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

National Party
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Judith Collins’ first shadow cabinet raises more questions than answers
Richard Harman: National abandons tax cuts
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Who is up and who is down in the latest National Party reshuffle
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Ten eyebrow-raising decisions from Judith Collins’ caucus shake-up
Claire Trevett (Herald): Why Simon Bridges rejected Judith Collins’ reshuffle offer (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Judith Collins’ big finance gamble
Amelia Wade (Herald): Who is Andrew Bayly? The mountaineer who scaled National’s caucus and claimed half of the finance role
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): National’s shadow Cabinet, a shadow of itself (paywalled)
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Collins defends Andrew Bayly promotion to National’s number three
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Judith Collins warns National MPs about ‘disunity’ and how it can cost their jobs
Gordon Campbell: On National’s reshuffle, Pfizer’s vaccine & Trump’s non-exit strategy
Liam Hehir (Spinoff): After a year of acrimony, Shane Reti is the nice guy National needs
Anna Whyte (1News): Analysis: Who went up and who went down in National’s latest line-up
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Bayly big winner from National’s caucus shakeup
Zane Small (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on National’s 33 MPs taking on Labour’s 65
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): National Party reshuffle like death warmed up
1News: ‘The left don’t own social good’ – Dr Shane Reti explains why he’s a Nat
RNZ: Dr Shane Reti on ‘dream’ job as National’s deputy leader
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Dr Shane Reti approached every National MP on quest to become deputy leader
Anna Whyte (1News): Paul Goldsmith loses finance as Judith Collins announces National’s new caucus line-up
Zane Small (Newshub): National’s new shadow Cabinet: Andrew Bayly shoots up the ranks, Paul Goldsmith loses finance
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party reshuffle: Judith Collins splits finance portfolio, demotes Todd Muller, Simon Bridges, and Paul Goldsmith

Housing and Reserve Bank
Stuff: Editorial – Stimulus scheme may simply push up house prices
RNZ: RBNZ ‘caught offguard’ by house prices – economist
David Hargreaves (Interest): RBNZ takes damaging blow to its credibility
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Reserve Bank says it’s not responsible for housing crisis as it unveils $28b of cheap funding for banks aimed at housing
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Reserve Bank ‘breaking LVR commitment’ raises questions about its other statements, Westpac warns
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Reserve Bank ‘guaranteed’ housing boom will continue over summer, economist says
Herald: Editorial: Five big take-outs from all the Reserve Bank news (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Reserve Bank swats away house price questions ahead of new move to lower borrowing costs (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): RBNZ now sees nearly 10% house price inflation for this year
Ben Leahy (Herald): Auckland house prices: Buying frenzy tipped after Reserve Bank announcements
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Robertson throws his weight behind the RBNZ’s call on LVRs
Brent Edwards (NBR): VR restrictions back on the Reserve Bank’s agenda
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Reserve Bank to start ‘Funding for Lending’ next month
Rob Stock (Stuff): What pandemic? People are borrowing like it’s 2019 again
Daria Kuprienko (One Roof): Housing market to ‘ignite’ over summer: Experts weigh in on LVRs
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Low cost upstart shows the way forward for Kiwibuild

Māori Party
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Māori Party calls for recount in Te Tai Hauāuru
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Māori Party applies for recount in seats to highlight ‘prejudice’ in vote process
Māori TV: Māori Party seeks recount
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Māori Party asks for recount in two electorates, pushes for Electoral Act reform
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): A new Maori political strategy?

Economy and work
Geoff Rashbrooke (Stuff): Who invests better – the public sector or the private sector?
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Fletcher Building won’t repay wage subsidy from ‘strong’ earnings
Catherine Harris (Stuff): SkyCity chair calls for end to ”excessive” CEO salaries
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): Government’s rules ‘shut small Kiwi firms out’ of lucrative contracts
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We need to wake up to the economic reality
Alison Brook (Interest): Will 2020 be the tipping point for globalisation?

Covid
Jonathan Guildford and Brendon Egan (Stuff): West Indies cricket boss frustrated by isolation breach
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): After MIQ breaches, experts want ‘Swiss cheese’ tightened up
Dan Satherley (Newshub): NZ set to buy more of Pfizer’s vaccine after ‘good news’ – Megan Woods
Michael Neilson (Herald): The managed isolation allocation system explained

Local government
Katie Todd (RNZ): Auckland Council cash saving methods likely not enough in face of $1b Covid-19 financial hole
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council’s financial hole from Covid-19 grows to $1 billion
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Now Auckland facing a $1b shortfall in next 3 years (paywalled)
Grant Miller (ODT): No plans for DCC Maori ward, mayor says
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Gisborne District Council seeks feedback on Māori wards
Logan Church (Herald): Rising sea levels: Christchurch council agrees to start adaption planning

Wellington’s Shelly Bay decision
Damian George (Stuff): Green light for Shelly Bay redevelopment after council votes 9-6 in favour
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington councillors vote to sell and lease land for Shelly Bay redevelopment
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Activist Valerie Morse barred from talking at Shelly Bay meeting
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Formal complaint made by councillor against Wellington Mayor Andy Foster

Environment and climate change
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): NZ now behind China on climate pledges — James Shaw
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Carbon budgets likely to be ‘shocking’ – Shaw (paywalled)
Kate Green (Stuff): A climate for change: Napier flooding just a taste of what’s to come
Jenny Easton (Stuff): Pro-active move to higher ground urged to combat rising sea levels
Tina Law (Stuff): Decade-long plan to save Christchurch’s coastal communities from rising seas
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Out of the covid pan and into the climate fire
RNZ: Government announces $70m fund to make fossil fuel switch

Election and Parliament
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour wants to scrap rule that allowed the Māori Party to bring in second MP
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Chlöe Swarbrick ‘destroys’ free market ‘stan’ with reference to Adam Smith
Keith Rankin: The New ‘Centre-Left’ Establishment

Health
Stuff: Lakes DHB issues warning over ‘swamped’ emergency departments
Ian Powell: This ‘silent disgrace’ deserves to become a noisy disgrace
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): The cancer ‘disgrace’ no-one talks about

People of Colour art exhibition
Amal Samaha (Spinoff): Swastikas off K Road: How the worst art show in New Zealand came to be
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Jewish Council criticises gallery’s swastika display, says imagery can be ‘traumatising’
RNZ: ‘We have put in so much effort to deplatform fascists before and following the Christchurch massacre’
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Auckland gallery under scrutiny for ‘People of Colour’ exhibition

Other
No Right Turn: A failure to assist
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (Herald): Good people smoke cannabis. It should have been legalised (paywalled)
Mitch McCann (Newshub): Medicinal cannabis industry still full of misinformed perception, over-regulation – experts
Stuart Smith and Priyanca Radhakrishnan (Stuff): How we can avoid our politics becoming as toxic as those of the USA
Matthew Rilkoff (Stuff): The Jacinda Effect comes to Taranaki
Anna Leask (Herald): The future of the frontline: Hijab introduced to police uniform, first officer to wear it ‘proud’
Alexia Russell (Newsroom): John Key on Joe Biden
James Fyfe (Newshub): ‘Violent’ rodeo video prompts calls for UK shoppers to boycott NZ farming products
Gerald McGhie (New Zealand Journal of International Affairs): Review of ‘Not in Narrow Seas’ by Gerald McGhie