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
Commerce Commission Supermarket Report
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour’s $22 billion supermarket problem — and opportunity
Bernard Hickey (Spinoff): The supermarket duopoly is a disaster for consumers. But don’t bet on a break-up
Max Rashbrooke (Stuff): Supermarket prices: Politicians have dropped the ball
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Supermarkets face real threat of a break-up if they back regulator into a corner
Liam Dann (Herald): How the hell did we allow a supermarket duopoly? (paywalled)
Ernie Newman (Herald): Supermarkets – the Telecom parallel (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): The Commerce Commission heaps pressure on Government to deliver supermarket changes (paywalled)
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Small muesli maker blows whistle on big supermarkets
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Supermarket duopoly slammed as regulator waves the biggest of sticks
RNZ: Strong regulation needed to counter supermarket price gouging – marketing expert
RNZ: Commerce Commission reveals major retailers earning ‘persistently high profits’
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Pulling out all the stops to get a new supermarket player into the market
Heather du Plessis-Allan (NewstalkZB): We pay too much for groceries
Kerre McIvor (Herald):The supermarkets should take ComCom report seriously (paywalled)
1 News: ‘Affordable’ prices not passed to supermarket shoppers – supplier
NZ Herald: Public opposition to supermarket prices following report findings
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Supermarket boss: ‘So this is CEO asked to stop’
Anna Whyte (1 News): Supermarket industry ‘not working well’ for consumers
Herald Editorial: Smashing the supermarket duopoly is a safe bet for Labour (paywalled)
Stuff Editorial: Time to rein in supermarket chains
Stuff Editorial: An end to pain at the check-out?
ODT Editorial: Supermarket changes unknown
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): Supermarkets are sitting ducks for pro-competition regulation (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (BusinessDesk): Why it’s hard to open a supermarket in NZ
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why we urgently need a State owned supermarket
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): The Sin Of Cheapness
RNZ: Clark on supermarket report: ‘I think we all want a better deal’
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): If Kiwis pay too much at the supermarket, what’s the price of cheese overseas?
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): NZ supermarket giants warned: Change your ways or face break-up
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Government responds to damning supermarket report on high costs
Hamish Rutherford and Chris Keall (Herald): Supermarket report is the sector’s ‘Telecom moment’, grocery lobby says
Kate MacNamara (Herald): The problem of supermarkets’ power and Government’s attitude to competition (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Nothing will change from the supermarket inquiry
1News: Govt could intervene to break up ‘supermarket regime’ – NZ Food and Grocery Council
RNZ: Fruit growers want ‘more transparency’ on costs from supermarkets
Dita De Boni (NBR): Minister doesn’t rule out govt-owned KiwiMarket to bring prices down (paywalled)
Daniel Riordan (NBR): Mixed reaction to ComCom’s supermarket review (paywalled)
Aaron Leaman and Sharnae Hope (Stuff): ‘I’m grateful for Homebrand’ – shoppers give their two cents on supermarket duopoly
Opinion polls, government, political parties
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research Poll: ACT soars to 11.1 pct, Labour plummets to 43 pct and National still not cracking 30s
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): ACT’s David Seymour overtakes National’s Judith Collins as preferred Prime Minister in Newshub-Reid Research Poll
Perry Wilton and Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research Poll: ACT leader David Seymour is proving himself – political commentator
Henry Cooke (Stuff): New poll: ACT big winner as Labour support slips, David Seymour ahead of Judith Collins
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Newshub-Reid Research Poll: Left crash – Right Rise!
