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
National Party
Josh Van Veen (Democracy Project): The Ghost of lockdowns Past
Ben Thomas (Stuff): The end is nigh as Judith Collins stumbles once too often
Richard Harman (Politik): Is Bridges the answer? (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Poll crash for National could spell catastrophe for Judith Collins (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Why did Janet Wilson give that interview to the Spinoff?
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): ‘Paranoid storm’ and a poll from hell cloud Collins’ leadership
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Judith Collins hits back at former staffer Janet Wilson over claims of a culture of fear and ‘paranoid storms’
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Judith Collins denies paranoia claims and hits back at former staffer Janet Wilson
1 News: Judith Collins and ex-press advisor in slanging match over Siouxsie Wiles attack
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Judith Collins’ former chief press secretary attacks Opposition leader, ‘moribund’, ‘on the brink of oblivion’ National Party
RNZ: Judith Collins stands by calling microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles a hypocrite
UMR, Curia polling
Henry Cooke (Stuff): New poll has National at just 21 per cent, ACT not far behind at 15 per cent
Claire Trevett (Herald): New poll reveals initial impact of outbreak on political parties’ fortunes
RNZ: Support for Labour steadies, concern about catching Covid-19 rises – UMR poll
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): First Delta UMR Poll – Winners & Losers
Herald: The National Party’s polling company has the party crashing to within six points of Act
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): National Party slumps to 21.3 pct, ACT just 6 points behind in new NZ Taxpayers’ Union poll
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): New Taxpayer Union Poll – Winners & Losers
Vaccine rollout
Vaughan Elder (ODT): ‘Thousands of deaths’ from Covid a risk in reopening scenario: modeller
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): New Zealand could see thousands of deaths once borders open if vaccination rates don’t increase – Michael Plank
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Scared’ countries are rushing to get vaccines, NZ should too – epidemiologist Rod Jackson
Henry Cooke and Kate Newton (Stuff): New Zealand’s vaccine rollout explained in 10 charts, as it hits halfway mark
Newstalk ZB: Andrew Little: Like to see 90% vax rate before restrictions can ease
Stewart Forsyth (Herald): Team Auckland versus Team Rest of New Zealand in vaccine race (paywalled)
Nikki Macdonald and Lucy Xia (Stuff): Trained pharmacy vaccinators ‘going to waste’ in Auckland
Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris (Spinoff): Do I really need a Covid-19 vaccine, even if I’m fit and healthy?
David Farrar: (Kiwiblog) Vaccination rates
RNZ: Checkpoint: Rob Fyfe calls for ‘ambitious’ vaccine target from government
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): All sectors urged to step up and get Aotearoa vaccinated
Danielle Clent (Stuff): 250,000 Pfizer vaccines from Denmark arrive in Auckland
Jessica Roden (1 News): Focus turns to 22% of Kiwis not vaccinated against Covid
Herald: Jacinda Ardern’s final 4 for ‘Mr Whippy’-style jab bus names revealed
Ripu Bhatia and Geraden Cann (Stuff): Jab Lab, Vax Van, or Mr Pricky: Your names for the Covid-19 vaccination buses
Newshub: Jacinda Ardern reveals shortlisted names for ‘Mr Whippy’ style vaccine buses
RNZ: Little clarifies plan for buses and mobile clinics to boost vaccination rates
Nikki Preston (Herald): NZ’s biggest retirement village operator wants all staff to be vaccinated
Zoe Holland (Herald): Woman shocked to learn Covid-19 vaccination centre closed
Zane Small (Newshub): Israel, where 3 in 5 are fully vaccinated, has a message for New Zealand: COVID-19 jabs reduce hospitalisations
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Booster shots could prolong pandemic by increasing risk of variants in unvaccinated nations – scientists
Herald: Medsafe hits back at Covid jab misinformation as it probes 15 deaths
Anna Leask (Herald): Coroner says death of teen not linked to vaccine
RNZ: Teen’s death investigated but no evidence of link to vaccine – Chief Coroner
Border, MIQ, immigration
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Alleged quarantine escapee sent home after just 10 days without being tested
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Quarantine: Out after only 10 days
Maiki Sherman (1 News): Over 100 Pasifika overstayers deported last year during pandemic
Denise Piper (Stuff): Fifty yachts to sail from Fiji to Northland, raising health fears
1 News: Software developer: New MIQ lottery improvement, but flaws remain
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): MIQ virtual lobby ‘no silver bullet’, warns Hipkins
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Pause on managed isolation room releases lifted
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand reopens MIQ border bookings as new Covid cases drop to 14
Michael Neilson (Herald): National calls for points-based MIQ priority system
RNZ: NZ’s MIQ booking system to resume on Monday
