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
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Military land review: a PGF from Defence?
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Defence force: $2.1b to be spent on land, buildings to help keep staff
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): ‘Reverse nimbyism’ jeopardising military operations – Mark
Boris Jancic (Herald): ‘Nimbies’ threatening Whenuapai’s future: Defence Minister
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): New review into ageing defence infrastructure, spend tops $2b
Zane Small (Newshub): Entire New Zealand Defence Force estate at ‘crossroads’ in major review
1News: Defence Force facilities ‘run down and outdated’, officials acknowledge in documents for upcoming review
Welfare
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Minister fronts people queuing outside Work and Income office
Melissa Chan-Green (Newshub): Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni accepts problem in Work and Income and client relationship
D’Angelo Martin (Māori TV): Sepuloni joins queue at Manurewa Work and Income Offices
1News: John Campbell joins the queue at South Auckland Work and Income, as advocates demand change
Stuff: Questions, forms and sacrifice: What it’s really like to be on the benefit
Meng Foon appointed Race Relations Commissioner
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Race relations commissioner faces perfect storm
Press Editorial: Appointing a new national conscience
Alice Webb-Liddall (Spinoff): Who is Meng Foon? Introducing the new race relations commissioner
1News: New Race Relations Commissioner ‘walks in many worlds’ – Justice Minister
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon ‘must address colonial racism’
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Non-Māori race relations commissioner ‘missed opportunity’
Zane Small (Newshub): Meng Foon: The former Gisborne Mayor appointed Race Relations Commissioner
1News: Retiring Gisborne mayor appointed Race Relations Commissioner
National Party
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Simon Bridges’ big call on Winston Peters (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Herald): National Leader Simon Bridges meets with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison
Local government
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Iwi members mount legal challenge to reclaim Shelly Bay from developer
Conan Young (RNZ): New council boss leaving behind a struggling council in UK
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Incoming Christchurch City Council chief executive’s salary just shy of $500,000
Michael Hayward (Stuff0: Christchurch City Council proposes halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
Daisy Hudson (ODT): 25 tonnes of recycling put into landfill
Daisy Hudson (ODT): Waste discharges a risk to tourism: Laws
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Auckland Council submission on the Government’s Zero Carbon Bill raises the ire of Deputy Mayor Bill Cashmore
David Fisher (Herald): Destiny’s brainchild – former gang leader asking voters to ‘man up’ in Far North mayoral run
1News: Former Tribesman and Rebels gang president running for Far North Mayoralty
Denise Piper (Stuff): Destiny Church’s Man Up candidate for Far North mayor is former gang leader
Brittany Keogh and Melanie Earley (Stuff): Auckland politician Duncan MacDonald resigns after being censured for ‘threatening a member of the public’
Chris Morris (ODT):$100m key for waterfront
Hilary Calvert (ODT): Hang on, that’s our money
Suicide
Michael Daly (Stuff): Rise in Māori suicides pushes overall national figure to highest in at least a decade
Katie Fitzgerald and Ella Prendergast (Newshub): David Clark should step down over suicide rates – Maori council
Medicinal cannabis
Derek Cheng (Herald): Big Read: All you need to know about medicinal cannabis (paywalled)
RNZ: Sufferers and medicinal cannabis industry to reap benefits of regulation – David Clark
1News: Proposed regulations and standards for medicinal cannabis ‘a small step forward’, Peter Dunne says
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Medicinal cannabis user’s pain over being charged
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Medicinal cannabis: Licence fees of up to $23k could limit growth of local businesses
Dan Satherley and Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Medicinal cannabis users call for amnesty ahead of law change
Damian Rowe (Southland Times): Green MP Chloe Swarbrick hosts cannabis referendum talk in Southland
Georgie Ormond (Herald): Local Focus: Medicinal cannabis one step closer
Health
Hayley Jacobsen and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Almost all Northland rheumatic fevers occur in Māori – report
1News: Rheumatic fever reporting systems need improvement, audit suggests
Katie Ftizgerald (Newshub): Inaction on alcohol a ‘glaring exception’ from mental health recommendations – expert
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Health Minister Clark says Southern DHB to ‘lift its performance’
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Exclusive: Youth addiction worry as high-nicotine vape JUUL to hit NZ
Indira Stewart (RNZ): Rest home resident’s missing front teeth unnoticed by staff
Simon Wallace (Stuff): There’s no excuse for the way we undervalue aged-care nurses
Herald Editorial: Caring for the carers; it’s about time (paywalled)
Hannah Martin and Danielle Clent (Stuff): Middlemore Hospital’s dialysis and cardiac facilities gets $14.6m upgrade
RNZ: Middlemore Hospital gets $14m to upgrade dialysis and cardiac units
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Multimillion-dollar expansion approved for Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital
Dominic O’Sullivan (Evening Report): How to improve health outcomes for Indigenous peoples by making space for self-determination
Liu Chen (RNZ): Family donates four vehicles in three years to St John
Transport
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Regional transport authority on the cards for Wellington? (paywalled)
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Wellington bus network review opens
Stuff: $10b Auckland growth transport networks unveiled
Chris Morris (ODT): City ‘ahead of game’ in terms of transport
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Dangerous drones could be shot down under new law
Firearms
Ben Strang (RNZ): Firearms licence vetting needs to close overseas crimes loophole – NZ gun owners
1News: First firearms buyback event set to go ahead in Christchurch
1News: Police unaware of way to safely, permanently modify firearms to make them legal
Climate change, clean car scheme and electric vehicles
Zane Small (Newshub): Julie Anne Genter declares climate change ‘our generation’s WWII’
No Right Turn: Reminder: Submit on the Zero Carbon Bill
David Linklater (Stuff): Let’s not be fundamentalist about feebates and EV ownership
David Linklater (Stuff): Silly car question #53: if EVs have ‘wee’ electric motors, why are they so expensive?
