Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage. You can sign up to NZ Politics Daily as well as New Zealand Political Roundup columns for free here.

Today’s content

Wānaka Couple, Alert level rules, compliance, enforcement
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Free advice for the Wānaka ‘wanderers’ (paywalled)
Lauren Hendricksen and Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Case of Auckland couple allegedly travelling to Wānaka during lockdown raises justice system disparity issues – defence lawyer
RNZ: Law Society to investigate rule flouting by lawyer who fled to Wānaka
John Weekes (Herald): The more outrageous the alleged offence, the more likely you are to get name suppression
Steve Braunias (Herald): In defence of the Wānaka lockdown breachers (paywalled)
David Farrar: Let’s cancel the lynch mob
Hugh Breakey (Herald): Five questions to ask yourself before dobbing in rule-breakers
ODT Editorial: The ‘essential’ need to travel
Laura James (1 News): Couple who fled Auckland lockdown to Wānaka named
Daisy Hudson (ODT): Lockdown flouters ‘deeply sorry’
Craig Kapitan (Herald): ‘Deeply sorry’ – William Willis and Hannah Rawnsley named as Wanaka holidaymakers
Jean Bell (RNZ): Couple who flouted Auckland lockdown to travel to Wānaka named
Scott Palmer and Giles Dexter (Newshub): Wānaka couple’s identity revealed as William Willis, Hannah Rawnsley after name suppression lapses
Stephen Franks: Free Speech Union against name suppression for alleged Wanaka escapees
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Why Wānaka couple were granted interim name suppression
Jean Bell (RNZ): Name suppression for couple who flouted Auckland lockdown
Scott Palmer (Newshub): New Zealanders fear more will break COVID rules if pair get off lightly
Miriam Burrell (Herald): Airport security, name suppression called into question after Auckland couple travel to Wanaka
1 News: Woman who shares same name as person who fled to Wānaka harassed online
Herald: Woman with same name as Wanaka absconder targeted online
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Auckland couple apologise to New Zealand after travelling to Wānaka
Anna Leask (Herald): Alleged Wanaka Covid 19 breachers ‘remorseful’ about ‘bad decision’, says friend
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Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): More than 50 seen lining Auckland street for tangi
Stuff: Auckland police break up gathering following online funeral
Peter Cullen (Stuff): Can a worker refuse to work if their employer is not following Covid-19 guidelines?
Stuff: $33,000 donated to Dr Siouxsie Wiles’ research after ‘hypocrite’ jibe
Jane Matthews (Stuff): No backlog of funeral services in level 2 as Taranaki families choose to say goodbye in groups of 10
Teuila Fuatai (Herald): Policing of public health orders in Covid alert level 4 must be transparent (paywalled)
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Police accused of ‘bully-boy, heavy-handed’ actions at Motueka pub
Nathan Morton and Josephine Franks (Stuff): Auckland sex workers offering services despite level 4 rules
1 News: Pak’nSave security guard assaulted by woman who refused to wear mask
RNZ: Woman refusing mask at supermarket returns with men, assaults guard – police
Herald: Woman who refused to wear a face mask arrested after assaulting Auckland security guard
Lincoln Tan (Herald): ‘Heartless’: Woman’s applications for travel exemptions to attend mum’s funeral declined three times

Government management of outbreak, expert advice
Gordon Campbell: On the Covid exit plan, and 9/11 media memories
Richard Harman (Politik): Opening up (Paywalled)
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Elimination and Delta: Statements from 10 experts and leaders
RNZ: PM Jacinda Ardern on Covid-19 alert levels: Good testing rates will give ‘extra reassurance’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Lengthy lockdown ‘quite concerning’, virus ‘shape-shifting’ and might be here to stay – immunologist
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins questions Jacinda Ardern’s ‘short and sharp’ COVID-19 lockdown plan as Auckland enters fifth week
Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): No intention of using lockdowns forever – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand Covid update: cases drop to 15 as Ardern unveils ‘Mr Whippy-style’ vaccination buses
Georgina Campbell (Herald): A Capital Letter: We need to know what it takes to get to level 1 (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Lockdown fatigue is understandable but beatable
Chlöe Swarbrick (Herald): Team of 5 million’s Covid success shows power of working together
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Is it time to end the daily Covid briefings?

