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.
Today’s content
PARLIAMENT, ELECTION
Steve Kilgallon (Post): Te Pāti Māori will become a permanent part of government – John Tamihere (paywalled)
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): No GST on food, no monarchy, tax the rich: Te Pāti Māori’s demands for coalition
Glenn McConnell (Post): Will anyone work with Te Pāti Māori? Their coalition demands are no small ask (paywalled)
Peter Dunne: Hipkins must stop side-stepping key coalition concerns
Jack Tame (1News): Labour wary of rocking boat over Te Pāti Māori
Greg Presland (The Standard): What Do The Maori Party Want Anyway?
Thomas Coughlan and Chris Knox (Herald): Herald’s poll of polls shows Christopher Luxon’s big gamble (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Labour drops in latest Talbot Mills poll – left and right neck and neck
Brent Edwards (NBR): Political jockeying, budget pressures, election race
1News: Inside Parliament: Coalitions of chaos
Thomas Cranmer (The Common Room): Are political parties too tribal?
Lamia Imam (Post): Heading for an election with no concrete policies to address the hole we’re in (paywalled)
Michael Neilson (Herald): National selects Hinurewa te Hau former Māori Party candidate for Tāmaki Makaurau seat
Roger Douglas: A better future for disadvantaged people
Ellie McKenzie (Transparency International): Industry code of conduct for lobbying
BusinessDesk: Transparency International seeks sunlight for political funding, lobbying (paywalled)
BUDGET
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): In a no-frills budget amid high inflation, what rabbits could be pulled from the hat?
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Grant Robertson gets one last roll of the dice (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Finance Minister Grant Robertson to preach resilience in pre-Budget speech
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): How hard would Grant Robertson have had to look to find $4b of spending to reprioritise? (paywalled)
Felix Desmarais (1News): Budget 2023: $4b saved from Govt ‘reprioritisation’ – Robertson
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Finance Minister Grant Robertson says the Budget will focus on fiscal sustainability and delivering core services
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Budget 2023 won’t necessarily be a lolly scramble and will not have tax cuts, Grant Robertson says
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Robertson trails coat on higher govt debt (paywalled)
Felix Desmarais (1News): ‘A resignation letter’: National on Govt’s pre-Budget speech
Russell Palmer (RNZ): National, ACT pour scorn on Robertson’s $1b-a-year savings
Brent Edwards (NBR): Government and Opposition disagree over $4b budget savings (paywalled)
Hanna McCallum (Post): Public Service Watch: Community organisations need more than a ‘Big Shout-Out’ (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Vaneesa Bellew (Newsroom): Mud and Gore: Council’s long history of workplace complaints
RNZ: Majority of Gore District Council calls on Mayor Ben Bell to resign
Stuff: Councillors ask Ben Bell to resign as Gore mayor
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): Fiery talk at West Coast council not a Wellington issue
RNZ: Auckland Mayor defiant on selling shares – ‘We’re not gonna borrow our way out’
Simon Bridges (NBR): Thinking about old men leaders and Auckland Airport (paywalled)
Nick Truebrdige (Newshub): Full interview: Auckland councillor Maurice Williamson on Wayne Brown saying rates may have to rise 22.5 pct
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Does Auckland need to sell the airport to get off the ground?
Nicholas Boyack (Post): Teri Puketapu had every reason to be rankled (paywalled)
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Teen standing for local board could be NZ’s keenest young politician
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Separation of Three Waters assets creates confusion
Anna Whyte (Post): Luxon opens possibility to can extra votes for multiple homeowners in local elections (paywalled)
TRANSPORT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Michael Wood opens the door for road projects to be delayed, after ‘red’ warning they will go over budget
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): National grills Transport Minister over public transport woes (paywalled)
Erin Gourley (Stuff): Go ahead for new Wellington cycleways, but confusion about public support
Hanna McCallum and Erin Gourley (Post): Relief for some, an ‘absolute disaster’ say others on approved Wellington cycleway (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): New $346k Auckland pedestrian crossing took 7 months to fix; same firm behind delays on second job
1News: Changes needed in Auckland to avoid disaster congestion – expert
TAX
Elliot Crossan (Spinoff): A wealth tax isn’t enough – to build a fairer society, we need tax cuts for workers too
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Wealthy NZers offer to pay more tax – but Inland Revenue says no thanks
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): ‘Tiresome humblebrag’: Seymour denounces wealthy Kiwis asking to be taxed more
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Group of wealthy New Zealanders ask to be taxed more in open letter to Government
FOOD PRICE INFLATION, SUPERMARKET SECTOR REFORMS
1News: Food prices soar 12.5% annually – largest increase since 1987
David Hargreaves (Interest): Food price inflation soars to a 35-year high
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): ‘Not really any good news’ as food price inflation the fastest rate since 1987
Herald Editorial: Food price spike shocking but not surprising as inflation rattles its tail (paywalled)
Andy Fyers (BusinessDesk): Foodstuffs ‘only passing on increases’ (paywalled)
