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
Energy
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Take back your power! What a real Labour-Green Government might do to combat climate change
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn Chorus: ‘The market has failed’
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Ministers were warned about power outages (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Market failure
Clint Smith (Spinoff): Hey Clint! Is it time for our electricity regulators to revisit NZ Power?
Neil Holdom (Taranaki Daily News): Avoiding a crisis in our complex energy system
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Madison Reidy (Newshub): Transpower admits it messed up numbers after mistakenly pulling power from too many homes
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Heat goes on Transpower after Wel Networks reveals grid operator made huge error
RNZ: Waikato power company was told to reduce load by 20%
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Power outages: Government backs down on Genesis attack, heat on Transpower
Belinda Feek (Herald): Power outages: ‘They didn’t have the time to turn Huntly turbines on’, former Genesis boss says
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Megan Woods sticks to guns, says ‘commercial reasons’ behind outage, denies scapegoating Genesis
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Transpower sidesteps question on exactly what it expected from Genesis
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Jordan Bond (RNZ): Genesis carbon dioxide levels up 82% compared to previous years
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Amid power supply scrutiny, Genesis not planning to build NZ’s biggest wind farm at Castle Hill
Heather du Plessis-Allen (Newstalk ZB): It’s not Genesis’ fault
Olivia Wanna (Stuff): Is it time to ban onshore exploration for fossils fuels?
Olivia Wanna (Stuff): Is the offshore oil and gas ban to blame for the rolling black-outs?
Covid-19 – Border restrictions, Public Health Advisory Group Report
Derek Cheng (Herald): The political headache awaiting Jacinda Ardern and Labour that could see voters flee (paywalled)
Kate Gregan (RNZ): Australia’s Covid-19 outbreak ‘probably means the end of the travel bubble’
Luke Malpass (Stuff): The three little letters that may lead to a level 4 lockdown – NSW
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Strict lockdown ‘right approach’ to Delta variant – Covid-19 modeller
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Delta in NZ community would ‘risk collapsing or compromising our health system’
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Expect ‘swift and severe’ level 4 lockdown if Delta emerges, Chris Hipkins says
1 News: Delta community case would spark lockdown – Hipkins
RNZ: New Zealand should expect a ‘short, sharp’ response to Delta – Hipkins
Luke Malpass and Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government advisory group says borders can open in 2022 without forgoing elimination strategy
Derek Cheng (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern set to respond to Sir David Skegg report on vaccine targets, border opening
RNZ: Full vaccine rollout required to start opening border, report says
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Complacency the biggest risk to vaccine roll-out Sir David Skegg says
Siouxsie Wiles (Spinoff): We all want to open up to the world. Here’s what we need to do first
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Don’t expect too much from Government’s announcement today (paywalled)
Derek Cheng (Herald): David Seymour: Open the borders next year regardless of vaccination levels
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Act leader wants border restrictions eased at start of 2022
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Chris Hipkins snaps back at David Seymour for claiming Sir David Skegg panel a ‘focus group’
Māori TV: Seymour says government taking the p*** out of Kiwis on Covid-19 report
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): No new community cases, over 46,000 more vaccinations as Fiji and Indonesia added to ‘high-risk’ list
RNZ: Indonesia and Fiji designated as very high risk – govt
Covid-19 – Port workers
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Health officials quietly change vaccine availability for port workers following Tauranga Delta scare
Scott Yeoman (Stuff): Who, exactly, is monitoring vaccination numbers at the port in Tauranga?
