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
Climate change
Richard Harman: Now the hard part on climate change is about to begin
Jamie Morton (Stuff): What does declaring a ‘climate emergency’ actually do?
Robert McLachlan (The Conversation): Climate emergency or not, New Zealand needs to start doing its fair share of climate action
David Farrar: If Labour says climate change is an emergency, how do they explain this?
David Hall (The Conversation): By declaring a climate emergency Jacinda Ardern needs to inspire hope, not fear
Pete McKenzie and Injy Johnstone (Newsroom): What a real climate emergency declaration might look like
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Climate emergency: It didn’t have to be this way (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Wellington climate plan doesn’t meet own targets
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Homes to start losing access to insurance within 15 years – report
Andrew Anthony (Listener): Survival of the species: Man-made problems pose major threat (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): EV fee bate is being proposed again – but it’s still a dumb idea
Housing
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern says housing crisis comments ‘not about apportioning blame’ to New Zealand public
John Anthony (Stuff): Is this the new capital gains tax? Speculation mounts over bright-line test changes
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government’s bright line on bright-line test gets very blurry in first question time of new term
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Grant Robertson flatly ruled out changes to the bright-line test. Now he isn’t (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Robertson denies potential brightline test extension would be a new tax
Heather du Plessis-Allan Drive (Newstalk ZB): If Robertson has any integrity, he won’t break brightline promise
Zane Small (Newshub): Bright-line test extension? Jacinda Ardern insists exploring property investor tax changes ‘right thing to do’ in clash with Judith Collins
Pattrick Smellie (Business Desk): Softening up for capital gains tax in all but name
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern faces tax and housing grilling in first question time of new Parliament
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Govt under more scrutiny over skyrocketing house price
Jenny Ling (Herald): Our Hidden Homeless: Homelessness in Northland slammed as ‘unacceptable’
Greg Ninness (Interest): Auckland’s housing market may be at a turning point and could start to cool next year
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Give stuggling landlords $500k loans, Government advised in report
RNZ: House prices inflate at fastest level in 16 years – CoreLogic
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): National property values see strongest monthly growth in November since 2004 – CoreLogic
Bob Jones: The Housing Crisis
Chris Leitch (Daily Blog): Banks, Borrowing, Bonds, Silly Statements and Raging House Fires
China; International relations and trade
Luke Malpass (Stuff): New Zealand should prepare for tougher relationship with China: experts
Jason Walls (Herald): Jacinda Ardern reveals NZ concerns with China over its use of fake image in feud with Oz
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern chooses words carefully as New Zealand wades into almighty scrap between Australia and China
Stuff: Editorial – China debases own standing with propagandist jab at Australia
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern: New Zealand has raised concerns with China over falsified image of Australian soldier
Zane Small (Newshub): Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta scolds China over ‘disinformation’, stresses ‘respect for rules’ at APEC 2021 launch
TVNZ: NZ expresses concern with China about doctored image of Aussie soldier slitting Afghan child’s throat- Ardern
Jane Patterson (RNZ): New Zealand registers concern with China over official’s ‘unfactual’ tweet
TVNZ: Jacinda Ardern says NZ can talk tough to China, but will do so ‘predictably’
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Māori economy takes centre stage at Apec opening, China-Australia tensions provide backdrop
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ’s year in ‘virtual’ spotlight begins
Ashleigh Stewart (Stuff): Expo 2020: Over-budget NZ pavilion ‘key part of reconnection with world’
Child Poverty Monitor report
Stuff: New report: Not enough food, warm clothes and fresh vegetables – thousands of kids living in poverty
Isaac Davison (Herald): Child Poverty: Govt was on track on meet reduction targets … before Covid-19
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Children’s Commissioner calls for action after report reveals one in five children live in income poverty
Festival drug testing
Derek Cheng (Herald): Government makes surprise move to give drug-checking at festivals legal breathing room
TVNZ: National’s youth wing side with Labour by supporting legal pill-testing – ‘It should not be their death sentence’
RNZ: Law for drug checks at summer festivals to be passed
Anna Whyte (TVNZ): Govt to protect controversial pill testing services at festivals — ‘no apology for prioritising safety’
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Government pushes through urgent legalisation of drug testing before summer festival season
Courtenay Chenery (Spinoff): What happened when I took a dodgy pill at Rhythm and Vines
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Young National, Simon Bridges at odds over proposed drug testing
Tax rates
John Anthony (Stuff): ‘Employees will feel this’: New top tax rate expected to have flow-on effect
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Revenue Minister David Parker says trust tax rate could be raised if people use it to dodge new top income tax
Bernard Hickey: Will Labour hike the trust rate too?
No Right Turn: Raise trust taxes too!
