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

Mall terror attack
Clarke Jones (Guardian): I assessed the Auckland terrorist – our approach to extremism has to change
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Muslim leader ‘baffled’ Corrections passed up rehabilitation offer for LynnMall terrorist
Edward O’Driscoll (Newshub): Community leaders say Corrections shouldn’t have housed supermarket terrorist in mosque
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): Terrorist threw faeces, assaulted staff – Corrections
Gordon Campbell: On why terrorism law changes can’t be rushed
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Hollow laugher, mixed with tears
David Hall (Stuff): Choosing to avoid the trap of those who use violence to encourage more violence
RNZ: Grant Robertson on counter-terror laws: ‘It is important to get this right’
1 News: Another terrorist attack ‘going to happen again’ in NZ, expert warns
Marena Mane (Māori TV): Māori Party opposes anti-terrorism legislation bill
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern exploring whether all options to deport terrorist were exhausted
Thomas Manch (Stuff): PM says reviews will provide answers on terrorist’s management, as questions mount
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Govt did everything in its power to protect public from Aathil Samsudeen – Grant Robertson
Sam Hurley (Herald): The charges dismissed against Auckland’s lone wolf terrorist Ahamed Aathil Mohamed Samsudeen
Jared Savage and Sam Hurley (Herald): Auckland mall terrorist forged medical documents, boasted about duping immigration officials
Edward Gay (Stuff): Supermarket terrorist made disturbing internet searches after buying knife
David Fisher and Jared Savage (Herald): Terrorist became fixated on an individual in weeks leading up to stabbings (paywalled)
Jared Savage (Herald): Samsudeen spoke of Anzac Day knife attack, making a bomb, according to flatmate 
Newstalk ZB: Criminal lawyer: Changes to terrorism suppression laws long overdue
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Opportunity to deport LynnMall terrorist missed if considered security threat – lawyer
Newstalk ZB: Lawyer: Immigration Minister ‘can’t boot refugees out’
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Time to take an Australian approach to immigration
ODT Editorial: Ponderous, dangerous and murky
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins understands frustration over New Lynn Countdown terrorist Aathil Samsudeen ‘gaming the system’
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Changes to armed offenders squads still possible as police grapple with ‘high-risk situations’
Sarah Robson (RNZ): LynnMall attacker spent years under watchful eyes
RNZ: Man chased by LynnMall terrorist says Kiwis stood up ‘for what’s right‘
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Police Commissioner Andrew Coster issues warning over misinformation circulating on social media
Herald: Police warn of fake news on social media
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Audrey has questions

Alert level changes, rules
Karen Rutherford (Stuff): Experts question why face masks aren’t mandatory in schools under alert level 2
Lee Kenny, Jody O’Callaghan and Steven Walton (Stuff): Masks in schools ‘recommended but not mandated’ at level 2
Ben Strang (RNZ): Govt, police unable to enforce mandatory scanning of QR codes
1 News: ‘Calculated risk’ moving to Level 2 with Covid-19 cases still in Auckland – Hendy
Derek Cheng (Herald): Why the case for level 2 was strong, and for 2.5 even stronger (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Herald): Keep bars and restaurants shut at ‘Delta Level 2’ expert says
Karen Coltman (Stuff): Mandatory Covid-19 tracing not quite mandatory 
RNZ: Checkpoint: Modified alert level 1 possible again for NZ – Professor Baker
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Eventual alert level 1 move might not be as free as before – Michael Baker
1 News: Auckland could drop to Level 3 even with new cases – Michael Baker
Jamie Morton (Herald): Delta outbreak could total fewer than 900 cases – model
Liz McDonald, Steven Walton and Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Relief for some at new level 2, but dismay at tougher rules
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The alert level two rules have changed for delta – here’s what you need to know
RNZ: ‘Delta 2’: What’s changed with alert level 2
ODT: Walking into our ‘Delta Dawn’
Herald Editorial: Life on a new level , for some
Michael Neilson (Herald): Level 2 for all but Auckland, focus on stamping out last cases
Georgina Campbell and Jack Crossland (Herald): Wellington hospitality businessman says new level 2 a ‘million times more difficult’
Imran Ali (Northern Advocate): Level 2 delights businesses
Rahul Bhattarai (Herald): Hospitality and retail industries welcome move to alert level 2
Herald: Air New Zealand announces changes for new alert level 2
Hamish McNeilly and Vicki Anderson (Stuff): Change to online flight bookings after non-exempt travel breaches revealed
Juliet Speedy (Newshub): Many South Islanders losing patience with alert levels as days tick by without community case

Government management of outbreak, expert advice
Jo Moir (Newsroom): PM says Bloomfield advised against pre-flight tests
Richard Harman (Politik): The changing Covid strategy (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Why Judith Collins feels sorry for Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins (paywalled)
Anke Richter (RNZ): Foreign media misinformation pushes ‘Saint Jacinda’ from her pedestal
Luke Malpass (Stuff): The 1pm Review – It’s Delta 2 and it is out to protect you!
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Southland pub under fire for ‘abhorrent’ window sign comparing Jacinda Ardern to Adolf Hitler
Heath Moore (Herald): Bluff bar’s ‘disturbing’ sign compares Ardern to Hitler, Covid response to Jewish atrocities
Laura Smith (ODT): Criticism, some support for Bluff pub’s sign
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Health Ministry has no plans to join England in drafting Shielded Patients List
RNZ: Covid-19 in NZ in numbers

