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.
National on welfare, gangs
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): National’s Going Gang-Busters
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National gets tough on beneficiaries, again
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): National eyes familiar ‘foes’ in welfare proposals
Henry Cooke, Oliver Lewis, Cate Broughton and Luke Malpas (Stuff): National moves towards ‘no-jab-no-pay’ policy
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): National floats ‘hard-line’ policies on social welfare
Jason Walls (Herald): Gangs, beneficiaries on National’s radar in lead-up to election as parents of dropouts let off hook
Collette Devlin and Henry Cooke (Stuff): National promises welfare crackdown and return to social investment if elected
Dan Satherley and Perry Wilton (Newshub): Social worker says National’s gang policy likely to increase crime, drug abuse
Zane Small (Newshub): Gangs, meth houses and anti-vaxxers targeted in National’s social services proposal
Anna Whyte (1News): Bridges wants beneficiaries to immunise children or ‘don’t take taxpayers’ money’
Anna Whyte (1News): National promises dole reform, including vaccine requirement and gang member ban, if returned to power
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Waikato Mongrel Mob accuses Simon Bridges of using gang members as ‘scapegoat’ in proposed crackdown
Katee Shanks (Rotorua Daily Post): Bay of Plenty gang members shouldn’t be double dipping, says Simon Bridges
RNZ: National plans to cut gang member’s benefits if they can’t prove legal assets
Collette Devlin (Stuff): National Party say they ‘hate gangs’ and would block benefit access
RNZ: National plans to cut gang member’s benefits if they can’t prove legal assets
Rodney Hide (NBR): Why won’t people take care of themselves? (paywalled)
Transport
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): The true cost of Phil Tywford’s billion dollar memory laps
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): For the second day in a row, Phil Twyford looks like he’s given Parliament the wrong information
RNZ: Twyford to correct comment about NZTA board
Damian George and Mandy Te (Stuff): Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter wanted tunnel project delayed
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Details of Julie Anne Genter’s letter to Phil Twyford released
Georgina Campbell (Herald): National: Anything short of releasing Julie Anne Genter’s secret letter ‘not good enough’
Damian George (Stuff): Ombudsman says Julie Anne Genter correct in withholding letter on Let’s Get Wellington Moving
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Julie Anne Genter issues statement over secret letter
Zane Small (Newshub): Chief Ombudsman rules Phil Twyford and Julie Anne Genter can withhold letter
No Right Turn: A partial release
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): National Party Beltway Bollocks – shock horror a Green MP wanted public transport over a tunnel
Kelvin McDonald (Māori TV): City Rail Link salvage to aid Tonga rebuild
RNZ: Salvaged Auckland City Rail Link material to be shipped to Tonga
Euthanasia and cannabis referendums
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Plans to combat misinformation in election-year referendum debates
Boris Jancic (Herald): Dual referendums risk stealing election oxygen (paywalled)
Abortion
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Sir Bill English accused of ‘scaremongering’ by abortion rights campaigner Dame Margaret Sparrow
Zane Small (Newshub): Former PM Sir Bill English and Green MP Jan Logie in fiery debate over abortion law
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Mary and Bill English warn MPs of ‘gruesome’ abortions
RNZ: Abortion reform: Proposed rules for conscientious objectors are disgraceful – former PM
Herald: ‘Disgraceful’: Bill English criticises abortion law changes to conscientious objection
Provincial Growth Fund allocation for Dunedin
ODT Editorial: Dunedin gets its share
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Dunner stunner: Dunedin’s big Provincial Growth Fund boost gets city excited
David Loughrey (ODT): ‘Hillside is back’ with $20 million
David Loughrey (ODT): $20m to revitalise ‘vital’ Hillside Workshop
David Loughrey (ODT): ‘Really good news to get the old girl going again’
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Dunedin’s Hillside railway workshop back on track with Provincial Growth Fund boost
RNZ: KiwiRail’s Hillside workshop gets $20m for upgrade
David Loughrey (ODT): PGF boosts manufacturing and engineering
Chris Morris (ODT): Funding enough to make start
Chris Morris (ODT): $20m for ‘first stage’ of waterfront plan
Chris Morris (ODT): $10m injection for Dunedin’s digital economy
Brent Melville (ODT): Gaming sector going up a level
ODT: PGF to help Otago teens into forestry careers
ODT: $60m boost for DunedinEmbracing diversity shapes New Zealand as a nation
Dave Goosselink (Newshub): Government investment package aims to revitalise Dunedin
Anna Whyte (1News): Otago gets almost $60m for video game industry, Dunedin waterfront
Inquiry into abuse in state and church care
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Boys in state care ruled by fear: ‘You just didn’t know what they could do to you’
Andrew McRae (RNZ): State care abuse survivor: ‘Boys’ homes the next step into prison’
Andrew McRae (RNZ): Woman removed from whānau says racism played part in adoption
