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 by Dr Bryce Edwards.
Local government
Michael Fallow (Stuff): Your council – what’s its job description?
Dileepa Fonseka and Todd Niall (Stuff): Behind-the-scenes of the companies running the country’s local body elections
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): The white, male, middle-aged face of local government
RNZ: Paying voters? Idea floated to boost local body elections turnout
1News: Nominations for local body elections closed after last minute rush
David Hawke (Stuff): The odds are stacked against communities in the fight over alcohol outlets
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Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland elections: When is an election idea too big?
Simon Wilson (Herald): Is there a crisis? Rates, debt and Auckland Council (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Phil Goff tells supporters it’s a tight-run race with John Tamihere for the mayoralty
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Phil Goff puts environment first in campaign for re-election as Auckland Mayor
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Phil Goff’s clean, green mayoralty re-election campaign launch
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Phil Goff emphasises climate change in re-election bid
RNZ: Phil Goff launches Auckland mayoralty campaign with green focus
1News: Auckland Mayor Phil Goff aiming for the environmental vote as he takes swipe at John Tamihere
Hannah Martin (stuff): Phil Goff to scrap diesel buses, buy electric cars for Auckland council if re-elected mayor
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Inside the enclave of old that may win John Tamihere the mayoralty
Heather McCarron and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Expert praises John Tamihere’s ‘out-of-the-box’ bridge plan
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): John Tamihere’s 18-lane Auckland Harbour Bridge plan would be ‘costly and disruptive’
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Harbour Bridge to balloon to 18 lanes under John Tamihere’s proposal
Bernard Orsman (Herald): John Tamihere promising to turn the Auckland Harbour Bridge into a two-level superstructure
Dan Satherley and Giles Dexter (Newshub): John Tamihere proposes new 18-lane Auckland Harbour Bridge
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayoral race: 21-year-old to run
Herald: Local elections: Comedian Tom Sainsbury’s alter-ego Fiona running for Auckland mayor
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Comedian Tom Sainsbury has thrown his hat into the Auckland mayoral race
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Auckland local election billboards: A non-exhaustive ranking, from best to worst
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council elections: Rodney and Franklin seats go uncontested
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Auckland local body elections: DHB candidates announced
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Auckland local body elections: Licensing trust candidates announced
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): West Auckland Licensing Trusts Action Group announces election line-up to ‘challenge the status quo’
Anne Gibson (Herald: Frustrated Mark Gunton sues council over Westgate, claiming contract breaches, no bus station
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Georgina Campbell (Herald): Sir Peter Jackson bankrolling Wellington mayoral candidate
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Sir Peter Jackson backs Andy Foster for Wellington mayoralty
Stuff: Who is standing for council around the Wellington region
Laura Dooney (RNZ): Shelly Bay review to look at whether project followed correct process
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Community boards unite to lobby regional council over water bottling
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Denise Piper (Stuff): Local body elections 2019: Whangārei, Kaipara and Far North council candidates revealed
Denise Piper (Stuff): Opshop singer Jason Kerrison throws hat into Northland council race
Northern Advocate: Sitting mayors and slew of councillors in Northland seek re-election
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Climate change-denying Hamilton mayoral hopeful James Casson puts up signs at Sir William Gallagher’s mansion
Shilo Kino (Herald): Local Focus: Controversial Hamilton mayoral candidate says he’s honest, not racist
Jimmy Ellington (Manawatū Standard): City council must change stance about not holding candidates’ meetings
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Palmerston North City Council runs scared of hosting candidates’ meetings
No Right Turn: A real mayoral race
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): We have an election. Phew! Fears of auto-elected councillors a distant memory
Carly Gooch (Stuff): Who’s running for the Nelson city and Tasman district councils?
