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
Audrey Young (Herald): Labour leaps out of blocks in reset campaign (paywalled)
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Political parties back into campaign mode but Covid still casts a shadow
Herald: Front Bench podcast: A new public holiday from Labour, while Winston Peters goes for theatre
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Election 2020 battlegrounds: North Island electorates to watch – Whanganui, Ōhāriu, Wairarapa, Palmerston North, Hutt South, Wellington Central (paywalled)
Steven Cowan: What has the New Zealand left got to offer this election? Nothing.
Labour Party
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Why Matariki could work for Labour, and why it might not
Simon Collins (Herald): Matariki holiday costly but likely to be popular
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Labour’s promise for Matariki public holiday ‘really significant’ – Dr Rangi Mātāmua
Carmen Parahi (Stuff): Matariki should unite all New Zealanders not divide the country
ODT Editorial: Matariki a worthy public holiday
Anna Whyte (1News): Winston Peters again veers from Govt partners, says now isn’t time for Matariki public holiday
ODT: Peters critical of Labour’s Matariki holiday pledge
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Labour lures voters with tantalising prospect of another day off – but would it get across the line?
Heather Du Plessis-Allan (Herald): The Front Bench: Labour’s Matariki holiday
1News: David Seymour says Jacinda Ardern in ‘la la land’ over Matariki holiday promise
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Backlash to Labour’s promise of Matariki holiday from 2022
Jacob McSweeny (ODT): Matariki holiday promise
David Farrar: Labour’s answer to a recession is more costs of employers!
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern wants to make Matariki a public holiday from 2022
Jason Walls (Herald): Labour promises to make Matariki a public holiday
Anna Whyte (1News): Labour pledges to create new public holiday during Matariki
RNZ: Labour promises to make Matariki a public holiday from 2022
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Labour would make Matariki a public holiday from 2022
Felix Desmarais (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Matariki, child poverty and being called ‘Cindy’
AAP: Jacinda Ardern says being labelled ‘Covid Road Runner’ was ‘all in good spirits’
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Jason Walls (Herald): Labour to take aim at banks fees in small business policy today
National Party
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Judith Collins’ day in Napier: methamphetamine, absent penguins and ‘giant Tonka toys’
Herald: ‘Things I can’t control’: National leader Judith ‘crusher’ Collins opens up about nickname (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): National’s election policies providing a contest of ideas
Thomas Manch and Marty Sharpe (Stuff): National brings back its ‘War on P’ with promised spend on meth-harm reduction
Zane Small (Newshub): National’s anti-meth plan: Introduce ‘Matrix’ rehab course, ‘crack down on kingpins’ with tech intelligence
1News: National promise to ‘crack down on drug kingpins’ in methamphetamine policy
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Nats target US-style treatment for meth addicts; harder line on drug smugglers
Shannon Johnstone (Hawkes Bay Today): National announces plan to tackle methamphetamine
NZ First
Ben Thomas (Spinoff): To survive from here, Winston Peters will need to reach new Houdini heights
Jo Moir (RNZ): New Zealand First faces first of campaign trials and tribulations
Richard Harman (Politik): Campaigning in the time of Covid
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Winston Peters serves over Labour’s proposed Matariki public holiday
Nikki Preston (Herald): NZ First leader Winston Peters snapped smoking on smoke-free campus
Stuff: Winston Peters appears to smoke in front of a no-smoking sign
Act
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): ACT launches debt cut calculator as other parties notch up billion-dollar spending promises
RNZ: ACT proposes new agency to oversee mental health, addiction services
Skara Bohny (Nelson Mail): David Seymour visits Nelson to support local ACT candidate
Live exports, missing ship, primary industries
Mike Yardley (Press): We need to move now on live exports
Lynley Tulloch (Stuff): Bloated cows floating in a turquoise sea? It’s time to end live export
Stuff Editorial: Gulf Livestock tragedy intensifies live export scrutiny
1News: More transparency needed around live animal exports after loss of thousands of cows at sea
1News: Govt doing ‘everything we can’ in search for Kiwis who were aboard vanished livestock ship
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John Weekes (Stuff): Mass chicken death: No charges laid after 190,000 birds died
Cannabis
Ben Strang (RNZ): Cannabis referendum raises questions over its medicinal use
Stuff: I used to be on the police drug squad. Here’s why I’m voting against legalising cannabis
Susan Rowe and Shaun Brookes (Spinoff): What does the cannabis referendum mean for your workplace?
