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
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Elections are meant to be a contest of ideas, but 2020 is in danger of being hijacked by the intolerant mob
Bryce Edwards (Guardian): We are in a period of great political volatility – the New Zealand election is far from decided
Audrey Young (Herald): National is closer to power than latest poll might suggest (paywalled)
1News: ‘Friends are key’ for National to govern alone, despite latest poll results – Jessica Mutch McKay
NBR: Fact or Fiction: What chance do the minor parties have at the election? (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub Nation): ‘Fascinating and pointless’: NZ First brushes off disastrous poll results
Jack Tame (Newstalk ZB): Is Winston’s time up?
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Us and the Greens’: Labour MP hints at new left-wing coalition as NZ First tank in the polls
RNZ: National still ruling out working with NZ First, but commentator says temptation could be there
RNZ: Election season kicks off: Billboards of political parties go up in Napier
Charlotte Jones (RNZ): Green a good colour for government – new East Coast candidate says
Tim Newman (Stuff): Nelson Labour in the vanguard for election campaign
RNZ: The Detail: What first time voters want to know
John Minto (Daily Blog): Alternative Aotearoa Election 2020 Seminar update

Green Party
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The crucial feature of the Greens’ wealth tax that would exempt most family homes
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green Party’s $8b plan would guarantee income of $325 a week, and pay for it with a wealth tax on millionaires
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Wealth taxes and ‘guaranteed’ income: How the Greens plan to fix inequality and reform welfare
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Greens back wealth taxes, ACC reform, guaranteed minimum incomes
1News: ‘Outdated, unfair and unliveable’ – Greens announce sweeping new policy targeting poverty reduction
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Greens unveil plans to overhaul welfare and tax systems
RNZ: Green Party unveils plans to tackle poverty
Scott Palmer (Newshub): David Seymour, Paul Goldsmith condemn Green Party’s wealth tax plans
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Finally a reason to vote for the Greens!
Steven Cowan: Treating the symptoms and not the disease
David Farrar: Greens want to tax, tax, tax
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Green MP Golriz Ghahraman versus the online trolls

Judith Collins
TVNZ: Q+A: Judith Collins says Sir John Key threw her under the bus during Oravida, Dirty Politics sagas in tell-all memoir
Andrea Vance (Stuff): The brutal business of politics: Judith Collins discusses memoir, John Key, David Bain, and being a survivor
Judith Collins (Stuff): ‘Resign or be sacked’: Judith Collins’ book extract reveals John Key’s ultimatum
Herald: Judith Collins pulls no punches in her new book
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Judith Collins one of ‘most interesting people’ in New Zealand politics, someone with ‘a lot of guts’ – political commentator

National Party
Simon Wilson (Herald): My lunch with Todd Muller and Nikki Kaye (paywalled)
1News: ‘Invisible man’ National MP Jian Yang – A reporter’s two-year attempt to get him to front
Stuff: National Party reveals hoardings for September election 
—————
1News: Nick Smith’s likening of Parliament to a ‘Nazi establishment’ unacceptable, ill-advised, says Todd Muller
Jo Moir (RNZ): National MP Nick Smith booted from the House, calls govt ‘Nazi establishment’
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Serjeant-at-Arms called to boot National MP Nick Smith out of the House
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Parliament’s Serjeant-at-Arms called on to escort Nick Smith out of House
—————
1News: National MP Anne Tolley to retire from politics after 2020, citing family time
Amelia Wade (Herald): Herald: National’s Anne Tolley to retire from politics at election
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Anne Tolley to retire from Parliament this year
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Veteran National MP Anne Tolley quits politics
RNZ: Lockdown gave Tolley time to think about retirement

ACT
Henry Cooke (Stuff): ACT reveals new list, elects 27-year-old staffer deputy leader and puts gun lobbyist at number three
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): ACT list makes gun lobbyist and climate change denier electable
Adam Hollingworth (Newshub): Thirteen firearms owners on ACT Party’s election list as it takes aim at New Zealand First
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Euthanasia, gun advocates high on Act list
1News: ACT Party list unveiled ahead of 2020 elections
Rachel Sadler and Emma Stanford (Newshub): ACT Party candidate Nicole McKee wants ‘commonsense and practicalities’ brought back into Government
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ACT ranks gun advocate Nicole McKee high on party list for 2020 election
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Act Party list released
Herald: Surprises in Act Party list announced by leader David Seymour
David Farrar: ACT’s List