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Campaigners and perennials challenge Lianne Dalziel for Christchurch mayoralty
Paul Gorman (Stuff): Half the Environment Canterbury council is standing again
Emma Dangerfield (Stuff): New mayors for North Canterbury as incumbents step down
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Candidate whose son died in suspected suicide running for health board to ‘make a difference’
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Four in race to replace long-serving Grey mayor
Al Williams (Stuff): Waimate mayoral candidate Murray Ludemann promises to ‘fight’ for council’s future
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): 14 candidates eye Dunedin’s vacant mayoral spot
Laura Smith (ODT): Old hands and new faces to contest Southland elections
Richard Davison (ODT): Long-serving southern mayors unopposed
Pam Jones (ODT): Spending on `right people’ for water issues up 10-fold
Corrections
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Hōkai Rangi: The plan to reduce Māori in prison from 52 percent to 16
1News: Government launches new strategy to break ‘devastating’ cycle of Māori reoffending
Dan Satherley and Hayley Jacobsen (Newshub): Can’t blame Kelvin Davis for Corrections’ mistake – Willie Jackson
Katie Todd (RNZ): Cabinet to discuss ability of inmates to send letters
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Second letter from Philip Arps calls for ‘traitors’ execution, disdain for Jacinda Ardern, Winston Peters
1News: TVNZ receives jailhouse letter from white supremacist Philip Arps praising Christchurch gunman
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Police investigating another Tarrant letter
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Mosque shooting video: White supremacist Philip Arps appeals sentence but alleged prison letters a concern
Katie Todd (RNZ): Woman receives dozens of abusive letters from imprisoned family member
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Ex-cop says there’s a good reason Mark Richardson gets prison mail: Human rights
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Mark Richardson, Duncan Garner both receiving letters from convicts despite asking Corrections to stop them
Duncan Garner (Stuff): Top brass at Corrections to blame for letters from prison debacle
Boris Jancic (Herald): Corrections call police to investigate accused mosque gunman’s letter
Anna Leask (Herald): Christchurch terror accused: Corrections confirms no letters sent to victims, Muslim community
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Christchurch terror attack accused’s mother blasts 4chan
Kiri Gillespie (Bay of Plenty Times): A kick in the guts’: Victim’s father furious after double murderer Jason Reihana released early from prison
Pacific Islands Forum, climate change
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): We should have done more for our people’ – Forum climate fight leaves bitter taste
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Could NZ house 1 million Australian climate refugees? (paywalled)
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): Australia’s PM attitude ‘neo-colonial’ says Tuvalu
Kate Lyons (Guardian): Our people are dying’: Australia’s climate confrontation in the Pacific
Kate Lyons (Guardian): Fiji PM accuses Scott Morrison of ‘insulting’ and alienating Pacific leaders
Kate Lyons (Guardian): Revealed: ‘fierce’ Pacific forum meeting almost collapsed over climate crisis
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): New Zealand described as ‘more helpful than others’ at Pacific Islands Forum
Kate Lyons (Guardian): West Papua: Pacific leaders urge UN visit to region’s ‘festering human rights sore’
RNZ: Heads of maritime forces discuss Pacific safety
Southern Response, Canterbury quakes
Michael Hayward (Stuff): Southern Response engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct, High Court finds
John Campbell (1News): High Court slams Government-owned quake insurance company for ‘deceptive conduct’
Michael Hayward (Stuff): Christchurch Earthquake Insurance Tribunal settles first case
Charlie Gates (Stuff): Emergency power that took over 700 Christchurch buildings is still in force
Prisoner voting ban
Audrey Young (Herald): Labour squeezed from all sides on prisoner voting ban, no one happy (paywalled)
Martin van Beynen (Stuff): Prisoners have forfeited the right to vote
ODT Editorial: Prisoners and the right to vote
Election
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Election 2020 is going to be a huge mess
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Should Labour kneecap the Greens for NZ First in order to win 2020 election?