Nina Hindmarsh (Stuff): Cannabis referendum: old newspapers reveal drug’s cultural shift from ‘medicine’ to ‘menace’
Housing
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): The bronchiectasis bargain
Newstalk ZB: Disappointment over call for landlords to delay meeting heating standards
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): National’s ‘chaotic’ plan to gut Healthy Homes Act will lead to renters living in ‘hovels’, say experts
David Hargreaves (Interest): NZ should never again be allowed to fall as far behind with its housing supply as it did in the wake of the global financial crisis
Mike Lee (Newsroom): Beware open-slather deregulation in housing
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Insurance Council defends skyrocketing Wellington premiums
Mandy Te (Stuff): Buyer beware: Wellington city apartment owners say rules need to change
NZ’s Covid response
Chris Trotter (Interest): New Zealand’s costly elimination strategy for dealing with Covid-19 might paradoxically end up paying for itself
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): WHO expert on NZ’s response and the next pandemic
Matt Burrows and Perry Wilton (Newshub): Auckland ‘could see COVID-19 case numbers rise again’ at level 2.5, expert Shaun Hendy warns
RNZ: Covid-19 border staff testing during work time ‘a basic’
Zane Small (Newshub): Health order making COVID-19 testing of border staff mandatory fails to convince Judith Collins
RNZ: Concern over financial impact of Covid-19 tests among Pacific workers – GP
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Dr Ashley Bloomfield reveals public-facing role causes ‘great self-doubt’, ‘anxiety’
Zane Small (Newshub): Coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern responds to Australia’s ‘hotspot’ plan to invite Kiwis in quarantine-free
Herald: Rugby: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on likelihood of All Blacks tests this year
Southern Response loses court appeal
RNZ: Checkpoint: Southern Response appeal on Dodds decision largely dismissed
1News: Christchurch quake insurer loses court appeal, opening govt up to potentially huge payout
Economy
Liam Dann (Herald): Economy Hub: Adrian Orr – Don’t blame monetary policy for rising inequality (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): What would negative interest rates actually mean? (paywalled)
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Wave of loss: Bankruptcies set to rise – Government bolsters provisions (paywalled)
RNZ: ASB predicts GDP will fall by 14 percent
RNZ: Goldsmith says private sector key to job creation
Health
Ian Powell (Second Opinion): Correct media analysis followed by incorrect conclusion
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Canterbury cancer patients face longer waits as health staff take leave
Stephen Forbes (RNZ): Middlemore Hospital issuing up to 500 vouchers a month for patients to go to A&E
Stephen Forbes (RNZ): Counties Manukau DHB grapples with midwife shortage
Mike Houlahan (ODT): 1000-plus Southern District Health Board patients waiting 120-plus days
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Backlog of Kiwis still waiting for diagnosis because of Covid-19 delays
Bridie Witton (Stuff): New mental health inpatient unit for Wellington, years after UN and Ombudsman slam use of seclusion
Kate Moodabe (Herald): Fast track cervical cancer testing and save lives (paywalled)
Environment
David Williams (Newsroom): Behind the spin of Mackenzie protection
Lois Williams (Stuff): Ngāi Tahu pull out of West Coast Conservation Board – again
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Predator Free 2050: $7.5m funding boost for Wellington programme
RNZ: Keep New Zealand Beautiful misses out on government funding
Education
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Panel wants more research funding for tertiary institutions and to end research league table
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Checkpoint: Goff optimistic on Auckland University international students plan
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Overseas student loan holders flock back to NZ (paywalled)
Teuila Fuatai (Herald): Medical school’s problem with progress (paywalled)
