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
NZ First donations scandal
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern right to let Winston Peters’ keep his head over donations – for now (paywalled)
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Facing the music – Winston Peters and the NZ First Foundation
No Right Turn: History repeats?
Jason Walls (Herald): Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will remain Foreign Minister amid SFO investigation
Alan Kenyon (TVNZ): Jacinda Ardern backs Winston Peters when asked in Parliament if she trusts him
TVNZ: Watch as Winston Peters plays Queen’s Radio Ga Ga to journalists while evading questions over SFO probe
Jason Walls (Herald): NZ First Leader Winston Peters denies his MPs sent covert photos to far-right blog
Jason Walls (Herald): Jacinda Ardern says she won’t stand Deputy PM Winston Peters down amid SFO probe
Jane Patterson (RNZ): ‘We need to apply natural justice’ – PM on NZ First Foundation investigation
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Winston Peters refusing to stand down despite Serious Fraud Office probe
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): PM under pressure as Peters keeps ministerial portfolios despite SFO investigation
Jason Walls (Herald): Serious Fraud Office investigation into NZ First Foundation underway
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Serious Fraud Office will investigate New Zealand First Foundation
Anna Whyte (TVNZ): Serious Fraud Office open investigation into NZ First Foundation
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Serious Fraud Office to investigate New Zealand First Foundation
Jane Patterson (RNZ): New Zealand First Foundation: Serious Fraud Office confirms investigation
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National calls for PM to stand down Winston Peters over SFO investigation
National Party donations scandal
RNZ: National donations SFO charge details a surprise – Bridges
Zane Small (Newshub): Simon Bridges ‘didn’t know’ about second $100,000 donation in Serious Fraud Office probe
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Simon Bridges says he knows nothing of second $100,050 donation at centre of SFO trial
Sam Hurley (Herald): National Party donations accused change course and ask judge to lift suppression
No Right Turn: Double the fraud with National!
David Farrar: Debunking the lie that the NZ First Foundation is like National’s
National Party economic policy speech
RNZ: National keeps tax, service cuts details secret
Dominion Post Editorial: Think again, National – tax cuts are not what they used to be
ODT Editorial: Time for National to deliver on tax
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The political money fight is on
Richard Harman (Politik): National’s economic policy could include second Auckland harbour crossing
Labour Party
Audrey Young (Herald): Labour’s pre-selection manoeuvres under way in South Auckland
Laine Moger (Stuff): Young Labour camp assault: Man seeks permanent name suppression
Sam Hurley (Newshub): Labour Party summer camp scandal case: Young man fights to keep name suppressed
Child welfare
Jarrod Gilbert (Herald): The names etched on our social fabric (paywalled)
John Langley (Herald): Oranga Tamariki needs to be community-based (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Justice Minister won’t revoke right of silence, but looking at options
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Andrew Little clashes with Ryan Bridge over ‘right to silence’ law changes
Collette Devlin (Stuff): National Party and ACT propose prison for non-disclosure of child abuse
Derek Cheng (Herald): National wants witnesses who stonewall police in child abuse cases to face jail time
Anna Whyte (TVNZ): National promises to make not reporting instances of child abuse a criminal offence
Newstalk ZB: Calls for the ‘right to silence’ to be abolished after horrific child abuse case
Bronson Perich (Māori TV): Simon Bridges: National will imprison those who hide child abuse
No Right Turn: The right to silence shouldn’t be conditional
Coronavirus
Richard Harman (Politik): Chinese whispers: what the Ambassador really meant
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Coronavirus travel restrictions dilemma: At some point, could the medicine become worse than the disease?
TVNZ; Relations between China and NZ already impacted by coronavirus travel ban – ambassador
Ben Heather (Stuff): Chinese ambassador hits out at New Zealand travel ban in response to novel coronavirus outbreak
RNZ: No need for travel restrictions – China’s ambassador to NZ
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): China urges NZ to lift travel restrictions
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Gordon Campbell: On the addiction to Chinese student fees, and a possible future for RNZ Concert
RNZ: Post to and from China halted amid flight suspensions due to coronavirus
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): New Zealand Post stops sending parcels to China, tells customers to expect delays due to coronavirus
TVNZ: NZ Post unable to send mail to China due to coronavirus
Liu Chen (RNZ): Quarantine at Whangaparāoa military base ends for first group of evacuees
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): New Zealanders ‘strongly encouraged’ to return on evacuation flight from cruise ship
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): NZers from Diamond Princess could ‘expose a number of other people to risk’
Newshub: New Zealand will assist in evacuating people from coronavirus stricken cruise ship
TVNZ: Kiwis on cruise ship in Japan to be quarantined in Whangaparaoa on return home
Industrial relations
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government introduces bill to overturn aspects of controversial ‘Hobbit law’
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): First Union slams the National Party for considering stopping minimum wage bumps
Jason Walls (Herald): National looking into scrapping the Government’s planned minimum wage increases
Zane Small (Newshub): National Party ‘thinking about’ stopping minimum wage bumps
Blair Ensor (Stuff): Liquor store owners designed mansion while company probed
Workplace safety
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Father of worker crushed to death wants changes to workplace safety
Zac Fleming (Newshub): Father of man killed in workplace accident wants WorkSafe to get more funding
Housing
Philippa Howden-Chapman: Updating the role of the state: the case of housing in New Zealand
David Hargreaves (Interest): Westpac economists: Tax reform is the only effective way to solve NZ’s housing affordability problem
John Anthony (Stuff): National median rents hit record high of $515 per week, Trade Me says
TVNZ: Times get tougher for tenants as median rental price reaches new record
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Country’s first climate safe house opens with a bang
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Banning the ability to evict tenants without reason could be ‘final straw’ for landlords – REINZ
RNZ
Eric Crampton (Newsroom): Playing radio chicken
Bill Ralston (Listener): Was the RNZ Concert proposal just a ploy?