NZ’s Covid-19 response
Andrea Vance (Stuff): To sack, or not to sack: Three good reasons a minister should be out the door
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern must be tempted to tell Winston Peters to ‘shove it’ (paywalled)
Martin Van Beynen (Stuff): Mistakes, bungles, blunders – how many can we take?
Alison Mau (Stuff): David Clark’s failure to visit quarantine hotels more baffling than tone-deaf comments
Bob Gregory (Stuff): When ministerial responsibility becomes a blame-shifting game
Jane Clifton (BusinessDesk): Rushing to recover (paywalled)
1News: Poll shows most still think Government responded appropriately to Covid-19
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Why NZ risks becoming a Covid-free cul-de-sac
Stuff: Power behind the throne: who’s in charge of NZ’s Covid-19 mop up
Gordon Campbell: On the media collusion with National’s attack lines
Jack Vowles (Newsroom): In the absence of calm …
Jane Bowro (Stuff): The shifting sands for Ardern heading into the election
Jamie Morton (Herald): What will NZ’s next six months look like?
Stephen Mills (Spinoff): We asked New Zealanders what the world will look like post-Covid-19
1News: PM says it was ‘never his intent’ when asked about Health Minister pinning border issues solely on Dr Bloomfield
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Labour MP Willie Jackson slams criticism over COVID-19 border blunders
Bridie Witton (Stuff): The five Covid-19 strategies New Zealand could have chosen
Zane Small and Jenny Lynch (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern not ruling out quarantining COVID-19 cases if community transmission returns
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Nope, sorry: NZ does not have the world’s costliest Covid-19 response
Derek Cheng (Herald): Revealed – The surprising places from where Covid came to NZ (paywalled)
1News: Mass masking should be adopted in NZ to avoid going back under lockdown – expert

Managed isolation and quarantine system
Jo Moir (RNZ): Managed isolation: A system in need of fixing, but it ain’t broke?
Richard Harman (Politik): Another 12 months as the military sort out “system under extreme stress”
TVNZ: Q+A: Government weighing up alternate solutions for NZers arriving back home amid global Covid-19 pandemic
1News: Be willing to make a sacrifice’ – Govt tells returnees to follow the rules
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Review finds system was under ‘extreme stress’
Audrey Young (Herald): NZ’s isolation facilities under ‘extreme stress’; system needs ‘ramped up’ – audit
1News: A system ‘under extreme stress’ – Report into Govt’s managed isolation facilities reveals need for greater support
Alison Rourke (Guardian): New Zealand’s Covid-19 isolation facilities under ‘extreme stress’, review finds
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Government rolls out wave of improvements to managed isolation system
Alice Neville (Spinoff): Review of managed isolation reveals ‘system under extreme stress’
Dan Satherley and Delphine Herbert (Newshub): Expert condemns new arrivals for refusing to get COVID-19 tested
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Enough of ‘being kind’ to returnees refusing to take Covid 19 tests
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): 71 people released from managed isolation after refusing COVID-19 test
Dan Satherley (Newshub Nation): MP in charge of isolation not worried early exits will cause outbreak
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Ministry of Health still trying to contact 427 who left managed isolation
Caley Callahan (Newshub): Cancer Society launches complaint after cancer patient sent to isolation
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Questions raised over international aircrew rules
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Passenger dismayed at Air New Zealand’s ‘casual’ attitude to virus
RNZ: NZers left country during lockdown, returned via stays in managed isolation
Bridie Witton (Stuff): New Covid-19 cases in managed isolation ‘should mean nothing’ to New Zealanders – experts
RNZ: Principal surprised by isolation drop-off during school pickup
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Parents welcome quarantined returnees staying opposite kids’ school
RNZ: Travellers from South Korea taken to isolation hotel in Wellington

User-pays quarantine, right of NZers to return home
Peter Dunne: NZ must pay to quarantine it’s returning citizens, but their full co-operation should be expected
Ananish Chaudhuri (Newsroom): Don’t make Kiwis pay for quarantine
RNZ: Govt looks to Australia as it mulls charging for isolation costs
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Sir Bob Harvey says New Zealand should close its borders to everyone to prevent more COVID-19 cases
Duncan Garner (Newshub): It’s time to completely shut New Zealand’s border – returning Kiwis included

