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
Today’s cabinet decision
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Decision day dawns for PM Jacinda Ardern over Covid-19 lockdown
John Armstrong (1News): Why New Zealand has to remain in lockdown
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Today cabinet decides on when to exit the lockdown. Let’s hope for the last time
Tim Watkin (Pundit): Why Cabinet’s Decision On When To Lift Lockdown Is Like Plate Spinning
Pattrick Smellie (Herald): Govt needs to lock down convincing exit strategy (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): What will be on cautious PM’s mind as lockdown decision looms (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern could be in for a lot of political pain if she decides to extend lockdown
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): It’s a big call tomorrow (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Critical decision looms for PM, Cabinet
RNZ: Striking balance between economy and people’s health
Herald: Winston Peters – ‘No value in saving people if greater social damage caused’
Newstalk ZB: PM’s former chief of science: ‘Won’t be long until we go to level two’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Sir Peter Gluckman explains what it could take for alert level 3 to last only two weeks
1News: National MP under fire for saying NZ will move to Level 3 on Thursday, despite no Govt decision
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Isaac Davison and Kirsty Johnston (Herald): Scientists sound level 3, contact tracing alarm bells
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): National tracing: the weak link in the route to level 3? (paywalled)
Brian Gaynor (BusinessDesk): The case for far more covid testing (paywalled)
Courtney Addison (Newsroom): Data isn’t enough for this decision
RNZ: Nine to Noon: Level 4 to level 3 – What is the data telling us?
Andy Fyers (Stuff): Is New Zealand ready to leave its level 4 Covid-19 lockdown?
Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris (Spinoff): Why contact tracing is so crucial to moving out of lockdown
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern wants everyone to keep a coronavirus diary to help with contact tracing
Thomas Lumley (Stats Chat): Prevalence estimation: is it out there?
Government strategy
John Weekes (Stuff): Was the Covid-19 lockdown the right call for NZ?
Simon Wilson (Herald): The 10-point plan to beat pandemic (paywalled)
Rod Jackson (Public Health Expert): Why eliminating Covid-19 is critical
Keith Woodford (Interest): Monday’s COVID-19 decision will be a defining moment for New Zealand
Gary Payinda (Herald): Let’s put Covid ‘herd immunity’ out to pasture
Liam Hehir (Pundit): Contra Damien: What Libertarians Get Wrong About Preserving Freedom
Richard Blaikie (Newsroom): ‘Ready, fire, aim!’ approach is on target
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): Why no man is an island
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Diary of Ashley Bloomfield (paywalled)
Megan Harvey (Herald): Clarke Gayford defends Jacinda Ardern’s lockdown precautions
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Grant Schofield (Stuff): When all public health decisions lead to some harm, which is the right one
Damien Grant (Stuff): A challenge to the well-meaning tyranny of busybodies
Martin Berka (The Conversation): Protecting lives and livelihoods: the data on why New Zealand should relax its coronavirus lockdown from Thursday
Rex Ahdar (Pundit): The Cost Of Lockdown: Lives Now Vs Lives Later
Madison Reidy (Newshub): Health experts feel censored over alternative lockdown plan
Charlotte Graham-McLay (Guardian): Debate over when and how to ease New Zealand’s lockdown turns personal
Government
Richard Harman (Politik): What is “the Quint” and why is it running New Zealand?
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Health Ministry consults with spy agency GCSB for Covid-19 tracing, amid privacy concerns
Zane Small (Newshub): Attorney-General’s decision not to release COVID-19 lockdown advice angers Opposition MPs
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Dear Attorney-General – you have to release the Covid19 lockdown advice
Newstalk ZB: Parliament to sit again a month after adjourning
Linda Clark (Newsroom): Hard questions will need to asked
Alexander Gillespie (Dominion Post): In an emergency, value counts for more than price
Alexander Gillespie (The Conversation): Five ways New Zealanders’ lives and liberties will be heavily controlled, even after lockdown eases
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): Powerful or powerless? What can the Epidemic Response Committee do?