Vaccine rollout, mandatory vaccination
RNZ: Māori vaccine equity scheme criticism blows back on Seymour
Amelia Wade (Newshub): ACT leader David Seymour defends saying Māori shouldn’t be prioritised for COVID-19 vaccines amid pile-on
Henry Cooke (Stuff): ‘Low-life move’ – David Seymour under fire for tweeting out Māori vaccine access code
Anna Whyte (1 News): Te Pāti Māori label Seymour’s sharing of Māori vaccine code ‘low life move’
Zane Small (Newshub): ACT leader David Seymour faces backlash for post encouraging public to use Māori code to get COVID-19 vaccine without booking
Whatitiri Te Wake (Māori TV): David Seymour shares Māori vaccine access codes; ‘the dirtiest of his lows’
Michael Neilson (Herald): Act’s David Seymour under fire over Māori vaccination comments
Newstalk ZB: David Seymour: People are sick and tired of a government that frames every issue through the lens of ethnicity
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government likely to announce whether it has secured extra vaccines today
Joanne Naish (Stuff): Customs justified in sacking border worker who refused to get Covid-19 vaccine – employment authority rules
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Vaccination rates among Māori quadrupled in Tāmaki
Naomi Arnold (RNZ): ‘Google it’: Ill man horrified by vaccine advice
Laura James (1 News): Kiwi friends build website to help speed up vaccinations
Bernadette Basagre (Stuff): Dairy farmers have ‘no time’ for vaccinations during calving season

Border, MIQ, immigration
Andy Fyers (BusinessDesk): The strange case of the non-existent MIQ records (paywalled)
Ben Strang (RNZ): MIQ breaches include two staff members not wearing masks appropriately
Mike Treen (Daily Blog): Why is SkyCity offering a 15% pay rise?
Newstalk ZB: 385 Australians visited Rarotonga via Cook Islands Travel Bubble
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Forty percent fall in deportations from New Zealand
Stuff: No entry, no exit. Fortress New Zealand’s doors are sealed shut
Adam Burns (RNZ): Mid Canterbury migrants push for return of work visa
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Visa frustrations push Timaru dairy worker towards Australia
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Seasonal employment travel bubble with Pacific nations put on hold

Contact tracing, testing
1 News: Saliva test developer ‘frustrated’ by Government’s slow uptake
1 News: Weekly Covid testing mandatory for workers crossing Auckland’s border
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Essential workers crossing the Auckland border must have weekly tests

Health system
RNZ: The Detail: Increasing ICU bed numbers is not that simple
Neil Lindsay, Tom Baker, Octavia Calder-Dawe (Newsroom): Apps won’t save us from mental health crisis
Jane Nixon (Newshub): Gumboot Friday offering free online counselling for youth
Malcolm Mulholland (Herald): The value of a New Zealander’s life (paywalled)
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Royal NZ College of GPs speaks out against Ivermectin, says it’s ‘strongly not recommended’ as COVID-19 treatment
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): 200 children on dental waiting list in the south
Emma Russell (Herald): Deadly cancer error: Man dies after ‘unacceptable’ failure by Taranaki DHB
Sarah Rhodes (Newsroom): Covid’s forgotten health care worker
Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Wellington Free Ambulance Onesie Day street appeal canned again because of COVID-19

Cases, demographics
Herald: Waitakere Hospital patient placed in same room as Covid positive case
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Middlemore infection: Testing for Covid-19 before hospital entry ‘not possible’
Michael Morrah (Newshub): 91yo ‘absolutely appalled’ he shared Middlemore Hospital room with COVID-positive patient
Jane Nixon (1 News): Middlemore Covid case ‘should have been isolated sooner’ – Bloomfield
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Infected Middlemore Hospital patient – son’s fury after father shared room
Herald: Patients, staff in two Middlemore wards with positive case now ‘close contacts’

Wage subsidy, business, economy
Duncan Bridgeman (Herald): Air NZ, McDonald’s franchisees among biggest wage subsidy recipients so far (paywalled)
Riley Kennedy (ODT): Almost $50m of subsidy for the South
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Long wait for some business owners to get wage subsidy (paywalled)
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Some hospo businesses ‘opening the doors to lose money’ in level 2
Georgia O’Connor-Harding (Herald): Hospitality NZ warns industry won’t survive lockdown without intervention
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Storm brewing as builders unable to offer fixed prices due to shortages
David Hargreaves (Interest): Westpac economists say supply chain problems may get worse before they get better
Non Pelletier (RNZ): Christmas delayed? Supply struggles suggest swift shopping
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Ski field level 2 openings relief after ‘disastrous’ season
Jenny Ling (Northern Advocate): Northland tourism operators struggle amid mental health survey findings (paywalled)
Brook Sabin (Stuff): Air New Zealand adds 400 flights as domestic travel returns
John Berry (Stuff): Here’s how Covid has changed the business landscape

