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

Election, cannabis referendum
Jack Vowles (The Conversation): An election like no other: with 100 days to go, can Jacinda Ardern maintain her extraordinary popularity?
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Absent Friends – Labour knows what needs to be done to win, but not how to make it happen
Henry Cooke (Stuff): 100 days to go: How parties want to win Election 2020
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): The MMP dilemma: are you the lap dog or the tail?
Claire Trevett (Herald): Election 2020: 99 days out how are Act, the Greens and NZ First shaping up? (paywalled)
Maiki Sherman (1News): Māori Party launches extraordinary attack on National’s new leader, calling him racist
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Unlikely, but he’s got a chance’: Todd Muller’s best path to becoming Prime Minister
1News: National promises no ‘dirty politics’ as Shane Jones looks forward to ‘vigorous’ Northland seat contest
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): So what happens if Labour win a majority and still don’t become transformative?
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1News: Complaints pile up following Drug Foundation’s ‘vote yes’ to cannabis campaign

Police
1News: NZ First speaks out against officers’ access to assault rifles, ‘creeping militarisation of the police’
RNZ: Police use of assault rifles must be reviewed – NZ First
Newshub: Ron Mark calls for independent review into frontline police being armed with military-grade assault rifles
Bryce Edwards (TVNZ): New Zealand’s police are still armed and dangerous
Richard Shortt (Stuff): NZ’s police have been ‘routinely armed’ for nearly two decades
ODT Editorial: Execution holsters arming plan
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Armed response to Māori children ‘absolutely appalling’
Gordon Campbell: On allowing the Police to use “sponge” bullets
Simon Bradwell (Newshub): Revealed: 11 of 14 people shot by sponge bullets in five years had mental health issues
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Police now say Armed Response Teams never fired a sponge bullet
Ian Anderson (Stuff): Sponge bullets not for frontline use: Police Commissioner
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Sponge bullets: ‘No immediate plans’ for frontline use – Police Commissioner
Rosemary McLeod (Stuff): Why police violence deters many people from protesting

Colonial statues, names, museum exhibits
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Would an inquiry into racist statues actually work?
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Calls for colonial statues to go start to pick up in New Zealand
1News: Debate welcomed as Māori Party calls for inquiry into racist statues – ‘not erasing history, making it’
RNZ: Calls for NZ colonial statues to be removed
Stuff: ‘We can’t be blind to racism’: Māori Party seek review of historical monuments
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer calls for removal of colonial statues in New Zealand
Newstalk ZB: Māori Party co-leader calls for NZ colonial statues to be removed
RNZ: Time to review colonial monuments’ place in society – artist Nick Tupara
Spinoff: ‘Stop immortalising a legacy of murder’: Which NZ statues need to be toppled?
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Make better door knobs: What statues of old victors mean to me
Stuff Editorial: Time to reassess flawed historic figures
No Right Turn: We should not celebrate racists, thieves and slavers
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Man vows to tear Captain Hamilton statue down
RNZ: Restaurants associated with slave trader Bully Hayes take differing approaches
Alison Pugh (1News): Canterbury Museum apologises for longstanding, ‘offensive’ exhibit depicting early Māori life
Jake Kenny (Stuff): Complaints lead to covering of Māori exhibit at Canterbury Museum

Marist College Black Lives Matter dispute
Zane Small and Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Leaked audio: Marist College principal threatens police action over Black Lives Matter poster dispute
RNZ: Checkpoint: Marist College’s Black Lives Matter conflict ‘an abuse of teacher power’ – Collins
RNZ: Diocese to meet school after Black Lives Matter posters torn down
Harry Love (ODT): Commodification of education a distortion

Redundancies, wage subsidy
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Grant Robertson urges big businesses to ‘rethink’ layoffs, consider small businesses ‘dipping into private savings’
The Standard: Angry Ardern
Alan Kenyon (1News): Vodafone to cut between 100 and 140 jobs due to Covid-19 downturn
RNZ: Vodafone NZ says 100-140 jobs losses ‘inevitable’ after Covid-19 review
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Job losses ‘inevitable’ at Vodafone
Stuff: Event Cinemas lay off 65 staff
Rob Stock (Stuff): South Island took harder Covid-19 employment hit than North Island
Arthur Grimes (Newsroom): Wellbeing, employment and Covid-19
Jamie Ensor (Newshub):Kiwi worker facing redundancy speaks of ‘independence’ that came with employment, challenges she now faces

