Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Whakaari/White Island eruption
Gordon Campbell: On the Whakaari/White Island eruption
MIchael Lueck (Stuff): Should NZ look again at risky adventure tourism?
Brook Sabin (Stuff): Why were tours still operating?
Dominion Post Editorial: Whakaari/White Island deaths raise lessons still not learnt
Steve Braunias (Herald): White Island latest tragedy in year of grief and unimaginable terror (paywalled)
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Thomas Manch (Stuff): Police and WorkSafe launch investigations
1News: Police retract announcement of White Island ‘criminal’ investigation; coroner probe instead
1News: Watch: Police announce criminal investigation over White Island deaths, injuries
Zane Small (Newshub): Police backtrack on criminal investigation into White Island / Whakaari deaths
Newshub: Police launch criminal investigation into White Island / Whakaari deaths
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Internal Affairs Minister says New Zealand may not be able to handle Royal Commission inquiry into Whakaari eruption
Boris Jancic and Jason Walls (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says there are questions that need answers over White Island eruption
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Simon Bridges says police announcing criminal investigation created ‘uncertainty’
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1New: White Island should have been a no-go zone given the volcanic alert level, says expert
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): ‘This is not a volcano that can be trusted’: Questions over access to White Island
Herald: Scientist: White Island was ‘disaster waiting to happen’
Charlotte Graham-McLay (Guardian): Whakaari eruption on private island was ‘disaster waiting to happen’, says expert
Clive Oppenheimer (Stuff): Getting close to a volcano is exhilarating, but there will always be risks
Glen McConnell (Stuff): ‘You can’t eliminate risk’: NZ beefed up safety laws after tourist deaths
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): A level two sense of security
Michael Daly (Stuff): How the experts decide if it’s safe to visit White Island
Stuff: Unlucky timing or unsafe system?
RNZ: Why tourists were allowed on the island
RNZ: Mother ‘livid’ after US newly-weds suffer burns in Whakaari / White Island eruption
Damian George (Stuff): Volcano explorer and film-maker Geoff Mackley questions why tour group was on Whakaari/White Island
Stuff: Just how safe is volcano tourism really?
Newshub: White Island’s long history of unrest hasn’t stopped tourism
Eloise Gibson (Newsroom): How much risk is too much?
Stuff: Emergency shelter was airlifted to Whakaari three years ago
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Susan Edmunds and John Anthony (Stuff): Whakaari/White Island tour operators ‘can’t waiver their way out of safety obligations
Herald: White Island tour operators could potentially face manslaughter charges: legal expert (paywalled)
Jo Moir (RNZ): Questions raised over tour groups operating on Whakaari / White Island
John Anthony (Stuff): This is the family that privately owns White Island
Anne Gibson (Herald): White Island eruption: How Auckland’s Buttle family came to own island (paywalled)
1News: ‘It’s a big tragedy for us’ – White Island Tours chairman says iwi-owned business missing two employees
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Jason Walls (Herald):‘Very unfair’ – Police Minister Stuart Nash rejects White Island/ Pike River comparison
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Police Minister defends police for not going onto Whakaari/White Island
RNZ: Nash defends police response to Whakaari / White Island eruption
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): It’s not police’s job to set foot on Whakaari/White Island
Heather du Plessis Allan (Newstalk ZB): Should Police have gone?
