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
Claire Trevett (Herald): Jacinda Ardern’s safe campaign v Judith Collins’ ‘one chance’ (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Matchmaker matchmaker, find me a support partner (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Audrey Young – our political editor’s take on this election campaign (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): ‘Covid-19 election’ confirmed in new poll of voters’ concerns
Andrew Stone and Amelia Wade (Herald): Senseless and sensibility – the minor parties and why they’re making a noise (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Auckland – time to take the foot off the brake (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On four-year terms of Parliament, and on how the US courts are dismantling democracy
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): From the ABs to Zoom: The A-Z of election 2020
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Policy is back for Election 2020: the easy, smart way to make an informed vote
Herald: What’s the plan? Party policies at a glance
Herald: The Front Bench podcast: Is Judith Collins using her religion for votes?
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Māori TV: Undecided vote leaves Waiariki seat up for grabs
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Waiariki poll offers first glimmer of hope for Māori Party
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Tight races for Māori candidates (paywalled)
Georgina Campbell (Herald): When the Finance Minister comes knocking (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The People’s Republic of Christchurch rides again
Piers Fuller (Stuff): Labour gunning to swing Wairarapa seat
Sean Hogan (1News): ‘Incredibly tight’ – Labour candidate senses scalp in National stronghold of Tukituki
Leonie Hayden (Spinoff): Putting the spotlight on Tāmaki Makaurau
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Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins go round three in The Press Leaders Debate tonight
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): NZ’s only cross-party debate in te reo Māori
Rawiri Taonui (Waatea): The Preferred Prime Minister
Rawiri Taonui (Waatea): Labour & Greens vs National & Act

National
Newstalk ZB: Collins talks housing, economy, faith and ‘wokeness’ in first Leaders Breakfast
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Jenna Lynch (Newshub): National MP criticises Judith Collins’ ‘highly problematic idea’ of reviewing Auckland Council
RNZ: Judith Collins under pressure over policy on the fly
1News: National to launch inquiry into Auckland Council if elected
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Judith Collins promises inquiry into Auckland Council
Herald: National leader Judith Collins hits out at Auckland Council/CCOs
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Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Bringing National To Its Knees
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Collins the Christian designed to win votes
Newstalk ZB: Peter Dunne: Judith Collins has made her beliefs ‘far more overt’ this week
Anna Whyte (1News): Judith Collins says accusations she politicised her faith ‘utterly offensive’
Zane Small (Newshub): National’s Judith Collins hits back at ‘abusive’ criticism over pre-vote prayer
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins insists support for abortion, euthanasia ‘entirely consistent’ with her Christian faith
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Richard Harman (Politik): Doing away with RMA not as easy as it looks
Amelia Wade (Herald): National promises tax breaks for property investors; Labour calls it ‘reckless’
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): National promises to sell state houses, but this time only to tenants
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): National: Progressive home ownership for state housing tenants, require councils to open up land for development, reinstate the HLC model
RNZ: National outlines plan for housing affordability and rent-to-own scheme
Anna Whyte (1News): National promises rent-to-own scheme for state house tenants, three-strike system for ‘anti-social behaviour’
Amelia Wade (Herald): National unveils housing policy, would scrap RMA
Mike Houlahan (OD)T: National pitches policy at both home owners and landlords
1News: Full video: Judith Collins speaks about National’s new housing pledges, including rent-to-own and three-strikes
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1News: Judith Collins: Ninety-day trials could help businesses give people of ‘different ethnicity’ a chance
Catherine Harris (Stuff): National urged to ‘be careful’ over pledge to review charity tax rules
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Dr Shane Reti – National’s ‘details’ man
1News: Laura Daniel offers up ‘Crusher’ cake – her latest political baking masterpiece

Labour
Liam Hehir (Newsroom): Jacinda Ardern’s greatest achievement
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff):Jacinda Ardern comes to South Island promising $7b investment
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Labour promises to ban conversion therapy, reform adoption laws
Amelia Wade (Herald): Labour vows to end gay conversion therapy and pour $4 million into Rainbow youth mental health services
RNZ: Labour promises ban on conversion therapy, rainbow mental health funding
Anna Whyte (1News): Labour promise to ban conversion therapy, review adoption laws if re-elected
Laura Tupou (Newshub): Activists praise Labour’s commitment to ban conversion therapy

Greens
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): A pitch for Jacinda-plus: The Spinoff meets the Green co-leaders
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): A little bit of Green-lipped muscle (paywalled)
RNZ: Green Party pledges overhaul building code, work towards net zero energy new buildings
Stuff: Greens look to cut construction industry emissions with new plan

NZ First
Thomas Manch and Matt Shand (Stuff): NZ First promises to expand free dental care, free counselling
RNZ: NZ First pledges extending free basic dental care

ACT
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The $8.7b hole – at least – in ACT’s fiscal plan
The Project: David Seymour impersonates Donald Trump, says COVID-19 diagnosis is ‘comeuppance’

Māori Party
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Māori Party ‘better chance of getting into parliament than NZ First’
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Māori Party pins parliamentary hopes on Debbie Ngarewa-Packer

Cannabis referendum
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Cannabis reform would pass if referendum held today: Poll
Kim Moodie (Herald): Cannabis referendum result on a knife-edge, new UMR poll suggests
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): New poll sparks hope for yes campaign in cannabis legalisation vote  
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): New poll shows cannabis likely to become legalised
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Cannabis referendum: Pro-legalisation camp probably well ahead – expert
Ben Strang (RNZ): Cannabis referendum: Medical Association admits not consulting members on issue
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Cannabis legalisation will reduce Māori arrests, campaigners say
Rachel Peters (Newsroom): It’s high time we reformed our drug laws
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Roderick Aldridge, 80, walks streets of Hamilton to support legalising cannabis

