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
Waikeria prison riot
Chris Trotter: A Powerful political metaphor
Polly Gillespie (Stuff): The prison riot that didn’t need to happen
Kim Workman (RNZ): Transforming Waikeria – Hōkai Rangi or Hōkai Nuku?
John Minto (Daily Blog): Waikeria – dignity and respect still missing 38 years later
Ani O’Brien: Waikeria Prison riots and calls for prison abolition
Don Franks (Redline): Reflections after Waikeria incident
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Bewildering political blunder by Kelvin Davis & Labour over Prison riot
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Māori Party save Waikeria Prison while Kelvin Davis is left to defend Corrections?
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Corrections are lying about Waikeria Prison riot
Cathy Odgers: Maori activists do not run prisons – time to clear out the trash
Cathy Odgers: Maori activists now run prisons – Kelvin Davis impotent and completely without mana
Lynn Prentice (The Standard): Prison conditions
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Former inmate rubbishes claims of poor conditions, blames 501s for role in Waikeria Prison unrest
Michael Neilson (Herald): Waikeria prison protest: Aerial photos show extent of damage following fire
Chelsea Boyle (Herald): What was it like inside Waikeria Prison before the riot?
RNZ: Waikeria Prison stand-off: Human Rights Commission calls for independent inquiry
John Weekes (Herald): Prison chaos: A riotous history of New Zealand jails
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Waikeria Prison: Corrections Minister won’t step in to negotiate stand-off
Stuff: Waikeria Prison surrender: Family members claim complaints about ‘disgusting’ conditions made, despite Corrections saying otherwise
Luke Kirkness (Herald): ‘Complex investigation’ under way into Waikeria Prison uprising, could take months
Herald: Kelvin Davis reveals Waikeria Prison siege details
Herald: Waikeria Prison rioters surrender after six-day stand-off; jail conditions not reason for unrest, says Kelvin Davis
Chelsea Boyle (Herald): Waikeria uprising: Prisoners were terrified as roof ‘dripped down’
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Waikeria Prison: Inmate details 43-hour emergency lockdown after rioting began
Herald: Waikeria Prison uprising: National Party MPs refused entry; family members arrive
John Weekes (Herald): Waikeria ‘manifesto’ claims prison water, clothing, conditions are filthy
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Waikeria Prison unrest: Union says even officers ‘working in horrible conditions’
Brad Flahive, Lawrence Gullery and Melanie Earley (Stuff): Waikeria Prison protest: Māori Council calls for calm, asks politicians to stand back
NZ Herald: Waikeria Prison rioters surrender after six-day stand-off; jail conditions not reason for unrest, says Kelvin Davis
Parliament and Government
Simon Wilson (Herald): The day Jacinda Ardern taught pigs to fly (paywalled)
Chris Trotter (ODT): Ardern Government faces challenges beyond Covid in 2021
Brent Edwards (NBR): Prime Minister focused on policies that ‘will work’, not big, bold initiatives (paywalled)
Spinoff: 12 wild predictions for the political year 2021 AD
Steve Braunias (Herald): Secret Diary of … New Year’s resolutions (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Deputy PM Grant Robertson on his passion for sport: ‘I was obsessed. I played absolutely everything’ (paywalled)
Herald: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ‘Kiwi as’ start to the year in Tairua
Herald: Jacinda Ardern’s heartfelt New Year’s message for New Zealand
Covid, vaccine, and border
Jean Bell (RNZ): Covid-19: Health experts keeping an eye on new strain developments
RNZ: Covid-19 ‘might get more intense’ across world over coming weeks, warns Michael Baker
Andre Chumko and Damian George (Stuff): Coronavirus: $37m in PPE never used because of safety concerns
Mike Yardley (Stuff): Medical science will steadily liberate us as 2021 unfolds
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Covid-19: Kiwis face months-long wait to come home as border controls are tightened
Jenny Nicholls (Stuff): What is a life worth? Maybe Covid has shown us the answer
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Covid-19: Taxpayers spent tens of thousands on security for people isolating at home
Siouxsie Wiles (Stuff): Covid-19: Turning our bodies into vaccine factories
RNZ: Covid-19: UK and US travellers to need pre-departure tests before departing to NZ
John Roughan (Herald): 2021’s big debate – who’s responsible for Covid 19 vaccine (paywalled)
Catherine Harris (Stuff): 2005 pandemic predictions: What did we get right?