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Newshub/Reid Research poll July 2021
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Support for Labour takes a hit, popularity for ACT growing in new poll
Anneke Smith (RNZ): ACT hopes growing popularity will lead to ‘a change in direction’
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Latest Roy Morgan Poll – Right up, Left down & how gender defines 2023 election strategy
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Roy Morgan poll July 2021
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Chris Trotter (Interest): Neither passionless, nor zombies
Richard Harman (Politik): The Government’s new agenda
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Return of Suhayra Aden stirs up debate
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Southern say: Crunch time nears in battle of the Jameses
Dan Satherley (Newshub Nation): Green co-leader Marama Davidson says party leadership should reflect ‘Te Tiriti representation’
Vita Molyneux (Newshub):Chlöe Swarbrick says she will never become Prime Minister, would rather ‘fight’ in Greens
Bruce Cotterill (Herald): Getting National back on the winning track (paywalled)
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Muller takes more time away
David Fisher (Herald): National’s new tough on crime campaign uses bad data, cherry-picked stats and attacks a justice scheme Judith Collins helped set up (paywalled)
Moana Ellis (Herald): Māori Party: Remove barriers to Māori voting
Steven Cowan (Against the Current): Matthew McCarten: The Liberal Left has Abandoned Working Class Politics
Dawn Raids apology
Stuff Editorial: Apology must not prove a false dawn
Keith Lynch (Stuff): The dawn raids explained: What drove the Government to target Pasifika people
Melanie Earley and Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Recap: Jacinda Ardern gives ‘unreserved apology’ for racially targeted Dawn Raids
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Dawn Raids: ‘This incredible moment’
Justin Latif (Spinoff): ‘We accept your apology. However …’ Pacific leaders look to ‘new dawn’
Mariner Fagaiava-Muller (RNZ): One-on-one with Aupito William Sio before Dawn Raids Apology
Uma Ahmed (Stuff): An email sent from Invercargill leads to the national Dawn Raids apology
Te Rina Triponel (Herald): Dawn Raids: ‘All is forgiven’ – Sāmoan woman shares emotional experience
1News: Ardern offers ‘unreserved’ apology for dawn raids on Govt’s behalf
1News: Full broadcast: Govt’s formal apology to Pacific community for dawn raids
Newshub: Jacinda Ardern’s full Dawn Raids apology speech
RNZ: Ardern gives formal apology on behalf of government for Dawn Raids
RNZ: Photo Essay: Dawn Raids apology at Auckland Town Hall
Housing
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Housing a human rights calamity, commissioner says
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Human Rights Commission to launch national inquiry into housing crisis
RNZ: Human Rights Commission launches national inquiry into housing crisis
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Is there really a housing supply shortage?
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Housing affordability could take decades to improve – ANZ
Miriam Bell (Stuff): ‘Perfect storm’ means rental affordability declining nationwide
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Time to ‘rethink and reset’ the land tax regime – tax expert
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Record home consents highlight how housing is changing
Brent Edwards (NBR): Should you blame boomers for the housing market boom? (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): The numbers that show how exposed NZ is to property and interest rate hikes
Susan St John (Interest): Housing is Labour’s Achilles heel
Dan Satherley (Newshub Nation): Marama Davidson, responsible for solving homelessness, ‘not satisfied’ with progress to date
Denise Piper (Stuff): ‘About time’: Whangārei supports Kāinga Ora high-rise apartments
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Houses for sale hit 14-year low, asking prices surge
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): ‘I feel terrified’: 18-year-old’s emotional plea for Govt to step up for homeless rangatahi
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘I got educated, I got out’: How a woman who grew up ‘hotel-hopping’ is housing a new generation of homeless
RNZ: Available housing stock lowest in 14 years
Steven Walton (Stuff): Greater Christchurch needs 77,000 new homes in the next 30 years, analysis says
Skara Bohny (Stuff): 864-dwelling housing shortfall forecast for Nelson
RNZ: Rents rise 4.8% in a year, affordability declines in six regions – study
Conan Young (RNZ): Rising rents drive surge in hidden homelessness in Ōtautahi
Cira Olivier (Herald): Rent crisis: People stuck in motels as investors sell out of fear and the rental pool shrinks (paywalled)
Ben Leahy (Herald): ‘Ghost houses’ increasing – why are 40,000 homes lying vacant in Auckland? (paywalled)
Nicola Willis (Magic Talk): Labour is fudging its state housing numbers
Greg Ninness (Interest): First home buyers accounting for a whopping 41% of housing sales each month, new interest.co.nz First Home Buyer Report shows
One Roof: NZ house prices hit record highs, but market is slowing, OneRoof-Valocity figures show
Catherine Smith (One Roof): Where rents have jumped the most in Auckland
Craig Searle (Stuff): Are houses still bolting out the gate or are we looking at the market all wrong?
