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
Claire Trevett (Herald): Christopher Luxon hunts for mojo while Chris Hipkins hunts for good news on Puhoi motorway as recessions, teacher strikes, gangs dominate agenda (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Want to know who is going to win the election? Watch these seats
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Latest Internal Poll: Labour up, Greens plunge & Māori Party Kingmakers
Justin Wong (Stuff): NZ-based CCP state media publisher donated more than $18,000 to National Party
Rebecca Wright (Newshub Nation): ACT Party’s rise ‘must be pretty scary for National’, political commentator Matthew Hooton says
Simon Shepherd and Gray Gibson (Newshub Nation): Fieldays political roundup with Labour’s Chris Hipkins, National’s Christopher Luxon, ACT’s Andrew Hoggard and The Green Party’s James Shaw
Simon Shepherd and Gray Gibson: Newshub Nation full interview: The Opportunities Party leader Raf Manji outlines election-year tax policy
Simon Shepherd and Gray Gibson (Newshub Nation): The Opportunities Party leader Raf Manji reveals he’s working on new artificial intelligence candidate
1News: Q+A: Wellington Central: Fresh faces in a hotly-contested race
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Charity boss Dave Letele pulls the plug on political tilt for Te Pāti Māori
Janet Wilson (Stuff): Ditch the rancour, we need grown-up political debate
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Electorate carving fiddly for panel
Brian Easton (Pundit): Are We Sure That We Have A Well-Functioning System Of Government?
Damien Grant (Stuff): History’s lessons for a parliament wielding absolute power
Stuff: Newsable: Greens, ACT leaders spar over Treaty of Waitangi after rare moment of unity
Anna Whyte (Post): Public Service Watch: Cost of living announcements likely this week (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (Herald): Week in Politics: National and Labour go courting at Fieldays
Herald: Beehive Diaries: The secret liaisons of Chris Luxon and David Seymour, a Fieldays meet-up for Winston Peters and Chris Hipkins (paywalled)
Finlay Dunseath (Stuff): ‘We’ve never gone quite that far’ – TV gaffe leaves MPs in awkward laughter
Johnny Blades (RNZ): The House: Jan Logie: Balancing frustration with hope
Johnny Blades (RNZ): The House: ‘A bob each way’: Jacqui Dean on Parliament career
NZ’S NEGATIVITY AND LOST MOJO
Post Editorial: New Zealand’s negativity problem (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Wet and whiny? Who, us? (paywalled)
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): National leader Christopher Luxon has diagnosed the problem – but where’s his cure?
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Enough whining Christopher Luxon, let’s have a positive plan (paywalled)
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode for .. Whiney Luxon
ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): There has to be a better way to measure a recession
Gordon Campbell: On the recession engineered by the Reserve Bank
Luke Malpass (Stuff): New Zealand’s languid economy meets the race for authenticity
Luke Malpass (Post): New Zealand takes a pay cut as per capita income falls (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey: Real GDP per hour worked stagnated since 2012
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Capital gains tax, land tax – which party has the guts to push for real change? (paywalled)
Vernon Small (Stuff): Sifting through the good and bad in recession news
Liam Dann (Herald): Harden up New Zealand, this was the recession we needed to have (paywalled)
Newshub: New Zealand’s recession could be ‘harbinger for world’, Bloomberg warns
Ranjana Gupta (The Conversation): Cutting GST on fresh produce won’t help those most in need – a targeted approach works better
David Boyle (Stuff): Are Kiwis recession-ready?
Geraden Cann (Stuff): NZ’s credit rating front of mind after a week of concerning economic data, ANZ says
MENG FOON RESIGNS AS RACE RELATIONS COMMISSIONER
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour appointees and conflicts: how hard is it really
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon’s chaotic resignation
David Farrar: Meng Foon resigns
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon resigns over failure to declare $2m conflict of interest
1News: Meng Foon resigns after $2m in Govt payments not ‘adequately declared’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Meng Foon resigns as Race Relations Commissioner after failing to declare interests
RNZ: Meng Foon resigns as Race Relations Commissioner
STUART NASH
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Stuart Nash inquiry reveals how mates had the minister’s ear
Anna Whyte (Post): Hang on … What? Why isn’t the Stuart Nash report a big deal? (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): Stuart Nash saga: Conflict of interest identified in investigation into sacked minister (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Nash donor lobbied for high-wealth tax study exemption
Felix Desmarais (1News): Stuart Nash hopes report will ‘draw a line’ under scandal
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Stuart Nash did not share confidential information with other donors, probe finds
Felix Desmarais (1News): Stuart Nash investigation finds no significant further transgressions
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Stuart Nash report finds conflict of interest, but no other sharing of confidential information instances
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Stuart Nash: No other instances of former minister leaking confidential Cabinet information found – review
WAGE SUBSIDY, COVID SUPPORT FOR BUSINESS
Rob Stock (Stuff): ‘We’ve simply had enough’: Campaign launch to get back $10b in wage subsidy
Greg Hurrell (Interest): Philanthropists ad campaign against lack of covid subsidy repayments (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Hundreds of self-employed, sole traders in breach of Covid support rules
BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Aimee Shaw (Stuff): Exploitation ‘rampant’ in NZ supply chains, research suggests
RNZ: Small businesses most at risk of modern slavery in supply chain – report
Rob Campbell (Herald): Politicians are so transparent, most of us can see right through them
Alison Mau (Stuff): Why can’t hospo be a proper career for many in Aotearoa?
