New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.
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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

Parliament
Danyl Mclauchlan (Spinoff): In defence of adversarial politics
Jess Berentson-Shaw (Spinoff): The Clare Curran story reveals a political culture that makes NZ meaner, smaller
ODT Editorial: Grubby politics wearing thin
Zane Small (Newshub): Todd Muller defends Chinese Communist Party-linked National MP Jian Yang, who’s accused of avoiding English media

Election
1News; Battle for Northland seat between Matt King and Shane Jones shaping up as a must win for NZ First
Newstalk ZB: Catchphrases and slogans: Economists weigh in on Labour’s economic plan
Matt Burrows (Newshub): How Labour’s ‘Let’s Keep Moving’ slogan compares to New Zealand’s political catchcries of the past
Te Rina Triponel (Māori TV): Poverty action plan tops Green Party policies for election
Lana Andelane (Newshub): NZ Election 2020: The free gift election voters will receive
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ACT candidate Stephen Berry resigns due to ‘exhaustion’ from campaign preparation
Tim Newman (Stuff): Nelson ACT candidate responds to climate change criticism ‘hysteria’
Georgie Ormond (Herald): Local Focus: Palmerston North electorate explained
Te Rina Triponel (Māori TV): Urban National candidate looks to create tech-focused jobs

Calls to further open border, travel bubbles
Chris Trotter (Interest): The demands for a Covid-19 exit strategy: four fundamental operating principles to serve as a guide for ‘Covexiters’
Geoff Bertram (Newsroom): Every degree of openness at the border adds risk
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Border games
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Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Explosion in Australian COVID-19 cases casts doubt over trans-Tasman bubble dream
Henry Cooke (Stuff): PM says trans-Tasman bubble could move quickly if state-by-state, not Australia as a whole
1News: ‘We’ll be waiting’ a while if Australia wants nationwide trans-Tasman bubble – Jacinda Ardern
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Trans-Tasman bubble could be a $4 billion shot in the arm for NZ, says EY
Michael Neilson (Herald): Transtasman bubble could ‘turbocharge’ travel tourism spend to $4b – report
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Pacific travel bubble could be drifting further out of reach as anxiety over New Zealand border fumble rises

Border quarantine facilities
RNZ: Covid-19 quarantine hotels: ‘We need military-like precision
Katarina Williams (Stuff): 3480 people expected to enter border hotels this week
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Nimby attitudes shouldn’t stop quarantine facilities
Ian Powell (Second Opinion): Tosser
Trevor Agnew (Newsroom): A brief history of racism in Southland
Chris Marriner (Herald): Lost in the system – swabs go missing in quarantine
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Healthline demand spiked after Covid-19 ‘border bungle’, new cases
1News: Security measures reviewed at Auckland isolation hotel after woman’s escape over the weekend
George Block (Stuff): Security tightened after woman escaped from Auckland facility through hedge
RNZ: Residents at Stamford Plaza Hotel seek isolation safety reassurance
Dominic Harris (Press): Fifth isolation hotel in Christchurch gears up for incoming Kiwis
RNZ: Southern DHB to discuss challenges of isolation facilities in Queenstown
1News: One new Covid-19 case in managed isolation, last significant cluster closed

Covid-19 privacy breach
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Minister says leak of patient info was probably deliberate
Jason Walls (Herald): Ex-solicitor general Mike Heron to probe privacy breach
Anna Whyte (1News): Covid-19 privacy breach investigation will be ‘quick’, says Chris Hipkins
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Covid-19 privacy leak: Inquiry to report back by end of July
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Investigation details into who leaked active cases data revealed

Government
John Armstrong (1News): ‘It took too long’ for Jacinda Ardern to give David Clark the boot
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern responds to being called New Zealand’s ‘saviour’
RNZ: PM Jacinda Ardern says she ‘never’ takes anything for granted

Media, social media
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern has no plans to join global Facebook boycott because ‘progress has been made’
Anna Rawhiti-Connell (Newsroom): Why there’ll be Stuff-all on Facebook
Hal Crawford (Spinoff): Stuff has taken the sword to Facebook. Is it the start of a media revolution?
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Stuff’s fighting talk on Facebook
John Anthony (Stuff): Stuff stops all activity on Facebook in trial ‘inspired by principle’
Alex Braae (Spinoff): NZ news giant Stuff quits Facebook ‘until further notice’ – leaked internal memo
RNZ: Stuff closure of social media accounts about trust, editor says
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand’s Stuff newspaper group joins Facebook boycott as ‘experiment’
Matt Bartlett (Newsroom): Facebook reforms not good enough
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Gavin Ellis: Kiwi kids on social media
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Social media platform educates Māori on the importance of politics and voting
Cas Carter (Stuff): The rise of TikTok in politics
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Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Why Kurt Taogaga Had To Go
Dr Atakohu Middleton (Stuff): Te reo Māori news more than a language revitalisation tool
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): The Fold podcast: Gaurav Sharma on the communities NZ’s media doesn’t serve