Conversion therapy
Alexa Cook (Newshub): Expert concerned Government’s planned gay conversion therapy law could criminalise parents
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Conversion therapy ban: Advocates fear prosecution threshold in law banning conversion practices is ‘unattainable’
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Conversion therapy legislation to cover religious groups
Michael Neilson (Herald): Conversion therapy ban: ‘Particularly intense’ debate expected with families, religious groups able to be criminalised – officials (paywalled)
Thomas Manch, Danielle Clent and Bernadette Basagre (Stuff): Man exposed to conversion therapy excited the practice will be criminalised for children and teens
RNZ: Conversion therapy ‘widely discredited by science’ – Faafoi
Tess McClure (Guardian): ‘No place in modern New Zealand’: government signals conversion practices ban
Michael Neilson (Herald): Gay conversion therapy to become criminal offence, Justice Minister Kris Faafoi announces
Inequality
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): The Government can’t ignore inequality bubbling away, with the poor to pay the price for making the wealthy wealthier
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – How the Government has fuelled rampant increases in wealth
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – Labour’s sacrificing of the poor
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Buy up – how New Zealand’s rich are spending their money
Health
David William (Newsroom): ‘Tricky’ council masks nitrate effect, Mike Joy says
Collin Tukuitonga (Newsroom): Health: Land of the long, white inequity
Irra Lee (1 News): Dentists concerned about oral health of young Pasifika
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Family says choice is life in Australia or death waiting for Pharmac
Matt Nippert (Herald): Pharmac: Is our medicines agency still fit for purpose? (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton: Disquiet about the Ministry of Health – why it’s reaching ‘fever-pitch’ (paywalled)
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Exclusive: 30,000 overdue for hospital treatment; Covid-19 recovery work off-track in some services (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): National calls for bringing back health targets to fix ‘jellyfish’ health system
Bridie Witton (Stuff): The cancer lottery: Too many DHBs taking too long to treat urgent cases
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Government’s bowel cancer programme the ‘budget version’ says Bowel Cancer New Zealand
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Much advice in harsh report on SDHB accepted
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Patient safety at risk
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Gender-affirming surgery not a ‘nice to have’ but ‘absolutely essential’
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Mike King swipes back at Ashley Bloomfield after he says Gumboot Friday can’t be an exception to Ministry of Health rules
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (Herald): Support for mental health crises not good enough (paywalled)
Newshub: The Rock’s Bryce Casey pleads with Jacinda Ardern for more mental health funding
Emma Sherie (Spinoff): A patient’s story: inside a mental health ward
Covid-19
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Some of New Zealand’s most exclusive employers claimed Covid-19 wage subsidy
Perry Wilton and James Fyfe (Newshub): Transfer of Fiji COVID-19 case to NZ ‘a risk we didn’t need to take’ – expert
Barry Soper (Herald): The bumbling episode of health ministry and patient from Fiji
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Covid-19: How would Aotearoa cope with a Delta outbreak?
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): We didn’t see Covid coming; are we any better prepared for Delta?
Jane Clifton (Herald): Frustration builds over NZ’s risk-averse Covid response (paywalled)
Brian Fallow (Herald): Wild swings in the year of Covid (paywalled)
Siouxsie Wiles (Stuff): Covid-19 infection causes worrying brain changes
Liu Chen (RNZ): Mass vaccination event hailed as ‘huge success’ by organisers
Mike Hosking (Herald): Government owes us an apology for the vaccine mess (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Labour MP Greg O’Connor hails ‘pretty exciting’ COVID-19 vaccination pace as National’s David Bennett blasts Govt for ‘never being able to deliver’
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Covid-19 Coronavirus: Ministry of Health places urgent order for 3 million syringes, but insists it has enough
Michelle Cooke (RNZ): Ministry has no clue on where 42 percent who left Covid-19 motels went
Claire Trevett (Herald): A lot is at stake in Government’s ‘Olympics of Covid-19 Vaccinations’ but a medal could be tricky (paywalled)
Stuff: Dr Ayesha Verrall in the deep-end as the Govt rescues the Bledisloe Cup from a problem it created
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): ‘No escape from NZ’ says reservation system expert
Tava Olsen (Spinoff): The MIQ booking system is unfair and inefficient. There are ways to fix it
Sam Olley (RNZ): Free-for-all MIQ booking process is ‘madness’ – NZ couple
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): ‘No COVID excuse’ for skilled migrants to be living in uncertainty – National MP Erica Stanford
Pilita Clark (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: The rush to forget Covid needs to slow down (paywalled)
Herald: Covid-19 coronavirus: Govt looking at notifying people before MIQ spaces are released
Mātauranga Māori science curriculum debate
Stephen May (Newsroom): Dismissing mātauranga Māori: Racism and arrogance in academia
Chris Trotter: Should We Trust The Science – Or Ourselves?
