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: 19 September 2023

NZ FIRST
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Winston Peters on why he might get Nicola Willis’ job, and how Act is too soft on Treaty issues (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): Peters wants National to pump the brakes on tax plan (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Peters rejects 2024 tax cuts; confirms he wants Treasurer role (paywalled)
Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): The ‘accidental’ Māori; Peters slams Seymour
Fox Meyer (Critic Te Ārohi): Winston Peters: In His Reputation Era
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): NZ’s richest man backing NZ First again
Ian Allen (Stuff):‘I can’t get ahead of myself’: The NZ First candidate sitting at six

NATIONAL
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Luxon and media playing intense game of hide and seek
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Luxon will work with Peters, but only if he has to
Richard Harman (Politik): Luxon moderates (paywalled)
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): I don’t know why National is so wedded to these tax cuts
Robert MacCulloch: Who are Newshub’s “Highly Regarded Economists” trying to discredit the Nats?
Éimhín O’Shea (Spinoff): National’s no-cause eviction policy would hurt everyone, including landlords
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Greens welcome National backing carbon pledge it had said could cripple economy (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Newshub): National wannabe-MP fronts for grilling over anti-mandate comments as Labour candidate’s past vaccine remarks emerge
Adam Pearse (Herald): National candidate Ryan Hamilton claims party raised no red flags about anti-fluoride, anti-mandate comments
RNZ: Christopher Luxon confirms Ryan Hamilton to remain as National candidate
Felix Desmarais (1News): Luxon faces suggestions of hypocrisy over candidate Ryan Hamilton
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): National knew of candidate Ryan Hamilton’s controversial comments at selection

LABOUR
Felix Desmarais (1News): ‘We can turn these polls around’ – Labour’s campaign boss
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Labour says there’s ‘huge public benefit’ from offering solar panel rebates
RNZ: Labour launches rooftop solar and battery rebates, and community energy fund policy
1News: Labour announces new energy plan, says it could cut bills in half
Piers Fuller (Post): Solar subsidies backed but accessibility questioned (paywalled)
Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): $4,000 subsidy to install solar panels – Labour
Imogen Wells (Stuff): Newsable: Solar panels are in the spotlight, but how costly are they?
Brent Edwards (NBR): Labour expects households could halve power use with solar panels (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Labour promises to raise wages and protect workers’ rights (paywalled)
Francesca Rudkin (Newstalk ZB): Did Labour miss a trick in selecting their leader?
Felix Desmarais (1News): Labour candidate railed against HPV vaccine on social media

ELECTION CAMPAIGN, DONATIONS, DEBATES
Farah Hancock (RNZ): Billionaire Graeme Hart’s $700k in donations to right wing parties
Claire Trevett (Herald): TVNZ leaders debate – Chris Hipkins v Christopher Luxon, what’s at stake and what to expect (paywalled)
1News: What to know about tonight’s TVNZ Leader’s Debate
Anna Whyte (Post): Hipkins and Luxon quibble over expectations, hurl jabs ahead of first leaders’ debate (paywalled)
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Are the Chrises ready to face the heat?
Daily Blog: 9pm Live tonight Freeview 200: The Working Group/Taxpayers’ Union Post Leaders Debate analysis live from Backbenchers Pub
Rachel Moore (Stuff): The Great New Zealand Infrastructure Debate: What will the next Government build and where will the buck stop?
Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): Concerns over Māori treatment on polling day
Mike Yardley (Press): Ilam: Battleground seat or National birthright? (paywalled)
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Ready to step up, make a difference for NZ (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Against Electronic Income Management
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk ZB): Act’s welfare policy is the kind of hardline stuff many of us want
Charlotte Muru-Lanning (Spinoff): The many hats of Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Could Leighton Baker be toppled as leader of the Leighton Baker Party?
Newshub: The Project: When is it? Most searched political leaders, parties
Rob Campbell (Newsroom): When policy manifestos become lolly scrambles instead
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Hipkins takes swipe at ‘coalition of chaos’, campaign trail disruption
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): This year’s election, in numbers
Nadine Anne Hura (Spinoff): Let’s make voting sexy again
Emma Wehipeihana (Spinoff): Why I’m opting out of the election this year
Caroline Williams (Stuff): 130 years of women’s voting in New Zealand, explained

COST OF LIVING, ECONOMY
Shamubeel Eaqub (Post): The false promises of cost of living solutions (paywalled)
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): The Detail: Spinning the numbers while ignoring the threats
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): The case for a pre-Christmas mini-budget (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): On why business should vote Green (paywalled)
Ananish Chaudhuri (Post): To hold our politicians to account, we need to first understand what they’re promising
Rob Stock (Post): Truth-checking the ‘myth’ that sitting governments always lose recession-year elections (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Statistics to show recovery that feels like a recession (paywalled)
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Tone of election to be revealed in big data week
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Current account deficit to keep narrowing – slowly (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘Won’t be going to the beach much this summer’: Petrol price tipped to keep rising
Terry Baucher (Interest): Te wiki o te tāke: Looking at tax from all angles
Rob Stock (Stuff): India FTA unlikely, but business gives politicians blueprint for trade boost

