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.
Housing
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Lecturing councils won’t work for Labour either
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Nice pointers, but show us the money,’ say councils
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): No Phil Twyford, cities aren’t ‘failing’ – they’re choked by red tape
Jason Walls (Herald): The Government wants councils to focus on building up, not out, to fix the housing crisis
Katie Bradford (1News): New urban growth plan touted as game changer that will fix NZ’s ‘dysfunctional’ housing market
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Government’s plan to fix ‘stuffed’ housing market
Yvette McCulloch (RNZ):The government’s plan to allow cities to grow up – and out – to solve the housing crisis
RNZ: Phil Twyford: ‘Poor quality planning is stopping our cities from growing’
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Government plan to free up council planning rules to help fix our ‘failing cities’
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Government proposes new policies to specifically require local councils to leapfrog the NIMBYs and enable more urban intensification
Richard Harman (Politik): Freeing up city planning
Brent Edwards (NBR): Another push to make urban development easier (paywalled)
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1News: More skilled workers needed to lower NZ’s high house building costs, expert says
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): KiwiBuild programme losing another top boss, Helen O’Sullivan
Jason Walls (Herald): Key official responsible for KiwiBuild programme to leave on eve of policy reset
Zane Small (Newshub): KiwiBuild’s head of delivery Helen O’Sullivan stepping down
ODT: More KiwiBuild houses – if wanted
Commerce Commission report on fuel industry
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Much talk, little action in fuel price debate
Gordon Campbell: On the damning Commerce Commission report on the fuel industry
Peter Lyons (ODT): Petrol prices and the ugly, grasping invisible claw of the market
David Chaston (Interest): PM’s populist outburst isn’t backed up by the facts at the petrol pump
RNZ: The Detail: Cracking open the secretive petrol retailing industry
Brent Edwards (NBR): Government in consumers’ corner on petrol prices (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Z Energy, BP and Mobil under fire
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Z Energy, Gull call for set wholesale petrol price that’s publicised online
Brent Edwards (NBR): Industry sceptical about fuel market report (paywalled)
Luke Kirkness (Herald): Winners and losers of New Zealand’s fuel prices: Great Barrier still at the $3 mark
Donal Curtin: How’d it go?
Parliamentary Budget Office
Claire Trevett (Herald): Why the National Party does not want a policy costing unit (paywalled)
Jim Rose (Stuff): Greens’ proposed Parliamentary Budget Office is more Machiavellian than meets the eye
Eric Crampton (Spinoff): The parliamentary budget office should be just the beginning
Press Editorial: Voters would be well served by a referee in the fiscal fight
Point of Order: Bridges is offside with supporters in bridling against an independent budget office
Peters’ legal action against National
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Revenge fuelling Winston Peters legal fight with National
Claire Trevett (Herald): National Party MP Paula Bennett responds to ‘grumpy’ Winston Peters’ call for her head – with a bouquet (paywalled)
Derek Cheng (Herald): Winston Peters vs National: Paula Bennett not giving up her scalp
Local government – uncontested elections
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Worries for democratic process as election seats go uncontested
RNZ: Whanganui mayor re-elected unopposed
Mary-Jo Tohill (Stuff): Two southern mayors stand unopposed in the south
Laura Wiltshire (Hawkes Bay Today): Half of Central Hawke’s Bay District Council elected unopposed
Samantha Motion (Bay of Plenty Times): Teen barber Stacey Rose unintentionally elected to Bay of Plenty Regional Council
Local government – Auckland
Simon Wilson (Herald): God give me the strength – Goff v Tamihere (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland mayoral debate: Health, CV insults: Tamihere, Goff in fiery, personal clash
Herald/Newstalk ZB: Watch: Phil Goff and John Tamihere head-to-head in NZ Herald-Newstalk ZB debate
Herald: Tamihere’s plan to dump fuel tax ‘pure fantasy’ without Government approval
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayoral hopeful John Tamihere pledges to scrap petrol tax and light rail
1News: Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere vows to dump ‘Goff gas tax’ if elected
Herald: Mayoral candidate John Tamihere’s transport policy: dump fuel tax, fire Auckland Transport board
RNZ: Tamihere wants to drop Auckland petrol tax if elected mayor
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Auckland Mayoral candidate outlines plans to scrap the Regional Fuel Tax and introduce new rail lines across the city
Tim McCready (Herald): Mayoral motivations: Phil Goff and John Tamihere (paywalled)
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Auckland local body elections: Who makes the calls on the health of Aucklanders?
