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

Ihumātao unlawful government spend
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Auditor-General rules the $29.9m the Government used to buy Ihumātao was unlawfully spent
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Housing Minister Megan Woods promises to ‘tidy up’ unlawful purchase of Ihumātao
1News: Unlawful Ihumātao payment another ‘messy chapter’ in the saga, 1News political reporter says
Anna Whyte (1News): Ihumātao $29.9m payment ‘unlawful’ after officials miss key steps in approval process – Auditor General
RNZ: Ihumātao land deal ‘unlawful’ until validated by Parliament – Auditor-General
Michael Neilson (Herald): Government’s Ihumātao land purchase ‘unlawful’ – Auditor-General
David Farrar: Oops we broke the law again

Health 
Jason Walls (Herald): Government to unveil significant ‘once-in-a-generation’ health sector shake-up
Bridie Witton and Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government to announce shape of NZ’s reformed health system, possible powers for new Māori Health Authority
Richard Prebble (Herald): Andrew Little’s health reforms will achieve little (paywalled)
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Ban on DHB members making political comment may prevent criticism of health reforms
No Right Turn: An inappropriate gag
Art Nahill (Herald): Curing our overcrowded emergency wards (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Andrew Little is completely wrong on decriminalising drugs
Alice Angeloni (RNZ): Dental care for East Coast teenagers after principal fights tooth and nail for 20 years
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): ‘Clear’ inequity for Māori in health care – report

NZ-China relations: Mahuta Speech
Stuff: Editorial – A welcome shift in talk of China
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand’s new stance on Five Eyes isn’t a backdown to China
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern reaffirms commitment to Five Eyes after UK media claims it’s ‘become four’
RNZ: New Zealand ‘concerned’ about China asserting itself in the region, foreign minister says
Newstalk ZB: Foreign Affairs Minister addresses her comments on Five Eyes and China
Newstalk ZB: Foreign Minister urges NZ exporters to become less reliant on China

Economy, immigration and work
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Grant Robertson’s billion-dollar window of opportunity
ODT: Editorial – The story of subsidies
Ben Kelleher (Stuff): Here’s how the pandemic improved NZers’ financial fortunes
Meriana Johnsen (Stuff): Call for more Māori, Pasifika businesses to be awarded government contracts
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Kiwi workers upbeat about their jobs and industry – survey (paywalled)
Helen Roberts and Dennis Wesselbaum (Stuff): Minimum wage increase: bone or bane?
Jamie Gray (Herald): A small lift in March quarter CPI expected, but pressure builds (paywalled)

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Derek Cheng (Herald): Flying blind? We don’t really know how many border workers are missing tests (paywalled)
Tess McClure and Paul Karp (The Guardian): New Zealand airport worker tests positive to Covid on second day of travel bubble
Herald: New case at Auckland Airport – vital questions
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The race to vaccinate New Zealand in 36 weeks
Roger Partridge (Herald): Testing and vaccination bungles fail cautionary principle (paywalled)
John Anthony (Stuff): Customs and Immigration NZ officers can process red and green zone passengers on same day

National Party
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – National has bigger problems than its leadership
Liam Hehir (The Guardian): National MPs should stop their intrigues – changing the leadership won’t help right now
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): National Party will meet in June for special conference on constitutional changes

Housing crisis
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Building a case for ‘build-to-rent’ developments
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Emergency housing: Woman beaten unconscious, children being ‘put at risk’
RNZ: House prices continuing to soar – new QV Quarterly Index

Climate change
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Helen Clark warns New Zealand will look ‘as silly as we do now’ if climate change ‘political football’ continues
Chlöe Swarbrick (Herald): Youth protest is politics in its purest form
Steven Cowan: James Shaw: The corporate-friendly climate change minister we don’t need
Jim Salinger (Herald): Climate change, overfishing, a mammoth threat (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): When will we accept the climate crisis is out of control?
Ralph Chapman (Newsroom): EVs – not as bad but still not good
Stuff: Biden’s climate summit is Govt’s chance to unveil tougher emissions-reduction pledge

Transport
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Public will pay and pay for delayed Transmission Gully
RNZ: National defends Transmission Gully after serious planning flaws found
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington’s Transmission Gully review shows there’s no value in trying to cut corners (paywalled)
Justin Latif (Spinoff): Mind the gap: How Auckland Transport plans to tackle its diversity problem

Winston Peters MSD privacy court case
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Winston Peters’ privacy breach case no longer targets former National MPs
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Peters legal fight against tigers and Russian dolls
Melissa Nightingale (Herald): Winston Peters in court to appeal superannuation privacy breach decision

Mental health crisis
Lois Williams (RNZ): West Coast DHB defends child mental health service
RNZ: Mental health campaigner Jane Stevens ‘hopeful’ after meeting with minister Andrew Little
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Mental health service Nikau House not recognisable, says client

Parliament
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Labour ends attempt to repeal ‘dead rat’ Waka Jumping law
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Covid-19 officials dodge Speaker’s bullet

Media
Gavin Ellis: Mosque killer dilemma: To name or not
RNZ: NZME found to have breached stock exchange rules relating to Stuff bid

Other
Nicky Hager (RNZ): Long-term NZSIS officer runs Thompson and Clark surveillance operations
Nicky Hager (RNZ): ‘We had vehicles outside the house’: Exclusive Brethren used Thompson and Clark to spy on ex-members
Oliver Hartwich (Newsroom): A Marxist critique of the lifestyle left
Donna Chisholm (Listener/Herald): NZ’s potentially catastrophic near-miss from outer space: ‘We’re not learning’ (paywalled)
Michael Daly (Stuff): Leading scientists call for public report of risks facing NZ
Andrea Vance (Stuff): More than 300 Kiwis deported from Australia while borders closed
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Report warned of toxic mould problems at Hutt High three years before classrooms were closed
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Countering dominant narratives of NZ’s far right
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The intellectual bankruptcy of the NZ left’s hate speech legislation