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
Todd Muller resigns as National Party leader
1News: Todd Muller resigns as leader of Opposition, National Party in shock announcement
Herald: Todd Muller quits as National Party leader for health reasons
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Todd Muller resigns as National Party leader
RNZ: Todd Muller resigns as National Party leader
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Todd Muller resigns as leader of the National Party
National Party
Chris Trotter (Interest): Muller should emulate Trump’s 2015-16 strategy, telling National’s voters he will ‘drain the swamp’ of the waters polluted by years of dirty politics
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Has the National Party Become a Threat to National Security?
1News: Covid patient info scandal reeks of ‘organised campaign’ by National, author Nicky Hager argues
Zane Small (Newshub): National’s Amy Adams describes Todd Muller as ‘straight-up person’ who ‘could’ve been clearer’ over privacy breach
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Boag provided private email to receive patients’ details – Bloomfield
Newstalk ZB: Ben Thomas: Recapping a bad week for Todd Muller and National
1News: Inside Parliament: A nightmare for National after Covid-19 patient leaks, isolation escapes mount up
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Can National get off the road to nowhere?
Thomas Manch (Stuff): National MP Amy Adams apologises for wrongly claiming party candidate Catherine Chu is Chinese
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): National MP Amy Adams apologises for incorrectly describing candidate Catherine Chu as Chinese
SFO investigation into Labour
RNZ: Checkpoint: Serious Fraud Office launches investigation into Labour Party 2017 donations
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Serious Fraud Office investigation into donations made to Labour Party in 2017
Sam Hurley (Herald): Serious Fraud Office launches investigation into Labour Party donations from 2017
Scott Palmer and Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Serious Fraud Office launches investigation into Labour Party donations
Julie Iles (NBR): SFO to investigate donations to Labour’s 2017 campaign (paywalled)
David Farrar: SFO announces investigation into Labour’s 2017 donations
No Right Turn: Our dirty Parliament
Election, referenda
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): My biggest hope for the election is an increased turnout
Catherine Strong (Stuff): General elections are nearing, which means it is fake news season
AAP: With comfortable lead in polls, Labour going policy-free in election campaign
Max Harris and Laura O’Connell Rapira (Spinoff): Seven ideas to make the 2020 election a true contest of ideas
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Will Green voters surprise in Te Tai Hauauru
RNZ: Green Party: Better to spend $1.5b on solar panels than roads
Lana Andelane (Newshub): New Zealand’s Chinese community needs more political representation following Dr Jian Yang’s retirement – Kai-Shek Luey
Patrick O’Sullivan (Herald): Local Focus: Wairarapa electorate explained
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Swastikas painted on New Conservative political campaign signs in West Auckland
Megan Harvey (Herald): New Conservative party’s electoral campaign billboards defaced with swastikas
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Newstalk ZB: Official pamphlet on cannabis referendum accused of making subjective claims
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Swarbrick says cannabis law will benefit Māori
Stuart Armstrong (Newsroom): Let me die how I’ve lived
Act
Susan St John (Daily Blog): Act NZ – To the simple minded all things are simple
Zane Small (Newshub): David Seymour rejects that ACT’s paying lip service to anti-1080 activists with conservation policy
Newstalk ZB: Act’s new welfare policy seen as similar to ACC
Newstalk ZB: David Seymour: New policy will make welfare modern, fairer
Quarantine
Michael Daly (Stuff): Bloomfield confident in NZ facilities despite Victoria’s Covid-19 outbreak
1News: Free hotel quarantine for NZers leaving for holidays ‘not going to happen’, Health Minister says
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Blame for isolation breaches lies with rule-breakers, not Govt – Health Minister Chris Hipkins
Paul Hobbs (1News): Woman who was first person accused of escaping Covid-19 quarantine hotel appears in court
1News: Security guards at managed quarantine hotels can be sworn in as temporary constables, expert says
RNZ: People in managed isolation have access to healthcare – minister Chris Hipkins
Katarina Williams and Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Wellington appears to be getting second managed isolation facility
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Ship’s 28-days-isolated crew allowed ashore
Scott Palmer (Newshub): US author Alex Berenson says New Zealand putting returnees into ‘indefinite confinement’
Deportees from Australia
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Outrageous timing for Australia to resume deportations
RNZ: Thirty deportees to arrive in New Zealand this week: ‘We’re obliged to receive them’
Zane Small (Newshub): Health Minister Chris Hipkins hits out at Australia for sending back 30 deportees amid pandemic
Zac Fleming (Newshub): Government won’t reveal which Auckland hotel will house quarantining deportees from Australia
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government will keep location of Australian deportee isolation hotel secret to stop ‘vigilante justice’
Newstalk ZB: Govt won’t say where Kiwi criminals deported from Australia will be isolated
Herald: Govt won’t reveal where deported Kiwi criminals will be housed for isolation
Economy
Brian Fallow (Interest): They’ve got plans – and they are remarkably similar
1News: Sir Stephen Tindall among group of rich people wanting higher taxes to aid Covid-19 recovery
Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): Sir Stephen Tindall joins world millionaires calling for taxes on the rich to be raised
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Helicopter money: Should New Zealand follow Britain and introduce spending incentives? (paywalled)
Business