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): F for fiasco: How I’d mark Victoria University’s leadership
Grant Miller (ODT): Uni building progress may hinge on Govt
Kiwibank
Derek Cheng (Herald): Kiwibank shuts down ‘green fairy’ bank account a year after giving her ‘local hero’ medal
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Kiwibank to shut down ‘green fairy’ Rose Renton’s bank account a year after awarding her ‘local hero’ medal
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Kiwibank closes account of medicinal cannabis seller it had given ‘local heroes’ award
Air New Zealand
John Anthony (Stuff): Silence from Government and Air NZ raises questions about future ownership
Tim Hazledine (BusinessDesk): What to do about Air NZ? (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Shane Jones: Air NZ has obligation to be more transparent with customers
Local government
Jean Bell (RNZ): Call for Tauranga council’s elected members to be sacked and fresh elections to be held
Newstalk ZB: Local councils pushing for electoral term extended to four years
Andrea Fox (Herald): Government pours cold water on Auckland port buy-in idea to relieve council coffers (paywalled)
Tina Law (Press): A $1m-a-year interest bill for a stadium stand that no longer exist
Hawke’s Bay’s Three Waters review
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Hawke’s Bay faces overwhelming rates and debt without water solution – report
Sean Hogan (1News): Cost of water in Hawke’s Bay could rise dramatically, according to new review
Employment
Harry Lock (RNZ): Employment disputes system ‘straining at the seams’, justice advocate says
George Block (Stuff): Auckland port death: Raft of safety breaches before man was crushed by container
Cira Olivier (Bay of Plenty Times): Investigation launched into ‘dirty, smelly’ accommodation for kiwifruit workers (paywalled)
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Outrage over Domino’s ‘tip your driver’ feature
MediaWorks sale
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Global media giant set to be NZ’s biggest private TV broadcaster
Gavin Ellis: A better foreign owner for TV3 in an uncertain future
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Discovery takes ‘bet on NZ’ by buying television channel Three
RNZ: MediaWorks confirms sale of TV operations to Discovery Inc
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Discovery puts money to work with Newshub, Three (paywalled)
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): MediaWorks to sell Three to Discovery for undisclosed sum (paywalled)
Tom McRae (Newshub): MediaWorks confirms sale of TV operations to Discovery Inc
Other
Jason Walls (Herald): How criticism can be weaponised by the online mob
Kevin Clements and Peter Matheson (ODT): State-society contract must be on target
Phillida Bunkle (Newsroom): Six years of unrelenting bullying at Parliament
1News: Ardern adamant child wellbeing improving despite damning report – ‘We are making a difference’
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): James Shaw ‘exceptional minister’ despite Green School fiasco – Jacinda Ardern
Geoff Bertram (Newsroom): Breaking out of neoliberalism’s ‘iron cage’
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): New win for academics in Dirty Politics case
Mike White (Stuff): Payments for wrongfully convicted to be increased
RNZ: Mataura toxic waste dispute goes to Environment Court
Aimee Shaw (Herald): How Auckland CBD is faring under level 2.5 (paywalled)
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Woman finally gets Work and Income back payment for decades old redundancy error
Tina Law (Press): Proposed plan to restrict Christchurch’s Airbnb-style accommodation ‘anti-tourism’
Chloe Blommerde (Stuff): Four bedrooms and a PM’s memories – Jacinda Ardern’s old home hits the market
Herald: ‘Grandad helped build’: Jacinda Ardern’s old four-bedroom childhood home on market
Kaysha Brownlie (Newshub): Former member upset Gloriavale is still a charity after abuse allegations
RNZ: Survey shows NZers want more support for military and families
RNZ: Erebus crash memorial plans one step closer to reality
