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: 11 September 2023
NATIONAL
Matthew Hooton: Why Luxon is still better than Ardern or Hipkins
Claire Trevett (Herald): National leader Christopher Luxon’s dire interview of no answers (paywalled)
1News: Q+A: Luxon unsure if he’ll lower rents on homes he owns despite policy promise
1News: Q+A: Luxon defends his tax policy in sparring Q+A interview
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Q+A Review: Luxon Interview Train wreck crashes into school bus and Petting Zoo
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): National leader Christopher Luxon walks off amid questions about National’s tax plan
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National’s foreign buyers tax finds an unlikely sceptic
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Christopher Luxon and Nicola Willis’ tax package out of touch with those feeling the squeeze (paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On climate discounts, and corporates as children
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Christopher Luxon’s challenge is to make governing an adults-only business (paywalled)
Tova O’Brien (Stuff): Sword fights to anti-vaxxers, Christopher Luxon will do anything to win
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Christopher Luxon is looking and feeling like a Prime Minister
William Hewett (Newshub): National Party leader Christopher Luxon sword fights pirate who heckled him about needing wig to win election
1News: Watch: Pirate Luxon battles with sword on campaign trail
Jonah Franke-Bowell (Post): Luxon all business in Hamilton blitz (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Labour sceptical of National’s public housing plan
1News: ‘Talks a big game’: Labour, ACT criticise Nats’ social housing policy
1News: National pledge end to Rotorua emergency housing motels
RNZ: National plan ‘doesn’t fix housing crisis’ – Hipkins
RNZ: National promises end to emergency housing motels in Rotorua
Trent Doyle (Newshub): National Party pledges to end emergency housing motels in Rotorua if elected
Brent Edwards (NBR): National’s plan to end emergency housing and clean up Rotorua (paywalled)
RNZ: National announces its health targets and an immunisation incentive payment
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): National to go hard, early on vaccination
1News: National to bring back national health targets if elected
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Industry leaders worried at National Party plan to scrap Workforce Development Councils
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Jan Tinetti insists National has not thought through education announcement
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): National’s education policy could potentially be a game changer
Felix Desmarais (1News): Nats vow to shake-up how Kiwi kids learn to read
Catherine Hubbard (Stuff): All vehicles to move to road user charges under National, including EVs
ACT
Russell Palmer (RNZ): ACT’s David Seymour floats confidence-only partnership – no supply
Richard Harman (Politik): Is Seymour serious; would he topple a National government? (paywalled)
Grant Duncan: Did Seymour play a card he’s not been dealt?
Imogen Wells (Stuff): Newsable: David Seymour on his ‘confidence only’ coalition plans
Benedict Collins (1News): ACT loses another candidate just weeks out from election
Amberleigh Jack (Stuff): ACT Party loses another candidate weeks out from election
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): ‘I would never forgive him,’ says Act candidate’s elderly client
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Diary of … Spaceman Seymour (paywalled)
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): The Act roadshow rolls into Northland
RNZ: ACT’s housing policy promises to scrap consent process again
Stuff: ACT proposes to allow builders to opt out of council building consents
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Medium-density buildings would need to be approved by a super-majority of homeowners in many suburbs under Act’s housing plan
1News: ‘Build like the boomers’: ACT says supply key to housing crisis fix
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Act leader labels Grant Robertson a gangster
Shaneel Lal (Herald): Act’s productivity perspective on Pharmac medication and treatments will hurt minorities
The Standard: An ACT New Zealand
Andrews Gunn (Post): What would Jesus do at the polls? (paywalled)
Kirsten McDougall (Newsroom): Short story of an Act Party candidate
NZ FIRST
John Campbell (1News): Winston Peters, the ‘Whaddaya got?’ man
Catherine Hubbard (Stuff): Māori are ‘not indigenous’, Winston Peters claims
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Winston Peters claims ‘Māori are not indigenous’ during Nelson meeting with NZ First supporters
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): The Detail: Winston Peters rides again
LABOUR
Luke Malpass (Post): Jacinda Ardern casts a long shadow over Chris Hipkins’ campaign (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (BusinessDesk): Chris Hipkins and the Theo Spierings transformation syndrome (paywalled)
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Chris Hipkins says he has fire in belly as he launches round of attacks on National
Michael Neilson (Herald): Labour launches pledge card with nine priorities – one more than National
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Chris Hipkins brings back ‘traditional Labour pledge card’, takes aim at National’s ‘imitation’
1News: Chris Hipkins reveals Labour’s nine-point ‘pledge’ to voters
RNZ: Labour launches pledge card with nine election policy promises
Claire Trevett (Herald): Labour leader Chris Hipkins on pork barrel politics, the polls and the problem with National’s hoardings (paywalled)
Michael Neilson (Herald): Labour leader Chris ‘Chippy’ Hipkins hits the Hutt for boost after tough week (paywalled)
Thomas Manch and Glenn McConnell (Post): Hipkins puts on a brave face in ‘heartland’ Ōhāriu (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): Chris Hipkins channels a defeated All Blacks team to take on the team in blue (paywalled)
Felix Desmarais (1News): Labour promises energy efficiency retrofit rebates
Newshub: Labour announces $81.6 million rebate scheme for energy-efficient homes
Brent Edwards (NBR): Household subsidies to help cut costs, drive down emissions (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Finally one excellent Labour policy on housing!