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Latest Woke Purge: Let’s not burn the heretic scientists
Mina Kerr-Lazenby (Stuff): University of Auckland professor relinquishes role after claiming mātauranga Māori is ‘not science’
Bruce Logan (Herald): University of Auckland and cancel culture (paywalled)
Ben Leahy (Herald): Auckland University professor resigns from acting dean role over letter claiming Māori knowledge isn’t science
Amy Wiggins (Herald): Experts Shaun Hendy and Siouxsie Wiles among those rejecting claim Māori knowledge isn’t science as ‘scientific racism’
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Mātauranga Māori in science: ‘It sparks more interest in learning’
Newstalk ZB: Paul Goldsmith: Mātauranga Māori shouldn’t be taught at the expense of science
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): University academics’ claim mātauranga Māori ‘not science’ sparks controversy
Education
Jamie Tahana and John Gerritsen (RNZ): Education system grapples with te reo Māori, tikanga and systemic racism
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Māori teachers optimistic about scale of change
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Ministers warned students are ‘falling through the cracks’
Lee Kenny (Stuff): School Report: Decade of data reveals persistent gaps in NCEA achievement
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Stuff ignores the educational elephant in the room
Amelia Wade (Newshub): National MP Paul Goldsmith fears ‘truancy crisis’ as almost a third of kids aren’t turning up to school
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Ministry not tracking key earthquake strengthening goal for schools
Damien Grant (Stuff): Our education system is in decline, but nobody wants to fix it
Helen Harvey (Stuff): Psychology students want student loans cap lifted
Labour market, industrial relations
1 News: NZ labour market the worst since 1970s – economist
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Is the labour market tight or what? (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): A smarter, more productive post-Covid economy – what the Government needs to address now (paywalled)
TVNZ: Q+A: Nurses already reasonably well-paid, Q+A panellist argues
1 News: Little criticises nurses’ decision to reject latest pay offer
RNZ: Health Minister Andrew Little responds after nurses reject pay offer
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Nurses want ‘concrete progress’ on safe staffing – union
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff):‘I can’t continue without family around’ migrant says after strict immigration laws keep them from entering New Zealand
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Restaurant owner ordered to pay $125,000, after minimum wage violations and worker exploitation
RNZ: Business leaders excited by number of expats planning to return home
Liam Dann (Herald): 6000 workers needed – Survey reveals severity of Auckland labour shortages (paywalled)
Sally Murphy (RNZ): Dairy farmers apply for 54 overseas workers in border exception scheme
Kate MacNamara (Herald): The ballooning public sector wage bill risks Government debt targets, officials warn (paywalled)
RNZ: Four-day working week plan picking up steam
Liam Dann (Herald): New unemployment data may seal next interest rate move
Carmen Hall (Herald): Dairy labour shortage: ‘I’m doing 16 hours a day minimum’ (paywalled)
Hate speech laws
Graeme Edgeler (Legal Beagle): The New New Prohibition
Graham Adams (Democracy Project): Parliament is in recess but Kris Faafoi is too busy to discuss proposals for hate-speech laws
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Kris Faafoi has gone into hiding over Hate Speech law & would Debbie Ngarewa-Packer get prosecuted?
Gavin Ellis: Submission on proposals against incitement of hatred and discrimination in Aotearoa New Zealand
Rio Tinto and Tiwai Point
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn chorus: Rio Tinto profits as NZ’s poor shiver
No Right Turn: End the Tiwai scam
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Tiwai smelter power could be diverted to hydrogen by 2023
Abuse in Care Royal Commission
RNZ: Royal Commission says artificial intelligence won’t be used on abuse testimony
Andrew McRae (RNZ): ‘More support needed’, victim tells Royal Commission into abuse
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Abuse in care costs: Govt considered asking churches for money
Local government
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): ‘We are extremely wasteful’: Is it time to dump the dumps?