David Farrar: A useful Covid-19 timelime
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Employers told to pay bigger share of isolation costs for critical workers
Economy, inequality and work
Liam Dann (Herald): Economists pick the top five trends to watch in 2021 (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Stuff): New Year optimism: New Zealanders’ hopes high for 2021
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Researchers: Economies may do better with an ‘eliminate’ strategy in pandemics
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): An unhappy holiday: No rest for struggling, stranded migrants
Andy Fyers (Business Desk): Who repaid the wage subsidy? (paywalled)
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Saluting those who repaid the wage subsidy (paywalled)
Paul McBeth (Business Desk): Covid looms large over economy (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Air New Zealand and Infratil two big New Year business hangovers (paywalled)
Jennifer Eder (Stuff): NZ crayfish in hot demand in China, selling for $100, as China-Australia relations sour
Theresa Gattung (Business Desk): “I believe right now in the world, the heroes are not the wealthiest people” (paywalled)
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): $2b worth of investor visas ‘locked up in office in Wellington’
Housing
Anne Gibson (Herald): What will NZ house prices do in 2021? Experts make their forecasts
Rob Stock (Stuff): Councils downplay their powers to order repairs to substandard rentals
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Build-to-rent set for breakthrough in 2021
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Changing Auckland: How Hobsonville Point went from airbase to built-up
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Building 100 homes the next target for Rotorua homeless campaigner Tiny Deane
Charlotte Jones (RNZ): Pensioners shocked after weekly rents increased by $25
Vicki Anderson (Stuff): Hiding from the ‘red coats’: Life, death and nights on the streets
Race relations, ethnicity and racism
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Stop treating Māori patients like they are ‘gangsters’: Māori nurse
Tāwhiao McMaster (Herald): Tāwhiao McMaster: Māori version of history of statues needs to be told
Clare de Lore (Herald): The Government says it’s working to address racism and poverty. Meng Foon doesn’t buy it (paywalled)
Alexander Gillespie (The Conversation): Why Aotearoa New Zealand’s early Polynesian settlement should be recognised with World Heritage Site status
Jim Sullivan (ODT): Potential for bigotry wanders beyond political correctness
Crime and justice
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): New Zealand gangs on the rise: Why young Kiwis are getting patched
Stuff: Former NZ First MP Darroch Ball new co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust
RNZ: Police defend use of force during Whangamatā riots
Alan Ringwood (Herald): Whangamatā unrest – is this the sort of policing we want in New Zealand? (paywalled)
Other
Katie Pickles (Stuff): Kiwiana is past its use-by date: Time to re-imagine our symbols of national identity?
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): All you nations whom we beat, please buy our wool and buy our meat
Damien Grant (Stuff): We have traded away vast amounts of our personal data in order to feel safe
Cat MacLennan (Stuff): How a parliamentary committee fell down on the job
Wayne Brown (Stuff): Is it time to sell our seat on Five Eyes?
Cate Broughton (Stuff): New Canterbury health boss confident he can get finances in order
Shane Te Pou (Herald): A tribute to my Mum – worker, voter, everyday hero (paywalled)
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): 2020 in review – the law changes that kicked off last year (paywalled)
Derek Cheng (Herald): The ‘health’ approach to drugs: Less then one in 100 drug users engaging with services (paywalled)
Tuari Potiki (Stuff): Create a new drugs law for the modern world
Rob Mitchell (Stuff): That’s a capital idea: Some solutions to Wellington’s challenges
George Heagney (Stuff): Salaries topping $100,000 continue to climb at Massey University
Charlie Gates (Stuff): Police called as protesters and security clash at Canterbury Rodeo
Stuff: Editorial – Thinking about the future
RNZ: Advocates want government to prioritise braille more
Herald: Editorial: Tragic toll on our roads in clear view again (paywalled)
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Government considering tariff hikes on less safe cars as road toll remains stubbornly high
Tom Peters (WSWS): Why was the 2019 New Zealand terror attack not prevented?
Gavin Evans (Business Desk): Carbon capture and storage an option for NZ (paywalled)
Kate Green (Stuff): A teacher to generations of journalists honoured
David Farrar: New Year Honours List 2021
