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.
NZ Politics Daily: 28 August 2023
ELECTION, WORKING WITH NZ FIRST
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Chris Hipkins unleashes as he prepares for dogfight
Luke Malpass (Post): Chris Hipkins to Winston Peters: You’re off the island, if we ever get there (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Chris Hipkins and the campaign of fear (paywalled)
Felix Desmarais (1News): Labour finally bringing the ‘mongrel’ to campaign
Richard Harman (Politik): National and NZ First (paywalled)
Grant Duncan: Is Hipkins shadow-boxing?
Luke Malpass (Post): Chris Hipkins reaches for the Tony Blair New Labour playbook (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): NZ First too extremist for Chippy – Labour rules out Winston + New Talbot Internal Poll
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Chris Hipkins, Christopher Luxon and Winston Peters exchange barbs ahead of Parliament’s final week (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Chris Hipkins rules out working with Winston Peters and ‘coalition of fear’
RNZ: ‘Instability and chaos’ – Labour rules out a partnership with NZ First
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Labour leader Chris Hipkins turns up fear factor as he rules out Winston Peters
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Chris Hipkins says NZ First is Christopher Luxon’s problem now
Brent Edwards (NBR): Hipkins announces who he would work with after election (paywalled)
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Christopher Luxon makes stance on abolishing abortion rights, Māori wards clear
Felix Desmarais (1News): ‘So personal, so negative’ – Luxon hits back at Hipkins’ criticism
Lincoln Tan (Herald): National Party leader Chris Luxon responds to Chris Hipkins getting ‘so personal and so negative’ on the campaign trail
William Hewett (Newshub): David Seymour, Winston Peters slam Chris Hipkins after he rules out working with them
Luke Malpass (Post): The last week of Parliament and the permutations thereafter (paywalled)
Newshub: Christopher Luxon says ‘everything is possible’ when asked about potential National majority post-election
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Does NZ First stand a chance with National?
Tracy Watkins (Post): Counting the ways the next election could be worse (paywalled)
Trent Doyle and Simon Shepherd (Newshub): Newshub Nation: Political panel argues all parties need to step up with big-picture ideas
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why Labour are failing and why the Greens are winning – no one rewards political cowardice – fight dammit Labour!
Laura Walters and Gray Gibson (Newshub Nation): How well can past trends predict how women will vote in 2023’s general election?
Liu Chen and Blessen Tom (RNZ): Asian voters highlight the cost of living and crime as top election concerns
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Stuff’s Rolling Poll: How we’re tracking election campaign polling
Bernard Hickey: Introducing The Kākā Project for Election 2023 (paywalled)
Michael Wagener (The Blue Review): Polling 101: Chapter 2 – Weighting for Accuracy
Damien Grant (Stuff): When Te Pāti Māori tell us what they stand for we should believe them
Blanton Smith (Stuff): A long speech, classic one-liners, a solid crowd and Vote the Mullet t-shirt – it’s Winston Peters in Taranaki
Herald Editorial: A weak link can be a long time in politics (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): Election Watch: The countdown is on (paywalled)
Tosh Stewart (Post): Don’t throw your vote away on a safe candidate (paywalled)
Jimmy Ellingham (RNZ): Rangitikei electorate up for grabs, but do locals know their options?
Virginia Fallon (Post): NZ’s ultimate influencers: How the All Blacks might affect the election (paywalled)
NATIONAL PARTY
Andrea Vance (Post): National’s factions: From the zombie MPs to the Taliban (paywalled)
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Who is funding National to victory?
