Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.  Click here to subscribe to Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup and New Zealand Politics Daily.

Today’s content

Policing and crime
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): What sort of technology requires clear images of people’s faces – and are the Police still operating it?
Robin Martin (RNZ): Facial recognition used on photos of unidentified suspects only – Coster
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Police drones, body cameras likely to be scrutinised by new independent panel
Jane Clifton (Herald): What about a long-term Level 4 for gang members? (paywalled)
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Police dodged questions about facial recognition technology use
RNZ: Independent panel to advise police on use of emerging technology
RNZ: Māori Party calls for Royal Commission into police photographs
Catherine Groenestein (Stuff): Māori-led approach to dealing with crime and preventing reoffending, Te Pae Oranga, launched in Taranaki

Media; Jacinda Ardern pulling out of Mike Hosking Show
RNZ: The Detail: Talking to the Prime Minister
Chris Trotter: Getting out of Mike Hosking’s kitchen
Brent Edwards (NBR): Prime Minister’s media management under question (paywalled)
Damien Venuto (Herald): Jacinda Ardern thinks she doesn’t need Mike Hosking. She might be wrong (paywalled)

Ashley Bloomfield lobbying
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Dr Ashley Bloomfield apologises for accepting cricket match tickets, after being lobbied
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield backtracks, admits VIP experience with Blackcaps wasn’t in ‘private’ capacity
Herald: Ashley Bloomfield says he should have turned down cricket tickets
TVNZ: ‘I was incorrect’ — Ashley Bloomfield admits he was wrong to accept invitation to NZ cricket match
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern doesn’t believe Dr Ashley Bloomfield had ‘ill intent’ when he attended complimentary Blackcaps matc

Covid: Vaccine
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Professor says Government’s vaccine rollout plan is ‘fundamentally good’ but has gaps that could cause outbreak
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): ‘No Covid-19 jab, no job’ clause considered for new public sector workers
RNZ: Push for all adults in South Auckland to get vaccine first
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Māori must decide for themselves on Covid-19 vaccine – Waititi
Waatea News: Shot in the arm for Maori vaccine effort
TVNZ: Defence Force could be involved in nationwide Covid-19 vaccine roll-out — Peeni Henare
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): We need far more clarity on the vaccine rollout

Covid: General
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Meeting irritation and apathy with arrogance
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Mandatory Covid-19 app scanning put on back burner
Katie Harris (Herald): Passengers flew on Air NZ plane that wasn’t deep cleaned after MIQ drop off
Amelia Wade (Herald): We shouldn’t have been commenting on individual cases’: Boss of Covid-19 Facebook page admits mistake over KFC worker post
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Auckland waits on PM Jacinda Ardern’s alert level call
Herald: NZ-made breath test may pick up virus ‘within minutes’
Robyn Walker (Stuff): A guide to your Covid-19 entitlements
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Auckland business leader Michael Barnett wants Government to listen closely to smaller businesses about improving COVID-19 support schemes
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Scott Morrison suggests Jacinda Ardern doesn’t want Australian tourists to spend-up in Queenstown
Thomas Bywater (Herald): Australia to subsidise 800,000 flights, could NZ get ticket to recovery?

Housing
Zane Small (Newshub): Megan Woods tells National’s Nicola Willis to ‘get off her ivory tower’ in spat over $11,000 cost of housing promo videos
Miriam Bell (Stuff): National median house price soars to record high – REINZ
Anne Gibson (Herald): REINZ figures: House prices reach new highs as market hits busiest period in 14 years
Greg Ninness (Interest): Auckland’s median house price up $100,000 in February – REINZ
RNZ: House prices hit new highs with busiest February market in 14 years
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Rising house price expectations at record levels as buyer confidence plunges
Business Desk: House prices jumped 21.5% in 12 months to February (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Rapid property price boom across New Zealand, nine out of 10 regions see spike in sales, volume – REINZ data
Ashley Church (OneRoof): Why I think the Reserve Bank is going to make things worse for first home buyers
Jenny Ruth (Business Desk): NZ’s housing crisis worsens; govt options limited
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Rising house price expectations at record levels as buyer confidence plunges
Caroline Butterworth (Herald): Project Auckland: Housing solutions for Aucklanders (paywalled)