RNZ: Parker considering tax hike for trusts if avoidance prevalent
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Accountants gear up to ‘minimise’ new top tax rate
Stuff’s apology for coverage of Māori issues
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Te Ao Māori News): Maōri Broadcasting Minister calls on media to apologise to Māori
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: How our business reporting served and protected European settler interests
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: National leader Judith Collins would like more mea culpa, a smidge more ‘accuracy’
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: How stats were used to stereotype Māori drivers
Peter Bale (Stuff): Our Truth, Tā Mātou Pono: This time it’s personal – seeing my ancestors in Stuff’s apology to Maori
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Stuff’s apology to Māori
Parliament and election
Māori TV: Māori vote up 15 per cent in 2020 election; biggest shift among young people
David Farrar: Turnout up 3%
David Farrar: 2020 vote splitting
Koroi Hawkins (RNZ): First ‘Ava and Turou held at NZ parliament for new Pasifika MPs
Government
Bob Gregory (Newsroom): Diversity is good, but …
Richard Prebble (Herald): Labour singing from National song sheet (paywalled)
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): A day to define Jacinda Ardern’s second term
Stuff: ‘I laughed at that’: Jacinda Ardern responds to republished book title labelling her ‘the most powerful woman in the world’
Herald: PM thanks Dunedin girl for ‘family portrait’
Winston Peters farewelled
Audrey Young: Former Deputy PM Winston Peters farewelled at Parliament
TVNZ: Winston Peters bids farewell to Parliament at special event, but dodges media on arrival
TVNZ: MPs, foreign diplomats pay tribute to Winston Peters as he bids farewell to Parliament
Economy and work
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Somene’s got to defend corporate welfare
Damien Venuto (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: Kiwi ad agency Special Group paying back $200,000 wage subsidy (Herald)
Herald: Further reprieve: Government extends business debt hibernation scheme to October 2021
TVNZ: NZ economy set to end year only 3% down, ‘phenomenal’ result compared to most other nations
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Phenomenal’: ASB predicts GDP to shrink just 3 percent, ‘far better than previously expected’
Liam Dann (Herald): NZ corporates show resilience and optimism in global survey (paywalled)
Jamie Gray (Herald): Reserve Bank’s funding for lending scheme starts next week (paywalled)
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Westpac in the gun again over prudential breaches (paywalled)
Herald: Jones sees the fruits of his labours
TVNZ: NZ ranked fourth globally for support of women entrepreneurs, business owners – report
Sick leave extension
Amelia Wade (Herald): Sick leave extension to cost businesses almost $1b a year
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Sick leave increase will cost almost $1b a year, officials estimate
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Sick leave extension: what you need to know
Local government
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council budget: A 5 per cent rates rise – but wait, there’s more
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council budget: Ratepayers face 5 per cent one-off rates boost
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance accuses Phil Goff of being ‘disingenuous’ with proposed rates increase
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Phil Goff proposes ‘one-off’ 5 percent rates increase after ‘unprecedented’ $1b loss
RNZ: Auckland Council considers 5% rates hike for 2021
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Rates and water bills could rise by $230 for the average Auckland household
Todd Niall (Stuff): Who will champion Auckland’s congestion charge debate?
RNZ: Auckland considering congestion charge
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Shelly Bay: The $500m boutique development, the protest group and the celebrity backer (paywalled)
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Water meters are an answer, but not the only one
Damian George (Stuff): Council staff debate whether Wellington’s 20kmh cable car qualifies as rapid transit
Sharon Brettkelly (Newsroom): Giving up in Tauranga
Susan Botting (RNZ): Water poverty in drought-prone Northland a ‘human rights issue’
Alice Angeloni (RNZ): Māori wards ‘best for our democracy’ – Kiri Allan
Herald: Shelly Bay occupation: Wellington weather knocks structures but protesters still smiling
Evan Harding (Stuff): Mayor: Slow Tiwai negotiations ‘incredibly disappointing’
Whakaari/White Island disaster prosecutions
Shane Cronin (Stuff): Scientists should welcome charges against agency over Whakaari/White Island – if it helps improve early warning systems
Stuff: Whakaari – it’s not all up to the courts
Newstalk ZB: Lawyer explains legal implications of White Island criminal charges
RNZ: Whakaari prosecutions ‘fundamental for closure’ – law expert
Sandra Conchie (Herald): Whakaari/White Island tour guide’s brother speaks out about WorkSafe charges
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood refuses to lay blame over Whakaari
TVNZ: NZ’s high workplace deaths ‘not good enough’, Michael Wood says amid White Island prosecutions
Jo Moir (RNZ): Whakaari/White Island eruption: Jacinda Ardern sees no need for royal commission
Education
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Audit finds irregular spending at four Southland schools
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Auditor-General warns schools to budget carefully
TVNZ: Massey University launches remote learning centre in China amid border closure
Kirsty Wynn (Herald): New study: Maori and Pacific academics paid and promoted less
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Māori and Pacific academics paid and promoted less in New Zealand universities – new research
Covid
TVNZ: Ardern says Covid-19 vaccine timeline will be clearer before Christmas after being pressed by Seymour
Philip Hill (Newsroom): Putting an end date on the pandemic
Other
Jason Walls (Herald): Money well spent: Māori ministers back $155,000 Ihumātao consultants’ fees
Teuila Fuatai (Herald): Understanding NZ’s privilege among migrants (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We must re-think our immigration strategy
Joanne Naish (Stuff): “Crucial” evidence recovered from Pike River mine drift
TVNZ: Air NZ planes run on pine tree biofuel? It’s viable, and MPI wants to see it happen
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Hospitals catch up with Covid-19 lockdown cancer backlog, Cancer Control Agency says
Arthur Taylor (Daily Blog): The lengths corrections will go to keep prisoners ignorant of their rights
Beth Teklezgi , Naledi Mthembu and Renati Waaka (Re: News): Black New Zealanders are taking control of their narratives
Veronica Schmidt and Guyon Espiner (RNZ): SIS ‘questionable’ for not reporting sex abuse to police – Inspector-General
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Case of ‘forced marriage’ reported in Wellington hampered by jurisdiction issue
Mariné Lourens (Stuff): White supremacist Philip Arps back in court on new charge
Newshub: Discovery, Inc to combine businesses across NZ, Australia following completion of MediaWorks TV Ltd acquisition
