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
Gordon Campbell: On who really deserves sympathy when stress makes people behave badly
Peter Dunne: The 52nd Parliament is hurtling towards an inglorious end
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): MPs: Pick them carefully, treat with care
Simon Collins (Herald): Sir John Key: Parliament ‘notoriously hard on marriages’
1News: Don’t expect ‘devoutness’ in politics, NZ First’s Shane Jones says of recent MP scandals
Jason Walls (Herald): Labour’s Jacinda Ardern, National’s Judith Collins call for clean-up after Andrew Falloon, Iain Lees-Galloway sagas
1News: Voting public growing weary of recent political scandals
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern’s message to voters who might be put-off by Parliament’s sex scandals
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Parliament’s culture back under scrutiny, but Jacinda Ardern, Judith Collins handled scandals well – expert
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Why the latest Falloon, Lees-Galloway Parliament sex scandals differ from what’s come before
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Why do we expect so much from MPs?
Fiona McNamara (RNZ): MPs’ bad behaviour shows Parliament needs to look at its workplace culture
Brigitte Morten (RNZ): Good MPs still outweigh the bad, but Parliament needs a spotlight on it
Māori TV: We’ve had enough of scandals now – Matt McCarten (video)
Rosemary McLeod (Stuff): The fragility of men in politics turns into a ‘little pandemic’
Verity Johnson (Stuff): Andrew Falloon case is not a one-off – young women face this depravity daily
RNZ: Question time: First term MPs on Parliament culture
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Laura Walters (Newsroom): Power and abuse within youth politics
Phil Smith (RNZ): Parliamentary privilege gets an outing in harsh general debate
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): An extra members’ morning at Parliament
Alan Kenyon (1News): Peters told to ‘move with the times’ after telling National MP to ‘keep shouting lady’
1News: Dr Bloomfield reveals Parliamentary rugby clash nickname – ‘Hospital Pass didn’t make the grade’
Andrew Falloon
Jason Walls (Herald): Andrew Falloon sex-text scandal: A fifth woman comes forward with complaint against disgraced MP
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Police launch investigation into former National MP Andrew Falloon after allegations he sent explicit messages to young women
Anna Whyte (1News): Police investigating former National MP Andrew Falloon over explicit image allegations
Zane Small (Newshub): Police confirm fresh investigation into former National MP Andrew Falloon
RNZ: Police confirm fresh investigation into Andrew Falloon texts
John Weekes (Stuff): Fifth woman alleges disgraced National MP Andrew Falloon was inappropriate
1News: Judith Collins reveals fifth allegation against disgraced former MP Andrew Falloon
Zane Small (Newshub): Another woman complains about former National MP Andrew Falloon
Iain Lees-Galloway
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Government probes Iain Lees-Galloway’s spending after his dismissal
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Ministerial investigation launched into whether Lees-Galloway used tax dollars to fund his affair
Newstalk ZB: Frmr Labour President: An affair with a staffer is a ‘big no-no’
Jono Galuszka (Stuff): Contenders line up to replace Iain Lees-Galloway as Labour’s Palmerston North candidate
National Party
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): National would need to cut tens of billions in public services to meet debt target
Audrey Young (Herald): National leader Judith Collins almost a pro on the campaign trail (paywalled)
Piers Fuller (Newshub): Judith Collins hits provinces in first tour as new National Party leader
Derek Cheng (Herald): National Party MP Anne Tolley gives emotional sign-off from politics
Election
Chris Trotter: In 2020, As In 1984, Young And Old May Vote Together
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Leaders Unplugged – Hannah Tamaki, leader of Vision NZ, on gardening and why she won’t be kissing babies (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Calls for change to voting law for kiwis overseas
Cannabis referendum
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Cannabis referendum: What are we voting on in the Cannabis legalisation and control referendum?
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Cannabis referendum: Who is behind the campaigns fighting for your vote?