Week in politics
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Political row follows chief statistician’s resignation
Claire Trevett (Herald): Beehive Diaries: PM Jacinda Ardern’s new bestie and a run-in with Australian socks
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Ranking MPs’ legal expertise (paywalled)
National Party
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Outgoing Air NZ boss Chris Luxon could win a seat, but not the leadership: National MPs
Brent Edwards (NBR): Bennett promises voters a clear election choice (paywalled)
Andrew Gunn (Stuff): ‘It looks like I’ll have my work cut out’
Sustainable NZ, Coalition NZ
John Armstrong (1News): Fledgling ‘blue-green’ party Sustainable New Zealand clever in theory, not so clever in practice
Derek Cheng (Herald): Hannah Tamaki’s Coalition NZ Party denied party registration
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Electoral Commission refuses to register Destiny Church-derived party, Coalition NZ
Zane Small (Newshub): Hannah Tamaki’s party Coalition NZ declined registration over ‘misleading’ name
RNZ: Hannah Tamaki’s Coalition New Zealand political party registration rejected
No Right Turn: Not destined to be
Environment and conservation
Will Harvie (Stuff): Nature’s recovery will exceed the time that humans have existed
Dan Satherley (Newshub): July was New Zealand’s hottest ever, new data confirms
Simon Henderson (ODT): Climate change scenario: Region could heat up 7degC
RNZ: Cutting construction emissions could equal taking 500,000 cars off the road – report
Heather McCarron and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Construction industry’s impact on climate change highlighted in new report
1News: Kaimai protestors disappointed with government’s conservation values
Nicola Martin (Stuff): We’re kidding ourselves over sustainability
John-Michael Swannix (Newshub): Mussel spat: Ninety Mile iwi says no to mechanical harvesting to baby mussels, MPI seeks compromise
Kimberley Collins (Spinoff): The giant parrot proves we have to save Foulden Maar
ODT Editorial: Penguin protection
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Robyn Malcolm lobbies Government on Māui dolphin plight
Heather McCarron (Newshub): Petition calls for better protection of Māui dolphins
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Boats removed from Okahu Bay: ‘The mauri has been restored’
Ihumātao
Boris Jancic (Herald): Ihumātao looms over Ardern’s visit to Māori King (paywalled)
Morgan Godfery: Ihumaatao: where to from here?
Lucy Mackintosh (RNZ): Unearthing the history of Ihumātao, where the land tells stories
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Treaty expert on Ihumātao battle: ‘Crown playing dictator of iwi’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Ihumātao protest: Contractor’s vehicles removed
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Ihumātao: Police numbers reduced at protest site
Jamie Wall (Māori TV): TJ Perenara shows his support for Ihumātao protest
Media
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Garner’s strange outburst fitted PR strategy
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: A media cry for help
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Let’s talk honestly about the crisis in NZ news media and what the Government needs to do to solve it
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Mediawatch: Assessing the TVNZ, RNZ and Māori TV merger that everyone is talking about
Jeremy Rose (RNZ): Media’s worldwide push for climate change coverage
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Do reports of gun owners’ anger stack up?
