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

ELECTION, PARLIAMENT
Chris Trotter (Interest): Luxon’s lack of political ‘muscle memory’
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Can you stomach five more months of sausage roll politics?
Simon Wilson (Herald): National, Act and the battle over race (paywalled)
Tim Hurdle (Post): Micro-parties hold the key to unlocking October’s general election (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On National’s aversion to transparency
Herald Editorial: Little progress in tit-for-tat politics (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): National’s AI Nontroversy
Graham Adams (The Platform): O lucky man! Hipkins and an indulgent media
RNZ: Stuart Nash donor communications review delayed

OPINION POLLS
1News: Kiwis back four-day working week – new poll
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research poll reveals most Kiwis want recreational vaping banned as Health Minister considers options

NATIONAL’S HOUSING ANNOUNCEMENT, HOUSING
Duncan Garner (NBR): Housing policy gone by lunchtime – Willis takes one for the team (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey: Inside National’s housing backflip + twists & rolls
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): National should never have signed up to housing density
Jemima Huston (RNZ): National’s housing plans need more infrastructure investment – construction expert
RNZ: National’s housing backdown: Preserving character or ditching a fit for purpose framework?
Liz McDonald (The Press): Residents seek pause on housing density plans until election (paywalled)
Mike Yardley (The Press): Policy U-turn makes Christchurch’s housing density a live election issue (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): National’s new housing density policy gets a mixed reaction in Auckland (paywalled)
RNZ: ‘Zone for 30 years of growth’ – National proposes housing growth policy
RNZ: National’s backdown on bipartisan housing accord ‘a massive flip-flop’ – Sepuloni
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): National’s housing U-turn won’t affect council hearings (paywalled)
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Geraden Cann (Stuff): How much you need to earn to avoid mortgage stress
Gareth Kiernan (Post): Reserve Bank thinks house prices more sustainable, but buyers might not agree (paywalled)
Sinead Gill (Post): Shaky start to Taxpayers’ Union anti-RMA reform tour (paywalled)

BILINGUAL ROAD SIGNS
Michael Neilson (Herald): Te reo Māori road signs supported by National says MP Chris Bishop; PM Chris Hipkins accuses party of ‘dog whistle’
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Chris Hipkins says National might be trying to appeal to ‘racist underbelly’ with road sign rhetoric
RNZ: Hipkins accuses National of dog-whistling over bilingual roadsigns
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): National claims no issue with Te Reo on road signs, but says they should be ‘nice-to-have’
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Kiri Allan calls out National for ‘dog whistle’, doubles down on bilingual signs
Richard Shaw (The Conversation): Slow down Simeon Brown – bilingual traffic signs aren’t an accident waiting to happen
1News: Consultation open on English/te reo Māori road signs

SUPERANNUATION
Damien Venuto (Herald): The Front Page podcast: Does Labour’s superannuation promise give National an attack opportunity? (paywalled)
William Hewett (Newshub): Brad Olsen says New Zealand should consider lifting superannuation age
1News: Superannuation: ACT’s Seymour says ‘the age has to rise’

CRIME, POLICE
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Fog cannons: How a successful policy heralds a greater failure
Michael Neilson (Herald): Retail crime: PM Chris Hipkins fronts post-Cabinet press conference, more fog cannon funding announced
Bridie Witton (Stuff): PM Chris Hipkins announces extra $11 million for fog cannon subsidy scheme
Newshub: Government pumps $11 million into fog cannon subsidy scheme after high uptake from small businesses
Lucy Xia (RNZ): Fog cannons: Dairy owners unhappy with delays as extra $11m announced
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Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): ‘That’s insanity’: Man whose daughter was killed in police pursuit criticises relaxing of rules
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Police Commissioner Andrew Coster hopes for ‘significant increase’ in apprehensions following fleeing driver change
Adam Pearse (Herald): Police pursuits, fleeing drivers: Commissioner Andrew Coster on death risk increase after policy revision
Katie Ham and Olivia Caldwell (Stuff): Police take harder line on fleeing drivers, just days after Dunedin fatality
RNZ: Police revise pursuit policy as fleeing drivers ‘taking more risks’
1News: $11m for 3000 more fog cannons by end of year, PM announces
Jacob Johnson (1News): Knife crime up around 20% over two years – police