Jackson Thomas (Stuff): Cannabis referendum: CBD oil companies set up in NZ as potential gold rush looms
Bronson Perich (Māori TV): Cannabis rights are about rangatiratanga – TOP leader
Joe Boden (ODT): Opinion as well as science informs policy advice
Managed isolation
Emma Russell (Herald): Vulnerable patients in danger – Nurses jump between ED and managed quarantine hotels
Stuff: Decision will soon be made on quarantine charges, says Justice Minister
RNZ: New managed isolation system ‘open to free market flow’, may see delays for Kiwis overseas
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Greens opposed to $3000 fee for returning Kiwis
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): “We should know where they are” – Brownlee on early exemption
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Covid returnees occupied 40% of Auckland hotel rooms in June
Anne Gibson (Herald): New data reveals portion of NZ hotel rooms quarantiners are staying in (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Newsroom): A different way of managing isolation
NZ’s Covid-19 response, tracing
Dan Satherley and Miriam Harris (Newshub): NZ lucky Government doesn’t have a ‘totalitarian bent’ in wake of COVID-19 response – report
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Government advisors push back on CovidCard
Tim Dare (Newsroom): What’s really wrong with our contact tracing app
Border
Zane Small (Newshub): Air New Zealand agrees with Jacinda Ardern that separating transit passengers complicates travel bubbles
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Transit management key to reopening borders – Air NZ (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): New Zealand should open borders to Pacific Islands, Taiwan: NZ Initiative
China
Zane Small (Newshub): Chinese Embassy lashes out at Anne-Marie Brady over Communist Party ‘interference’ allegations
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Concerns raised over crash involving Chinese activists
Cushla Norman (1News): Tokoroa car crash that killed two prominent Chinese dissidents could be ‘sabotage’ – academic
Phillipa Yalden (Stuff): Chinese activists on way to protest at Parliament killed in double fatal crash
Caroline Fleming (Herald): Fatal crash: ‘Sabotage’ questions after Chinese activists killed in fiery Tokoroa crash
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Could China have committed an act of aggression on NZ soil?
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Why Is The Left Not Opposing The West’s New Cold War With China?
Matt Nippert (Herald): New Zealand-made planes turned into Chinese military drones (paywalled)
John Weekes and Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): TikTok local ban unlikely until NZ weans itself off Chinese economy, expert says
Southland
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Why NZ First scuppered government’s $100m Southland jobs announcement
Luisa Girao (ODT): Confirmation package was blocked
Taranaki – Ara Ake Energy Centre launch
Mat Rilkoff (Taranaki Daily News): The Jacinda Effect is real – the trick will be how long it lasts
Deena Coster (Taranaki Daily News): ‘Momentous’ occasion as PM offically opens $27m new energy centre
Robin Martin (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern launches Ara Ake energy centre in Taranaki
Environment
Charlie Mitchell, Olivia Wannan and Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Auckland, Wellington have lowest greenhouse gas emissions per capita
Jamie Morton (Herald): Revealed: Which regions are driving NZ’s emissions?
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Which regions are reducing their emissions, and which aren’t?
RNZ: Waikato greenhouse gas production highest in New Zealand
Brent Edwards (NBR): New Zealand ‘bending the curve’ on emissions, figures suggest (paywalled)
Damian Rowe (Stuff): Six kea killed in Fiordland during 1080 operation
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Mataura petition delivered to Environment Select Committee
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Environmental agency to incorporate mātauranga
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington stream’s faecal contamination hits almost 400 times above safe levels for e-coli
Jared Morgan (ODT): Manuherikia report to go to CODC
Rebecca Moore (1News): ‘It’s an environmental disaster’ – Anti-litter warrior says Wellington beaches the worst he’s seen
Matthew Littlewood (Timaru Herald): Eight threats against DOC tahr control operation referred to police
Primary industries
Katie Todd (RNZ): Te Anau farmer accused of destroying 800 hectares of native forest in two years
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Forest slash stretches all the way up east coast after heavy rain
Blair Jackson (Stuff): Report: Farming in Big Glory Bay poses unacceptable risk to Bluff oysters in Foveaux Strait
Mackenzie Smith (RNZ): Auckland mussel farm faces local opposition
Housing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government moves to end minimum carpark requirements and remove low height-limits in bid to increase dense housing
Herald: Councils told to loosen up restrictions to promote urban housing developments
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Capital developers, resident groups at odds over new housing policy
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Govt to make high-rise housing easier (paywalled)
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): TOP leader Geoff Simmons urges major rethink on soaring house prices
Sam Kelway (1News): As many as 4000 people could be homeless in Tauranga – survey
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Landlord racism: Wahine Māori exposes prejudice with name change
Local government
Simon Wilson (Herald): Auckland Council’s hard calls on climate and cash (paywalled)
Christina Persico (Taranaki Daily News): Petition and counter-petition to be launched after New Plymouth Māori ward approved
Max Brough (Taranaki Daily News): One time New Plymouth mayoral candidate shares his solution for the district’s Māori ward issue
Dominic Harris (Press): Water charge on ice as councillors protect Christchurch’s poorest
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): ‘Appalling’ death threat referencing Christchurch mosque shooter aimed at Auckland councillors
