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
Housing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): If it wants to fix housing, Labour needs to get out of its defensive crouch
Bernard Hickey (Stuff): Millennials suffer as old generals fight the previous war
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): What happens when the only way for housing seems to be up?
Steven Joyce (Herald): It’s housing for the haves, and no relief in sight for the have-nots (paywalled)
Tony Abraham (Stuff): Non-bank lenders turning on the funding tap to meet housing demand
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): The RBNZ, housing and the sort of society New Zealanders want
Greg Ninness (Interest): House price rises are probably skewed more towards the top end of the market
Kerre McIvor (Herald): Elusive hunt for a place to call home (paywalled)
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): RBNZ is responsible for rising house prices (paywaled)
Newstalk ZB: Sunday Panel: Will Jacinda Ardern actually do anything about house prices?
Ashley Church (One Roof): Would first home buyers be better off buying an investment property?
Ben Leahy (One Roof): Golden hammer: Booming house sales are lining the pockets of real estate agents
Andy Fyers (BusinessDesk): Can LVRs make a dent in housing demand? (paywalled)
National Party
Monique Poirier (Kiwiblog): Where to from here for National?
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Western of Doc Shane (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): It’s politics Chris Luxon, so remember your place (paywalled)
Victor Billot (Newsroom): A poem for Dr Shane Reti
Brent Edwards (NBR): Fact or Fiction: Can National’s financial credentials be regained? (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (RNZ): The Week in Politics: A week of surprises
Labour
Tova O’Brien (Guardian): Despite her massive mandate, Ardern’s agenda will be resolutely middle of the road
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Willie Jackson: ‘You gotta get the deal .. to fulfil dreams’
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): We need to face facts – Jacinda is our Obama. Welcome to NeoKindness
Peter Bale (Spinoff): Trump and Ardern are opposites in every way – except one
Economy and work
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Was this the biggest recession we never had?
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Covid-19 job losses: ‘That’s probably it’
NZ Herald: Greens push to double sick leave by Christmas but Labour is ruling it out
Eric Crampton (Stuff): The case for a better Covid-19 leave policy
Michael Andrew (Spinoff): Why it’s such an ordeal for retail and hospo staff to call in sick
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Covid-19 sick leave situation not straightforward for vulnerable employees
RNZ: Covid-19: Robust sick leave systems needed – union
Liam Dann (Herald): Returning Kiwis – just what impact are they having, really? (paywalled)
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Slim pickings – reporting the shortage of labour for fruit and veges
Martin Van Beynen (Stuff): New Zealand’s isolation and chicken meat security
Jon Duffy (Stuff): Telcos, supermarkets and airlines all owe customers better treatment
Paul Conway (Interest): Adjusting to a post-COVID-19 world economy
Guy Trafford (Interest): 2020 harvest a write-off?
Covid
Katie Todd (RNZ): Cabinet to decide on mandatory mask use on Auckland public transport and domestic flights
RNZ: Government’s move on masks does not go far enough – epidemiologist
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Why has mandatory mask wearing taken so long?
Amelia Wade (Herald): How Government will bring in mandatory mask rule by Thursday
Audrey Young (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus outbreak tests Chris Hipkins, super-minister (paywalled)
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Support for moves to make Covid Tracer app scanning mandatory
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Ministry of Health stands by sick student/work information provided and released
1News: Covid community case says she didn’t have a translator after ‘asking many times’, leading to inaccurate info
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Counting the true costs of our continued Covid community transmissions
International relations and trade
Audrey Young (Herald) New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s path to top diplomat (paywalled)
Elzanne Bester (Herald): Nanaia Mahuta paves the way for women in foreign policy (paywalled)
Erin Matariki Carr and Phoebe Matariki Carr (Spinoff): Four ways Nanaia Mahuta can do foreign policy differently
RNZ: Opposition as NZ joins world’s largest free trade agreement
Richard Harman: China and NZ are in but the US is out of world’s second largest trade pact
Jackson Thomas (Stuff): PM meets with ASEAN leaders to discuss ongoing ‘strategic partnership’ in the face of Codiv-19
Esther Taunton and Troels Sommerville (RNZ): Signing RCEP trade puts NZ economy in ‘best possible position’ post Covid
Malcolm McKinnon (Asia Media Centre): NZ & Asia relations: Interests, Identity and Values
Isaac Davison (Herald): Trump’s Kiwi staffer Chris Liddell says he never supported separating children at US border
Poverty and inequality
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – The Left’s challenge to Labour’s inaction on poverty and inequality
Don Franks (Redline): New Zealand union structure past its use by date
Brian Easton (Pundit): Suffer The Children
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Options for Christmas and beyond
Local government
Sarah Catherall (Stuff): Has Wellington lost its cool title to Auckland?
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Council land in capital’s Shelly Bay sold to private developer – not mana whenua
Eugene Doyle (Stuff): Wellington the numpty of water infrastructure
Steven Walton (Stuff): Major government invested needed to get mass rapid transport for Canterbury off the ground
Anan Zaki (RNZ): ‘Unpleasant’ community board ‘bickering’ deters potential members – professor
Susan Botting (Herald): Northland MP Willow-Jean Prime disappointed in council reaction to Māori wards
Susan Botting (Herald): Work towards Local Electoral Act changes in favour of Māori wards underway
Election and Parliament
RNZ: The rise – and fall – and rise – of the Māori Party
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): The new Parliament – lawyers, lawyers, lawyers (paywalled)
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Māori Party recount request is pure politics
Claire Trevett (Herald): Beehive Diaries: The National Party’s awkward couples and PM’s property call (paywalled)
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): New Zealand First’s Tracey Martin considers options away from Parliament
RNZ: Golriz Ghahraman: finding her place in Aotearoa
Steven Cowan: First impression can be deceiving
Environment
Andrea Vance (Stuff): The way we protect the oceans is badly outdated. Will the Government change that?
Rod Oram (Newsroom): “The future we choose”
Julie MacArthur (Newsroom): Energy democracy: power to the people
Other
Damien Grant (Stuff): Defying cannabis referendum result the right thing to do – and PM knows it
No Right Turn: Bad Faith
David Farrar: Government refusing legitimate OIA requests for three years
Khylee Quince (Stuff): Why referendums are never likely to advance Māori interests
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Boom in $100k-plus salaries at cash-strapped Canterbury health board
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Mum feels ‘backed into a corner’ by Ministry of Education’s refusal to help kid with sensory needs
John Roughan (Herald): New Transport Minister picks up old harbour crossing issues (paywalled)
David Garrett (Kiwiblog): Why I will never be an Aotearoan
Herald: Editorial: Turning a blind eye to bullying no longer an option (paywalled)
Bob Edlin (Point of order): Creative NZ gives support to the art of pressing MPs to change “racist” law and facilitate race-based voting systems
