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.
Privacy breach at Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Audrey Young (Herald): How latest privacy breach will impact on Jacinda Ardern’s Government (paywalled)
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Ministry for Culture and Heritage privacy breach: ‘Somebody has to be held to account’
Piers Fuller (Stuff): Platform should have been tested, expert says
Damian George and Jessica Long (Stuff): ‘Coding error’ compromises passports, driver licences in Ministry of Culture and Heritage data breach
1News: How it came to light: Coding error to blame for data breach
Audrey Young (Herald): Ministry for Culture and Heritage reports serious digital privacy security breach
1News: Major privacy breach hits Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Serious privacy breach at Ministry for Culture and Heritage
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Ministry for Culture and Heritage investigating serious digital privacy breach
Ihumātao
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Ihumātao: ‘Why would we pay the thief for our own land?’
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): ‘There is no deal’ – Waikato-Tainui leader
RNZ: Reports of Waikato-Tainui buying Ihumātao is speculation – Pania Newton
Duncan Garner (Stuff): Tainui saves the Government from a seabed and foreshore moment
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Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit Ihumātao
Katie Bradford (1News): Jacinda Ardern says she will visit Ihumātao but doesn’t know when
RNZ: Jacinda Ardern ‘will visit Ihumātao … it’s just a matter of timing’
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Ihumātao: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she will visit protest site
Michael Sergel (Herald): Catholic Church calls for Ihumātao solution, urges Jacinda Ardern to visit
Karl du Fresne: Some more thoughts on Ihumatao
Martin Bradbury (Daily Blog): Labour’s strategy behind Ihumātao
Peters Super leak
Heather du Plessis-Alan (Newstalk ZB): Winston’s in the right – National has a history of playing ‘dirty politics’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Flowers won’t fix what ‘dirty rotten Nats’ did to Winston Peters – Willie Jackson
2020 Election
Henry Cook (Stuff): Stopping viral misinformation in the next election will be a task for all of us
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Facebook ads will dominate the next election – but our politicians don’t have to tell us about them
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): How National wins the 2020 election using Identity Politics and Facebook
Parliament
John Armstrong (1News): Omens don’t look good for Labour and Greens Parliamentary Budget Office proposal
MIchael Reddell: A policy costing unit
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Ardern takes on the oil companies
Brent Edwards (NBR): The week in politics: Forcing down petrol prices an ironic twist for Coalition
Phil Smith (RNZ): You and non-you: MPs tangled in grammar
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Call for better accessibility in Wellington’s halls of power
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): Adorable: Trevor Mallard cradles drunk Shane Jones while Parliament in session
National Party
Richard Harman (Politik): Collins presents Bridges with a dilemma
Lana Andelane (Newshub): National MP argues climate change ‘is natural’ in Facebook rant taken from US right-wing source
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Channelling Trump? Bridges and National go populist (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Judith Collins’ revenge book: Why some big names should be worried
Jason Walls (Herald): There have been many books about MPs over the years, how can Collins stand out?
