New Zealand Politics Daily is a collation of the most prominent issues being discussed in New Zealand. It is edited by Dr Bryce Edwards of The Democracy Project.
Items of interest and importance today
PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Shane Jones (Herald): Stop the forays into identity politics, de-colonisation and global posturing, St Jacinda. We must focus on economic essentials (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Luxon is not yet the direct threat Labour is painting him as
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Luxon set to reveal his election year team
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Labour terminates membership of volunteer who helped Dr Gaurav Sharma
Jonah Franke-Bowell (Stuff): Back to the future – Prime Minister visits Hamilton to back her candidate in by-election
Damien Venuto (Herald): Labour and National to duke it out in by-election battle
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waititi’s bid to change Māori electoral option fails – but change will happen
Arena Williams and Stuart Smith (Stuff): Government departments are here to serve us – they need to remember that
RESERVE BANK, INFLATION
Herald Editorial: Political stand-off around Reserve Bank Governor not good for anyone (paywalled)
Tim Hunter (NBR): Reputation is the RBNZ’s big challenge now (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Reserve Bank board chair says it’s open to an independent inquiry (paywalled)
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Reappointed Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr in eye of ‘pandemic induced inflation storm’
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Reserve Bank rejects political criticisms, stands by review
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): National says Reserve Bank’s monetary policy review ‘fails credibility test’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Adrian Orr grateful for five more years as Reserve Bank governor (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Report card: Reserve Bank gives itself a pass for handling of Covid chaos
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Reserve Bank’s $71b of money printing equivalent to 90-point OCR cut (paywalled)
Nona Pelletier and Russell Palmer (RNZ): Reserve Bank review finds worst-case economic scenarios were avoided
Katie Bradford (1News): Reserve Bank should’ve acted faster to fight inflation – report
David Hargreaves (Interest): Reserve Bank concedes inflation could have been lessened if it had acted earlier
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): RBNZ gives itself two thumbs up (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): RBNZ acknowledges it should’ve raised interest rates sooner (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On the midterms, Adrian Orr and taxing the Banks
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT, COST OF LIVING
Cameron Smith (Herald): Global economic pendulum: Where will it leave New Zealand businesses and workers? (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Stuff): How the cost of living crisis has influenced how we work and spend
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Countdown owner offers Christmas price drop in Australia, no such luck for New Zealand
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Te Ao – Māori News): Long Covid symptoms for food support, survey finds
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Staff shortages still hitting hospitality and other sectors
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Thousands of KiwiSaver members ‘still missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars’
RNZ: Applications invited for $54m fund for tourism initiatives
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): $54 million funding pot for projects that will transform NZ tourism
RNZ: Horticulture research firm up for liquidation six years after $8.4m govt funding
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Kiwi Wealth sale could be ’embarrassment of epic proportions’ (paywalled)
Kate McVicar (NBR): Business wellbeing falls as financial concerns rise: BDO (paywalled)
BANKING
Rob Stock (Stuff): How much are big bank bosses paid? It would take most of us decades to match them
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Expert disappointed open banking at least two years away
RNZ: Open banking: sector will be first to adopt data-sharing to make switching easier
Maiki Sherman (1News): Some experts divided on open banking
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): What is open banking? Government confirms change so Kiwis can get ‘best bang for buck’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Banking first sector to come under consumer data right mechanism (paywalled)
HOUSING
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Government ‘may have’ paid to move people to Rotorua motels
RNZ: Govt puts $204m more into Porirua infrastructure development
Luke Kirkness (Rotorua Daily Post): People complaining about Kāinga Ora Devon St plans make me sick (paywalled)
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Reserve Bank outlines design plans for tool it could enforce on banks to limit the debt-to-income ratio of home buyers
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Iwi group plans kaumātua village for Wairoa
Anne Gibson (Herald): NZ’s busiest privately owned residential developer laying off 30% of staff – also still hiring (paywalled)
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Chronic absence rate nearly doubles in second school term – report
RNZ: Low school attendance further proof of decline of NZ education system – critic
Adam Burns (RNZ): No excuse for low attendance in schools says Luxon
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Pupils’ results worse in technology, arts than five years ago, tests show
David Farrar: Sometimes accountability means resignations
Tom Taylor (RNZ): Student nurses at breaking point with unpaid placements
ENVIRONMENT
Richard Harman (Politik): Farmers ambush Shaw (paywalled)
