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
Vaccine rollout
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Ministry of Health confirms another possible vaccine mistake
RNZ: Bloomfield: Ministry of Health always intended to disclose vaccine error
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Saline vaccination error: Delay in telling public ‘regrettable’ – Hipkins
RNZ: Those affected by vaccine botch-up should be swiftly contacted – immunologist
RNZ: Vaccination saline error: Parties demand transparency from government
Herald: Chris Hipkins should resign if Labour had the talent to replace him – Judith Collins
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Mystery remains over whether five people got saline or vaccine
1 News: Authorities ‘gathering information’ after mix up in five Covid vaccine doses
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Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): Could the vaccine roll-out have been quicker?
Daniel Riordan (NBR): Vaccine hopes dependent on Pfizer over-delivery (paywalled)
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Don’t be fooled, Israel was vulnerable to Delta, says data modeller
RNZ: Covid-19 booster shots not needed now but may be in time – expert
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Scientists correct National Party tweet accused of spreading ‘misinformation’ about COVID-19 vaccines
Henry Cooke and Kate Newton (Stuff): The vaccine rollout explained in 9 graphs, as New Zealand hits daily record of 80,000 doses
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Charting New Zealand’s vaccine rollout
Nicholas Wood (Stuff): Under-12s are increasingly catching Covid-19. How sick are they getting and when will we be able to vaccinate them?
Jeremy Sutton (Herald): Ex-files: What happens if we don’t agree on our child getting vaccinated? (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Iwi services battle to get Māori vaccination numbers up
Jamie Morton (Herald): ‘Significant concern’ over Pacific vaccination rates
Spinoff: No place for anti-vaxx rhetoric in maternity care, midwives told
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Yet more revelations on our vaccine rollout
Arena Williams & Stuart Smith (Stuff): The message needs to be vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate
Sophie Trigger and Georgina Campbell (Herald): Porirua drive-through vaccine clinic for Pacific families tomorrow
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): New daily vaccine record for Whanganui DHB
Siouxsie Wiles (Spinoff): What we know about Covid vaccines, effectiveness and boosters
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Kiwi basketball star Corey Webster slammed for untrue, ‘dangerous’ tweet about COVID-19 vaccine
Government management of outbreak, expert advice
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why NZ needs to stick with elimination (paywalled)
RNZ: Michael Baker: Covid-19 strategy will allow NZ to ‘choose our future’
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): ‘Delta needs a sledgehammer, not a scalpel’ – NZ epidemiologist
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Delta variant to create ‘rough trip’ in coming months, may mutate to become more vaccine-resistant – expert
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Despite Delta outbreak, Sir David Skegg backs elimination
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Daily case numbers are increasing quickly. This simple mathematical concept gives us reason for optimism
Grant Miller (ODT): Eliminating virus best goal: next VC
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): A disturbing preoccupation: why the right-wing media hates Jacinda’s Covid elimination strategy
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand won’t ‘throw in towel’ on Covid-zero strategy despite rising infections
1 News: Collins: Scott Morrison ‘talking to his audience’ as he dumps Covid elimination
Herald Editorial: What suppression looks like (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Australian opposition Senator Kristina Keneally blames Scott Morrison for New Zealand Delta outbreak
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Kiwis respond after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison says New Zealand can’t eliminate Delta
Stuff Editorial: Morrison’s crude caveman metaphor unhelpfully simplistic
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn Chorus: Crucial delta moment
Richard Harman (Politik): Looks like Covid is here to stay
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Explaining why level 2 could be the new normal in the age of Delta
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Speed, size of cluster puts alert level system on notice
Derek Cheng: (Herald): Has the Health Ministry’s poor Delta preparation left us longer in lockdown? (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Minister tempers expectations over level change for South
