New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.
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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.

Cancer
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Cancer agency a sign of greater tests to come
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Cancer Society: plan must have accountability
Tina Law (Press): Moves to rid NZ’s cancer care postcode lottery applauded
1News: Government’s Cancer Action Plan a ‘landmark beginning’ says Māori Council
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): ‘PHARMAC boost good start but not enough to make change’ – Māori family member
Duncan Garner (Newshub): $60m for new cancer drugs is piddly
Emma Russell (Herald): Cancer hope: Government promises to put an end to postcode lottery care
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Government ’embarrassed into action’ over cancer, Michael Woodhouse claims
1News: Government announces Cancer Control Agency and $60 million PHARMAC funding boost
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Government unveils new 10-year plan to tackle cancer
Karen Brown (RNZ): Government to establish a Cancer Control Agency and give Pharmac an extra $60m
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Government announces an extra $60m in Pharmac funding and new cancer treatments
Emma Russell (Herald): Government unveils national cancer agency and $60 million injection into Pharmac
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Cancer plan: new agency, $60m boost for Pharmac
1News: Terminal cancer sufferer Blair Vining wants Government’s Cancer Action Plan to go further
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Vining is cautiously optimistic
Emma Russell (Herald): ‘Cancer hero’ Blair Vining can finally put his feet up
1News: ‘People are starting to act’ – terminal cancer sufferer who organised petition welcomes new agency
Karen Brown (RNZ): Cancer experts wait anxiously as government set to unveil cancer plan
Perry Wilton and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Cancer patients await Government’s plan to tackle the disease
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ‘Listening is different than acting’: Terminal cancer patient Blair Vining’s challenge to Health Minister
Herald: Pharmac reveals new cancer drugs on the way, contraception more available 
Dan Satherley (Newshub): GPs’ ‘outdated’ prostate cancer advice is killing men – experts
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Kiwi prostate cancer sufferers facing delays, inconsistent advice – study
RNZ: Men face increasing wait times for prostate cancer treatment
RNZ: The link between hormone treatment and breast cancer

Measles
Martin van Beynen (Stuff): What the measles epidemic says about New Zealand
Michelle Duff and Andy Fyers (Stuff): The parent trap: A dangerous ideology threatening lives
Michelle Duff (Stuff):Anti-vaxxers target new parents, while others nurse their critically ill kids
Zane Small and Jenna Lynch (Newshub): ‘This is serious’: National Health Coordination Centre activated over measles outbreak
1News: ‘The situation is very serious’ – Government launches coordinated response as Auckland measles outbreak hits 762
Newshub: As it happened: Julie Anne Genter delivers Government’s response to measles outbreak
Herald: Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter announces national measles outbreak response
Don Rowe (Spinoff): Cheat sheet: NZ might have just lost herd immunity to measles. Now what?
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern urges people to get vaccinated for measles as confirmed cases climb
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Measles outbreak: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern urges people to get immunised
RNZ: Measles ‘epidemic curve is still steeply upwards’
Heather McCarron and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Auckland measles outbreak: Children ‘likely to die’, head of Starship Hospital warns
RNZ: Some children ‘likely to die’ from measles outbreak, doctor says
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Special training underway for school nurses to fight measles outbreak
Elizabeth Binning (Herald): Vaccinations to take place in schools as the battle to curb measles outbreak continues
Cherie Howie (Herald): Auckland measles outbreak: Child critically ill in Starship Hospital as measles cases grow
1News: Child critical as Auckland measles cases jump by 19 in a day to 778
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Twenty new measles cases per day as Auckland’s outbreak worsens
Jessie Chiang (RNZ): Tongan church elder keen to highlight impact of measles as free vaccinations launch
Scott Palmer (Newshub):Measles strikes Auckland school ball
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ‘Not appropriate’: New Zealand Rugby League cancels secondary school competition due to measles outbreak
Hayley Jacobsen and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Measles outbreak sees high school league competition scrapped
1News: ‘We’re really worried’ – Plunket inundated with calls from concerned parents as measles outbreak spreads
Herald Editorial: Measles should not be a risk to our children’s future
ODT Editorial: The unwanted rise of measles
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Drawing the legal line on infectious diseases and vaccination (paywalled)