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): Trans-Tasman bubble: Kiwis stranded in Australia not eligible for MIQ until bubble decision
RNZ: Checkpoint: Stressed NZers stuck in Australia face pension cuts
Amelia Wade (Newshub): MIQ fix isn’t good news for all with some Kiwis stuck in Australia forced to pause their pensions
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Cook Islands tourism operators frustrated with new travel policy
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Residency limbo: Emails reveal pleas of rural GP, while convicted criminals granted stay
Yadharsh Yathin Vijayakuma (Stuff): Migrant’s chances of being with fiancée in New Zealand slimmer every day
Anuja Nadkarni (Newsroom): The $140,000 job not a single Kiwi has applied for
Contact tracing, testing
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Act says the Government did not test contact tracing system, the Government says Act has its definition wrong
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Mobile COVID-19 test providers say ‘we need more’ to close service inequity for Māori, Pasifika
Adam Pearse (Herald): Why 7000 Aucklanders need to be tested per day
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Middlemore Hospital testing every ward patient for Covid-19
Amy Williams (RNZ): Weekly tests for essential workers crossing Auckland border come in tomorrow
Government management of outbreak, expert advice
Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): Life after lockdowns – health officials working on new outbreak response strategy
Chris Bishop (Kiwiblog): On the longest lockdown
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Something is working in the state of Denmark
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap: what happened on 15 September
Herald Editorial: Are we losing the ability to see the positives? (paywalled)
Wānaka Couple
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): The Indiscrete Charmlessness Of Upper-Class Rule-Breakers
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Pākehā granted name suppression three times as often as Māori
RNZ: Law Society to look into rule flouting by lawyer who fled to Wānaka
Giles Dexter (Newshub): How New Zealand’s suppression laws could be tweaked after alleged lockdown breachers’ names widely shared online
Kevin Norquay (Stuff): Maybe we should cut the Wānaka lockdown breach couple some slack
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Wānaka couple’s initial name suppression – do different rules apply to rich people? (paywalled)
Nadine Porter and Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Queenstown mayor wants Wānaka lockdown breach couple to face prosecution
Lana Andelane and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): Psychiatrist calls on Kiwis to stop harassing, vilifying William Willis, Hannah Rawnsley on social media
Wyatt Ryder (ODT): Response to flouting law called ‘cruel’
Alert level rules, compliance, enforcement, misinformation
Cira Olivier (Herald): Aucklander found in BOP let through checkpoint due to safety concern – police
Hazel Osborne (Whakatāne Beacon): Aucklander who fled level 4 lockdown to Whakatāne may face prosecution
1 News: MSD client who fled from Auckland to Whakatāne made to return
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Anti-vax group drops leaflets in Auckland, despite lockdown
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Northland man crossed border to Auckland to buy boat
Herald: Brian Tamaki tells followers to ‘do away with’ masks
RNZ: Bloomfield warns against social media Covid-19 misinformation
1 News: Bloomfield debunks claim Vitamin C protects or treats Covid-19
1 News: Attempted imports of Ivermectin spike in recent months
Ella Prendergast and Sarah Templeton (Newshub): Pressure from clients, stigma in system mean ‘small amount’ of sex workers operating during lockdown – Dame Catherine Healy
Wage subsidy, business, economy
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘Lockdowns are killing us’: Call for clarity on vaccine target
Jamie Gray (Herald): NZ’s current account deficit widens to 3.3% of GDP – Stats NZ
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): What’s the economic road-map? Grant Robertson in the spotlight (paywalled)
Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Government workers urged to return to office as COVID-19 bites for Wellington CBD businesses
Daniel Dunkley (Stuff): We need to get creative to help hospitality
Sam Hurley (Herald): ‘Treacherous trio of scams’: Markets watchdog FMA issues warning about Covid-19 exploitation
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Guns N’ Roses NZ tour ‘unlikely’ to go ahead, promoter yet to make final call
Supermarkets
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Supermarket study hits a brick wall with New World, Pak ‘n Save owners response
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Countdown joins Foodstuffs in rejecting case for forced split
Inequality, charities
Steven Cowan (Against the current): We’re not “all in this together”
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Salvation Army calls for wider access to food and financial assistance during lockdown
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Māori Food Network sends out 25 tonnes of kai to struggling whānau