Vaccine rollout
Tim Dare and Justine Kingsbury (The Conversation): Why a domestic NZ Covid ‘passport’ raises hard questions about discrimination, inequality and coercion
Ian Powell (BusinessDesk): How has New Zealand performed on vaccines (paywalled)
Herald: Government races to vaccinate Auckland ahead of lockdown lifting
John Anthony (Stuff):Businesses offer staff incentives to increase Covid-19 vaccine uptake
RNZ: Steel and Tube offers employees bonus for Covid-19 vaccinations
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Thalidomide survivor urges disabled Kiwis to get vaccinated amid low uptake
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): New Zealand’s oldest Thalidomide survivor gets vaccinated
1 News: NZ’s oldest Thalidomide survivor fully vaccinated
RNZ: ‘There is nothing holding us back in Auckland when it comes to vaccines’ – PM
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Something’s working in the state of Denmark
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): We know how to boost vaccine rates, just give us the resources, Māori health providers say
Herald:$70,000 in prizes to get young adults vaccinated
Anna Whyte and Breanna Barraclough (1 News): Call goes out for vaccination bus name, Ardern rules out ‘Bussy McBusface’
Herald: Kiwis have their say on name for ‘Mr Whippy’-style vaccine bus service
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Two more 11-year-olds given Pfizer vaccine despite no Medsafe approval
Herald: The Edge radio’s ‘Vaxcation’ competition criticised for excluding the unvaccinated
Michael Neilson (Herald):PM Jacinda Ardern denies seeking cheaper, delayed vaccines

Wage subsidy, business, economy
George Driver (Spinoff): After the big bounce of 2020, how will the NZ economy recover from 2021’s outbreak?
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): New Zealand bailed out Cook Islands, on brink of economic catastrophe (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern says she’s sympathetic to flower growers protesting restrictions at Parliament
Karen Coltman and Bridie Witton (Stuff): Florists and flower growers stage protest over level 4 rules
Liam Dann (Herald): National calls for increased Auckland business support (paywalled)
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Calls for Govt to offer additional financial, mental health support to businesses
Emma Vitz (Spinoff): How much we haven’t spent on haircuts, takeaways and more during lockdown
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Auckland hospitality business owners desperate for targeted support as livelihoods hang in the balance
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Retailers using loans to keep Wellington businesses afloat
Thomas Bywater (Herald): Fox Glacier hostels in liquidation as borders remain closed to backpackers
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Wānaka businesses struggle without Auckland dollar
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Akaroa French Festival postponed until 2022 due to Covid-19
Chris Marshall (Stuff): Covid uncertainty prompts summer concert series’ shift to March
Nick Brook (ODT): Some tourist spots busier with Kiwis than before Covid
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Pet food shortages causing angst for fussy felines
Sheryl Sandberg (Herald):  Resilient Māori businesses showing the way (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Govt to blame for financial market confusion over $41 billion contingency fund

Supermarkets
Katie Bradford (1 News): Foodstuffs admits it needs to do more to convince shoppers it’s not ripping them off
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Supermarket giant Foodstuffs promises reform in advance of Commerce Commission’s final report (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Foodstuffs says food prices not high, concedes on covenants in reply to market study

Inequality, charities
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): How Covid restrictions mean cages for some, deliveries for others
Richard Prebble (Herald): Virus’ greatest threat is life-time poverty (paywalled)
Vandhna Bhan (1 News): Young science champion starts charity to close digital divide for Pasifika

Border, MIQ, immigration
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern pours cold water on James Shaw self-isolating upon return from international climate conference
Joseph Pearson (Stuff): MIQ shuts down idea of extra facility for sports stars stranded overseas
Anthony Galloway (Stuff): The digital border pass you’ll need to visit Australia
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): No Cook Islands travel without vaccine, zero Covid cases in NZ for 14 days
RNZ: Cook Islanders stranded in NZ one step closer to home
RNZ: NZ grants refugee status for man over Easter bombings funding accusations
Stuff Editorial: Could those who bestow citizenship value it properly in the first place?