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Auckland local board member George Hawkins lashes out at $260,000 price tag for pedestrian crossing
Local government – NZ
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Game on for Wellington’s elections (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Developer challenges Shelly Bay infrastructure figure with own set of costings
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington Regional Council declares climate emergency and goal to be carbon neutral by 2030
RNZ: Wellington regional council declares climate emergency
Taranaki Daily News: Taranaki local body elections: Your candidate list
Catherine Groenestein (Taranaki Daily News): Mayoral candidate promises to remove homeless man if elected
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Hamilton mayoral candidates Paula Southgate, Andrew King pin hopes on mayoralty
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Mystery surrounds Timaru mayoral candidate
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Mayoral candidate promises voters a ‘big drunken party’ if he wins Timaru seat
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Race briefing: The Otago Regional Council
Tim Miller (ODT): NZTA apologises after hoardings taken down in error
Maurice Prendergast (ODT): Failing to find value in the rates system
Luisa Girao (ODT): Uproar after mayor ends meeting
Evan Harding (Southland Times): We look like plonkers, Invercargill city councillor says
Prominent smoking researcher funded by tobacco industry
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Gloves off: Smoking researcher shunned over Philip Morris funding
Zane Small (Newshub): MPs aghast over tobacco researcher Marewa Glover’s claim ‘bodies heal’ from secondhand smoke
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Titoki Black, Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft blast claim car smoking ban discriminatory
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Researcher Marewa Glover letting down Māori kids by playing discrimination card on car smoking ban
RNZ: Car smoking fines a punitive waste of time – health academic
Euthanasia
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The euthanasia bill is back in Parliament – here’s what to expect
1News: Disability Rights Commissioner calls for ‘clumsy’ euthanasia bill to be scrapped, started over
1News: Euthanasia bill should be dumped says Disability Rights Commissioner
1News:‘This is safer than any other process in NZ healthcare’ – David Seymour stands by his euthanasia bill
Erin Speedy and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Doctors not allowed to suggest euthanasia
Boris Jancic (Herald): Euthanasia bill marches forward as Parliament debates coercion
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Euthanasia: Safeguards against coercion inserted into David Seymour’s proposed bill
Tova O’Brien (Newshub):End of Life Choice Bill: MPs debate concerns over coercion
Ihumātao
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Ihumātao: Protesters marching to Jacinda Ardern’s office
1News: Ihumātao protestors to march to Jacinda Ardern’s Auckland electorate office today
Laine Moger (Stuff): Ihumātao: London street artists show solidarity with protesters
Tim Hunter (NBR): Fletcher ‘respectfully allowing space’ for talks at Ihumātao (paywalled)
King Tūheitia’s address
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Māori King Tūheitia addresses Ihumātao, Oranga Tamariki in speech
1News: Māori King challenges his people to take care of ‘our tamariki’, not blame Government if they’re taken into care
Scott Palmer and Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Māori King tells people to stop blaming Government over child uplifts
Census
Vince Galvin (Stuff): NZ census gaps to be filled with ‘admin data’ and will be reliable
Maria Bargh and Arama Rata (Stuff): Bungled census highlights need to raise Māori participation in voting
Karen Brown (RNZ): DHB worries census data will reduce funding to deprived area
Health
1News: New Zealand Dental Association backs review for sugar content labels on food and drink
Helen Petousis-Harris (Newsroom): Fact-check: travelling seminars of vaccine distortion
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): Father urges govt to fund cystic fibrosis treatment
Karen Brown (RNZ):DHBs gain in talks with doctors’ unions bringing ‘many positive changes’
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Hospital pharmacy workers in Canterbury to strike for four days
Isaac Davison (Herald): Simple, cheap test saving lives in NZ. So, why are some babies not getting it?
