Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern offers three different times for GCSB phone call to Beehive (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Simon Bridges v Jacinda Ardern – the Budget ‘hack’ showdown (paywalled)
1News: Ardern divulges more information about timeline of Budget data leak, advice given to ministers
Henry Cooke (Stuff): SSC inquiry into bungled Budget document incident won’t assess legal liability
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): If GCSB told Govt on Tuesday night Treasury hack was false, why was Makhlouf allowed to front Breakfast news on Wednesday morning?
Housing
1News: Latest KiwiBuild development revealed for Auckland, as poll shows Kiwis still back the concept
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): KiwiBuild’s political cost may distract Twyford from genuine reforms
Henry Cooke (Stuff): While KiwiBuild falters, state house build rockets ahead with ninefold increase
Jane Patterson (RNZ):‘KiwiBuild’s not a welfare scheme’ – Phil Twyford
Jason Walls (Herald): Minister Phil Twyford hits back at suggestions KiwiBuild buyers should be means tested
Skara Bohny and Katy Jones (Nelson Mail): Nelson pensioners stressed by decision to sell community housing
Kate Green (Press): Three families able to settle down as new social housing development opens
Samantha Olley (Rotorua Daily Post): Dilemma unsolved for family of seven in tent in Edgecumbe, despite support (paywalled)
Kiri Gillespie (Bay of Plenty Times): Tauranga a ‘city in crisis’ as report reveals major housing shortfall
Herald: Real estate agents ordered to repay thousands of dollars after double dipping on commission
Opinion Polls
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Opinion Polling In 2019: More Art Than Science?
RNZ: Political polls ‘simply can’t both be right’ – Simon Bridges
Derek Cheng (Herald): Simon Bridges backs the poll he likes, while Jacinda Ardern does the same
Rachel Stewart (Herald): Judith Collins is polarising, but she’s not a flesh-eating zombie or a snake-headed Medusa (paywalled)
1News: Collins rules out National leadership bid, despite polling higher than Bridges as preferred PM
Point of Order: Poll points to a heartening level of support for conservatives AND for Christians
China extradition order decision
Andrew Geddis (Pundit): Justice denied is not justice at all
John Weekes (Stuff): China extradition decision ‘profound and important’ human rights victory
Jared Savage (Herald): Justice Minister Andrew Little to decide fate of alleged murderer Kyung Yup Kim after Court of Appeal quashes extradition order to China on human rights grounds
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Court of Appeal quashes decision to extradite New Zealand resident accused of murder to China
Reuters: New Zealand court orders government to reconsider first China extradition decision
AP: China urges New Zealand to extradite man accused of murder in Shanghai
Justice
Josephine Franks (Stuff): NZ’s prisons a ‘colonial eyesore’ that should be abolished, expert says
Rob Kidd and George Block (ODT): Back in jail after Mosgiel burglaries
RNZ: Former inmate committed crimes hoping to return to prison
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Our damaged, racist Prison Industry is the legacy of hate and spite as social policy
Rural-urban wellbeing divide, inequality
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Divide in wellbeing between urban and rural New Zealand – report
1News: Listening to communities’ needs starting point for improving wellbeing of rural New Zealanders – economist
BusinessDesk: Provincial growth fund no panacea to rural-urban divide: Infometrics
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Survey reveals costs of living a crisis for working people
Environment
David Williams (Newsroom): Buried report’s hard truths for regional councils
Tim Miller (ODT): Geoscience Society fears loss of fossils
Damian Rowe (Southland Times): Southland Consveration Board concerned about wildlife if deep sea oil exploration goes ahead
Robin Martin (RNZ): Taranaki freshwater flunks latest report card
Robin Martin (RNZ): Two Taranaki councillors linked to effluent spill
Kawe Roes (Māori TV): First Māori climate change panel to tackle climate emergency
Katie Todd (RNZ): Fox River clean-up volunteers plead for help
Simon Hartley (ODT): 900 dams to be under scrutiny
Education
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): New Zealanders support teachers’ pay increase – poll
RNZ: Education Minister Hipkins keeps teacher pay and protest negotiations under wraps
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Valuing teachers: Does pay deal stack up?
