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
Border, quarantine
Chris Trotter (Interest): When ‘light-handed regulation’ turns out to mean ‘no regulation at all’
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Poll reveals public impact of failures in NZ Covid quarantine system
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup: Fallout from the Covid border blunder
Richard Harman (Politik): The Covid-19 culture clash
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Can Labour Still Win?
Stuff Editorial: Breach may have come at critical time for containment
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Our Covid response is being marred by confusion and flip flops
Jack Vowles (Newsroom): The media needs to calm down
Patrick Gower (Newshub): Returning New Zealanders should be tested for COVID-19 on arrival at the border
Ryan Orange (Stuff): Calls for NZ heads to roll ‘disproportionate’ to errors made
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Simon Wong and Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Virus expert applauds Government’s COVID-19 testing changes
Jamie Morton (Herald): Explained: Why NZ is seeing more Covid-19 cases
Siouxsie Wiles (Spinoff): Why are we seeing these new cases of Covid-19 in New Zealand?
Breanna Barraclough (1News): Why the recent rise in Covid-19 cases doesn’t necessarily mean another lockdown is coming
1News: Community transmission ‘can still sneak back in’ – Nurse warns of second wave of Covid-19 in NZ
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Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Cabinet to consider co-payment scheme for new arrivals
Anna Whyte (1News): Government considering making returning Kiwis pay part of their quarantine stay costs
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): How ‘user pays’ quarantine could work
Newstalk ZB: Should people be charged to stay at quarantine facilities?
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Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Border exemptions for students and large numbers of workers not on the horizon
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Border measures in place for the long haul
1News: Likelihood of new Covid-19 cases in returning Kiwis ‘very, very high’ – Jacinda Ardern
RNZ: ‘We are set up for cases to emerge’ – Jacinda Ardern defends border policy
RNZ: Cabinet expands cruise ship ban, mandatory tests guidelines for travellers – Ardern
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tightens COVID-19 rules to contain it at the border
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Kim Moodie (Herald): US traveller granted compassionate leave to attend funeral without being tested for virus
George Block (Stuff): Auckland isolation hotel goes from Fawlty Towers to tight ship
Newshub: Auckland Novotel under fire for failing to inform guests of reported new COVID-19 case, hotel lockdown
RNZ: ‘Uncertainty’ for guests as hotel lockdown continues
Herald: Auckland quarantine hotel lockdown hell
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Health officials under pressure to track down quarantined Kiwis who escaped testing
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Reports of rule-breaking at COVID-19 hotels not always true – Jacinda Ardern
RNZ: Checkpoint: Kaye confronts Stamford Hotel over legal action threat
Matt Burrows (Newshub): ‘The shambles continues’: Todd Muller savages Government, Air Commodore Webb over new COVID-19 quarantine dramas
Herald: Act leader David Seymour’s bizzare criticism over Jacinda Ardern’s handling of pandemic
Newshub: Hannah Tamaki hits out at Government’s quarantine policy
1News: No special quarantine exemption for Constable Matthew Hunt’s family member to attend funeral, PM says
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1News: Government looking at using campervans for managed isolation as Auckland hotels fill up
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Campervans ‘very useful’ to potentially quarantine influx of returning New Zealanders – Dr Ashley Bloomfield
Dan Satherley and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): Defence Force explains why new arrivals are being bussed to Rotorua ‘under the cover of darkness’
Kelly Makiha (Herald): Trust quarantine process in Rotorua, say city leaders (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Regions around New Zealand considered for new isolation facilities
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1News: Q+A: Health Minister in talks with Air NZ over compulsory PPE on all flights
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Health Ministry defends Covid rules for air crew, saying Australia ‘low risk’
RNZ: Nine to Noon: Covid-19 research finds many people asymptomatic
Testing
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Plans to close testing centres thwarted by new cases
Audrey Young (Herald): Health Minister David Clark set to require more surveillance testing by DHBs
1News: Police called in after Auckland Covid-19 testing station swarmed by people
Trans-Tasman, Pacific travel bubble
Brook Sabin (Stuff): Why the Trans-Tasman travel bubble is dead
Jill Herron (Newsroom): NZ-Fiji business bubble could ease Pacific pain
Ihumātao
1News: Ihumātao deal could be imminent after Jacinda Ardern becomes personally involved
Anne Gibson (Herald): Deal reported to be ‘close’ on Ihumātao: $30 million-plus to buy land, new entity to be established
RNZ:Ihumātao might be acquired under Housing Act
Auckland water shortage
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland drought: Tainui objects to Auckland Council taking more water from Waikato River
Māori TV: Waikato-Tainui unhappy with Auckland’s plea for more water
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Waikato iwi look to block Auckland water grab
Todd Niall (Stuff):Auckland Drought: 14,000 jobs at risk if restrictions tighten on businesses
RNZ: Auckland water shortage: Extra 200m litres from Waikato River ‘absolutely essential’
