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
VOTING AGE
Henry Cooke (Guardian): New Zealand’s supreme court has forced voting age on to agenda, exposing absurd arguments for status quo
Henry Cooke: The only reasonable argument for retaining the voting age
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Local election voting age looks set to change after poll of MPs reveals strong support
Nick Munn (The Conversation): Parliament now has to justify keeping the voting age at 18 – it’s a hard argument to make
Liam Hehir (The Blue Room): The significance of turning 18 for… dummies (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey: A chance to close our democratic deficit
Wyatt Ryder (ODT): Parties self-interested on voting age: prof
Herald Editorial: Voting age pulled from the too-hard basket (paywalled)
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Labour considers voting age change for council elections
Imogen Wells (Newshub): What MPs had to say about lowering voting age – and who said 16-year-old males aren’t ‘fully functioning’
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Voting age judgment ‘intruding’: National says leave it to Parliament
RNZ: National says no ‘logic’ in lowering voting age from 18 to 16
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): What’s so bad about 16-year-olds voting?
Deborah LaHatte (Whakaata Māori): They pay taxes, let them vote – Far North District mayor
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): If we’re going to devote time to young people, there are bigger issues to address
Molly Swfit (Newshub): Teenagers divided on lowering voting age after Supreme Court ruling
HEALTH
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): New Zealand has same number of acute mental health beds as when Labour came to power
1News: 1 in 4 Kiwis considered suicide or self harm in past year – survey
Herald: Data shows despite Govt’s $1.9b mental health budget no improvement in total beds for patients
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Cards giving health minister’s contacts were nurses’ response to abuse – union delegate
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): No crisis? Nurse gives minister’s contact details to frustrated mum after Wellington ED ordeal
RNZ: When your child is terrifyingly ill and the word ’emergency’ ends up a sick joke
1News: Govt doing all it can to support GPs – Andrew Little
Cécile Meier (BusinessDesk): GPs need funding increase of up to 231% to be viable, review finds
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Wellington’s paediatric surgical team won’t be fully staffed for two years
RNZ: Review finds number of workers exposed to asbestos grossly underestimated
Gianina Schwanecke (Stuff): ‘Small service with a mighty impact’: Wellington Free Ambulance turns 95
Jamie Morton (Herald): Michael Baker: Why (and how) to avoid catching Covid for Christmas
Ella Morgan (Stuff): Was a child under 10 killed by Covid? What the data tells us
Duncan Allen (Spinoff): Long Covid is on the rise and employees need to know their rights
Stuff: Nurse suspended, censured over sharing Covid-19 vaccine ‘misinformation’
HOUSING
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Government to regulate property managers, extends Kainga Ora healthy homes deadline
Bernard Hickey (Interest): Megan Woods announces delay in healthy homes standards launch by one year to July 1, 2025, but to regulate property managers
Newshub: Rental reform package: Crackdown on property managers, Healthy Homes extension
Brent Edwards (NBR): Stoush over plans to regulate rental market (paywalled)
RNZ: Property managers to be regulated, meth testing changes, and healthy homes extension announced
Miriam Bell (Stuff): ‘Shellshocked’ property managers want more information on regulation plan
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Mayor concerned as Kāinga Ora suggests high rises in Rotorua suburb
Greg Ninness (Interest): The challenge for aspiring first home buyers now the toughest in the 18-year history of our Home Loan Affordability Report
Philippa Tolley (Stuff): Negative equity: What is it and should you care if you’re in it?
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Whakaata Māori): No help for rangatahi Māori hit hardest by housing crisis
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Housing intensification is up-ending our lives in ways we never imagined
ECONOMY
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Adrian Orr’s Summer of Scrooge approaches
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Who makes the call on the official cash rate?
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Why the official cash rate is important
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Inflation situation: Could we ever see a return of the 1980s’ 20% rates?
