Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
Today’s content
Climate change
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Climate Change Commission confirms real Government action will be a minefield
David Williams (Newsroom): NZ reacts to major climate report
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): New Zealand roadmap to net zero revealed on historic day. Here’s what it means for you
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Cautiously optimistic
Eleanor de Jong (The Guardian): New Zealand needs urgent action to cut emissions, says climate change commission
Jamie Morton (Herald): Fewer cows, mass EVs: what NZ must do to hit climate targets
Richard Harman: Tiwai Point may hold key to our low carbon future
David Williams (Newsroom): Our climate challenge, year by year
Rod Carr (Stuff): Now’s the time to hit accelerator on climate action
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Climate Commission report: What you need to know
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Climate Minister James Shaw: ‘We can do this’
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Transformational and lasting change across society’
Eloise Gibson and Olivia Wannan (Stuff): ‘The Government will not hold back’: Jacinda Ardern on how NZ could go zero carbon
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government commits to shrinking carbon budgets and new Paris target
RNZ: Climate Change Commission releases first official report
1News: Government says climate change targets are ‘achievable and affordable’
David Williams (Newsroom): Science leaves no wiggle room for climate ‘balance’
Amelia Wade (Herald): ‘Achievable and affordable’: PM Jacinda Ardern and Climate Change Minister James Shaw react to emissions advice
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Climate Change Commission report a middle class yawnfest that won’t save us from Climate Crisis
Tamatha Paul and Thomas Nash (Stuff): What Wellington can do to fight climate change
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): NZ must make a tougher climate pledge to the UN – independent report
Harry Lock (Stuff): Climate change needs real change – scientist
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Hitting the gas on transport emissions cuts
1News: Govt moves on promise to make public transport buses zero emission by 2035
Tom Peters (WSWS): New Zealand protest calls for action on climate change
No Right Turn: National cannot be trusted on climate change
Housing
Shamubeel Eaqub (Stuff): It’s time to give up the goal of increasing homeownership
Luke Malpass (Stuff): The key housing questions Grant Robertson should be asking Adrian Orr
Keith Lynch (Stuff): How one Auckland home tells the story of the housing market
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): $37m a week in housing subsidies: Should Govt ask for more for its money?
Kerre McIvor (Herald): The state of the nation’s housing affordability (paywalled)
David Cole (Otago Daily Times): Empty homes beg question ‘Why build?’
RNZ: House market drives up spending and consumer confidence
One Roof: NZ house prices reach record highs
Catherine Smith (One Roof): Big mortgage gamble: ‘Buy a house, hope like hell it keeps going up in value’
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Housing baseline closes in on $1m (paywalled)
Zoe Hunter (Herald): A first-home buyer’s journey onto Tauranga’s property ladder (paywalled)
Cecile Meier (Stuff): Landlords publishing ‘bad tenants’ lists online could be breaking the law
Anne Gibson (Herald): National on tenancy law reform: rent rises, property shortages forecast to worsen (paywalled)
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Older Kiwis turn to house-sharing for company and support
Economy and work
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Wealthy family claims $35m in wage subsidies for retail empire, riling philanthropists
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Trade Me says it won’t pay back $4.1 million wage subsidy despite bumper trading periods
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): PGF chief becomes CEO of company awarded $18m by PGF months earlier
Bernard Hickey (Stuff): Petrol is on the inflation bonfire, we’re just waiting for the spark
RNZ: Government deficit $543 million less than forecast
Henry Cooke (Stuff): New Zealand backing UK’s bid to enter trans-pacific trade pact
RNZ: NZ govt welcomes UK advances to join trans-Pacific trade deal
RNZ: New workers also need access to sick leave, Council of Trade Unions says
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Human Rights Commission: Give sick leave to new workers
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): Hospitality’s post-Covid reset: Workers say change needed
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): April will be crunch time for the tourism industry
RNZ: International investors see New Zealand as safe haven during pandemic
Newstalk ZB: Survey finds Kiwis are feeling optimistic and secure in their jobs
Hamish McNicol (NBR): Central banks are done, regulation the biggest business uncertainty: Eaqub (paywalled)
Inequality and poverty
Joanna Wane (Herald): Max Rashbrooke: NZ’s wealth gap and why it’s so dangerous (paywalled)
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): The status quo is not an option amid a crisis in this land of plenty
Lana Hart (Stuff): American race equality efforts will shape NZ’s
Kitty Cresswell Riol (Otago Daily Times): Shaming and blaming doing nothing to address poverty
NZ-China-Australia relations
Robert Ayson (The Interpreter): How to China, from your friends in New Zealand
Stuff: Editorial – Damien O’Connor’s diplomatic blunder
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): Damien O’Connor’s colossal China clanger (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Trade Minister Damien O’Connor’s ‘dumb diplomacy’ criticised for playing into China’s hand
Zane Small (Newshub): Daily Telegraph newspaper’s ‘New Xi-land’ jab as China declares New Zealand ‘an example for Australia’
Daniel Hurst (Guardian): New Zealand trade minister tries to ease tensions after saying Australia should ‘show respect’ to China
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Maybe Australia is right re Google, Facebook & China and maybe we should be backing our mates?