Pilita Clark (Financial Times UK): Arise Saint Jacinda, a leader for our troubled times (paywalled)
Life after lockdown
Mariné Lourens (Stuff): How NZ’s Covid-19 lockdown has changed our lives
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): What the numbers say about how the lockdown has changed our lives
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): What lies on the other side of lockdown and elimination?
Education
Simon Collins (Herald): Childcare centres want to stay closed at alert level 3
Andre Chumko (Stuff): ECE centres beg Government to keep childcare centres closed under Level 3
Dan Satherley and Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Teachers want right to choose when their own schools re-open
Kaye Brunton (Herald): Reopening schools unfair to low-decile families and teachers
Alice Webb-Liddall (Spinoff): Teachers voice concerns around school reopenings under alert level three
RNZ: Ministry clarifies who can go to school in alert level 3
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Schools soothed but concerns remain over reopening
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): 10-pupil bubbles and physical distancing – life at school under Covid-19 level 3
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): What does level 3 mean for early childhood education and schools?
1News: As a number of foreign schools already open, what can NZ learn to prepare for ours?
Ben Leahy (Herald): Three babies have virus amid fears of rise in cases when school returns
Katy Gosset (RNZ): Lockdown bringing little emotional harm to most children – psychologist
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): NZ universities face ‘huge’ funding shortfall if Covid-19 border restrictions stay
Employment
Rob Stock (Stuff): Kindness must replace blame in the politics of unemployment
Rob Stock (Stuff): Redundancy hammers mental and physical health
Tracy Watkins and Marine Lourens (Stuff): Where will the jobs be in a post-Covid-19 world?
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Work visa rules relaxed during lockdown
Business
Andrea Fox (Herald): Govt keeps ‘faith’ as concerns mount about wage subsidy honeypot (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Government pays out just shy of $10b to support 1.6 million in work
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Wage subsidies paid out to businesses hits $9.9b (paywalled)
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): NZ insurers save $100 million as drivers stay put during Covid-19 lockdown
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John Anthony (Stuff): SkyCity asks staff to donate salary into hardship fund to help those it made redundant
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): How much government support is Fletcher Building getting?
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): How law firms are coping and which ones have taken up the Government wage subsidy (paywalled)
RNZ: The Warehouse to cut salaries and wages until move to alert level 2
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Rob Fyfe: Preparing us and business for a life after Covid-19 and lockdown (paywalled)
Economy
Brian Easton (Pundit): Where Is The New Zealand Economy Going?
Liam Dann (Herald): Why strong lockdown gives NZ the economic edge (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): What will the pandemic economy do to the cost of living? (paywalled)
Brian Gaynor (BusinessDesk): What shape will the recovery be: V, U or L? (paywalled)
Joe Pagani (Pundit): The Five Things To Do For A Radical Recovery
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Sir John Key says economy could be in ‘recessionary environment’ for at least a couple of years
David Farrar: Academic says sock the “rich”
No Right Turn: Make the rich pay their fair share
Covid-19 and Māori, Pacific communities, iwi checkpoints
Carmen Parahi (Stuff): How Māori are helping Māori handle the pain of the Covid-19 pandemic
Steve Elers (Stuff): Special coronavirus response for Māori baseless and unhelpful
Kate Newton (RNZ): Covid-19 deadlier for Māori, Pasifika – modelling predicts
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Māori twice the risk with Covid-19, but there’s time to reduce ‘avoidable deaths’
Susan Strongman (RNZ): Virus and recession a devastating combination for Māori and Pasifika
RNZ: Māori health workers target greater Covid-19 testing in Auckland and Northland
Kerensa Johnston (E-Tangata): Whose land is it anyway?
Denise Piper (Stuff): MP asks police to stop ‘illegal’ checkpoints, iwi disagree
Helen Castles (1News): Calls for police to shut down Māori-led roadblocks as public report they feel ‘intimidated’
Matt Burrows and Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Northland MP pleads for ban on community roadblocks after Kaikohe couple ‘harassed’, ‘detained’
Health system
Louise Thornley (Spinoff): A beginner’s guide to public health
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Why aren’t we giving health workers more Covid-19 protection?