Nick Mowbray (Herald): Lack of priorities reveals worrying signs from the Government (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): British neoliberal think tank researcher Matthew Lesh says NZ is ‘stuck in a weird kind of Covid purgatory’
Audrey Malone (1 News): New MoH data will show if virus being controlled – Baker
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Experts warn Government one-size-fits-all response will miss the most vulnerable Kiwis
Eleisha Foon (RNZ): New Pasifika health-line for vaccinations inundated with calls
Waatea News: Maori Party waiting for Covid plan
Mike Hosking (Herald): When will our Government admit its errors? (paywalled)
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown day 8: How it unfolded
Michael Andrew (Spinoff): New Google data shows New Zealanders more active in this lockdown than 2020
RNZ: The Detail: The 1pm Beehive presser – more of the same, but worse
Monika Barton (Newshub): IMDb users hilariously review ‘must-watch’ season 3 of COVID-19 1pm Daily Update
MIQ, border, immigration
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Covid-19 quarantine facilities under more pressure as case numbers increase
Herald: Jet Park could be out of beds tomorrow – but there’s a backup
RNZ: New quarantine facility prepared near Auckland Airport – Hipkins
Zane Small (Newshub): Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirms plans for additional quarantine facility with ‘several hundred rooms’
Herald: New Zealand resumes red flights for Australian cities
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): Red flights from Australia to resume in September
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): Self-isolation travel trial still set to take place before end of year
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Crowne Plaza ‘gap’ sealed, public access closed and new testing requirements after possible Delta leak
Jo Moir (Newsroom): What we know about the Crowne Plaza investigation
Jordan Bond (RNZ): New Zealanders miss out on managed isolation rooms due to ‘cohorting’ system
Herald: Cook Islands travel cut off for weeks says PM Brown pending New Zealand Covid response
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Family waiting out outbreak in Rarotonga says ‘it’s not a bad place to be stuck’
Contact tracing, locations of interest, testing
David Williams (Newsroom): Call for negative test to enter South Island
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Saliva testing year overdue, geneticist says
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The 18-month contact tracing struggle
Sapeer Mayron (Stuff): Supermarkets are safe if they’re open, experts say
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Living in lockdown central, I’ve dodged the Covid bullet so far. Thanks, Covid app
RNZ: Our six days of waiting for teen’s high-risk Covid-19 test result
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Waikato mayor to Aucklanders heading down for Covid tests — ‘Stay out’
Sarah Trotman (Herald): Mandatory scanning is more bad news for small business (paywalled)
Case demographics
Emma Russell (Herald): Delta outbreak: Pasifika, younger people infected, demographic breakdown of community cases shows
Torika Tokalau and Florence Kerr (Stuff): Singling out one ethnicity in team of 5 million ‘unhelpful’, Pacific leader says
Eva Corlett and Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand health chief slams ‘gutless’ racism against Pasifika people over Covid cluster
1 News: Bloomfield slams racism towards communities affected by Covid as ‘gutless’
Bridie Witton and Luke Malpass (Stuff): South Auckland bears brunt of fast-spreading Delta outbreak
Mandy Te (Stuff):Wellington ‘not out of the woods’ as Government set to announce whether lockdown will extend
Parliament suspended
RNZ: Judith Collins wants explanation over lack of government scrutiny
Newstalk ZB: Chris Bishop: Select committees ‘just Labour running interference’
Lockdown inequality
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Advocate warns poor likely to be hit harder by this COVID-19 lockdown than first
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Children ‘to miss out’ as lockdown cuts off food-in-schools programmes
Katy Jones (Stuff): Lockdown fuels school concerns about food poverty
Zane Small (Newshub): Social Development Minister pours cold water on pleas for more income support amid ‘ongoing hardship due to lockdown’
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Food parcels increase three-fold in Wellington over lockdown
Nadine Porter and Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Rush to distribute perishable food as foodbanks report soaring demand
Kirsty Wynn (Herald): Spice World owners offer free essentials for those in need
Wage subsidy, business
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Many big businesses not applying for the wage subsidy
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Just one corporate seeks wage subsidy so far
Newstalk ZB: Robertson: Big businesses likely to take wage subsidy if level four continues
1 News: Confusion persists around businesses operating at Level 4