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Papa Hone fights poverty in the Northland ‘one whānau at a time’
Cases, demographics
1 News: MIQ worker Covid case a sign NZ has to turn away border cases: Baker
Hannah Martin (Stuff): More than half of cases in Auckland Delta outbreak linked to church group
1 News: Covid case who presented at Middlemore lives at Mongrel Mob gang pad
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Auckland Mongrel Mob members isolating after woman with COVID-19 goes home to gang pad
Jared Savage (Herald): Positive case at Mongrel Mob pad after patient discharged herself from Middlemore Hospital before test result
Rawiri Taonui (Māori TV): Total Māori cases pass Pākehā
Herald: Keeping kids safe in the pandemic (paywalled)
Jared Savage (Herald): Positive case at Mongrel Mob pad after patient discharged herself from Middlemore Hospital before test result
Herald: Covid-19 transmission risk ‘less than 0.1%’ on flights according to recent study
Health
1 News: Pasifika community leader slams health system after horror Covid experience
Ben Leahy (Herald): The three main treatments for the virus
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Government urged to buy ‘game changer’ Covid-19 drug treatment
ODT Editorial: Handling of visiting issue not sexy
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Mike Houlahan (ODT): 60 breast scans not reliable
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Leading the charge for nurses
Rebecca Macfie (Newsroom): No profit: Home care firm ditches DHB
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Government set to make announcement on ACC coverage of birth injuries
Afghanistan
Spinoff: Open letter: Our obligation to the people of Afghanistan
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Afghanistan: Sixty New Zealand human rights groups, activists call for Government to escalate response to ‘humanitarian disaster’
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Group makes urgent plea to NZ Government to take action
Stuff Editorial: Afghanistan deminers have a claim on our conscience
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government faces mounting pressure to rescue stranded New Zealanders and at-risk Afghans from Taliban
Environment, Climate change
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Mines, landfills near wetlands possible under Government walk-back of environmental rules
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Climate plan delay shows govt-as-usual not up to task
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Some “emergency”
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Government pushes climate plan release back five months
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Government’s climate plan delayed five months
Michael Neilson (Herald): Government delays releasing climate change Emissions Reductions plan six months
RNZ: Government gives itself 5 month extension to publish Emissions Reduction Plan
No Right Turn: Climate Change: We need more than excuses on methane
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): James Shaw should go overseas – and so should we all (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local democracy reporting): Coal exploration raises questions of carbon impact at forestry block
Amber Allott (Stuff): Climate change a looming threat for native invertebrates, reports find
Herald: Fonterra makes inroads into its GHG emissions from coal reduction goal
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Fonterra reduces emissions from coal by 11% in the last year
John Anthony (Stuff): Air New Zealand and Airbus launch zero-emissions aircraft project
Tina Law (Stuff): Millions spent on preventing old landfills from polluting waterways
Nicholas Pointon (RNZ): Huge waste-to-energy plant proposed in South Canterbury
Guy Williams and Andrew Marshall (ODT): Conservation projects get a cash boost
Te Reo Māori
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Tamati Coffey’s ‘triumph’, why Te Reo week creates such friction & Labour’s empty gestures
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Students struggling to retain Māori fluency after changing schools
Bruce Jepsen (Stuff): We need a law change to recognise te reo Māori as a curriculum, the same as English
George Heagney (Stuff): Police embrace use of te reo Māori to help others feel more comfortable
Rob Stock (Stuff): Government and business leaders explain their organisations’ te reo Māori names
Kayla Hodge (ODT): ‘You will be banned’: council says it will not tolerate racism online
Māori Party Aotearoa petition, place names
Peter Dunne: The courage, commitment and respect for tradition shown by Te Paati Māori must be met with the same courage and respect from the rest of the country
Karl du Fresne: A chance to end the dishonest shadow-boxing
Marena Mane (Māori TV): PM happy to call it Aotearoa; government not pursuing it though
Will Trafford (Māori TV): NZ to Aotearoa: Petition gains momentum as signatures top 25,000
Don Brash (Bassett, Brash and Hide): Opposition to ‘Aotearoa’ name change
Housing
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn Chorus: House price inflation 31.1%, with more to come as rate hike ‘hope’ fades
Tony Alexander (OneRoof): What will happen to prices when Auckland comes out of lockdown?
