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
Liam Dann (Herald): House price surge just getting started – Westpac
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Social pressure from renters may force Govt to implement wealth tax: Westpac
Michael Cullen (Stuff): Time for a monetary policy rethink
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Reserve Bank fuelling housing boom with printed money says former Finance Minister Michael Cullen
ODT: Editorial – Disturbing house-price increases
No Right Turn: A cringe, not a crouch
Miriam Bell (Stuff): What’s reasonable? Tenant faces $50/wk jump as rents soar
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Development finance a concern – Ardern (paywalled)

Media and information
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): If only we had a Minister of Broadcasting worthy of the title
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Misinformation: One in ten Kiwis own up to sharing incorrect information online
Emile Donovan (RNZ): Ombudsman’s work is more than just about official information
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Longstanding newspaper names to go?
NZ Herald: NZ Herald Premium subscribers hit 93,000, NZME looks to sell GrabOne
NZ Herald: NZ Herald and Māori TV sign content partnership

Covid
Derek Cheng (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: Reaction v proaction; how the Govt could’ve gone harder and earlier (paywalled)
Nick Wilson, Leah Grout, Amanda Kvalsvig, Michael Baker: Time to Stop Dodging Bullets? NZ’s Eight Recent Border Control Failures
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Government’s Covid response a shambles
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): NZ gets Covid vaccine at expense of poor countries with high death rates
Jason Walls (Herald): Masks required on Auckland public transport, all flights – Jacinda Ardern
Jason Walls (Herald): Government lobbied to extend its new face masks rules to all of NZ
1News: Jacinda Ardern says more Covid-19 measures being considered so Kiwis can enjoy summer break
Jamie Morton (Herald): South Australia outbreak highlights risk of rushed bubble, PM says (paywalled)
Australian Associated Press: Australia-New Zealand bubble by Christmas all but dead, Jacinda Ardern warns

International relations and trade
Damien Cave (New York Times): With Progressive Politics on March in New Zealand, Maori Minister Blazes New Trails
RNZ: Asia-Pacific trade deal to add ‘certainty for New Zealand exporters’ – minster
Alex Braae (Spinoff): What is RCEP and why are we in it? The major trade deal you’ve barely heard of
Reuters: China finds coronavirus on frozen meat, packaging from Latin America, New Zealand
Tamar Louisson and Margalit Toledano (Stuff): New governments can open windows of opportunities in the Middle East
Stuff: Ardern confident New Zealand products ‘are not exported with Covid’
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): NZ China covid beef scare: stakes are high (paywalled)
Sirma Karapeeva (Herald): Why NZ must reject protectionism (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Alleged victim ‘bewildered’ as extradition of Korean diplomat charged with sexual assault appears unlikely

National Party
Richard Harman: Goodfellow decides to stand again
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins wants National to avoid ‘constantly sniping away from the sidelines’ as it rebuilds
RNZ: National Party wealth tax election ad found to be misleading
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Golriz Ghahraman slams National over misleading wealth tax ad

Election and Parliament
Chris Trotter (Interest): Labour is no longer a tradition. Rather it has become a brand – and Jacinda Ardern and Grant Robertson are changing it
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Jami-Lee and Billy’s divorce: Who gets the money?
Jack Vowles (The Conversation): The numbers suggest the campaign for cannabis reform in NZ will outlive the generations that voted against it
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Danger of Labour & Greens robbing Maori by changing MMP rules
David Farrar: The problem wasn’t us, it was everyone else!

Economy and work
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Labour rules out doubling sick leave before Christmas despite Green Party push
Amelia Wade (Herald): Sick of sick leave: Act calls Greens’ push for double sick leave evidence of ‘hard-left agenda’
Peter Griffin (Listener): Reining in the horsemen: Can we tame the internet giants? (paywalled)
Bill Rosenberg (BusinessDesk): We’re not good at productivity. So now what?
Sam Stubbs (Stuff): Will the Government get real on infrastructure?

Local government
Felix Desmarais (RNZ): More than $7 million spent on communications and PR by Bay of Plenty councils, district health boards last year
Bernard Orsman (Herald): David Cunliffe slams Auckland Council’s $1.4b paper losses as ‘incompetent’
Stephen Forbes (Stuff): Auckland Council should avoid drastic cutbacks amid revenue slump: Economist
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council budget: Asset sales could bring in $100m less than hoped
Rob Mitchell (Stuff): Council says prime Porirua public land to be sold on open market, not at ‘mates’ rates’
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Fix the basics in Wellington before slapping on the gloss
Susan Botting (RNZ): Māori wards proponents urge government to pass legislation before Northland polls

Justice
Kirsty Lawrence (Stuff): Call for armed police to wear body cameras during searches has merit, Coroner says
Mitch McCann (Newshub): Kiwi deportees from Australia causing escalating crime wave in New Zealand
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Justice with a difference: The iwi panels with a 92% success rate

Other
James Robb: A Witch-hunt devastates the Auckland art world
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): ‘We still have skin in the game’: Older people want to join the climate conversation
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Auckland children living in pain as dental system struggles to keep up
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): DHB launches legal action against council over poorly built hospital
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Early childhood centres putting profit before children, survey suggests
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Childcare centres are like ‘overfilled zoos of kids’, teachers say
1News: Protestors block entrance to fertiliser company in Mt Maunganui in protest of use of phosphate