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.
Ardern in New York
Peter Dunne: Ardern’s rhetoric on climate change not matched by domestic reality
Derek Cheng (Herald): Only five countries sign up for NZ’s trade agreement to tackle climate change
Bryce Edwards (Guardian): Ardern was supposed to be the anti-Trump, but she failed to speak truth to power
Richard Harman (Politik):Ardern hints at climate change compromise
RNZ: New Zealand to head five-country climate trade agreement talks – Jacinda Ardern
Newshub: Jacinda Ardern unveils new climate-friendly trade agreement
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Ardern talks inequality in NZ with Bill and Melinda Gates
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern, in US talk show appearance, calls on world leaders to be less divisive
1News: Watch: In busy final day at UN, Jacinda Ardern appears on American breakfast TV
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ardern fights the tide in call for multilateral action
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Jacinda Ardern and Donald Trump – a tale of two speeches at the UN
Derek Cheng (Herald): The anti-Trump? Jacinda Ardern’s United Nations speech contrasts with Donald Trump’s (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern’s UN message in stark contrast to Donald Trump’s ‘patriots’ speech
Luke Malpass (Stuff): US President Donald Trump’s patriotic mysticism, outlined in United Nations speech, is bad for New Zealand
1News:In UN speech, Jacinda Ardern calls on world leaders to fight extremism online, climate change
1News: Jacinda Ardern praises Kiwi Muslims’ ‘forgiveness and aroha’ at UN event celebrating Gandhi
1News: In UN speech, Jacinda Ardern calls on world leaders to fight extremism online, climate change
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘The world has changed’: March 15 dominates Jacinda Ardern’s United Nations address
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern honours Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy, filmed touching massive orb
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): A young boy’s question to Jacinda Ardern that made it to her United Nations speech
Newshub: Watch: Jacinda Ardern’s full speech at United Nations General Assembly
Jason Walls (Herald): A number of people at the UN praised NZ’s reaction to the terror attacks – Jacinda Ardern
Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern at the United Nations: Learn the lessons of Christchurch mosque attacks
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Jacinda Ardern tells UN words and actions have ‘immeasurable consequences’
Climate change, Greta Thunberg, Climate Strike
Jamie Morton (Herald): One billion at risk: How climate change is transforming our oceans and mountains
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): How coastal and frozen regions will change with climate change
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Sea walls protecting New Zealand cities are losing their battle with the ocean, UN report warns
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): IPCC: Ocean’s future depends on emissions
Julie Iles (NBR): Global spotlight on climate change: James Shaw interview (paywalled)
Kate MacNamara (Stuff): Carbon emissions have been good for human life and longevity
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): No time for mediocrity: New politics needed to solve climate issues
Gordon Campbell: On Greta Thunberg, and Friday climate change actions
Jamie Morton (Herald): The world needed a hero: it got Greta Thunberg
Press Editorial: We should thank Greta Thunberg, not dismiss her
Josie Adams (Spinoff): Big strong media men bravely shout at teenager trying to save world
Alison Mau (Stuff): Just because Greta Thunberg’s 16, it doesn’t make her wrong
Liam Dann (Herald): Why old men are triggered by Greta Thunberg
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Hyperbole and hot air – Greta Thunberg will grow into a Jacinda Ardern
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Dramatic Greta Thunberg sends counterproductive message
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): School youth climate strike: Here’s what adults can do for the upcoming strike
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Climate strike: What’s happening in Auckland
Jono Edwards (ODT): Police presence concerns activists
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Fifty Kiwi businesses will shut doors to support youth-led strike for climate
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Most public companies failing to report on environmental impact
University of Canterbury – a boy dies, unnoticed
Blair Ensor (Stuff): Many unanswered questions remain over University of Canterbury death
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Student’s death at Canterbury university hall ‘not right on any level’
Blair Ensor, Henry Cooke and Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Education minister calls for investigation after university student’s death
Kurt Bayer (Herald): University of Canterbury shock death: Education Minister calls for investigation
1News: Education Minister demands answers after student lay dead at Canterbury University residence for lengthy period
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Student’s body went unnoticed in university hall for close to eight weeks
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Canterbury university says student’s death at residential hall ‘inconceivable’
RNZ: Independent investigation launched after body found at University of Canterbury residence
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand university student lay dead in room for nearly two months
Local government
Andrew Geddis (ODT): STV offers choice for and choice against
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Local Body Elections plunge to lowest return level in 10 years
Infometrics: Rising council debt across New Zealand
Todd Niall (Stuff): Was this Auckland Council’s most ineffective three years?
