New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.
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Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.

New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.

Today’s content

State care of children
Laura Walters and Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): How the three inquiries into Oranga Tamariki will work
Michael Neilson (Herald): Uplifted babies: Public outcry at state taking Māori infants
RNZ: Checkpoint: Ombudsman to investigate Oranga Tamariki uplifts
1News: Ombudsman launches ‘wide-ranging and independent’ investigation into baby uplifts by Oranga Tamariki
RNZ: Ombudsman announces ‘wide ranging’ investigation into Oranga Tamariki
Laura Walters and Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ombudsman launches independent investigation into Oranga Tamariki
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Chief Ombudsman inquiry into Oranga Tamariki third investigation into child uplifts
Stuff: Ombudsman to investigate Oranga Tamariki process for newborn baby removal
Jamie Ensor and Hayley Jacobsen (Newshub): Oranga Tamariki Minister Tracey Martin admits Hawke’s Bay attempted uplift wasn’t ‘well done’
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Oranga Tamariki uplifts ‘should be the last resort’ – Simon Bridges
Newsroom: Baby’s whānau rejects Minister’s internal inquiry
Hawkes Bay Today: Baby uplift attempt court case: Hearing delayed for two months
Laura Wiltshire (Hawkes Bay Today): ‘A mosh-pit of dysfunction’: Baby uplift inquiries need to include hospital, outspoken DHB member says
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Low confidence new Oranga Tamariki laws will help Māori
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Solutions for Māori in state care ‘ignored’ 30 years ago
Tina Ngata (Spinoff): Uplifting children is not a Māori problem. It’s a colonisation problem

Government
Claire Trevett (Herald): Labour’s transparency drive falters in dance of many hats (paywalled)
No Right Turn: An invitation to corruption
David Farrar: Imagine the outcry if this was a National PM’s Office
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern confident a potential conflict of interest with former chief of staff managed appropriately
Henry Cooke (Stuff): PM Jacinda Ardern says lobbyist chief of staff matter handled appropriately
1News: Jacinda Ardern joins ‘Good Bitches’ charity at Wellington shelter to deliver homemade cupcakes
Jamie-Lee Bracken (Stuff): Prime Minister whips up treats and becomes a ‘Good Bitch’ for the day
Jason Walls (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has spent time with Lorde at a private dinner in Auckland
1News: Happy birthday, Neve! A look back at ‘First Baby’ Neve Ardern Gayford’s first 12 months

Banks
Kate MacNamara (Stuff): How much more is ANZ obliged to divulge over the David Hisco affair?
Liam Dann (Herald): Was ANZ’s David Hisco thrown under the bus? And other big questions still unanswered (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Integrity at the top
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Dodgy banks under scrutiny (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On our Wild West banking culture, and Iran’s role in Armageddon
Catriona MacLennan (Spinoff): Hisco’s ANZ exit is a hot mess of double standards and unanswered questions
Kate MacNamara (Stuff): ANZ’s former boss David Hisco clocked up nearly $450k a year in expenses
Rob Stock (Stuff): Should access to cash be a human right in New Zealand?
David Hargreaves (Interest): Reserve Bank says with the declining use of cash, Kiwis already ‘left out’ of the banking or digital worlds may be ‘severely disadvantaged’

Budget, Budget leak
Richard Harman (Politik): Hughes sets record straight
Derek Cheng (Herald): State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes defends his praise of under-fire Treasury boss
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Testy day in Parliament as Budget breach fallout continues
Jason Walls (Herald): National slams Treasury Secretary Gabriel Makhlouf for absence at committee meeting
Zane Small (Newshub): National outraged over Treasury boss Gabriel Makhlouf’s no-show at Budget briefing
Donal Curtin: Are we ready?

IRD, tax
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): 550,000 people underpaid tax on investments and 950,000 overpaid, says IRD
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): The $42 million tax bill that won’t be paid back to Kiwis
David Hargreaves (Interest): A nasty tax surprise for 550,000 kiwis 
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Tax overpayments show IRD ‘taking advantage’ of Kiwis – David Seymour
RNZ: New Zealanders overpay $42 million in tax
Martin Hawes (Herald): Tax education is required for KiwiSavers
Max Rashbrooke: Wealth taxes
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): For and against: Could a flat tax ever work?