Jason Wallls (Herald): Government to spend $200m on bolstering New Zealand’s PPE supply
Nikki Preston (Herald): Bay of Plenty mental health staff and patients tested after colleague tests positive
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Patients miss out on surgery under Covid-19 lockdown
Melissa Chan-Green (1News): Donations to St John Ambulance, other crucial charities plummet during lockdown
Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): Sewage testing for Covid-19 begins this week
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Medsafe to restrict importing and sale of Covid-19 test kits after calls for regulation
Catherine Hall (Spinoff): The whispered condition: We have turned a blind eye to dementia for too long
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): New Zealand’s war-like Covid-19 campaign could significantly curb the spread of other viruses
ODT Editorial: Hospital plan must be enduring
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Expected floor area seen as inadequate
RNZ: Blood donors urged to plan May, June bookings
Care for elderly, prisoners
1News: Age Concern fears Level 3 lockdown will still leave elderly lonely and ‘desperate’
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Prisons are winning the war against Covid-19 as rest homes struggle
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Aged care workers praised amid pandemic fears
Inequality, welfare
Mihingarangi Forbes (The Hui): Are we being kind enough to beneficiaries?
The Hui, Lana Andelane (Newshub): $25 benefit increase ‘making a difference’ for beneficiaries during lockdown – Carmel Sepuloni
Madison Reidy (1News): People in poverty struggling even more under alert level 4
1News:‘Living on baked beans on toast’ – Auckland’s lower income areas struggle amid Covid-19 lockdown
Mike O’Brien: The ‘new normal’?
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Urgent action needed to raise and individualise benefits – first step to a basic income for all
Geoff Kira (Spinoff): Food insecurity for Māori is getting worse. Here are some ways we can all help
RNZ: More than 40,000 Pasifika assisted in NZ during Covid-19 lockdown
Māori TV: Majority of Covid-19 Māori response package ‘fully committed’ to Māori communities
Alison Mau (Stuff): Coronavirus will be worse for women unless we act now
Jo McKenzie-McLean (Stuff): Thousands in Queenstown facing hardship from Covid-19 downturn
Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): $380,000 in vouchers distributed
Lockdown compliance
Nikki Preston (Herald): Kiwis warned relaxing and socialising could lead to new outbreaks
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Traffic at Christchurch intersections up from early lockdown drop
Katie Kenny (Stuff): Mobile phone tracking shows how Kiwis complied with lockdown at Easter
RNZ: New Zealanders largely staying home during lockdown, data shows
Herald: Man sentenced to month in prison for lockdown breaches
John Weekes (Stuff): Two claiming lockdown makes them illegally detained, sue Jacinda Ardern
Foreign affairs and trade
Richard Harman: China sends medical aid here
Wu Xi (Politik): China’s Ambassador pledges support for NZ: giving back with “precious jade”
Anne-Marie Brady (Stuff): Could an alliance with Taiwan help NZ survive the coronavirus cataclysm?
Eric Crampton (Stuff): New Zealand’s response to pandemic far better than most countries
Local government
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Hamilton council CEO does U-turn on pay cut
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Hamilton City Council boss pivots on Covid-19 pay cut
Todd Niall (Stuff): Poor wifi means Auckland Mayor Phil Goff must keep up 86km office commute in lockdown
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council bosses take pay cuts of up to 20 per cent
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council may lower rate rises and suspends hotel rate
Felix Desmarais (RNZ): Council pay cuts would be ‘immoral’, Rotorua chief executive says
Susan Botting (RNZ): Northland councillors not taking pay cut but encouraged to make donations
Skara Bohny (Stuff): Nelson Council staff take pay freeze but it’s still business as usual
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Southland’s elected leaders join Shadbolt in declining to donate portion of pays to charity
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Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): David Parker tells councils to keep consenting during Covid-19 crisis
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Mayor Phil Goff open on lower rate rise
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Manawatū District Council considers holding rates amid pandemic crisis
Damian George (Dominion Post): Tensions boil over as Wellington mayor accuses councillors of putting personal ambitions before city
Kerry Prendergast (Stuff): Wellington, put party politics aside and work as a team
Charlotte Jones (RNZ): Māori consultation ‘window dressing’, BOP councillors say
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Councils wrestle with rates hike decisions as Covid-19 costs emerge
Lois Williams (RNZ): West Coast may borrow to fund Te Tai o Poutini Plan
Marcus Anselm (RNZ): Appointment likely for busy Featherston board
Environment
Russel Norman (Stuff): Covid-19 is easier to see and visualise than climate change, but no less dangerous
Jamie Morton (Herald): Covering Climate Now: Why does it take a pandemic to make us act? (paywalled)
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Covering Climate Now: In search of solutions
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Can we defend NZ’s staggering natural carbon reserves?