Isaac Davison (Herald): SkyCity applies for wage subsidy extension, angering laid-off workers (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Businesses repay hundreds of millions of dollars in wage subsidies
Harry Lock (RNZ): Rent relief delays leave businesses pleading with government
Harry Lock (RNZ): Govt delays over commercial rents causing ‘pain and expense’
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Rental car firm Avis Budget Group redundancies puts 800 jobs on the line
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Scenic Hotels down to 200 staff, may mothball all its West Coast hotels
Christchurch mosque shooting
RNZ: Checkpoint: Christchurch mosque shooter’s sentencing: Lawyer Marie Dyhrberg discusses precautions
Danica McGovern and Andrew Geddis (Spinoff): How the mosque shooter can be stopped from spreading hate at his sentencing
1News: Judge will tread ‘fine line’ in court as Christchurch mosque attacker opts to represent himself, Queen’s Counsel says
Annabelle Tukia (Newshub): Mother of Christchurch mosque victim is disappointed shooter is representing himself
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Brenton Tarrant sacks lawyers, will represent himself at sentencing
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): Gunman to represent himself at sentencing
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Christchurch mosque shooting: Brenton Tarrant to represent himself at sentencing
Thomas Mead (1News): Christchurch mosque attack terrorist sacks lawyers, to represent himself at sentencing
Police
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Police acknowledge claim against racial bias was false
Demelza Leslie (Newshub): Family of man shot dead by police 20 years ago continues fight for justice
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Family of Steven Wallace take case against police to High Court
John Weekes (Stuff): Police phones wrecked, stolen, missing cost taxpayers more than $600,000
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Top cop allowed to return as ‘our man in Hong Kong’ after lewd comment
Health
RNZ: The Detail: Borrowing to pay wages – St John ambulance needs treatment
Stuff Editorial: Let’s label liquor industry stalling tactics correctly
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Doctors and patients anxious after pharma giant Apotex quits New Zealand
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Blistering attack by leading doctor on own employer after mother’s death
Transmission Gully
Joel Maxwell (Dominion Post): Another $5m advanced to Transmission Gully builders as negotiations drag on
Georgina Campbell (Herald): NZTA buys more time for Transmission Gully negotiations
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Transmission Gully gets $5m more for work extension
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): More cash for Transmission Gully
Local government
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Govt outlines $200m in support for Auckland Council projects ahead of budget deadline
Grant Miller (ODT): ORC lagging on consent monitoring
Emma Perry (ODT): Council waste pitch will include site tipped as next dump
Water quality, provision, infrastructure
Michael Neilson (Herald): Auckland river and stream faecal contamination ‘widespread’ – report (paywalled)
Marcus Anselm (RNZ): Health report keeps spotlight on failing water supplies
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Havelock North campylobacter study estimates 8320 were infected
Todd Niall (Stuff): Dam overflows as city keeps up bid to save water
Shannon Redstall (Newshub): Auckland’s rainfall still not enough to break the drought as dam levels are still low
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Auckland Council’s application for more Waikato River water under consideration
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington water woes: Crucial report was lost in archives
Tiwai Point
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Impact on electricity sector of smelter closure ‘cannot be overstated’, analyst warns
Mike Yardley (Stuff): Rio Tinto not a charity case, no more handouts
Environment
Joel MacManus (Dominion Post): Retired doctor launches parliamentary hunger strike for climate
Chloe Blommerde (Stuff): Speeding up shovel-ready projects ‘risky’ in the wake of Covid-19
Michael Neilson (Herald): Auckland trees: Dozens of mature natives facing the chop in ‘chainsaw massacre’
Primary industries
Esther Taunton (Stuff): NZ Wood ad ‘implies farmers are dumb’ if they don’t embrace forestry
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Urban spread: Farmer accuses councils of ‘economic vandalism’
Riley Kennedy (RNZ): Virtual Fieldays crashes after launching due visitors flocking to site
1News: Fieldays, normally the southern hemisphere’s largest agricultural event, goes online-only today
Riley Kennedy (RNZ): Virtual Fieldays a ‘world first’ for agricultural events
Cancel culture
David Farrar: Fighting the cancel culture
Neal Curtis (Newsroom): Ending ‘cancel culture’ no defence for democracy
Other
Andrew Ecclestone (Stuff): An updated Official Information Act must strengthen our right to know
Melissa Chan-Green (Newshub): Anti-racism campaign launched after spike in racial attacks towards Asian community
ODT Editorial: Pandemic tests NZ-China relations
Joel MacManus and Tina Law (Dominion Post): Bike boom: Cycling is way up in recent years, but why don’t our cities reflect that?
Dan Satherley (Newshub): How electric vehicles might keep the cost of electricity up after Tiwai closes
1News: Twitter struggles to explain why Vision NZ political candidate’s tweet was promoted
David Cohen (RNZ): David Cohen: The outsized importance of university rankings
Ryan Anderson (Stuff): Uni students want more support services and more say post-Covid
Tainui Stephens (Spinoff): Whakamā: fighting the taniwha of shame
Joris De Bres (Spinoff): Our ethnic communities are not the government’s free translation service
Steve Elers (Stuff): Birth of liberal churches an example of religion working as it should
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Protests on foreign issues sharpens focus on systemic failings at home
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Women of Influence: Is flexible working actually a trap for women?