Amy Williams (RNZ): ‘There’s already backlash’ – Experts divided on dieting app aimed at obese children
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Mother’s almost seven year fight for justice for late son
NZ’s treatment of foreign students
Alex Perrottet (RNZ): Foreign students stranded as tertiary provider deregistered
Lydia Lewis (Newshub): NZ export education industry ‘ripping people off’ – immigration lawyer
Education
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Secondary principals offered 14.5 per cent pay increase
Katy Jones (Stuff): Strike vote by secondary principals suspended
Kaysha Brownlie (Newshub): Children’s Commissioner urges parents of wagging teens to seek help
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Ministry called in to help run Hāwera Intermediate School
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Cellphones ‘getting in way of learning’ at Southland school
Jessica Long (Stuff): Post-graduate study allowance a broken promise, student union says
Jason Walls (Herald): MPs told post-grad students are ‘weathering short-term poverty’ as they can’t get allowances
Luisa Girao (ODT): Delegation meeting Hipkins
Sarah Dowie (Southland Times): The case for SIT is falling on deaf ears
Kate Hannah (Spinoff): Enough is enough. NZ universities need to reckon with rife sexual misconduct
Immigration, refugees
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): World Vision petition demands New Zealand’s ‘racist’ refugee policies change
Laura Macdonald (Newshub): Former refugee pleas to abolish NZ’s quota restriction on African and Middle Eastern refugees
Anna Whyte (1News): Advocates call for change to ‘racist and discriminatory’ refugee policy
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Government decision on ‘discriminatory’ refugee immigration policy imminent
Richard Davison (ODT):Immigration U-turn means family can stay together
Jennifer Eder (Stuff): Keeping a home language part of keeping identity for young migrants
Media
Brent Edwards (NBR): MediaWorks’ pleas raise new fears for journalism and democracy (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): PM ‘not approached’ on NZME-Stuff merger but broadcasting minister may have been
Damian Christie (Stuff): The truth about public service television in New Zealand
Emily Brookes (Stuff): At 49, Hilary Barry is nearly too old for Kiwi viewers
Environment and conservation
Jamie Morton (Herald): Rising seas: NZ must ‘put brakes on’ coastal development
Jamie Morton (Herald): Q&A: Why you’ve been hearing more about GE lately
Philippa Jamieson (ODT): No GE needed in New Zealand
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Farming and tourism can help New Zealand’s global role in sustainable development, Helen Clark believes
Katie Todd (RNZ): Former Prime Minister Helen Clark challenges tourism on climate
RNZ: ‘Startling’ number of yellow-eyed penguins being caught in commerical fishing nets – Forest and Bird
Laura James (1News): Yellow-eyed penguin deaths in set nets highlight need for urgent action – Forest and Bird
Dave Hansford (Spinoff): How many kea deaths by 1080 is too many?
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): Flightless kākāpō in the cloud
Jono Edwards (ODT): Colony deaths spur criticism
RNZ: Councils blast MPs over lack of money for Kauri dieback
Katie Todd (RNZ): Other trees could aid in protecting kauri
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): An audacious plan to save a rare species
Christchurch mosque shootings
Derek Cheng (RNZ): Christchurch mosque shooting accused’s manifesto being sold overseas is ‘disgusting’: Jacinda Ardern
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Abhorrent’: Jacinda Ardern on Chistchurch manifesto being sold online
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub):Christchurch shooting: Jacinda Ardern says alleged gunman’s manifesto being sold on the internet ‘disgusting’
Anna Whyte (1News): Selling of alleged Christchurch gunman’s manifesto ‘abhorrent, disgusting’, Ardern says
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Neo-nazis sell hardcover copies of alleged Christchurch mosque shooter’s manifesto online
RNZ: Accused Christchurch mosque shooter’s manifesto printed, distributed by neo-Nazi
David Williams (Newsroom): What the Crusaders really thought of their name
Defence
Boris Jancic (Herald): New Zealand has no boats to send to Strait of Hormuz: Defence Minister Ron Mark
Robert Ayson: Where are the Frigates?
