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Items of interest and importance today
PM’S FOREIGN TRIP
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern’s first post-Covid trip is a sales job
Derek Cheng (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern lands in Singapore for first overseas trip in more than two years
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern touches down in Singapore for first leg of Asia trip
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Ardern lands in Singapore on trade mission as travel hiatus ends
Jessica Mutch McKay (1News): PM marks first time on foreign soil since 2020 with Cairns stop
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Third time lucky: Jacinda Ardern renews her passport and jets off to Asia, maybe
1News: Ardern Asia-bound for first face-to-face trade talks in 2 years
RNZ: Ardern to depart on 6-day Asia tour in first overseas trip since 2020
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern set to take first trip overseas since COVID hit
Brent Edwards (NBR): NZ uses its Covid reputation to reconnect with world (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Chris Trotter (Interest): Out of the picture: What if Roy Morgan is calling it right?
Jon Johansson (Stuff): Constitutional best practice proves elusive
Michael Neilson (Herald): Green Party mid-term report: How they’re defying history and plan to differentiate from Labour ahead of election 2023 (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Labour’s school tuck shop fizzy drink ban; Winston Peters on Twitter (paywalled)
David Farrar: Is New Zealand heading towards civil war?
Max Rashbrooke (Guardian): When it comes to international financial fraud, New Zealand is far from squeaky clean
John Tamihere (Herald): Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford – why trolls are fascinated by them (paywalled)
Paula Bennett (Herald) On public holidays, wage bills, transport costs that are breaking the business leaders who help others (paywalled)
Kiri Gillespie (Herald): Tauranga MP Simon Bridges’ advice for successor, and why he wouldn’t change a thing (paywalled)
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): A glimmer of hope amongst the gloom and doom (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Stuff): French election the new front line between centrists and populists
Steven Cowan: The Green Party – Stuck in the middle with James and Marama
Greg Presland (The Standard): The battle lines for the next election
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Departing Labour MP Louisa Wall gives valedictory speech after claims she was ‘unwanted’
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING, AND EMPLOYMENT
David Hargreaves (Interest): It will be a ‘monster’ – inflation is set to go where many of us have never seen it before
Liam Dann (Herald): CPI preview: Inflation rate tipped to top 7pc, highest in 30 years (paywalled)
Alison Brook (Interest): Should we be worried about stagflation?
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Mortgage rates increase: Thousands of first-home buyers could be in trouble as interest repayments surge
Bernard Hickey: How to think about mortgage rates now (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Inflation debate’s about to get bigger than Texas (paywalled)
Craig Harrison (Herald): The delusions of Richard Prebble – Why young working class Kiwis have been sold out and let down (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Why the blame placed on supermarkets for inflation is ‘absolute economic nonsense’
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Supermarket duopoly, high prices ‘locking people out of nutrition’, health group says
Matt Nolan (Interest): Unemployment insurance: An idea whose time has come?
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): Fear the Government’s Fair Pay Agreements won’t work for early childhood teachers
John Gascoigne (Herald): Paradise lost – NZ’s tragic story of economic decline (paywalled)
UKRAINE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): New Zealand Hercules aircraft arrives in UK for Ukraine military aid
David Farrar: Why are we not taking refugees from Ukraine?
Lloyd Burr (Today FM): Lethal aid is a no-brainer
Elesha Gordon (Newstalk ZB): Ron Mark: Ukraine needs more support
Liam Hehir (Patreon): No, we are not at war with Russia
Katie Ham (Stuff): Ukrainians in NZ concerned special visas rules will leave too many behind
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Where is the peace movement?
COVID
Ian Taylor (Herald): After all that’s happened where’s the transparency, Labour? (paywalled)
David Farrar: The tourism slush fund
Jamie Morton (Herald): NZ needs new playbook to replace ‘inefficient’ traffic lights
Jamie Morton (Herald): NZ could see next wave by spring – but it might not be as big
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Schools waiting for thousands of portable air cleaners as term one ends
John Gerritsen (RNZ): ‘Still going to be a bumpy year’ for education sector – Hipkins
LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND THREE WATERS
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy reporting): Mayor calls for pause on Three Waters
Jonathan Leask (Local Democracy Reporting): Concerns transition to Three Waters will affect council operations
Yashas Srinivasa (Stuff): It’s ‘not too late’ to rescue Three Waters Reforms says Waimate mayor
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Councillors welcome rise in Māori seats
Simon Wilson (Herald): What qualities Auckland needs in new mayor (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Viv Beck and the plan to break the centre-left stranglehold on the Super City mayoralty
Oliver Lewis and Andy Fyers (BusinessDesk): Mayoral crystal ball gazing and Auckland’s red wall (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayoralty: Craig Lord wants to get back to ‘core business’
1News: Fears that address disclosure rules leave candidates open to abuse
Logan Savory (Stuff): Invercargill mayoralty race looms as potentially largest since 1998
Niva Chittock (Stuff): Water pipes shedding asbestos not restricted to Christchurch – Water NZ
ENVIRONMENT AND CONSERVATION
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): New Zealand’s water: When a scientific debate becomes polluted by politics
Cushla Norman (1News): Genetic modification review being called for, reigniting debate
Gerhard Uys (Stuff): Can GM save the planet? Some farmers think it’s worth a go
Andrea Vance (Stuff): The Laws of Nature: Why old legislation is standing in the way of tackling environmental crisis
MEDIA
Damien Grant (Stuff): The media has trust issues, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing
Gavin Ellis: Low trust in media has underlying cause
Chris Trotter (BFD): The Facts don’t matter (paywalled)
CLIMATE
Tom Powell (Stuff): What would a National government do on climate change?
Allan Barber (Interest): Groundswell too late to the party
POLICE AND LAW AND ORDER
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Cops use discretion to help unlicensed Māori drivers from going down the wrong road
Nathan Morton (Herald): Auckland crime spikes as police tied up with growing number of welfare calls
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Put the Police Minister into an area where her passion and her experience can be a help, not a hindrance
