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: 1 September 2023

ELECTION
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): So Little To Defend, So Much To Punish
Jack Tame (1News): Has Labour lived up to its ambitious campaign promises?
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Winston Peters returns to right ‘an upside-down world’
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Hipkins snookers Luxon over NZ First evasion
Josie Pagani (Post): Coalition of cuts, tax plans and fiscal holesare a thought for the ordinary politician (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): On to the campaign trail: how political parties are trying to win your vote (paywalled)
Joseph Los’e (Herald): Te Pāti Māori wants free health and dental for families on $60k or less
Mike Hosking (Herald): What we should be talking about during this campaign (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): A very bleak scroll through the haunted Twitter crypt of Act MP Mark Cameron
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): How New Zealand political candidates are – and aren’t – using TikTok
Stephen Minto (Daily Blog): It’s now or never Labour
Farah Hancock (RNZ): Latest political polling, campaign finances, social media targeting and more
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Coalitions, confidence and supply: What you need to know
Brent Edwards (NBR): Tax cuts, fiscal discipline, negative politics, errant MPs
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): What you need to know in politics: Interruptions, parties ruled out and tax (paywalled)
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): The Christopher Luxon-isms you’re going to start hearing all the time

NATIONAL PARTY TAX POLICY
Gordon Campbell: On National’s tax cuts
Matthew Hooton (Herald): National’s tax plan is a cynical con job (paywalled)
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener): Although large, National’s tax package doesn’t change much (paywalled)
Tim Watkin (RNZ): Caucus: Money or the bag: Major parties crashing into the centre
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): National’s foreign buyers tax could cause international dispute with China, and others
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Is there a $1 billion hole? Labour raises doubt about National’s tax plan
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Online experts say National’s casino crackdown won’t work
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): National’s gambling tax – a sure bet? (paywalled)
Jonathan Barrett and Lisa Marriott  (The Conversation): Taxing questions: is National glossing over the likely cost of administering its new ‘revenue measures’?
Stuff: Newsable: Taxing offshore casinos easier said than done, says expert
RNZ: Nicola Willis backs online gambling tax numbers ‘estimates of the black market are good’
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): SkyCity ‘and the like’ provided National with data for gambling tax, Nicola Willis says
John MacDonald: A guarantee from a politician? Read the fine print
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): National caught using stock images for examples of how tax policy would help ‘real people’
Geraden Cann (Stuff): 50,000 homes open for purchase by foreign home buyers under National’s plan
1News: National’s tax plan would see house prices rise – experts
RNZ: National’s property tax policies bring optimism for rental property owners
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): National wants migrants to pay-to-play
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): National’s ‘carbon dividend’ takes climate cash for tax cuts
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Good luck trying to convince Kiwis the climate dividend is a bad idea
Newshub: National deputy leader on whether she’s offended by Grant Robertson’s ‘Trickola Willis’ nickname

PARLIAMENT
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Politicians set for a pay rise: Here’s what they get now
Toby Manhire (Spinoff):This is the way the term ends, not with a bang but a Wah
Luke Malpass (Post): The 53rd Parliament ends … with low energy and a lame protest (paywalled)
Alan Kenyon (1News): Leaders fire broadsides at each other as Parliament adjourns
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Parliament’s last day full of leadership barbs between National, Labour
RNZ: Parliament adjourns with speeches full of pre-campaign attacks
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Muller mends rifts and moves on: ‘Part of healing is being able to let that go’
1News: ‘Too many cows’ – Security called as protesters disrupt Parliament
Melania Watson (Newshub): Security called as Greenpeace protesters disrupt Parliament

PUBLIC SECTOR
Rob Campbell (Herald): Consultants, the public sector, and the real costs of doing business
Tim Hunter (NBR): Public Trust has lost the plot (paywalled)

BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
1News: Govt launches ‘Grocery Code of Conduct’ for supermarkets
RNZ: Grocery Code of Conduct launched: Big fines on the cards over supplier treatment
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Government enforcing fair conditions for supermarket suppliers
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Living wage increases but what does that mean for you?
Brent Edwards (NBR): Who should regulate the finance sector? (paywalled)
Duncan Bridgeman (Herald): Power List: New Zealand’s top liquor retailers (paywalled)
Steven Cowan: Corporate Greedflation
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Business confidence climbs to highest level in more than 2 years
RNZ: Signs businesses believe ‘worst is over’
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): The door opened by Mainzeal ruling (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): UK investment giant moves into NZ with infrastructure deal (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (NBR): Employer ‘reasonableness’ key to pulling back on work-from-home (paywalled)