Homeless man quarantine tale
1News: Michael Woodhouse insists ‘homeless man’ tale wasn’t ‘made up’, but won’t say it’s true, in fiery John Campbell clash
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret novel of … the mystery homeless man (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Judith Collins insists ‘urban myth’ homeless man stayed at isolation hotel is true

Coronavirus Papers
Matt Nippert (Herald): ‘A calculated risk’: Inside the Covid bunker with Ardern and Peters (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Herald): Pandemic Papers: Why New Zealand was able to move out of lockdown
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Ashley Bloomfield recommended New Zealand spend most of June in level 
RNZ: Bloomfield wanted a longer level 2
Zane Small (Newshub): Government considered putting anyone with COVID-19 into quarantine
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern advised Kiwis overseas for extended period should pay quarantine costs
Jason Walls (Herald): Treasury advised Robertson business grant scheme would stop widespread failures
Jason Walls (Herald): Pandemic papers: Cabinet was warned media companies at risk
Amelia Wade (Herald): Pandemic papers: Ministers ignored Treasury warning about $50m Covid media package
RNZ: NZ report urges more support for Pacific Covid-19 recovery
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Document dump: What’s in the latest round of Covid-19 papers?

Testing
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): ‘I could’ve been working’: Kiwis unsure about self-isolating while waiting for Covid-19 test results
1News: Two new Covid-19 testing centres announced for Auckland as demand grows
RNZ: More than 50,000 Covid-19 tests negative, Aucklanders told

Parliament
Peter Wilson (RNZ): The week in politics: A gift for National, border botch-ups and bad news for NZ First
1News: Inside Parliament: Boosts for National in poll and long lines for Covid-19 testing
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): Parliament going through the motions

Trevor Mallard defamation case
Derek Cheng (Herald): Trevor Mallard defamation case has already cost taxpayers $80,000
Anna Whyte (1News): Taxpayers foot $80,000 bill for Speaker’s defamation case

Statues, place names, colonisation, BLM
John Boynton (The Hui): What to do about Aotearoa’s colonial statues?
Damien Grant (Stuff): Statues represent the complex legacy of settlers
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Historian Vincent O’Malley paints Captain Hamilton as a ‘very minor figure’
Paul Mitchell (Stuff): Marton’s Captain Cook statue coming out of its box and staying put
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Life in von Tempsky’s shadow
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): More korero, less shouting on preserving our history
Leah Bell (E-Tangata): History demands a personal reckoning
Tom McKinlay (ODT): Matters arising
Kennedy Warne (Stuff): Facing the truth
Michael Neilson (Herald): How Ōwairaka/Mt Albert tree protest became a flashpoint for racism, colonisation debate (paywalled)
RNZ: Saturday Morning: Aotearoa needs to debate colonisation, racism – new commissioner
Stuff: Taika Waititi’s Piki Films to develop three new projects about colonisation
Liang Cui (Spinoff): Why ‘being kind’ is not enough: NZ needs to front up to its anti-Asian problem

Education
Mark Amery (Spinoff): The debasement of art in schools
Isabella Lenihan-Ikin (Spinoff): As universities go ever more online, students are getting left out in the cold
1News: Waikato University defends abandoning face-to-face lectures
1News: International students report feeling ‘exploited’ as universities desperate to see revenue return
Simon Collins (Herald): Choosing childcare: A beginner’s guide to early childhood education in New Zealand (paywalled)
Simon Collins (Herald): Choosing childcare: Price war for children as early childhood education attendance struggles to recover from lockdown
Isaac Davison (Herald): Choosing Childcare: Parents delaying second child because of daycare costs
Evan Harding (Stuff): Parents claim specialist school exploited autistic students for manual labour
David Farrar: Are the quotas out of control?

Housing
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Buyers flee from once-popular Wellington KiwiBuild development 
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Could empty office space solve New Zealand’s housing problem?
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): Should the foreign buyer ban be eased?

