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
Police
Cat MacLennan (Democracy Project): Aotearoa is no place for armed police
Jean Balchin (ODT): NZ police should not have guns
David Galler (Spinoff): The restraint technique that killed George Floyd has been used here too
David Mayeda (Newsroom): A message for NZ about racism
Glen McConnell (Stuff): In these times of turmoil, what can we do?
Amelia Wade (Herald): Police Minister: ‘There is no place for racism in the New Zealand Police’
RNZ: Labour Māori MPs acknowledge Armed Response Teams consultation gap
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Labour Māori Caucus against armed police officers – Willie Jackson
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Stuff Editorial: The role of police is to keep everyone safe
Herald: Family of Taranaki man who died in police custody speak out
Dan Satherley and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): Manslaughter charges prompt renewed call for police to wear body cameras
Matt Burrows, Mel Logan and Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Evidence in Hawera manslaughter case must be ‘very strong’ to charge three police officers, former top cop says
RNZ: Police charged with manslaughter: ‘This is more than a mistake’
Jane Matthews (Taranaki Daily News): Manslaughter charges for Taranaki cell-death a first for cops
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Three cops charged with manslaughter over death of man at Hawera Police Station
1News: Taranaki police officers charged with manslaughter following man’s death in custody
Herald: Death in custody: Three police officers charged with manslaughter after man died at Hawera station
Alert Level 1 decision
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Leaked paper appears to show New Zealand could ease restrictions now
Derek Cheng (Herald): Leaked Cabinet paper emboldens Todd Muller; Jacinda Ardern fires back
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Leaked Government paper says New Zealand could be at COVID-19 alert level 1 already
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Government hits back at opposition over level 1 urgency
Derek Cheng (Herald): Jacinda Ardern stands by D-Day date despite 34 days of no community transmission
Anna Whyte (1News): Todd Muller calls for Level 1 ‘now’, after 33 days of no community transmission
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): NZ should stay in Alert Level 2 to avoid second wave – Rawiri Taonui
Anna Whyte (1News): Jacinda Ardern says battle with Covid-19 not over once significantly lighter Level 1 rules come into force
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern confirms all current restrictions ‘essentially lifted’ at COVID-19 alert level 1
1News: What you can do in Level 1 – restrictions on physical distancing and businesses to be lifted
Social distancing, contact tracing, testing
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Concern over DHBs’ reluctance to use government’s contact tracing system
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Are Kiwis really keeping digital diaries?
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Border tests begin next week for all travellers into New Zealand
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Māori-targeted testing scales back
1News: MP Chlöe Swarbrick butts heads with Parliament colleague who called Covid-19 signs ‘propaganda’
Zane Small (Newshub): National MP Simon O’Connor describes COVID-19 social distancing signage as ‘propaganda’
1News: Ardern, Dr Bloomfield address photos of them that appear to show social distancing fails
Anna Whyte (1News): Black Lives Matter protest organisers, participants won’t be prosecuted, police confirm
RNZ: Police rule out legal action against protest organisers
Danica MacLean and Michael Neilson (Herald): Auckland George Floyd protest: Police didn’t want to create ‘tension’ at peaceful protest
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Auckland Black Lives Matter protest organisers say COVID-19 rules were ‘reinforced’, critical of Jacinda Ardern
Border exemptions, Pacific bubble
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Government needs to be upfront on border exemptions, National says
Tom Hunt (Stuff): More workers expected past borders soon for LOTR
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Case of expectant father barred from NZ being reconsidered
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Faces of the forgotten – meet those impacted by NZ’s border closures
RNZ: Pressure mounts on NZ and Aust to include Pacific in ‘bubble’
NZ’s coronavirus response
Zane Small (Newshub): David Seymour accuses Labour MP Deborah Russell of ‘character assassination’ in debate over COVID-19 response
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Response group criticises Covid-19 law failures to recognise Māori
Jo Moir (RNZ): Sarah Stuart-Black: New Zealand’s voice during a disaster
Dita De Boni (NBR): Even in a pandemic, private data is sacrosanct (paywalled)
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): China’s richest man Jack Ma sent 163,000 PPE units to NZ during Covid-19 crisis
1News: Government research agency to launch $1.6m Covid-19 sewage surveillance programme
National Party
John Armstrong (1News): Todd Muller needs to learn that the impression he gives matters
Claire Trevett (Herald): Todd Muller’s conundrum – what to do with Simon Bridges? (paywalled)
Richard Prebble (NBR): Grasping defeat from the jaws of victory (paywalled)
Welfare
Michael Fletcher (The Conversation): Kindness doesn’t begin at home: Jacinda Ardern’s support for beneficiaries lags well behind Australia’s
Jo Moir (RNZ): Govt’s emergency welfare fund depletes with foreigners still stranded
Caroline Fleming (Herald): ‘We haven’t experienced need this great’: Rotorua charity feeding 3000 mouths a week (paywalled)
Business, job losses, consumer spending
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Labour and NZ First reach deal over commercial rents, which is likely to cover few businesses (paywalled)
Jo Moir (RNZ): Govt unveils action plan on small business rent disputes
Rob Stock (Stuff): Households wipe $1 billion off credit card debts in no-spend April
1News: Kelvin Davis defends work he’s doing to help tourism sector that’s ‘on its knees’
Felix Desmarais: Fears of 3700 job losses in Rotorua in wake of Covid-19
Tracy Neal (Stuff): Top of South Island has country’s highest rate of jobless in under 30s
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Covid-19 ‘more challenging’ than quake – Kaikōura tour operators
Alex Sims (Newsroom): Employee ownership: what does it mean?
