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.
Transport
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): NZ Transport Agency to Phil Twyford: We should have done better
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Light rail reality: The six power point slides that stopped a city
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Auckland’s light rail: Under Queen St and over Mt Eden, the Super Fund’s tunneling, or flying, tram
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Auckland light rail: Peters on the lookout for potential cost blow-outs
Derek Cheng (Herald): Winston Peters warned about possible light rail cost blowout concerns
Adam Hollingworth (Newshub): Government delays Labour election promise of light rail from central Auckland to airport
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Cheat sheet: Auckland’s tram project goes off the rails
Todd Niall (Stuff): Review critical of NZTA role in ticketing project
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland speed limit cuts: Decision imminent on plan to reduce road deaths
1News: Auckland Transport to discuss proposal to reduce speed limits on around 10 per cent of region’s roads
Herald: Simon Bridges opposes Auckland Transport plan for blanket lower speeds
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Cyclists reaching speeds as fast as cars on Northwestern cycleway
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington Airport reveals $1 billion-plus development plans in 2040 master plan
Zero Carbon Bill, environment
Richard Harman (Politik): Political heat goes on climate legislation
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Zero Carbon Bill comes back from select committee with controversial methane target intact
Jason Walls (Herald): Controversial biological methane target in Zero Carbon Bill unchanged despite lobbying
Jamie Morton (Herald): At ‘tipping point’: Can we still save NZ’s rivers and lakes? (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Freshwater reforms a current concern on the farm (paywalled)
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Wainuiomata cleanfill could create an ‘environmental disaster’ like West Coast
Mia Sutherland (Stuff): New Zealand’s anti-science GMO laws need to change to tackle climate change
RNZ: Vanuatu, Cook Islands want UN to improve climate financing
RNZ: PIF urges China to ‘take lead’ in reducing carbon emissions
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Cost to replace buildings affected by rising seas expected to exceed $19 billion
Drugs
TVNZ: Q+A: Paula Bennett denies Chloë Swarbrick’s claim NZ ‘locking people up’ for using cannabis
Sam Brooks (Spinoff): A play-by-play of Paula Bennett and Chlöe Swarbrick’s cannabis referendum debate on Q&A
RNZ: Sentence discount for some meth-related crimes welcomed
Jared Savage (Herald): Drug dealers who can prove addiction caused their crimes could receive 30 per cent cut on sentence
Sophie Bateman (Newshub): Reduced sentences for methamphetamine dealers who can prove addiction caused offending
Stuff: More room for individual roles and personal circumstances in new meth sentencing guidelines
Anna Leask (Herald): Wasted: Drug testing shows Kiwis using $8.9 million in illicit substances each week
Kristin Edge (Northern Advocate): Drug survey: Prices paid for cannabis in Northland some of the most expensive (paywalled)
Government
Chris Trotter (Interest): Democratic socialism is Labour’s official ideology, but NZ lacks traditional left-wing champions like Bernie Sanders & Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
David Cormack (Herald): The rise of Green Power (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern won’t say if she would prefer NZ First or Greens as a potential sole coalition partner
1News: Jacinda Ardern calls herself the ‘least coordinated PM New Zealand’s ever had’
Immigration
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Immigration NZ partnership visa policy labelled ‘racist’
Sandeep Singh (Indian Weekender): Trump-style personal attack by politicians on journalists not welcome in NZ
Sandeep Singh (Indian Weekender): Kiwi-Indian MPs ignore community sentiments on parent category visa
Bryce Edwards (Indian Weekender): Politicians’ personal attacks on journalists sign of fearless journalism
1News: American anti-LGBTQI preacher condemns Kiwis after being denied entry to New Zealand
Lana Andelane (Newshub): US preacher says New Zealand is ‘under the wrath of God’ for refusing his visa application
Josie Adams (Spinoff): Hate-peddling US pastor Steven Anderson blocked from New Zealand
Foreign affairs
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Peters warns those looking to advance self-interest in Pacific
RNZ: UK ‘walked out’ on Pacific – NZ’s foreign minister
RNZ: NGOs move to address decline in support for foreign aid
Point of Order: Peters puts the spotlight on Pacific and partnership in policy address to international affairs institute
RNZ: Global security threats mean New Zealand should stay on guard
Corrections
Derek Cheng (Herald): Prisoner mail rights curtailed to counter radicalisation or discrimination
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Corrections to clamp down on prisoner letters after Christchurch mosque accused blunder
John Weekes (Stuff): Sentry Taitoko inquest: How the 21-year-old spent his final hours in a cell
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Intoxicated man held in suicide watch cell due to lack of detox centres, inquest told
NZ First
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: NZ First’s disjointed yet solid conference (paywalled)
Tom Kitchin (Stuff): David Tipple brings kids, grandkids to dinner with Winston Peters and Shane Jones
Derek Cheng (Herald): Lamb, wine and no guns: NZF Ministers’ dinner with Gun City owner David Tipple
1News: Should community service for all New Zealand teenagers be compulsory?