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Fonterra warns it risks losing customers, faces trade barriers if it doesn’t meet sustainability expectations
Keith Woodford (Interest): Flawed Government messaging creates further heat in the agricultural GHG debate. There is lots of work still to be done
Max Rasbrooke (Stuff): Climate and inequality: How a rising tide can sink the smallest boats
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Fisheries observers removed over health and safety fears
Luke Malpass (Stuff): National confirms end to offshore oil and gas ban if elected in 2023
Rachael Nath (RNZ): Tuvalu urges COP27 to adopt global treaty on fossil fuels
Robin Martin (RNZ): OMV signals exit from fossil fuel energy production
Robin Martin (RNZ): Decision to terminate Maari deal commercial – NZ Petroleum & Minerals
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): McAnulty to visit Northland in wake of new govt climate change report naming vulnerable communities
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Insurers call for ‘urgent’ action as climate change drives up home insurance costs
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Masterton council endorses hybrid road solution
Deborah LaHatte (Te Ao – Māori News): Tūpuna Maunga Authority takes next step in controversial tree plan
HEALTH
Ian Powell (BusinessDesk): New NZ health plan is a car without an engine (paywalled)
Peter Davis (Herald): Health crisis? What health crisis? (paywalled)
Kim Moodie (RNZ): Rural health network calls for action on ‘massive issue of rural inequity’
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Hawke’s Bay was promised a cancer radiation machine three years ago. The region is still waiting
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Māori receive equitable ACC support once entitlement claims are accepted, study finds
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why Sir David Skegg is ‘cautiously optimistic’ worst of Covid-19 is over
RNZ: Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations rising, death rate likely to increase – Health Ministry
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Daily cases could peak at 11,000 if new variants cause another wave
Newshub: Watch: Dentist visibly emotional as he spells out consequences Kiwis face when they don’t visit dentist
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Crohn’s drug that could ‘transform’ lives among seven medicines Pharmac will fund
1News: Pharmac funding 7 new medicines, increasing access to 2 more
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Aged-care ginger group gets personal with politicians (paywalled)
Molly Swift (Newshub): Aged care organisation behind elderly Jacinda Ardern billboard pleads for urgent change
Vita Molyneux (Herald): Billboards show aged versions of Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson to highlight care sector crisis
RNZ: Campaign sells West Coast as natural choice for health workers
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The real reasons people didn’t vote at the local elections
Tim Murphy (Newsroom) Auckland Council: What they’ve got to hide
Bernard Orsman (Herald): The two big winners in Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s committee structure shuffle
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): ‘The real work starts today’: Plugging Auckland Council’s leaky budget
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Auckland mayor meets council to discuss $270m budget shortfall
Steven Walton (Stuff): Council criticised for keeping report on illegal occupation under wraps for a month
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Canterbury’s Ngāi Tahu councillors ‘here for all of us’
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Timaru council proposes to retain gambling policy
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Council reverses decision to revoke reserve status of Rotorua sites
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Nelson City Council votes no on $46m riverside library redevelopment project
THREE WATERS
Stephen Minto (Daily Blog): The Treaty of Waitangi and 3 waters Co-goverance
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Two National MPs back mayors over Three Waters
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): What is it that these government consultants do exactly?
CIVIL DEFENCE AND EMERGENCIES
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): Coast civil defence structure called out – ’11th hour’ and ‘headless chickens
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): West Coast fuel resilience project ramps up
RNZ: Nelson City Council assembles taskforce for post-deluge rebuild
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Emergency services to get $1.4 billion communications network
TRANSPORT
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington’s Snapper card rollout on trains comes with a catch
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): Council’s bus cuts prove city commuters can’t win (paywalled)
OTHER
Chris Finlayson (Listener/Herald): Hate speech legislation could have a chilling effect on NZ (paywalled)
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Racism affects 40% of Asian New Zealanders since Covid-19 pandemic onset
Golriz Ghahraman (Guardian): To the murderous regime that oppresses Iran, hear this: at home or abroad, we will never surrender
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Recapturing a national sense of belonging
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Would-be terrorists will be easier to catch as arms control reforms take effect, police minister says
Damien Venuto (Herald): TVNZ-RNZ merger: Simon Power’s message to Government, advertisers as uncertainty hangs over state broadcaster (paywalled)
David Farrar: ACT’s Karen Chhour on a ‘racist’ Oranga Tamariki policy
Julia Gabel (Herald): ‘Sobering’: New data highlights experiences and issues faced by rainbow community
Felix Walton (RNZ): Auckland suburb raises solidarity flag after homophobic incidents
Tumamao Harawira (Te Ao – Māori News): Brown Butterbean out to promote Census 2023
