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
Parliament’s tie-wearing rules
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Speaker rules tie requirement to be dropped from Parliament
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Ties no longer required in Parliament as ‘appropriate business attire’ – Speaker Trevor Mallard
Claire Trevett (Herald): Parliament’s great tie-breaker and why Rawiri Waititi got no support from Labour’s Māori MPs (paywalled)
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Te Paati Māori finds some oxygen after radio silence
Stuff: Editorial – To tie or not to tie?
Herald: Editorial: Trevor Mallard in knots over tie debate in Parliament (paywalled)
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): Why hei-tiki instead of a tie is fashion activism (paywalled)
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): ‘You do you bro’: Labour MP Tāmati Coffey takes a crack at tie-strike from Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi
Jarrod Haar (Stuff): Business lessons from the Māori tie
Kerre McIvor (Newstalk ZB): Parliament tie stoush – is this really what we pay our MPs to worry about?
Newstalk ZB: Parliament urged to ditch the tie and embrace diversity
Zane Small (Newshub): Māori Party’s Rawiri Waititi highlights unfairness of Speaker allowing Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March to wear Mexican bolo tie
Herald: The tie debate: Sales have waned, but young gen haven’t cut ties
Newstalk ZB: Calls grow for Rawiri Waititi to follow parliament dress code rules
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Rawiri Waititi getting kicked out of Parliament makes global headlines
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Trevor Mallard-Rawiri Waititi stoush: How soon could changes to Parliament’s dress code happen?
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi allowed to speak in Parliament while wearing hei tiki instead of a tie
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Trevor Mallard allows Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi to speak in Parliament while wearing hei tiki in place of tie
RNZ: Rawiri Waititi allowed to speak in Parliament without neck tie
Jason Walls (Herald): Tie debate in Parliament: Māori Party co-leader Rawiri Waititi and Speaker Trevor Mallard face round two
Praveen Menon (Reuters): New Zealand Maori leader ejected from parliament for not wearing a necktie
Waatea News: Necktie symbol of assimilation for Waititi
Greg Presland (The Standard): Parliament’s tie issue
New planning laws to replace RMA
Luke Malpass (Stuff): RMA changes may smash the status quo but in a distant, far away land
Richard Harman: Parker is playing the long game with his far reaching RMA reforms
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Resource Management Act overhaul ‘no silver bullet for house prices’
Liam Dann (Herald): Good riddance to RMA but hard work on replacement still to come – business groups (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government reveals new planning laws, but key replacement won’t be passed by end of 2022
Alex Braae (Spinoff): The RMA is dead. Long live the three new RMA-like laws
Jamie Morton (Herald): Government scrapping Resource Management Act to tackle the housing crisis
Jane Patterson (RNZ): RMA change will take years to boost housing supply – Parker
Jamie Morton (Herald): Government confirms it will scrap Resource Management Act, create three new acts
Zane Small (Newshub): RMA reform and housing crisis: How the Government plans to fix a law that ‘is not working’
Liam Dann (Herald): Good riddance to RMA but hard work on replacement still to come – business groups (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Govt announces timeline for RMA reform
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Government plans to scrap 30-year-old Resource Management Act
Māori TV: Government recognises Māori role in laws to replace Resource Management Act
Waatea News: More Maori input into Resource Management Act replacement
Housing
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): MPs from all sides turn on Treasury, Reserve Bank and Labour over failure to act on housing
Jason Walls (Herald): Reserve Bank Boss Adrian Orr warns MPs of debt-to-income risks for first home buyers
RNZ: Restraints on housing market demand ‘not going to solve the problem’ – economist
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Orr says it would be difficult to target property investors with debt-to-income restrictions
Newstalk ZB: Economist: LVR rules won’t bring in big changes to house prices
Brent Edwards (NBR): The government’s focus on housing to improve wellbeing (paywalled)
Luke Kirkness (Herald): New tenancy law reforms positive for renters, landlords fretting over changes (paywalled)
Stephen Forbes (Herald): ‘Stupid and inconsistent’: Urban sprawl set to swallow 31,000 hectares of prime land
Greg Ninness (Interest): Barfoot & Thompson auction volumes up more than threefold year-on-year
Frances Cook (Herald): Emotional buying in the housing market a red flag (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: ANZ reacts to Reserve Bank officially bringing back LVR’s
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): New Zealand Defence Force rent hike on ‘damp and mouldy’ housing rankles families
Katie Harris (Herald): Inside Te Paamaru – the former Wellington Night Shelter
Parliament
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Nats test Labour’s majority with attack on Mallard
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Mallard scandal isn’t, and shouldn’t be, over
1News: Collins stands by failed no confidence vote, says Mallard ‘destroyed a man’s career’
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Sigh – in defence of Trevor Mallard – sigh
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Brooke van Velden delivers a maiden speech paying tribute to family
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Green Party’s Dr Elizabeth Kerekere wants to amend Human Rights Act to include gender identity, expression as prohibited grounds of discrimination
1News: New Green MP vows to stand against discrimination towards rainbow community
Mike Mather (Stuff): New MP reveals death threats, racism from top paediatric surgeon in maiden speech
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Judith Collins says she won’t face leadership challenge soon, ‘if ever’
Ricardo Menéndez March MP’s trip to Mexico
Herald: Green Party MP Ricardo Menendez March explains his travel to Mexico
1News: Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March gives details of overseas trip which saw him miss first week of Parliament
Stuff: New Green MP travelled to Mexico to see step-mother who has aggressive cancer
Zane Small (Newshub): Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March in managed isolation after visiting Mexico for ‘serious personal family matter’
1News: Green MP in managed isolation after leaving New Zealand for ‘serious family matter’
David Farrar: Missing Marxist Mexican MP in MIQ
Zane Small (Newshub): National leader Judith Collins rips into Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March over travel to Mexico
Newstalk ZB: Green MP Ricardo Menendez March criticised for heading to Covid hotspot
Air NZ work for Saudi Arabia military
Fran O’Sullivan (NZ Herald): Air New Zealand lawyers up for deep dig into Saudi fiasco (paywalled)
Grant Bradley (Herald): Air New Zealand pinpoints date Saudi Arabia Navy engine contract signed (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Judith Collins slams questioning of MP Christopher Luxon over Air NZ-Saudi controversy as ‘Green Party hit job’
Dita De Boni (NBR): Yemen scandal no doubt reaches beyond Air NZ (paywalled)
John Minto (Daily Blog): Another New Zealand Middle East military deal fails Prime Minister’s ‘sniff test’
Economy and work
RNZ: Auditor-General calls for robust reporting of Covid-19 spending
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Why did Covid ‘wave of job losses’ never really hit?
