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

Health reforms: Māori Health Authority
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Collins ignores facts for political point-scoring
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): National leader Judith Collins’ ‘segregation’ remark earns her Māori Party rebuke
RNZ: Collins says her party won’t stand for ‘racist separatism’ New Zealand
Michael Neilson (Herald): Judith Collins calls Māori Health Authority ‘segregation’ from last century
Zane Small (Newshub): National leader Judith Collins likens Māori Health Authority to ‘segregation’ of last century
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Judith Collins’ Māori Health Authority comments ‘hypocritical’ say some Māori health leaders
Stuart Smith; Arena Williams (Stuff): Where Māori patients trust their health providers, better health outcomes follow

National Party: Review and leadership
Ben Thomas (Stuff): The clearest signal yet that Collins feels under leadership pressure
Richard Harman: Echoes of Brash and Orewa (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Judith’s dog whistle becomes canine trumpet – why segregation race baiting won’t save National
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Judith Collins says National ‘don’t believe in quotas’ as party considers measures to increase diversity
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): National proposes fixed rules for its future leadership bids
Newstalk ZB: National to leave decision on review recommendations up to members
1News: Collins says National’s election review contains ‘nothing secret’, after internal party email sent to media
Herald: National needs better Māori representation and leadership processes, report says
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Judith Collins says it’s ‘absolutely crucial’ National doesn’t introduce quotas, place ethnicity over merit

National Party: Donations
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Electoral Commission gives National warning over late donation declaration from real estate mogul, but will not bring in police
Jason Walls (Herald): Electoral Commission cautions the National Party over tardy donation disclosure
RNZ: National Party warned for failing to declare donation on time
1News: National given warning over failure to declare $35,000 donation within timeframe

Māori Party referred to the Serious Fraud Office
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Police refer Māori Party to Serious Fraud Office over $328,000 in undeclared donations
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Police refer Māori Party to Serious Fraud Office over donations
No Right Turn: White privilege in action

Housing crisis
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Housing costs may have undercut parental leave increase – report
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Cost paid to emergency housing motels by govt for damage unknown
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): What can be done to curb rising building costs?
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Supply shortages should stop house price falls, Corelogic says
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Government buys hundreds of houses in direct competition with first-home buyers
Anna Leask (Herald): ‘I told you someone would get killed’ – Christchurch man angry after complaints about social housing problems ‘fell on deaf ears’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Housing market expected to cool as national median price hits $805k
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Will housing sink the government?
Spinoff: The state housing system is failing its tenants – just as it failed my family
Newstalk ZB: Govt urged to fix emergency housing crisis after criticism from Minister Davidson
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Property report reinforces how hot the market has been this year

Government and Parliament
Audrey Young (Herald): Rating Jacinda Ardern’s second-term Cabinet after six months (paywalled)
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Winston’s Comeback: A Strategy
Claire Trevett (Herald): Ayesha Verrall, Cabinet’s ‘grumpy doctor lady’ on her first six months (paywalled)

Media, communications and information
Jessica Mutch McKay (1News): ‘Here’s to another 150’ – Jessica Mutch McKay on the Parliamentary Press Gallery anniversary
Tim Murphy and Mark Jennings (Newsroom): In Media, We Don’t Trust
Chris Keall (Herald): Top-tier departures as Sky TV slims its executive team (paywalled)
Mathew Marques, James (Jim) McLennan, John Kerr, Mathew Ling, Matt Williams (The Conversation): Was Phar Lap killed by gangsters? New research shows which conspiracies people believe in and why
No Right Turn: How bad are the police at the OIA?
Piers Fuller (Stuff): Harry Potter quiz cancelled at festival delving into cancel culture
David Bromell (VUW): Counter-speech and civility as everyone’s responsibility
David Bromell (VUW): Striking a fair balance when regulating harmful communication

Local government
Damian George (Stuff): Iwi to have voting rights on Wellington council committees, with mayor’s support
Rosie Gordon (Newhub): Wellington City Council votes to include Mana Whenua in almost all meetings
Chris Marshall (Stuff): Taupō confirms Maori wards for next two local elections
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Stratford District Council called out for lagging behind in establishing Māori ward
Waatea News: Local government reform big chance for Maori voice
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Environment Southland proposes one-off 20 per cent rates hike
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Wellington safety a matter of ‘urgency’ after students present survey findings to council
Calida Stuart-Menteath (NBR): Wellington isn’t dying, insists new Commerce Chamber chief (paywalled)

NZ-China-Australia international relations
Peter Dunne: The Government is right to push back against the Five Eyes
Terence O’Brien (Stuff): How NZ can wield its soft power in dealings with China
William Stoltz (Sydney Morning Herald): Five Eyes split demands Australia reset with New Zealand
Lucy Cramer (Stuff): Five Eyes: What is it? And how has the intelligence group expanded into more of a diplomatic mission?
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Nanaia Mahuta asks for advice about ‘processes, considerations’ of determining genocide, Labour to consider ACT’s proposed China motion next week
No Right Turn: Will Labour condemn genocide in Xinjiang?
Muriel Newman (NZCPR) Threatening Our Future
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): NZ’s electric buses prompt forced Uyghur labour concerns

Economy and work
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Political pressure rising on a political Reserve Bank (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey: RIP RBNZ independence
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Modern slavery: Kiwis spend $34 a week on goods linked to child and forced labour
Grant Bayldon (Spinoff): The scourge of modern slavery – and New Zealand’s yawning inaction

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Zane Small (Newshub): Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall defends NZ’s fall from #1, asks for patience over COVID-19 vaccine rollout
Adam Pearse (Herald): Survey: ‘Significant gaps’ in NZ’s emergency departments’ Covid-19 preparedness
Steven Cowan: Jacinda Ardern won’t support a people’s vaccine
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Northland DHB misses Covid-19 vaccination target by nearly 4000 doses

Transport
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government may axe promised roads, as costs mount in $12b infrastructure package
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Wellington transport plans gridlocked as infrastructure package goes over budget
Ranjana Gupta (Herald): Mitigating Auckland’s traffic woes through tax (paywalled)

Health reforms
Tim Dower (Newstalk ZB): Is it time to make GP’s free?
Carly Gooch (Stuff): Health board chair acknowledges health shake up an unsettling time for staff
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Government announces two big hospital funding projects worth $150 million

Other
Tess McClure (The Guardian): Who guards the guards? Experts call for oversight of New Zealand’s terror laws
David Hall (The Conversation): Without the right financial strategies, NZ’s climate change efforts will remain unfinished business
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Council taking more rigorous approach with teachers failing te reo requirement
Jason Walls (Herald): The Government will roll out changes to make birth-certificate sex changes easier
Zachary Meskell (The Big Q): Is New Zealand really the least corrupt country in the world?
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Police praised intelligence system after mosque attacks, despite shortcomings
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Unlawful Ihumātao deal stunk from the start