Covid: MIQ
Nick Wilson, Amanda Kvalsvig and Michael Baker (The Conversation): The science and law are clear — it’s time for NZ to turn down the travel tap from high-risk countries
RNZ: Covid-19: Govt should impose stricter quarantine measures – Epidemiologist Michael Baker
Steven Walton (Stuff): Foreign fishermen’s border exemption protected $380 million of exports
George Block (Stuff): Bleak news for returnees as cancelled MIQ vouchers not returning to circulation
George Block and Troels Sommerville (Stuff): Busing MIQ returnees across Auckland for exercise ‘stupid’, prof says
Herald: Covid 19 coronavirus: Pullman Hotel – Government introduces tough new rules for exercising, smoking
Amber Allott (Stuff): Officials explain why dying man’s MIQ decision was reversed
Covid: General
Elle Hunt (Guardian): New Zealand government in a bind over Waitangi as Māori leaders pull out
Claire Trevett (Herald): The Waitangi conundrum for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus response put to test after NZ rates ‘best in the world’ (paywalled)
Eugene Bingham (Stuff): What luck, the weather, and maths have to do with us avoiding lockdown (so far)
Covid: Cruise ship denied entry
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Government halts cruise ship, insists crew must be Kiwi
Herald: Cruise ship Le Lapérouse refused entry to NZ waters
1News: New Zealand refuses entry to cruise ship after only 29 of 90 crew granted visas
Heather Du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): No to the cruise ship but yes to The Wiggles – really?
Troels Sommerville (Stuff): Cruise ship denied entry heads for Noumea to regroup, plans NZ return
Herald: The countries that handled pandemic the worst revealed
Covid: Vaccine
Julia Gabel (Herald): ‘Deeply concerned’ Jacinda Ardern calls EU’s vaccine export move ‘wrong’
Ian Powell: Patience required for vaccine supply in New Zealand
Herald: Editorial: Rise of the variants means virus could be an ongoing headache (paywalled)
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Ardern hits out at EU over vaccine export restrictions
Newstalk ZB: As vaccine shortage concerns grow, should New Zealand make its own?
Covid: Borders and travel
Damien Venuto (Herald): Sir John Key on when he thinks NZ’s borders will open again (paywalled)
RNZ: A trans-Tasman bubble in 8 weeks? AUS-NZ forum chair is hopeful
RNZ: Could there be a trans-Tasman bubble in 8 weeks?
