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

Housing
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Next week’s housing policy package to include ‘incentives’ to invest beyond property
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The pros and cons of debt-to-income restrictions for home loans
Jason Walls (Herald): The Green Party urges ‘bold action’ on housing ahead of Government’s first housing package
RNZ: Greens urge capital gains tax in plan to address housing crisis
Zane Small (Newshub): Greens on housing crisis: Investors must be taxed and forced to cough-up cash deposits
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Property investors’ record run could soon end: Corelogic
Newstalk ZB: Green MP hopes to make it easier for people to buy small apartments
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Landlords selling properties make median $300,000 per sale
Katarina Williams (Stuff): New housing development breath of fresh, warm air for Porirua whānau
Waatea News: Motels no place for mokopuna

Parliament and Government
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): National needs permanent Māori board member, review finds
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Voting without fear, with open eyes
No Right Turn: We need a parliamentary commissioner for human rights
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Simon Bridges kicked out of House after spat with Speaker Trevor Mallard
Jason Walls (Herald): Simon Bridges kicked out of House again after row with Speaker Trevor Mallard over ‘sexism’
Phil Smith (RNZ): Everyone deserves a defence – even Patsy
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Issues, other than Covid, will start to haunt the government
Andrew Ecclestone: Ministry of Justice supports review of the Official Information Act

America’s Cup
Claire Trevett (Herald): the real benefit of the America’s Cup to the Government (paywalled)
Steven Cowan: The bloated corporate monster that is the America’s Cup
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Top government no-show at America’s Cup
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): America’s Cup: PM hails ‘brilliance’ of victorious Team NZ, govt commits more funding
RNZ: Cabinet signals $5m for Team New Zealand’s next America’s Cup defence
Herald: America’s Cup: Jacinda Ardern on Team New Zealand’s victory
John Anthony (Stuff): Team New Zealand will need taxpayer and corporate cash immediately after America’s Cup, expert says
Todd Niall (Stuff): America’s Cup: Talks set to start on whether next defence will be in NZ
Herald: Editorial: The America’s Cup is now anyone’s cup (editorial)
Grant Bradley (Herald): America’s Cup venue question: Business leaders call for Team New Zealand to stay put (paywalled)

Foreign affairs
Michael McGowan (The Guardian): Deportation of a minor: how a ‘corrosive’ policy sank cosy relations between Australia and New Zealand
John Bishop (Stuff): Are the Australians really our friends?
Golriz Ghahraman (The Guardian): Ally or no, New Zealand must stand up to callous Australia over 501 deportees
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Boy’s deportation by Australia a breach of rights, says Children’s Commissioner
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Why the cost of standing up to China’s human rights abuses will only get higher
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Britain to ‘invest deeply’ in New Zealand, strengthen Five Eyes partnership – integrated review
Angela Woodward (Spinoff): Britain is making a terrible mistake in boosting its nuclear arsenal, and NZ needs to say so

Ihumātao
Zane Small (Newshub): Ihumātao deal under scrutiny as Housing Minister Megan Woods accused of using KiwiBuild as ‘slush fund’
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Ihumātao campaigners promise to ‘stay forever’ as $29.9m sale of site completed
Jo Moir (Newsroom): New challenges to resolving Ihumātao land future
Waatea News: Ihumaatao housing likely outcome of housing fund spend
Waatea News: National attacks solution to Ihumaatao mess

Covid and border
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Argument for investing in saving lives from flu, too
Shaun Hendy (Newsroom): Covid-19: ‘I cried quietly to myself – we had beaten it’
Ben Strang (RNZ): Defence Force MIQ workers confused by double standard
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): New graph shows vaccine rollout timeline, how many jabs expected per week
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Prisoners among the 1.7 million people to get Covid-19 vaccine from May
Abbey Wakefield (1News): Covid-19 vaccinations could reach 50k a day during peak of rollout — Bloomfield
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Rural health workers declining Covid-19 vaccine due to ‘hours of travel’
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Trans-Tasman bubble expected to start by the middle of April
Derek Cheng (Herald): Transtasman travel bubble still at least three weeks away
Chris Roberts and Brent Thomas (Herald): Tourism bodies plead for transtasman bubble progress (paywalled)
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Business leaders call for more transparency on Covid advice

Local government
Tom Hunt (Stuff): $500m Shelly Bay development clears significant hurdle in High Court
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington mayor Andy Foster’s chief of staff quits
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington Mayor Andy Foster loses second chief of staff
Damian George (Stuff): Concern over ‘climate change sceptic’ addressing Wellington City Council
Susan Botting (Herald): Māori wards challenged: Move to overturn Whangārei District Council vote
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Waipā District Council opens up deabte on whether to establish Māori ward

Christchurch mosque attacks, hate speech
RNZ: Human Rights Commission backs compensation package for Christchurch terror attack victims
Tom Peters (World socialist website): New Zealand: Two years since the Christchurch far-right terrorist attack
John Gibb (ODT): Optimism over countering hate speech
Stuff: Editorial – Terror attack victims deserve more financial help

Worker exploitation and ‘ethical’ capitalism
Louisa Cleave and Paula Penfold (Stuff): Government investments approved despite links to human rights abuses
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Shipping company slavery accusations ‘concerning’, Mahuta says
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): KiwiSaver provider owned by New Zealand Stock Exchange outed as biggest nuclear investor (paywalled)

Media
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Minister says planned launch of Google News Showcase in NZ is ‘encouraging’
Hayden Donnell (RNZ): Tech giant co-opts media for fight against vaccine misinformation
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Google news plan doesn’t get government off hook with media

Corrections, Justice
Stuff: Corrections signals pepper spray review on eve of prisoner’s court case
Anna Whyte (1News): Government moves to fix botch-up that saw hundreds removed from Child Sex Offender Register
Adam Pearse (Herald): Child Protection Act changes in response to hundreds removed from child sex register

Environment
Yaara Bou Melhem (ABC): New Zealand’s troubled waters
Michael Lueck (The Conversation): A green tax on long-haul flights favours rich tourists. NZ needs a fairer strategy
No Right Turn: Labour should have fixed this long ago

Climate change and energy
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Calculating NZ’s renewable electricity gap
Imran Ali (Herald): Consents sought for massive power station in Northland (paywalled)
Cameron Burrows (Herald): Chasing the biggest carbon emissions reductions for the lowest cost (paywalled)

Primary industries
Catherine Iorns, Mike Britton, and Allan Brent (Newsroom): Pastoral lease reform: back to the future?
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Intensive winter grazing rules deferred until May next year

Other
Luke Kirkness (Herald): Inland Revenue trying to claw back $90 million from our 390 ultra-rich (paywalled)
Murat Ungor (Newsroom): Economic stimulus: Too soon to declare ‘V’ means victory
Emile Donovan (RNZ): Imagining a monarchy-free Aotearoa
RNZ: Three Waters reforms: Government launches workshops to explain to iwi, councils
Dougal Sutherland (Newsroom): No time to waste on mental suffering
Māori TV: Acting Oranga Tamariki chief Sir Wira Gardiner urges aroha in decision-making
Dita De Boni (NBR): Women’s anger met with wall of misogyny around the world (paywalled)