Editor’s Note: This NZ Politics Daily newsletter will be the last from Bryce Edwards for a time. Bryce will be focussing more on his own analysis, Political Roundup, which you can subscribe to here. Evening Report thanks Bryce for having made his Politics Daily available for republishing on ER. It has been a most valuable snapshot of the big political issues as reported on in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Today’s content
Budget: Benefits increase and poverty
Janet McAllister (Stuff): Budget did not go far enough to fix child poverty
Max Rashbrooke (The Guardian): Jacinda Ardern’s budget made progress on poverty, but it’s not mission accomplished
Simon Wilson (Herald): Chewing over the Budget with Judith Collins and poverty researchers (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern defends lack of middle-income measures in Budget, says Working For Families reform coming this term
1News: More required post-Budget if NZ wants ‘welfare state that really works’ – Children’s Commissioner
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Budget 2021: Are the benefit increases really enough to keep up?
RNZ: Benefit increases welcomed but some community groups need more
Brent Edwards (NBR): Fact or Fiction: Budget 2021 benefit rises and the big debt mountain (paywalled)
Kerre McIvor (Newstalk ZB): Benefit increase money well spent, if it works
Bay of Plenty Times: Budget 2021 reaction: Benefit rises aid some in Bay of Plenty, others missing out
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Not a broken promise’: Grant Robertson says new unemployment insurance will be paid via levy, not a tax
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Accommodation Supplement ends up ‘going towards landlords’, is under review – Grant Robertson
Jason Walls (Herald): Government has ‘no plans’ to implement rent control policy, Robertson says
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Ex-beneficiary gets biggest Budget win
Peter Williams (Magic talk): Labour not helping anyone – including the poor
Budget: General
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Grant Robertson’s Budget aimed squarely at middle New Zealand
Claire Trevett (Herald): Budget won’t be talked about for long (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Stuff): The Oliver Twist Cartoon — how Jacinda Ardern remembers ‘the Mother of all Budgets’
Andrea Vance (Stuff): As Labour looks to its historic foundations, National needs to start letting go of the past
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Labour’s timid and cautious approach (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Economic future so bright, you gotta wear shades (paywalled)
Kerre McIvor (Herald): Labour returns to its roots – but who will pay? (paywalled)
RNZ: Socialism in South Dunedin? Seymour slammed over Hillside North Korea jibe
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Fewer people at the table’: Grant Robertson all smiles at no longer having to please Winston Peters
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer blasts Whānau Ora cuts as ‘inexcusable’
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): ‘Ironic’ of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to recollect 1991 ‘Mother of all Budgets’ when she would have been 11 years old – Peter Dunne
Haimona Gray (Herald): Budget 2021 and the end of the Māori Separatism conversation? (paywalled)
Herald: Editorial: ‘Benefits not Jobs’ Budget 2021 gives Judith Collins air (paywalled)
Terry Baucher (Interest): Changes to income tax thresholds remain on ice
Guy Trafford (Interest): The verdict: the opposite of ‘transformational’
Claire Trevett (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern on border re-opening, Covid fund, benefits boost
Stephen Bartos (The Conversation): Australia v NZ: You can tell a lot about a country by the way it budgets
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Asset owners are still receiving more support than beneficiaries
Michael Neilson (Herald): Budget 2021: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern hits back at jobs, middle New Zealand criticism
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Money for music, tax for the rich — what you missed in Budget 2021
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Parliament polarised by the benefits of a deep-red Budget
RNZ: Budget 2021 expectations vs reality: What you need to know
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): A moral and practical budget
Melanie Carroll (Newshub): Negative Budget 2021 says ‘this is as good as it gets’: Judith Collins
Zane Small (Newshub): From funding euthanasia to managing ‘people of extreme risk’: Budget 2021’s overlooked bits