RNZ: Abuse in care inquiry: ‘Colonisation is an inherently abusive process’
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Royal Commission first step in ‘addressing that injustice’ – Moana Jackson
Measles
RNZ: 3 killed by measles epidemic in Samoa; preschools ordered closed
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): Hospital staff catching measles on the job
RNZ: Pharmacists keen to get started on measles vaccination
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Pharmacies step in to offer measles vaccinations
RNZ: Pharmacists to give measles vaccine
1News: Pharmacists now allowed to give MMR vaccines as Govt attempts to curb measles outbreak
Health
ODT: Healthcare woes Neoliberal symptom
Stuff: Bowel cancer screening programme not good enough
Fiona Connor (Newshub): ‘They can see the benefit’: Ministry of Health in talks to save Gumboot Friday’s funding after account exhausted
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): My struggles as an Asian Kiwi: ‘I’ve experienced depression in ways that not many can understand’
Stephanie Ockhuysen (Taranaki Daily News): Patient waited 26 hours in Taranaki ED bed before being admitted to ward
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Two birthing centres to close over Christmas due to ‘shameful’ lack of support from DHBs
Denise Piper (Stuff): Dr Lance O’Sullivan proposes virtual clinics to combat GP shortage in Northland
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Further strike action likely after district health board psychologists reject pay offer
Lucy Drake (Whanganui Chronicle): Six Whanganui DHB psychologists join 600 union members in strike action
RNZ: Radiographers plan 80 more partial strikes
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Research shows speaking te reo Māori helps protect against harmful drinking
Gun amnesty
1News: Over 32,000 illegal weapons handed in as gun buyback enters final 50 days
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Police Minister Stuart Nash sends warning as gun amnesty enters final 50 days
Anna Leask (Herald): 50 days left: Gun amnesty deadline looming, top cop says no extension, leniency after cut-off
Mental health in the construction industry
Newshub: Worker who struggled with mental illness hopes to help others with launch of ‘MATES in Construction’ initiative
Marta Steeman (Stuff): The construction industry has launched a programme to help reduce suicide among its workers
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): “MATES in construction” launched to decrease suicide rates in construction industry
Dita de Boni (NBR): Bouquet for suicide prevention strategy (paywalled)
Immigration
Sandeep Singh (RNZ): Why Kiwi-Indians are upset over partnership visas
Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway didn’t request court judgements before granting drunk driver residency
Peter Lyons (ODT): Embracing diversity shapes New Zealand as a nation
Madeleine Chapman (Spinoff): NZ citizenship requirements for the rich celebs who want to move here
SkyCity fire
George Block (Stuff): SkyCity convention centre fire: workers’ lives in disarray as cars entombed
Jamie Morton (Herald): SkyCity fire aftermath: Three lingering questions answered
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): The three insurance giants said to be backing the SkyCity fire claim (paywalled)
Education and training
Simon Collins (Herald): Mandatory anti-bullying call to break NZ’s horrific record in schools (paywalled)
RNZ: Hard rules to swallow: ECEs worried food bans would be too strict
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Ministry wants to ban choke-risk foods like saveloys, dried fruit and nuts from ECE centres
Zane Small (Newshub): Choke-risk foods could be banned in early childhood centres
Simon Collins (Herald): Generation Debt: Will fees-free tertiary education change lives for a new generation? (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Reform no quick fix for construction industry training woes (paywalled)
Rachel Canning and Laurilee McMichael (Taupo and Turangi Weekender): Toi Ohomai Taupō has a new campus just around the corner
Primary and extractive industries
Kate Macnamara (Stuff): New Zealand Oil and Gas takeover looms
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): OMV granted consents for Taranaki drilling campaign (paywalled)
Sam Hurley (Herald): Dairy company manager told staff not to report positive listeria results for years
1News: Dairy company behind The Collective brand fined $483,000 for falsifying listeria results
RNZ: Dairy firm fined $483k for failing to report positive listeria results
Stuff: Te Kauwhata farmer fined $96k for effluent discharge and unlawful earthworks
1News: Waikato farmer fined nearly $100k for ‘reckless’, illegal effluent discharging
Mark Patterson (Southland Times): Farming’s quiet revolutionaries have role to make Govt freshwater proposals workable
RNZ: M Bovis fight to ease after peaking next year – MPI
Sally Rae (ODT): ‘M. bovis’ eradication initiatives vindicated
Keith Woodford (Interest): Mycoplasma bovis eradication assessed as still feasible but with major caveats
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Solutions on the horizon after biosecurity row over fruit tree cuttings
Rob Batty (Newsroom): Long road ahead for ‘Mānuka Honey’ trade mark
Environment and conservation
Jason Walls (Herald): The Government plans to pass a law requiring companies to disclose climate-change risk
Pattrick Smellie (Herald): Should directors who ignore climate change risks keep their jobs? (paywalled)