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Children could be sent home from school if teacher shortage gets worse, principal warns
Jessica Long (Stuff): Decile 8-10 schools feel ‘short-changed’ by Government’s exclusion to $150 voluntary donations scheme
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Concerns visa delays could cost education sector billions
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Former charter school remains in property limbo
Māori TV: Progress for re-establishment at old St Stephen’s site
John Lewis (ODT): Threat of parents removing pupils
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): New $130m dental school opens in Dunedin
State care of children
RNZ: The Detail: NZ’s own stolen generation
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Oranga Tamariki taking Newsroom to court
Newsroom: Nobody wants ‘horrific experience’ of child uplifts – Ardern
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): PM speaks out about Māori children in state care
Phill Predeville (Newsroom): The midwife fighting for her patients’ babies
Bonnie Sumner (Newsroom): Health board member muzzled over uplift
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Once Were Warriors 25 years on: Children still fighting family removal, Māori more than most
Refugees
Isaac Davison (Herald): Refugees stranded at resettlement centre in Auckland because of housing shortage (paywalled)
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Child marriage in NZ: MP calls for Immigration to stop giving partnership visas to children
Tax
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Raising top tax rate by 1.5% would pay for a big hike in the $70,000 threshold
Terry Baucher (Spinoff): If NZ believed in fairness it’d join other countries in introducing a Google tax now
Climate change emergencies
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Climate change emergencies and what they mean for New Zealand
Jamie Morton (Herald): Explained: What does Auckland’s ‘climate emergency’ actually mean? (paywalled)
RNZ: Climate emergency declaration: Auckland Council challenged to act
Simon Wilson Herald): It’s official: Auckland has a climate emergency
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Auckland Council votes unanimously to declare a climate emergency
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council declares climate change emergency
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Auckland Council declares climate emergency
No Right Turn: Climate Change: A climate emergency in Auckland
Anusha Brardley (RNZ): Hawke’s Bay Regional Council to declare climate change emergency
Local government
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Wellington City Council’s property deals in spotlight again over pocket park
Dileepa Fonseka Stuff): Let’s Get Wellington’s Buses Moving: Wellington councils team up to enact long-awaited bus route fixes
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Aro Valley’s vigilante community compost to be shut down by the Wellington City Council
Stephen Forbes (Interest): NZTA cancels key transport funding meeting with Auckland Council
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): The Auckland mayoral hopeful and the journalist
Tom McRae (Newshub): America’s Cup bases might not be needed as challengers pull out
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Auckland Council could get new powers to ban alcohol at festivals and concerts
Matthew Rosenberg (Stuff): Auckland Council’s $20m spend on graffiti removal comes under fire
Andre Chumko and Bethany Reitsma (Stuff): Te Mata Peak track hearings start in Hastings
RNZ: Te Mata Peak track: Hastings Council apologises to iwi
Jono Edwards (ODT): Ngai Tahu to join ORC today
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Economic development jobs on chopping block in restructure
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): ‘Alternative approach’ to rates not needed as council moves money around
Health, dental care, disability
1News: Thousands call for more affordable dental care in petition delivered to Parliament
Isaac Davison (Herald): Record increase in disability support in Budget doesn’t make up for $83m overspend last year, advocates say
Mandy Te (Stuff): Senior staff hold talks after strike action increases wait times at Auckland DHB
Emma Russell (Herald): DHBs spend more than $19m on staff cover during doctors strikes
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Mental health crisis spills into hospital wards
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Hutt Hospital nurse recounts ‘traumatising’ attack in emergency department
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Flaxmere bottle store’s licence renewed despite opposition
RNZ: Wanaka midwives support group rejects DHB’s claims over office birth
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Health board backtracks on birthing unit in Canterbury
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Measles outbreak: more than a third of patients this year required hospital treatment
Hannah Martin (Stuff): NZ measles outbreak: Confirmed cases in 12 of 20 health boards across the country