1News: NZ First hopes to decide pill testing policy ‘before the season of concern’ – Winston Peters
David Farrar: Martin standing in Ohariu
National Party
Chris Trotter: Is Simon’s Smile Sustainable?
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘Bugger the PC brigade’: Simon Bridges takes crack at political correctness
Newshub: Ryan Bridge’s advice to National: Take away Winston Peters’ bargaining chip
Education and training
Jason Walls (Herald):Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern unveils extra 4000 new trades training places
Henry Cooke (Stuff): 4000 more trade training places
RNZ: More places on school initiatives to address trades shortages announced
Zane Small (Newshub): Trades programmes in high schools get Government boost in bid to close skills gap
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Trades programmes in high schools could help solve the housing crisis
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Time to put trades training on a pedestal
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Principals expect crackdown on school charges
Katy Jones (Stuff): Boarding housemaster to be paid for ‘sleepover’ hours, ERA finds
Elena McPhee (ODT): Feminism 2020 event dropped by Massey probably fine at Otago
Elena McPhee (ODT): Marine science supported
Tuia 250, colonialism
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Paying For Our Pakeha “Guilt” and “Privilege”
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): Captain Cook and my own voyage of discovery
Herald: Land of the Long White Cloud: Pākehā New Zealanders reflect on their colonial past and future. Episode 2 – Recognising Racism
RNZ: Watch: What’s decolonisation? (video)
Euthanasia
Henry Cooke (Stuff): What Labour will worry about with a euthanasia referendum
Alex Penk (Stuff): MPs are paid, and better equipped, to make these decisions
Health
RNZ: Checkpoint: Life expectancy cut in ‘unacceptable’ Southern DHB urology treatment
Mike Houlahan (ODT): SDHB reaction too slow in urology crisis
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Urology delays put patients at ‘substantial risk’ – report
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Tax cuts would threaten fight against measles – Associate Health Minister Julie Anne Genter
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): $22k surgery, or months of pain: Public surgery wait times prompt patients in agony to go private
Karen Brown (RNZ): Whanganui District Health Board set to join national bowel cancer screening programme
Herald: Vaping products now sold in NZ pharmacies
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Uptake of free life-saving vaccine ‘dismal’
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Auckland DHB mental health services unchanged after death of client in Samoa
RNZ: Period poverty: reusable sanitary products handed out in Canterbury schools
Rest home, aged care
Karen Brown (RNZ): Resthome care so poor woman’s wounds developed maggots – report
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Elderly woman’s leg wounds infested with maggots, became necrotic while in rest home
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Rest-home resident, 71, died after wounds were allowed to become infested with maggots
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Commissioner finds rest home at fault in care of elderly woman
Tommy Livingston (Stuff): Aged-care sector struggling to keep up with rise in obese elderly, new research finds
Terrorism bill, Mark Taylor
1News: Government should have acted over Mark Taylor before putting forward new anti-terrorism bill, expert says
Alice Webb-Liddall (Spinoff): Cheat sheet: Labour’s counter-terrorism bill and its political hurdles
Gay conversion therapy
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern acknowledges gay conversion therapy is religious freedom for some
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Conversion therapy: PM concerned about ‘vulnerable’ LGBT youth
TV3 sale
Gordon Campbell: On global factors contributing to the possible demise of TV3
Dominion Post Editorial: Future might not be televised, but the Government can help support the revolution
ODT Editorial: Blow for media industry
Herald: Winston Peters ‘seriously sorry’ about MediaWorks comments
