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
TRANSPORT
Simon Wilson (Herald): While Labour and National battle to build more roads, the world burns (paywalled)
Verity Johnson (Stuff): Last week shows neither party understands Auckland right now
1News: Auckland harbour tunnels: Road tolls on the table – minister
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Transport Minister reveals how much cheaper $45b Auckland transport plan could’ve been if done six years ago
Alice Wilkins (Newshub): Construction expert says second Auckland harbour crossing is our ‘Big Dig’
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): How $45b of tunnels could actually cost $65b+ (paywalled)
RNZ: Auckland harbour tunnels plan: Nothing but a ‘pipe dream’, mayor says
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Auckland harbour crossing just ‘electioneering’ (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Crossing plan ‘ludicrously expensive’, says Wayne Brown (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Labour won’t build the harbour tunnel
Felix Walton (RNZ): Aucklanders keen for more harbour crossing options, but at what cost?
1News: A history of Auckland harbour crossings that didn’t make the cut
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Quitting new NZ-wide transport ticketing system not off the table – Auckland councillor
Nicholas Boyack (Post): Geographer shoots down naysayers over Golden Mile changes (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): KiwiRail plans to close track crossings after 10 lose their lives in a year
Tom Hunt (Post): Public Service Watch: Hospital staff looked to Stuff website as Kaitaki floundered (paywalled)
FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE, NATIONAL SECURITY
Chris Trotter (Interest): Of the five digits making up the Anglo-Saxon fist, New Zealand is obviously the ‘pinkie finger’, Chris Trotter says
Alexander Gillespie (The Conversation): NZ’s first national security strategy signals a ‘turning point’ and the end of old certainties
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Seismic shifts in NZ defence and foreign policy (paywalled)
Nicholas Khoo (Newsroom): NZ needs a debate – not tweets – on foreign policy
Heather Roy (Post): Finding courage in a dangerous world (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Questions about strategy and defence (paywalled)
Greg Presland (The Standard): Helen Clark thinks the Government should review commitment to AUKUS
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Te Pāti Māori wants Aotearoa to be the Switzerland of the South Pacific
Tom Peters (World Socialists): New Zealand Defence Policy Review targets China
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Ukrainian ambassador hopes to get NZ investors interested in rebuild
ELECTION
1News: Fuel prices: PM reveals future of more tax discounts
Jo Moir (Newsroom): No big spenders allowed in Labour’s campaign
Gordon Campbell: On Winston Peters’ troubled tango with the ACT Party
Duncan Garner (NBR): Can impatient Seymour cope with dithery, deflecting Luxon? (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Climate change and tax on the agenda: ‘We probably don’t have enough tax’
Damien Grant (Stuff): GST is the Government’s MacGuffin moment
Herald Editorial: Courting drivers for an election winner (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (Blue Review): Ahead of the polls, ahead of schedule
Stephen Minto (Daily Blog): How Labour can win the 2023 election
Helmut Modlik (Post): When democracy fails us, it is time to change democracy (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Cash for Candidates: How to Spend It (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Death threats, no canvassing after dark: Life on the 2023 election campaign trail (paywalled)
EMPLOYMENT, INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): Change of government a threat to 200,000 people’s Fair Pay Agreements – union
RNZ: Public would rather struggling firms cut pay than slash workforce – survey
Anna Whyte (Post): ‘In limbo’ unions eye sizeable pay offers after major deals for nurses, teachers (paywalled)
ECONOMY, TAX, COST OF LIVING
Liam Dann (Herald): Rising petrol price brings pain at pump and new headache in inflation fight (paywalled)
Dan Brunskill (Interest): A new paper by Treasury, the Reserve Bank, and the Ministry of Housing says housing supply and wage inflation are the two biggest factors in setting rental prices
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): NZ rents up 83 percent in 20 years, but interest rates not the biggest contributor – Treasury, Reserve Bank
David Hargreaves (Interest): Economists at two of the main banks see OCR of 5.75% by Christmas
Christopher Joye (Australian Financial Review): Why the Kiwis are thrashing Australia in economics
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): $86 a week to live on: Call to stop benefit attachment orders
Terry Baucher (Interest): Is Inland Revenue doing enough to manage bad debts? And what about changing the tax system to boost startups?
MEDIA
Gavin Ellis: RNZ ‘pro-Kremlin garbage’ enquiry has lessons for all newsrooms
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Does the RNZ report stack up?
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Broadcasting Minister Willie Jackson defends $230,000 spend on RNZ review
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Putting right what went wrong with RNZ’s online news
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Stuff faces staff legal threat over proposed new journalist job cuts amid fears of loss of quality (paywalled)
Gavin Ellis: Joint funding for Local Democracy Reporting
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Weather wars – public safety fears over forecasting as documents reveal Niwa, MetService executive tension (paywalled)
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Mediaworks’ directors face fine for late accounts filing (paywalled)
HEALTH, DENTAL CARE
RNZ; Hospital ED sees people with ‘tragic cases’ because they can’t afford dental care – doctor
Peter Williams: The Tooth of It
Riana Manuel (Stuff): The health system Aotearoa deserves
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Reported Covid-19 cases up by almost 30% in the past week, to 4645 in total
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Hospital expansion delay ‘a disaster’, former board member says
RNZ: Nurses accept pay offer from Te Whatu Ora, strike won’t go ahead
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Last minute pay offer sees nurses strike canned, but ‘discontent’ remains
Katherine Rich (NBR): The aged care crisis affects us all (paywalled)
COVID
David Williams (Newsroom): Verdict on $19b wage subsidy lands, a year late
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): How long will we be paying for Covid?
