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.
NZ First
Matt Shand (Stuff): NZ First Foundation dodging electoral rules? Records suggest breaches
Matt Shand (Stuff): Why the NZ First slush fund ‘could breach electoral law’: expert
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): NZ First-linked company applied for $15m govt loan, pledges transparency
1News: ‘Yes, I am calling you psycho’ – Winston Peters lashes out at journalists after grilling over NZ-First linked company
Newshub: Winston Peters lashes out at reporter for probing NZ-First linked company’s dealings
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern is again distancing herself from comments made by top NZ First Ministers
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Winston Peters superannuation case: Ministerial staff lose name suppression
Ihumātao
Richard Harman (Politik): Robertson and Fletchers to talk Ihumatao
Jo Moir (RNZ):Ihumātao: Crown considers loan for Auckland Council to buy land
NZ in Afghanistan
Eugene Bingham and Paula Penfold (Stuff): It’ll be years before NZ’s firing ranges in Afghanistan are safe: PM
Derek Cheng (Herald): Chief of Army: ‘Minimal’ chance NZ ordnance to blame for Afghan civilian deaths
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tells NZDF to urgently clean up Aghanistan firing ranges
1News: Jacinda Ardern says NZDF too slow cleaning up firing ranges in Afghanistan
RNZ: Prime Minister expects Defence Force to speed up clearance of Afghanistan firing ranges
Dan Satherley and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): NZDF urged to front on Afghanistan children’s deaths
Housing
Anna Rawhiti-Connell (Newsroom): When will landlords understand it’s about homes, not houses
Dominion Post Editorial: Tipping scales in favour of the tenants
Anne Gibson (Herald): Now and then: Landlord/tenant law overhaul, how 1.5m lives could change
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): ‘Impossible to compete’ – woman subject to price bidding to rent a home welcomes proposed changes to Tenancy Act
RNZ:Changes in rental law would help restore power imbalance, says tenant
Luke Appleby (1News): Tenancy Act changes will ‘destroy’ student flat market, force elderly to testify against ‘feral’ neighbours, Property Investors Federation says
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Tougher laws for ending leases ‘could put property managers at risk’
Paul Mitchell (Stuff): When home is hell: Tenant who twice battled and won against property managers pleads for regulation
Brent Edwards (NBR): New urban development agency won’t be tax-free (paywalled)
RNZ: Hutt Council affordable housing change puts native trees at risk – Forest & Bird
Indira Stewart (RNZ): South Auckland residents in strife over Māori housing building project
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Time to get real on housing – there’s no taming growth
Police
Shaun Robinson (Spinoff): For people living with mental illness, the arming of New Zealand police is a disaster
Moana Maniapoto (E-Tangata): A call to war?
na Andelane (Newshub):Police slammed after footage of ‘brutal’ arrest in Whangārei goes viral
Labour Party
Matt McCarten (Daily Blog): Time for real leadership for Maori in Labour?
Gordon Campbell: On Labour’s age problem, and the battle for Port Hills
Media
Peter Thompson (Briefing Papers): Circling vultures: Why MediaWorks TV is really in trouble
Tom Frewen (Daily Blog): The TVNZ/RNZ merger
Steve Maharey (Pundit): TVNZ And RNZ: A Future For Public Broadcasting
TVNZ: 50 years of Network News: Our changing society
McDonalds to backpay underpaid NZ workers
Newstalk ZB: McDonald’s may owe staff $90 million in holiday pay
Aimee Shaw (Herald): McDonald’s underpays staff ‘up to $90 million’ in holiday pay
1News: Thousands of McDonald’s workers in NZ to receive ‘millions’ in holiday back pay
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): McDonald’s workers in for boost after payroll bungle
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Thousands of McDonald’s workers may get back pay
Education
James Fyfe (Newshub): Government’s school donation scheme eases burden on families – budgeting expert
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Donation scheme: Nine in ten eligible schools sign up to scrap school donations next year
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): More than 1500 schools opt in to donations scheme
Derek Cheng (Herald): Government school donations plan: How many have signed up?
Mikaela Collins (Herald): Rural Northland schools struggling to keep pools open (paywalled)
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Hamish McNeilly and Lee Kenny (Stuff): Med students who faked work placement ‘heartbroken’
Elena McPhee (ODT): Rort leaves student doctors in limbo
ODT: Med student travel rort ‘much wider’ than first thought
RNZ: More than 50 medical students to be denied graduation after overseas placement rort
Scott Palmer (Newshub): One in five Otago med students have qualifications withheld after rort exposed
Kevin Clements and Peter Matheson (ODT): Toxic atmosphere at Otago Uni risks becoming ‘chronic’
Free speech
TVNZ: Q + A: How do universities find the balance between free speech and hate speech?