Janet Stephenson (Newsroom): Covid-19 has nothing on what’s coming
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Should you work from home after the Covid-19 pandemic to save the planet?
Tom Kay (Guardian): By failing to protect our water we have failed everything New Zealanders value
Transport
John Anthony (Stuff): Vaccination cards and seat spacing: Air travel in a post-coronavirus world could be vastly different, experts say
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Greens want nationwide rail connecting cities to save economy from coronavirus crash
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Greens’ $9b rapid rail plan excludes South
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Regions expect air service after government loan agreement – Originair boss
Katie Kenny (Stuff): With flights grounded indefinitely, how will travel agencies survive Covid-19?
Bernard Orsman (Herald): North Shore homes to be demolished for $360m SkyPath project
Housing
Alan Johnson (Daily Blog): What is to become of our housing post Covid-19?
RNZ: Lockdown highlights risks of poor accommodation, housing group says
1News: Damp homes: Lockdown ‘is not as safe for some as it is for others’, housing advocate says
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): What happens if your house is worth less than your home loan?
Repatriation
Henry Cooke (Stuff): How to get thousands of Kiwis home when the world is shutting down
Lincoln Tan (Herald): No NZers will be turned away from mercy flights because of money, MFAT assures
RNZ: Kiwis stuck in India, Philippines to fly home in coming days
Tourism
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): Global pandemic a chance to re-set New Zealand tourism
Juergen Gnoth (Newsroom): Tourism’s future: a 100% Covid-free NZ
Media
Duncan Greive (Spinoff):Magazines are still not allowed to publish. And still can’t understand why
Mediawatch: Entrepreneurial expat journalist urges media to look beyond ads
Primary industries
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Dairy jobs on offer as Covid-19 lockdown stems flow of migrant workers
Kaitlin Ruddock (1News): Agricultural sector under pressure to feed Kiwis amid coronavirus lockdown
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Farming at level 3 to look little different
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Lack of market access still a concern for growers in level 3 response
Construction industry
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Construction $3b shutdown cost dwarfs $7.6m benefit – economist (paywalled)
Lawrence Gully (Stuff): Builders asked to adopt new safety measures to stop Covid-19 spread
Pacific
Katrina Tanirau (Cook Islands News): The Cook Islands declared Covid-19-free
1News: Cook Islands become one of first nations in the world to declare itself Covid-19-free
RNZ: Tonga extends border closure until mid-June
RNZ: NZ Hercules delivers more aid to Vanuatu following cyclone
Electorates
Jason Walls (Herald): The electorates for more than 342,000 people will change ahead of the 2020 election
RNZ: 11 electorate names and 30 boundaries changed
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Commission confirms Brightwater move from Nelson to West Coast-Tasman electorate
Thomas Manch (Stuff): A new Auckland electorate and more than 300,000 people affected by boundary redraw
Alex Braae (Spinoff): New names, new boundaries: How the electorate changes will affect you
Other
Danyl Mclauchlan (Spinoff): Are you ready for radical change? Really?
Robbie Nicol (RNZ): The Good Citizen’s Handbook
Graeme Edgeler: A draft submission on the Electoral (Registration of Sentences Prisoners) Amendment Bill
Adrian Orr and Rob Everett (Stuff): Financial regulators vow to remain vigilant, urge financial institutions to do the right thing
Liam Hehir (Pundit): The King Is Dead, Long Live The (Hos)King
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Southern MPs put in the hard yards
RNZ: Anzac Day commemorations at your doorstep
Christian Fuller (Hawkes Bay Today): Company aware virus was active on Ruby Princess, court told