Michael Daly (Stuff): Homes of 240,000 Kiwis in way of worst case 2100 sea level rise, study indicates
Jono Edwards (ODT): Fish & Game appeal over Lindis flows
Dan Satherley and Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Hoiho numbers plummet after flood, terrible breeding season
Local government
Denise Piper (Stuff): Supreme Court allows boatyard to use reserve in Opua, Bay of Islands
Stephen Forbes (Interest): Phil Goff gets set to appoint deputy mayor and new committee chair-people at council’s first meeting of the new term
Garry Farrow (Waikato Times): Council hoodwinked over $150k gift
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Unsuccessful council candidate charged with threatening to injure
Damian George (Dominion Post): Wellington mayor Andy Foster offers sympathies to Justin Lester after taking his mayoral chains
Jessica Long (Stuff): Daran Ponter promises to fix Wellington’s bus system as Greater Wellington Regional Council chairman
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Analysis: New Greater Wellington Regional Council chair romps in
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Decision on Shelly Bay resource consent imminent
Cherie Sivignon (Nelson Mail): Council workshops to be publicly notified but likely behind closed doors in Tasman
Logan Savory (Southland Times): Nicol Horrell re-elected as Environment Southland chairperson
Housing
Vanessa Cole: Kiwibuild should have always been public housing
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Mayor wants to help people sleeping in cars, not property developers
Pam Graham (RNZ):New social housing near for Masterton
Press Editorial: Tiny, affordable, but are they buildings or vehicles?
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): ‘Remind, remedy, remove’ – National’s approach to bad state housing tenants
Real Estate Industry
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): $100k compensation possible for real estate unsatisfactory conduct cases
Ben Leahy (Herald): Real estate agents now liable to $100,000 payouts for misinformation
NZ Wars
Heta Gardiner (Māori TV): Te Pūtake o te Riri karakia honours ancestors
Alister Browne (Stuff): New Zealand Wars sow the seed of racial division we experience today
England’s haka response
Jamie Wall (Māori TV): All Blacks clear the air over haka response
Robin Martin (RNZ): Kapa haka expert deems England’s ‘flying V’ a good way of retaliating to challenge
Foreign affairs
Ryan Boswell (1News): Māori Affairs Minister meets with Australian counterpart for the first time
Audrey Young (Herald): Maurice Williamson and the LA inferno (paywalled)
Fire and emergency services
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Tasman forest fire review proposes recommendations to Fire and Emergency
1News: Tasman fire review finds shortfalls in New Zealand’s preparedness for large-scale blazes
Banks
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Making bank: Big four banks cashing in on New Zealanders
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Dealing with banks one of most frustrating things in life
FMA
Brent Melville (ODT): FMA has stern words about life insurance industry conduct
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): FMA gets funding boost after tight year
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): FMA exceeds litigation budget by 50% in 2019; Sees tripling of budget in 2020 as a show of muscle
Inequality, poverty
Charmian Smith (ODT): Re-examining responses to Kiwis going hungry
Stuff: Poverty: I just wanted a normal childhood like everyone else
Justice, corrections
Ti Lamusse (Spinoff): The Parole Board has a racism problem and it’s hurting all of us
Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Shortage of interpreters delays court cases in south Auckland
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Prison staff furious inmate who bashed Corrections officer won’t serve extra jail time
Other
Michael Neilson (Herald): PM ‘needs to act’: 100 days on and still no action on Ihumātao land dispute
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Smelter review a wake-up call on energy policy (paywalled)
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Senior Labour member puts hand up for presidency in wake of sexual assault complaints
Newshub: Backstory: Brett Hudson (video)
RNZ: The Detail: Funding two bodies to produce the same weather forecast
Mark Longley (Newshub): Former British talk show host Sir Michael Parkinson defends Captain James Cook’s legacy
RNZ: Tokelau Language Week: ‘Treasures of our culture’
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): BNZ says Reserve Bank sounding less committed to November rate cut
Liu Chen (RNZ): Sikh temple to cough up $100k for breaching employment laws
Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): Minister wants conferences spread around
RNZ: Chinese Navy vessel leaves Wellington on Pacific tour
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Waikato Regional Theatre cash hopes for PM’s Hamilton visit
Julie Iles (NBR): KiwiSaver fees continue to rise
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Capitalism doco a masterpiece of the propagandist’s art
Geoff Plimmer (Stuff): Bullying inquiry reveals the true culture of police
Dominic O’Sullivan (The Conversation): What Canada can learn from New Zealand on electoral reform
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Most Norfolk Islanders want to cut ties with Australia and join New Zealand – survey