Contact tracing, testing
David Williams (Newsroom): It’s not where we’re testing, it’s how and how often
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Government considers random surveillance testing at known hotspots as swab sites reveal they have capacity to do more
RNZ: Offering tests and vaccines at same time not appropriate – DHB boss

Cases, demographics
Herald: Worker at So /Auckland MIQ hotel tests positive for Covid
Ben Leahy (Herald): What we know about Auckland’s mystery cases
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Why are there still so many ‘expected’ cases in Auckland?
Rachel Thomas (Stuff):Level 2 safeguards still crucial as Wellington creeps towards elimination – experts
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Four in five cases unvaccinated
Lana Andelane (Newshub): 78pct of eligible people who’ve caught COVID-19 yet to receive first dose of vaccine
The Standard: Covid, We Need To Talk About Class
Todd Niall (Stuff): After triple-whammy lockdown, South Auckland deserves more than just vaccination
Thomas Bywater (Herald): Ruby Princess: International cruise passengers join class action Covid 19 lawsuit

Health
Hannah Martin (Stuff): ‘We’re doing the best we can’: Middlemore exec on ‘demanding’ and ‘difficult’ period
Richard Edwards, Janet Hoek and Andrew Waa (ODT): World-leading action plan on smoking will reduce harm
Himali McInnes (Guardian): We don’t live in isolation. Our ancestors’ trauma can affect our health generations later
Himali McInnes (Newsroom): The death of a little boy, and Māori healing

Parliament
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): ‘Paranoid storms’: Judith Collins’ former press secretary on National, leadership and oblivion
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Pressure on Collins mounts
Matt Burrows (Newshub): National MP Maureen Pugh reveals she’s been struck by lightning three times
Kurt Bayer (Herald): National MP Maureen Pugh survives three lightning strikes (paywalled)
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): David Seymour shows National how it’s done (paywalled)

Afghanistan
Eugene Bingham (Stuff): Women who did dangerous work for New Zealand in Afghanistan are now threatened by the Taliban
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Ne Zealand Government’s ‘phase two’ evacuation plans to be considered by Cabinet
Eugene Bingham and Thomas Manch (Stuff): Afghan women ‘heartbroken’ after pleas for help from New Zealand turned down

Te Reo Māori
Morgan Godfery (Guardian): Give Lorde a break. Non-Māori must speak Māori for it to survive
Awanui Te Huia (Newsroom): Understanding Māori language learners

Māori Party Aotearoa petition, place names
Anna Whyte (1 News): Over 10,000 sign Te Pati Māori’s place name petition
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Reverting places names to te reo Māori origins a ‘gateway to stopping racism’ – Te Pāti Māori co-leader
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Supporters of push to rename New Zealand as Aotearoa prepared for backlash
Zane Small (Newshub): Māori Party push for all Māori place names to be restored by 2026 and ‘Aotearoa’ to officially replace ‘New Zealand’
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand Māori party launches petition to change country’s name to Aotearoa

Housing
1 News: House prices across NZ rise by 25.5%
Anne Gibson (Herald): House sales fall 26.5%, price rises subdued
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Lockdown fails to dampen demand as New Zealand house prices rise to record level in August
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Another record high for house prices
Andrew Marshall (ODT): Wary of creating stigma
Zoe Hunter (Herald): Aucklanders in lockdown eye Tauranga properties: ‘Enough’s enough’ (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Developer of new $10b Drury town on 660% fee rise: ‘Shocking, disappointing’ (paywalled)
Don Franks (Redline): Renting in New Zealand, a sick joke
Catherine Smith (OneRoof): Is NZ in danger of running out of houses for sale?