Tess Brunton (RNZ): Tourism boss asks for more taxpayer money to fund plans
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Advertised salaries up 4.7% but finding a job might be getting harder, Seek says
Cameron Smith (Herald): Peak salary? Advertised salaries hit record, but the market is cooling (paywalled)
GANGS, DEATH OF STEVEN TAIATINI
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Ōpōtiki’s gang funeral used as a ‘political football’ says mayor, locals
Herald Editorial: Unedifying scenes after the death of Mongrel Mob boss Steven Taiatini (paywalled)
Waimanea Nuri (Whakaata Māori): Hipkins cavils on ‘overdone’ police presence at mobster tangi
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Victims of crime in downtown Auckland support National’s new justice policy
Karanama Ruru and Anna Whyte (Post): National doubles down on law and order after Ōpōtiki gang funeral (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Stuff): National pledges tougher sentences for gang members, Greens call policy ‘redundant’ and ‘long-standing’
Kelvin McDonald (Whakaata Māori): National to make gang membership an ‘aggravating factor’ in court sentencing; Labour accuses Luxon of ‘reheating’ old policy
Adam Pearse (Herald): National pushes for tougher gang sentences after Ōpōtiki tangi procession
RNZ: Gang membership would be aggravating factor in sentencing under new National policy
Rachel Sadler (Neshub): Labour hits out at National’s ‘pretty lazy’ gang policy, says they’re ‘pretending to be tough’
Emile Donovan (Stuff): Newsable: National’s gang proposal: ‘The pendulum has swung too far’
Tony Wall (Stuff): Steven Taiatini beat a meth addiction and was helping others, friend says, only to lose his life on the streets of Ōpōtiki
ENVIRONMENT
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Emissions Trading Scheme: Plans for revamp to be released
Rod Oram (Newshub): No, no, no, no, and no! National’s disastrous emissions policy
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Climate tax plan as dead as Labour’s hold on the farming vote (paywalled)
Newshub Nation: Forest and Bird chief executive Nicola Toki blasts farming sector’s attitude towards emissions pricing
Emily Tuhi-Ao Bailey (Stuff): Forget the red tape – farming has only got itself to blame for its crises
Jacqueline Rowarth (Stuff): When regulations push farmers out of farming, we need a new approach
Pat Baskett (Newsroom): New environment group aims to shift dial on climate
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Climate activism will require mass civil disobedience
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Not enough info to compare Lake Onslow to other power options – Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment
Tom Kitchin and Bonnie Harrison (RNZ): Where to next for a Kermadec ocean sanctuary?
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Single-use produce bags are being phased out – but what about all the other plastics in the produce section?
David Williams (Newsroom): Ngāi Tahu unleashes over lakes
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): DOC managing over 300 contaminated sites on West Coast
Jon Carapiet (Daily Blog): Consumers want labels on Gene Edited Food. So must National.
