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
Coronavirus
Luke Malpass and Henry Cooke (Stuff): Kiwis are afraid of coronavirus and think NZ isn’t up to the job – that’ll have a big impact on election
Henry Cooke and Luke Malpass (Stuff): Kiwis want more border control, don’t think Govt can stop outbreak
RNZ: The Detail: Coronavirus and “moral panic”
Daniel Laufer (Herald): Crisis Management: How has Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern been managing the coronavirus crisis? (paywalled)
Siouxsie Wiles (Spinoff): Some advice for Simon Bridges on being responsible in a health emergency
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Coronavirus is too big for political point-scoring
RNZ: Third coronavirus case confirmed in New Zealand
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Second case of Covid-19 confirmed in NZ: here’s what we know so far
Emma Russell (Herald): Health authorities scramble to contact passengers on two Air New Zealand flights
Herald: Family of NZ woman with virus ‘battered’ on social media
Tom Hunt, Laura Wiltshire and Katarina Williams (Stuff): Second confirmed NZ case in Auckland, patient took multiple Air NZ flights
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern confident New Zealand ‘equipped to deal’ with coronavirus amid second case
Andre Chumko (Stuff): GPs warn of mass closure of medical centres if people continue to turn up unannounced
1News: NZ rest homes ‘not geared up’ for coronavirus outbreak, calls for national action plan
Jamie Morton (Herald): 70 University of Auckland medical students called back to New Zealand
RNZ: University of Auckland recalls overseas medical students
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Auckland med students recalled from overseas work placements
Stuff: Spread of coronavirus in Australia could pose threat to trans-Tasman border
Coronavirus – economic impact
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Jacinda Ardern says ‘too early to tell wider impacts’ on economy
Brent Edwards (NBR): Coronavirus spread continues to threaten economy (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): No point in Reserve Bank waiting longer to cut OCR now US Fed has moved
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Benefit stand-down period for virus job losses scrapped
RNZ: Coronavirus: Govt moves to remove income support stand-down period
Derek Cheng (Herald): Govt to waive stand-down period for benefit seekers
Zane Small (Newshub): Government looks to remove stand-down periods for beneficiaries amid coronavirus spread
Herald Editorial: How to save the economy? Tax cuts, rate cuts or both? (paywalled)
1News: Simon Bridges calls for tax cuts to blunt pain coronavirus is expected to inflict on NZ economy
RNZ: Covid-19: Simon Bridges says middle income earners deserve tax relief
James Fyfe (Newshub): Tax cuts ‘right thing to do’ to ease coronavirus economic impact – Simon Bridges
1News: Simon Bridges calls for tax cuts to blunt pain coronavirus is expected to inflict on NZ economy
Mitch McCann (Newshub): Gisborne residents plead for help as coronavirus decimates economy
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Coronavirus disruption to logging: East Coast community rallies together
D’Angelo Martin (Māori TV): Coronavirus: “I really need to find work,” laid-off Northland worker says
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Coronavirus cashflow crunch and minimum wage hike ‘a perfect storm’: Hospitality NZ (paywalled)
Katy Jones (Stuff): Coronavirus: NMIT postpones overseas student recruitment trips
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Air NZ announces further flight cuts in wake of coronavirus outbreak
John Anthony (Stuff): Coronavirus: Air Chathams and Korean Air latest airlines to axe flights
1News: Air NZ orders ‘deep clean’ after coronavirus victim flew on one international, two regional flights
Ben Leahy (Herald) Deadly coronavirus looms as threat to red-hot housing market
Shane Jones’ immigration comments
Chris Trotter: There’s Method In Shane Jones’s “Racist” Madness
Peter Dunne: Playing the race card has worked for NZ First in the past, so why would it not do so again?
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Pressure weighs in on Jacinda Ardern over Shane Jones’ immigration remarks
Dita De Boni (NBR): Business donors should stop currying favour with unpopular populist (paywalled)
Cat MacLennan (RNZ): Coalition dilemmas: The danger of marching to extinction with dinosaurs
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Shane Jones anti-PC campaign a breath of fresh air
Election
Dan Satherley and Emma Stanford (Newshub): You can now enrol to vote on election day
Damien Venuto (Herald): Jacinda Ardern’s words twitsted in ‘scary’ audio clip (paywalled)
Sarah Austen-Smith (Spinoff): Here comes the political meme blizzard
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Controversial MP Jian Yang reselected by National
Richard Prebble (NBR): The Coalition will lose (paywalled)
Political donations
Max Rashbrooke (Spinoff): A brief history of New Zealand donations scandals
Elisha Watson (Spinoff): A novel way to fix our broken political donations system: flood the market
Liam Hehir (Spinoff): A step by step guide for compulsory anonymity in political donations
Foreign affairs and trade
Jo Moir (RNZ): Peters hammers in PM’s criticism of Australia: ‘We want a thing called respect’
Jason Walls (Herald): Winston Peters hits back at senior Australian Minister Peter Dutton
Kate MacNamara (Stuff): Bernie Sanders’ views on trade will leave NZ in the cold
Environment and conservation
Richard Harman (Politik): Collins’ super challenge
Calida Stuart-Menteath (NBR): Genesis scrapping coal won’t guarantee Super Fund reinvestment
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Chlöe Swarbrick submitting new bill to force Government funds to sell fossil fuel assets
Claire Matthews (The Conversation): NZ’s fossil fuel investment ban for popular KiwiSaver funds is more political than ethical
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland’s climate debate: ‘It’s not going to be pretty’
Denise Piper (Stuff): North drought: Weather records tumble in Northland, Auckland over summer
Mike Watson (Stuff): Shane Jones calls for oil rig ‘eco-warriors’ to be dropped at front door of district court
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Calls for prosecution after climate protesters helped from OMV oil rig (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Police need to crack down on Extinction Rebellion protests
Lee Kenny and Mike Watson (Stuff): Extinction Rebellion campaigners’ daring oil rig protest thwarted after 14 hours
Giles Dexter (Newshub): Extinction Rebellion protesters evacuated off 100m-high oil rig
Newstalk ZB: Extinction Rebellion defends latest drilling rig protest
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Coromandel waterways filled with thousands of dead birds and eels
Northern Advocate: Millions of dead tuatua litter Northland coastline (paywalled)
Gun law reform
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Continued delays to firearms law as NZ First sticks to its guns
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Extremists able to own guns under National’s proposals
Media
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): RNZ ad campaign – clever marketing or own goal?