RNZ: Retraction and apology to Donghua Liu for untrue statements
Cannabis
Scott Palmer (Newshub): New poll suggests recreational cannabis referendum won’t pass
Neil Reid (Herald): Cannabis poll: Support plummets for legal pot
RNZ: Nope to dope: Teen cannabis use declining, research shows
Elena McPhee (ODT): Student meeting to discuss cannabis sales
Productive land, primary industries
Richard Harman (Politik): Jones speaks frankly about farmers and the environment at private meeting
Stuff: We can’t continue to pave paradise and put up a parking lot
Kerre McIvor (Herald): The land needs our protection (paywalled)
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Compliance costs and age see an increasing number of Waikato farmers call it a day
1News: Kiwis could pay more than double the price for strawberries this season, grower warns
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Worker shortages and dumb rules are kneecapping business
1News: Horticulture companies spend over $30 million to accomodate workers
Hawkes Bay Today: Farming over forestry: The Wairoa man who gave up ‘a few extra zeros’ to keep land in beef and sheep (paywalled)
Fonterra
Rod Oram (Newshub): Fonterra’s last chance to reform and rebuild
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Fonterra needs an ego check (paywalled)
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): Time for the Fonterra bull to be fenced
Brian Gaynor (Herald): Fonterra needs to get out of its rut (paywalled)
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Theo Spierings’ Fonterra payout slammed
Education and training
Simon Collins (Herald): Ministry of Education adopts phonics approach to teaching reading (paywalled)
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Schools angry they’ve missed out on long-awaited influx of learning support staff
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Disappearing students: How NZ is wasting opportunities with our Chinese graduates
Tom Rowland (Herald): Waikato schools to get more than 100 new classrooms
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Mindfulness and meditation a strategy for teenage mental health resilience, says charity
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland trust empowers young Māori by following the Māori Battalion
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Universities excluding Pacific minorities from Pasifika programmes ‘unfair’
Nathanael Rother (NBR): Hammer time! … Or not (paywalled)
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Virtual reality to prepare Māori for construction mahi
Alice Wilkins (Newshub): Virtual construction training to fill industry vacancies
Poverty, inequality
Susan St John (Daily Blog): Time for emergency measures?
Pete Jones (Stuff): If our kids are hungry, how can they be expected to learn?
Jessica Long (Stuff): Teachers are handing out hot meals to students – for some it’s their only one
Health
David Menkes (Spinoff):NZ needs to join the rest of the world and ban prescription medicine ads
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Nurses’ union board seeks to oust president after investigation into ‘inappropriate’ message
Phil Taylor (Herald): Call for Government to act after study finds most packaged food unhealthy
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Lack of transparency hampers cancer drug debate
Evan Hardina (Southland Times): Southland Hospital surgeons call on SDHB to take immediate action
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Toxic workplace claims ‘bang on’
Zizi Sparks and Samantha Olley (Rotorua Daily Post): Lakes DHB staff strike 10 times in five months, 226 procedures postponed (paywalled)
Simon Collins (Herald): Anxious online millennials reach out for help
RNZ: Call for compulsory car seats for children over seven years old
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Christchurch Hospital building in hot water over plumbing tangle
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Patients give up waiting at Palmerston North Hospital’s emergency department
Mitch McCann (Newshub): Firefighter mental health a ‘crisis’ – union
Housing
John Minto (Daily Blog): The quiet desperation of low-income families Vs middle-class angst
RNZ: Helping people stay in tenancies a ‘critical’ step toward ending homelessness
Boris Jancic (Herald): Government announces $54 million to help keep people off the streets
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Government annouces $54 million for homelessness initiatives
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Government announces $54m for homelessness initiatives
RNZ: Government announces an extra $54m to stop homelessness
Florence Kerr and Tony Wall (Stuff): The Far North social agency putting people into their own ‘recycled’ homes
Monetary policy
David Hargreaves (Interest): Cloaked in mystery: We will need to know more about unconventional monetary policy
Damien Grant (Stuff): Easier access to cheap money isn’t going to save us from a financial crash
Rebecca Howard (Herald): Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr defends Reserve Bank’s big rate cut
David Chaston (Interest): Assessing how borrowers & savers are being impacted by the OCR cut
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): The RBNZ hits back at BusinessNZ criticism
Defence
Kurt Bayer (Herald): New Zealand Army gets $100m funding for modern warfare high-tech upgrade
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Hercules fleet: ‘It’s amazing they’ve managed to keep them flying’
Point of Order: Anti-submarine upgrades reflect the return of reality to Defence thinking
Herald: Defence Force prepares for move to new Wellington headquarters
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Former defence force interpreter’s family may have to leave brother behind in Afghanistan
RNZ: A day to remember New Zealand’s Vietnam veterans
Aroha Mane (Māori TV): Vietnam veterans salute lost comrades
Transport
Matt Rilkoff (Stuff):Electric vehicles just the beginning of a necessary transport revolution
Tom Pullar-strecker (Stuff): EV feebate plan winning support says minister, as submissions deadline approaches
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Civil Aviation Authority won’t give grieving family witness statements about fatal skydive
Laura Macdonald (Newshub): New Zealand charity support push to ban hands-free phones while driving
Andrew McRae (RNZ): Fast rail link between Auckland and Hamilton mooted for the future
Tax
Andrea Black: Where have all the audits gone?