Environment and conservation
Anne Salmond (Stuff): Let them eat wood
Erik Frykberg (RNZ): Labour policy would put forestry decisions in council hands
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Christchurch recycling in a mess as hundreds of tonnes sent needlessly to landfill
Denise Piper (Stuff: Northland drought: Avocado orchardists, locals at loggerheads over water rights
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Environment Court proceedings on ouvea premix begins
RNZ: Mataura ouvea premix toxic waste problem goes to court
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland’s drought crisis costed at $224m for extra water (paywalled)
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Immediate NZ seafood ban in front of US court
Jono Galuszka (Manawatū Standard): Rangitīkei District Council fined after human waste pumped into Taihape river
Jono Galuszka (Manawatū Standard): Company let cow poo flow into pristine section of Rangitīkei River
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington wetlands and rivers get $10m for new jobs and cleaner waterway
Mike Watson (Stuff): Govt $5m boost for riparian planting in Taranaki
Stuff: $5.5m for four Waikato freshwater projects
Denise Piper (Stuff): Kaipara Harbour gets $100m to improve water quality, creating 200 new jobs
Damian Rowe (Stuff): Government funding ‘significantly expands’ Environment Southland projects
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Waimea Inlet improvement work gets $1.6m Government boost
1News: Working from home once a week could save NZ over 84k tonnes of carbon emissions – official
Robin Martin (RNZ): DOC defends fisher who caught protected great white shark
Robin Martin (RNZ): Taranaki sanctuary begins mass translocations of kiwi

Primary industries
Cat MacLennan (Newsroom): Camera never lies, but can be set aside
Farah Hanock (Newsroom): Cow-beating footage thrown out in court
Andrea Fox (Herald): Cameras are fine but show us the money, say commercial fishers (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Even the fishing industry wants cameras

America’s Cup
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Team NZ and NZME go head-to-head in court over report
Todd Niall (Stuff): America’s Cup allegations: Reserved decision in team secrets case

Health
Catherine Hutton (RNZ): Last submissions to be heard on family carers law reform
1News: Over 3000 nurses, healthcare workers to strike across NZ at the end of this month
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Nurses stop work planned as part of fight for equal pay
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Vaping should be used as a ‘quit smoking’ tool only – and it needs regulation
RNZ: Lockdown adds to dental delays for 135,000 Auckland children
1News: Auckland students speak out about period poverty among Pacific girls
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Cancer diagnoses curtailed
Mike Houlahan (ODT): New ICU may get dedicated air system
Sophie Trigger (Stuff): The man keeping an eye on Marlborough’s health system shake-up

Wage subsidy, employment
1News: Over 400 businesses being investigated following Covid-19 wage subsidy complaints
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern explains what happens when the COVID-19 wage subsidy scheme runs out
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern confirms wage subsidy to end in September 
BusinessDesk: No more wage subsidy extension: Jacinda Ardern
Liz McDonald and Michael Hayward (Stuff): Uncertain times for Canterbury employers as wage subsidy goes
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Bosses scramble to fill jobs as visas set to expire en masse
Tagata Pasifika: Ex-Tongan pilot grateful for new opportunities under Covid-19

Business, economy
Tom Pullar-Strecker and Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Economic snapshot: Will the faster than expected recovery be snuffed out?
David Hargreaves (Interest): The willingness or otherwise of Kiwis to keep spending in coming months will be a key factor in how well our economy recovers
RNZ: Vast majority of investors confident in economy, carry concerns for future – survey
RNZ: The Detail: How Covid has changed our spending habits

ACC levies
Zane Small (Newshub): Government to maintain current ACC levies for two years to ‘help ease financial pressures of COVID-19’
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government puts the freeze on ACC levies, citing coronavirus costs
Herald: The Government foots almost $400 million bill to freeze ACC levy hikes for two years
RNZ: ACC levies will be kept steady through to 2022 – Ardern