Joshua Hitchcock (The Spinoff): The Māori economy is up, but Māori employment is down. What’s the deal?
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Recovering job market continues to claw its way back
Brent Edwards (NBR): National questions government debt projections (paywalled)
Covid
Mike Hosking (Herald): Australia PM Scott Morrison has a Covid plan and a vision – NZ has neither (paywalled)
Katie Todd (RNZ): No training or support for those making critical decisions, ex-MIQ worker says
Amelia Wade (Herald): Covid-19 Minister Chris Hipkins rules out piggy-backing off Australia for vaccines
Brook Sabin (Stuff): Travel game-changer: Could vaccines soon open the trans-Tasman bubble?
CCTV building collapse scandal
Conan Young (RNZ): Christchurch earthquake: Families of people killed in CTV building collapse bewildered at length of investigation
Conan Young (RNZ): Engineers’ body ‘dysfunctional’ – spokesperson for CTV families
Herald: CTV families slam length of investigation by engineer’s body
Sean Plunket departs MediaWorks radio station Magic Talk
Herald: Sean Plunket departs MediaWorks radio station Magic Talk
Monika Barton (Newshub): Controversial radio host Sean Plunket departs Magic Talk
RNZ: Sean Plunket to leave Mediaworks
Karl Du Fresne: On Magic Talk and Maori wards
Local government
Morgan Godfery (Stuff): I live in Waikouaiti. Was I lead poisoned?
Damian George (Stuff): Engineers for The Wellington Company turned away from Shelly Bay occupation site
Harry Lock (RNZ): Shelly Bay dispute: Police called out as occupation continues
Rob Mitchell (Stuff): Why you shouldn’t book on a library filling the space left by capital’s luxury department store
Freshwater claims and rules
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Ngāi Tahu leader says legal action comes after decades of government failure over fresh water
Lisa Tumahai (Stuff): Why two iwi are claiming rangatiratanga over water
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Southland farmers to consider further protest against freshwater rules
Māori wards in local government
Audrey Young (Herald): In 24 hours we’ve seen the best and worst ways to make law (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Another democratic sham
1News: Bridges says Māori wards legislation insulting — ‘It says I’m not good enough because of my whakapapa’
Waitangi Day and perspectives on the Treaty and race relations
Sharon Brettkelly (Newsroom): Waiting to speak at Waitangi
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): What Te Tiriti means for 2021 – and why it’s more important than ever
Education
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National says a ‘culture of excuses’ and lack of consequences is allowing too much truancy
Gavin Brown (The Conversation): Test or invest? NZ’s sliding international student assessment rankings are all about choices
Ananish Chaudhuri (Herald): The simple maths problems made not so simple (paywalled)
Health
Katie Doyle (RNZ): Study finds half of Kiwi families struggle to afford healthy food in child’s first year
1News: Two-thirds of Kiwis want clampdown on junk food ads to kids — Consumer NZ survey
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Victoria University the first to run pill-testing stations in bid to keep students safe at O-Week
Banning Conversion Therapy
Bob McCoskrie: Effects of ‘Conversion Therapy’ ban rejected by Kiwis – poll
Newshub: National’s support for ban on conversion therapy a ‘consensus’ decision, despite concerns – Judith Collins
Other
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government advised to trim funding for Let’s Get Wellington Moving before NZTA bailout
David Williams (Newsroom): Oranga Tamariki ‘ignores its own values’
Qiuyi Tan (Herald): New Zealand sanctions on Myanmar: Will they work?
Katie Doyle (RNZ): Food hardship in NZ children’s early years revealed in study
Mike Mather (Stuff): New launch date for Hamilton-Auckland commuter rail service announced
Mandy Te (Stuff): Chinese New Year 2021: Wellington organisers celebrate 20 years
Maia Hart (Stuff): New paint job for ‘racist’ sign intimidating neighbours in rural Marlborough
Chris Keall (Herald): Next Rocket Lab launch: satellite for US Missile Defence, moon prep
Ollie Neas (Spinoff): Rocket Lab launch from New Zealand to help US military with ‘targeting’
Stuart Smith; Arena Williams (Stuff): Get on board early with global carbon markets to get the best deal
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Electrification achievable and saves money
RNZ: Christchurch terror attacks: National remembrance service to be held in March
Chris Keall (Herald): Reserve Bank data breach: Adrian Orr gains high-ground as Accellion dodges questions
Peter Joyce (Basset Brash and Hide): What does it now mean to be racist?
Waatea News: War of words over bonehead Bridges whack
Reuters (The Guardian): New Zealand seeks clarification after China suspends some seafood import
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): Internal Affairs probes complaints about Muslim Association of Canterbury
