New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.
Recommended Sponsor Painted-Moon.com - Buy Original Artwork Directly from the Artist

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 by Dr Bryce Edwards.

Petrol prices
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Don’t be surprised if petrol study ends in a deal, not regulation
1News: Jacinda Ardern will be judged on what happens to petrol prices – Jessica Mutch McKay
Claire Trevett (Herald): Taxes and profits – who’s fleecing who in petrol price debate? (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Paean at the pump – the chorus condemning petrol prices (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern doubles down on comments that consumers being ‘fleeced’ at the petrol pump
Anna Whyte (1News): Jacinda Ardern vows to ‘not stand by’ as petrol report finds Kiwis ‘are being fleeced’
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern says New Zealanders are being ripped off over petrol
Jamie Gray (Herald): Commerce Commission sends blunt message to fuel companies
RNZ: Fuel prices: Government urged to free up wholesale market
Katie Fitzgerald and Hayley Jacobsen (Newshub): Road lobby calls on Jacinda Ardern to cancel fuel taxes after Commerce Commission report
Kate Nicol-Smith (1News): Rise in fuel discounting loyalty schemes questioned by Commerce Commission
Stuff: How the rise of petrol discount schemes left motorists paying more for fuel
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Are fuel loyalty and discount schemes being used as a substitute for competitive prices?
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Where New Zealanders are paying the most for fuel
Brent Melville (ODT): South’s fuel too dear, report says
1News: ‘I don’t trust them’ – Simon Bridges slams Government as culprit for high fuel prices
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Petrol prices: Simon Bridges says Jacinda Ardern is ‘fleecer-in-chief’
Zane Small (Newshub):Simon Bridges labels Jacinda Ardern ‘Fleecer-in-Chief’ as fuel debate heats up
1News: Simon Bridges labels Jacinda Ardern ‘fleecer-in-chief’ as he blames Government for high petrol prices
Jason Walls (Herald): Petrol prices: Motorists pay too much at pump says Commerce Commission
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Lack of fuel competition may be costing $400m annually – ComCom
RNZ: Fuel market not as competitive as it could be – Commerce Commission
Zane Small (Newshub): Commerce Commission finds fuel market ‘not as competitive as it could be’
Brent Edwards (NBR): ComCom signals changes to make fuel market more competitive (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (1News):‘Our profit has a purpose’ – Z Energy pushes back on petrol report findings

Parliamentary Budget Office
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Budget Office politics see post-truth come to Wellington
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Bridges digs himself deeper over policy costing plans
David Farrar: An excellent Government/Green initiative that National should support
Jo Moir (RNZ): Policy costings plan: Opposition’s response ‘absolutely ridiculous’ – Robertson
Richard Harman (Politik): Bridges withdraws support because of staffing dispute
Jason Walls (Herald): National Leader Simon Bridges won’t support Govt’s plans to set up new policy costing unit
Zane Small (Newshub): Simon Bridges reveals why he doesn’t support proposed ‘fiscal watchdog’
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government keen to set up Parliamentary Budget Office, an independent watchdog to cost election policies, but National reject idea
Jason Walls (Herald): A new independent costing unit means ‘fewer political games,’ according to Minister
RNZ: Govt wants independent watchdog to keep eye on election campaign policy costings
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Fiscal watchdog’: Political party policies to be analysed independently in 2020

Corrections
Kim Workman (Stuff): There’s a long way to travel towards a better prison system for Māori
RNZ: Hōkai Rangi: ‘We have to try and do things differently’ – Jacinda Ardern
Deena Coster (Stuff): Iwi leader praises new Māori prison plan but says wider problem of racism needs to be fixed 
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Hōkai Rangi wont reduce Māori numbers in prisons
—————
1News: Northland prison breached Convention against Torture, Ombudsman finds
Lois Williams (RNZ): Northland’s Ngawha prison taken to task by chief ombudsman over conditions
RNZ: Ngāpuhi elder ‘shocked’ by conditions at Ngawha Prison
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Just because the Prime Minister is embarrassed is not a good enough reason to suddenly change the law

Government
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Winston Peters will settle lawsuit against National for Paula Bennett’s scalp, Newstalk ZB understands
Brent Edwards (NBR): Chief ombudsman wants more teeth for OIA breaches (paywalled)

Jacinda Ardern visits King Tūheitia,  Ihumātao
Yvonne Tahana (1News): ‘You hide away’ – young iwi leader challenges Ardern to ‘show the courage again’ on Māori issues
Boris Jancic (Herald): ‘You hide away’: PM Jacinda Ardern challenged during visit to Māori King
Māori TV: Te Ao with Moana:‘No logical reason’ govt can’t return private land like Ihumātao
Scott Palmer and Emma Cropper (Newshub): ‘We will be there’: Jacinda Ardern speaks out on Ihumātao
Māori tV: It’s not about me – PM on Ihumātao
Richard Harman (Politik): Ihumatao settlement looks close
Matthew Rosenberg (Stuff): Herbs launches film fundraiser for Ihumātao occupation