Jason Walls (Herald): Longtime National MP Judith Collins is penning a tell-all book about her time in Government
Government
Audrey Young (Herald): Labour’s behaviour suggests National leader Simon Bridges is rattling the Govt (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson on writing sex poetry, Winston’s tantrums and pollution taxes
John Anthony (Stuff): Threats to Andrew Little trigger late night police visit, says Pike River re-entry critic
David Farrar: Guest Post: Gerry Morris: Pike Re-entry on Shaky Ground
Herald: Jacinda Ardern speaks to Stuart Nash about his behaviour after Air NZ outburst
Local government
Julia Talbot-Jones (The Conversation): Voter turnout at New Zealand local elections keeps falling, but paying people to vote could backfire
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): Beware the dilution of local democracy
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Local body elections are vital in removing barriers for disability community
Local government: Auckland
Simon Wilson (Herald): Roll up, roll up, it’s the Auckland Council election and do they have a show for you! (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Is John Tamihere Auckland’s Brexit or Trump moment? (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): The mayoral poacher turned gamekeeper
Nick Truebridge (Stuff): Auckland mayoralty: New leader will inherit a super city struggling to become world class
Dan Satherley (Newshub): John Tamihere calls on landlords to ‘reflect deeply on their conscience’ and freeze rents
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayoral race: Tamihere would freeze rates and cut salaries
Dubby Henry (Herald): John Tamihere promises to freeze Auckland rates for three years
1News: Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere promises three-year rates freeze
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Auckland mayoral hopeful John Tamihere’s petrol tax proposal divides experts
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Revealed: The John-Tamihere-for-mayor campaign brainstorm
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Labour distances itself from pro-China candidate
Jessie Chiang (RNZ): Local board member claims being ‘sidelined’ over pictures with politicians
Todd Niall (Stuff): Stuff Auckland mayoral debate: Live audience to quiz election frontrunners
Tom Dillane (Herald): 88 cats euthanised by Auckland Council since March as activists fork out thousands to desex strays
Tom Dillane (Herald): ‘It’s horrible … These cats don’t deserve this’ – On the prowl with Auckland’s cat vigilantes (paywalled)
Local government: NZ
Alice Webb-Liddall (Spinoff): Meng Foon on 18 years as Gisborne mayor, and a new life in race relations
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Māori-speaking mayor Meng Foon acknowledged for services to East Coast
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Waikato survey reveals disconnect between young people and council politics
Jo Lines-MacKenzie (Stuff): Lisa Lewis wants to leave sex industry behind to be Hamilton mayor
Christina Persico (Stuff): Council over-spending needs to stop, says mayoral candidate
George Heagney (Stuff0: Tararua mayoral candidate fined for disorderly behaviour
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Election 2019: Wellington City Council Eastern ward candidate profiles
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Bum note for Porirua City children following funding cut after charities split
Skara Bohny (Stuff): Big Issues: Nelson council’s track record on environment
1News: Blenheim council candidate says election billboards are a ‘waste of space’
Tina Law (Stuff): Class of 2016 – What has Christchurch City Council achieved this term?
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): A gender pay victory or financial madness – debate over council chief executive salary
ODT: Labour candidates’ campaigns launched
Chris Morris (ODT): Cr subject of eleven complaints
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Invercargill city councillor Alex Crackett under scrutiny in recycling tender drama
Primary industries
Mike Joy and David Larsen (New York Times): The Incontinent Cows of Middle-earth
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Ecologist takes dairy criticism to world stage
Rod Oram (Newsroom): Fed Farmers’ dangerous climate strategy
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): More than 200 convictions and 6000 notices issued for dirty dairy offences over past decade
Teresa Cowie (RNZ): Milk shake – Why the future of dairy looks scary
Todd Muller (Stuff): The crisis of confidence undermining our primary industries is untenable
Brian Gaynor (Herald): Numbers reveal the scale of Fonterra’s failure (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): ‘Banks say rural clients treated well, farmers cavil (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): How much trouble do farmers need to be in before their creditors suggest mediation?