Health
Mike Houlahan (ODT): SDHB to get crown monitor
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Health boards should be scrapped, says academic
Nicholas Jones (Herald): ‘We fit definitions describing racism’: DHB’s soul-searching over Māori illness and death (paywalled)
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): ‘Plant based’ diet could cut disease, hospital costs and emissions, NZ health sector says
1News: Vaping criticism will only protect cigarette trade, leading NZ academic says
RNZ: World Health Organisation’s approach to vaping will do more harm than good – academic
John-Michael Swannix (Newshub): The Pitch: Michael Woodhouse reveals National’s plan for health
Katie Kenny (Stuff): Why is immortality once again big business and what does that say about us?
RNZ: ‘Dream project’ wants to cut rates of heart disease among Māori and Pasifika
Donna Chisholm (North & South): New Zealand’s bitter pill: No justice for medical negligence
Karen Rutherford (Stuff): Tauranga podiatric surgeon Stefan Edwards under investigation over multiple botched operations
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Wāhine Māori suicide rates rising
Dave Macpherson (Daily Blog): Hold on, aren’t the same people in charge….?
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Mental health campaigner Jazz Thornton urges Kiwis not to be discouraged by suicide figures

Government
John Armstrong (1News): Ardern’s struggle from now on will be to keep her head above the water
Audrey Young (Herald): Managing Māori issues a test for Jacinda Ardern’s Government (paywalled)
Richard Griffin (Stuff): Politics ‘falls off cliff’ in Britain but little action on home front
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Suicide rates skyrocket, public housing wait list explodes to 12,644 while beneficiaries queue at 2am – how is this transformative?
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern was sent ‘lewd’ unsolicited image on Twitter
ODT Editorial: Clare Curran: An MP who really cares
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Curran’s career in perspective
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): At home with Guy Williams and Golriz Ghahraman
Lana Andelane (Newshub): ‘Happy Father’s Day to all the dads’: Labour MP Tāmati Coffey shares adorable photos

Parliament
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Should we cap political party donations to just $1000?
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Lifting the MP pay freeze — how much are politicians worth? (paywalled)
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Oncoming online onslaught of paid political ads?
Claire Trevett (Herald): Bad blood: Winston Peters, Paula Bennett and other explosive feuds of Parliament (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Unity crumbles on gun law reform and climate change
1News: Inside Parliament: Political unity breaks over guns, immigrants and pensions (video)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Beehive Diaries: PM Jacinda Ardern points the finger and Bridges’ three baddies (paywalled)
Phil Smith (RNZ): The everlasting money talk
Guy Williams (Stuff): Simple (half-baked) ideas to improve politics in New Zealand

National Party
Chris Trotter: A Grim Necessity
Brooke van Velden (Stuff): Judith Collins 2.0 may be the leader National need to take on Jacindamania in 2020
John-Michael Swannix (Newshub): Newshub Nation Backstory: Agnes Loheni

Local Body Elections
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Whose job is it anyway? Inside our inadequate, uncoordinated efforts to up voter turnout
Steve Elers (Stuff): People with criminal pasts have every right to stand for office
Nick Truebridge (Stuff): Auckland mayoral election: Christine Fletcher quiet as running mate drops policy bombshells
Stephen Forbes (Interest): John Tamihere says if he wins he’ll be seeking Auckland’s ‘fair share of our taxes deployed back in our city’
1News: Phil Goff promises living wage for council cleaning contractors if he’s re-elected
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Auckland mayoral race: Phil Goff promises to lift cleaners’ wages if re-elected
Bernard Orsman and Simon Wilson (Herald): How good are they? We rate the Auckland councillors (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayoral election: Some media tips for candidates
1News: Former gang leader eyes new role as Far North mayor
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): No place for candidate’s misguided ‘Nazi nation’ phrase in local body politics
Mike Mather (Stuff): Hamilton election candidate Lisa Lewis says she’s being left out of meetings
Richard Swainson (Stuff): No red lights for this mayoral candidate
Felix Desmarais and Ruby Macandrew (Stuff): Former Wellington mayors weigh in on city issues and say it’s ‘lost its heart’
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Election 2019: Wellington City Council Northern ward candidate profiles
Virginia Fallon and Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Local election 2019: Porirua City’s candidate profiles
Virginia Fallon and Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Local election 2019: Kāpiti Council’s candidate profiles
1News: Thirteen candidates vying for Christchurch mayoralty in upcoming elections
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): Muslim local election candidates want ‘harmony in our society’
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Race briefing: Waitaki District mayoralty, aka the Overlord of Oamaru
Chris Morris (ODT): City’s future direction at stake in election
Tim Miller (ODT): Youngest mayoral candidate focuses on housing, community
Tim Miller (ODT): Moving to circular, low-waste economy seen as vital for city
Spinoff: Democracy saved: We debated one of New Zealand’s top unopposed local election candidates