Josephine Franks (Stuff): What’s a TERF, anyway? Behind the Speak Up For Women debacle
OK boomer
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Why ‘OK boomer’ generational warfare is a dead-end (paywalled)
Bill Ralston (Listener): Why I’m saying sorry, millennial
Environment and conservation
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Exclusive: Government advised genetic technology could replace 1080
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): RMA oversight unit ‘not fit for purpose’
Pat Baskett (Newsroom): NZ’s enduring carbon blind spot
1News: Artificial intelligence project to help protect last 63 Māui dolphins backed by WWF New Zealand
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Dolphin-chasing drone could help save the last 63 Māui dolphins
ODT Editorial: Let there be less light
James Perry (Māori TV): ‘To hear the birds & see the bush is an awesome prospect,’ says Ngāti Oneone
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): Storm surges to get bigger in south, smaller in north
West Coast environment protest
Dan Satherley and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): National MP says there’s ‘1000 years’ of coal to burn on West Coast
Newshub: Simon Bridges insists he’s ‘always had a high opinion’ of Maureen Pugh
RNZ: West Coast rally denounces land classification proposal
Primary industries
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Oceania Dairy wants to discharge 10 million litres a day of treated wastewater into Pacific Ocean
Brent Edwards (NBR): Some catchments likely to be exempted from tough freshwater standards (paywalled)
Alex Braae (Spinoff): A day out at Fonterra’s PR farm
Local government
Andy Asquith, Andrew Cardow and Karen Webster (Stuff): Politicians need to regain control of local government
Aaron van Delden (RNZ): Change Electoral Act precluding communities having Māori wards – Mayor
Alex Loo (Manawatū Standard): Horowhenua councillors receive healthy pay rises for the coming year
Alice Geary (Timaru Herald): Successful year for debt-free Mackenzie District Council
Tina Law (Press): Ombudsman to monitor Christchurch City Council after damning report
Berhouz Boochani
Angela Cuming (Guardian): Jacinda Ardern says she was kept in the dark over arrival of Manus refugee Behrouz Boochani
Ben McKay (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern says Boochani asylum ‘totally hypothetical’
Benjamin Robinson-Drawbridge (RNZ): ‘People will die’ – Boochani sounds grim Bomana warning
Immigration, refugees
Bruce Munro (ODT): Mixed blessings
Michael Reddell: People from poorer countries will come if we let them
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Websites caught fraudulently selling NZ electronic travel authorities
Disability
RNZ: Family files court papers naming govt ministers in challenge to caring for disabled children
Herald Editorial: Disability support failure is a fly in our wellbeing ointment (paywalled)
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Report on disabled people shows Wellbeing Govt’s true priorities
Health
Aaron Dahmen (Newstalk ZB):Government hopes to introduce vaping legislation before Christmas
RNZ: Complaints system for retirement care failing – Consumer NZ
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Aged care: call for stricter regulation after woman forced from home
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Doctors’ Association says hospitals need to step up and protect their staff
Herald: New campaign puts meningococcal disease in the spotlight
RNZ: Checkpoint: Medical ethics boss urges Mike King’s charity to destroy suicide letters
Tony Wall (Stuff): Brother’s shooting by police inspired Genevieve Simpson to become a mental health worker
Donald Pettitt (Stuff): Many men don’t need much, but what they do need they need desperately
Samoa measles outbreak
RNZ: Samoa measles outbreak claims life of 15 children
1News: New Zealand steps up response to measles outbreak in Samoa
RNZ: Measles epidemic: NZ to send 18 more nurses to Samoa
Nick Perry (Stuff): Samoa shuts schools, declares emergency as measles kills 6
RNZ: Measles outbreak: Samoa LDS church cancels all services
Herald: Samoa measles outbreak: All schools shut, kids banned from public areas as state of emergency declared
Gareth Hughes
1News: Longest-serving Greens MP Gareth Hughes plans to ‘reconnect with activist roots’ after retirement
No Right Turn: A loss for the Greens
Christchurch mosque shootings
Marc Daalder and Laura Walters (Newsroom): Select committee stream cut after ChCh gunman claims
Thomas Manch (Stuff): MPs shut down public submitter who says he supplied bullets to Christchurch terror suspect
Transport, roading
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Behind the scenes at Let’s Keep Wellington Motionless
Deena Coster (Taranaki Daily News): Resignation hits trust considering position on $200m Mt Messenger bypass
RNZ: Petition against speed limit reductions to State Highway 6 delivered to Parliament
Leighton Keith (Stuff): New Zealand Transport Agency considers 80kmh speed limit on stretch of State Highway 3
1News: Air NZ expects 14k customers will be affected by ‘unavoidable’ engine checks over holidays
Other
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Democracy “A Bit Bonkers” – thoughts on Lizzie Marvelly & friends
TVNZ: Q+A: Children’s Commissioner urges Govt to take action on child poverty – ‘We’ve got the money, now’s the time’
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Substantial benefit hikes appear off the Government’s agenda
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Survivors quit abuse royal commission over lack of support, misinformation
RNZ: State Sector Act to be replaced with new Public Service Act
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Here’s what young people are really spending more on, compared to their parents’ generation
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): White Ribbon research shows toxic masculinity stereotypes still remain in New Zealand
Kyla Rayner (RNZ): Sexual violence law changes ‘long overdue’
Nikki Preston (Herald): Decision over whether SkyCity can roll out 60 more pokie machines draws closer
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Gender pay gap: Kiwi women now ‘working for free’ until 2020
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Worldwide Indian propaganda network found operating in NZ
Phillipa Malpas (University of Auckland): The ethics of assisted dying: What could a law change mean for New Zealanders?
Stuff: Secret passport case survives minister’s attempt to kick it out of court
David Cormack (Herlad): Why moving Auckland’s port is a win for everyone (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Herald): Former Air Force pilot Tim Costley has been selected to run in the National safe seat of Ōtaki
Geoffrey Palmer (Spinoff): Global storm clouds threaten our democracy. Let’s do something about it
RNZ: The Detail: Why councils are asking for a fireworks ban
Tama Te Kapua Poata (E-Tangata): Marching into history
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Conversations with Nico: Explaining Aotearoa’s past to its future
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Lack of ethnic diversity in NZ companies ‘shocking
Jason Walls (Herald):Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern sends international fan ‘beautiful and personal reply
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern taking time off for wisdom tooth extraction after ‘three years’ of issues
Stuff: Clarke Gayford quizzes Stephen Colbert on Fishes of NZ as ‘Newest New Zealander’
Chris Keall (Herald): Former Labour MP’s lawsuit against Chorus thrown out (paywalled)
