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
Covid: Govt comms, blame, compliance
Graham Adams (Democracy Project): Ardern’s halo slips, rhetoric wears thin
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern’s Covid comms strategy is starting to look a bit tired
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Epidemiologist Michael Baker says recent COVID-19 cluster should have been contained earlier – points to communication issues
George Block (Stuff): Health officials never checked case house where undisclosed lodger lives
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Covid-19 blame game and comms strategy questioned
Claire Trevett (Herald): The Covid 19 coronavirus ‘rule-breakers’: Were Case M and Case L falsely accused? (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Earthquake on top of Covid a reminder for Ardern to share the reins (paywalled)
Efeso Collins (Stuff): Covid in south Auckland – What happened to ‘be kind’?
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Has the rest of the team of five million got Auckland’s back?
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): PM has burned through her political capital this week
Tom Peters (World socialist website): New Zealand government negligence led to Auckland’s COVID-19 cluster
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Govt rejects Nats’ push for outbreak inquiry
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National calls for inquiry into Valentine’s Day cluster
RNZ: Covid-19 Minister to review outbreak communications
Covid: Vaccines
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Covid-19 vaccine rollout is a secretive, sluggish spin-fest
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus vaccination: 550,000 Kiwis have ‘wait and see’ attitude
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Vaccines on the agenda as Parliament returns
Ben Gray (Newsroom): Who should get the vaccine first in NZ, and why
Nikki Turner (Newsroom): Women can’t be excluded from vaccine trials
Covid: MIQ and travel
Michael Neilson (Spinoff): Risking their lives for minimum wage: Cleaners in managed isolation facilities speak out
Tom Dillane (Herald): America’s Cup team’s 98% success at critical worker border applications (paywalled)
Richard Harman: Hipkins talks up trans-Tasman bubble
Covid: General
Herald: Air New Zealand crew member tests positive for Covid, Auckland Airport Countdown supermarket a ‘location of interest’
Jenene Crossan (BusinessDesk): Avoiding New Zealand’s 0.04% covid club
Jon Johansson (Stuff): Our pandemic response is a marathon, not a sprint
Kate MacNamara (Herald): E is for Elimination, Emergency measure … and Enough already? (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Labour MP Peeni Henare says Opposition MPs’ social media posts about Covid ‘not helpful’
David Seymour (Herald): Why our pandemic response can and should be like Taiwan’
Keith Lynch (Stuff): How can we make sure people are self-isolating?
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Postcode lockdowns within Auckland likely wouldn’t work, experts say
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Government looks to plug holes in Covid response
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Covid-19: What does New Zealand look like in 2022?
Sarb Johal (Stuff): What will a Covid-safe city look like?
Siobhan Wilson (TVNZ): Q+A: Business to Government: We can do a lot more together
Steven Joyce (Herald): It’s time we climbed out of the Covid bunker (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Pandemic world reveals our dark and light sides (paywalled)
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): Destiny Church leaders blame media for earthquakes, tsunami
ODT Editorial: Tangling with the Tamakis
Herald Editorial: Destiny Church leaders’ comments are deplorable (paywalled)
Crystal Wu (Newshub): Destiny Church sign promotes ‘vaccine of faith, hope & love’ right next to Covid-19 testing station
Andrew Gunn (Stuff): The Book of Covid will need villains
Verity Johnson (Stuff): Bloomfield and Hipkins: Cute Canutes trying to stem the digital tide
Rob Stock (Stuff): Australia to decide on Tuesday whether to resume quarantine-free flights from New Zealand
Liz Kendall (Stuff): We’re all in this together, but women taking the burden
Ian Anderson (Stuff): All Blacks legend Zinzan Brooke a prominent anti-lockdown, anti-mask proponent
Parliament
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Minor party plans major push to solidify support
Phil Smith (RNZ): Whipping the biggest pack: managing a huge caucus
Georgie Ormond (Herald): Palmerston North’s Green MP enjoying new role (paywalled)
Caitlin Ellis (Newshub): National MP defends Dr Suess after books pulled due to ‘racist imagery’
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Jami-Lee Ross behind anti-5G supplement business
RNZ: Jami-Lee Ross behind company hawking anti-5G supplement
Government
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Confusion and frustration over Covid-19 messaging
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Kiritapu Allan diving into multiple ministerial roles
Heath Moore (Herald): Irish schoolgirl’s letter from New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Dirty Politics
Simon Wilson (Herald): The trial of the ‘dirty politics’ man from Parnell (paywalled)
Sharon Brettkelly: The Detail: An end at last to the dirty politics saga
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): 7 years of Dirty Politics – The complete list of Winners & Losers
Housing
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Holding the Government to account on housing
Bernard Hickey (Stuff): Thought the property market couldn’t get any crazier? You’re wrong
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Closed borders won’t quell New Zealand’s rising house prices
Tony Alexander (One Roof): What can the Reserve Bank actually do to curb rising house prices?