RNZ: Only 70 % of Auckland public water fountains drinkable, clean
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): ACC to shed 20 jobs in Palmerston North as provinces endures pain of national restructure
Emma Russell (Herald): Dying mum fears ACC won’t make a decision on her compensation claim while she’s alive (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Gisborne is New Zealand’s worst smoking hotspot
Emma Russell (Herald): Concerns loom vaping is being marketed as ‘cool lifestyle choice’ (paywalled)
Sophie Trigger (Stuff): Health board puts town centre smoking on notice as smokefree countdown continues
Brianna McIlraith (Stuff): Teen cancer survivors struggling since charity closed regional branches
Samesh Mohnlall (Timaru Herald): SCDHB bowel screening programme to launch in 2020
John Gibb (ODT): High reported rate of Legionnaires’ in NZ: study
Brittney Deguara and Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): NZ the Legionnaires’ capital of the world, study finds
Jordan Oppert (1News): Study reveals NZ has one of the world’s highest rates of Legionnaires’ disease
Jamie Ensor and Ella Predergast (Newshub): Men’s Health Week: Researcher interviewing 500 men to understand suicide rates in building industry
Transport, road safety
Ben Strang (RNZ): Road safety strategy: Increased speed camera use divides experts
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Bump in the road over idea cutting speed limits will save lives
Stuff: Cycleway for Manawatū Gorge replacement highway jumps another hurdle
Police
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Man flung into wall and knocked unconscious by custody officer
1News: Police officer who threw man in custody against wall found to have used ‘unnecessary and excessive’ force
Amy Williams (RNZ): Police used excessive force throwing man against wall – IPCA
George Block (ODT): Fewer puppies, more operations recommendation to police
RNZ: NZ to send police to assist Vanuatu counterparts
Primary industries
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Government may ban live cattle exports
Herald: Ban on live cattle exports considered
Jacinda Ardern (Stuff): Fieldays a time for government to see innovation and listen to rural sector, says PM
Northern Advocate: Shane Jones: Farmers need townies
Stuff: Eradicating Mycoplasma bovis will take years
Kim Dotcom
David Fisher (Herald): ‘Propaganda’ – how Kim Dotcom’s lawyer described copyright warnings on movies
David Fisher (Herald): When the Supreme Court hatched a plan during the Kim Dotcom case to take a novel and sell it on the street (paywalled)
Tapu Te Ranga Marae fire
Meriana Johnse (RNZ): Tapu Te Ranga marae fire damage: Whānau plan for new chapter
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Tapu Te Ranga Marae fire: Potting shed the only structure with consent
Diane Maxwell
Emma McKay (Herald): Retirement Commissioner Diane Maxwell says she’s ‘tough and frank’, but not a bully
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Did Diane Maxwell get natural justice from Government? No
Other
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Some prime ministers leave their mark; some are remembered only for their popularity
Michael Hayward (Stuff): EQC gets another $45m top up from the public purse
Liz McDonald (Stuff): Funding cut, early end for controversial rebuild body Regenerate Christchurch
No Right Turn: The OIA and Parliamentary Privilege
RNZ: Checkpoint: Mosque shooting witnesses want same support as injured
Anjum Rahman (Spinoff): Thanks for the offer but I’d rather not debate my own humanity
Che Baker (Southland Times): Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor praises Southlanders
Michael Reddell: As obstructive as ever
Stuff: It seemed like a simple loan for a new car; it quickly spiralled out of control
RNZ: Most people give little thought to insuring against personal loss
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Māori Wardens look to re-establish role within community
Dominion Post Editorial: NZR got it wrong over decision to keep Crusaders name
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Can New Zealand’s superannuation age remain at 65?
Mike Smith (The Standard): FiveEyes on our election
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): China’s censors block Newsroom
Losirene Lacanivalu (Cook Islands News): 9-year-old Ngatupuna Raela is home with family in Cook Islands after she was detained in US camp
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Residents worry about Golden Bay getting busier after funding
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Lack of access to Fox Glacier causes businesses to suffer
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): Air New Zealand turnaround on tattoos overdue
Raniera Harrison (Māori TV): Former Air NZ hostess-turned-moko artist says policy change well overdue
Bruce Cunningham (Stuff): My hopeless job hunt: Am I being overlooked because of my age?
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Animal abuse in NZ: Call for law changes as pets found with ‘lungs full of meth’
