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.

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

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