WorkSafe
Phil Pennington (RNZ): WorkSafe inspectors ‘under-resourced and inexperienced’ – former Crown prosecutor
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Rules to reduce choking risk delayed due to Covid-19
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Parents of toddler left brain damaged say agencies’ actions ‘unbelievable’

Poverty, inequality, welfare
Stuff: This winter, the power will go out for children living in hardship
Guy Williams (ODT): Sallies, Luggate Hall receive trust grants

Housing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Waitlist for public housing hits new record as Coronavirus economic crash bites
Carmen Hall (Herald): Tauranga rental shortage: Property investors are returning to the market but tenants are struggling (paywalled)

Education
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Sexual violence, racism and exploitation: The sad state of student housing in New Zealand
Elizabeth Rata (Newsroom): NZ history – what to teach?
Chloe Blommerde (Stuff): 10,000 staff, 280,000 students – Stephen Town starts as CEO of mega polytech
Stuff: Tertiary institutions help Taratahi host agricultural career weeks

Local government
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): Oh no! ‘Selfish’ budget blow-in appals councillors
1News: Hastings councillor wants to arm Flaxmere residents with paintball guns to mark boy racer cars
ODT: Swearing, spraying saliva and shouting: The full Vandervis files
Chris Marshall (Stuff): Councillor says no negative feedback from n-word
Lawrence Gully (Stuff): Waitomo District Council chief executive calls in help to sort out his elected members
Grant Miller (ODT): Submissions open for raft of water plans
Stephen Forbes (RNZ): Public to get say on massive development projects in Drury
Marcus Anselm (RNZ): Rural councils’ job scheme extended
Chloe Ranford (RNZ): Marlborough septic tank scheme too costly, say residents

Justice and corrections
Marcelo Rodriguez Ferrere (Spinoff): My law students don’t know who our chief justice is, and I’m OK with that
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Justice system struggling with massive jury trial backlog
Michael Neilson (Herald): Health and Disability Commission: Prisoner had heart attack after Corrections failed to provide medication
RNZ: Corrections at fault over inmate’s heart attack, hospital stays
Blair Ensor, Georgia-May Gilbertson and Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Teen killer second person to escape through a window at youth justice facility
1News: Escaped teen killer smashed through window, climbed roof to flee youth justice facility

Child welfare
Teuila Fuatai: Minister’s response doesn’t make untangling Oranga Tamariki’s problems any easier (paywalled)
Luke Fitzmaurice: Natural justice and child protection: justice for the powerful only?
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Parent support programme keeps almost 150 kids with families

Immigration
Gill Higgins (1News): Migrant families stranded overseas despite homes, jobs back in New Zealand
Kate Newton (RNZ): Malaysia Airlines denies New Zealand exemption visa holders from boarding

Transport
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Residents feel railroaded by KiwiRail freight centre plans
1News: Air NZ flights from Auckland to Invercargill resume today after Covid-19 pause

Abortion billboard
Scott Palmer (Newshub): National MP Simon O’Connor accuses Black Lives Matter activists of bullying over anti-abortion billboard
Jasmin Bull and Rosie Gordon (Newshub): Black Lives Matter supporters outraged at ‘Both Lives Matter’ anti-abortion billboard in Wellington

Defence
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Chief of Army Major-General John Boswell talks about future of NZ Army (paywalled)
George Block (Stuff): Veterans take aim at NZDF ban on urban live firing exercises

Other
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Shovel-ready… after the politics and patch protection
James Higham (ODT): Cutting tourism emissions key in rebuild
Sam Stubbs (Stuff): Is KiwiSaver punishing the poor?
Greg Bruce (Herald): Full interview: Siouxsie Wiles on online abuse for her weight, pink hair
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): The abuse directed at Siouxsie Wiles was clearly sexist
Harry Lock (RNZ): Heritage NZ considers listing Wellington Central Library
RNZ: War memorial Carillon bell tower safety plans in place – government
Kris Gledhill (Spinoff): What to expect from the sentencing of the Christchurch mosque terrorist
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Mōkai Pātea hapū threatening to withdraw from settlement claim
Māori TV: Government-funded matauranga Māori research initiative led by Pākehā
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): US interest in moving to New Zealand jumps amid Covid-19
RNZ: Kiwi nurse has cuppa with Boris Johnson
1News: Jacinda Ardern asked if she has advice for Kanye West on his proposed presidency bid

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