Maria Slade (NBR): Sitting ducks: Homeowners brace for ‘jaw-dropping’ interest rates (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Is a 75-basis-point rate hike necessary? (paywalled)
PARLIAMENT
Brigitte Morten (NBR): Will NZ finally get a crossbench with Winston Peters? (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): ‘I confronted mortality, face up’: Kiri Allan on five years in parliament
Jonah Franke-Bowell (Stuff): Better off without him? Hamilton lavished with spending since Sharma’s expulsion
EDUCATION
Jo Moir (Newsroom): National’s policy no-show on rising school truancy
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Chris Hipkins backs encouraging parents to get kids to school after Christopher Luxon’s remarks
Jane Patterson (RNZ): National Party Christopher Luxon unapologetic calling for parental responsibility on school attendance stance
William Hewett (Newshub): Truancy: AM hosts react to Christopher Luxon’s get-tough approach to New Zealand’s poor attendance rates at schools
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Despite pent-up demand, schools play the waiting game on foreign student enrolments
Lee Kenny (Stuff): Te Pūkenga looks like it was set up to ‘do everything wrong’, former deputy says
HATE SPEECH REFORMS
Adam Pearse (Herald): Disinformation should be regulated, but not outlawed – Human Rights Commission
Karl du Fresne: ACT should make abolition of the Human Rights Commission a bottom line
Katie Harris (Herald): Human Rights Act: Petition calls for women, queer and disabled people to be protected
Ted Greensmith-West (Stuff): Hate-speech backdown is a sign of a govt unwilling to stand by LGBTQ people
THREE WATERS
Graham Adams (The Platform): The stealth manoeuvre taking Three Waters to Five Waters
Thomas Cranmer: Cabinet loses grip of Five Waters
Steven Walton (Press): Government water regulator ‘closely’ watching Christchurch and Waimakariri
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Disappointment as top of south plea on three waters fails to gain traction
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Todd Niall (Stuff): Wayne Brown could become Auckland’s first $5 million mayor
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland port: ‘Disappointment’ at mayor’s poke at a board he hasn’t met
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has ‘lost confidence’ in Ports of Auckland board and plans changes (paywalled)
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Porirua mayor calls for compulsory exams for councillors
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Ambitious iwi-council multiuse centre inches closer
RNZ: Construction of new museum and art gallery in Invercargill to be sped up
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): $26m West Coast visitor centre development progresses
RNZ: Gore mayor to not claim travel costs for his private personal assistant
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, REFUGEES
Anna Whyte (Stuff): First refugees arrive in New Zealand as part of years-long offer to Australia
Ben Doherty and Tess McClure (Guardian): First refugees from Nauru to be resettled in New Zealand arrive nine years after deal offered
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Ukraine invasion: Jacinda Ardern, National, ACT disagree with Rawiri Waititi calling New Zealand ‘puppet’ of United States
Jane Patterson (RNZ): National Party ‘absolutely’ backs opportunity for MPs to hear Ukraine PM Volodymyr Zelensky speak
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): ‘Are we hearing from Palestine?’ – Greens demand consistency over Zelensky invite
Nevil Gibson (NBR): From buddy to bully: Kiwis’ encounters with China
ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION
Danika Hotham and Injy Johnstone (Newsroom): NZ can’t lecture other countries on being ‘climate smart’
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Owner of $16.5m Auckland mansion fined $52k for chopping protected pōhutukawa
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Susan Hornsby-Geluk (Stuff): Should employers pay staff when they go on strike?
Geraden Cann (Stuff): ‘Digital nomad’ visa for roving tech workers could be in New Zealand’s future
Maria Slade (NBR): Waipareira joins forces with Indigo/Manaaki to help Māori firms (paywalled)
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Men taking paid parental leave triples in five years
RMA, INFRASTRUCTURE
Richard Harman (Politik): Parker’s plans greeted with scepticism (paywalled)
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): Why we will oppose reforms to the RMA
James Perry (Whakaata Māori): Te Pāti Māori won’t support RMA reforms
Jono Sylvester (Newsroom): Nature sidelined in new environment bill
Eric Crampton (Newsroom): Council versus Govt: the perils of RMA reform
Chris Bishop (Herald): Results of underinvested infrastructure in plain sight (paywalled)
Tim McCready (Herald): Infrastructure: Women are a powerhouse in New Zealand (paywalled)
Sapeer Mayron (Stuff): KiwiRail loses bid to stay judicial review into south Auckland train station
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Rotorua iwi signs memorandum of understanding with airport
James Perry (Whakaata Māori): Ngāti Uenukukōkapo and Rotorua Airport reach significant agreement
OTHER
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The stoush in Te Urewera that’s about more than just huts
Sally Murphy (RNZ): More live cattle forecast to be exported in 2022 than 2021
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Ngāi Tahu suing Māori fisheries trustee and the crown (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Labour changes to car standards – this time with National support
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): NZ Herald pulls paid Chinese government-linked propaganda after reader backlash
Raphael Franks (Herald): Mushrooms grow from walls of Auckland’s leaky Balmoral fire station
Tom Taylor (RNZ): Enforced bootcamps would make kids targets – Abuse in Care lawyer
Wyatt Ryder (ODT): Sophie Elliott’s mother and domestic violence campaigner Lesley Elliot dies
Rachel Maher (Herald): New Zealand records highest ever number of gang members, grew by 338 in two months
Martin Devlin (NBR): Black Ferns’ bonuses a cheap exercise in political point scoring (paywalled)
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Women in sport still getting shortchanged on pay and prize money
David Farrar: Anne Salmond on the Treaty and race
RNZ: Archives NZ reinstates online search tool after data mishap
RNZ: Veteran photographer’s life work starting to decay with no solution in sight
Tova O’Brien (Today FM): I’ve been duped by Jan Tinetti