Operation Burnham inquiry
Jon Stephenson (Stuff): Insurgent leaders admit they were in Afghanistan village raided during NZ SAS’s Operation Burnham
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Operation Burnham: Hit & Run author backtracks on key claim

Act party, free speech
Herald Editorial: David Seymour’s relaunch platform a hard Act to follow (paywalled)
Press Editorial: The difficulties of free speech
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Dancing with David Seymour – don’t write him off yet (paywalled)
Point of Order: David Seymour’s Herculean challenges: getting 14 MPs into Parliament (really?) and flattening the tax rate

Air NZ boss resigns
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Luxon readies for political takeoff
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald):Christopher Luxon – from national carrier to National leader?
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Christopher Luxon brings new hope to the National Party
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Air NZ chief executive Christopher Luxon ‘absolutely’ interested in standing for National
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Christopher Luxon: If it’s politics, it’s National
Stuff: Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon’s highs and lows at the country’s flagship airline
Grant Bradley (Herald): Christopher Luxon leaves when Air New Zealand is at the crossroads (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Big challenges ahead for Air New Zealand’s next CEO
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon announces his resignation
Herald: Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon resigns, hints at political move
1News: Air NZ CEO Christopher Luxon resigns, hints at possible move into politics
RNZ: Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon resigns

Environment and conservation
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Government discarded expert advice not to use ‘potentially misleading’ data about dolphin threat
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Call to increase public access on Crown Pastoral Land
Christine Rlvoi (RNZ): Climate expert warns of ‘losing the carbon war’
1News: DOC takes over clean-up of Fox River, polluted after March storm uncovered landfill
RNZ: The Detail: Who’s on clean up duty after the West Coast rubbish washout?
Laura James (1News): Experts hopeful deadly kākāpō disease has reached its peak
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Al Gore names 40 Kiwis ‘apprentices’ of his climate change movement

Foulden Maar
Simon Hartley (ODT): Protecting maar now a priority
Simon Hartley and Tim Miller (ODT): ‘Extremely relieved’: Financial strife likely to save fossil site
Tim Brown (RNZ): Company seeking to mine Foulden Maar placed into receivership
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Hope as fossil site claims second mining company scalp

Oil and gas
Tara Shaskey (Taranaki Daily News): Greenpeace to hold protest training following arrival of rig
Mike Watson (Stuff): Oil rig ready to begin drilling in Taranaki waters
Marta Steeman (Stuff): Oil and gas HQ in New Plymouth for sale a year after Government’s oil and gas offshore exploration ban
No Right Turn: Good riddance

Farming
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Westland Milk boss promised $680k bonus if sale to Chinese goes through
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Forestry not taking over farmland – Shane Jones
Guy Trafford (Interest): Sheep and Beef farmers are increasingly concerned at the potential for productive food producing land being lost to forestry
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Thank you, Peter Jackson: It’s time for farming to evolve

Health
1News: ‘This is not the Trump hearing’ – Pharmac deny accusations by National MP of tampering with Northland vaccine order
Denise Piper (Stuff): Pharmac, ministry followed best practice in Northland meningococcal outbreak
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Leftover Northland meningococcal vaccines could expire
Boris Jancic (Herald): Vaccines expiring, children not immunised in Northland: National
Herald: Pharmac grilled over Northland meningococcal vaccines
Samesh Mohanlall (Timaru Herald): More flu vaccines unlikely, Pharmac says
Hannah Martin (Stuff): ‘Significant’ increase in influenza as vaccine supply wanes
RNZ: Life or Death under Pharmac – Part Three
Astrid Austin (Hawkes Bay Today): Hawke’s Bay District Health Board chief executive Kevin Snee to take up Waikato role
Stuff: Waikato DHB announces new chief executive after re-starting search
Stuff: Hawke’s Bay DHB chief executive resigns to be head of Waikato DHB
RNZ: Hawke’s Bay DHB head Kevin Snee shifts to troubled Waikato board
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Hamilton councillor unaware hospital buildings without WOFs
Michael Hall (RNZ): Builder suffers brain damage after receiving pain relief
RNZ: Measles cases hit 215 across New Zealand
1News: Bridges says a friend’s considering health treatment overseas and that shows a ‘failing’ Government
Stuff: Simon Bridges: Someone I know well looking to go overseas for health treatment
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Canterbury ‘under seige’ as police attend 11 attempted suicide events a day

Cannabis
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): National Party would ‘respect’ cannabis referendum – Simon Bridges
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Kiwis being let down by conservative stance on medicinal cannabis

Gun laws, buyback scheme
Miriam Harris and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Gun owners concerned at possible buyback overreach
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Gun buyback details revealed
Herald: Auckland Council’s five shotguns on Government’s banned list

Police
Anna Whyte (1News): Target for 1800 police ‘aspirational’, says Police Minister as only 650 recruited
Collette Devlin (Stuff): National says Government promise for 1800 extra police is like KiwiBuild target flop

Education
Andy Fyers (Stuff): What – if anything – annual rankings tell us about our universities
Sophie Bateman (Newshub): University rankings: NZ’s winners and losers
RNZ: Teaching as first-choice job: Kiwis below OECD average
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Will teachers accept government’s latest offer?
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Outrage over ‘death-fest’ possum-killing fundraiser for Drury School
John Gerritsen (RNZ): High-decile schools disadvantaged by donation policy – principals

