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
Ben McKay (Australian Associated Press): National on track to govern in latest New Zealand poll
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Boom: Roy Morgan Poll: MMP Spectrum Splintering: Labour Party Collapse
Audrey Young (Herald): What a National-Act cabinet might look like (paywalled)
Graham Adams (The Platform): Should you trust Winston Peters?
Jo Moir (Newsroom): PM stuck in limbo-land governing over campaigning
Simon Wilson (Herald): David Parker quit Revenue role over wealth tax – the value of principles, purpose in politics (paywalled)
Steven Cowan: Desperate Days
Chris Trotter (Interest): Party slogans: Forward to a new day, or taking the country backwards?
Tim Hurdle (Post): How the election might be decided before Election Day (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (NBR): Labour’s experiment stutters to embarrassing, underwhelming end (paywalled)
Rob Campbell (Newsroom): How to stop making arithmetic of an unequal society add up
ODT Editorial: Taxing time for everyone (paywalled)
David Farrar: Māori Party policy is for effective tax rates of 150%
Herald Editorial: National kicks off another match in the election campaign series (paywalled)
André Chumko (Post): Election 2023: What are the parties’ arts policies so far? (paywalled)

POLITICAL DONATIONS
Andy Fyers (BusinessDesk): Interactive: big money behind our political parties (paywalled)
Andy Fyers and Murray Jones (BusinessDesk): Cash for Candidates: How the biggest donors spent $52m (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Cash for Candidates: The National party’s war chest (paywalled)

TRANSPORT
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): National announces four lanes to Whangārei? Not quite
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National leader Christopher Luxon struggles with transport numbers (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): National’s road-building spree missing crucial climate calculations
Eye of the Fish: All scramble, no lolly
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): As National hits a fiscal pothole, Labour risks running off the rails
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Labour claims National is ‘billions of dollars short’ in its massive transport package
Felix Desmarais (1News): Road rage: Labour claims $2.8b ‘pothole’ in Nats’ transport plan
Felix Desmarais (1News): ‘Nonsensical’ or makes sense? Opinion divided on Nats’ road plan
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): National’s transport policy is the best of the election campaign
Russell Palmer (RNZ): National reveals further details of $24.8b transport policy, Labour says it’s still billions short
Seni Iasona (Newshub): National promises 13 new roads, better public transport in $24 billion transport package
RNZ: National proposes new highways, Labour dubious on cost estimates
1News: ACT, Greens critical of Nats’ Whangārei-Tauranga highway plan
1News: National unveils $24 billion transport policy
Bernard Orsman (Herald): National to scrap Government’s $14.6 billion light rail project in Auckland and spend on seven roading and public transport projects
Stuff: Heavy investment in roads will boost standard of living, National leader Christopher Luxon says
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Andrea Vance (Post): Are the brakes on Let’s Get Wellington Moving? (paywalled)
William Hewett (Newshub): Let’s Get Wellington Moving: Councillor Tony Randle calls for multi-billion-dollar project to be scrapped
Vita Molyneux (Herald): National’s transport policy: Mayor Tory Whanau blasts ‘flaccid vision’ to scrap Let’s Get Wellington Moving
Jemima Huston (RNZ): Scrapping Let’s Get Wellington Moving won’t stop transport changes – council chairperson
Andrea Vance (Post): Light rail or new roads? Wellingtonians to decide (paywalled)

LABOUR PARTY LIST, KIRI ALLAN
Richard Harman: Hipkins spins the list (paywalled)
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Labour list about avoiding unnecessary political drama
Adam Pearse (Herald) Labour Party list – Michael Wood, Phil Twyford the big losers, several MPs face losing roles on current polling
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Election 2023: Labour’s Māori caucus all smiles as six Māori in top 20 and 11 in top 40
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Labour list shows which MPs likely to lose their jobs at coming election
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Labour list rankings revealed – big promotions for new ministers, huge demotions for old
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Chris Hipkins on why former ministers Phil Twyford, Michael Wood are low on Labour’s list
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Chris Hipkins is struggling to straddle being Prime Minister, Labour leader
Felix Desmarais (1News): Who’s up, who’s down? Labour Party reveals 2023 list
RNZ: Labour releases party list for 2023 election
David Farrar: Who’s in and out on Labour’s list
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Staff from three further agencies had concerns about Kiri Allan’s office
1News: Tāmati Coffey ‘shoulder tapped’ as Labour’s new East Coast candidate

MIGRANT WORKERS
Lucy Xia (RNZ): Charity supporting migrant workers accused of trying to stop them talking to media: ‘We would not help you’
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Immigration: Complaints about migrant exploitation increase sixfold under Labour
Steve Braunias (Herald): Life and death in the Auckland shadows – a tragic end to the NZ dream (paywalled)

INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
1News: PM responds to strikes: ‘We don’t have a money tree’
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Secondary teachers should get 14.5 percent pay rise, arbitration panel recommends
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): Arbitration panel recommends 14.5% pay increase for secondary teachers
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Panel recommends greater pay for secondary teachers than MoE offer
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Hawke’s Bay hospitals call on volunteers to ‘keep wards functioning’ during nurses’ strike
RNZ: Nurses and healthcare assistants accept pay equity settlement