David Hall (Herald): Climate emergency? Try revolution (paywalled)
Karen McWilliams (Stuff): Climate emergencies – from the opponents’ heat comes light
Ryan Bridge (Newshub): If you care about climate change, stop having children
Environment and conservation
Jo Moir (RNZ): Fox River landfill cleanup: DOC Minister Eugenie Sage, Westland council at odds over costs
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Coast mayor and conservation minister in spat over landfill rubbish blame
ODT: Chairman dismisses claims Canterbury’s water could be undrinkable in 100 years
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Thrill-seeking mountain bikers are ruining the only home of critically endangered snail
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Auckland will one day have the climate of Sydney – study
Valentina Dinica (Newsroom): Inside the nuances of corporate responsibility
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): ‘Old ways’ key to sustainable future for indigenous people
1News: Scientists discover one of the ‘world’s worst weeds’ on Auckland’s North Shore
James Cook
Alice Wilkins (Newshub): Petition launched to stop replica Captain Cook Endeavour coming to New Zealand
RNZ: Captain James Cook graffiti raises necessary kōrero – councillor
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Political statement, social commentary or vandalism?
Herald: Captain James Cook statue vandalised with the words ‘Thief Pakeha’ in Gisborne
Elizabeth Kerr (Listener): How the NZSO are exploring the cultural collision of Cook’s arrival
Foreign Affairs
RNZ: Winston Peters calls for peaceful resolution to US-Iran tensions
AP: Chinese influence looms over Tonga as officials scramble for a way to repay crippling loans
RNZ: China willing to deepen military ties to Pacific – Defence Minister
1News: South Africa launches visa-free travel for New Zealanders
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): South Africa scraps visas for New Zealanders
Police
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Police ‘abuse of power’: Man kneed in head by Auckland officer, watchdog says
1News: Police officers committed ‘abuse of power’ after kneeing, stepping on man handcuffed in South Auckland
Alex Robertson (Herald): The softer, fluffier side of the NZ Police
Christchurch mosque shootings
David Williams (Newsroom): Greens back ACC cover for terror victims
Hayley Jacobsen and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Amnesty report on US gun violence puts focus on Christchurch
Rob Kidd (OD)T: Dunedin man charged with possession of mosque shootings video
1News: Hundreds of Christchurch women gather to show ongoing unity in wake of mosque attacks
Banks
Gordon Campbell: On the Aussie banks’ latest excuse for jacking up bank fees
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Commerce Commission files proceedings against Westpac
Herald: Watchdog takes legal action against Westpac NZ over credit card blunder
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Commerce Commission takes Westpac to court
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Commerce Commission takes legal action against Westpac NZ
Reserve Bank, economy
Richard Harman (Politik): The Reserve Bank and the Finance Minister
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Reserve Bank Governor asks Finance Minister for his ‘support’ and ‘respect’, as the regulator of banks and insurers takes a more ‘intensive’ and ‘intrusive’ approach
Simon Hartley (ODT): Pressure for interest-rate cuts mounts
Simon Hartley (ODT): 1.7% inflation expected
Infrastructure
Sam Stubbs (Herald): Why Government shouldn’t listen to its business council
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Borrow more to pay for roads, infrastructure – economist
Primary and extractive industries
Mike Watson (Taranaki Daily News): Offshore exploration set to expand off Taranaki coast
Jamie Gray (Herald): NZ log traders ‘intoxicated’ by China trade at expense of local sector – Jones (paywalled)
Imran Ali (Northern Advocate): Hundreds of forestry jobs in Northland under threat from low log prices (paywalled)
Brian Fallow (Herald): Living in fear of Farmageddon (paywalled)
Coalition NZ
David Fisher (Herald): Three-point plan: The Holy Trinity to electoral success for Brian Tamaki and his wife Hannah’s Coalition NZ party (paywalled)
1News: Brian Tamaki says he and his gay campaign manager ‘yielded ground’ to work together
Housing
Jessie Chiang (RNZ): Claims of rapes, robberies of South Auckland homeless forced into central city
Ashley Church (Herald): Four ways to turn KiwiBuild around
Other
Auckland University: Q+A: Will voting changes help bring more Kiwis to the ballot box?
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): The Quantum Of Hate
1News: Inside Parliament: Car-kāriki (video)
Chris Keall (Herald): The 40 most powerful people on the NZ technology scene (paywalled)
Hamish Bidwell (RNZ): The wider issue behind Sevue Reece’s All Blacks selection
1News: Gisborne’s Waiapu Catchment receives $5m funding boost from One Billion Trees Fund
RNZ: Businesses unlikely to reap benefit of insurance change
RNZ: Indonesia’s Pacific trade show kicks off in New Zealand
RNZ: 50 percent acquisition of Vodafone approved
Anne Gibson (Herald): Govt agency hits out at ‘confusing’ retirement village contracts, saying not even lawyers can understand them
RNZ: Building standards now available online for free
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Crown process too long, costly for customary title of coastlines – claimants
Māori TV: Māori-led project proposed for whānau of tamariki in state care
Kelvin McDonald (Māori TV): Māori artist – “We’re not just a ring in”
Ian Harris (ODT): Case for ‘real love’ as a decider
Dubby Henry (Herald): Patting down students at school balls is illegal, security firm says. But more schools are requiring it (paywalled)
Tom Kitchin (STUFF):Government agency restricts access to levelled bike park site