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): When will the Govt realise it’s powerless over housing?
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): NZ house prices accelerate at second fastest rate in world (paywalled)
Greg Ninness (Interest): Latest REINZ figures show house prices still rising but the rate of growth is slowing
Miriam Bell (Stuff): No knocking Wellington rents off ‘most expensive’ perch
Water reforms
Lois Williams (Local Government Reporting): Local Government New Zealand calls for halt to ad campaign for water reforms
Luisa Girao (ODT): Concern for local voice in water reform
Local government
Todd Niall (Stuff): Record level 4 lockdown has cost Auckland Council $65 million and rising
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Wellington plans to build 147km cycleway network
Diane McCarthy (RNZ): Kawerau councillors ‘jumped the gun’ on Māori wards – submitter
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Country’s largest water to land discharge system gets green light
Tina Law (Stuff): By-election candidates combat Covid-19 and apathy to engage voters
Logan Savory (Stuff): Invercargill City Council’s mana whenua appointees lined up for October start
Hamish McLean (ODT): ORC Chairman says he has spoken with minister
Hamish McLean (ODT): Conflict of interest query bemuses chairman
Education
George Heagney (Stuff): Students fear for ‘quality of education’ due to lack of in-person teaching
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Students stuck in Auckland say they’re missing out
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Remote learning across Auckland schools: ‘It’s pretty normal’
RNZ: School holiday date change too disruptive – principals
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Chris Hipkins expects school holiday decision by the end of the week
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): The government needs to put its foot down with the unions over moving the school holidays
1 News: Change to ECE funding ‘backpedalling’ from Govt, union says
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Unions unhappy with Government’s pay parity pathway for early childhood teachers
Natasha Jojoa Burling (Herald): Schools lost $40 million in international student revenue during Covid pandemic
Cyber attacks
Chris Keall (Herald): Kiwis losing millions more to cyber attacks – and Cert NZ boss says reported no.s are ‘tip of the iceberg’ (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Kiwibank offers fee refunds to customers
Henry Burrell (BusinessDesk): Why cyber-criminals are still attacking NZ websites (paywalled)
Terrorism
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Minister Andrew Little rejects claims the Government neglected efforts to rehabilitate Auckland terrorist
Chris Wilson (Herald): Why late-stage planning of a terror attack should be an offence
Arena Williams and Stuart Smith (Stuff): The new Counter-Terrorism Bill will not solve all of our vulnerabilities
Audrey Young (Herald): Terrorism bill reported back to Parliament with change to definition
Conversion therapy
Zane Small (Newshub): Simon Bridges challenges Young Nats on ‘individual autonomy’ after youth wing endorses ban on conversion practices
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Churches at odds over conversion therapy in oral submissions
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand bill to ban LGBTQ conversion practices receives record 100,000 submissions
Other
Kate Nicol-Williams (1 News): Whangārei egg producer accused of animal cruelty after hens ‘left to rot’
Craig Hickman (Stuff): Unhappy farmers are missing an important point – policy changes are what customers want to see
Marta Steeman (Stuff): Consumer NZ lodges complaint with fair trading watchdog over retirement villages’ care claims
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Australian media ruling could change landscape in NZ
Derek Cheng (Herald): Are police ‘racist’? Data reveals huge differences across ethnicities from police use of drug laws (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Reserve Bank hit with compliance notice from Privacy Commissioner over data breach
1 News: Privacy Commissioner issues compliance notice to Reserve Bank over cyber-attack
RNZ: Reserve Bank ordered to tighten systems to secure personal data
Laura Hooper (Stuff): End of an era: Ohai coalmine in Southland to close
1 News: Changes to learner and restricted licence renewals proposed
Rob Kidd (ODT): Prisoner’s treatment not best practice, court told
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Staffer blows whistle on blowhard America’s Cup plan
Tracy Neal (Newsroom): Govt wants answers on Cook Strait ferries cancellation
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Govt set to release latest Oranga Tamariki scrutiny