Mark Fowler (Herald): Government clutching at straws on housing (paywalled)
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Building costs hurting NZ’s construction chances, says property fund
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Snapshot from 1975: Auckland’s housing market then and now
Brian Gaynor (BusinessDesk): Looking back: The NZ housing boom — when and how it all began
Catherine Masters (One Roof): 51 suburbs earned more than six times the average worker
Greg Ninness (Interest): Auckland may be the first place to feel the cool winds of change expected to sweep over the housing market
Greg Ninness (Interest): Stand alone houses are as popular as ever and they aren’t getting any smaller
1News: Could this place help solve NZ’s housing crisis by building enough new homes for 100k people?
Nadine Porter (Stuff): Christchurch property market remains tough for first home buyers
The Standard: So, You Want To Buy Your First Home?
Ethan Te Ora (RNZ): ‘Not heterosexual’ renters twice as likely to have tenancies ended, says new research
Local government
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Council chaos: Why is local government in New Zealand such a mess?
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Alan Bollard: Councils need to use their ‘idle’ balance sheets for infrastructure
Bess Manson (Stuff): Is Andy Foster the Lone Wolf of Wellington?
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): John Key was right – Wellington is dying (paywalled)
Harry Lock (RNZ): Wellington City Council proposes one-off rates increase of 13.5%
Abbey Wakefield (1News): ‘Classic Wellington’ — Resident unsurprised as another burst water pipe drenches home
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Nine vacant positions at Let’s Get Wellington Moving
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington left without a seat at Three Waters Steering Committee
Tim McCready (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus tests Auckland mayor Phil Goff’s optimism (paywalled)
Steve Forbes (Herald): Auckland councillor highlights urban sprawl concerns in letter to minister
Tina Law (Stuff): Top Christchurch City Council bosses lose their jobs in leadership overhaul
Steven Walton (Stuff): Christchurch council expects 2021 dividend with $17m hole due to Covid-19
Hamish McNeilly (ODT): Dunedin council tight-lipped as crucial meeting over lead contamination nears
Economy, business
Shamubeel Eaqub and Rosie Collins (Stuff): Do young people have it tougher than their parents did?
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): MSD investigating more than 300 businesses for wage subsidy breaches
Damien Grant (Stuff): Hey Productivity Commission, leave ‘social justice’ alone
Kevin Jenkins (Herald): The story of Pasifika business is bigger than the minimum wage (paywalled)
Brian Easton (Pundit): Are we really budgeting for wellbeing?
Idealog: Why New Zealand women in business are key to our pandemic recovery
Madison Reidy (Newshub): Importer calls on government to sort out port delays
Inequality and poverty
Stephen Hickson (Stuff): Tax house rules and (dis)incentives
Andrew Becroft (Stuff): Children have the answers to a better future – we just need to listen
Helen Harvey (Herald): Kiwi kids paying a heavy price for lockdowns, report finds
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why Jacinda & Grant’s words on poverty and inequality are so empty & hollow
International Women’s Day, gender issues
Susan St John (Daily Blog): International women’s day? How are the worst off mothers and their kids doing?
Caitlin Ellis (Newshub): New Zealand’s ‘disturbing’ gender property gap revealed
Herald: International Women’s Day: Kiwi women fall behind in sole home-owning stakes
Brent Melville (Business Desk): Trans-Tasman gender pay gap reflected in house ownership (paywalled)
Tina Morrison (Stuff): International Women’s Day 2021: Choose to challenge gender bias
Alison Mau (Stuff): Toilet talk and a plea for better health for International Women’s Day
Angela Lim (Herald): Is gender bias a myth? You better believe it isn’t (paywalled)
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Majority of women feel workplace is a threatening environment: study
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Employers encouraged to offer free course for women on money skills
Zoe George (Stuff): How to be a sporting ally this International Women’s Day
Ziena Jalil (Stuff): Let’s ‘choose to challenge’ for those women who can’t
Jane Phare (Herald): Top women share the secrets of their success
Justice, corrections
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Large increase in number and cost of cultural reports for offenders
Carolyne Meng-Yee (Herald): Christchurch mosque shooter Brenton Tarrant and two dangerous criminals in special ‘prison within a prison’ (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The Nation – Jan Logie vs Marie Dyhrberg
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Will Maori suffer more convictions from new sexual assault laws?
