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

NZ-China relations: Mahuta Speech
Tim Watkin (Pundit): Taniwha New Zealand shows its foreign policy teeth to the world. But what does it mean?
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Mahuta treads a careful but clear line on China
Alexander Gillespie (The Conversation): Without evidence of real progress, NZ’s foreign policy towards China looks increasingly empty
Luke Malpass and Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): The taniwha and the dragon: Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta talks China in major speech
Audrey Young (Herald): Nanaia Mahuta likens NZ-China relations to taniwha and dragon
Richard Harman: Mahuta redefines New Zealand’s foreign policy (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Mahuta warns against economic overexposure to China
Anna Whyte (1News): Nanaia Mahuta looking to diversify NZ’s trade away from reliance on China
RNZ: Minister calls to expand NZ international trade arrangements
Zane Small (Newshub): Nanaia Mahuta likens New Zealand-China relationship to ‘dragon and taniwha’, who ‘cannot and will not’ always agree
Australian Associated Press: New Zealand ‘uncomfortable’ with expanding Five Eyes’ remit, says foreign minister
Zane Small (Newshub): NZ ‘uncomfortable’ with expanding remit of the Five Eyes – Nanaia Mahuta
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Foreign Minister’s speech suggests a move away from China
Cathy Odgers: Nanaia’s birds nest word soup

Speech regulation
Chris Trotter (Interest): On whether the Government’s proposed ‘cure for hate speech is worse than the complaint
Siobhan Wilson (1News): David Seymour: Harsher penalties for hate speech than for assaulting women, children
Zane Small (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern ‘disheartened’ by ACT’s anti-hate speech law campaign
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Hasty Jacinda retreat on free speech only empowers Act more

Economy, immigration and work
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Here’s how NZ could be better off without working harder
RNZ: New Zealand firms’ productivity lower than comparable economies – report
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Some NZ immigration policies world-leading, but could still be better: NZIER
Liam Dann (Herald): Time to review migration policy – Productivity Commission (paywalled)
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Productivity Commission: Big increases to temporary migration, little tracking of effects (paywalled)
Ankur Sabharwal (Stuff): An immigration scam encouraged by the New Zealand government
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Inflation data unlikely to settle argument over how much to worry
Chris Keall (Herald): Rocketwerkz boss Dean Hall’s fury at Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash’s Amazon deal (paywalled)
Alyssa Ray (Stuff): You won’t believe the amount Amazon’s willing to spend on new Lord of the Rings series

Migrant separations
RNZ: Kris Faafoi announces new border exceptions for relatives of some migrant workers
Zane Small (Stuff): Family reunification border exemptions: How hundreds of healthcare workers can reunite
Jason Walls (Herald): Hundreds of families will be reunited as border exemptions widened

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The road bumps in our vaccination rollout
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Why should Māori trust the Covid-19 vaccine?
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern ‘tossing up further precautions’ for travellers from India when travel ban lifts
Adam Pearse (Herald): Millennium and Grand Mercure MIQ shutdown during investigation
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Ministry of Health must shoulder the blame for Covid failures
Tess McClure (The Guardian): Jacinda Ardern says start of trans-Tasman travel bubble is ‘truly exciting’
Herald: Editorial: Some Kiwis are ready to board but not everyone is on board with the bubble (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Trans Tasman political dangers for Labour & the NZ mainstream media

Transport
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): A Fast train to a sustainable future
Todd Niall (Stuff): What’s the point of buses if no-one uses them?
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Review finds Transmission Gully doomed from the start, with unrealistic expectations of cost
Dan Bidois (Stuff): Transport spending is crucial, but we must make sure we pick the right projects

Housing crisis
Jade Kake (Stuff): What role should local councils play in responding to the housing crisis?
Jane Patterson (RNZ): ‘Alcoholics, drug deals, gang affiliations, domestic violence’ – Emergency housing labelled as dangerous
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Covid-19 created ‘rare opportunity’ to tackle housing market
David Hargreaves (Interest): The Covid opportunity – a balanced housing market ‘now within reach’
John Berry (Stuff): Residential property: A ponzi scheme or an investment bubble?

Health and Mental health crisis
Cate Broughton (Stuff): New code of conduct gags DHB members ahead of health system shake-up
Derek Cheng (Herald): Young Labour to Labour – decriminalise all drug use
Jamie Morton (Herald): ‘Decade of elimination’: $5m project’s big goal for NZ health
Herald: Report: Māori youth more likely to die than non-Māori following major trauma
Dennis Wesselbaum (Newsroom): Covid and suicide, is there a link?

Wellington local Government
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City Council shake-up revealed following review
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City Council shake-up a ‘missed opportunity’ (paywalled)
Harry Lock (RNZ): Wellington Mayor proposes council restructure following Winder review
Mark Amery (Stuff): Restructure of Wellington cultural institutions absolutely positively provincial

Parliament
Isobel Ewing (Crux/Stuff): ‘Not having food’: Southland MP Joseph Mooney on childhood hardship and tragedy
Jason Walls (Herald): What’s the rush? Comparing National and Labour Government’s use of urgency (paywalled)

Other
Sarah Robson (RNZ): $25 benefit increase ‘too little to make a substantive difference’
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Distressing death warning for ‘unregulated’ euthanasia drugs
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): ’75pc risk’ of big quake on Alpine Fault by 2068: What would it cost?
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): School streaming: A fast track to nowhere
Luke Harrington (Newsroom): ‘IIMBYism’ and our abysmal climate failure
Stuff: Editorial – Mrs P shouldn’t be made a victim again
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): The Spinoff: From dark days to Daylight (paywalled)
Guy Trafford (Interest): Blind to realities