Nick Truebridge (Stuff): Auckland mayoral election: Goff’s eleventh hour homeless policy gets Tamihere tongue lashing
Dita De Boni (NBR): Tamihere, Goff spar in NBR head-to-head debate (paywalled)
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Mayoral ‘Shots Fired’ at Manurewa Marae
Todd Niall (Stuff): Political veteran Penny Hulse’s last call: Stop the politics
ActionStation: Meet the next generation of elected leaders in Auckland and Northland
Amy Williams (RNZ): Sandringham festival steamrolled by other Auckland events
RNZ: Tauranga Council rejects proposal to gift or lease land to hapū trust
egan Paranihi (Māori TV): Disunited City Council Refuses to Return Māori Land
Maxine Jacobs (Waikato Times): Hamilton mayoral candidates come out swinging
ActionStation: Meet the next generation of elected leaders in Waikato and Bay of Plenty
Christina Persico (Taranaki Daily News): New Plymouth District Council to bring in living wage for lowest-earning employees
ActionStation: Meet the next generation of elected leaders in Taranaki, Manawatū and Hawkes Bay
Tom Hunt and Damian George (Dominion Post): Cops called on pensioner but Wellington not alone in local body nastiness
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Retirement complex plumbing: Text leaks raise a stink for Lower Hutt Mayor Ray Wallace
ActionStation: Meet the next generation of elected leaders in the Wellington region
Dominic Harris (Press): Mayoral hopefuls support Merivale residents’ battle to stop mall expansion
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Lots of achievements in ‘transitional’ year, ECan chairman says
Pam Jones (ODT): Central council opts for a ‘crisis’ label
Chris Morris (ODT): Vandervis complaint to be investigated independently
John Gibb (ODT): Most candidates agree e-scooters pose danger to pedestrians in city
RNZ: Dunedin mayoral candidates want e-scooter restrictions
ActionStation: Meet the next generation of elected leaders in the South Island
Government
Andrew Ecclestone (Stuff): How do we solve a problem like the Official Information Act?
Pattrick Smellie (Herald): The government’s culture of indecision (paywalled)
Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Commission ran background checks without consent
RNZ: Sex offender at Royal Commission: ‘I was there to support my partner’
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand royal commission: victims in shock at paedophile’s access to inquiry
Health
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): She aspired to be a doctor at 10, to ‘make a point’ that Māori can
1News: Obesity rates among Aucklanders have tripled in space of one generation – report
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Maternity shakeup: Auckland DHB considers stopping women outside its boundaries from booking services (paywalled)
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Why we don’t have enough measles vaccines
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Criticised ‘whisky vs gin’ cancer fundraiser postponed due to insufficient ticket sales
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Auckland dentist offers champagne with clean service, says one glass of fizz won’t hurt
Zane Small (Newshub): National MP accuses Ministry of Health of ‘ambivalence’ towards smoking alternatives like ‘snus’
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): NZ asleep at the wheel on vaping health crisis
Ruby Macandrew (Stuff): Tackling stigma and improving support services top of Alzheimers NZ’s wishlist
Cannabis
Teuila Fuatai (Spinoff): The former National MP who supports cannabis legalisation
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Patrick Gower learns what cannabis does to your IQ
ACC
Boris Jancic (Herald): ACC announces $8.7 billion deficit for year as interest rates plummet
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): ACC records massive $8.7b deficit as low interest rates play havoc with its accounts
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ACC levies likely to rise as fund hits deficit
RNZ: ACC posts $8.7 billion deficit
Euthanasia
Yvette McCullough (RNZ): Euthanasia bill moves forward in committee stage
Boris Jancic (Herald): Treaty of Waitangi challenge for euthanasia bill falls over
Ihumātao
Rawiri Taonui (Herald): Auckland’s greed led us to Ihumātao impasse (paywalled)
Ella Prendergast and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Ihumātao occupiers take protest to Auckland Town Hall
Environment
RNZ: Freshwater clean-up operations not as effective – Auditor-General
Russell Bell (Stuff): Wellington’s hidden carbon sink could remove equivalent of 110 cars permanently
1News: Work underway for nationwide beverage container return scheme
RNZ: Plastic bottle return scheme to ‘put value back into recycling’
James Fyfe (Newshub): ‘Return and earn’: Kiwis may soon get money back when recycling drinking bottles
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): National unimpressed with bottle refund plan
1News: Timing of bottle deposit scheme ‘shows a lack of urgency’ – National
Transport
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Documents reveal claims Green Party agreement used by mayor as leverage for transport deal in Wellington