1News: Auckland mayor calls for fast tracking of water consent amid drought fears
Tom McRae (Newshub): Auckland Mayor Phil Goff pleads Government to fast-track Waikato River application as drought deepens
Election
RNZ: Policies run by Pākehā fail Māori – Māori Party
Darryl Baser (ODT): TOP Dunedin candidate: Genetic editing safer than ‘organic’
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Labour selects candidate for Southland electorate
Kirsty Lawrence (Stuff): Slurs hurled after woman hosts candidate’s election sign on her Hamilton property
Environment and conservation
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Undermining their own policy
Andrew Bevin (NBR): Coalition considers limiting forestry conversion (paywalled)
Catherine Delahunty (Spinoff): Why we’re taking the government to court over mining in the Coromandel
David Williams (Newsroom): Tahr de farce: DoC faces legal challenge
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): 400 plastic bag breaches reported – but businesses are getting around the ban
Paul Mitchell (Stuff): Stricter rules needed on plastic waste export, Massey University environmental expert says
Robin Martin (RNZ): Shane Jones blames iwi sensitivities and DOC regulations for Taranaki Crossing delays
1News: Calls for Kiwis to switch to cleaner home-heating as air quality dips
Unemployment
Sela Jane Hopgood (RNZ): “We paid for our own lockdown” – Temperzone workers
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Temperzone workers struggle to pay bills and support whānau after being laid off
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Workers made redundant could lose a third of payout in tax (paywalled)
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Retail, construction sectors fear more job losses
Local government
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington’s deputy mayor counted existing charity donations towards pay cut
Joel Maxwell (Dominion Post): Mayor says Transmission Gully won’t open till late 2022, leaving council roads going nowhere
Molly Houseman (ODT): ORC ousting bid motives questioned
Conan Young (RNZ): Councils relying on govt’s shovel-ready projects to keep money flowing
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Deputy mayor calls for kaumātua to be prosecuted over Captain Hamilton statue
Stephen Forbes (RNZ): South Auckland council services hub on chopping block after Covid-19
Anne Gibson (Herald): Southern Cross Hospitals wins first round in Epsom expansion, 174 opposed, 2 in favour
Tracey Roxburgh and Guy Williams (ODT): Unhappiness about proposed Queenstown Lakes Drates increase of 1.8%
Mie Yardley (Press): Council plan on excess water use a refreshing show of courage
Police
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Criminologists divided over police use of force in arrest of Auckland man
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Police criticised over use of force in arresting alleged tagger
Emma Turton and Wilhelmina Shrimpton (Newshub): IPCA, Police to investigate after Auckland tagger hospitalised in arrest
Luke Appleby (1News): IPCA to investigate after rough arrest in Auckland leaves tagger in hospital
Liu Chen (RNZ): ‘It was straight into just smash me over’ – arrested tagger
Health
Tony Burton (Politik): Cuckoo clock health
Grant Miler (ODT): Call for focus on older NZers
John Lewis (ODT): More mental health help not enough
Māori TV: Māori Health Authority ‘doesn’t go far enough’ – Lady Tureiti Moxon
Stephanie Ockhuysen (Stuff): Taranaki MP fearful over what health reform could mean for Māori, region
Adam Pearse (Herald): Ex-Northland District Health Board chair Wayne Brown calls for digital focus after review (paywalled)
Liz Wylie (Whanganui Chronicle): PPE Report: Whanganui health worker praises findings and improved supplies
Judy Bailey (Newsroom): Profile: Lotta Dann
Economy
Tom Pullar-Stricker (Stuff): Economic snapshot: markets on edge over jump in Covid cases
Dan Satherley (Herald): Get ready for a ‘double-dip’ recession – economist Cameron Bagrie
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): ANZ economists pick 12% house price slide this year
Immigration, refugees
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Report outlines distrust, claims of bullying, in refugee decision process
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Migrants risked lives, deserve heroes’ welcome
Education
Grant Miller (ODT): University to reduce spending
Leah Tebbutt (Herald): Toi Ohomai hopes to shave $3m off its deficit despite Covid-19 challenges (paywalled)
Kirsty Johnston (Herald): AUT sexual harassment claims: Fewer than a third of complaints investigated
Other
David Cohen (Spiked): The sanctification of Jacinda Ardern
Cat MacLennan (Newsroom): Drop the buzzwords, big business
Jason Walls (Herald): GCSB advised of risks of using Zoom video calls at Cabinet meetings in memo on lockdown eve
RNZ: The Detail: Are Rocket Lab’s enterprises in our national interest?
Derek Cheng (Herald): Proposal to improve rape trial processes stalls as NZ First raises concerns
Dita De Boni (NBR): Treasury opposed RNZ-TVNZ merger championed by minister (paywalled)
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): How my colonial smugness evaporated with one explosive revelation
RNZ: Checkpoint: ‘Not acceptable’ prisoners kept in cells without exercise under lockdown – Ombudsman
Deena Coster (Taranaki Daily News): Ngāti Maru edges towards settling its Treaty of Waitangi claim
Māori TV: Whakatōhea Treaty settlement valued as one of the largest yet
Holly Carran (Newshub): Christchurch’s iconic Arts Centre faces uncertain future
Sam Kelway (1News): Man whose mother was murdered shocked to bump into her killer out and about in Tauranga
Gill Higgins (1News): Fair Go: Dust particles from quarry causing adverse health effects for residents nearby
1News: NZ Post super depot underway, with $170m boost announced to double parcel-processing capacity
RNZ: TranzAlpine to resume Christchurch and Greymouth train service