Herald Editorial: Unvaccinated port workers inconceivable
Andrea Fox (Herald): Government’s Tauranga infected ship ‘mistakes’ test border faith – port chairman (paywalled)
Herald: Only half of ‘high risk’ contracted port workers vaccinated – Chris Hipkins
Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): All port workers test negative, as Rio de la Plata leaves Tauranga
RNZ: Rio de la Plata: Ship carrying crew members with Covid-19 departs Tauranga
Stuff: Three MS Mattina crewmen considered not yet recovered
Covid-19 – Vaccination rollout
Cate Broughton (Stuff): National MP brands text invite to young Māori for Covid-19 jab race-based
Denise Piper (Stuff): ‘Have a cuppa and a Covid-19 vaccine’: How one clinic is reaching Māori
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Kiwis ‘haven’t seen how devastating this pandemic is’ expert says, urges vaccination
Dan Satherley (Newshub): People who don’t get jabs ‘will meet the virus’ as herd immunity no longer possible – COVID vaccine inventor
Mike Houlahan (ODT): 20,000 behind in vaccinations
Adam Pearse (Herald): Advocates fear disabled community being forgotten in rollout
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Call to give first jabs ‘quickly as possible’, dose gap decision pending
Henry Cooke (Stuff): One-third of adults have had first dose of vaccine, Government hints it will extend gap between first and second dose
RNZ: Kiwis changing second vaccine appointment despite no change in official advice
1 News: Most Kiwis not seeing public health campaign about Covid vaccine
Mike Houlahan (ODT): GP thought about quitting vaccine rollout
Hannah Martin (Stuff): One fifth of all eligible New Zealanders now fully vaccinated
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Charting New Zealand’s vaccine rollout
Anthony Dennis (Stuff): Don’t want a vaccine passport? Don’t expect to travel again, anywhere
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Is the vaccine push giving us false hope?
Covid-19 – MIQ
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Dwindling MIQ room supply as govt increases its own allocation
Nick Truebridge (RNZ): Govt using shed at busy Auckland marina to ferry foreign shipping crew offshore
1 News: No special MIQ treatment for Podmore’s funeral – Hipkins
Covid-19
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Chris Hipkins defends Dr Ashley Bloomfield over Judith Collins’ ‘one-trick pony’ comments
Marika Khabazi and Louise Ternouth (RNZ): Mandatory masks slipping from faces on Auckland’s buses
RNZ: The Detail: Long Covid short on research
Chris Keall (Herald): Slingshot offers frontline workers six months’ free broadband
Environment, climate change, conservation
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZ’s greenhouse gas emissions fell 4.5% due to Covid, but upward trend resumes
Kate Nicol-Williams (1 News): NZ’s greenhouse gasses fall to seven-year low because of Covid
Dan Satherley (Newshub): NZ records biggest drop in greenhouse gas emissions ever, but still far from meeting targets
RNZ: Narrow window to halt climate catastrophe – Pacific Forum leader
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Call for government to partner with Māori following harrowing climate report
Whatitiri Te Wake (Māori TV): Take shorter showers and don’t wait for state to act on climate change – mātauranga Māori researcher
RNZ: Govt to assist development of next-gen waterways protection tool
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): No quick fix for Waikato River as second report card shows ‘deteriorating’ trend
Andrew McRae (RNZ): Waikato River deteriorating, improvements will take time – report
RNZ: Great Walks guided operators investigated for gaming the hut booking system
Parliament
ODT Editorial: Managing the party line
Audrey Young (Herald): Attorney-General supports Winston Peters’ bid to have judgment set aside (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): We need our politicians to start solving issues, and stop fighting a culture war
News: Judith Collins defends AGM speech in fiery exchange with John Campbell
Richard Harman (Politik): We are the boys from down on the farm …(paywalled)
Priscilla Dickinson (Newshub): Me and My Money: Julie Anne Genter, Green Party
Winston Churchill portrait spat
Claire Trevett (Herald): War of the Churchill portrait: Judith Collins, the Greens and Labour in Parliament battle over Winston Churchill’s portrait (paywalled)
Sam Brooks (Spinoff): Ten arty alternatives to Winston Churchill for parliament’s walls
RNZ: The issues that matter? Churchill controversy paints politicians as petty
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Dismiss the debate: Jacinda Ardern says she doesn’t care about Winston Churchill painting spat
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): ‘Do they want Stalin up there?’ Judith Collins lashes out at Greens for ditching Churchill
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern derisive of Greens, National spat over Churchill painting
Zane Small (Newshub): National leader Judith Collins lashes out at Greens over shifting of Winston Churchill painting in Parliament
1 News: Collins blasts ‘disrespectful’ Greens after Churchill portrait removed
Housing
Qiuyi Tan (Herald): The poor pay more: How housing problems are costing our kids
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Act Party slams housing agency Kāinga Ora for $30,000 Māori carving spend
Sam Olley (RNZ): The sad price of New Zealand’s soaring housing market
Tony Alexander (One Roof): 11 reasons why house prices have jumped 30%
David Hargreaves (Interest): YES – we are finally getting DTIs – but what exactly will we get and when?