Economy, trade
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Standard & Poor’s sees ‘bridge to recovery’ in New Zealand
Kate McNamara (Stuff): The UK and NZ still need each other but in new ways
RNZ: Government told to embrace digital technology in post-Covid recovery
Education
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Students hopeful NCEA changes with balance out Covid-19 impacts
RNZ: NCEA changes ease pressure on teenagers
1News: Disrupted high school students to get NCEA lifeline with bonus credits, reduced requirements
RNZ: Extra NCEA credits, changes to UE, to help students amid Covid-19 disruption
Simon Collins (Herald): Bonus NCEA credits for students hit by lockdown
Simon Collins (Herald): Reading Recovery programme slammed for lack of ‘spill over (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Herald): Women still vastly under-represented in top uni roles – research
Luke Appleby (1News): Teaching Council considers complaint about Auckland teacher who wore controversial MAGA hat to Black Lives Matter rally
Herald: NZTC receives complaints after teacher wears ‘Make America Great Again’ hat to protest
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): New Zealand Teaching Council considering complaints after teacher wore ‘Make America Great Again’ hat to Black Lives Matter protest
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Auckland teacher apologises for wearing MAGA hat to Black Lives Matter march
RNZ: Apprenticeship fund ‘attractive for employees made redundant or displaced’
Local government
RNZ: Quake-damaged Wellington Library to be repaired, council decides
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Warning signs removed after E coli forces closure of Titahi Bay beach
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Napier City Council to weigh up costly pipe decision
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Gisborne council to include iwi input in installing Endeavour replicas
Southland Times Editorial: No mayor is an island
RNZ: Dunedin on the fast track to end slowdown
Stephen Forbes: Setback for retailers as Ōtāhuhu town centre upgrade delayed
Molly Houseman (ODT): ORC dips into reserves to offset rates rises
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Iwi and Nelson council housing project raises fears for Maitai river
RNZ: Hastings Council water museum leak: $25k report fails to find source
Housing
Frances Cook (Herald): Where to get financial help if you’re a renter
Frances Cook (Herald): Cooking the Books podcast: Everything you need to know about renting post-lockdown (paywalled)
Health
Ian Powell (Democracy Project): Threat to the right to strike in DHBs?
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): IDEA Services interfered with privacy of profoundly disabled teen Eamon Marshall
Sam Hurley (Herald): Zachary Gravatt case: Doctors seek suppression after coroner’s findings into student’s meningococcal death
1News: Concerns shortened Dry July campaign ‘endorses drinking as a coping mechanism’
Mike Houlahan (ODT): SDHB staying alert for second wave
Mike Houlahan (ODT): SDHB to get funding boost
Period poverty
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Government tackling period poverty with free sanitary items in schools
RNZ: Government to provide free sanitary items in schools
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand tackles ‘period poverty’ with free sanitary products for all schoolgirls
1News: Free period products to be rolled out in 15 Waikato schools from next term
Environment and conservation
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Scientists reignite spat over plan to save Māui dolphins
James Fyfe (Newshub): David Seymour calls for pause of new freshwater rules as recession looms
Mike Watson (Stuff): More details needed farmers say on Govt freshwater plans
Mark Patterson (Southland Times): A more pragmatic freshwater approach takes form
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington recycling facility dumps almost 500 tonnes of recycling in the landfill
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why our seas scorched: NZ’s back-to-back freak marine heatwaves studied (paywalled)
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Foulden Maar scientists in waiting
Transport
Grant Bradley (Herald): Air New Zealand hanging tough on refunding tickets in spite of growing brand damage
RNZ: Checkpoint: Air NZ sorry to customers over cancelled flight credits
Rob Stock (Stuff): Air NZ defends giving credits instead of cash refunds
RNZ: The Detail: Why is Transmission Gully such a troubled project?
Other
Richard Harman (Politik): Some MPs unable to manage their staff
Bronson Perich (Māori TV): Labour’s diverse party list reflects Aotearoa – Meka Whaitiri
No Right Turn: Time to double sick leave
RNZ: Govt unveils $130m boost to research and innovation
RNZ: Māori-led Oranga Tamariki inquiry did not require response – Minister
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): National Party ‘deeply suspicious’ of refugee Behrouz Boochani’s visa
1News: Legalising cannabis an opportunity to regulate drug authorities have ‘very little control over’ – law expert
RNZ: Air India flights to bring Kiwis home – MFAT
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Gallery pulls artwork after complaints of cultural appropriation
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Golliwogs gone from popular student dairy
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Five new appointments to Criminal Cases Review Commission
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): No guarantees in KiwiSaver nest egg forecasts