Dita De Boni (NBR): Let’s revisit ‘essential’ food suppliers in lockdown (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Is a supermarket more risky than a greengrocer? (paywalled)
Mariné Lourens (Stuff): Businesses could have days – or hours – to prepare for a drop in alert levels
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Supermarket supply woes having knock-on effect on smaller stores
Magic: ‘We’ve had over a year to sort this out’: Small fresh food sellers urging to reopen at Level 4
Molly Houseman (ODT): Produce having to be thrown away
Riley Kennedy (ODT): Food, drinks restricted after change in rules
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Daffodil Day disaster for grower as flowers left unpicked
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): Why Air New Zealand should follow Qantas in offering incentives to vaccinated travellers
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Eco-conscious vendors prevent waste during lockdown but losses still ‘significant’
Tina Morrison (Stuff): SkyCity says NZ lockdown is costing it about $1m in profit a day
Bonnie Flaw (Stuff): Rule change means service stations can’t sell hot drinks, bakery food
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Truckies concerned at possibility of freight delays if levels change
Karen Coltman (Stuff): Liquor deliverers ‘like Santa’ during lockdown
Andrea Fox (Herald): US doles out pandemic comfort to its dairy farmers – with repercussions for NZ industry (paywalled)
Sapeer Mayron (Stuff): Pukekohe growers risk harvest amid essential worker shortage
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Essential catering skills feeding the frontline
Piers Fuller (Stuff): Frontline heroes: Farmers keep primary production humming during lockdown
Anne Gibson (Herald): BDO construction survey reveals impact of holdups (paywalled)
Marta Steeman (Stuff): Building company warns of delays and worsening materials shortages from lockdown
Lockdown compliance, enforcement
David Fisher (Herald): Had an anti-vax pamphlet? Tell police (paywalled)
Whatitiri Te Wake (Māori TV): Maori Party co-leader encourages whānau to flout seafood gathering ban
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): Google mobility data shows visits to shops, supermarkets and workplaces plummet amid level 4 lockdown
Alice Angeloni (Local Democracy Reporting): East Coast hapū call for ‘regional emergency’ declaration
Diane McCarthy and Hazel Osborne (Whakatāne Beacon): Confusion reigns over Covid-19 alert level whitebaiting rules
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): Iwi say trust in police damaged after Northland Covid-19 checkpoints set up 7 days into lockdown
RNZ: Police checkpoints set up on Northland border
Ben Leahy (Herald): Police set up new checkpoints north of Auckland
Nathan Morton (Stuff): Police at Auckland Harbour Bridge checkpoint warn motorists on non-essential journeys
Karina Cooper (Northern Advocate): Mangawhai locals frustrated police checkpoints exclude them from Northland
Gianina Schwanecke (Herald): Seal the borders: Mahia locals unimpressed with lockdown breaches
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Four-hour ‘test drive’ ends with $300 fine
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): North Shore 4 Square workers praised for patiently dealing with ‘inconsiderate’, ‘abusive’ woman refusing to wear mask
Herald: Maskless woman arrested after coughing on police officer in Kaitaia
Cira Olivier (Herald): Man spits and swings scooter at security in Tauranga (paywalled)
Craig Kapitan (Herald): Two accused of breaching lockdown rules in Auckland in court
Nathan Morton (Stuff): Fisherman breaking lockdown rules spooks armed police
Kelly Makiha (Herald): Rotorua police warn mountain bikers could be trespassed (paywalled)
Denise Piper (Stuff):Light no outdoor fires in lockdown, fire service pleads
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Conspiracy graffiti removal given the same priority as racism
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): New Zealand’s lockdown list of shame
George Block (Stuff): Covid-19 lockdown-breaching Labour Party pamphlets reported in third city
Health
Cecile Meier (Stuff): Health staff able to work from home upset at being told to go to office
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Delta outbreak response hampered by DHBs flying blind on staff vaccination (paywalled)
Barry Soper (Herald): Cancellation of life-saving surgery shows pandemic’s brutal toll
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Teenage cancer patient urges people to follow lockdown rules to protect vulnerable
Ian Powell (Second Opinion): The Third Coming of Lester Levy – a process glued together by hypocrisy: Part Two
John Weekes (Herald): More alcoholism likely in lockdown, but spirits drinkers may go dry, researcher says
Emma Russell (Herald): Life-saving kidney transplant cancelled due to Auckland City Hospital nursing shortage
Frances Chin (Stuff): Family violence spikes during alert level 4
Nikki Preston (Herald): Square eyes: Half of Kiwis addicted to devices, many blame Covid pandemic
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Business case now released