Environment and conservation
Ralph Brougham Chapman (The Conversation): Climate: Explained: Why we need to cut emissions as well as prepare for impacts
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): New Zealand glaciers won’t survive this century, scientists say
Simon Wilson (Herald): Better profits, fewer cows – dairy farmers can do it now, Jeanette Fitzsimons tells MPs (paywalled)
Peter Fraser and Mike Joy (Newsroom): Why NZ should say no to silver bullets
1News: Over 5000 Tauranga property owners receive warning their homes are located in potential flood zone
David Williams (Newsroom):Pragmatism sweeps into Mackenzie debate
Brent Edwards (NBR): Chief science adviser calls for ‘honest’ GE debate (paywalled)
Brent Melville (ODT): Call for revamp of GM rules
1News: National ‘want to turn the West Coast into a political football’ over whitebait – ag minister
Laine Moger (Stuff): Kānuka could halt kauri dieback disease, study finds

Local government
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Climate change and the Swarbrick effect – Is this a local government youthquake? (paywalled)
Gary Farrow (Waikato Times): One horse mayoral races ‘alarming’, says political commentator
Nikki Preston (Herald): Mayors, councillors confirmed month before local election voting even opens
Denise Piper (Stuff): Local body elections 2019: No contest for some Northland Regional Council seats
———–
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Truth, fibs and stupidity: the Auckland mayoralty
1News: Auckland mayoralty: John Tamihere and Phil Goff in heated debate on rates, traffic and Ihumātao
Herald: Phil Goff and John Tamihere go head-to-head in NZ Herald-Newstalk ZB live stream debate
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Phil Goff putting up his voice of experience for a second mayoral term (paywalled)x
Bernard Orsman (Herald): John Tamihere says appetite for change will hand him Auckland mayoralty (paywalled)
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): West Auckland’s licensing trusts election: Why it’s so different this year
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Auckland Council, Panuku reach compromise development design
———-
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Comment: Andy Foster’s experience will give him a one up in Wellington’s mayoral race (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): An idyllic seaside spot, even the terms of agreed review are contentious at Shelly Bay
RNZ: Shelly Bay review could cost more than $180k
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Lost in translation: Wellington City Council drops demands for quality control documents
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Wellington City Council to pay former employee $20,000 after ‘ongoing failure to investigate
———–
Tom Rowland (Herald):New Hamilton council to decide future of Māngai Māori system (paywalled)
Samantha Olley (Rotorua Daily Post): Call to vote: Hopes for higher Māori turnout in Rotorua local body elections (paywalled)
Herald: ‘Ebenezer Scrooge of Hawera’: Mayoral candidate criticised for his views on homelessness
Lucy Drake (Whanganui Chronicle): Local body elections: Whanganui District Health Board: 17 candidates stand

Media
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): The Government won’t help MediaWorks – there’s no money
John Anthony (Stuff): TVNZ CEO says ‘there will be consolidation’ in media industry as $17.1m loss looms
John Anthony (Stuff): Government working to ‘strengthen public media’, but will TVNZ remove ads?
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): TVNZ’s in trouble and they should blame their own bad decisions, not Google
Herald: NZME-Stuff merger plan back on, Aussie paper claims
Paul McBeth and Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Stuff pulls pin, ending big media companies’ joint ad-buying business
RNZ: Local Democracy Reporting scheme seeks journalists to cover the regions

Sky TV fined for broadcasting clips of Chch terrorist attack video
Sophie Bateman (Newshub): Sky TV ordered to pay $4000 for broadcasting ‘highly disturbing’ Christchurch attack livestream footage
1News: Sky Television NZ fined for use of Christchurch terrorist attack video
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): Sky NZ fined for broadcasting clips of Christchurch massacre live stream
RNZ: Sky fined for screening extensive footage of Christchurch attack

Police Dirty Politics raid
1News: Police breached Nicky Hager’s journalistic right in 2014 unlawful search, IPCA finds
Isaac Davison (Herald): Police did not intentionally deceive judge in Dirty Politics raid – IPCA
RNZ: Nicky Hager police raid in 2014 ‘unwitting neglect of duty’ – IPCA

Royal Commission into Abuse in Care
David Fisher (Herald): A new dawn – the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care takes careful, nervous steps into darkness (paywalled)