Michael Cullen (Herald): Wellbeing at the core of balanced Budget (paywalled)
Nadine Porter (Stuff): Farmers concerned funding calls will reverse economic reforms
Stuff: Points of Order: A blockbuster Budget and the morning after
Phil Smith (RNZ): Gone by lunchtime – Budget urgency
RNZ: Budget 2021: Finance minister defends New Zealand’s ‘strong balance sheet’
Cass Marrett (Re News): I don’t understand the Budget so I got an economist to explain it to me – 2021 edition
Proposed unemployment social insurance
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): What we know about how social unemployment insurance might work
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Details to be ironed out in social insurance (paywalled)
Vanessa Cole (Spinoff): The problem with social unemployment insurance
Parliament
Sam Hurley (Herald): Political parties under a cloud of criminal cases (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): MPs’ expenses: What PM Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins election campaigns cost taxpayers (paywalled)
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Media make and break leadership in volatile times
Brian Easton (Pundit): The Class Of Labour
Brent Edwards (NBR): Should opinion polls matter as much as they do in politics? (paywalled)
Bill Ralston (Listener/Herald): When media training politicians fails (paywalled)
Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Parliament paranormal: Newshub investigates rumours of ghosts in the Beehive
Act’s four year parliamentary term proposal
Andrew Geddis (Spinoff): Some thoughts on David Seymour’s ‘democracy policy’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): David Seymour wants four-year parliamentary terms, but with a catch
RNZ: Act’s push for four-year parliamentary term, with a Select Committee catch
RNZ: Act proposes four year Government term in Members Bill
Act Party
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Act leader confident 250,000 more people will support party by 2023
Claire Trevett (Herald): Act leader David Seymour and National’s Judith Collins wrestle over who leads Opposition (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Seymour chases broad base to double caucus in 2023
National Party
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Judith Collins’ tightrope act deserves more applause (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of the Collins Gang (paywalled)
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An ode for the National Party
Racism, He Puapua, and Māori self-determination
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Labour’s inaction, National’s crassness letting us down
Richard Harman: National dials the Treaty campaign back and returns to basics (paywalled)
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Caution is the superfood of institutional racism
John Minto (Daily Blog): Working alongside Māori to improve our democracy
Rodney Hide: Racist stats
Economy and work
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Are wages too low to attract hospitality workers?
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Ready, set, restructure: A look at the new wave of restructures
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Treasury can’t rule out ‘lost’ aluminium smelter agreement
Imran Ali (Herald): Cut red tape to speed up projects and money for Northland, Shane Jones says
Siobhan Wilson (1News): Finance Minister Grant Robertson to keep close eye on interest rates following Budget announcement
Claire Breen (ODT): Uproar over public sector pay restraint hides deeper problem
Bernard Hickey: Will the RBNZ flinch?
Aimee Shaw (Herald): 2020’s wild ride: Retail spending in the year of Covid (paywalled)
Justin Latif (Spinoff): Boost to vocational training to help tackle youth unemployment
Mark Fowler (Herald): Are interest rates really heading up? (paywalled)
Brad Olsen (Stuff): What being a young economist has taught me about money
Jade Kake (Stuff): Māori have colonisers to blame for concept of individual debt
Housing
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research poll shows Kiwis don’t think Government is doing enough to fix housing crisis and want prices to fall
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Accommodation supplement propping up rental market by $30m a week
Nadine Porter (Stuff): A home for life: A new way to look at social housing
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Hamilton’s housing crisis: leaders size up new $3.8b fund
Steven Joyce (Herald): The magical assumptions around house prices (paywalled)
Catherine Smith (One Roof): Will house prices really come to standstill in less than 12 months?