ODT Editorial: When your face does not fit (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Tim van de Molen: The anatomy of a complaint
RNZ: Labour MP Ginny Andersen questions Christopher Luxon’s leadership credentials over Tim van de Molen saga
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): National donors say migrant hostels inquiry has been widened to other houses
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An Ode for .. Michael ‘too male’ Woodhouse
Steven Joyce (Newsroom): National’s glory days
ACT
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): This hard week a warning to Act and David Seymour (paywalled)
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Would Nelson Mandela have campaigned for the ACT Party? Not according to his grandson
Herald: David Seymour’s claim Nelson Mandela would campaign for Act rubbished by grandson
Trent Doyle and Leighton Heikell (Newshub): David Seymour responds after Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Kweku, rips claim of support apart
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): From Guy Fawkes to Nelson Mandela to victim: The many faces of David Seymour
Alison Mau (Post): Seymour may say he’s ‘joking’, but his arguments don’t hold water (paywalled)
ECONOMY, TAX, COST OF LIVING
Max Rashbrooke (Post): There’s a long way to go on poverty. How will we get there? (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): The big issue for the next government will be jobs not grocery prices (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Union-backed report points finger at rising profits for cost-of-living crisis (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald) Is National planning $2b of spending cuts, tax hikes – or a mix of both?
Newshub: National to reveal how it will pay for tax cuts ‘very soon’ – Paul Goldsmith
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Labour’s Grant Robertson says Government spending will stay within the fiscal rules as deficits deepen; National’s Nicola Willis keeps her cards close to her chest
Rebecca Wright (Newshub): Carmel Sepuloni says cost of living crisis ‘not necessarily the Government’s fault’
Amanda Janoo (Herald): We are the economy and we have the power to change it (paywalled)
Ethan Te Ora (Post): Low-income families penalised with extra fees when power cut off (paywalled)
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Boomerang generation: Cost of living, travelling the world draws young Kiwis back home
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): The forgotten singles: Where’s the support for those living solo?
WEEK IN POLITICS, PARLIAMENT
Claire Trevett (Herald): Labour, Chris Hipkins’ poll hopes as National’s Luxon, Act’s Seymour deal with speed bumps (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Beehive Diaries: PM judges his sporting pedigree, Parliament’s Dolly Parton farewell and outgoing MP finds unlikely ally (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Best and worst of the week in politics – National and Act get their turn in the naughty chairs (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Bad poll for Labour, more policies and a National MP in trouble
Phil Smith (RNZ): Finger pistols at 2pm: photos from a week of Question Time
Johnny Blades (RNZ): Beyond the tiles, the work of photographers at Parliament
Laura Walters and Gray Gibson (Newshub): National MP Chris Bishop shares his Backstory and cute wedding vow fail
VALEDICTORIES
Phil Smith (RNZ): Todd Muller and ‘What might have been’
Vernon Small (Stuff): Most MPs fizzle, but some go out with a bang
Spinoff: All the MPs (voluntarily) leaving parliament in 2023 and how they said goodbye
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Green Party MPs Eugenie Sage and Jan Logie leave Parliament
Danielle Zollickhofer (Herald): David Bennett, National list MP in Hamilton, signs off from Parliament
PUBLIC SERVICE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Kāinga Ora spends more than $300,000 a year renting seven high-end Bloomberg computer terminals
RNZ: Ministry for Culture and Heritage reels in spending after extra funding ends
Maria Slade (NBR): Govt shifts online safety function without consultation (paywalled)
WORKPLACE SAFETY
Phil Pennington (RNZ): ‘Shrunken’ WorkSafe making broad cuts to services
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Families of two young men killed in crash wait four years for answers
Rebecca Macfie (Newsroom): Forestry firm says killed worker at fault
CLIMATE CHANGE
Newshub Nation: ACT’s Simon Court explains why party wants to set Zero Carbon legislation alight
RNZ: Green Party promises $750 million fund to protect towns and cities from flooding
Amberleigh Jack (Stuff): Greens promise light rail for Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington
Zane Small (Newshub): Greens promise light rail in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch within a decade
Isobel Ewing (Newshub): Government urged to explore potential of wetlands to absorb carbon
VAPING
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Labour sells its vaping crackdown – but is it too late?