EMPLOYMENT
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Here’s how much we need to earn to be happy (maybe)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘Time to ditch our obsession with degrees’: Here’s what tradies earn
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Covid pay rises: Who had the biggest benefit?
Rebecca Macfie (Newsroom): Nightmarish ACC dispute deals butcher a bad hand

PUBLIC SECTOR
Nikitin Sallee (BusinessDesk): The public service: stewardship beyond measure (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Axe hanging over WorkSafe staff (paywalled)
André Chumko (Post): Creative NZ senior leaders ‘focused on own needs’, report finds (paywalled)

HEALTH
Phil Pennington (RNZ):Iwi health provider pays for staff health insurance, says public system too slow
Peter Davis (Herald): Aim to improve healthcare sits on political common ground (paywalled)
Ian Powell: When senior doctors snap
RNZ: ‘Vicious cycle’ of underfunding worsening New Zealanders’ mental health – psychiatrists
Melania Watson (Newshub): Man has left eye removed due to ‘severe infection’ after delay at Capital and Coast District Health Board

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayor Wayne Brown wants ‘new deal’ from next government
Rachel Maher (Herald): Auckland mayor Wayne Brown tells Wellington – stop planning, tax less
RNZ: Mayor Wayne Brown seeks cross-party agreement on Auckland Deal
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council to take last look at a new downtown stadium
Tommy de Silva (Spinoff): The case for celebrating Auckland’s anniversary on September 18
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington mayor Tory Whanau and council officials on $50,000 Asia trip
Julie Jacobson (Post): Cost of Wellington mayor’s Asia trip blows out
Dave Armstrong (Post): Where to now for Wellington’s water? (paywalled)
RNZ: Wellington City councillor warns council needs to make big capital expenditure cuts
Brooke Black (Timaru Herald): Two senior leaders resign from Timaru District Council

HOUSING
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Landlords about to win biggest class war victory in NZ History
David Chaston (Interest): August sees no easing in near-record home loan unaffordability
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Five reasons the housing market is picking up again
Zane Small (Newshub): Kāinga Ora forced to close community event as locals protest south Auckland social housing development
Mare Haimona-Riki (Whakaata Māori): ‘Undoing 180 years of Crown-led housing solutions’
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Tsunami risk odds hover over 59-lot coastal subdivision proposed for Napier
Mike Dinsdale (Herald): Whangārei’s Almond Court flats being demolished for future hotel development

CLIMATE CHANGE, ENVIRONMENT
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Methane targets could put NZ on road to ‘zero warming’, report says
Eloise Gibson (RNZ): Maximum heat standards needed to protect children and elderly – climate researcher
Aaron Smale (Newsroom): Māori and Pacific leaders propose legal personhood for whales at UN
Aroha Mane (Whakaata Māori): Māori leaders propose protecting whales in international waters at UN general assembly
Reto Blattner de-Vries and Te Ao o te Rangi Apaapa (Newsroom): Quarry highlights failings for Māori and the environment
Stuff: Why was Jacinda Ardern heckled on the other side of the world?
William Hewett (Newshub): Auckland Councillor feels ‘sorry’ for Jacinda Ardern for being heckled on street in Canada

TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Luke Malpass (Post): Public to politicians: Don’t lower speed limits (paywalled)
Eric Crampton (Post): Transport funding is an incoherent mess, but here is a solution (paywalled)
William Hewett (Newshub): Man who successfully took Waka Kotahi to court over pothole damage calls for more Kiwis to put pressure on agency
Nick Leggett (Stuff): Building a better future: Calling for a coordinated approach to infrastructure
Maria Slade (NBR): Transport Agency considers possible e-scooter ban (paywalled)

EDUCATION
Christine Braid (The Conversation): National wants to change how NZ schools teach reading – but ‘structured literacy’ must be more than just a classroom checklist
Joel Maxwell (Post): We’ve been illiterate for generations when it comes to educational racism (paywalled)
Gianina Schwanecke (Post): Fear of ‘hasty’ decisions by Victoria University ahead of restructure (paywalled)
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Not hiring may save university nearly $4m (paywalled)

DILWORTH SCHOOL
Laura James (1News): Scathing inquiry finds Dilworth hid sex abuse claims, silenced survivors
John Weekes (Herald): Dilworth Old Boys ex leader on the ‘lost generations’ as sexual abuse review released (paywalled)
Elizabeth Binning (Open Justice Reporting): Dilworth sexual abuse: Sexual offending through the decades – what Dilworth really knew about the abuse
Edward Gay (Stuff): Dilworth inquiry finds extensive sexual abuse, violence and bullying over half a century at Auckland school

MEDIA
Colin Peacock (Mediawatch): TVNZ tightens its belt citing ad revenue slump
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: Senior NZ Herald editorial staff to leave as NZME reshapes newsroom operation (paywalled)
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Shall we tell the advertisers?
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): A short interview with Todd Scott, the media baron who dreamed of being a citizen cop

OTHER
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): The Uzbek men lured by the Kiwi dream and left in poverty
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): $170 million Government-backed fund will help finance solar power installations (paywalled)
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Unclaimed money doubles to $400m in three months
ODT Editorial: Taser focus rather fuzzy (paywalled)
The Facts: Kiwi views on transgender issues
John Boynton (The Hui): Cyclone Gabrielle: Six months on in Te Karaka sees the uninsured do better than the insured