Local Government
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Auckland Council, Mayor Phil Goff, taken to court for barring right-wing Canadian speakers
Stuff: Auckland Council now pays living wage to staff
RNZ: Auckland Council’s living wage comes into effect
Alastair Lynn (Newshub): Low-income Auckland retirement village residents stunned homes could be bulldozed
Cherie Howie (Herald): The Auckland Council password no-no list: Elected members and staff warned off ‘common’ words
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Christchurch City Council paid $55,000 to recruitment firm to help find new CEO
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Environment plan three years in the making on track financially

Water
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): A Step Too Far
Simon Shepherd and Finn Hogan (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Waitangi Tribunal call for stronger freshwater rights for Māori could benefit everyone – Māori Council

Housing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The Government can wrest something from the wreckage of KiwiBuild
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Public housing waitlist at new high with 12,644 households waiting months for housing
1News: Waiting list for state housing hits record high
RNZ: ‘Warm homes … instead of them living out in caravans’: Govt invests $2.7m in housing on Māori land
Herald: Government to part fund new Māori housing development in Tauranga
NIcholas Boyack (Stuff): Government forking out millions for emergency housing in Lower Hutt
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): More Kiwis battling lifelong mortgages
Katie Todd (RNZ): Tiny house owners lobby to secure renters’ rights

Environment & Climate Change
Andrea Vance (Stuff): The world is burning and Judith Collins just poured fuel on the fire
Paul Gorman (Stuff): Will ECan’s proposed nitrate reductions make dairy farming untenable?
John Jackson (Stuff): Not NZ first when it comes to agricultural emissions cuts, thanks
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Christchurch makes bold step toward ambitious carbon emissions goals
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland could do more on sustainability and climate action, says former PM Helen Clark
Pat Baskett (Newsroom): Zero carbon submissions: they don’t make it easy
Leith Huffadine (RNZ): ‘Flax roots’ climate action leads to the first ‘climate safe house’
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): Opinion: Treat your car by buying it extra petrol to snack on while you aren’t driving
RNZ: The Detail: Swamp kauri plunder a tale of misadventure
RNZ: Māori zero waste scheme Para Kore gets half a million dollars in funding boost
Ryan Boswell (1News): Breakthrough technology destined for New Zealand promising to help reverse plastic waste crisis
1News: In five years, sediment levels have more than doubled in Porirua Harbour
Sam Farrell (Newshub): Eugenie Sage denies rumours of a blanket ban on whitebaiting amid rising concern

Primary industries
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Crown to net $5 million from Westland Milk sale
RNZ: Protesters in Lyttelton call for halt on phosphate imports
1News: Kiwi company funded $75,000 by Government to try turning pest seaweed into high-value export
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Turning gorse into gourmet’: Plan to turn ‘pest seaweed’ into ‘premium edible export’
RNZ: New Zealand invasive seaweed exporter snags $75,000 government buy-in
Tom Furley (RNZ): Kiwi company knows how to seaweed as opportunity
1News: Wairarapa community fear for survival after large farm sold to Swiss company
RNZ: The North Canterbury cow sanctuary run by a teenager

Free School Lunch Policy
Andrew Becroft (Herald): Free school lunches is a good start but more is needed (paywalled)
Dominion Post Editorial: Food for thought on how to feed our kids and fight poverty
1News: Jacinda Ardern gives insight into how free lunches scheme came about – ‘I read every postcard that children wrote’
RNZ: Free lunches for kids scheme not bold enough – ActionStation
Duncan Garner (Stuff): Eat that – there is such a thing as a free lunch after all
Kerre McIvor (Herald): Free school lunch great idea, now how to deliver (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): The real reason many parents can’t feed their kids
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): Bridges: If kids become reliant on free lunches, how will they cope when we’re in power?

Education, bullying
Jennifer Eder (Stuff): Taking credit from other subjects scrapped as students not literacy, numeracy-ready
Belinda Feek (Herald): New Zealand’s suicide and bullying shame; calls for Government to target the schoolyard
1News: Children’s Commissioner calls for compulsory anti-bullying programmes as Auckland college in firing line
RNZ: Call for compulsory anti-bullying programmes in all schools
Charlotte Cook (RNZ):Scathing report into bullying has victim ‘vindicated’
Herald Editorial: Bullying cuts to the very heart of who we want to be (paywalled)
Simon Collins (Herald): Mediator called in to West Auckland’s Matipo School as parents and teachers split into warring factions (paywalled)
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Children of prisoners need better support at school, teacher says
Sereana Naepi & Tara McAllister (E-Tangata): Why aren’t universities made for people like me?
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Students welcome University of Auckland Foundation’s fossil fuel divestment

Firearms
Boris Jancic (Herald): What new gun reforms could mean for mental health (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Police hoping for ‘way better’ response from owners of illegal guns
Hayley Jacobsen and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Gun City joins police buyback scheme
Helen Harvey (Stuff): Gun owners hand back more than 200 firearms in Stratford buyback

