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
2022 political forecasts
Stuff: The year that might be: Stuff’s political predictions for 2022
Spinoff: Thirteen wild predictions for the political year 2022 AD
David Farrar: Kiwiblog’s 2022 Predictions
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): TDB Domestic Political Predictions 2022
Steve Braunias (Herald): Five things to look forward to in 2022 (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Diary of New Year’s resolutions (paywalled)
Greg Presland (The Standard): A few random predictions for 2022
David Chaston (Interest): Time to make 2022 predictions
Parliament, Government, Parties
Henry Cooke (Stuff): How did our political predictions for 2021 go? We scraped by with a passing grade
Peter Davis (Herald): We are dealing with the Covid crisis. But what about in the long term? (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Summer off politics: What Jacinda Ardern is doing, reading, and watching for her break
David Farrar: Why people got honours in 2021?
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Summer off politics: What Christopher Luxon is doing, reading, and watching for his break
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green co-leaders reflect on a year of being between Opposition and Government
Stuff: Summer off politics: What Chris Baillie is doing, reading, and watching for the summer break
Russell Palmer (RNZ): A dozen quirky new laws you may not have heard of
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Now That’s What I Call Legislation – the top bills of 2021 (paywalled)
University of Auckland Covid commentary employment dispute
John Anthony (Stuff): Covid-19 commentators make employment claim against University of Auckland
ODT: Editorial – Covid’s avenues and alleyways
Helen Livingstone (Guardian): New Zealand Covid experts take legal action against employer over alleged failure to protect them from abuse
Craig Kapitan (Herald): Shaun Hendy, Siouxsie Wiles file complaint against University of Auckland
David Farrar: Hendy and Wiles vs Auckland Uni
Covid
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Race to roll out vaccine boosters before Omicron spreads in NZ
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Untangling what Omicron means for New Zealand’s approach to the pandemic
Brooke van Velden (Herald): Pandemic response must not be the same in 2022 (paywalled)
Collin Tukuitonga (Newsroom): A world-class 2021 Covid response, undone by inequity
Mike Yardley (Stuff): Optimistic about what Omicron means for us in 2022
Ben Kepes (Stuff): Getting those vaccine figures up, one person at a time
Sarah Rhodes and Margot Skinner (Newsroom): Urgent funding needed for Long Covid
Herald: Editorial: We could be heroes – Taking our Covid success and solidarity into other arenas (paywalled)
Nicholas Agar (Newsroom): What will our memorials to Covid-19 tell us?
Michael Bassett: Preparing for Omicron?
Omnicron DJ
RNZ: British DJ unlikely to be deported by immigration for breaching Covid-19 rules
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Infected DJ among 564 overseas entertainers allowed into NZ
Craig Kapitan (Herald): Chris Bishop says ‘eyebrows raised’ over call to not prosecute DJ Dimension
Stuff: Editorial – A new Dimension to our tension
NZ Herald: Covid 19 Omicron scare: DJ Dimension avoids prosecution – Ministry of Health
Liam Hehir (Patreon): Three-dimensional chess at the border (paywalled)
Transport
Simon Wilson (Herald): Safer roads: Modern cars not so safe for pedestrians and cyclists (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Safer roads: What matters most – better drivers or slower speeds? (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Road deaths jumped when police cut back on breath tests, speed cameras (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Utopia returns for 5th season (paywalled)
John Anthony (Stuff): NZ Govt to spend $150m on abandoned Auckland bike bridge, alternative crossing options
ODT: Editorial – Everyone has part to play in reducing road toll
RNZ: 2021 road toll: ‘Too high, little progress made’ – AA
Hanna McCallum (Stuff): Police ‘disappointed’ over 17 deaths recorded in Christmas holiday road toll
Economy and work
Damien Grant (Stuff): Treasury hoping to keep a lid on financial pressures so they don’t escalate quickly
John Roughan (Herald): We mustn’t let 2022 be the year of inflation (paywalled)
Simon Shepherd (Newshub): More than half of New Zealand workers considering changing jobs in 2022
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): The man trying to spend your $51 billion better
Anthony Watson (Herald): Why New Zealand needs to prepare for the changing face of cryptocurrency (paywalled)
Housing
Felix Desmarais (Herald): Fixing the housing crisis should be about what is right, not popular (paywalled)
Edward Gay and George Block (Stuff): Inner City Pressure: ‘It’s hard watching elderly eat out of bins’
Lucy Xia (Stuff): Inner City Pressure: Lower rent, more rentals in Auckland CBD in pandemic NZ
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): State home landlord charges tenants $35 million to repair property damage
Health
Nicole Bremner (1News): Government defends health reform banishing DHBs
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Aged Care Association calls on government to take it seriously
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Southern DHB sends out 289 apologies
International relations
Audrey Young (Herald): Annette King on making the switch from politics to diplomacy (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): The move towards a more Māori foreign policy
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): The five big foreign policy challenges for New Zealand in 2022
Ben Strang (Stuff): Declassified Erebus disaster documents show US pressure to finalise crash report
Law and corrections
Sam Hurley (Herald): Power list: New Zealand’s top criminal barristers (paywalled)
Sam Hurley (Herald): Power list: NZ’s top corporate and civil lawyers (paywalled)
Jared Savage (Herald): Gangs, organised crime figures targeted in proposed change to strengthen criminal proceeds law
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Prisoners paid $3.5m in compo over last five years
Other
Olivia Caldwell (Stuff): Police seize rifle, 500 ammunition rounds from controversial Christchurch pastor in New Year’s Eve raid
Ricardo Simich (Herald): The power couples of 2022 – who will call the shots? (paywalled)
Thomas Nash (The Conversation): Report from the future: Aotearoa New Zealand is looking good in 2040 – here’s how we did it
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Happier holidays: light at the end of the tunnel for some migrants, darkness for others
Peter Hosking (Newsroom): Call me Pākehā, please
Sarah Sparks (Stuff): Leadership of wāhine Māori shows a way forward for Aotearoa
Janet Wilson (Stuff): The other epidemic that’s crippling our lives
Karl du Fresne: What that Hipkins press conference tells us about the state of journalism
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Could Wellington’s shortage of rubbish truck drivers lead to a smelly catrashtrophe?
Steven Cowan: Time to win the class war
Michael Bassett: Archbishop Desmond Tutu – His message for Jacinda’s government?
David Farrar: Time for the NZ Govt to act on Prince Andrew