Bridie Witton and Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Nearly half of new vapes store licences near schools and marae
Rachel Thomas (Post): Poster marketing disposable vape pods condemned (paywalled)
RNZ: Checkpoint: Outward bound dealing with increasing number of vape-addicted kids
HEALTH
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): Kiwis are ‘one diagnosis away from moving to Australia’, cancer survivor warns
Alex Spece (Herald): Health crisis: Senior doctor’s plea as Palmerston North Hospital’s staff struggles risk safe emergency service (paywalled)
Ian Powell (BusinessDesk): Look carefully at the anatomy of a third medical school
RNZ: Health advocates pleased with new alcohol law, industry worried
Fiona Ellis (ODT): Te Whata Ora apology: ‘Internal error’ blamed for false claims (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Harm reduction go-slow (paywalled)
Katie Townshend (Nelson Mail): Nelson Hospital could be 52 beds short during redevelopment
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why scientists remain troublingly far from understanding Long Covid (paywalled)
Krystal Gibbens (RNZ): Pharmac announcement of more blood cancer medicines welcomed
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Stroke survivor: ‘Terrifying’ to rely on husband’s income to live
EDUCATION
Derek Cheng (Herald): What the dire state of education means for the next generation (paywalled)
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Covid-19, distrust of government and anxiety contributed to high truancy, documents show
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Free school lunch programme reaches milestone
Gianina Schwanecke (Post): Petition presented to Parliament calling for lower ECE teacher ratios(paywalled)
Rob Campbell (Post): The case for paying a study wage makes sense (paywalled)
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): University students increasingly concerned about cost of living and job security
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): University award winner among redundancies (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Uni still consulting on search for leader (paywalled)
CHILD WELFARE
Jacqui Southey (Stuff): Time for parties to step up: Where are the policies aimed at helping children?
Jehan Casinader (Stuff): How many kids are being killed? Oranga Tamariki can’t say
Shannon Pitman (Open Justice Reporting): Oranga Tamariki caregivers walk away after losing faith in the system
Rebecca Wright and Molly Swift (Newshub): Carmel Sepuloni says Government’s had no indication Gloriavale children are unsafe
HOUSING
RNZ: Affordable rental housing shrinking compared to population rise – research
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): Live in a garden shed at $450/wk in NZ’s most costly town
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Unaffordable housing costs for Queenstown, and Nelson ‘no surprise’ to social agencies
RNZ: Property-tracking website that showed what landlords own shut for breaching Privacy Act
KIWISAVER
RNZ: One million fail to take full advantage of KiwiSaver – Report
Cameron Smith (Herald): KiwiSaver members missing out on Government contributions – $423m hole in the pocket (paywalled)
Esther Taiunton (Stuff): Is KiwiSaver part of the reason Kiwis are heading to Australia?
Rob Stock (Stuff): How Trump’s Big Lie got into big bank KiwiSaver schemes
MEDIA
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Brought to you by . . . ‘partners’
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Dead on Arrival? Labour’s media lifeline (paywalled)
Mediawatch (RNZ): Low-key reveal of law to make big tech pay for news
André Chumko (Post): Low appetite to resurrect $55 million journalism fund (paywalled)
Homepaddock: It’s not just $50m for media
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZME reports 76% profit drop as a result of ‘difficult economic conditions’
Tim Murphy and Mark Jennings (Newsroom): NZME: Good times are just around the corner
RNZ: Fall in real estate and government advertising hits NZME in the pocket
Shayne Currie (Herald): Wendy Palmer named new MediaWorks CEO: Media Insider (paywalled)
Simon Plumb (Stuff): Kamahl Santamaria admits TVNZ colleague complained about him ‘touching in the newsroom’
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Mike Smith (Standard): Foreign Interference
Teulia Fuatai (E-Tangata): Japan’s nuclear waste has no place in our Pacific