Economy
Brian Easton (Pundit): Hinges Of History: After Covid-19?
Liam Dann (Herald): NZ gets off lightly in grim global outlook (paywalled)
Rod Oram (Newsroom): This way lies market madness
Kate MacNamara (Stuff): Reserve Bank policy is helping the Covid-rattled economy, and hindering it
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Robertson unveils funding boost for the RBNZ 
RNZ: Consumer confidence bounces but still below normal levels

Employment
1News: Govt matches iwi funding for job creation as number of Māori on jobseeker benefit soars
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): Woman with chronic illness calls out employer’s double standard
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): 2degrees to experiment with a three-day-a-week work-from-home model

Business
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Wage subsidy supporting thousands more workers
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Big banks starting to unwind COVID-19 inspired free contactless debit transactions for small business customers
Stuff: Treasures nappies shutting down, can’t compete with imports
Newshub: Kiwi nappy company Treasures to close
Sam Stubbs (Stuff): Here’s why Covid-19 could have a silver lining for New Zealand
Barry Colman (Herald): Getting rich isn’t what it was (paywalled)

Environment
Leith Huffadine (RNZ): Green Party celebrates changes in RMA that consider climate change
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Greens claim victory after climate change rules added to RMA
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Green Party celebrates law change which allows environmentally-damaging projects to be stopped
Richard Harman (Politik): Shane Jones blames the Greens
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Repealed
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Strengthening Emissions Trading Scheme would reduce emissions at less cost
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): If you are frightened by the COVID virus, wait until you hear about the latest from the climate crisis
Michael Morrah (RNZ): More protection for New Zealand’s mako sharks needed after 1200 caught by commercial fishers last year – experts
Steve Urlich and  Simon Thrush (Stuff): Extraordinary opportunity to protect NZ’s seas
Debbie Jamieson and Alice Geary (Stuff): Department of Conservation land concession fees waived for tourism
1News: Govt gives $25 million funding boost for conservation tourism
Damian Rowe (Stuff): Rivercare group fight to save river in losing battle against government
Logan Savory (Stuff): National: Government to slow to act on recycling problems
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland iwi creates sanctuary to protect kauri from dieback
1News: Activists dressed as bees set Christchurch City Council meeting abuzz

Health
Boyd Swinburn (Spinoff): The health system review ignores what really shapes our wellbeing
Ian Powell (Stuff): Recommendations by ‘whiteboard warriors’ for powerful new national health bureaucracy should be treated with caution
Nicholas Jones (Herald): How Auckland DHB will cut elective surgery wait times for Māori and Pacific patients (paywalled)
Fiona Connor (Newshub): Waikato school bus driver forced to self-fund cancer drug Keytruda after Pharmac postpones support
Sarah Dalton (Stuff): Don’t let your health be treated like an exercise in practical accounting
Katie Todd (RNZ): Tobacco law changes will see stricter border rules from next week
Lois Williams (RNZ): Cheque motivated Fletchers to finish West Coast hospital – MP
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Canterbury health authorities consider cutting staff costs to claw back deficit
Marine Lourens and Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Handover of new $500m Christchurch hospital building ‘reassessed’ after flood
RNZ: Flood caused damage to new Christchurch hospital building
Liu Chen (RNZ): Survey shows high anxiety and depression among Asian Kiwis
Samantha Gee (Stuff): Vacancies in Nelson Marlborough mental health team raise concerns
Teresa Cowie (RNZ): My body, my choice – but what if that choice is a caesarean?
Dale Husband (E-Tangata): Canaan Aumua: Beyond textbook medicine
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Annual commemoration of first Māori health minister held online
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Health stalwart Paul Cressey dies in freak accident on Waiheke Island

Disability
Chris Ford (RNZ): Opinion: Time to liberate disability from ‘health’
Emily Tilley (RNZ): Health is health, disability support is disability support
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Disability sector calls for separate ministry, support unshackled from health system

Tourism, Queenstown
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): $82m Queenstown boost to create 320 jobs – but documents show tourism layoffs could reach 92,000
RNZ: Govt to spend $85m in Queenstown to help struggling tourism businesses
1News: Queenstown to receive $85 million for ‘shovel ready’ projects, PM announces
Tracey Roxburgh (ODT): Govt plan will aid migrant workforce
Harry Locke (RNZ): Struggling tourism-dependent towns get funding boost
RNZ: Taupō cuts tourism funding, moves focus to domestic market
1News: Northland tourism industry calls for more workers

Police
Emilie Rākete (Spinoff): All the iwi liaison officers in the world won’t reform the NZ Police
Tara Shaskey (Stuff: Integrity of entire force on line when police officers charged with a crime