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): ‘I believe we can thrive’: Hipkins wants Wellington humming (paywalled)
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Labour’s crime crackdown promise met with cautious optimism – but not from National
1News: Survivor supports campaign pledge to look at criminalising stalking
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Victims’ advocate Ruth Money calls timing of Govt’s promise of tougher stalking legislation into question, says she doesn’t ‘buy it’
GREENS
Vernon Small (Post): Greens election campaign off to a Shaw-footed start (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Nonsense and loathing on the campaign trail: an interview with the Green co-leaders
Michael Neilson (Herald): Greens’ oceans policy will demand 30 per cent of NZ’s marine spaces protected by 2030
Michael Neilson (Herald): Green oceans policy – ban on fishing trawling seamounts, biosecurity boost
RNZ: Greens propose Healthy Ocean Act, independent commission to protect oceans
Stuff: Greens propose Healthy Ocean Act, independent commission to protect oceans
Gray Gibson (Newshub): Newshub Nation Backstory: Green Party co-leader James Shaw reveals ‘lowest moment’ of his life, growing up with two mums, and what turned him green
TE PĀTI MĀORI
1News: Rawiri Waititi: ‘National, ACT want to see Māori die 10 years early’
1News: Te Pāti Māori address ‘failed system’ in new health policy
Michael Neilson (Herald): Māori Party want to abolish prisons by 2040, separate tikanga justice system to address inequities
1News: Te Pāti Māori promise prison abolition in new justice policy
Kelvin McDonald (Whakaata Māori): Te Pāti Māori proposes ‘revolutionary’ justice system reform, pathway to abolishing prisons
ELECTION CAMPAIGN, WEEK IN POLITICS, POLLS
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Most new polls show National would need support from both the Act and New Zealand First parties to form a majority government
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Labour polls at 27pc in Taxpayers’ Union-Curia poll for September
RNZ: New TPU-Curia poll: National, ACT remain in position to form government
Andrea Vance (Post): Who is winning the battle of Chris vs Chris? (paywalled)
Damien Venuto (Herald): The Front Page: Our electoral system and all the things that need to change
1News: Vote Compass: How do party policies line up with your views?
Bridie Witton (Herald); Undecided voters may decide the general election. Can the ‘two Chrises’ swing them?
Claire Trevett (Herald): NZ First rodeo, National-Luxon attack ads, Labour poll strain kicks in (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): One down, five to go: Campaigns start with epic highs and lows for both Chrises
Newshub Nation Panel: Political pundit Matthew Hooton unimpressed by Labour and National party policy in campaigns so far
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): The first big leaders’ debate, bar the PM
Audrey Young (Herald): Best and worst of the week in politics (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): Beehive Diaries: Christopher Luxon’s ‘taste sensation’, Brown open to Wood revenge and who wins Chris of the Week?
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Promises, polls and attack ads
RNZ: Focus on Politics: On the campaign trail, week one: False claims and ad campaigns
Eric Frykberg (Interest): Election campaign week 1: Personal attacks, EVs, ACT’s voters from the past & much more
Post Editorial: Attack ads and fake news (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Labour in most need of some good news, change of fortune (paywalled)
Gwynn Compton (The Blue Review): Disinformation spread by political parties is still disinformation
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): As the week has progressed so have Labour’s false claims
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Lose with dignity, don’t lose dirty (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): So what horror would a National ACT Government actually unleash upon NZ if they win?