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, TRADE
Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): Vangelis Vitalis: ‘Golden weather’ for NZ trade policy is over (paywalled)
Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): Red meat sector wants a ‘proper adult conversation’ about NZ-India trade (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (NBR): Climate change policy skewered at red meat sector debate (paywalled)
Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): Who wants to be Ag minister: Damien O’Connor v Todd McClay (paywalled)
Jessica Roden (1News): Mixed reaction to Govt’s transformative plan for fishing industry
Warren Gambel (Stuff): Plan for fishing industry aims to balance environment and viability
RNZ: Fishing Industry Transformation Plan aims to grow sector while adapting to a changing climate
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Reducing trawling impact tops transformation plan for fishing (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Plan to reduce commercial fishing’s environmental impact (paywalled)
CRIME
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research poll results: Clear majority of Kiwis don’t think Government’s doing enough to address ram-raids
Derek Chdng (Herald): Strong public support for gun registry, but Act doubles down on repeal plans
Felix Desmarais (1News): Public can have ‘confidence’ Govt ‘doing something’ about crime – Hipkins
Herald: The Front Page: Do our politicians have the right answers for tackling youth crime?
JUSTICE SYSTEM
Andrea Vance (Post): ‘Serious concerns’ about youth justice centre staff behaviour sparked investigation
Krystal Gibbens (RNZ): Legal aid shortfalls leave people forced to represent themselves in court
Andrea Vance (Post): Judges’ gold-plated super … and the secret ‘red book’ that reveals all their perks (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Crown Law’s counter-productive secrecy
Balley Brannon (RNZ): Lawyer Sue Grey’s Covid-19 vaccine comments did not amount to misconduct – tribunal
IMMIGRATION
Ankur Sabharwal (Stuff): How INZ is enabling a ‘huge immigration scam’
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): No media, or no support: Chinese charity tries to muzzle exploited migrants
Johnny Blades (RNZ): The House: Bill looks to address Dawn Raids-linked injustice
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland ratepayers shell out $2m on big accountancy firms in city’s long-running stadium drama (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland risks sliding down the global city success rankings
Doita De Boni (NBR): Auckland sleepwalking to mediocrity in many measures: report (paywalled)
Cécile Meier and Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): Auckland waste firm Kiwi Waste & Recycling forced to clean up its act (paywalled)
Yashas Srinivasa (Timaru Herald): SIRRL requests Government takes over waste-to-energy plant consent process
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau’s dog evicted from mayoral office after tenancy breach
Ben Tomsett (ODT): Radio host comfortably wins council by-election
ENERGY
Adam Pearse (Herald): PM Chris Hipkins reveals Government’s plan to accelerate NZ’s switch to clean energy with wind and solar schemes
RNZ: Government refers wind and solar projects for fast-track consenting
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): The Government’s latest solar and wind farm announcement is just hot air and no wind
BUSINESS
Gemma Rasmussen (Post): Holding the supermarkets to account for dodgy pricing (paywalled)
Warren Couillault (Buisinessdesk): The hypocrisy of ‘ethical’ investing (paywalled)
Greg Hurrell (BusinessDesk): Fossil fuel returns are hard to resist, says investment specialist (paywalled)
Rebecca Stevenson (Interest): Commerce Commission cashes in on retail payments work as telco and ticketing firm agree to review surcharges
André Chumko (Post): Sustainability, indigenous staffing in spotlight with new screen rebate criteria (paywalled)
1News: Supermarket supplier costs up 7.5% on a year ago
RNZ: Grocery prices still rising but not as fast, index shows
BANKS
Jane Horan (The Conversation): Hunting for a ‘golden unicorn’: how NZ charities find banks constantly get in the way of them helping people
Martien Lubberink: Kiwibank’s Strategic $225 Million Investment: Navigating Growth and Risk
Catherine Groenestein (Taranaki Daily News): TSB bank to close seven branches due to increase in online banking
PAID PARENTAL LEAVE
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): What Labour could do to improve paid parental leave
Stephanie Pow (BusinessDesk): NZ keeping mum on future outcomes for kids and parents (paywalled)
OTHER
Maria Slade (NBR): Building on up, or out, or both? (paywalled)
Erin Gourley (BusinessDesk): Vic Uni warned restructure would affect research and teaching
Jerry Coyne: A Kiwi zoologist decries the erosion of science in New Zealand
Connie Buchanan (E-Tangata): Judge Frances Eivers: Let’s save one child at a time
Gretchen Robertson (ODT): Rural or urban, good water is fundamental
Rachel Moore (Stuff): ‘It’s a nightmare’: IRD sends financial information to woman’s abusive ex in child support dispute
Dane Giraud (Plain Sight): Attacking woke politics is the most Left-wing thing you can do”