Auckland water shortage
Nikki Preston (Herald): Urgent water summit too short notice for double-booked Auckland Council
Stuff: Fight over Auckland’s access to Waikato River water moves to Parliament
Matt Burrows (Newshub): ‘If this was China, it would’ve been done years ago’: David Seymour rips into Govt over inaction on Auckland water shortage

Primary industries
Zac Fleming (Newshub Nation): Farrowing crates: The most significant animal welfare court case in NZ history
RNZ: First female Federated Farmers president steps down
Lawrence Gully (Stuff): Migrant numbers reduce ‘in silence’ as Kiwis move into farm jobs
RNZ: Heavy machinery driver shortage leads to plea for overseas workers to be allowed

Local government
ODT Editorial: Majority rules in council divide
Stuff: Climate change edges its way into Waikato Regional Council’s decision making

Marsden Poin
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Northland’s Marsden Pt oil refinery on borrowed time (paywalled)
No Right Turn: No future for Marsden Point
RNZ: Changing refinery to import terminal still on the cards

NZers in Australian detention centres, deportees
Madison Reidy (Newshub): Kiwis in Australian detention centres say New Zealand Government has forgotten them during COVID-19 outbreak
RNZ: Deportees set to spend isolation in same facilities as other travellers

Martin Matthews appeal
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Appeal of ousted Auditor-General quashed by Parliament
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Sacked Auditor-General won’t get compensation (paywalled)

Euthanasia
RNZ: Sunday Morning: New book examines assisted dying ahead of 2020 referendum
Tim Dower (Newstalk ZB): We have to consider the consequences of assisted dying

Royal Commission into the Attack on the Christchurch Mosques
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Mosque gunman’s interview ‘needs to be shared with the wider public’
RNZ: Mosque shooter interviewed to ‘provide answers to NZ public’
Stuff: Royal Commission interviews March 15 terrorist

Family harm, child abuse
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Family harm: The confronting severity and scope of New Zealand’s ‘sustained disease’
Rosie Gordon (Newshub): Anguish as child abuse continues despite March for Moko

Immigration
1News: Pasifika leaders calling Govt to grant residency to overstayers
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): ‘Tricky and vulnerable situation’: long delay in waiting for a resident’s visa
1News: Covid-19 sees migrants leaving NZ dream behind
Maia Hart (Stuff): Immigration to essential harvest workers: go home
Annabelle Tukia (Newshub):Brazilian woman pleads for Government to allow her to return to Invercargill home after tragedy

Media
Patrick Crewdson (Stuff): Introducing a new homepage for Stuff’s new era
Mike O’Donnell (Stuff): Stuff led us out of the digital swamp – can it carry us into the future?
RNZ: Mediawatch: Cut-through for the climate in the times of Covid-19
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): The mysterious case of the Bauer NZ magazine sales

Defence
Damien Venuto (Herald): Ex-military Richlister Guy Haddleton: It’s time to rethink the $4 billion spent on Defence (paywalled)
Katie Doyle (RNZ): Checkpoint: Devonport naval base welcomes HMNZS Aotearoa

Gender identity, sexual orientation
Caitlin Ellis (Newshub): Trans, Intersex and Rainbow communities call for progress on bill change
Andre Chumko (Stuff): 2023 Census to include questions about sexual orientation and gender identity

Other
Chris Keall (Herald): New Privacy Law passes: what’s in and out (paywalled)
RNZ: Funding gives boost for Parihaka story to be told
RNZ: Use of Chinese Communist Party-associated phrase ‘inappropriate’: Winston Peters
Isaac Gunson (1News): Chinese goldminers’ relatives say their ancestors have not been respected after remains filmed
Kingi Snelgar (E-Tangata): Transformation, not tokenism
Sam Hurley (Herald): Court of Appeal overturns stay in Colin Craig v John Stringer defamation case, will Rachel MacGregor be a witness? (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): New Zealand vulnerable to cyber attacks, Key says
Rosie Gordon (Newshub): Transmission Gully delays taking their toll on locals
Stuff: Metlink announces 98 more electric buses for Wellington region fleet
Jehan Casinader (BusinessDesk): MPs chickened out on internet porn restrictions (paywalled)
Tom Dillane (Herald): Russian spies, lies and the British press: Are the poisoned Skripal duo living in NZ?
RNZ: Wellington building owners want Government help with ballooning cost of earthquake strengthening