MIGRANT WORKERS
RNZ: Visas of offshore migrants linked to employers under investigation cancelled, minister says
RNZ: Samoa PM Fiame says ‘losing human resources’ through regional labour schemes a worry

CLIMATE CHANGE
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Labour and National kick climate can down the road
Adrian Macey and Dave Frame: (BusinessDesk): Some tough climate change choices ahead for NZ’s next govt (paywalled)
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Labour accused of spreading disinformation online as National MP defends climate question
Louisa Steyl (Southland Times): Just Transitions team costing taxpayers $1.4m a year
Noah Buckley (Newsroom): Clear the smog and make clean, green image a reality

EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Tertiary Education Commission refused to defer university funding clawbacks – briefing
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Some universities reluctant to set deadlines to ensure parity for Māori and Pacific students

HEALTH
Isaac Davison (Herald): Government’s winter health plan: What worked and what didn’t
Jemima Huston (RNZ): New Zealand’s only publicly funded Long Covid clinic in Christchurch to close
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Pasifika communities grasp vaping’s double-edged sword
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Mother speaks of forlorn bid to get mental health help for son before he killed man
ODT Editorial: One small step forward (paywalled)
Ian Powell: Cuban health system lessons

TRANSPORT/INFRASTRUCTURE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Revealed: Officials investigated cutting Ōtaki Expressway in half or shortening road as costs ballooned to $1.6b (paywalled)
Conor Knell (Post): Restore passenger rail? It’ll happen no matter who you vote for (paywalled)
Conor Knell (Post): Commuters brace for end to half-price fares (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): Road user charges on the way for EVs (paywalled)
Kim Meredith (RNZ):South Auckland councillor explains why ALR is bypassing Māngere Town Centre
Libby Kirkby-McLeod (RNZ): KiwiRail rejects Waka Kotahi version of events over potential Te Huia collision
RNZ: New Palmerston North railway hub underway
Felix Walton (RNZ): Technology glitch halts AT live departure boards, journey planner
Tom Hunt (Post): Farewell driver shortage, hello bus shortage (paywalled)

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Jaime Lyth and John Weekes (Herald): Auckland Council sells 7% of Auckland Airport shares overnight
Mark John (ODT): 3 Waters go-live date protest renewed (paywalled)
Grant Miller (ODT): ‘Lack of judgement’ shown over racial slur (paywalled)
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Mayor apologises ‘unreservedly’ over minimising racial abuse from community board chair
Erin Gourley (Post): Park bench debate turns to whether colonial is a ‘dirty word’ (paywalled)

EXTREME WEATHER
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Nelson floods: Government agrees to buyout deal with council
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Auckland Council need to be in sync with flood-hit communities – owner of damaged home
Sarah Heeringa (Stuff ‘Jan 27 changed everything,’ says city councillor at Climate Festival opening

CRIME, POLICE
Blair Ensor (Stuff): Could a permanent police helicopter be in the pipeline for Christchurch?
Blair Ensor (Stuff): Deaths in New Zealand likely linked to Canadian poison chef
Ric Stevens (Open Justice Reporting): Man fraudulently claimed Covid-19 wage subsidies, spent on gambling, ‘adult entertainment’
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Electric blue: the thin blue line goes green in the deep south
Laine Priestley (ODT): Green light for police EV car

HOUSING
Ethan Te Ora (Post):Public Service Watch: Regulating the rental sector (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Kiwibank increases home loan rates
David Hargreaves (Interest): CoreLogic says national house values nudged 0.2% lower in August. The average property is now worth $905,466, which is 13.2% below the peak level

MEDIA
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: RNZ’s ratings challenge; ASB under fire over agency decision; Warner Bros. Discovery marketing restructure; Thomas Cranmer unmasked; TVNZ’s hunt for a CEO (paywalled)
Daniel Dunkley and Denise McNabb (BusinessDesk): The curious case of NZ News Essentials: the buyout baron, the rapper, and the anti-mandate influencer (paywalled)
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Blogger ‘Thomas Cranmer’ revealed (paywalled)

OTHER
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Centrix reveals who is struggling the most with debt
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): More than 426,000 people now ‘past due’ (paywalled)
Don Brash: A pathetic attempt to justify co-governance
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Despite past convictions some dairy farmers continue spewing effluent onto land and water
Eda Tang (Stuff): Work and Income funeral grant falls ‘disgracefully’ short for dignified farewell, survey finds
Peter Griffin (BusinessDesk): Political parties put AI regulation in the too hard basket (paywalled)
Molly Swift (Newshub): New Zealand closer to changing law forcing domestic abuse victims to stay married for two years