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 crisis
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Housing bonus: National say councils should be given $50,000 for every new house built
Claire Trevett (Herald): National puts up its solution to housing shortage woes
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): ‘Motel generation’ feared as emergency housing need continues
Damian George (Stuff): City council brushes off criticism over $400m social housing gap
Daily Telegraph (Herald): Why billionaires are snapping up second homes in New Zealand
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Two-thirds of economists predict rise in rent on the back of Government’s rule changes
Miriam Bell (Stuff): ‘Fake’ rent bills campaign irks landlords
John Collyns (Stuff): Let’s not confuse retirement village living with homeownership
Colin Comber (Stuff): Don’t confuse the property investor with the speculator
Tony Alexander (One Roof): Will landlords follow through on rent rise threats?
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Govt’s First Home Loan scheme ‘totally redundant’
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): Government’s housing policies hamstrung by reluctance to act on timber, power prices (paywalled)
Ewan McDonald (One Roof): NZ’s most expensive properties: Who’s buying?
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Fears over ‘inaction’ on mouldy, damp, cold, sinking state house

Drug reform
Tess McClure (The Guardian): ‘A lack of political courage’: New Zealand’s drug reform efforts flounder
Russell Brown (Spinoff): Little’s inaction is absurd – New Zealand needs drug law reform now
Gordon Campbell: On Labour refusing to lead a progressive drugs policy
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins pours cold water on Jacinda Ardern’s hope for bipartisanship on drug law reform
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Labour refuse to do anything about racist drug laws

National Party leadership
Claire Trevett (Herald): Simon Bridges’ cryptic dance on Luxon-Bridges leadership talk
Irra Lee (1News): Collins confident National caucus backs her as leader, amid ‘whispers’ of Luxon-Bridges takeover
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): National Party facing another leadership contest rumour as Judith Collins seeks answers to party’s donations debacle
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): National need to cool their jets when it comes to the leadership

Maori Party referred to Police over donations
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup -The Māori Party needs to come clean
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘That’s the game’: Māori Party MPs warned attacks will come over donations scandal
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Ministers confident no taxpayer money used in Māori Party donations
Waatea News: Māori Party fails to report funding

Climate change
Elle Hunt (The Guardian): New Zealand emissions rise as government vows urgent action
Jamie Morton (Herald): Climate change: Why are NZ’s emissions still rising?
Simon Wilson (Herald): Suburban streets are climate action streets
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Air NZ loan extension a ‘lost opportunity’ for climate
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Uptick in climate-heating gases proves the need for a dry-year power fix — Megan Woods
Richard Harman: We have missed every emissions target so far (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Climate Change: The latest inventory
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Greenies can’t have it both ways with EVs

Parliament, Government, Greens
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Parliament takes its time on big human rights decisions
Oliver Hartwich (Herald): The politics of legal sausage-making (paywalled)
Jo Moir (Newsroom): The Greens’ new relationship with power
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Hints of new leadership model for Greens
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Is personal ambition behind the Greens’ latest kooky idea?

New Parliamentary buildings
Amelia Wade (Newshub): From waterslides to karaoke to a Coke Zero fountain: What MPs dream of at Parliament
Jason Walls and Claire Trevett (Herald): New Parliamentary buildings include six-storey property next door, executive wing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Parliament upgrade: Speaker unveils plans for three new buildings to future-proof Parliament complex
RNZ: New Parliament building to house MPs, staff planned for 2022 build

Local Government
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): ACT’s David Seymour compares Labour to Communist China after Tauranga commissioners vote for Māori ward
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Horizons Regional Council seeking views on Māori representation (paywalled)
Don Brash: Maori wards again
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Paul Eagle’s power play raises question of Wellington mayoral bid (paywalled)
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Report being finalised after independent review of Wellington City Council
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Sludge tax: Wellington ratepayers could pay new levy for sewage

Economy and work
Richard Prebble (Herald): It is Social Credit and it will ruin us (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Newsroom): Doing business in NZ getting riskier
Dennis Wesselbaum (Newsroom): Reserve Bank to respond to unprecedented attack on its independence
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZ may have avoided ‘double-dip’ recession, NZIER believes
Newstalk ZB: Labour facing pressure to raise benefits in the Budget
Gerald McGhie (Herald): Exploring more trade possibilities with Russia (paywalled)

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Derek Cheng (Herald): All on track? Health Ministry urgently seeks several positions for vaccine roll-out
Herald: Editorial: Unvaccinated frontline staff our Achilles heel (paywalled)
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Will there be room at the inn if the trans-Tasman bubble bursts?

Mental health crisis
Teuila Fuatai (Newsroom): Frustrating ministry behaviour undermines mental health change (paywalled)
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Nowhere to go for high needs patients stuck in Waikato DHB mental health ward
RNZ: Mental health acute units went over capacity several times – Waikato Hospital review

Health
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Safety concerns as nurses fill in for midwives on short-staffed wards
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): Māori in fight of our lives against cancer (paywalled)
David Wait (Herald): Why nurses have rejected the collective agreement offer (paywalled)
1News: DHBs’ pay offer lacking and will put patients at risk — Christchurch Hospital nurses

Anti-terrorism laws and campaigns
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern admits proposed terror law changes wouldn’t have prevented Christchurch terror attack
Derek Cheng (Herald): Christchurch mosque shootings: Government to widen counter-terrorism law gaps
RNZ: Counterterrorism laws expansion bill follows up mosque attacks report
1News: Ardern says Christchurch Call making ‘tangible progress’, two years on from terrorist attack

Education
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): Hutt Valley High School principal ‘beyond angry’ as classrooms close due to mould, leaks
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Public v private: Parents urged to consider children’s needs rather than prestige when deciding on schools

Other
1News: Exclusive: Government set to announce end to live animal exports
Helen Castles (1News): Winston Peters shows he’s lost none of his trademark charm in rare post-election defeat interview with 1News
RNZ: Police photographing Māori woman at checkpoint ‘arbitrary, unlawful’ – IPCA
Julie Iles (NBR): Act Party president embroiled in charity probe (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Grant Robertson’s Air New Zealand letter puts airline board ‘in invidious position’: National (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): ‘That’ letter from the govt to Air NZ: what’s really in it? (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Islands of the lost heritage
Spinoff: Kris Faafoi: NZ television should see YouTube as an opportunity, not a threat