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Police refusal to recover bodies from White Island must be questioned
1News: Police Minister calls White Island rescuers ‘true heroes’
Stuff: Jacinda Ardern thanks first responders from Whakaari/White Island eruption
Stuff: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern praises ‘courageous’ pilots’ ‘brave’ White Island rescues
RNZ: Whakaari / White Island rescues: Pilots ‘saved the day’ – observer
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Paul Kingi called a hero for his efforts to rescue people after the Whakaari / White Island eruption
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Hero skipper returned to volcano ‘again and again’
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Indonesian doctors on fishing holiday raced to help victims
Belinda Feek (Herald): Families of victims, former mayor slam health and safety regulations
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RNZ: Prime Minister meets with rescuers of Whakaari / White Island survivors
1News: White Island disaster ‘devastating’ for whole of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern says
Anna Whyte (1News): Jacinda Ardern delivers powerful message in Parliament to Whakaari/White Island victims: ‘You are forever linked to our nation’
Zane Small (Newshub): ‘You are forever linked to our nation’: Jacinda Ardern’s tribute to White Island victims
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern pays tribute to victims of Whakaari/White Island and their families
Newshub: As it happened: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivers speech on White Island disaster
Herald: White Island eruption: ‘How good is Ardern’ – World praises PM for disaster response
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1News: Watch: The history behind White Island, NZ’s most active volcano
RNZ: Iwi perform karakia, console victims’ families
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Herald: The dead, the missing and the injured
Stuff: What we know of the people missing, injured, or dead
RNZ: NZ’s burns units at capacity
Elections
Richard Harman (Politik): The politics of electoral law reform
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): New ‘election hack’ offence recommended in electoral process proposals
Boris Jancic (Herald): Probe into foreign interference too late: Justice Minister Andrew Little
Collette Devlin and Thomas Manch (Stuff): Justice minister says much-delayed report into the 2017 election won’t be acted on
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Much awaited report on combatting foreign interference in elections delivered
No Right Turn: Status quo supports status quo
Sharnae Hope (Waikato Times): Te Aroha’s constantly revolving electorate lines creates tension for locals
Auditor General resignation case
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Matthews affair shows our watchdogs are vulnerable to anyone and everyone
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Ousted Auditor-General Martin Matthews’ petition will be presented to Parliament
RNZ: Former Auditor-General Martin Matthews seeks redress over resignation
Government
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern admits there have been some ‘speed-wobbles’ in her ‘year of delivery’ (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Grant Robertson says public’s focus is investment, as he tests tolerance for debt (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Half-year update has economists guessing, how many billions is ‘significant’
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green Party scrap Budget Responsibility Rules
Ports of Auckland move
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Respect vital to oil wheels of any port move (paywalled)
Boris Jancic (Herald): No decision on new location for port: Jacinda Ardern
Susan Botting (Stuff): Northland environmentalists say ‘no’ to Auckland port shift
Brian Easton (Pundit): Connecting The Nation
Local government
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Climate change: Auckland Council outlines plan to cut own emissions
Bernard Orsman (Stuff): Auckland Mayor Phil Goff plans to make half of council fleet electric within five years
Todd Niall (Stuff): Climate change action: Auckland Council moves to cut and electrify car fleet
1News: Auckland Mayor vows to cut emissions, extend living wage in Budget proposal
Andrew McRae (RNZ): Online resource journeys through hidden history of Waipā
Christina Persico (Stuff): New Plymouth District councillors recommend putting $1.6m surplus towards economy and climate
Damian George (Stuff): Regional council asks government to help fund $415 million investment to save rail network
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Tasman District Council owned forest near Nelson may be replanted in natives and exotics
Tina Law (Press): Christchurch City councillors in line for 11 per cent pay rise
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Dunedin councillor censured over $12 parking ticket
Chris Morris (ODT): Vandervis censured over staff treatment
Chris Morris (ODT): Vote to increase borrowing almost unanimous
Daisy Hudson (ODT): Council wants say on how Aurora fines spent
Logan Savory (Southland Times): Smart Enviromental Ltd puts Invercargill council on notice
Luisa Girao (ODT): Recycling tender process ends
Logan Savory (Stuff): Public apology not required from Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt
Media
Merja Myllylahti and Sarah Baker (AUT): New Zealand Media Ownership 2019
Merja Myllylahti (The Conversation): Job losses expected as NZ’s broadcasting sector faces biggest overhaul in a decade
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): The decade in media: How the mighty have fallen and broken both their arms
Mark Revington (NBR): South Islanders opt for hyperlocal media they trust (paywalled)
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): When blackmail doesn’t mean blackmail
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): NBR column ‘hyperbole’ not defamation, court told (paywalled)
Health
Ian Powell (ODT): DHB must address leadership culture
Boris Jancic (Herald): Health Minister David Clark defends DHB appointment process
Hannah Martin (Stuff): ‘I can’t see any way out’: New Zealand doctors suffering from a burnout ‘epidemic’
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Entonox ‘required’ in two of six cases: GP
Measles, immunisation
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): The Parent Trap: When disinformation costs (part 1)
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): The Parent Trap: The dangerous epidemic of immunisation refusal (part 2)
Jenny Meyer (RNZ): Rate of new measles cases in Samoa
RNZ: Samoa measles death toll remains at 70
RNZ: Samoan ‘anti-vaxxer’ out on bail
Donna-Marie Lever (North & South): Kiwis still vulnerable to the next outbreak
Donna Chisholm (North & South): Parents’ vaxxing clash goes to court
Education
Ollie Neas and Maria Slade (Spinoff): Rhodes Scholars are meant to serve humanity. Crimson Education wanted them to tutor wealthy students
ODT Editorial: Merit in physical health policy
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): 300 registrations for new St Stephens College
Stuart Smith and Priyanca Radhakrishnan (Stuff): Should universities be allowed to curb free speech?