Julia Gabel (Herald): Australia’s suspension of one-way safe zone flights with New Zealand lifted
Parliament
RNZ: National to focus on team work at annual retreat
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: The virus, vaccinations and housing dominate start of the year
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of the Collins gang (paywalled)
David Farrar: National to contest the Maori seats
Newstalk ZB: Tracey Martin on why she resigned from NZ First
Wellington water infrastructure crisis
Damian George (Stuff): Who’s to blame for Wellington’s water woes? Not us, say successive mayors
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Explainer: Understanding Wellington’s pipes crisis
RNZ: Wellington’s water woes blamed on funding problems
Rosie Gordon (Newshub): Pressure mounts for Wellington to get on top of water woes
Local government
Matt Shand (Stuff): Māori ward referendum threshold reached in Tauranga as protestors face off
1News: Don Brash cops backlash after standing against Māori wards in Tauranga, which will hold referendum
RNZ: Tauranga Māori wards proposal to go to referendum
Amanda Clinton-Gohdes (Stuff): Māori wards: Moving the law towards justice
Southland Times: Editorial – How many councillors does Invercargill need?
Andrea Fox (Herald): City councillors want Auckland port automation project scrutinised independently (paywalled)
Charlie O’Mannin (Stuff): Mackenzie council slaps urgent order to fix notice on its own building
John Banks Magic Talk radio show
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Talkback stations have turned up the volume on toxic opinions, lies and conspiracy theories
Alex Braae (Spinoff): In defence of talkback radio
Steven Cowan: The Conservative grind of talkback radio
Kingi Snelgar (The Spinoff): Kia ora, Magic Talk. If you’re truly sorry, here’s how to prove it on Waitangi Day
Martyn Bradbury (Waatea News): Why John Banks comments were so offensive
Grant Shimmin (Stuff): Don’t be a Richard. Racism is repulsive
Donna Chisholm (Spinoff): A short history of New Zealand talkback hosts disgracing themselves
Saziah Bashir (RNZ): John Banks’ on-air comments: ‘Why do we keep giving these people a platform?’
1News: NZ Cricket withdraws threat to end broadcast partnership with Magic Talk after racism apology
Media
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Rātana keeps politicians and press at bay
Hayden Donnell (RNZ): Media still covering house price rises as good news
Jane Bowron (Stuff): Don’t ask me, I’m out of the mainstream
Education
Tim Newman (Stuff): Back to school: Principal warns education sector hasn’t seen the end of Covid-19 impact
Corazon Miller (1News): Parents of children with reading difficulties want overhaul of methods as phonics books are printed
Ella Stewart (RNZ): Māori left in ‘precarious position’ after resignations at Unitec
Damian Rowe (Stuff): New funding scheme is not impacting on SIT’s Zero Fees
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Tūhoe leader’s portrait removed from Unitec amid institutional racism claims
Other
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): Official Information Act review kicked down the road
No Right Turn: Not a priority after all
Simon Wilson (Herald): Why I’m afraid – The closest thing to hope we have (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government turns down interest-free loans for NZTA
Karl du Fresne: In New Zealand today
Christine McCarthy (Stuff): The politics of public spaces
Morgane Solignac (Stuff): ‘The Waihopai virus’: Covid plays heavily on the minds of spy base protesters
André Brett (The Spinoff): A dubious day off? Why NZ’s outdated regional anniversaries should be ditched
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Oranga Tamariki ‘had an opportunity to intervene’ before baby’s murder
John Tamihere (Daily Blog): Conduct of Oranga Tamariki totally unacceptable
Denise Piper (Stuff): Grieving families’ five-year waits for coroner’s reports a ‘national scandal’
Claudia Orange (E-Tangata): Questions of sovereignty
Stuff: Editorial – EQC review will build confidence in apartments
Sam Hurley (Herald): Colin Craig v Cameron Slater: Former Conservative Party leader awarded $325,000 against bankrupt blogger (paywalled)
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Hang your heads in shame
RNZ: Cameras being sent into Pike River Mine as part of police inquiry
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Drafting error stopping contamination fines ‘could be fixed in month’
Herald: Police uniform hijab by Wellington designers turns heads overseas, UK trials prototype
Chris Keall (Herald): Apple’s new privacy push angers Facebook – but called ‘a defining moment’ by NZ Privacy Commissioner (paywalled)
Damian Rowe (Stuff): Former Invercargill MP Sarah Dowie takes chief executive role at mental health charity