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Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Why senior minister Michael Wood thinks Westpac is wrong about Government’s grocery reforms
Jonathan Milne (Newshub): Push to break up overpriced supermarket duopoly and sell groceries online
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Countdown and Foodstuffs should be broken up, say Westpac economists
David Hargreaves (Interest): Proposed supermarket sector reforms ‘won’t deliver significant benefits for the consumer’
Ella Somers (BusinessDesk): ‘Not transformative’: Westpac pokes a finger at grocery duopoly (paywalled)
EDUCATION, ABBEY CAVES TRAGEDY
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Truancy: Jan Tinetti blames ministry as Newshub reveals only one attendance officer working under new scheme
David Farrar: Liar liar pants on fire
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Calls to scrap rule preventing migrants taking out student loans (paywalled)
Alwyn Poole (Kiwiblog): The Absolute Disgrace of the PPTA Strikes
Jack Horsnell (1News): Lawyer reveals who could be liable for Abbey Caves tragedy
ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE, EXTREME WEATHER
Gordon Campbell: On Labour’s epic fail on seabed mining
James Perry (Whakaata Māori): Ngarewa-Packer bounces back: New bill seeks ban on selling of water
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Climate policies lag as New Zealand continues to be thrashed by extreme weather
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The Government are being caught out on climate
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Government shrinks its carbon footprint by flying less
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Four key reasons to explain New Zealand’s sodden 2023
Iresh Jayawardena (Newsroom): The time has come for Auckland to get its houses in order
Jane Nixon (1News): Auckland drains ‘at capacity’ during flooding, council says
1News: Wayne Brown ends Auckland’s state of emergency
Jacob Johnson (1News): More than 100 damaged homes looted after floods, cyclone
HEALTH
Janet Hoek (Newsroom): Aping Aussie vaping
Marilyn Giroux (Post): How savvy marketing made vaping into a youth sensation (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Right to healthy food back on the table
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Debate ensues over whether advertising prescription medicine is harmful to public
Piers Fuller (Post): Call to ban direct-to-consumer prescription meds advertising (paywalled)
Stuff: Newsable: Experts plead for pharmaceutical advertising ban
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Māori-led initiatives improved Covid-19 pandemic response, report finds
Gianina Schwanecke (Post): Wellington, Hutt hospitals open new wards up to cope with flu season
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Thomas Manch (Post): NZ citizenship change to cost Australian Government $1.3b (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Stuff): Condemn today’s colonisers as well as those from the past
RNZ: Hipkins to attend meeting between Biden and Pacific leaders in Papua New Guinea
Bridie Wiitton (Stuff): PM Chris Hipkins to meet US President Joe Biden and Pacific leaders for summit
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Kiwi locked up in Thailand with no clothes, food or water
Winston Peters (Herald): Why mess with the magic of the monarchy? (paywalled)
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
1News: Trust in big banks has ‘fallen off a cliff’, survey finds
Dita De Boni (NBR): ‘Wage theft bill’ seeks to criminalise withholding wages (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Retirement village sector ‘not immune’ to scrutiny: Dekker on probe (paywalled)
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Cabinet set to break up Ruapehu ski fields for sale to investors
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Environmental business bill on shaky ground
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): She worked 72 hours a week and was paid $0 – the company argued she was a ‘volunteer’
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Guy Trafford (Interest): Farmers pushing further to the right
Allan Barber (Interest): Risk for agricultural sector voters is to resist action in the expectation a change of government will let them off the hook
The Country: Budget 2023: Federated Farmers releases wish list
HOUSING
David Hargreaves (Interest): Issues that need tackling ahead of the next housing boom, because yes, there will be another
Rayssa Almeida (RNZ): Young Auckland couple in transitional housing sleeping in car after ‘mouldy’ accommodation
Greg Ninness (Interest): Housing sales slumped to a record low last month with prices still falling, REINZ says
OTHER
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Census: Statistics Minister says $150k budgeted for free Warriors tickets, Australia trip promotional scheme
Kelvin McDonald (Whakaata Māori): Shelly Bay: Taranaki Whānui members win ‘crucial’ ruling in Māori Land Court
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Winston Peters says ram-raiders are ‘feral dropkick losers’, but Kiri Allan pushes back against ‘dog-whistle politics’
Bain Munro Attwood (The Conversation): History and myth: why the Treaty of Waitangi remains such a ‘bloody difficult subject’
Rob Campbell (Herald): I am a product of a colonial society and an elite within
Felix Desmarais (1News): Minister answers question in sign language in Parliament first
Evan Harding (Stuff): Anger over gender identity practice in swimming pool changing rooms
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Household electricity bills will double over 5 years, forecasts departing lines association boss
James Perry (Whakaata Māori): Report finds Whānau Ora model is changing whānau lives for the better
No Right Turn: The police lied in an OIA response again
