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

Housing
Bernard Hickey: Here’s all the levers the Govt is not pulling to fix our housing catastrophe
Chloe Swarbrick (Herald): UN-enshrined human right to housing eclipsed by investor greed
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): ‘Way too many hoops’: First Home Grant payouts fall short
Toby Morris (Spinoff): The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: Locked out
Claire Breen (Herald): Housing as a human right (paywalled)
Stephen Forbes (Herald): Housing crisis: Auckland’s wealthy suburbs dodging development ‘burden’, councillor Daniel Newman says
Stephen Forbes (Stuff): Auckland councillor calls for greater development of city’s wealthier suburbs
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): This won’t magic up houses
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Robertson defends time taken to give RBNZ new powers to restrict mortgage lending
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Reserve Bank prepares to crack down on housing
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Too much risky lending’: Reserve Bank tightens lending rules and develops new restriction
Miriam Bell (Stuff): House price increases slowing, but LVR change will speed up the process
David Hargreaves (Interest): RBNZ unloads its housing burden ahead of interest rates review
Anna Whyte (1News): Reserve Bank eyes tighter mortgage lending
RNZ: Govt and Reserve Bank agree on new moves to tighten mortgage lending
Adrian Orr (Herald): Navigating for long-term economic wellbeing (paywalled)
Helen Livingtone (Guardian): New Zealand reserve bank to toughen mortgage-lending rules in bid to tackle housing crisis
RNZ: National average house price reaches $920,000
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): OECD report shows Grant and Adrian overreacted
Ben Leahy (Herald): More older Kiwis are renting, including those who have been forced to sell their homes
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Reining in the ‘risk-free’ property market
Aaron Dahmen (Herald): House building crisis: Government could limit timber exports to ensure local supply
John Weekes (Herald): Leaky homes mega-lawsuit: James Hardie gets $1.25m settlement payout, ‘terrible day’ for homeowners
Jean Bell (RNZ): Claimant devastated James Hardie case ended mid-trial
RNZ: Leaky home class action trial ends in settlement
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Leaky home owners wave white flag in James Hardie deal (paywalled)
Waatea News: MP self interest barrier to housing action
Waatea News: Housing crucial for building community
RNZ: Dunedin Council looks at new plan to increase housing capacity
Sophie Cornish (Stuff): Wellington’s sky-rocketing housing market may be stabilising, new figures show
Anne Gibson (Herald): Eighty Flat Bush terrace homes pre-sold in a day, landlord tax change drives demand (paywalled)

Opinion polls, parliament, political parties
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Nothing like a bad poll to spur some action
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): How can Jacinda reset from Woke poll slump?
Richard Prebble (Herald): The polls toll woe for Labour (paywalled)
1News: Labour’s ‘massive’ drop in poll a ‘wake up call’ for Govt – Collins
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Latest Newshub-Reid Research poll ‘very good’ for National, according to Judith Collins
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘A lot of people want to bottle her’: Police Minister Poto Williams’ family upset by Judith Collins’ claim
Anna Whyte (1 News): Collins ‘needs to think about what she says’ after bottle comment: Police Minister
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins dismisses ‘nasty’ interpretation of comment about people wanting to ‘bottle’ Police Minister Poto Williams
RNZ: Collins defends ‘bottle’ comments about Police Minister Poto Williams
Zane Small (Newshub): Police Minister Poto Williams hits back at National MP Simeon Brown with sarcastic quip during grilling on gangs
Herald: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern home sick with daughter Neve’s ‘seasonal sniffle’

Covid-19
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Helen Clark didn’t influence Fiji medevac decision, Foreign Affairs minister says
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Judith Collins ‘very concerned’ about COVID-19-positive United Nations worker’s transfer from Fiji to New Zealand
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Opposition MPs question possible ‘political interference’ after Covid-positive UN worker is evacuated from Fiji 
Richard Harman: How Delta changes everything (paywalled)
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Wellington region will be vaccinating until February 2022 – officials
Brittany Keogh (Stuff): Wellington will have mass vaccination ‘festival’ in October to target ‘hesitant’ people
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Ropey’ data causes confusion for DHB bosses over progress of COVID-19 vaccine rollout
RNZ: Human Rights Commission receives 30 complaints about MIQ booking
Derek Cheng (Herald): How Govt aims to beat the bots in race for MIQ vouchers
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Anti-vaccination group Voices for Freedom’s billboards taken down after ‘harassing people’ trying to get vaccines
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Advertiser pulls anti-vax group’s ‘free speech’ billboard campaign
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): Anti-vax group’s ‘free speech’ billboards pulled from RNZ building
Cira Olivier (Herald): ‘Escalation of poverty’ seen in Rotorua in pandemic linked to job losses, living costs (paywalled)
RNZ: NZ sends 100,000 vaccine doses to Fiji
Hawkes Bay Today: Jeff Whittaker Pharmacy first pharmacy in Hawke’s Bay to roll out Covid vaccine (paywalled)
David Skipwith (Stuff): Hilary Barry cleared by Broadcasting Standards Authority over Covid vaccine comment

Aotearoa or New Zealand?
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): National MP floats ban on public sector using ‘Aotearoa’
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Judith Collins suggests referendum on name of New Zealand, despite using ‘Aotearoa’ while in Government
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): ‘New Zealand’ or ‘Aotearoa’? Judith Collins backs National MP Stuart Smith’s call for referendum
RNZ: National’s call for Aotearoa referendum ‘absurd’ and ‘ridiculous’

Labour market, industrial relations
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Unemployment: Economist predicts ‘barrage of good news’ on the way
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): Seasonal workers coming back but who will make sure they’re looked after?
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Air NZ holds on to staff despite bubble closure
RNZ: Nursing union, DHBs at odds over impact of Employment Court action
1 News: Dairy farmers working for months at a time amid staff shortages