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Three Waters reform pushed ‘at alarming rate’, Timaru District mayor says
RNZ: Former Conservation Board chairman returns to role
Chris Marshall (Stuff):Taupō Mayor wants throttle back on Three Waters proposals, and a referendum
Marcus Anselm (RNZ): MDC chief handed special projects brief
Matthew Ronsenberg (RNZ): Pipe dream: Council criticised over water system wasting ‘millions’
Marcus Anselm (RNZ): Mayor, protesters at loggerheads after walkout sparked by rates increase
Lois Williams (RNZ): West Coast Regional CEO Vin Smith resigns – ‘no wrongdoing’
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Too soon for water referendum: DIA
Primary industries
Rod Oram (Newsroom): NZ’s blindspot on dairy emissions
Farah Hancock (RNZ): What dairy farming is doing to NZ’s water
Peter Davis (Stuff): How NZ might achieve net gains for fishing and farming
Climate Change
Peter Olorenshaw (Stuff): Our love of big SUVs comes at other costs
Michael Cullen (Herald): Slogans won’t dig us out of the mire (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Michael Cullen advises Labour to ditch Auckland light rail for electric buses (paywalled)
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): We have the tools to cut methane, experts told Climate Commission
Mike Watson (Stuff): Climate Change Commission chair makes lifestyle changes to reach zero carbon
Jacqueline Rowarth (Stuff): New Zealand agriculture is showing the way
Jordan Bond (RNZ): New Zealand likely to have ‘record high imports’ of coal in 2021 – officials
RNZ: The Detail: Why New Zealand is importing coal by the shipload
Justice, corrections
Cat MacLennan (Stuff): NZ indefinitely locks up people who will never be charged with any offence. That’s abhorrent
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): An ode to New Zealand prisons’ Slushiegate (paywalled)
RNZ: Some new prison cells ready for inmates, Corrections says
Springbok Tour – 40 years on
Richard Swainson (Stuff): Moral imperatives – actions speak louder than words
Karl du Fresne: Anti-tour protesters pushed their luck that night in Molesworth St
Alastair Duncan (ODT): Protesting for justice in a far-off land
Michael Laws (ODT): Took leadership of pro-Springbok tour group SCRUM
Dan Taipua (Spinoff): The incredible legacy of Merata Mita’s Patu!
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): Legacy of 1981 Springbok tour still felt today
Other
John Minto (RNZ): Opinion: Boycott Israel, the apartheid state under new management
Mike Smith (The Standard): Are we really ready to escalate to war with China over Taiwan?
Lana Hart (Stuff): Jihadi wife throws spotlight on NZ refugee response
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): Indigenous rights – Demand for debate should address racism, white privilege
Craig Ashworth (RNZ): Nerves on edge for seabed mining decision
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Racial quota for govt tenders now
Philip Matthews (Stuff): Historian’s fancy, or widely used name? The battle over Aotearoa
Robert Patman (Stuff): NZ still has important role in the global challenge of violent extremism
John Keir (Herald): Enemy of the State: The Ahmed Zaoui File – Episode 1, The Fugitive
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Afghans who worked with NZ fear deadly reprisals as Taliban closes in
Robert Reid (Spinoff: The day I began my journey from Young Nat to committed socialist
1 News: Few businesses paying to use iwi-owned Lake Taupō
Stuff Editorial: We do know how lucky we are in NZ
Janet Wilson (Stuff): We Boomers have adopted a pretty hypocritical stance on cannabis
Jane Phare (Herald): Trust busting: Is it the beginning of the end for hiding relationship property? (paywalled)
Nikki Macdonald and Denise Piper (Stuff): No end in sight for ballooning coroners’ waits
Matthew Littlewood (Stuff): High country lakes and rivers reports paint ‘grim picture’
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Would an interest rate hike ignore employment mandate? (paywalled)
Loam Dann (Herald): Inflation is coming – Should we be worried? Kiwi experts weigh in (paywalled)
Herald: New Zealand named best country to survive a global collapse
Damien Carrington (Guardian): New Zealand rated best place to survive global societal collapse
John Anthony (Stuff): Battle of the convention centres: Three new venues worth $1.4b provide ‘once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’
Bill Ralston (Herald): Mob’s meth rehab programme a case of mutual backscratching (paywalled)
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Pou Tiaki editor Carmen Parahi: connecting the media with Aotearoa (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of the Olympics (paywalled)
Joel Maxwell (Stuff):Transmission Gully: The end of the road’s not in sight just yet