Pete Fitz-Herbert (Herald): Farming’s not a game – why MPs need to stop playing with our livelihood (paywalled)
Transport
Herald: Hamilton to Auckland rail service full steam ahead: $92m funding announced
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Government funding for Hamilton to Auckland rail service confirmed
1News: Auckland-Hamilton rail link makes progress with NZTA funding approval
Mark Quinlivan and Giles Dexter (Newshub): NZ Transport Agency approves Hamilton to Auckland passenger rail service construction
RNZ: $90 million for rail service between Hamilton and Auckland
Lauren Paddy and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Hamilton commuter train may eventually reach Britomart
RNZ: Waikato-wide train service campaigners’ new dream after Hamilton-Auckland rail route
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Fullers under more pressure from fed-up ferry passengers
1News: Roadside memorials are not a distraction to Kiwi drivers, study suggests
Invercargill
Audrey Young (Herald): Shane Jones announces loan for Invercargill to mark first Auckland direct flight
1News: Invercargill receives $19.5 million funding boost from Provincial Growth Fund
RNZ: Invercargill to get $19.5 million loan to help with central city redevelopment
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Invercargill CBD development gets $19.5m funding boost
Thomas Bywater (1News): Shane Jones v Christopher Luxon: The Ruff-up in Bluff
Damian Rowe (Stuff): Inaugural direct flight from Auckland to Invercargill takes off
Abbey Palmer (ODT): Invercargill jet link to Auckland launche
1News: New Air NZ flight between Auckland and Invercargill to get exports, people moving in the region – Shane Jones
Justice, corrections
Jo Moir (RNZ): Departures will not ‘hurt’ justice reform group’s report
Emilie Rākete (Spinoff): The Ngawha scandal proves Corrections cannot be trusted to change its own culture
Thomas Manch (Stuff): A serial stalker continued to torment her victims through the prison mail system
Tommy Livingston (Stuff): Fighting back: How Andrew Kupa-Caudwell came back from the brink
Police
1News: Police launch review of custody and transport of prisoners after escape incidents
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Police Commissioner launches national review of custody and transport of prisoners after week of escapes
RNZ: Police ‘can do better’: review of prisoner custody after four escapes in a week
Media
Brent Edwards (NBR): No silver bullet for news media problems (paywalled)
James Perry (Māori TV): Ministers tackle future of State media
Chris Trotter: Fade To White
Malcolm Evans (Daily Blog): The Fraud Estate
John Roughan (Herald): Privileges don’t grant freedoms – they protect authority (paywalled)
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: TV watchdogs differ on Christchurch gunman’s footage
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: ‘Blowhard’ with a vengeance
David Slack (Stuff): Matthew Hooton’s favourite thing: his feather duster
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Sky rolls out its new game
Child welfare
MItchell Alexander (Newshub): Crackdown: The Government’s moves to stop kids accessing adult material
Simon Collins (Herald): School census: Most kids have their own phones by age 11 (paywalled)
Simon Collins (Herald): School census: High-schoolers stuck on their phones (paywalled)
Finn Hogan (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Children’s Commissioner Andrew Becroft supports separate childcare system for Māori
Mitch McCann (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Putting Tamariki first: A report from Tūhoe country (video)
RNZ: Tūhoe sign agreement with Oranga Tamariki
Health
Southland Times Editorial: When Big Tobacco likes the cut of your jib, what does that tell you?
MIchael Morrah (Newshub): ‘Wake up’: Police say alcohol laws aren’t working
RNZ: Māori elderly and disabled ‘forgotten’ New Zealanders – report
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Healthcare in New Zealand a victim of its own success
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Coca-Cola’s deal to exclusively stock hospitals with drinks ‘astonishing’
1News: It may become tougher for Kiwis to get lifesaving cancer medication, advocates concerned
Sophie Trigger (Stuff): Widow left with what ifs after husband too young for bowel cancer screening
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Human rights case against Health and Disability Commissioner ‘exceptional’ (paywalled)
Nicholas Jones (Herald): ‘Illness, disability and death’: Auckland DHB warns about superbugs in confidential report (paywalled)
Libby Wilson (Herald): Kaumātua wellbeing research gets $2.5 million in government funding
Florence Kerr (Stuff): Largest iwi health provider to slash jobs after losing major partnerships
Vera Alves (Herald): Comment: Enough is enough, it’s time to make vaccines mandatory
Cate Broughton (Stuff): One in two children not fully immunised at Christchurch’s Helios medical centre
Ruby Macandrew (Stuff): How Kiwis’ drugs are being tested before they have the chance to do harm
RNZ: Scheme fills nurse shortages in hard-to-staff areas
Katherine Rich and Eric Crampton (ODT): Calls to raise ‘sin taxes’ ignore complexity
Adam Dudding (Stuff): Jami-Lee Ross: ‘Find My iPhone’ saved me from myself
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Dentists performing orthodontics serious problem, specialists say (paywalled)
Peter Griffin (Stuff): Keeping fluoridating NZ water despite bombshell study
Nurses Organisation
Karen Brown (RNZ): Nurses’ leader fights to prevent being ousted from union job
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Retiring nurses’ advocate prefers a low profile
NZ spy agencies
Newshub Nation: Bringing our spy agencies out of the shadows
Zane Small (Newshub): GCSB’s warning to ministers about sending classified information via apps
Stuff: NZSIS intelligence officers talk about their job as agency seeks new spies
Environment and coservation
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Greenpeace blasts Government for dropping plan to ban petrol cars
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Government considered banning all petrol and diesel car imports in the next 15 years
Alison Cole (Stuff): Climate change is genocide
1News: Crowd turns out in show of solidarity during climate emergency protestor’s 100th day outside Parliament
RNZ: Checkpoint: Climate protester marks 100 days at Parliament
Jason Walls (Herald): Hundreds turn out for Parliament’s lone climate change protester’s 100th consecutive day
Christine Rose (Daily Blog): Extinction rebellion should start with what’s on your plate
Melanie Vautier and Tim Jones (Spinoff): Does Wellington really want to be the coalest little capital?