NZ’s coronavirus response
Nick Wilson, Jennifer Summers, George Thomson, Amanda Kvalsvig, Matt Boyd, MIchael Baker: Five Key Reasons why NZ Should have an Official Inquiry into the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic
Jamie Morton (Herald): Health experts: Why NZ needs a pandemic inquiry
Max Towle (RNZ): WHO urges NZ to do more work on its contact tracing systems
RNZ: Government upgrades contact tracing app
Sophie Trigger (Stuff): ‘Clunky’ government covid app used ‘minimally’ in Marlborough, businesses say
Emma Perry (ODT): Covid-19 testing centres closed
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Wait, WHAT? Sorry, who is the thinly veiled political propaganda at the taxpayers’ expense?
1News; Dr Ashley Bloomfield portrayed as ‘Saint Ashley’ in Wellington storefront display
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Drawing of ‘Wonder Woman’ Jacinda Ardern, ‘Superman’ Dr Ashley Bloomfield for sale on TradeMe

Border controls, migrants, quarantine
1News: Expect more Covid-19 quarantine breaches as more people arrive into NZ, epidemiologist warns
Kristin Hall (1News): Travellers mingling with passengers from other flights, members of the public during Covid-19 isolation
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): The limit on NZ Inc’s migrant-led growth
Richard Harman: Visa uncertainty threatens farm crisis
Newstalk ZB: Immigration Minister clashes with ZB host over quarantine facilities
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Government keeping options on table to aid stranded foreigners
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Hundreds of foreigners gathering in Hawke’s Bay ‘not sustainable’ – Civil Defence
RNZ: Hundreds of Vanuatuans still stuck in New Zealand due to Covid-19
Philip Chandler (Mountain Scene): Fears for Brazilians stuck in home country
Dan Lake (Newshub): Singapore Airlines and Changi Airport introducing ‘one-way transit’ system for Australia, NZ travellers

Pacific bubble
Anna Whyte (1News): ‘We need to help out’ – Government eyes Pacific inclusion in Covid-19 travel bubble
Zane Small (Newshub): Finance Minister Grant Robertson defends lack of travel bubbles
Imogen Wells (1News): Cook Islands want NZ tourism dollars rather than aid money, local business leaders say
RNZ: Resort owner calls for Cook Islands bubble with NZ
Amelia Wade (1News): Cook Islands to open border to Kiwis as pressure mounts for Pacific travel bubble
Bronson Perich (Māori TV): Cook Islands will open borders to Aotearoa on June 19
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Covid 19 coronavirus-free Pacific needs our tourism

Aged care
Mariné Lourens (Stuff): Rosewood rest home, NZ’s deadliest Covid-19 cluster, breached obligations
1News: All rest home Covid-19 clusters were started by staff or visitors, review finds
1News: DHB took over management of Christchurch’s Rosewood Rest Home after breach of care obligations
Brittney Deguara and Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Report on aged-care clusters reveals how virus got in to facilities
RNZ: Aged care clusters introduced by staff or visitors – review
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Ministry of Health report reveals aged care staff were ‘highly stressed’ by lack of communication over COVID-19 clusters
RNZ: Checkpoint: Aged care faces crisis as nurses paid less than DHB peers

Health
Richard Harman: A report and a leak point to DHB reform
Dubby Henry (Herald): Funding boost for Counties Manukau DHB to free up Middlemore Hospital beds
RNZ: Counties Manukau DHB gets $211m to improve hospital facilities
1News: Major South Auckland health clinic to get $211 million for upgrade
Libby WIlson (Stuff): Stuffy wards and subdivided bedroom among Waikato Hospital building woes
George Block (Stuff): St John ambulance services already ‘dangerously low’ as job cuts loom
Pete Hodgson (ODT): Capacity of new hospital becomes clearer

Defence, Rocketlab launch
Ollie Neas (Spinoff): The spy chief and the payload: The story behind NZ’s first US spy satellite launch
Martyn Badbury (Daily Blog): Dear NZ Peace Activists, I don’t wish to be mean, b-u-t…
1News: ‘Absurd and abhorrent’ – NZDF denies claims training exercise is ‘practising killing protestors’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): NZDF denies it’s going to spend the weekend ‘practising killing protesters’
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Navy reassures public on exercise which includes ‘blank ammo’ and ‘protesters’
Bronson Perich (Māori TV): Navy to send a ‘Covid-19-free’ ship to military exercise
Māori TV: Activists want navy out of RIMPAC to avoid Covid-19 spread

Primary and extractive industries
RNZ: The Detail: Why is it taking so long to install fishing cameras?
Newstalk ZB: James Shaw: Labour-Green coalition isn’t bad news for farmers
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Proposed Organics Product Bill faces major opposition from industries
RNZ: Zespri reports $200 million profit
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): West Coast mine to cut workers’ hours