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): Over a million historic NZ photographs are going up for auction
Items of interest and importance today
PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Shane Jones (Herald): Stop the forays into identity politics, de-colonisation and global posturing, St Jacinda. We must focus on economic essentials (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Luxon is not yet the direct threat Labour is painting him as
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Luxon set to reveal his election year team
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Labour terminates membership of volunteer who helped Dr Gaurav Sharma
Jonah Franke-Bowell (Stuff): Back to the future – Prime Minister visits Hamilton to back her candidate in by-election
Damien Venuto (Herald): Labour and National to duke it out in by-election battle
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waititi’s bid to change Māori electoral option fails – but change will happen
Arena Williams and Stuart Smith (Stuff): Government departments are here to serve us – they need to remember that
RESERVE BANK, INFLATION
Herald Editorial: Political stand-off around Reserve Bank Governor not good for anyone (paywalled)
Tim Hunter (NBR): Reputation is the RBNZ’s big challenge now (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Reserve Bank board chair says it’s open to an independent inquiry (paywalled)
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Reappointed Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr in eye of ‘pandemic induced inflation storm’
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Reserve Bank rejects political criticisms, stands by review
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): National says Reserve Bank’s monetary policy review ‘fails credibility test’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Adrian Orr grateful for five more years as Reserve Bank governor (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Report card: Reserve Bank gives itself a pass for handling of Covid chaos
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Reserve Bank’s $71b of money printing equivalent to 90-point OCR cut (paywalled)
Nona Pelletier and Russell Palmer (RNZ): Reserve Bank review finds worst-case economic scenarios were avoided
Katie Bradford (1News): Reserve Bank should’ve acted faster to fight inflation – report
David Hargreaves (Interest): Reserve Bank concedes inflation could have been lessened if it had acted earlier
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): RBNZ gives itself two thumbs up (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): RBNZ acknowledges it should’ve raised interest rates sooner (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On the midterms, Adrian Orr and taxing the Banks
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT, COST OF LIVING
Cameron Smith (Herald): Global economic pendulum: Where will it leave New Zealand businesses and workers? (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Stuff): How the cost of living crisis has influenced how we work and spend
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Countdown owner offers Christmas price drop in Australia, no such luck for New Zealand
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Te Ao – Māori News): Long Covid symptoms for food support, survey finds
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Staff shortages still hitting hospitality and other sectors
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Thousands of KiwiSaver members ‘still missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars’
RNZ: Applications invited for $54m fund for tourism initiatives
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): $54 million funding pot for projects that will transform NZ tourism
RNZ: Horticulture research firm up for liquidation six years after $8.4m govt funding
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Kiwi Wealth sale could be ’embarrassment of epic proportions’ (paywalled)
Kate McVicar (NBR): Business wellbeing falls as financial concerns rise: BDO (paywalled)
BANKING
Rob Stock (Stuff): How much are big bank bosses paid? It would take most of us decades to match them
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Expert disappointed open banking at least two years away
RNZ: Open banking: sector will be first to adopt data-sharing to make switching easier
Maiki Sherman (1News): Some experts divided on open banking
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): What is open banking? Government confirms change so Kiwis can get ‘best bang for buck’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Banking first sector to come under consumer data right mechanism (paywalled)
HOUSING
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Government ‘may have’ paid to move people to Rotorua motels
RNZ: Govt puts $204m more into Porirua infrastructure development
Luke Kirkness (Rotorua Daily Post): People complaining about Kāinga Ora Devon St plans make me sick (paywalled)
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Reserve Bank outlines design plans for tool it could enforce on banks to limit the debt-to-income ratio of home buyers
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Iwi group plans kaumātua village for Wairoa
Anne Gibson (Herald): NZ’s busiest privately owned residential developer laying off 30% of staff – also still hiring (paywalled)
EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Chronic absence rate nearly doubles in second school term – report
RNZ: Low school attendance further proof of decline of NZ education system – critic
Adam Burns (RNZ): No excuse for low attendance in schools says Luxon
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Pupils’ results worse in technology, arts than five years ago, tests show
David Farrar: Sometimes accountability means resignations
Tom Taylor (RNZ): Student nurses at breaking point with unpaid placements
ENVIRONMENT
Richard Harman (Politik): Farmers ambush Shaw (paywalled)
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Fonterra warns it risks losing customers, faces trade barriers if it doesn’t meet sustainability expectations