Catherine Masters (One Roof): Revealed: First home buyers outside Auckland fear price rises the most
Daniel Dunkley (Stuff): House prices: Won’t someone think of the movers?
Tim Newman (Stuff): Proposal put forward to back developers’ applications for $1b fund
Health
Jo Moir (Newsroom): A bad week for Bloomfield’s ministry
Corazon Miller (1 News): Growing nursing shortage sees more nurses call in sick
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): ‘Giving them everything you’ve got’: The life of a hospital midwife
RNZ: Midwives strike: Six DHBs cancel non-urgent caesarean births
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): MidCentral midwives strike for fair pay and safe staffing
Katie Townshend (Stuff): RSV outbreak: could get ‘significantly worse’ for older population
Luisa Girao (ODT): Response to suicide attempt criticised
Will Trafford (Māori TV): $1.6 million Suicide Prevention Fund accepting applications
International relations
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Climate change report a reminder of UN’s clout
Gordon Campbell: On how New Zealand is punching below its weight in Afghanistan
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government prepared for more than one New Zealand citizen with children to return from Syria
RNZ: Samoa’s former leader criticises NZ/AUS for lack of support
Trade
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): How free Is New Zealand’s trade?
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): Easy growth drives NZ’s risky reliance on China
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): Trade-Off: What happens if China stops buying?
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Will the British FTA push for greater leniency on investment rules?
Local government
Logan Savory (Stuff): Deputy Mayor says Sir Tim Shadbolt is ‘no longer capable’
Matthew Ronsenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Tipping point: ‘Traumatised’ Shadbolt claims workplace bullying
Tina Law (Press): Councillors call for early public feedback on Government’s water reforms
Yashas Srinivasa (Timaru Herald): Waimate residents feel future Three Waters governance is ‘undemocratic’
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): Education could be key to reversing local body politics disinterest
RNZ: Christchurch stadium vote back on the table at city council
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): West Coast Regional rates increase by 30 per cent with more to come
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Stratford councillors vote to keep seats status quo, with additional Māori ward
Alice Angeloni (Local Democracy Reporting): Proposed Māori ward structure released as Gisborne’s representation rejig reaches next step
Mike Mather (Waikato Times): Hamilton City Council leaps back into the property game with revival of $56.3m municipal endowment fund
RNZ: Hutt City Council publishes plan to cut its carbon emissions
RNZ: Southland council to start removing black mould from chambers
Mark Price (ODT): Action against Queenstown Lakes mayor ends
Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Bill
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Bill allowing trans people to change sex on birth certificates passes second reading unanimously
RNZ: Bill making it easier to change sex on birth certificate passes second reading
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National will vote for gender self-ID law, supports further scrutiny of it
1 News: Sex change legislation has support of all parties as it goes through Parliament
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): Self-identification to ensure more inclusivity for trans, non-binary and intersex whānau
Labour market, industrial relations, migrant workers
RNZ: ‘A job seekers market’: Auckland, Canterbury see increase in job ads
Liam Dann (Herald): Another record for job ads as applicants per job falls – Seek (paywalled)
Karen Coltman (Stuff): Record number of jobs advertised, with fewer applicants
Vandhna Bhan and Arvind Kumar (Stuff): NZ caught napping trying to retain skilled migrants, says Act Party leader
Melissa Laing (Stuff): Creative NZ needs to step up: $25 an hour is a joke for contractors
Philip Stevens (Herald): We are all ‘richer’ for innovation and productivity (paywalled)
Banks