1News: Air NZ has ‘obligation’ to keep prices low after Jetstar bails on regions, Shane Jones says
Herald: Shane Jones’ warning for Air New Zealand after Jetstar withdraws from regions
Anna Whyte (1News): Shanes Jones fears Air NZ ‘will begin to gouge’ prices following Jetstar’s decision to stop regional flights
RNZ: Jetstar to pull out of regional flying in NZ at end of November
Susan Edmunds and Rob Stock (Stuff): Jetstar reveals proposal to stop high-cost, loss-making regional flights from November
Brook Sabin (Stuff): The real reason Jetstar is planning to pull out of the regions
1News: Up to 20,000 people affected as Jetstar plans to axe New Zealand regional flights
Winston Aldworth (Herald): Jetstar regional routes axed: So long, and thanks for all the cheap flights (paywalled)
Leighton Keith (Taranaki Daily News): New Plymouth’s $27 million new airport terminal still needed despite possible Jetstar loss, says mayor
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Nothing stopping Air New Zealand putting up prices to the regions
Herald: Air NZ offers $50 tickets to affected Jetstar travellers
Census
Isaac Davison (Herald): Auckland mayor Phil Goff says council could incentivise vacant homeowners to take in homeless (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Time to tax ghost houses
Rotorua Daily Post: Census 2018 shows Government must take action on housing (paywalled)
RNZ: The only place in New Zealand with a population decline
David Farrar: Where NZers were born
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Aged population in South Canterbury increases
Banking and insurance sectors
Anna Whyte (1News): Government to ban ‘profits ahead of people’ tactics by banks, insurers
Jason Walls (Herald): Government moves to clean up banking and insurance industry after damning reports
Jo Moir (RNZ): Government cracks down on banking and insurance sales bonuses
Education
Tema Hemi (Māori TV): Education Ministry prepares Students for Life After School
Zizi Sparks (Rotorua Daily Post): Decile ratings review a positive, Rotorua principals say (paywalled)
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Police stop huge brawl between 100 teenagers from two Auckland schools
Economy
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Reserve Bank nudges Beehive with call for fiscal stimulus
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Reserve Bank holds Official Cash Rate at 1%
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Credit ratings agency Moody’s gives glowing assessment of New Zealand economy
Primary industries
RNZ: The Detail: Farmers down in the dumps – and dragging down the country
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Poultry virus confirmed on Otago farm should not cause egg shortage
Justice, corrections
Don Rowe (Spinoff): Corrections apologises after epileptic inmate left in faeces overnight
Herald: New chief District Court judge announced as Heemi Taumaunu
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Māori judge appointed as chief of the District Court
John Weekes (Stuff): Drug smuggler Karel Sroubek denies Hells Angels links, claims parole system flawed
Anna Leask (Herald): Czech drug-smuggler Karel Sroubek speaks from prison: slams Parole Board for keeping him jailed
Vodafone
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Vodafone customer account details ‘briefly exposed’ after software update
RNZ: Vodafone admits breaching privacy with app update
Parliament
Anna Whyte (1News): Winston Peters calls Simon Bridges a ‘turkey’ during exchange in Parliament
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour MP Kieran McAnulty booted from House for mocking Simon Bridges
Other
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Phil Twyford hits back at Treasury for misleading, wrong briefings that leave out billions of spending
PS New: PS contractors to face more transparency
Laura Walters (Newsroom): A book defending free speech rejected for fear of hate speech
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Greens say KiwiBuild won out over rentals, urge Government to move
Julie Hill (Spinoff): ‘You can easily fall off the edge’: NZ detainees on the mental toll of Australia’s deportation policy
Thomas Manch (Stuff): How free-to-air broadcasting works overseas and why it won’t work in New Zealand
Madison Reidy (RNZ): EQC sets aside millions for insurer reimbursement
Stuff: ‘Give life a chance’: Vegan activists block meat fridge in protest at Hamilton supermarket
Herald: Vegan activists who stormed Countdown supermarket in Auckland now in Hamilton
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland waterfront stadium projected cost rises to $2.4 billion
Jacinda Ardern: ‘We can’t say we value our art if we don’t value our artists”
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Māori book sales in te wiki o te reo Māori suggest Kiwis increasingly eager to learn te reo
Sharnae Hope (Stuff): Stanley Group directors apologise to angry crowd of creditors
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Pou to remember Māori soldiers on Picton foreshore
Louisa Tipene Opetaia (Spinoff): A Rugby World Cup lesson: Disrespect the haka at your own peril
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): MediaRoom: thou shalt not decide