ECONOMY, COST OF LIVING
Rob Stock (Stuff): Younger people feeling most ‘financial stress’, Centrix says
Liam Dann (Herald): Business defaults rise but homeowners winning battle with rising interest rates (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Business confidence rises again, inflation expectations easing (paywalled)
RNZ: Business confidence lifts slightly in July – ANZ survey
Teresa White (Herald): Why do we keep whacking poor people with mindless monetary punishments they can’t afford?
RNZ: Number of complaints about money lenders spikes by 25 percent in past year

BANKING
Rob Stock (Post): Depositor guarantee would protect households’ savings, but come at a cost (paywalled)
Lane Nichols (Herald): BNZ refuses to reimburse scam victims who lost nearly half a million dollars in elaborate sting
Rob Stock (Post): Commerce Commission criticises banks for go-slow on cheaper retail payments (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): NZ’s payments system is falling behind internationally (paywalled)

BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Duncan Bridgeman (Herald): Taxpayer dollars, KiwiSaver funds caught as Auckland medtech firm Opum falls into receivership (paywalled)
Alka Prasad (Herald): How small business owners plan to vote (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Stuff): MYOB says 64% of SMEs want a change in Government
Brent Edwards (NBR): Act wants to make personal grievances less costly for employers (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Stuff): High Court imposes first penalty for anti-competitive land covenant use
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): The govt’s startup advisors council wants a big tax change (paywalled)
1News: The child labour in your cosmetics: New report urges action
Sarah Heeringa (Stuff): Five beauty products ingredients linked to child labour – and what you can do about it

EDUCATION
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): Muslim students report bullying starts at preschool, then it just gets worse
Dave Armstrong (Post): Vic Uni cuts more than about saving money (paywalled)
Jessica Ye (Spinoff): What do students want from a higher education review?
Melissa Derby (The Common Room): What is the purpose of education?

HEALTH
Boyd Swinburn (Post): Smoking has taken a beating; now it’s booze and bad food’s turn (paywalled)
Robin Martin (RNZ): Ministry of Health cuts access to flawed data in Paritūtū serum dioxin study
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Number of children waiting longer than four months for hospital help jumps by 600 percent
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Covid-19: 3615 new cases reported over the past week, 116 in hospital
Sue Teodoro (Local Democracy Reporting): Wairarapa Hospital could fail in a major earthquake, High Court hears

THREE WATERS
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Three water CEOs claim salaries despite roles being disestablished
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Three Waters: The new bosses and why their pay of $602,500 to $815,500 is so extraordinary (paywalled)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Josie Pagani (Local Government Magazine): Devolution is the next big thing
Todd Niall (Stuff): Port or playground? Reality check coming for future of Auckland’s waterfront
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): West Coast Regional Council councillor conduct: Closed door meeting
Erin Gourley (Post): Public Service Watch: $10m playground is the limit for council (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): Food waste collected from your home in proposed Wellington waste overhaul (paywalled)

EXTREME WEATHER
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Cyclone-hit homes buyout: Hawke’s Bay mayor expects ‘some concerns’ from community
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government reaches agreement with Hawke’s Bay mayors over cyclone recovery costs, announces $500m for road repairs
RNZ: Government reaches deal to share buy-out cost of Hawke’s Bay cyclone-damaged houses

HOUSING
Ethan Te Ora (Post): Kāinga Ora tenants relying on curtain banks (paywalled)
RNZ: Property developer wants $138m from Kāinga Ora for alleged anti-competitive behaviour
Piers Fuller (Stuff): New state housing in Wairarapa opens after two decade hiatus
Greg Ninness (Interest): Anyone seeing green shoots in the latest housing figures has probably been smoking them

CRIME, CORRECTIONS
Emma Hatton (Newsroom): UN calls out poor management of mental health care in NZ prisons
Tatiana Gibbs (Stuff): Coroner rebukes Corrections after prisoner killed himself two weeks after previous attempt
1News: Rolleston prisoners celebrate building 150 homes in programme
William Hewett (Newshub): Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick says Labour playing politics with ram-raid crackdown, claims it’s not based on evidence

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT
Anne Salmond (Newsroom): The planet is on fire. Are the Chrises not listening?
No Right Turn: Will Labour allow more offshore drilling?
RNZ: First of government’s long-delayed cameras on fishing boats to go live
Michael Fallow (Southland Times): Opponents see no value in National’s ‘valued introduced species’ plan

OTHER
Glenn McConnell (Post): Cross-party rebuke of Government bill to allow mass detention of asylum seekers (paywalled)
Karl du Fresne: My response to Professor Mohan Dutta
Jerry Coyne: One of New Zealand’s “Satanic Seven” describes efforts to create a free speech policy at the University of Auckland
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Conspiracy theorist Billy Te Kahika appeals jail term
Tim Selwyn (Daily Blog): RNZ Review: Children of the Undercurrent
Gavin Ellis: Bring me sunshine: Just enough to warm my soul a little