Afghanistan
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Taliban blocking Afghan evacuations ‘worrying development’, New Zealand troops ‘up against it’ with US deadline – commander
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Firm deadline set on Afghanistan evacuation mission, as New Zealand airlifts about 200 people
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Interpreters resettled in New Zealand fear Taliban revenge on family left behind
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Group with New Zealand visas safe at Kabul airport
Michelle Duff (Stuff): Former Kiwi soldier pleads for visas for Afghan allies
Andrew McRae (RNZ): NZ Afghans say it’s vital evacuees from Kabul get extensive support in Aotearoa
Suzanne Loughlin (Stuff): NZ must do everything possible to bring our former partners in Afghanistan to safety
Local government
Joanne Naish (Stuff): West Coast council announces staff restructure during lockdown Zoom call
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council to expand under reforms allowing extra Māori seats
Craig Ashworth (Whanganui Chronicle): Objectors win chance for two Māori seats on Taranaki Regional Council
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Every Wellington City Councilor should be ashamed of these results
RNZ: Wellington City Council votes to go ahead with City Streets active and public transport project
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Green light for Wellington’s $350m walking, cycling, public transport plan
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Wellington City Council approves $350 million city streets package from Let’s Get Wellington Moving
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Southern mayors ask Government to hit pause on national three water reforms
Joanne Naish (Stuff): More South Island mayors join call for minister to halt water reforms
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Pause on water requested
Housing
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Nearly 100 per cent of people selling their homes make big profits
RNZ: House resale profits hit record high
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Rents leap by largest amount on record: Trade Me
Rupert Gough (one roof):What would happen to your mortgage if the housing market crashed?
Greg Ninness (Interest): Home ownership increasingly the preserve of those on above average incomes as high prices and rising interest rates hit first home buyers hard
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Homeless youth get dedicated emergency housing in Auckland
Energy
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Meridian accuses big business critics of cynical self-interest (paywalled)
Reweti Kohere (NBR): Meridian Energy: profiteering claims ‘bizarre’, ‘inappropriate’
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Low hydro inflows hit Meridian’s cash profits, dividend maintained
Matthew Littlewood (Stuff): Covid-19 lockdown helps boost South Island hydro storage
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Meridian urges Government not to get in the way of gas, for the sake of the environment (paywalled)
ODT: Dam spills water due to fall in electricity demand
Transport
Joel MacManus and John Anthony (Stuff): Opening of Transmission Gully likely to be delayed, says transport minister
Zane Small (Newshub): National MP Christopher Luxon urges Transport Minister to ditch ‘dumb’ cycle bridge as NZTA bleeds $40m per week in lockdown
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Lockdown: No ‘get out of jail free card’ for major projects – Wood (paywalled)
RNZ: Truck drivers fear penalties during lockdown, industry group warns
Other
Max Harris and Phoebe Carr (Guardian): New Zealand’s stance on ‘people’s vaccine’ for Covid undermines its principled reputation
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Knives out in National, as caucus struggles to show unity despite obvious division
Josh Van Veen (Democracy Project): On the lifestyle nation and Simon Bridges
1 News: NCEA exams pushed back after Covid disruption
Bernadette Basagre (Stuff): NZQA high school exams pushed back by two weeks due to lockdown
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdown slows down courts
Chlöe Swarbrick (Herald): Tackling climate change requires a collective effort
RNZ: Royal Commission Māori hearing scheduled for next month postponed
Anuja Nadkarni (Newsroom): Deportation officials unable to access files in lockdown – again
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Climate conscious investors challenged to scrutinise fuel company purchase
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn Chorus: RBNZ set on rate hikes
Will Trafford (Māori TV): ‘Haakaa’ company ‘deeply sorry’ for branding it earlier claimed had no link to Te Ao Māori
Steven Moe (Stuff): The bottom line is not enough, companies should be required to have a purpose
Sam Stubbs (Stuff): Why it is time for KiwiSaver 2.0
Duncan Johnstone (Stuff): New poll shows vast majority of Kiwis want Team NZ to defend America’s Cup at home