Keith Woodford (Interest): Flawed Government messaging creates further heat in the agricultural GHG debate. There is lots of work still to be done
Max Rasbrooke (Stuff): Climate and inequality: How a rising tide can sink the smallest boats
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Fisheries observers removed over health and safety fears
Luke Malpass (Stuff): National confirms end to offshore oil and gas ban if elected in 2023
Rachael Nath (RNZ): Tuvalu urges COP27 to adopt global treaty on fossil fuels
Robin Martin (RNZ): OMV signals exit from fossil fuel energy production
Robin Martin (RNZ): Decision to terminate Maari deal commercial – NZ Petroleum & Minerals
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): McAnulty to visit Northland in wake of new govt climate change report naming vulnerable communities
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Insurers call for ‘urgent’ action as climate change drives up home insurance costs
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Masterton council endorses hybrid road solution
Deborah LaHatte (Te Ao – Māori News): Tūpuna Maunga Authority takes next step in controversial tree plan
HEALTH
Ian Powell (BusinessDesk): New NZ health plan is a car without an engine (paywalled)
Peter Davis (Herald): Health crisis? What health crisis? (paywalled)
Kim Moodie (RNZ): Rural health network calls for action on ‘massive issue of rural inequity’
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Hawke’s Bay was promised a cancer radiation machine three years ago. The region is still waiting
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Māori receive equitable ACC support once entitlement claims are accepted, study finds
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why Sir David Skegg is ‘cautiously optimistic’ worst of Covid-19 is over
RNZ: Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations rising, death rate likely to increase – Health Ministry
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Daily cases could peak at 11,000 if new variants cause another wave
Newshub: Watch: Dentist visibly emotional as he spells out consequences Kiwis face when they don’t visit dentist
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Crohn’s drug that could ‘transform’ lives among seven medicines Pharmac will fund
1News: Pharmac funding 7 new medicines, increasing access to 2 more
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Aged-care ginger group gets personal with politicians (paywalled)
Molly Swift (Newshub): Aged care organisation behind elderly Jacinda Ardern billboard pleads for urgent change
Vita Molyneux (Herald): Billboards show aged versions of Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson to highlight care sector crisis
RNZ: Campaign sells West Coast as natural choice for health workers
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The real reasons people didn’t vote at the local elections
Tim Murphy (Newsroom) Auckland Council: What they’ve got to hide
Bernard Orsman (Herald): The two big winners in Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s committee structure shuffle
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): ‘The real work starts today’: Plugging Auckland Council’s leaky budget
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Auckland mayor meets council to discuss $270m budget shortfall
Steven Walton (Stuff): Council criticised for keeping report on illegal occupation under wraps for a month
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Canterbury’s Ngāi Tahu councillors ‘here for all of us’
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Timaru council proposes to retain gambling policy
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Council reverses decision to revoke reserve status of Rotorua sites
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Nelson City Council votes no on $46m riverside library redevelopment project
THREE WATERS
Stephen Minto (Daily Blog): The Treaty of Waitangi and 3 waters Co-goverance
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Two National MPs back mayors over Three Waters
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): What is it that these government consultants do exactly?
CIVIL DEFENCE AND EMERGENCIES
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): Coast civil defence structure called out – ’11th hour’ and ‘headless chickens
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): West Coast fuel resilience project ramps up
RNZ: Nelson City Council assembles taskforce for post-deluge rebuild
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Emergency services to get $1.4 billion communications network
TRANSPORT
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington’s Snapper card rollout on trains comes with a catch
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): Council’s bus cuts prove city commuters can’t win (paywalled)
OTHER
Chris Finlayson (Listener/Herald): Hate speech legislation could have a chilling effect on NZ (paywalled)
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Racism affects 40% of Asian New Zealanders since Covid-19 pandemic onset
Golriz Ghahraman (Guardian): To the murderous regime that oppresses Iran, hear this: at home or abroad, we will never surrender
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Recapturing a national sense of belonging
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Would-be terrorists will be easier to catch as arms control reforms take effect, police minister says
Damien Venuto (Herald): TVNZ-RNZ merger: Simon Power’s message to Government, advertisers as uncertainty hangs over state broadcaster (paywalled)
David Farrar: ACT’s Karen Chhour on a ‘racist’ Oranga Tamariki policy
Julia Gabel (Herald): ‘Sobering’: New data highlights experiences and issues faced by rainbow community
Felix Walton (RNZ): Auckland suburb raises solidarity flag after homophobic incidents
Tumamao Harawira (Te Ao – Māori News): Brown Butterbean out to promote Census 2023
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): Over a million historic NZ photographs are going up for auction