Amy Ridout (Stuff): The Kiwi food businesses blazing a carbon-zero trail
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Joel MacManus (Stuff): ‘Gambling with extinction’: Conservationists at war over Māui dolphin plans
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Another nail in the coffin for endangered eels
Annabelle Tukia (Newshub): New yellow-eyed penguin research heightens concerns about extinction
RNZ: The Detail: Is it time to re-visit our GE rules?
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Pelorus Sound farm gets approval despite king shag concerns
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Renew Energy says it won’t stockpile waste for waste-to-energy plant
1News: Microplastics discovered in our drinking water ‘not a big surprise’, expert says
1News: West Coast to receive $3.9m funding boost following decision to close access road to Fox River valley
RNZ: Road to Fox Glacier will not reopen, engineers say
RNZ: Closure of road to Fox Glacier will have ‘negative effect on township’
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Road to Fox Glacier closed indefinitely due to landslide
Herald: Zealandia ecosanctuary named one of TIME’s 100 Greatest Places of 2019
Housing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): KiwiBuild and HNZ competed over same land and homes
Cate Broughton (Press): 52 Christchurch council units left to rot amidst housing crisis
Lana Hart (Stuff): Kiwi houses need warming up
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): As the housing market stumbles, should we be celebrating?
Lindy Laird (Herald): Scheme will give Whangārei homeless a place to call home (paywalled)
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Renters struggling to find housing as property market tightens
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Christchurch social housing tenants ‘terrified’ after attacks and threats
Andrew King (Herald): Landlords fear tenancy rules change, including to 90-day eviction period
Monetary policy, economy
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): What if money really did fall from the sky?
Steven Joyce (Stuff): Here’s why the Government needs to spend more now
Tim Hunter (NBR): RBNZ governor tells business to buck up (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Company results show economy still solid
Christchurch
Michael Hayward (Stuff): Christchurch red zone plan approval may clear path for projects
1News: Government gives go-ahead for ‘once in a lifetime’ revamp of Christchurch’s quake-affected redzone
Dominic Harris (Press): Hope for ‘forgotten’ suburb after Christchurch red zone residents told they can stay
Immigration
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Immigration NZ admits restructure did not go smoothly
Jo McKenzie-McLean (Stuff): Queenstown’s ‘abandoned’ migrant workers fear for future
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): British migrants flee New Zealand citing expensive rentals and heavy traffic
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Short film uncovering New Zealand’s shameful history
Foreign affairs
Andrea Vance & Phil Quin (Stuff): Helen Clark ‘wasn’t interested’ in UN Rwanda genocide claim
Gordon Campbell: On why New Zealand shouldn’t try to curry favour with Trump
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Interpol involved in NZ aid sexual assault allegations
RNZ: Remembering the lives lost in the influenza epidemic in Samoa
Islamic Women’s Council conference
Jessie Chiang (RNZ): ‘Bootcamp’ for Muslim women interested in politics?
