Newsletter: New Zealand Politics Daily – January 24 2019
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.
The Beehive and Parliament Buildings.
Housing
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): KiwiBuild fiasco is far from over
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern plays down KiwiBuild falling short of target
RNZ: Building industry not surprised KiwiBuild won’t hit target
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): KiwiBuild houses might not end up with first home buyers
Jason Walls (Herald): Housing Minister Phil Twyford is ‘pretty gutted’ KiwiBuild will fall short of its first year’s target
RNZ: Twyford on KiwiBuild: ‘It’s going to be tough to meet that target’
RNZ: Collins calls for Twyford to lose housing portfolio
1News: Judith Collins: Ardern should dump Twyford over KiwiBuild – ‘If she doesn’t, I’m going to have fun’
1News: Housing Minister ‘letting down thousands of Kiwis’ over Kiwibuild target – Judith Collins
Herald: New Zealand ‘a housing basket case’ says Govt after damning KiwiBuild report
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Phil Twyford says only 300 KiwiBuild homes are due to be finished by July
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Housing Minister Phil Twyford admits KiwiBuild will fall well short of first year target
Anne Gibson (Herald): KiwiBuild monitor: 33 complete, 967 to go by July, Twyford says target ‘tough’
1News: Phil Twyford admits ‘at this moment’ KiwiBuild will fall 700 homes short of first year target
Zane Small (Newshub): Housing Minister Phil Twyford admits he can’t deliver on KiwiBuild promise
Point of Order: It’s highly unlikely the first KiwiBuild target will be met – but this doesn’t mean it has been abandoned
Pete George: KiwiBuild not ‘crashing and burning’
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Why five months into the 2019 financial year none of the $90 million Treasury had set aside for KiwiBuild had been touched
Stephen Forbes (Interest): The Labour-Greens confidence & supply agreement promotes ‘progressive’ housing ownership models. So will the Government roll out a shared equity scheme?
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Motels become band-aid solution to housing crisis acutely felt in Hawke’s Bay
RNZ: Wellington hits peak median weekly rent
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Trade Me data reveals Wellington is the most expensive place to rent in New Zealand
Jono Galuszka (Stuff): Landlords must pay blind woman $4000 after breaching Human Rights Act
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): First-home buyers undeterred by high house prices, homeowners stay put
PM in Europe, World Economic Forum, trade
Helen Clark (Foreign Policy): The Kindness Quotient
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern: If a minister wants more money they need to prove how it will better wellbeing
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Mental health a priority area for NZ Budget, Ardern tells World Economic Forum
1News: Improving ‘well-being of New Zealanders across generations’ will be criteria for Budget policy funding – Jacinda Ardern
Stuff: Jacinda Ardern showcases New Zealand’s wellbeing budget at Davos
Michael Reddell: More empty rhetoric, bad history, and absent analysis
Jo Moir (RNZ): Ardern upbeat despite absences at Davos
Pattrick Smellie (Stuff): Here comes hard brexit – hang onto your butter
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): NZ agriculture groups urge WTO rescue at global forums
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): National demands more Brexit detail
Jamie Ensor and Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern to raise Grace Millane name suppression breach with Google in Davos
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern to raise Grace Millane murder case suppression breach with Google
Jason Walls (Herald): Grace Millane murder case: Ardern to raise Google’s suppression breach at dinner
Isra’a Emhail (RNZ): Ardern’s plea for climate change action: Be ‘on the right side of history’
ABC: Jacinda Ardern tells world leaders they have nothing to fear from acting on climate change
Stuff: Jacinda Ardern asked by BBC if she’ll propose to partner Clarke Gayford
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Outrage after BBC interviewer asks Jacinda Ardern if she plans to propose to Clarke Gayford
RNZ: UK to piggyback on NZ embassies in Pacific
Jami-Lee Ross
Herald: Editorial: Ross’ wish to return gives National a difficult decision
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Police inquiry into text to Jami-Lee Ross text takes National by surprise
Lucy Bennett (Herald): National MPs staying quiet on latest Jami-Lee Ross foray into the public
