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
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): What would actually happen if *shock horror* house prices fell?
Rob Stock (Stuff): House prices set to rise further in first half of 2021
Susan St John (Interest): The speech I would like Grant Robertson to give in the New Year
Tom Peters (WSWS): Housing crisis fuels poverty and inequality in New Zealand
Brendon Harre: Depoliticising Housing
Greg Ninness (Interest): Rising house prices more than offsetting benefits of lower interest rates on mortgage payments
Parliament, and end of year reviews
ODT: Editorial – Trevor Mallard’s future
Matthew Hooton (Metro): Jacinda Ardern’s example may be key to combating Trumpist ideology
Elspeth McLean (ODT): Public deserves openness, respect
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Domestic political risks for 2021 NZ
Philip Matthews (Stuff): 2020 in review: What just happened?
Economy, inequality and work
Jason Walls (Herald): Revealed: Government reveals how many have been prosecuted for wage subsidy fraud (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Stuff): Over one million adults worse off than at start of year, Horizon finds
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): New Zealand charities could lose $1.4 billion in donations as cheques are phased out
RNZ: Brexit: UK-EU deal hurts New Zealand exporters, says Beef and Lamb
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): Litigation outlook 2021: Class actions, covid and continuous disclosure (paywalled)
Covid, vaccine, and border
Richard Prebble (Herald): What the Government did not want you to know about its Covid response (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The architect of NZ’s elimination strategy
RNZ: Covid-19 tests in MIQ: 27 people refused testing over two months
Jonathan Mitchell (RNZ): Government warned against introducing pre-departure Covid-19 testing
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Plan B Dear Cult Capitalists are back & they got 1 thing right
Racism
Meng Foon (Stuff): Is there a cure for racism?
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): Racial profiling at border continues, terrorist attack victims say
Devon Bolger (Herald): Mosque victim’s sister Aya Al-Umari speaks out after being asked if she was ‘born and bred’ in NZ
Other
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): How the Five Eyes countries share immigration data
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Immigration NZ visa processing finances $135m in the red
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Shelly Bay battle costing Wellington ratepayers more than 800k as bill continues to climb
Lois Williams (RNZ): Concerns over ‘rural generalists’ as doctors in Greymouth
Robin Martin (Stuff): Forest and Bird on Mt Messenger Bypass: ‘Sacrificing nature for human convenience’
Joanne Naish (Stuff): Pike River re-entry to be finished in six months, agency boss says
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): The Basils: lowdowns and lockdowns of 2020
Karl du Fresne: A potent antidote to toxic wokeism
RNZ: Complaint against TVNZ for using discriminatory term upheld
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): ‘Monumental waste ahead’ sign appears ahead of $743k Rotorua sculpture
Māori TV: Taxpayers’ Union ‘road signs’ claim Rotorua sculpture a ‘Monument to Waste’
George Block (Stuff): Ministry of Health torpedoes ‘baffled’ Kiwi company’s Antarctic voyage