1News: Jacinda Ardern suggests hosting ‘politics bootcamp
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern promises to look into more opportunities for Muslim women
Jake McKee (Herald): Jacinda Ardern dons hijab as she fronts Islamic Women’s Council national conference
Christchurch mosque shootings
Paula Penfold and Eugene Bingham (Stuff): The alleged Christchurch shooter’s digital footprint
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Christchurch shooting: Ukraine vows to prosecute people sharing alleged gunman’s manifesto
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Ukraine ‘will prosecute’ anyone spreading accused gunman’s manifesto
Firearms
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Over $26m handed out to gunowners at buyback scheme
TVNZ: Sunday Feature: In-depth interview with Gun City owner David Tipple
Education
ODT Editorial: ‘Reading wars’ are futile
Rodney Hide (NBR): PM’s spin won’t stop inequality in schools (paywalled)
Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Principal who slept naked with students later did contract work for Ministry of Education
MIchael Hayward (Stuff): Red zone home mooted for Christchurch character school Te Pā o Rākaihautū
Sophia Honey (Spinoff): Why I’m taking on my school examiners over their plastic habit
George Heagney (Manawatū Standard): Palmerston North puts hand up to host new mega polytech headquarters
Canterbury law revue
David Williams (Newsroom): Uni law club defends ‘disgusting’ show
Melissa Chan-Green (Newshub): Canterbury law students mock profoundly deaf student in ‘satirical’ show
Melissa Chan-Green (Newshub): Helen Clark calls for sponsors to withdraw from ‘foulmouthed’ Canterbury law revue
Petrol prices
Frank Macskasy (Daily Blog): National and petrol taxes – when journalists gets it right
ODT Editorial: Huffing and puffing on petrol prices
Sydney land claim
Newstalk ZB: Māori leaders urge group to drop Sydney land claim
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Māori Development Minister Nanaia Mahuta doesn’t support Māori group’s Sydney land claim
Michael Neilson (Herald): Nanaia Mahuta calls on Māori group claiming Aboriginal area in Sydney to ‘respect the people of the land’
Other
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): ANZ – the time for an inquiry is now (paywalled)
Moana Maniapoto (E-Tangata): How can there be justice if the process isn’t just?
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): DIA floats online gambling censorship
Deena Coster (Stuff): Waitara resident’s leaseholder status ends after 50 years
RNZ: Retiree becomes first Waitara leaseholder to buy her property
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Challenging the Governments re-enactment of Cook’s arrival
Gareth Shute (Spinoff): Slow boil: Why stressed-out New Zealand firefighters say they’re at crisis point
Brent Edwards (NBR): ‘Win-win’ for lenders and poor (paywalled)
Martin van Beynen (Stuff): Drowning in guilt? Join the club
Steve Elers (Stuff): Everyone is a beneficiary but the poor are still poor
Lance Beath (Incline): Keeping the Lights On: The Need for New Zealand to Increase Its Maritime Capability
Stuff: Iwi join forces to create scheme to improve financial wellbeing of its members
Anne Goulding (Newsroom): The identity and privacy dilemma
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Kiwis want homemakers compensated after a split (paywalled)
Zane Small (Newshub): Remember Karel Sroubek? He could be released soon
Lydia Lewis (Newshub): The Cookie Project is revolutionising employment for people with disabilities
Dan Satherley, Simon Wong and Giles Dexter (Newshub): Wellington cannabis club raided, two men arrested
1News: Two men charged over Wellington ‘cannabis club’
Wilhelmina Shrimpton (Newshub): South Auckland councillor blames gangs for shooting spate
Richard Swainson (Stuff): Alan Jones gives old men a bad name
Leighton Smith (Herald): Nothing wrong with telling Jacinda to put a sock in it (paywalled)
Stuff: Santa or Sandra? We’ve done it before – what’s wrong with doing it now?
Skara Bohny (Stuff): ‘Those poor white men’ – happy hour protest against racism at Nelson Club