Police checkpoints, community checkpoints
Waatea News: No point in unofficial checkpoints says MP
Denise Piper (Stuff): Iwi say checkpoints with police are reducing non-essential traffic

Lockdown compliance, enforcement, misinformation
Mihingarangi Forbes and John Boynton (Newshub): Family who lost two brothers to COVID-19 calling on Aotearoa to take Delta seriously
Herald: Maskless man accused of spitting on essential workers
Nathan Morton (Stuff): Auckland golfers caught breaching lockdown rules
Herald: Aucklanders urged to avoid temptation of water sports as warmer weather sets in
Verity Johnson (Stuff): Youtube brainwashed your loved one…what now? 

Inequality, charities, domestic violence
Luke Kirkeby (Stuff): Lockdown brings Tokoroa a month’s worth of family violence reports in a week
CPAG: Latest jump in weekly benefit numbers highest since first lockdown
Herald: Be kind – it makes a huge difference
Taroi Black (Māori TV): New Māori food network ready to feed 200,000 whānau

Parliament
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): A week is a long time in politics
Jennifer Curtin (Listener/Herald): The National Party’s identity crisis (paywalled)

Primary industries
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern refuses to release information about Groundswell NZ
Caroline Read (ODT): Overseer does what it was designed to do
Anne Gibson (Herald): Australian involvement in South Island land deal broke law, buyer fined $20,000 (paywalled)

Local government
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Ports of Auckland staff furious over ousted CEO’s payout
Karen Pasco (ODT): Invercargill City Council making things work despite Sir Tim – report
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Invercargill Mayor Sir Tim Shadbolt hits back at independent review findings
Logan Savory (Stuff): Independent review: Shadbolt ‘unavoidable and inconvenient’ distraction
ODT: Sir Tim remains ‘unavoidable and inconvenient’ distraction
RNZ: Positive council report finds Mayor Tim Shadbolt ‘unavoidable and inconvenient distraction’
Jared Morgan (ODT): Minister-ORC chairman talks welcomed
Molly Houseman (ODT): ORC Leadership role questions raised
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Landfill plan reactivated but trimmed
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Understaffed: Palmerston North City Council carrying 140 vacancies
RNZ: Masterton councillor takes up water storage fight
Robin Martin (RNZ): Taranaki council’s lack of consultation for consents ‘not good enough’ – iwi representative

Housing
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): How house prices are dividing the country
Catherine Smith (OneRoof): NZ listings slump set to make buying homes even harder
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Robertson comfortable with further house price increases, but wants growth rate to fall
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Three out of four council flats fail healthy homes standards
1 News: Three in five homeowners couldn’t afford to buy their home at current value

Climate change, environment
No Right Turn: Too many cows in Canterbury
Simon Wilson (Herald): Time to eliminate company car parks (paywalled)
Tim Newman (Stuff): Protecting source water the focus on new council bylaw
Jono Galuszka (Stuff): Dr Huhana Smith elected as co-chair of Horizons climate action committee
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Millions earmarked to deal with toxic waste
RNZ: Emergency work to stabilise Franz Josef Glacier stopbank

Education
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Schools expect to run catch-up classes
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): The Politics of where Education is in an aspirational hole

Media
Gavin Ellis (Knightly Views): Terror, time, and trust
Curwen Ares Rolinson (Daily Blog): NZ Herald Poll On Pursuing ‘Elimination Til Vaccination’ Is Thin End Of ‘Learn To Live With It’ Wedge
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Gower on hate – woke current affairs provides little insight
Stephen Parker (Newsroom): An unexpected ode for exiting TVNZ chief
John Anthony (Stuff): Personalised Speight’s advert ‘dangerous’ and ‘creepy’, recovering alcoholic says
Newshub: Peter Williams leaving Magic Talk as Lloyd Burr joins the station

Other
Ernie Newman (Herald): Supermarkets aren’t the only businesses that need to look in the mirror (paywalled)
Marena Mane (Māori TV): Sawmill Workers Against Poisons group still battling for recognition and medical care
Herald: Escape from Kabul; Most NZDF crew back in NZ after ‘chaotic’ evacuation
Shaneel Lal (Guardian): It is time for New Zealand to end gay conversion practices
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Rainbow advocates concerned by churches’ proposed amendment to conversion therapy bill
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): Some prisoners have ‘no idea’ when their trials will be heard
Gill Higgins (1 News): Woman baffled why she can’t get mobility scooter on buses
Louis Ashworth (Herald/Telegraph): New Zealand and UK fail to hit Brexit trade deal target (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): Time running out for private bid to keep America’s Cup in Auckland
Sarah Templeton (Newshub): Disgust after fantasy erotica e-book ‘Captured by a Māori Warrior’ discovered online