1News: Rogue MP Jami-Lee Ross sends apology letters to National MPs
RNZ: Ross hoping for fresh start in 2019
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Sorry is not a PR exercise
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Sean Plunket questions Jami-Lee Ross’ ‘so-called apology’
National Party
Graham Adams (Noted): The National Party’s recipe for defeat
Claire Trevett (Herald): National’s Paula Bennett takes on Big Pot
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Paula Bennett ridicules marijuana legalisation arguments on Facebook
1News: Chlöe Swarbrick labels Paula Bennett’s undecided stance on cannabis legalisation a ‘cynical political move’
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Chloe Swarbrick accuses Paula Bennett of ‘cynical politics’ over drug debate
RNZ: Drug debate: Greens hope Nats won’t ‘degrade the quality’
Health
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): CTU not swayed by junior doctors’ union fight for survival, in face of DHB clawbacks
Newshub: Doctors and DHB meet ahead of planned strike
Ryan Anderson (Stuff): Young New Zealanders at high risk of stroke, AUT research shows
Moana Makapelu Lee (Māori TV): Self-testing for cervical cancer could save Māori women
RNZ: ‘A big issue for Māori’: Home test could help fight cervical cancer
Michael Neilson (Herald): HPV self-testing for cervical cancer could save Māori women’s lives
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Whooping cough spike in Auckland prompts call for immunisation
RNZ: Rise in whooping cough cases among children
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Mum says anaesthetist used mobile phone during c-section – and checked a tennis appointment
Harrison Christian (Stuff): Anaesthetist weighs in on colleagues using cellphones at work – from surgery
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Plans for new buildings at Hillmorton Hospital revealed
Education
Laura Walters (Newsroom): Big year ahead for education
1News: School year set to start with 600 teacher vacancies left open
Stuff: NZ schools need 376 teachers in 2019 as overseas recruitment drive falls short
Newshub: ‘We’ve been desperate’: Overseas teachers brought in as schools suffer shortage
Michael Morrah (Newshub): ‘It was all kaka’: NZQA launches investigation into construction course
Ken Muir (ODT): Wool technology students in limbo
Inequality
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Despite the focus on reducing poverty, has anything changed under Labour?
Eric Crampton (Stuff): It’s not just the poor who are getting poorer. So are the rich
Consumer Price Index
Dan Satherley (Newshub): CPI obscures the real rise in cost of living – economist
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): The economy is growing, but consumers are paying more for everyday items
RNZ: Food and fuel prices keep inflation static
Sexual assault
Madeleine Holden (Spinoff): If this is what ‘justice’ looks like, we need to tear the whole system apart
Tommy Livingston (Stuff): Robert Roper victim Mariya Taylor ‘overwhelmed’ by donations towards legal costs
Tania Sawicki Mead (RNZ): Roastbusters resurfacing shows crucial need for consent education and restorative justice
Zane Small (Newshub): Victim advocate Ruth Money wants ‘justice’ dealt to Roast Buster leader Joseph Parker
Luke Kirkness (Herald): Around 151,000 New Zealand adults impacted by image-based sexual abuse
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): One in 20 Kiwis affected by ‘image-based sexual abuse’, says Netsafe
Ella Predergast and Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Around 5 percent of Kiwi adults threatened with revenge porn
Anna Whyte (1News): Revenge porn impacts New Zealanders across generations, study finds
Rātana
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Labour faces high expectations at Rātana
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Politicians head to Rātana – but not Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
Gia Garrick (RNZ): Winston Peters to speak for government at Rātana celebrations
Huawei
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Let us into 5G and we could pay millions for NZ cyber lab, says Huawei
RNZ: Huawei chairman warns of end to global ‘partnerships’
Transport
Ben Strang (RNZ): Foreign drivers pose no extra threat on NZ roads – ministry data
Anna Loren (Stuff): Delays to flights at Auckland Airport after plane has near miss with drone
Justice, corrections
Leighton Keith (Stuff): Parole Board ordered to pay $28k for privacy breach
Herald: Parole Board ordered to pay damages after privacy blunder ended in Taranaki man’s death
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): Public feedback sought for family justice reforms