1News: Peters’ ‘good riddance’ comment about some MediaWorks staff is not Government’s position – Ardern
Jason Walls (Herald): MediaWorks for sale: Winston Peters attacks ‘gutless’ Mark Richardson
Zane Small (Newshub): MediaWorks TV sale: Winston Peters bites back at ‘gutless’ Mark Richardson
Local government
Imran Ali (Northern Advocate): Bill Shepherd out, Joce Yeoman in after final counting
Charlotte Jones (RNZ): Random chance finalises new Whakatane councillor
RNZ: John Tamihere says leafy suburbs didn’t vote for him
Nikki Preston (Herald): ‘Get on your broomstick’: Details of council conduct complaint revealed (paywalled)
Matt Shand (Stuff): Race relations commissioner calls for Tauranga councillor to resign
Catherine Groenestein (Taranaki Daily News): New councillors pleased to add gender and age balance to Stratford
Matthew Tso (Stuff): New Hutt City deputy mayor proud to be part of social change
Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): The Foster ultimatum: Choose a left-leaning deputy or else
Brian Easton (Pundit): Lessons From Labour’s Wellington Mayoralty Loss.
RNZ: The Detail: Andy Foster is not just a Peter Jackson puppet
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Gender balance ‘fantastic’ on Nelson and Tasman councils
Nelson Mail Editorial: More women at the council table helps shift gender imbalance
1News: Meet Grey District’s first female mayor, Tania Gibson
Luisa Girao (ODT): Shadbolt appoints Biddle as deputy mayor
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Toni Biddle appointed as Invercargill deputy mayor
Building and construction
Jimmy Ellingham (Manawatū Standard): Council silence on problem buildings unacceptable
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Quake risk assessment closes Hunterville police station
Workplace health and safety
Kaitlin Ruddock (1News): Emerging workplace disease exposes hole in health system, specialists say
Aimee Shaw (Herald): How to tackle mental health issues in the workplace (paywalled)
Retirement
Rob Stock (Stuff): Should your KiwiSaver be turned into ‘KiwiSpend’ income-for-life when you hit 65?
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ‘Drip-feed’ retirement scheme proposed to stop Kiwis outliving their savings
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Proposal to pay yourself an income of up to $12k a year in retirement
Fire Service
1News: Firefighters facing prospect of more medical emergency call-outs, call for training and support
Felix Desmarais (Stuff): Professional firefighters union hands over 1000-strong submission opposing restructure
Police
Point of Order: Don’t bother lobbying the government about arming (or disarming) the police – Nash says it’s not his call
Simon Collins (Herald): Mongrel Mob chapter hits back at police claims the gang does no good
Leighton Keith (Taranaki Daily News): Number of drivers trying to escape police in Taranaki on the rise
Other
Jeroen van der Heijden (Newsroom): What to do about NZ’s regulation failures?
Thomas Manch (Stuff): How many went on strike in 2018? The Government hasn’t counted, 10 months on
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Feeling wealthy? You should be – New Zealand is world’s fifth-richest country, report shows
Norman MacLean (Stuff): The reality of abortion and the unborn
1News: NZ refugee’s extradition to Australia was not taken lightly, Justice Minister Andrew Little says
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Inland Revenue unable to handle calls generated by mail-outs
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Australia quiet on trans-Tasman mānuka honey row
Susan Strongman (RNZ): The New Zealanders holding vigils for chickens
Michael Hall (RNZ): Claims disgraced bishop failed to safeguard people in diocese
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): 8chan founder seeks to stop current owner’s bid for Philippines citizenship
Benedict Collins (1News): Number of needles found in food following strawberry contamination scare revealed
John Gibb (ODT): Listen to youth, delegates told
Brent Melville (ODT): Aust, N. America still top NZ export markets
RNZ: Charitable programme wins national Māori business award
Oscar Francis (Critic): A Conversation with Justin Pemberton