Mike O’Donnell (Stuff): Prices not the only obstacle for house buyers
Michael Neilson (Herald): Māori housing boost ‘will make a difference’ for most vulnerable
Local government
Tara Shaskey (Stuff): Māori ward decision ‘not guaranteed’ and legislation still needed, says ex-New Plymouth mayor Andrew Judd
David Farrar: A nonsense poll
Puna Wano-Bryant and Dan Lander (Stuff): Māori wards a step along road to a better, more inclusive, future
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Haka, tears as Marlborough councillors vote for Māori ward
Charlotte Jones (Herald): Whakatāne District Council votes to establish Māori wards
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Ka pai councillors: Stratford District Council votes aē to Māori ward
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Whanganui mayor sought advice on last-minute Māori wards vote meeting
Lois Williams (ODT): O’Connor warns regional council leadership crisis could cost ratepayers
Alice Angeloni (Herald): Gisborne councillors question “huge” rates increase for rural townships before voting it in
International relations and defence
1News: ‘It costs nothing’ – Govt should have passed motion recognising Palestine as nation state, Q+A panel says
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Foreign affairs funding largely on ice as new priorities emerge
Damien Grant (Stuff): Vitriol and double standards are directed against Israel
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): How Australia’s trade stance can materially affect us (paywalled)
Paul Foster-Bell (Newsroom): No prosperity without freedom of travel
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government will rewrite Defence Force’s priorities, possibly signalling ‘leaner years’
Health
Conan Young (RNZ): Calls for ‘precautionary approach’ after study links nitrate levels to preterm births
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Māori Health Authority funding should be ‘at least’ proportionate to population, commentator says
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Pharmac got what it was promised – Grant Robertson
Francesca Rudkin (Newstalk ZB): Government missed a chance to properly fund Pharmac
Ian Powell: A fleeting health system consensus
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Vaping problem in schools at ‘almost epidemic proportions’
Andrew McRae (RNZ): Cyber attack: Hundreds more to miss out on surgery as Waikato DHB rebuilds IT system
Caitlin Ellis and Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Waikato DHB cyber attack: Chief executive refuses to pay ransom
Paul Skirrow (Newsroom): Time for a national psychology service?
Immigration
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): A ‘once in a generation opportunity’ to throw migrant workers under the bus
Andrew Barnes (Herald): What Govt should demand of wealthy investors coming to NZ (paywalled)
John Braddock (World socialist website): New Zealand Labour government targets rich investors in immigration “reset”
ODT: Editorial – Immigration reset unclear
Bruce Cotterill (Herald): Migrants welcome — we need you (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (NBR): It’s not about us wanting immigrants – it’s about them wanting us (paywalled)
Education
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Act wants to give principals power to give high-performing teachers bonuses
Stuff: ACT leader calls for bonus pay for high-performing teachers
Alison Mau (Stuff): It’s madness that we don’t teach our ākonga the history of Aotearoa
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Iwi booklet aspires to contribute to Māori history curriculum
Environment and climate change
Robert McLachlan and Paul Callister (The Guardian): The climate crisis deserves more than small change in New Zealand’s budget
RNZ: Government’s commitment to putting cameras on commercial fishing boats questioned
Nadia Lim (Stuff): Something must be done about New Zealand’s shocking soft plastic recycling efforts
David Williams (Newsroom): Irrigation closing in on conservation land at spit
Covid
Chris Keall (Herald): $35m Covid vaccine software overspend? Orion Health CEO says Ministry memo, released under OIA, helps prove his case (paywalled)
John Roughan (Herald): Cabinet gave the vaccination programme entirely to the Ministry of Health, it won’t turn out well (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Government has task on its hands with vaccine hesitancy
Adam Pearse (Herald): Rest home vaccine delay causing anxiety and frustration
Media
Katie Harris (Herald): Five people reported for harassment or sexism at state broadcaster Radio New Zealand
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Calls for Newshub boycott, after Three axes its Otago reporter
Other
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): The State of the political left (in the Age of Outrage)
Martin Van Beynen (Stuff): Columnist dubbed thinking man’s redneck bows out after 17 years
Jenny Nicholls (Stuff): To those accustomed to privilege, equality can feel like oppression
Cherie Howie (Herald): The new New Zealand – move over Boomer, the rise of the Millennial (paywalled)
Ben Leonard (Newsroom): Budget spend on Māori data ‘too little, too late’
Lisa Tumahai (Stuff): As a country, as South Islanders, as Ngāi Tahu, we all face huge challenges: we must face them together
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Safety lessons from Pike River mine being applied at Auckland’s City Rail Link project (paywalled)
Moana Jackson (E-Tangata): Colonisation has always been separatist
Joris de Bres (E-Tangata): The Dawn Raids: Why apologise?
Kennedy Warne (E-Tangata): The legal force of tikanga
RNZ: ‘Distressing signals’ found in survey on feelings of safety in NZ
Geraden Cann (Stuff): How the public helped police seek out white supremacists after mosque shootings
Max Tweedie (Spinoff): After an underwhelming budget for rainbow communities, it’s time for a new ministry
Anne Gibson (Herald): Retirement village contracts, complaints system need reform: Minister Poto Williams (paywalled)
Miriam Burrell (Herald): Gang violence: Fatal shooting and violent brawl as survey reveals gang fears