Immigration, refugees
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Government review of family reunification for refugees to begin
Jay Marlowe (Newsroom): What you can do to help our refugees
Dennis Maang (Spinoff): World Refugee Day: ‘I have wondered what some people might really think of me being here’
Wahida Zahedi (Spinoff): World Refugee Day: ‘Mum, I am safe in a country called New Zealand’
Anne Beaghlehole (Spinoff): World Refugee Day: Who will write the history of the Christchurch terror attack?
Ellen Sinclair (Spinoff): World Refugee Day: ‘Alive’ tells stories of Cambodian resettlement in New Zealand
Jake Kenny (Spinoff): Muslim refugees resettled in Christchurch after terror attacks hold no fears
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Death threats and abuse as visa delay frustrations grow
Herald: Immigration NZ accused of labelling Israel ‘Palestine’

Sport
Derek Cheng (Herald):‘Trust me’: Winston Peters on setting the funding formula for sporting bodies
Jackson Thomas (Stuff): Academic points to human rights violation in schoolgirl rugby saga, it could be illegal
Olivia Caldwell (Stuff): Top women’s player Kendra Cocksedge says let Briar play rugby with the boys
RNZ: Hawke’s Bay principals defend decision to bar girl from team
RNZ: Girl told she can’t play for 1st XV in school rugby tournament

Local government
Matthew Tso (Dominion Post):Developer’s ‘fun’ billboard campaign to keep Shelly Bay in the public eye
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington climate plan called preachy, nonsense and ‘a farce’ by councillors
Katie Fitzgerald and Miriam Harris (Newshub): Climate emergency: Wellington could be next to declare
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Surviving Tapu Te Ranga marae buildings to go but disagreement over no-go order
Stephen Forbes (Interest): The Ports of Auckland says its dividend to the Super City will fall due to the cost of its investment plans
Mandy Te and Todd Niall (Stuff): National Party launches website where people can ‘rate’ Auckland Council
Dubby Henry (Herald): National launches website for Aucklanders to rate council and inform election policy
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): National launches website aimed at locking in Auckland policies

Transport
Paula Penfold and Eugene Bingham (Stuff): Ministry of Transport fraudster Joanne Harrison’s criminal history revealed
Michael Hayward (Stuff): NZTA to consult on lower speed limits on sections of Canterbury highway
Nick Truebridge (Stuff): KiwiRail apologises, promises independent review after another Auckland fault
Jordan Bond (RNZ): KiwiRail promises probe of latest train services disruption
1News: ‘Not good enough’ – Auckland Mayor Phil Goff launches broadside at KiwiRail after another signal failure
Newshub: Auckland trains back up and running after network outage
Grant Bradley (Herald): Pilots, Opposition frustrated at Government stance on high powered laser bill

Housing
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): When Newsroom briefed the Govt on KiwiBuild
RNZ: Checkpoint: Family of six who lived in one-bedroom unit move into HNZ home

Workplace safety
Kaitlin Ruddock (1News): Over 1000 Kiwi workers could have been exposed to ‘new asbestos’, specialists warn
RNZ: CentrePort worker’s fall: Court orders fines and payments over $800,000
1News: Wellington business fined $500,000 for unsafe ladders that resulted in worker’s fatal fall
Stuff: Fall and death from container because of inadequate processes at CentrePort

Economy
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern blames economic slowdown on global conditions – and economist agrees
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB)” Number don’t lie, under this Government the economy is mediocre

Other
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): What Is A White Supremacist?
Jo Moir (RNZ): Stats NZ, phone companies to track people’s movements
Venetia Sherson (North & South): How New Zealand’s community newspapers are bucking the trend
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Fix found for flaw in veterans’ support law
1News: Whanganui lending company to return $400,000 to borrowers for failing to meet legal obligations
RNZ: Confidence new tribunal will aid aggrieved quake claimants
Jared Savage (Herald): Jordan Williams asks Supreme Court to recall judgment after judge goes on holiday with Colin Craig’s lawyer (paywalled)
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Tasman bush fires: $145,000 paid out so far from mayoral fund
RNZ: Jail sentence unlikely to deter white supremacists – expert
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Defence force staff stood down for inappropriate behaviour in front of students
Ethan Kisby (University of Auckland): Are New Zealand’s colonial institutions pushing Māori toward a life of crime?
RNZ: UN experts call for better care of Manus, Nauru refugees
Anna Leask (Herald): Home detention offender remains in taxpayer funded motel weeks after eviction from approved address (paywalled)
Rob KIdd (ODT): Mental health services shocking – mother
1News: Auckland woman living with her six grandchildren describes struggle of trying to pay the power bill
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Pike River re-entry lead: Finding ‘promise note’ not as crucial as honouring the message
RNZ: Euthanasia activist Sean Davison convicted of murder, sentenced to three years house arrest
1News: Kiwi man sentenced for assisted suicides of three disabled people in South Africa

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