Water reforms
Lan Pham (Stuff): Three waters: filtering out the myths
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Manawatū council questions benefit of water reforms to ratepayers
Jonathan Guildford (Stuff): Waimakariri residents want council to ‘opt-out’ of the Government’s three waters reform
Brigitte Morten (NBR): Failed politics of three waters reform (paywalled)
Paul Majurey (Herald):  Māori involvement in Three Waters reform will benefit all (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The most important question 3 Waters can’t answer
Christopher Luxon (Stuff): Three Waters, four entities, several problems 

Local government
Susan Botting (RNZ): Nine new Māori ward councillors likely for Northland
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Experience Wellington: Organisation facing $477k deficit, staff ‘bruised’
Grant Miller (ODT): ‘Provocative’ Covid posts ‘unhelpful’
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Remediation plans wrapped in red tape
John Lewis (ODT): ‘Civic intervention’ called for after venue closure
1 News: End of an era as last student pub in Dunedin closes doors
RNZ: Petition calling for Wānaka local authority reaches threshold for investigation

Environment, Climate change
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern defends climate change action after New Zealand’s methane emissions targeted in global reduction push
Reuters (Newshub): New Zealand among major methane emitters targeted by new US, EU climate change push
Dave Goosselink (Newshub): Frustrated farmers ready themselves to take over central streets in protest of Government regulations
Robyn Bristow (ODT): Agricultural industry voice needs reviewed
Don Wiseman (RNZ): Pacific Forum prepares for COP26
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Revealed: That coffee cup you think is recyclable isn’t – none of them are
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): The $350 million plan to divert waste from landfill – by burning it
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): A look back at 50 years of Greenpeace

Media
Graham Adams (Democracy Project):The double-edged sword of the $55m government journalism fund cuts deep
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): No, Newshub and Tova O’Brien have not been silenced by the government

Education
Tom McRae (Newshub): Parents and schools at loggerheads over moving upcoming school holidays
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Minister of Education Chris Hipkins considers bringing school holidays forward
Liz McDonald (Stuff): Shifting school holidays due to Covid lockdown would cause disruption, businesses say
Herald: Chris Hipkins awaiting advice on possible school holiday move
Ella Stewart (RNZ): Students trapped in Auckland fear falling behind in studies
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Parents discouraged from seeking childcare staff’s vaccination status
Louise Ternouth (RNZ): Online cheating up 458 percent at one NZ university in 2020
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): Apology not enough for frustrated community that’s lost its land

Cyber attacks
Juha Saarinen (Herald): A DDoS plague on our internet (paywalled)
Herald: Kiwibank and MetService still experiencing problems
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘How are we meant to pay bills?’: Kiwibank disruption continues

Other
Jared Abbot (Stuff): The minimal price of safeguarding Aotearoa’s fuel security
David Hargreaves (Interest): NZ Super Fund grows by nearly 30% – assets now close to $60 billion
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): NZ Super Fund makes record return but warns of tougher times ahead
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Oranga Tamariki admits children sometimes kept in hospital longer than needed
1 News: ‘Forever grateful’ victims of New Lynn terrorist attack speak out
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): New Lynn supermarket terror attack: ‘Heroic’ man ran ‘straight toward danger’ to distract terrorist, police reveal
Laura Walters (Stuff): Record-breaking number of submissions on law proposing to ban conversion therapy
Daisy Hudson (ODT): No abuse hearing in Dunedin called ‘slap in the face’
Rob Kidd (ODT): Court hears mother’s plea for apology
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Big names and locations caught up in film company collapse
Martin Bradbury (Daily Blog): Let’s talk about THAT woke Stuff column
RNZ: The Detail: Keeping it real for kids on misinformation
Robin Martin (RNZ): Horticulture making a comeback in Taranaki
Thomas Nash (Newsroom): The right side of urban planning history