RNZ: Family Court changes should be rolled back – panel
Rocket Lab
AAP: Rocket Lab set to launch US military satellite for Pentagon
Grant Bradley (Herald): Rocket Lab carrying cargo for Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
RNZ: Rocket Lab to launch satellite for US defence agency
Immigration
Jason Walls (Herald): Almost $3 million in fees paid by people wanting to get a parent visa have not been refunded
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We need more immigrants
Primary industries
Sally Rae (ODT): ‘M. bovis’ confirmed on another Otago farm
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Canadian company Saputo tipped to invest in Westland Milk Products
Environment and conservation
Craig Stevens and Ben Noll (Spinoff): Enjoy those warm NZ seas, but start worrying about what they portend
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): OceanaGold to start exploratory drilling on Coromandel forestry land
Mike Watson (Stuff): Habitual dirty water offenders dampen swimmers’ summer
Imogen Neale (Stuff): Soaring kōkako numbers partly attributed to use of 1080 to kill pests
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Soft plastics recycling on hold for another three months, shoppers urged to send bags to landfill
Māori TV: Construction site kea killer convicted
Samantha Gee (Stuff): Callous killing of kea by construction worker angers community
RNZ: Richmond man admits killing kea at work sit
Megan Sutherland (Newshub): Richmond man given community work for horrific kea killing
Aloysius Pang dies after NZ military training accident
RNZ: Singaporean actor Pang Wei Chong dies after military training in New Zealand
Stuff: Singaporean actor dies during military training exercise in New Zealand
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Singaporean actor Aloysius Pang dies in NZ after accident during military training
Rob Hosking has died
David Cohen (Spinoff): Formidable reporter, wry commentator, dear friend: a tribute to Rob Hosking
NBR: Vale Rob Hosking
David Farrar: RIP Rob Hosking
Ele Ludemann: A tribute to Rob Hosking
Other
Matt Nippert (Herald): National floats ban on foreign donations
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Quake insurer Southern Response to change policy after paying Thompson & Clark to review OIAs
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Backing of 10 per cent of an industry should trigger nationwide process, working group recommends
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Evidence could be lost if police do not go into Pike River mine first – legal expert
Richard Harman (Politik): The big political gamble that paid off
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Justice minister’s UN speech compared to David Cunliffe apologising for being a man
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Former NZ Rugby boss David Moffett now tackling populist politics
Zoe Lawton (Stuff): Decision on sex harassment complaint misses the mark
Joanne Black (Listener): How ‘safetyism’ created an epidemic of anxiety and fragility
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): ‘I’m being watched’: Anne-Marie Brady, the China critic living in fear of Beijing
Chris Rattue (Herald): Review into schools rugby shows a game in trouble and Steve Tew should take the fall
Audrey Young (Herald): Taxpayer lobbyists gearing up for release of capital gains tax recommendations
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Hundreds of non-compliant companies but few charges
Jeanette Fitzsimons (Spinoff): The tax grab trap: Why politicians need to tell us where carbon revenue will go
Andrew McRae (RNZ): Group battling to restore neglected war graves by 2020
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki take another step in Treaty journey
Madison Reidy (RNZ): KiwiSaver retirement accounts ‘prime target’ for scammers
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Filming ban for animal rights activists in place for Waikato Rodeo
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): Online Exclusive: “For my father it was a pilgrimage, for Sir Edmund Hillary it was a dream”
Martin Johnston (Herald): H-Files: Red books under the bed undo Auckland communist in days of thought control
Herald: New Zealand further down world innovation rankings
Kate Fitzgerald and Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Over-tourism a threat to New Zealand’s authenticity – expert
1News: Compulsory animal rescues in disasters would save human lives – report
Donna-Marie Lever (North & South): Inside the Armed Offenders Squad’s gruelling selection process
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): The nuts & bolts of the RBNZ’s proposals to increase bank capital