James Perry (Whakaata Māori): GMO a Treaty issue, not for governments alone – Māori Organics Authority
Aimee Matiu (Newsroom): Let’s move from ‘engagement’ to more of a ‘mārena’
EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT BILL, EXTREME WEATHER
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Emergency Management Bill flawed, government told by officials
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Horticulture sector in talks with government for post-cyclone recovery boost
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): Heartbreak, hope and confusion: the potholed road back to normality after the Hawke’s Bay floods
Ruth Hill (RNZ): New Zealand faces ‘uninsurable’ future unless planning system overhauled – expert
CO-GOVERNANCE
Doug Sail (Timaru Herald): Evidence backing stop co-governance campaign labelled ‘ill-informed’
Mark John (ODT): Roadshow finds venue after cancellations
Anaru Eketone (ODT): We should recall co-governance is nothing new
EDUCATION
RNZ: Teachers and Ministry of Education consider arbitration to end industrial action
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Secondary Teachers Union is burning all credibility with parents
Indira Stewart (1News): High school students working all night to support families
Niva Chittock (RNZ): WorkSafe declined case of teen injured on school trip
ODT Editorial: Another blow for Otago (paywalled)
HOUSING
Sonya Bateson (Herald): Why Kāinga Ora evictions are not the answer (paywalled)
Elinor Chisholm: Let’s make good curtains mandatory in rental housing
Brent Slater (Post): Going for housing growth plan a gamebreaker (paywalled)
Warren Gamble (Nelson Mail): New affordable housing development brings founder’s vision to life
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Westpac becomes third bank to shift home loan rates
MEDIA
Donna Miles (Post): Is there such a thing as unbiased reporting? (paywalled)
Thomas Cranmer: Inside RNZ: Slack Editorial Practices and Management Failure
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): This RNZ story is probably more complicated than first thought
Molly Swift and Rebecca Wright (Newshub Nation): RNZ editing scandal shines light on understaffed, underfunded sector – news editors
RNZ: The challenge of media manipulation and disinformation
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Three digital teams face oblivion as TVNZ enters major digital news restructure
Karl du Fresne: What’s wrong with NZ journalism: No. 227 in a series
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Louisa Cleave and Paula Penfold (Stuff): NZ frigate confronted by Chinese navy in South China Seas, investigation reveals
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Exiled Tibetan president Penpa Tsering wants NZ’s support – but the Govt won’t meet him
Gaurav Sharma (RNZ): Tibet’s leader-in-exile dismayed by lack of state meeting on first visit to NZ
Gaurav Sharma (RNZ): Free-trade talks zero in on India’s instant bank payment system
ODT: Foreign Policy School to focus on populist politics
Kelvin McDonald (Whakaata Māori): NZ immigration detainees perform haka in support of Brisbane protest for Iranian refugee
HEALTH
Barry Soper and Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Auckland surgeons must now consider ethnicity in prioritising patients for operations – some are not happy
Benn Bathgate (Post): Toddler with head injury treated in Australia to avoid five-month treatment wait (paywalled)
Conor Knell (Post): Queues out the door at after-hours clinic as winter illnesses rise (paywalled)
William Terite (Newshub): Warning urgent action needed to increase number of rural doctors
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Training programme for junior doctors still at early concept stage – Te Whatu Ora
RNZ: High Court rules five of Countdown’s pharmacies are illegal
Zane Small (Newshub): Assaults on Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand staff more than double in a year
Stuff: Another blow for Dunedin Hospital rebuild with learning centre parked
RNZ: Single learning facility cut from Dunedin health precinct plans
Grant Miller (ODT): Councillors lament loss (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Erin Johnson (Stuff): Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s top press secretary at centre of ‘dip shits’ email controversy
RNZ: Local iwi demand inclusion on Auckland Airport share sale
Erin Johnson (Stuff): Bill for Auckland Council flood review nearly double original budget
Herald: On the Tiles – Local Edition: Auckland Council budgets and Wellington’s water boil notice
ODT Editorial: Playing statues (paywalled)
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland council scrambling with court-imposed fishing rules in Bay of Islands
Laura Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): Newly-announced Rotorua industrial park promises room for growth
Katie Townshend (Nelson Mail): Council boss: Stressed out staff mean something’s got to give
BILINGUAL ROAD SIGNS
Finlay Dunseath (Stuff): What happened when Ireland got bilingual road signs?
Graham Adams (The Common Room): Are bilingual road signs safe or even sensible?
TRANSPORT
Rob Stock (Post): Government will have to ‘stump up’ to launch aviation biofuel plant (paywalled)
Luke Kirkness (Herald): The Government’s role in making e-bikes accessible (paywalled)
Herald: Road toll prices increase as PM Chris Hipkins opens $880 million Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway
Herald Editorial: A major transport project is delivered, but there’s more in the waiting room (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): Prime Minister cuts ribbon to open Auckland’s new $1 billion motorway
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Chris Hipkins says it was ‘wrong’ for Labour to label Pūhoi to Warkworth motorway a ‘holiday highway’
Sam Stubbs (Stuff): What Northland really needs to thrive
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Railway crossings in the crosshairs for Auckland Council
JUSTICE
Nick Truebridge (Newshub): Police Minister Ginny Andersen attacks New Zealand’s prison system, says it’s no place for Māori offenders
Delphine Herbert (RNZ): Anti-reoffending scheme Te Pae Oranga moves into Huntly
Carrie Leonetti (Newsroom): The Family Court’s motherhood problem
OTHER
Gaurav Sharma (RNZ): Almost a third of arrivals denied entry into NZ hold Indian passports
Rob Stock (Stuff): Three months after Latitude cyberattack some victims still not notified