Local government
Simon Wilson (Herald): What Auckland Council is throwing under the bus (paywalled)
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Auckland emergency budget: Council $224m asset sales misleading – councillor
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland drought: Water-short city seeks to take more from Waikato River
Louis Day (ODT): Christchurch City Council’s commitment to transparency questioned in meeting
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City councillors resolve ‘Facebook attack’ squabble
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington central city speed limits to be lowered to 30km/h
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Wellington CBD speed limits reduced to 30km/h with public support
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Napier council’s former CEO spent $4000 on farewell morning tea shout
Karen Pasco (ODT): Upset over city council restructuring
Luisa Girao (ODT): $1million income drop expected; rates rise cut to 2%
Stuff: Complaint against Environment Southland deputy chairman made one month before he was notified
Abbey Palmer (ODT): Environment Southland investigates deputy chairman

Housing
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Government promises $40 million to underwrite delayed Wellington development
Eva Corlett (RNZ): Thousands of community houses ready to go, but need government funding
Maria Slade (NBR): Auckland CBD’s ghost rentals (paywalled)

Air New Zealand
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Air New Zealand reputation takes a hammering, survey shows
RNZ: Covid-19 reputations: Air New Zealand nosedives, supermarkets rise – survey
John Anthony (Stuff): Investor outraged at Air New Zealand’s handling of airfare refund ‘disaster’
David Hargreaves (Interest): Our national airline hasn’t denied informed media speculation that it may soon tap shareholders for more cash
Rebecca Howard (BussinessDesk): Air NZ reviewing capital structure, yet to draw on govt lifeline (paywalled)
RNZ: Air NZ exploring options to raise capital – report

Economy
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): New Zealand’s economy among the worst hit by Covid-19 in OECD, new report warns (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Report says Capital Gains Tax would help with economic recovery

Consumer spending, Kiwisaver
Rob Stock (Stuff): Lockdown’s once in a lifetime money lesson
RNZ: Card spending up nearly 80% after restrictions loosened
Rob Stock (Stuff): KiwiSavers should prepare for ‘wild’ swings in markets

Education
Simon Collins (Herald): Students stuck overseas can sit NCEA
Blair Jackson (Stuff): Southern principal says high school changes complicated but help students
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Students not happy with Victoria University’s plan to scale grades
Nicola Shepheard (NBR: University challenge: Post-Covid reorientation (paywalled)
Molly Houseman (ODT): Donations saving students

Pike River
Anna Whyte (1News): National criticises low probability of body recoveries from Pike River
Jason Walls (Herald): National’s Judith Collins accuses Labour of ‘politicising’ Pike River after Minister’s admission
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Labour’s Pike River disgrace now that victims’ remains will not be recovered
Kim Moodie (Herald): ‘What we fought for’: Pike River families hopeful as military robot recovered
RNZ: Pike River Mine robot lost for 10 years finally recovered
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Pike River families hopeful for answers after mine reentry team recovers second lost robot

Tourism
Guy Trafford (Interest): While our borders are shut is the ideal time for a frank discussion to be held over the number of tourists allowed in and under what terms
RNZ: Small tourism businesses ask for DOC fee relief
1News: Kaikōura Whale Watch says $1.5 million funding boost will keep it running for another year

Transport
Catherine Hutton (RNZ): KiwiRail defends troublesome diesel locomotives – and wants to buy more
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Time running out for Auckland light rail proposal before election period
1News: Free e-bike charging and secure parking stations rolled out in Christchurch

Other
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): After playing tough on commercial rents, did New Zealand First get ‘played’ by Labour? (paywalled)
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): Employees allege liquor baron brothers owe $400k after years of exploitation
Māori TV: Marama Davidson talks armed police, Oranga Tamariki and racist statues (video)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZME chairman Peter Cullinane says no point being disappointed in loss of shareholder support
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Aussie shareholders forced NZME chair out (paywalled)
RNZ: Spy tales: The asylum seekers who fled to New Zealand
Chris Trotter: One Cheer For Democracy
1News: Inside Parliament: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ‘little dance’ as NZ enters Level 1 (video)
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Race Relations Commissioner blasts ‘appalling’ racist abuse towards young woman at Outdoors Party rally
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Māori woman allegedly racially abused at Ōwairaka while out on a walk
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ’s APEC hosting rights face potential delay
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Red meat sector beefs up criticism of EU trade offer
RNZ: MFAT payments to help NZers abroad were unauthorised – Auditor-General
RNZ: ‘Weeding on a giant scale’ – tourism workers swap guiding for clearing wilding pines
Rebecca Moore (1News): Old West Coast landfill still ‘spewing out’ rubbish on beaches
1News: Fears NZ construction workers will be lured to Australia as work dries up
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Hongi howler as Winston Peters deploys greeting after suggesting it should stop
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Sir John Key, Lady Bronagh sell Sydney apartment for more than $6.4m