Employment
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Law firm could take Chorus to court over workers’ rights but needs more backers
1News: SkyCity Casino employees striking for compensation over unsociable hours
Katie Fitzgerald (Stuff): SkyCity workers to strike
RNZ: Workers at SkyCity Casino go on weekend-long strike
1News: More than 7000 workers at The Warehouse win living wage
RNZ: Living wage on the way for 7000 Warehouse staff

Social welfare
Benedict Collins (1News): Sixteen Kiwi kids hit by Government’s welfare drug sanctions
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Social workers call for pay increase as wages differ by $30,000 across sector

Economy
Liam Dann (Herald) Get set for the most stimulating NZ election in a generation (paywalled)
Newsroom/RNZ: The economic heavyweight bout of the year: Kate Raworth and Arthur Grimes (podcast)

Justice
RNZ: A significant drop in youth offending since 2010
RNZ: More needs to be done to cut Māori offender numbers – advocate
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Trades Hall suspect hopes for resolution in bombing cold case after 35 years of suspicion
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): An original voice for the Māori renaissance

Treaty of Waitangi
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Government responds to bid for Māori intellectual and cultural property rights
Moana Maniapoto (E-Tangata): Restoring mana and confidence
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Using Treaty settlement to put the H back in Whanganui

Transport
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Let’s Keep Wellington Waiting: $6.4b regional transport plan mired in doubt, uncertainty and accusation
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Drivers ‘frustrated as hell’, at transport package changes: regional mayor
Ben Strang (RNZ): Written off: The true cost of road deaths

Immigration, refugees
Tom Kitchin (Stuff): Refugees’ stories of shock and happiness after arriving in New Zealand
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): Migrants’ experiences of New Zealand: Expectation versus reality 
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): ‘It gave me hope’: New Zealand charity gives refugees bikes and teaches them to ride
Alison Mau (Stuff): An unexpected love story we can all have a stake in
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Visa crackdown impacting couples, say advocates

Cannabis
Daily Blog: Pub Politics –  8pm Tonight live streamed from Chapel Bar – The Cannabis Referendum with Paula Bennett, Chloe Swarbrick, David Seymour & Chris Fowlie
Kristin Edge (Northern Advocate): Cannabis: Green Fairy helps herself and others with illegal green stuff (paywalled)

Māori cloak auction
Katie Fitzgerald and Edward O’Driscoll (Newshub): Māori cloak could be sold privately, lost again – academic
Loyd Burr (Newshub): Māori cloak auction cancelled after Kiwis threaten owners with abuse

Other
Tim Brown (RNZ): Whistle-blowers expose bullying at Te Whare Pounamu Dunedin Women’s Refuge
Charlotte Graham-McLay (New York Times): Muslims in New Zealand Say They Have Been Sidelined in Christchurch Inquiry
Liam Dann (Herald): How the trade war is hurting NZ – threat vs reality (paywalled)
RNZ: Government’s $8m pilot programme for responsible camping
Paul Gorman (Stuff): Competing weather forecasts from two separate Govt agencies labelled ‘absurd’
RNZ: Government still considering Queenstown bed tax
Thomas Bywater (Herald): New Zealand Passport potential design flaw a fern in travellers’ side
Grant Shimmin (Stuff): Freedom of speech is not an excuse for bad behaviour or abuse
Lizzie Marvelly (Herald): Racist behaviour virus thrives in tolerance (paywalled)
Sharnae Hope (Stuff): ‘I hated myself for a long time’: One woman’s experience of six abortions
RNZ: Defence force in Timor-Leste: ‘A strong desire to help’
RNZ: Consumers slightly more optimistic about finance
Dale Husband (E-Tangata): Lani Wendt Young: A hunger worldwide for our stories told by us
RNZ: Hopes Māori King will develop land in Cook Islands
RNZ: Building consents granted highest since 1974
Stevan Eldred-Grigg (Spinoff): The case for NZ joining WWII, reassessed
Stuff: TV Three has a new content boss, Ben Quinn
1News: Youth MP calls for more action to ban gay conversion therapy a year after petition presented to Parliament
George Block (ODT): Respected leader farewelled at Otakou Marae tangi
Toby Morris (Spinoff): The Side Eye: Who’s the man?
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Ngāti Toa unhappy about commercial use of haka
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Recovering pokie addict supports sinking lid proposal in Tasman district
1News: Pike River families ‘disappointed’ with MP Nick Smith’s opinion piece calling for end to recovery ‘charade’
Simon Wong (Newshub): One dead, another critical after police chase ends in crash

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