ELECTORATES
Gray Gibson (Newshub): Newshub Nation Battlegrounds: Te Tai Hauāuru electorate a key target for Te Pāti Māori ahead of general election
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): The battle for Te Tai Hauāuru: Three wāhine MPs contest the seat
1News: Q+A: Tāmaki Makaurau, where a Cabinet minister could lose their seat
Tom Hunt (Post): Labour confirms Wellington Central poll but keeping results secret (paywalled)
Ryan Boswell (1News): Christchurch electorate of Ilam up for grabs this election
Finn Hogan and Gray Gibson (Newshub): Newshub Nation Battlegrounds: Labour MP scolds The Opportunities Party leader Raf Manji for splitting the vote in Ilam, Christchurch
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): O’Connor not complacent in Ōhāriu
Joel MacManus (Spinoff):From shouting down Winston Peters to running for National
Molly Swift (Newshub): Election 2023 hot seats: Tāmaki – Infrastructure front of mind for candidates as race heats up
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): How much does it really cost to run for Parliament?
ECONOMY, TAX, GOVT SPENDING
Janet Wilson (Post): Major parties playing politics with money we probably don’t have (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Is the economy good or bad? Lies, damn lies and statistics (paywalled)
Katie Bradford (1News): Business Watch: PREFU, retail spending and food prices
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Standard and Poor’s maintains NZ’s credit rating, forecasts just 0.2% GDP growth
Brian Easton (Pundit): Ignoring Tax Tradeoffs
Damien Grant (Stuff): Skycity had a nasty tumble, and Prefu could bring the same for NZ economy
Ged Cann (Post): National’s ‘optimistic’ tax plans could see more service cuts – economist (paywalled)
Jane Wrightson (Post): We need aligned political leadership when it comes to Kiwis’ future finances (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Election 2023 explainer: Labour’s record on the economy and what National wants to achieve
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Labour not yet saying if social insurance scheme – what National calls ‘jobs tax’ – is on cards next term
Amelia Wade (Newshub): National questions if Labour will be able to keep GST cut promise as Chris Hipkins barely mentions it on campaign trail
Terry Baucher (Interest): Government moves to fix a Cyclone Gabrielle related bright-line test issue. Harsh lessons about underestimating. Inland Revenue and politicians and a very esoteric area of tax law
BUSINESS, COST OF LIVING
William Hewett (Newshub): Latest grocery data shows good news and bad news as supply costs rise six percent
Sasha Borrisenko (Herald): Supermarket reforms – is that it? (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post):Ministers sidestep question of whether power firms have priorities right (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker and Rob Stock (Post): Bank mega-profits prompt call for ANZ and ASB to be broken up (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Rising interest rates: Here’s how banks justify the increases
Rob Stock (Stuff): Banks are failing to protect customers from scams
Felix Walton (RNZ): Buy now pay later schemes leaving young Kiwis ‘over-indebted’ – academic
Rob Stock (Stuff): Big business are under pressure come clean over their impact on nature and biodiversity
Calida Stuart-Menteath and Hamish McNicol (NBR): Is Air New Zealand in danger of doing a Qantas? (paywalled)
MEDIA
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Helpless Amnesiacs: The Media’s Dangerous Lack Of Historical Memory
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Advocacy angst as campaign begins – officially
Karl du Fresne: I defended the media then; I wouldn’t now
RNZ: Emile Donovan and Andrew Clark appointed to host RNZ flagship programmes
PUBLIC SERVICE
Michael Reddell: “He immediately repaid the money spent…putting the matter right at the first opportunity”
Max Rashbrooke (Post): Extra spending doesn’t always mean wasteful spending (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Time to cut back the public service bureaucratic blob (paywalled)
HEALTH
Rodger Tiedemann (Post): We deserve much more – and better – from Pharmac (paywalled)
Eugene Bingham (Post): Papers reveal friction between senior officials over controversial law (paywalled)
RNZ: Staff shortages result in Dunedin Hospital losing right to train new oncologists
RNZ: Cancer travel programme falling short – ‘It’s stopping people from accessing treatment’
Nikki Macdonald (Post): Why are we waiting? Inside the GP crisis (paywalled)
Nikki Macdonald (Post): Opioid access loosening blunder reversed (paywalled)
1News: ‘It’s personal’: The mates constructing support for mental health
IMMIGRATION, MIGRANT WORKERS
Nick Truebridge (Newshub): Fears Immigration NZ’s policy could see victims of visa fraud and exploitation punished
1News: Govt steps in to help migrant workers stranded with no work
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Scammed migrants in Auckland will soon be homeless
CLIMATE CHANGE