Health
RNZ:The Detail: How Big Pharma operates in New Zealand
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Health researcher says banning smoking in cars discriminatory to Māori
Mike Houlahan and Elspeth McLean (ODT): GPs ‘reluctant’ to refer for colonoscopies in fear request will be declined, says local GP
RNZ: Nurses’ open letter criticises Nurses Organisation union as ‘undemocratic’ over president
RNZ: Urgent measles advice sought after 100 new cases confirmed in past week
MIchelle Duff (Stuff): ‘Measles ward’ opens to manage three children admitted each day with the preventable disease
Herald: Auckland faces measles ‘epidemic’ after 42 more cases confirmed overnight
ODT Editorial: Time for rethink on medicine adverts
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Emergency department overcrowding creates risks for patients and staff
ODT: Lumsden midwife cover remains in place for another month

Southern Response, Canterbury quakes
Logan Church (RNZ): Quake-hit homeowners baffled as Southern Response bosses silent
Michael Hayward (Press): ‘Test case’ for on-solds quake insurance issue likely to go ahead

Education
Jessica Long (Stuff): Primary and intermediate principals vote ‘yes’ on Government’s latest pay offer
Vita Molyneux and Laura Macdonald (Newshub): Primary and intermediate school principals vote yes on Government’s latest offer
1News: ‘Hang in there’ principal advises parents of sleepy children after couple fined for teen’s no show at school
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Tertiary institutes look to tech firms to end ethnic disparity
Michelle Duff (Stuff): Massey University accused of mishandling allegations of a violent sexual assault

School lockdowns
James Fyfe and Hamish Clark (Newshub): Principal says students in lockdown saw Christchurch livestream
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Schools unsure of legal rights during emergency lockdowns

Banks
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): We need to give our starving regulators more money
Clancy Yeates (Stuff): ANZ may need to keep more profit in New Zealand

Primary industries
Rachel Stewart (Herald): Don’t say you weren’t warned (paywalled)
Joe Bennett (Stuff): Let’s mock Fonterra’s ‘velocity leadership’
RNZ: New Zealand wool industry clipped by China-US trade war
RNZ: Relief after New Zealand farm locations off Aussie animal rights website

Foreign affairs
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Campaign to scrap discriminatory refugee restrictions
Derek Cheng (Herald): Simon Bridges cautions PM on criticising Australia
Mackenzie Smith (RNZ): NZ funds human rights monitoring in Pacific
RNZ: Chinese diplomat calls Pacific criticism ignorant, prejudiced

Housing
1News: Laws haven’t kept up with NZ’s growing rental market, PM says amid concerns of power imbalance
Chris Hutching (Stuff): Is it really more expensive to build new in New Zealand
Tom Hunt (Stuff): ‘Next Steps Wainui’ shows two housing options for prime Lower Hutt land
Anuja Nadkarni and Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Heat still on in Wellington housing market and more to come, Trade Me says

Economy
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Westpac cuts NZ growth forecast but predicts ‘another turn’ on the merry-go-round
Liam Dann (Herald): Westpac bank: Economy has slowed, will get worse before it gets better

Infrastructure
Herald: Infrastructure report: The challenges — and possible solutions (paywalled)
Grant Robertson (Herald): Investing for New Zealand
Phil Twyford (Herald): Urban development on fast track
Paul Goldsmith (Herald): How to unlock NZ’s growth
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Meet the new infrastructure czars (paywalled)
Herald: A hand with the ‘heavy lifting’
Duncan Bridgeman (Herald): Time to change our regional incentives
Herald: Where do we go from here?

Alan Jones
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): ‘It’s not sexist to criticise the Prime Minister’ – Simon Bridges
Zane Small (Newshub): Unearthed audio reveals Alan Jones hoped Jacinda Ardern would get ‘a few backhanders’ from Scott Morrison
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): Alan Jones condemned after calling for Jacinda Ardern to be ‘backhanded’

Other
Rob Mitchell (Stuff): Your happiness is their biggest concern
Māori TV: Te Ao with Moana: The ‘hearts of the people’ will decide treaty justice, not Crown
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Rocket Lab’s eighth successful rocket launches US spy satellites from Hawke’s Bay
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Defence Force experience shapes new public service harassment rules
RNZ: Firefighting foam contamination tests to start at Christchurch site
Steve Braunias (Herald): Colin Craig back for new dog-fight in court (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Adrian Orr heading to the banker pow-wow that can change the world (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): New blood for NZ Post board brings more regional focus (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Importers gaining 15 per cent advantage over local retailers (paywalled)
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Group fighting West Coast waste-to-energy plant has blunt message: ‘Don’t bother
Chris Keall (Herald): GCSB gives Vodafone the green light for 5G
1News: Starlight navigators embark on waka voyage from Tahiti to NZ, honouring ancestors
Derek Cheng (Herald): Government mulls bill to ensure bars and clubs can serve booze during late RWC games
1News: Christchurch named seventh friendliest city in the world
1News: Former cop and Ngāti Te Whiti trust CEO jailed for defrauding hapū
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Hapū ready to occupy mountain to stop cell phone tower construction

NO COMMENTS