Euthanasia referendum
Alex Braae (Spinoff): Complaint laid after assisted dying ‘vote no’ flyers found in official EasyVote packs
Phil White (ODT): Decision will have far-reaching implications for society
Erich Kusel (Stuff): A GP’s perspective on the End of Life Choice Act

Wage subsidy
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Housing is hot so why aren’t realtors repaying the wage subsidy? (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Paul Goldsmith: Name and shame approach to companies who profit off wage subsidy

Managed isolation fees
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Only 23 invoices paid for managed isolation fees in first seven weeks
Katarina Williams (Stuff): 559 managed isolation and quarantine invoices sent, but only 23 paid
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Chopper pilot wants fee waived for second stint in managed isolation

Coronavirus
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern blasted for criticising Opposition during COVID-19 standup
Derek Cheng (Herald): The move to level 1 in Auckland – experts say it’s too early to relax all restrictions
1News: Experts think masks should remain mandatory on public transport in Auckland even as city drops alert levels
1News: ‘We are ready’ – Covid-19 modelling expert confident Auckland should move to Level 1
Mark Quinlivan and Ella Predergast (Newshub): Epidemiologist Michael Baker calls for some restrictions to remain in Auckland
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Marc Daalder (Newsroom): We just stamped out our third outbreak
Brent Edwards (NBR): Coalition went hard but did it go early? (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (1News): Auckland to join rest of NZ at Covid-19 Alert Level 1 at 11.59pm on Wednesday
1News: Ardern warns Kiwis not to get ‘complacent’ as Covid Tracer App use declines by half
1News: Ardern acknowledges Covid-19 restrictions tough for Auckland businesses – ‘We got on with it’

Travel bubbles
Herald Editorial: Under a partial travel bubble, a summer at home looks more inviting
RNZ: New Cooks PM expects NZ travel bubble by December

Health
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Public v private healthcare: NZ research found private care contributed to public wait times (paywalled)
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Election 2020: What’s the plan to improve our health? Policies compared (paywalled)
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Government’s approach to Canterbury health board ‘destructive’, expert says
Catherine Hutton (RNZ): Documents show trust paid staff bonuses to manage its closure
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Southland surgeons call for ‘decisive’ colonoscopy action

Justice
Yvette McCullough (RNZ): A new kind of justice? Parties’ positions on law and order
Catherine McGregor (Spinoff): The crime and justice policies in two minutes
Katie Kenny (Stuff): Despite promises, there is still no official record of hate crimes committed in New Zealand

Education
Alice Webb-Liddall (Spinoff): The early education and schools policies in two minutes
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Early childhood teachers are gearing up to take a pay parity claim to the employers
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): Ministry does ‘about-turn’, promises to rebuild mouldy, leaky Christchurch kura
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Relief at $20 million fund for Māori boarding schools
Dara McNaught (Herald): Time to reconvene community classes (paywalled)

Dilworth School
Elizabeth Binning and Amy Wiggins (Herald): Two of the accused men were involved in Scouts
Edward Gay (Stuff): Two men charged with historical sex abuse can now be named

Environment
David Hall (The Conversation): Ardern’s government and climate policy: despite a zero-carbon law, is New Zealand merely a follower rather than a leader?
Emma Perry, Hamish MacLean and Daisy Hudson (ODT): Mayor pins blame for devastating fire on management of Doc land
RNZ: Lake Ōhau fire: ‘Conservation land a bomb waiting to go off’ – Fed Farmers

Housing
Rachel Moore (Manawatū Standard): One third of the state homes promised for Palmerston North three years ago have been built
Manawatū Standard Editorial: Solving Palmerston North’s housing crisis no easy fix
Newstalk ZB: Dr Eric Crampton: ‘Wellington housing on an unsustainable path’

Economy
RNZ: The Detail: Should we care that public debt is spiralling out of control?
Bryan Gould: Managing the economy

Spitting Image
1News: Jacinda Ardern on Spitting Image puppet appearance – ‘I was surprised by the emphasis on the ginger crunch’
Monika Barton (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern says she had to ‘whip Neve away’ from watching violent Spitting Image skit
1News: UK satire pokes fun at Jacinda Ardern’s handling of Covid-19 – ‘Super-Kiwi-socialistic-extra-nice Jacinda’
Stuff: ‘Super-Kiwi-socialistic-empire-of-Jacinda’: Jacinda Ardern puppet appears as Mary Poppins fighting Covid-19 on UK satire Spitting Image

Other
Jeremy Rose (The Dig): Benefits: The Unkindest Politics Of All
David Hargreaves (Interest): With NZ borders closed, now is when we should be having a national discussion on migration and population – so why aren’t we?
Chris Trotter (Interest):  Donald Trump’s hospitalisation reminds us that what happens in Washington matters in Wellington
RNZ: Gun owners advised not to vote Labour, Greens, NZ First
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): Wanted: a politician with the guts to halt a cultural scandal
1News: Former Gloriavale members want larger inquiry into sexual abuse allegations
Aimee Shaw (Herald): New Zealand’s retail sector shows signs of life but still fragile – report (paywalled)
Stephen Forbes (RNZ): Legal battle forecast over Drury plan changes
Gavin Ellis: Best of both worlds
Brian Easton (Interest): The Covid crisis provides insights into how critical global connectedness has become to our lives
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Refining NZ proposes to cut 100 jobs as talks over longer term future of refinery continue