Nikki Mandow (Listener): Trade Me dragged feet on GST rort, retailers say
NZers claiming refugee status
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): New Zealanders seeking asylum abroad – UN report
Dan Satherley (Newshub): 38 New Zealanders have claimed refugee status – UN report
Nelson Club
Nelson Weekly: Turmoil at exclusive Nelson gentleman’s club over racist and homophobic comments
Hannah Bartlett (Stuff): Male only Nelson Club to consider future of ‘racist’ member
Alan Jones
Toby Manhire (Stuff): 14 times Alan Jones revealed himself to be basically just an utter cretin
Finlay Macdonald (Stuff): No-one should be shocked by the ravings of Alan Jones
AAP: Ardern says she won’t give Alan Jones’ ‘sock down throat’ comments ‘the light of day’
Latika Bourke (Sydney Morning Herald): Malcolm Turnbull blasts ‘misogynist’ Alan Jones over his Jacinda Ardern comments
Stuff: Australian PM slams Alan Jones’ call to ‘shove a sock down throat’ of Jacinda Ardern
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Alan Jones threatened with termination over Jacinda Ardern comments
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Australian broadcaster Alan Jones loses lucrative deal over Ardern attacks
Dan Satherley and Zane Small (Newshub): ‘I wish she would shut up’: Australian broadcaster Alan Jones launches fresh attack on Jacinda Ardern
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of … Alan Jones (paywalled)
Other
RNZ: The Detail: Banks behaving badly
Bevan Hurley (Stuff): Govt agency leaves website open to ‘catastrophic’ hack attack
Brian Easton (RNZ): What can we learn from the 2018 Census debacle?
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Kiwi publishers face censorship demands from Chinese printers
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Newshub Nation: GCSB and Corrections urged to hire experts in alt-right extremism right away
Finn Hogan (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Shane Jones claims Provincial Growth Fund has generated ‘well over’ 1000 jobs
Heather McCarron and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Experts call for more political input from children
Moana Maniapoto (E-Tangata): Treaty Negotiators: Not a job for wimps
Alison Mau (Stuff): Labour’s sexual harassment blind spot needs fixing
John Roughan (Herald): Show me the money when you get a clue (Herald)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Southern list MP facing challenging times
Dale Husband (E-Tangata): Peter Cordtz: Learning to talk about money
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Homeless housing ministry almost home
Zane Small (Newshub): David Seymour hits back at National MP seeking ‘protections’ for institutions over euthanasia
Liz Beddoe and Eileen Joy (Reimagining social work): Time for social work to make a clear stand for abortion law reform
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): NZ’s oldest YWCA chapter breaks away from national body
Stuff: Battling to keep up mail volumes, NZ Post appoints new chairperson
Blair Voorend (Hawkes Bay Today): Tomoana Freezing Works closure, 25 years on: The day 1500 lost their jobs
Daisy Hudson (Mountain Scene): Cabinet to decide on levy within fortnight
Kereama Wright (Māori TV): Divide over Tauranga land site
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Plea to save old Cadbury factory buildings
Elle Hunt (Spinoff): Everyone says they’re moving to New Zealand – ray of light in a bleak world
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Mike McRoberts will return to Syria, as he calls for more NZ aid
Dubby Henry (Herald): Trump card: Kiwi music producer Sebastian Kereti takes on president over copyright
Derek Cheng (Herald): Rugby World Cup: Govt urged to ensure bars and sports clubs can serve alcohol for games (paywalled)