Mark Stevens (Stuff): RNZ’s tone-deaf ads are hypocritical – and unfathomable
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Voguish RNZ is ignoring its obligations to be a ‘national’ radio station
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Funding for iwi radio stations under scrutiny
Police
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Deputy Police Commissioner Mike Clement under investigation by police watchdog
RNZ: New armed police use could inflame Māori community – Borrows
Herald: Police make $101 million dent in criminal activity
Lucy Drake (Herald): Rural Whanganui CCTV cameras proving successful in preventing crime (paywalled)
Health
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Life-extending breast cancer drug Ibrance to be fully funded from April
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Pharmac confirms funding for breast cancer drug Ibrance
NIck Truebridge: Middlemore breast service: Old machines broke down and froze during biopsies
1News: Report calls for Government to set aside $50 million to boost pay for NZ midwives
RNZ: Social deprivation a factor in Lakes DHB deficit, chief executive says
Damian Rowe (Stuff): Mike King’s launches campaign to raise $5 million for youth mental health counselling
Denise Piper (Stuff): Intellectually disabled man jailed in Bali with record haul of prescription drugs freed
KiwiSaver
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Warning Govt may not be able to boost KiwiSaver balances and keep fees down
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): First home buyer slackers beware changes to default KiwiSaver
Abortion
1News: Debate: Pro-life and pro-choice campaigners face-off as abortion law passes second reading
Zane Small (Newshub): Abortion law debate leads to Speaker Trevor Mallard booting heckler from Chamber
Anna Whyte (1News): Crude outburst sees person booted from public gallery as abortion law reform passes second reading
Education
John Gerritsen (RNZ): One in five school libraries ‘suffering’ under slashed funding
Zane Small and Tova O’Brien (Newshub): PM Jacinda Ardern cancels Victoria University of Wellington O-Week visit at the last minute
Lee Kenny (Stuff): University of Otago pre-med students being taught via video link due lecture hall size
Brent Edwards (NBR): Definition of academic freedom in education legislation questioned by business (paywalled)
Housing
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Rights to housing – the positive and negative
Sahiban Hyde (Herald): Church v state: ‘Ambush’ claims as battle brews over large piece of land in Flaxmere
Employment
Fiona Rotherham (NBR): ‘She’ll be right’ culture creeps back into health and safety (paywalled)
Samantha Olley (Herald): Drug-free tree planters, pruners get $100 monthly bonuses amid labour shortage (paywalled)
Christchurch mosque attacks, Al Noor mosque threat
Donna Miles-Mojab (Stuff): A year on, we need to remember the lessons of the attacks
RNZ: Christchurch mosque attacks victims to be remembered one year on
RNZ: Probe into threat against Al Noor mosque: Police search property
Local government
Charlotte Jones (Herald): Vacancies filled after by-election flop
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Appeal looms against Buller council decision over historic West Coast baches
Harry Lock (RNZ): Wellington cemeteries to run out of space soon – councillor
Sam Kelway (1News): Tauranga residents could be paying nearly 13 per cent more in rates following council’s draft decision
RNZ: Tauranga City Council committee votes for recommendation of rates rise
Contact Energy fined
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Contact Energy fined $245,000 for ‘no tricks’ fuel promotion
Gavin Evans (Herald): Contact Energy fined $245,000 for 2017 Smartfuel promotion
Other
Simon Chapple (Newsroom): Keeping the reformed public service in check
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newshub): We are not ready for wasteful cannabis referendum
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Reading between the lines of Jacinda Ardern’s answers
Brian Easton (Pundit): The Trustless Economy
Robert MacCulloch (Herald): Reserve Bank needs to stick to its knitting (paywalled)
Tim Hunter (NBR): The ‘tragedy’ of Tiwai’s toxic waste (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Stuff): Government’s $300m venture capital fund seeks ‘unicorn’ technology companies
Brent Edwards (NBR): Treasury worries about KiwiRail’s financial reporting (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Transport puts cost of car-free zone in central city at more than $400m (paywalled)
Kaitlin Ruddock (1News): Horse racing clubs under threat as land may be sold off to save ‘dying industry’
Barbara Dreaver (1News): Pacific Update: Island nations tighten coronavirus controls, the bond between Aussie and Fijian soldiers, and the 400kg blue marlin
Waatea News: Debbie Birch: Iwi need new measure of success
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Norwegian woman on a quest to regain New Zealand citizenship
RNZ: Steel & Tube to face second appeal over substandard steel mesh
1News: Wellington company ordered to pay over $500k after ‘grossly overloaded’ fishing vessel sinks
RNZ: Director and skipper sentenced after overloaded fishing boat sinking