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington ratepayers facing increase of up to 15 per cent to cover pandemic cost and future projects
Charlotte Jones (RNZ): Whakatāne rate rise set for 3.9 percent
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): Christchurch rates to increase by 3.8% on average
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Change to council electoral system may be voted on
Molly Houseman (ODT): ORC spending on consultants ‘waste’
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Council charging ahead to get 20 electric vehicles
Economy, infrastructure, business
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Wage subsidy ‘expensive exercise in delaying job losses’
Herald Editorial: Why the wealth tax will never see the light of day (paywalled)
BusinessDesk: Silver Fern repays wage subsidy, declares $12.4m dividend (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Why the shovels aren’t ready
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Cuts could undo shovel-ready jobs push
Robin Martin (RNZ): Yarrow Stadium upgrade gets $20m in government infrastructure spend
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): NZ First policy to slash immigration would harm economic recovery, experts say
Employment
Richard Wagstaff (Stuff): New Zealand lacks protection for workers made redundant
Brian Fallow (Herald): Insurance against sickness and unemployment not such a sure thing (paywalled)
1News: Equal Pay Amendment Bill passes unanimously, touted as biggest pay equity leap in a generation
RNZ: ‘Fixing the injustice’ – new law helps fight for fair pay
Andrew Bevin (NBR): Public service pay gap hits new low (paywalled)
Health
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): National cold on merging DHBs and wouldn’t create a Māori Health Authority
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): ACC paid mental health specialists $41.9m to assess claimants, then hundreds lost cover
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Thousands of epilepsy patients back on former drug Lamictal
Susan Strongman (RNZ): Cancer patients, a deregistered doctor and a bleach ‘cure’ that’s still for sale
Education
Josephine Franks (Stuff): The hunt for the pupils who never went back to school
1News: Early childhood teachers calling for pay equity to hold paid union meetings
Simon Collins (Herald): Childcare subsidies drop 30 per cent as recession bites
Grant Miller (ODT): Travel rort inquiry not yet started
Alison Mau (Stuff): AUT Chancellor accused of lying about sex assault, harassment allegations
Transport
John Anthony (Stuff): ‘We weren’t ready to handle this’, Air New Zealand CEO says
1News: Air New Zealand fronts select committee over impacts of Covid-19 pandemic
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Air NZ to draw on $900m Crown loan in ‘due course’
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Electric vehicle industry group ‘concerned’ after government disbands it
Tarras airport proposal
Jo McKenzie-McLean (Stuff): Christchurch Airport can ‘wait for me to die’ before buying his land, farmer
Mark Price (ODT): Tarras block not for sale: farmer
Tina Law (Press): No airport for Tarras until Queenstown reaches capacity, airport boss says
Mark Price (ODT): Queenstown Airport is not in jeopardy — mayor
Matthew Mckew (ODT): Call to abandon Queenstown Airport
Kiwibank
Stuff Editorial: Woke, broke, or master stroke: Kiwibank’s new responsible business policy
RNZ: Kiwibank steps back from ban on business with brothels
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): It is not a bank’s job to decide who are the goodies and baddies
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): Kiwibank ‘trying to destroy’ the New Zealand economy, miner says
Justice
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Government announces $50 million package to help ease backlog in court
Derek Cheng (Herald): Green MP Jan Logie fires shot at NZ First over courtroom changes for rape trials
Police
Jonathan MItchell (RNZ): Steven Wallace’s family’s long search for justice
RNZ: Police admit officer’s hair cutting assault on boy ‘completely inappropriate’
Ihumātao
elanie Earley and Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Ihumātao: Campaign group ‘winning’ one year on from eviction notices
RNZ: Ihumātao: One year since eviction notice served
Jessica Tyson, Taroi Black (Māori TV): Ihumātao protectors living up to the aspirations of their tūpuna
Pike River
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Electrical expert says explosion, rockfall trapped miners days earlier than believed
Joanne Carroll (Stuff): New Pike River theory claims miners may have survived explosions
Media
Leonie Hayden (Spinoff): A time of reckoning: Racism and representation in media
ODT Editorial: Where personalities make the news
Colin Craig Whale Oil defamation case
RNZ: Colin Craig can take Whale Oil defamation case back to High Court
Stuff: Colin Craig wins costs in defamation case against Cameron Slater
Other
Newstalk ZB: The Country: Jacinda Ardern on MP scandals, Winston Peters and Tiwai Point
Katie Kenny (Stuff): The Government wants to filter the internet. Is that a good idea?
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Stats NZ advised risk 2023 census option would produce ‘very poor quality data’
James Fyfe (Newshub): Egg industry’s voluntary measures to control fraudulent labelling ‘ripe for abuse’ – SAFE
Stuff: Private jet leaves Christchurch under cover of darkness after picking up two mystery passengers
Herald: IAG announces closure of 53 AMI stores
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Plea for Kiwis to continue donating to refugee
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): ‘Drowning’ tourism industry presents election wish list
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): South Island social service agencies move to living wage
Patrick Gower (Newshub): Exclusive: Christchurch gunman flew a drone over mosque weeks before March 15 shooting
Harry Lock (RNZ): UK-based NZers in race to get home with visas set to expire
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington name made official as national geographic board approves hundreds of place names
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Curtain call for New Zealand’s tobacco manufacturing industry as Petone plant sells