Terrorism
Thomas Manch, Blair Ensor and Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Security Intelligence Service defend terror threat miss
Samantha Gee (Stuff): Claims of ‘excessive secrecy’ over violence threats in schools
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Christchurch mosque threat: Andrew Little defends security agencies
RNZ: Blocking site used by white supremicists should be a priority – expert
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Wait – what? The SIS failed to spot another white supremacist terror threat?
Hugh Collins (NZ Herald): ‘Anti-fascist researchers’ tipped off police after detecting Christchurch mosque threat
Media
Chris Schulz (Spinoff): An interview with the most feared man in New Zealand media
Michael Bassett (Bassett, Brash & Hide): Free speech and the New Zealand Herald
Steven Cowan: Banning Bassett
Scott Hamilton (Spinoff): All the things Michael Bassett got wrong in his noxious article
Karl du Fresne: On freedom of expression and that $55 million media handout
Health, Pharmac review
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Concern about loss of beds
Ian Powell: DHB deficit drivers
Peter Davis (Stuff): Pharmac does a great job, but it’s losing the PR battle hands down
RNZ: Pacific pharmacists want inclusion on Pharmac review
Rachel Moore (Stuff): Horowhenua GP says broken healthcare system an endless battle
Nicholas Jones (Herald): 1700 Auckland kids face painful wait for tooth surgery as Covid-19 aggravates dental backlogs (paywalled)
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Sick Kiwis forced onto black market by Govt’s restrictive new medicinal cannabis regime
Carolyn Providence (The Spinoff): I’m a doctor and a woman of colour. Here’s how my profession can tackle vaccine hesitancy
Jehan Casinader (Stuff): Drained brains: why nutrition could help to solve our mental health crisis
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Wellington woman’s campaign to stamp out period poverty
Education
RNZ: Early childhood teachers hurting from ‘unfair’ pay disparity
John Gerritsen (RNZ): ‘We are not coping’: Ministry ordered schools to enrol 205 children in 2020
Francesca Rudkin (Newstalk ZB): What effect has lockdown had on education?
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Senior staff at mega polytech Te Pūkenga call for council member’s resignation
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Govt, universities should cover MIQ fees for returning international students, union says
Lee Kenny (Stuff): $20 million in unused English tuition fees should be used to support struggling language schools, says MP
Alwyn Poole (Kiwiblog): Fixing the NZ mathematics problem is … relatively easy
Tsunami response
Ursula Cochran (The Spinoff): Friday delivered a big test for NZ’s tsunami response. How did we do?
Stuff Editorial: Country still not ready for tsunami threats
John Weekes (Herald): Tsunami emergency texts: Who makes the call on alerting and why are some phones shrieking at their owners in US accents? (paywalled)
Susan Botting (Herald): Tsunami warning: Problems with sirens to be investigated – Far North Mayor
Other
Steven Walton (Stuff): Ardern not revealing cannabis stance may have been ‘decisive factor’ in referendum result
RNZ: Protection against Covid-19 ranks as NZ’s biggest issue
1News: Stats NZ trialling new census system to improve Māori engagement
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Decision on live exports’ future due as protestors take to the streets
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green Party starts new push to ban bottom trawling
ODT: Editorial – Police culture change overdue
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Emissions Trading Scheme most durable path to net zero carbon goal
Audrey Young (Herald): Bill aimed at gangs and guns doesn’t go far enough says Police Association
George Fenwick (Stuff): Six Angry Women: ‘It was just such a volatile, ugly period in our history’
Steve Braunias (The Guardian): Discussing Doomsday with Kim Dotcom, I felt ashamed I’d seen him as a ridiculous figure
Jared Savage (Herald): CYFS should have checked Baby Royal within 24 hrs (paywalled)
Michelle Duff (Stuff): More than 800 commit to researching for anti-hate strategy
Te Rina Triponel (Herald): Auckland Mayor Phil Goff says mana whenua consulted in Erebus Memorial
Anna Loren (Stuff): Man who stabbed stepfather given NZ residence because he has a mental illness
Cornell Tukiri (E-Tangata): Reclaiming what was lost