Transport
Michael Cropp (RNZ): Problems at CAA go deeper than ex-chairman, industry people say
Derek Cheng (Herald): Phil Twyford pushes Nigel Gould to resign from CAA
RNZ: Civil Aviation Authority chairperson Nigel Gould resigns
Primary indudstries
Jamie Mackay (Herald): Shane Jones on who is really responsible for dairy farming’s woes (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): Fonterra farmers’ fraught future
Pattrick Smellie (Herald): It’s time to unleash the forestry bio-economy (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: ‘Potatoes v property’
Ian McKelvie (Whanganui Chronicle): Let’s celebrate our farmers, not condemn them (paywalled)
Banks
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): APRA, RBNZ give ANZ Bank a headache over capital
Madison Reidy (RNZ): Australian regulatory squeeze could affect NZ banks
Employment
Rob Stock (Stuff): Directors on council-controlled organisations get 14.1 per cent pay rise
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Why workers who are Pakeha benefit from positive action for Maori
Jason Walls (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Government has ‘more work to do’ on gender pay gap
1News: Gender pay gap has remained ‘relatively static’ since 2017, new stats show
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Workplace stress on the rise, new survey says
Rotorua Daily Post: Speed-dating style job application coming to the Bay of Plenty
Tāmati Coffey’s baby
1News: Tāmati Coffey’s baby Tūtānekai unfazed as robust debate plays out in Parliament
Stuff: MP Tāmati Coffey’s baby gets to sit in the big chair; and Speaker Mallard shows his dad skills
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour MP Tāmati Coffey’s baby son Tūtānekai makes Parliament debut
Herald: Labour MP Tāmati Coffey brings baby to Parliament
Alan Jones
Denis Muller (The Conversation): It will be money, not morality, that finally turns the tide on Alan Jones
RNZ: Advertisers pull funding over Sydney shock jock Alan Jones’ comments about Jacinda Ardern
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Alan Jones threatening legal action over airing of Jacinda Ardern ‘backhand’ comment – report
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern ‘put in her place’ by Alan Jones – Pauline Hanson
World cup
Derek Cheng (Herald): Govt to change law so bars and clubs can stay open for RWC 2019 games
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Bars and clubs to open outside normal licensing hours for Rugby World Cup games
Zane Small (Newshub): Law proposed to allow bars to stay open for Rugby World Cup 2019 matches
Other
RNZ: Checkpoint: What is Southern Response costing taxpayers?
Derek Cheng (Herald): Bill outlawing ‘scandalising the court’ passes third reading
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Infrastructure role will take every ounce of Alan Bollard’s steel (paywalled)
Martin Devlin (Herald): TJ Perenara got it wrong by using the All Blacks for political purpose – and NZ Rugby must act
Maria Slade (Spinoff): Cheat Sheet: Fletcher Building unveils huge profit amid Ihumātao outcry
Anne Gibson (Herald): Fletcher Building turnaround: last year’s $190m loss becomes $164m profit
Charlie Gates (Stuff): Government-owned wreck left broken and vandalised in central Christchurch
Robin Martin (RNZ): Former police officer Shaun Keenan jailed for stealing $500k from his hapū
Tara Shaskey (Taranaki Daily News): Marae plans still in the pipeline following theft as hapū hope to reunite
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Wellington businesses urged to become ‘China ready’
Maia Hart (Stuff): Excitement levels bubble as first Tuia 250 voyage sets sail for Aotearoa
Chris Keall (Herald): Huawei NZ added to US export ban list
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Ōtorohanga receives tohutō after unanimous council vote
Helen Harvey (Stuff): A chat on the couch with MP Nicola WIllis
RNZ: Oil refinery operator falls deeper into red