HEALTH
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Damning report into Palmerston North Hospital follows death of pregnant woman with sepsis
Ruwani Perera, The Hui (Newshub): ‘Our health system is broken: Elite athlete’s agonising wait for cancer diagnosis and treatment
Kathy Spencer (Herald): A prescription for better access to medicine (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Winter health plan ignores review advice
Dan Laufer (NBR): Ashley Bloomfield: Reaching Māori, Pasifika during Covid (paywalled)
RNZ: Covid-19 case numbers: 14,371 new cases, 49 further deaths
Ian Powell: Its ‘relational’ Rob Campbell, its relational
Adam Burns (RNZ): Nurses union discusses next steps in pay negotiations with Te Whatu Ora
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Renewed calls for medicinal cannabis to be funded as study reports pain relief
RNZ: Long Covid and ME/CFS are the same illness, researcher says
Rayssa Almeida (RNZ): Teen tells of lack of mental health support despite abuse in state care
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Shortage of forensic psychiatrists, in-patient beds could impact prisoners

SPY AGENCIES
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Major review urges removal of prime minister from Intelligence and Securty Committee
RNZ: Lack of transparency from intelligence agencies, Taumaru report finds
Brent Edwards (NBR): Government to take its time responding to review of spy law (paywalled)

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): A China tightrope reaching beyond the horizon
Eric Frykberg (Interest): New Zealand signs agreement pushed by the US to make supply chains more resilient after Covid-era hit on world trade

ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT
Susan Hornsby-Geluk (Post): Employers who deliberately fail to pay employees could soon face calls to ‘lock them up’ (paywalled)
Ashleigh Yates (Newshub): New study reveals Kiwis feel under immense pressure to work long hours
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Lies, damned lies and taxation: the trust rate change (paywalled)
The Facts: Government tax & spending
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Migration boom credited with driving strong jobs growth
RNZ: Employment up as relaxed visa rules boosts workforce
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): ‘Watch, worry, wait’: RBNZ’s Hawkesby on OCR hikes (paywalled)

EDUCATION
Rewi Newnham (Post): Do we even care about our universities? (paywalled)
Harry Love (ODT): Tertiary education is diseased — and real change is the cure (paywalled)
Lee Kenny (Post): Delay in roll-out of new nursing degrees ‘incredibly disappointing’ (paywalled)
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): International education changed India. It’s changing New Zealand, too
Jerry Coyne: Indigenous spirituality sneaking into New Zealand’s science curriculum, pretending to be “science”
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): Parents left scrambling for childcare after schools close for union meeting

LOAFER’S LODGE FIRE TRAGEDY
Gianina Schwanecke and Tom Hunt (Stuff): Loafers Lodge review finds 25 similar high density accommodation providers in Wellington
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Loafers Lodge highlights safety concerns in 25 other Wellington buildings

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Mike Lee (Daily Blog): Council’s airport share privatisation will disinherit future generations of Aucklanders
Stuff: Tonia Haskell named new Wellington Water chief executive

CLIMATE CHANGE, EXTREME WEATHER, CONSERVATION
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Projected 400-500 flooded Auckland households may not be allowed to return
RNZ: Auckland floods: Red-stickered homeowners to learn how the fate of their properties will be decided
Rob Campbell (Newsroom): Let’s not fool ourselves with our eyes open on the climate
Cristiano Marantes (Stuff): Future generations will thank us for the NZ Steel emissions deal
Keiller MacDuff (Post): Report shows perilous state of Canterbury lakes, highlights ‘systemic vulnerabilities’ (paywalled)

IMMIGRATION
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Visa scam warning: Hundreds of Nepalese paid up to $30,000 for false promises of jobs and residency, Nepalese Consulate claims
Jody O’Callaghan and Anna Whyte (Stuff): Refugees’ unsettling arrival in Aotearoa – ‘it’s sink or swim’

CENSUS
David Williams (Newsroom): Stats NZ scurries to rescue $317m census
Emile Donovan (Stuff): Newsable: will we be able to trust data from the 2023 census?

TREATY, CO-GOVERNANCE
Alex Penk (The Common Room): Beware of the Blob
Alecia Rousseau (Stuff): Stop Co-Governance meeting canned as protesters accuse organisers of racism
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Whakaata Māori): ‘Where’s the evidence?’ – political analyst scoffs at Seymour’s claim on why Kiwis are leaving NZ

FORESTRY
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Forestry contractors ‘at breaking point’ in flood-hit regions
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Forestry contractors in danger of shutting down en masse – industry group

OTHER
Herald: MSD staffer brought bag of fake ‘meth’ to work as drug ‘joke’, scornful workplace culture alleged
Ben Strang (RNZ): Auckland Council in talks on moving some roads to safer ground
Alison Mau (Post): Headlong into the future: Why we all need to know about AI, right now (paywalled)
Carrie Leonetti (Newsroom): When our brain takes an educated guess
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Here’s how blocking New Zealanders from international gambling might work
Gavin Ellis: Awards bring out the pettiness in NZ media
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Tiwai smelter sees path to remain until 2039
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): Corrections ‘urgently’ pulling prison officer ad after racism complaints