Andrea Vance (Post): Clean, green or mean? Voters want climate action – but not if it hikes the price of fuel (paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland councillor likens climate goal to unwinnable cricket match
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): ‘Corporate welfare’ now means less cost later, says outgoing EECA boss (paywalled)
HOUSING
Eye of the Fish: Vote Housing
Ged Cann (Post): Mega landlord numbers swell by a third but first-home buyers the real winners (paywalled)
Mary Williams (ODT): Homeless led to most unhomely lodgings
Ged Cann (Post): Mega landlord who predicted downturn will ‘sell-up and leave NZ’ if Labour wins (paywalled)
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council redundancy bill $8m and rising as budget cuts hit jobs
RNZ: New safety hubs don’t solve lack of police – community rep
Adam Pearse, Joseph Los’e and Maioha Panapa (Herald): Auckland crime: Safety hubs to address theft, anti-social behaviour in CBD
1News: Govt, council team up to tackle anti-social behaviour in Auckland
Erin Johnson (Stuff): Auckland mayor’s office dismisses union claim of price hikes for port users as ‘scaremongering’
RNZ: Privatising Ports of Auckland could see local users hit with $70 million in extra costs annually
RNZ: Auckland Council hopes for more submissions from Māori on seats
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Whanganui meeting calls for Māori wards and constitutional change
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Gore District Council won’t release details of potential payout to Parry
Vaneesa Bellew (Newsroom): ‘Counterproductive’ Gore council review set to be axed
Laura Smith (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Gross violation’ by council in pensioner’s window wait – case worker
Emma Stanford (RNZ): ‘A house I can’t live in’: Flood-damaged home owner asked to pay rates
Maia Hart (Local Democracy Reporting): Deputy mayor offers to pick up anyone struggling to find library with name gifted by Iwi
Maia Hart (Local Democracy Reporting): Māori street name ideas shouldn’t be pocketed and ‘plucked’ from later, says iwi
Maia Hart (Local Democracy Reporting): Survey leaves council no closer to sticky question of who pays for Sounds road repairs
Debbie Jameson (Stuff): Queenstown Lakes council’s Mike Theelen gets big pay jump as rates soar
TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Lower Hutt infrastructure project rejects claim of billion dollar price-tag
Philip Matthews (Post): Christchurch’s ‘cars v bikes’: tribal war, or manufactured outrage? (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Post): We dig up 9 tonnes of gravel a year per person to build our roads (paywalled)
Lindsay Wood (Newsroom): Driving ourselves to destruction: road expansion is the highway to hell
Todd Niall (Stuff): Union fears safety risk in changes to platform staff at Auckland stations
THREE WATERS
Marnie Prickett (Newsroom): Water: What are National and Act doing in the shadows?
Ethan Te Ora (Post): Water summit as region on brink of crisis (paywalled)
OTHER
David Williams (Newsroom): Wage subsidy gets pass mark for engaging Māori – in inexplicable change
Edward Gay (Stuff): Billy Te Kahika found guilty of failing to declare donations
Newshub: Billy Te Kahika Jr found guilty of failing to declare political donations, keeping poor records
Alex Spence (Herald): Chris Hipkins ordered to apologise for breach of Official Information Act
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Prime Minister Chris Hipkins apologises over document release breach, says no one will be sacked
Leo Zaugg (1News): Offshore online casinos find way around NZ’s advertising laws
RNZ: Prisoners need support for stable housing to avoid reincarceration – report
Matt Nippert (Herald): Lord of the land: Sir Peter Jackson’s $350m property empire (paywalled)
Tom Hunt (Post): The power and the passion: How Sir Peter Jackson changed the face of Wellington (paywalled)
Emma Hatton (Newsroom): Violent remand population blamed for increased handcuff use
Andrea Vance (Post): Controversial tenure ends as former top Māori cop returns to police (paywalled)
Charlie Mitchell (Post): Julian Batchelor and the apocalypse (paywalled)
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Anti co-governance activist’s legal threats against TVNZ
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Human Rights Commission chief executive Meg De Ronde excited to honour Te Tiriti
Awanui Te Huia (E-Tangata):Want to support te reo Māori? Learn about colonisation
Eugene Bingham (Post) Secrecy over unanswered questions about Christchurch terror attack, four years on
Virginia Fallon (Post): Moon-landing, maggots and mental health: Survey set to take snapshot of Aotearoa (paywalled)
Gaurav Sharma (RNZ): India steals political limelight ahead of election
Gianina Schwanecke (Post): New careers website to cost nearly $22m (paywalled)
1News: Iconic Kiwi actor laments ‘insulting’ proposed Vic Uni theatre cuts
Blair Ensor (Stuff): How a dying deportee may have led to changes at the infamous Christmas Island detention centre