Rob Stock (Stuff): Reserve Bank warns Westpac over anti-money laundering system failures
RNZ: Westpac warned after failing to comply with anti-money laundering rules
David Hargreaves (Interest): Westpac issued formal warning by RBNZ
RNZ: ASB reports housing boom, Covid-19 rebound led to 39% profits rise
1 News: ASB cash profit up 34 per cent to nearly $1.3 billion
Hurricanes race controversy
Imogen Wells (1 News): Hurricanes racism issue ‘utterly mad woke-ism’: Winston Peters
Michael Neilson (Herald): Trevor Mallard to boycott Hurricanes over Troy Bowker’s Māori race comments
Stuff: TJ Perenara seeks answers after ‘insulting’ comments by Hurricanes board member
RNZ: TJ Perenara says Hurricanes board member’s comments “underlying racism”
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Pressure mounts on Hurricanes and part-owner Troy Bowker after comments
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Hurricanes Rugby distances itself from Troy Bowker’s ‘left-loving Māori agenda’ remarks
1 News: NZ Rugby against Bowker’s posts, ‘providing support’ to ‘Canes
Primary industries
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Fisheries boat forced to take evasive action twice by pāua poachers
1 News: Fonterra trying to trade mark certain Te Reo Māori words
Transport
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Analysis: Transmission Gully parties position for blame game (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland bus driver shortage sees 1754 services cancelled in a week
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland campaigners seek political backing to revive Skypath on harbour bridge
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Police didn’t monitor vehicle towing contractors for eight years, watchdog finds
RNZ: Police failed to monitor tow truck consortium – IPCA
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Māori cultural values missing from KiwiRail’s freight centre plans
Crime
Daisy Hudson (ODT): High number of illegal guns blamed on gangs
1 News: Tearful Adesanya challenges Govt on ‘coward punch’ laws again
RNZ: Mixed martial artists want ‘coward punching’ law change
Will Trafford (Māori TV): ‘How can you call this justice?’ City Kickboxing slams Vake court decision
Jack Crossland (Herald): Mongrel Mob member sentenced for threatening to kill National MP Simeon Brown
Education and training
RNZ: Rangatahi and Māori trades and training intiatives get funding boost
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Government document warns of risk of returning foreign students
Anuja Nadkarni (Newsroom): Struggle to sell NZ as option for international students
Tumamao Harawira (Māori TV): Mixing Māori and mathematics to create new career pathways
Other
Thomas Mead (1 News): ‘I don’t want these out there’ – An inside look at Talley’s attempts to shut down a 1 NEWS investigation
Denise Montgomery (The Big Q): Does poverty impact childhood development?
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Auckland City Mission celebrates new Māori name
George Driver (Spinoff): How do NZ grocery prices compare with overseas? We have the receipts
Stephen Parker (Newsroom): Government slow to make Google pay for local news
Devon Bolger (Herald): Gloriavale School focus of police investigation into Christian community
Joanne Naish (Stuff): Police, Oranga Tamariki and Ministry of Education investigating Gloriavale School
Arena Williams & Stuart Smith (Stuff): We expect everyone in New Zealand to be treated with dignity and respect
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Dawn Raids history should be made compulsory in schools, Pasifika leaders say
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): Parole Board says prisoners waiting for rehab, psych help
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Pokie machine venues worried DIA plan will trigger ‘shopping list’ for thieves
1 News: Only a fifth of Kiwis know their rights when taking out loans
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Govt urged to boost local help to stamp out meth in Far North
Lucy Thomson (Newshub): Concerned parents come forward in the wake of Olivia Podmore tragedy
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Money talks but is it talking nonsense? (paywalled)
Daisy Hudson (ODT): ’81 Boks protest ‘a great day for Dunedin’: Minto
RNZ: Building material shortages affecting the entire industry – survey