Local government
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington City Council agrees in principle to establish Māori ward
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City Council agrees in principle to establish Māori ward
Imogen Wells (1 News): ‘It’s quite frightening’ — Wellingtonians feeling unsafe as crime rate increases in CBD
Salene Schloffel-Armstrong (Spinoff): A last bastion of public space? Why the fight over Wellington’s library was so fiery
Matt Slaughter (ODT): City councillor’s proposal to cut number of representatives slammed
David Farrar: Join the Tauranga Ratepayers’ Alliance
Gavin Ogden (Herlad): Local Focus: Meet the commissioners – Stephen Selwood ‘Tauranga has suffered’
Simon Wilson (Herald): What happened to Auckland’s electric ferries?
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Project Auckland: Be bold. Invest in Auckland’s future (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Transport slows down spending on the city’s footpaths (paywalled)

Terrorism and Christchurch
Jane Patterson (RNZ): National MP Simon Bridges on anti-terror laws: ‘Chickens coming home to roost’
Newstalk ZB: National wants law change for terror suspects landing in NZ
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Government announces diversity in public sector initiative in response to Christchurch attack report
Amber Allott Mariné Lourens (Stuff): New support for Muslim community ahead of second anniversary of March 15 terror attack

Health
David Williams (Newsroom): Cost, make-up of health transition unit revealed
Ian Powell: Rheumatic fever highlights challenge of social determinants of health
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Relief for some of New Zealand’s sickest people as medicinal cannabis patients granted another six months access
Andrew Bevin (NBR): Medical cannabis deadline pushed back to prevent price gouging (paywalled)
Henry Armstrong (Breaking Views): Racism in the New Zealand Health System
Rob O’Neill (NBR): ACC goes digital, with one claim accepted in just seven seconds (paywalled)

Foreign affairs and trade
Katharine Murphy and Elle Hunt (The Guardian): NZ politicians attack Australian minister Peter Dutton for comparing deportees to ‘trash’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Australia could learn a lot from New Zealand’s foreign policy, international relations expert says
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ keen for APEC to lead the way on Covid-19 trade essentials

Climate change, environment and conservation
Bernard Hickey: Free buses and a just transition vs political reality
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): ACC, other big Crown agencies instructed to come clean on climate risk to bottom line
Karen McWilliams and John Cuthbertson (Stuff): Parker’s two hats a boost for the environment
Richard Harman: How to save the high country (paywalled)
Jo Hendy (Business Desk): Economically sound, socially acceptable – the climate transition challenge (paywalled)
Maria Armoudian & Dr Brendon Dunphy (Newsroom): Birds and the bees: A slow-moving tragedy

Economy
Brian Fallow (Herald): Jobs bouncing back from Covid? Not so fast (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Herald): How New Zealand tourism can reinvent itself (paywalled)
Donal Curtin: What’s next?

Primary industries
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Prime Minister talks farming, fruit-picking and possible wedding among the vines in Hawke’s Bay
Iain Hyndman (Whanganui Chronicle): Whanganui Federated Farmers seek clarity on fresh water regulations

Other
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): New Arrangements: How Substituting ‘Aotearoa’ For ‘New Zealand’ Could End Up Destroying Both.
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – National’s blame game, secrecy and dysfunction
Stuff Editorial: Review release shows National has not learned lessons of the past
Peter Dunne: The appointment of the next Governor-General
Graham Adams (Democracy Project): Don’t mention the Musket Wars!
Susan St John (Daily Blog): IRD, Treasury and MSD – Does the tail wag the dog?
Michael Neilson (Herald): Young mother alleges abuse in Oranga Tamariki-associated parenting programme: ‘This place is supposed to be a safe place’ (paywalled)
ODT: Editorial – Retirement village review timely
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Penal Reform League double down on criticising Green Party Sexual Violence Bill – compares it to Salem Witch Trials
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Otago Polytechnic advertises ‘dubious’ residency pathway to migrants
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Electricity Authority’s ‘UTS’ fix won’t restore confidence, Electric Kiwi warns
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Bill to ban protest and harassment outside abortion clinics has passed first reading
Bernard Hickey: What’s news to me this morning
Marc Wilson (Listener): Secrets and lies: Why we have more in common with conspiracy theorists than we think (paywalled)
Te Rina Triponel (Herald): The Haka Party incident: Confronting a racist piece of New Zealand’s past