Christchurch mosque shootings
Marine Lourens (Stuff): Hero cops who arrested terror suspect finally named
RNZ: Christchurch mosque shooting: Police officers who apprehended alleged gunman named
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Christchurch mosque shootings: Hero cops who stopped accused gunman revealed
1News: Hero cops who arrested alleged Christchurch mosque gunman named – ‘We were doing our job’
Lisa Davies (1News): Man accused of carrying out Christchurch terrorist attack not present at pre-trial hearing
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Alleged Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant excused from court today
Crime
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Youth, Māori and single people most at risk of being victims of repeat crime – report
Sam Hurley (Herald) Revealed: Corrupt Auckland cop Vili Taukolo printed classified intel about $50m Mexican drug deal (paywalled)
Primary industries
Brent Melville (ODT): Pressure on system affecting work visas
RNZ: Treaty settlement helps pay for iwi’s avocado orchard
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Open Farms scheme aims to reconnect Kiwis with where their food comes from
Transport
Stephen Forbes (Stuff): Auckland bus drivers vote to continue industrial action, go without pay
John Milford (Stuff): Key week for capital transport as Let’s Get Wellington Moving goes under spotlight
Damian George (Stuff): National MPs launch campaign to bring forward construction of an extra Mt Victoria tunnel
Rahul Bhattarai (Stuff): Picton awaits ‘vast’ project with upgraded ferry terminal
Govt funding for Ōhakea water scheme
Laurel Stowell (Whanganui Chronicle): Government fronts up with chunk of funding for Ōhakea water scheme (paywalled)
RNZ: Govt provides $11m for households affected by PFAS contamination
Environment and conservation
Lois Williams (Stuff): Plea for exceptions for West Coast in government’s wetland rules
RNZ: The Detail: Plastic poison – where do we start in cleaning it up?
Jeff Seadon (Stuff): Climate Explained: 7 reasons to be wary of waste-to-energy proposals
Chris Mooney (Washington Post): Greenland’s ice losses rapidly accelerate, hit highest sea-level rise projection
RNZ: COP25: Pacific leader says coal killing the Pacific
Damian Rowe (Southland Times): Priceless DOC dog’s rescue comes in at $80k and counting
Police
Waatea News: Neville Baker: Haumaha blocked from top police job
Spinoff: Suicidal people need a compassionate ear, not armed police
Other
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Home owners are becoming New Zealand’s landed gentry, passing their wealth down
Ben Kepes (Stuff): The future of community service and volunteering is uncertain
Michael Reddell: Labour share of income
David Clarkson (Stuff): Attempts to fill in census are not enough – judge
Aaron van Delden (RNZ): Problem gambling service stalled by recruitment woes
Peter Griffin (Noted): 5G is live – now what?
Jennifer Dann (Herald): 12 questions with Comedian Tom Sainsbury (paywalled)
Michael J Armstrong (Herald): NZ can learn from Canada’s cannabis experience (paywalled)
Rebekah Graham (Spinoff): Why giving beneficiaries meal kits is the wrong approach
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): A whare of hope in Tairāwhiti
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): New Zealand should remain as New Zealand, not Aotearoa