Lydia Lewis (RNZ): ‘The ocean is suffering’: Protesters fume over Japan’s Fukushima ‘dump’
Lydia Lewis (RNZ): Niue and Tuvalu ‘concerned, dismayed, disappointed’ with Fukushima release
ODT Editorial: There’s something in the water (paywalled)
Reuters: Chinese police experts arrive in Vanuatu amid political crisis
Post: Parents of killed aid worker urge Kiwis to take action (paywalled)
MAINZEAL
Rob Stock (Stuff): Former prime minister Dame Jenny Shipley’s Mainzeal Supreme Court appeal fails
Hamish McNicol (NBR): Mainzeal directors lose appeal, liable for more than $40m (paywalled)
Amy Williams (RNZ): Mainzeal directors lose appeal but unsecured creditors still owed thousands
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): What will come from the Mainzeal demolition? (paywalled)
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Mainzeal directors saddled with $39.8m penalty plus interest (paywalled)
JUSTICE, LEGAL SYSTEM
Krystal Gibbens (RNZ): Call for independent watchdog to investigate complaints against lawyers
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Law Society keen on new independent regulator – in theory (paywalled)
Damien Venuto (Herald): The Front Page: The brutal reality of Family Court in New Zealand
Carrie Leonetti and Deborah Mackenzie (Newsroom): Family Court is an unsafe space for victims of family violence
CRIME
Sam Sherwood (Herald): Leaked police report: Criminals exploiting bail monitoring system by ‘foiling’ ankle bracelets (paywalled)
RNZ: Corrections says monitoring device tampering can be detected
Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): Tough on crime the best policy for Māori – Seymour
Deena Coster (Taranaki Daily News): Law and Order: When a sense of justice is missing from the justice system
William Hewett (Newshub): Auckland Stirling Sports shop owner turns to artificial intelligence after being targeted by thieves six times
IMMIGRATION, MIGRANT WORKERS, REFUGEES
Tom Hunt (Post): Immigration NZ looking into claims Wellington’s foreign bus drivers are underpaid(paywalled)
Zane Small (Newshub): New Zealand migrants demand more residence pathways after Ukrainians get new visa deal
Adam Pearse (Herald) New pathway to residency for those fleeing Russia’s illegal war against Ukraine
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Ukranians who escaped war for New Zealand will be able to get residency
RNZ: New residence pathway for Special Ukraine Visa holders in NZ
Hanna McCallum (Post): Optimism over refreshed refugee resettlement strategy (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Maxine Jacobs (Southland Times): ACT’s pledge to scrap Māori wards a ‘fundamental breach’ of Te Tiriti, advocate says
Nicholas Boyack (Post): Māori ward considered for Hutt City (paywalled)
Nicholas Boyack (Post): Call for inquiry into $80,000 grant to Farrah’s (paywalled)
Erin Gourley (Post): Speed management ‘mix-ups’ flagged to Wellington council years ago (paywalled)
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): Homeowners oppose street name chosen by iwi, saying the 17-letter name is too long
INFRASTRUCTURE
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Analysis: What reviews of City Rail Link and hospital project reveal on business cases
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): City Rail Link report shows NZ needs to call in the experts for its megaprojects (paywalled)
RNZ: ‘Very low confidence’ in NZ’s infrastructure coping with extreme weather
ENVIRONMENT
Rachel Kelly (Stuff): Contaminated waste from Tiwai smelter found at disused Southland coal mine
RNZ: Toxic mining waste found near Gore is ‘low risk’ – council
Joanne Naish (Post): West Coast hydropower – environmental saviour or destroyer? (paywalled)
OTHER
Bill Hamilton (E-Tangata): Co-governance is good for us
Marnie Pickett (Newsroom): Where the parties stand on drinking water
Graham Kelly (Post): Murder, the Trades Hall bombing and Muldoon: The day Graham Kelly dodged death (paywalled)
David Williams (Newsroom): Animal welfare ruling surprises farmers
André Chumko (Stuff): What happened to corporate arts sponsorship in Aotearoa?
RNZ: Flood recovery package: Gisborne mayor ‘relieved’ for community
Emma Hatton (Newsroom): National’s plans to pick apart Road to Zero
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Taranaki Maunga deal gets popular tick
RNZ: Dispute over Kaitāia Airport resolved, iwi leader says
Richard Sharpe (Post): As Safe as Houses? (paywalled)