Cannabis and euthanasia referendums
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): New poll shows support for both recreational cannabis and euthanasia dropping
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Wanted: Cannabis referendum campaigner for NZ Drug Foundation
Health
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Poverty, loneliness behind high rates of suicide among elderly men
RNZ Checkpoint: Laura Fergusson rehab: Disabled man’s mum begs Ardern to keep centre open
Southland Times Editorial: Onwards and upwards for charity hospital and care village projects
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Clifton Tavern will be the new site for Southland’s charity hospital
RNZ: Health campaigner toasts charity hospital’s new home in tavern
Laura Smith (ODT): Pub to be charity hospital
Dave Goosselink (Newshub): Southland pub to become a charity hospital, cancer campaigner Blair Vining’s final wish
Anna Whyte (TVNZ): Free dental care for all ‘absolutely not possible’, NZ Dental Association says
Vera Alves (Stuff): Overwhelming majority of Kiwis polled supports free period products in schools
Family violence
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Distrust of justice system preventing family violence victims from getting help
TVNZ: Under-reporting of family violence against adults sparks call for better victim support services
Environment and conservation
Lois Williams (Stuff): Elderly man to lose 70 per cent of farm in ‘blatant attack’ on property rights
Emma Dangerfield (Stuff): South Island district’s residents upset to learn recycling going straight to landfill
RNZ: Small town residents likely to take legal action against waste processing plant expansion
TVNZ: ‘A dire situation’ – Far North drought conditions could ‘become the norm’, fears mayor
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland drought: More Far North towns in desperate water savings plea
Local government
Skara Bohny (Stuff): Nelson councillors free to apply for airport and port roles
Gerrard Eckhoff (ODT): Rush to exclude councillors wrong
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council executives might swap car park for travel pass
Primary industries
Herald: ‘Rocketman’ Shane Jones comes out firing over water and fake meat
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Ministry for Primary Industry’s raw milk raids still rub farmer the wrong way
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Hikurangi Forest Farms fined $379,000 over slash destruction
Water management
Jamie Morton (Herald): Auditor-General: NZ not managing water well enough
RNZ: Auditor-general pans state of water management in New Zealand
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Urgent meeting called over Wellington’s water failures
Electric vehicles
Rob Stock (Stuff):Taxpayer funds electric vehicle charging stations in supermarket car parks
TVNZ: Dozens of electric vehicle charging stations coming to regional New Zealand
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Government invests in 110 new electric vehicle chargers, regional New Zealand to benefit
RNZ: New projects to install 110 new EV chargers and 50 EV rideshare vehicles
Immigration
RNZ: The Detail: Inside Immigration New Zealand
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): ‘Just tell us’: Migrants in limbo as coalition dithers
Education
John Lewis (ODT): One in three often absent
Evan Harding (Southland Times): We shouldn’t have to see a counsellor to wear pants, Southland students say
Peter Lyons (ODT): Cause to be wary of education’s embrace of technology
Other
Brian Easton (Pundit): Income Inequality Is Rising
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): The $360m coronavirus problem the Government can fix if it has the courage
Joanna Spratt (Herald): Financial secrecy index: How corporate giants avoid NZ tax (paywalled)
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Smelter and Government continue talks over Mataura’s ouvea premix
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Iwi says trustees involved in establishing vineyard on 800-year-old pā site
Rob Stock (Stuff): Foreign investors ordered to sell land near beautiful Lake Pukaki
Lane Nchols (Herald): Overseas Investment Office orders rich foreign investors to sell three South Island properties in Twizel
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Defeat for big power companies as regulator settles on 180-day ‘win-back’ ban
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Electricity Authority bans win-backs
Alison Mau (Stuff): He said, she said: How we might tackle changes to our sexual consent laws
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Electorate boundary changes: Panmure Business Association ‘hurting’ over proposal
Tess Nichol (Metro): Unswimmable city: The problem with Auckland’s beaches
Alice Angeloni (Stuff): Highway rebuild work halted as protesters barricade coastal road near Kaikōura
Newshub: Holden axing presents ‘real challenge’ for police – Chris Cahill
Sally Rawsthorne (Sydney Morning Herald): AFL star’s Kiwi dad proves his Aboriginality as he attempts to re-enter Australia
Susan St John and Claire Dale (Newsroom): A close look at the superannuation problem