Immigration
RNZ: Migrant workers protest at Parliament over separation from families
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Reuniting split migrant families on the cards but only when MIQ space opens up – Kris Faafoi
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Migrant’s battle to get her family into NZ brings distress and guilt

Commerce Commission supermarkets report
Mike Lee (Newsroom): Subsidies not soft drinks: The brave new world of Kiwishop
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – Radical reform coming to a supermarket near you
Oliver Hartwich (Herald): Government the real obstacle to supermarket competition (paywalled)

Transport
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research Poll shows how unpopular plan for $785 million Auckland cycle bridge is with voters
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Govt may backtrack on billion dollar bike bridge
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Wellington records more than 3000 bus cancellations for third consecutive month
Nick James (Herald): Wellington bus cancellations ease after some peak services axed
Georgina Campbell (Herald): A Capital Letter: If Transmission Gully is one day late builder must pay $7.7 million (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Huge spike in EV sales as feebate kicks in
1 News: Government approves $5.7 million in clean car rebates

Health
Damien Venuto (Herald): MedSafe gives Helius Therapeutics licence to manufacture cannabis medicines (paywalled)
Cecile Meier (Stuff): Staff feeling unsafe at mental health emergency department leaving in droves
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Code red issued for Dunedin Hospital after spike in patient numbers
Herald Editorial: Hospital treatment delays hurt (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): ED staff take legal action on work conditions
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Southland nurse: We need more staff and hospital beds
Tracy Neal (Newsroom): Roger Douglas: Fund human healthcare like veterinary care
Benedict Collins (1News): Kiwi-made cannabis products could hit shelves by Christmas
Stuff: Editorial: Crucible of concerns awaits Aged Care Commissioner

Conversion therapy
Zane Small (Newshub): Justice Minister Kris Faafoi unable to confirm if conversion therapy ban covers kids taking hormone blockers
RNZ: ACT, National warn of conversion therapy bill ‘risk’
Michael Neilson (Herald): Act supports conversion therapy ban bill, National holding out over parental concerns

Mātauranga Māori science curriculum debate
Graham Adams (Herald): The criticism of seven professors over mātauranga Māori in science has missed its target (paywalled)
Teuila Fuatai (Herald):  Why pitting mātauranga Māori against Western science misses the point (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub) The Hui: Māori scientists say ‘slow violence’ of racism drives them out of universities
Kyle Gibson (Stuff): Science can’t be Pākehā or Māori, it’s just science 
ODT Editorial: Time for leadership in science
Emily Parke (The Conversation): Let’s choose our words more carefully when discussing mātauranga Māori and science

Sport
Ben Strang (RNZ): Sports Minister fields dozens of letters about Laurel Hubbard’s Olympics selection
RNZ: Laurel Hubbard’s Olympic debut: ‘Trans athletes don’t feel safe with the media’
Sean Ingle (Guardian): Laurel Hubbard’s Olympic dream dies under the world’s gaze

Local government
Nick Smale (Herald): West Auckland liquor fight: Competition will deliver choice and community funding (paywalled)
Nadine Porter (Stuff): Woman’s life-long goal ‘screwed over’ as dream property turns into nightmare
Lois Williams (RNZ): West Coast Council not in gun over PCR worker poisoned by 1080 vapour
1 News: Govt promising ‘more cost effective’ water infrastructure
Nikki Preston (Herald): Councillor faces longer suspension because he’s ‘not sorry’

Environment and conservation
David Williams (Newsroom): In a corner of Canterbury, poor protection starts to bite
Kim Moodie (RNZ): Unknown coral species hauled up in bottom trawling nets – report
Prem Maan (Stuff): It makes business sense to be GMO-free
Lois Williams (RNZ): Cave Creek remembered in DOC staff induction video
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland losing 1000 trees a week, properties ‘worth more if you bulldoze’

Dawn Raids apology
1News: Ardern wanted dawn raids apology to focus on Pasifika: Ministers
Mariner Fagaiava-Muller (RNZ): Dark days of the 1970s Dawn Raids are at last formally acknowledged

Other
James Kierstead and Michael Johnston (Daily Blog): Why the New ‘Hate Speech’ Legislation Should Be Scrapped
Tim Wilson (Stuff): Prison won’t cure hate speech, so what might?
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): ‘A criminal law in name only’: NZ’s ban on prison labour imports
Derek Cheng (Herald): And Justice For All? – Why change is needed in our criminal justice system and why the Govt won’t front (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Government didn’t report possible hack
Karl du Fresne: In New Zealand this week
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Defence Force hazardous substances audit stalled for years after law changes
David Cohen (RNZ): Abuse in care: How an old pamphlet titled ‘Understanding Polynesians’ underscores a current issue
Chris Leitch (Interest): Returning to economic orthodoxy is like going back to the horse and cart
David Chaplin (BusinessDesk): KiwiSaver as teenager: what does it really want?
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Buyers of financial institutions may soon need to meet a new ‘conduct’ test
Frances Chin (Stuff): Concern at white nationalist flyers seeking recruits (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): A feast of urban broadband but rural internet a ‘stale donut’ (paywalled)
Danielle Clent (Stuff): $35m funding boost for Auckland Film Studios to help screen industry grow
Yashas Srinivasa (Stuff): Protest in Timaru against livestock ship’s visit
1 News: More help needed as student violence grows – Northland principal
Katy Jones (Stuff): Training 4000 teachers won’t reverse sliding literacy, educators say
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Controversial ‘climate’ projects still waiting for money, a year on 
Kurt Bayer (Stuff): Christchurch mosque attacks: Second controversial movie project, Hello Brother is on hold