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
Joel MacManus (Stuff): PM Jacinda Ardern: Government ‘not opposed to’ idea of declaring a climate emergency
Jason Walls (Herald): Jacinda Ardern is keen on declaring a climate-change emergency but roadblock remains
Quentin Atkinson (Newsroom): We must face climate emergency head-on
Michael Daly (Stuff): Councils need help with sea level rise, intense rain events: Productivity Commission
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Councils will struggle to pay for climate adaptation – report
RNZ: Local govt needs climate change help – Productivity Commission review
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We’re happy to talk about climate change but not so keen to do anything about it
Blair Jackson (Southland Times): Southland climate emergency motion voted down
Laura Smith (ODT): No declaration of climate emergency after Environment Southland vote
Amy Williams (RNZ): Council taken to court over lack of action on climate change
Kelley Tantau (Stuff): Thames-Coromandel council taken to court over ‘dumb and dangerous’ climate declaration decision
Andrew Little criticises Google for name suppression breach
Henry Cooke (Stuff):Andrew Little’s well justified rage at Google over Grace Millane case court order
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Not a lot done over Google’s name suppression breach
Press Editorial: The Little guy takes on Google
Andrew Little (Spinoff): Google has been reckless, and I won’t let them off the hook
Hayley Jacobsen and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Justice Minister Andrew Little accused of maybe breaking suppression order
Scott Palmer and Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Andrew Little’s message to Google over Grace Millane murder
Jason Walls (Herald): Justice Minister Andrew Little will discuss Google’s suppression breach with other Justice Ministers
Anna Whyte (1News): Considering action against Google ‘about principle’, says Justice Minister
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Andrew Little takes on Google over Grace Millane murder
Mandy Te (Stuff): Google makes no changes after emailing out name of Grace Millane murder accused
Charles Anderson (Guardian): Google accused of ‘flipping the bird’ at New Zealand laws after Grace Millane murder
Parliament
Jonathan Boston (Spinoff): Taking the fight to short-termism in government
Glen McConnell (Stuff): Justice Minister Andrew Little puts Kmart shoppers before human rights
RNZ: The Detail: Do you need to be popular to win an election?
Government
Zane Small (Newshub): Year of Delivery? Political party leaders judge the Government’s progress
Pattrick Smellie (Herald): Time to stop scoffing at wellbeing agenda? (paywalled)
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Adrian Orr needs a monetary policy mate and fast
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Ardern’s speech to Palmerston North unionists off limits
No Right Turn: Odious secrecy III
1News: Poto Williams says new Ministerial position ‘an absolute honour and a privilege’
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Protest ‘lunacy’ tiring wider iwi, says Treaty claim negotiator
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Trespass notice ‘an act of lunacy’ – Little
Banks
Richard Harman (Politik): NZ First lies in wait for the Aussie banks
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Finance Minister Grant Robertson pleads for ‘mature debate’ amid war over bank capital
Liam Dann (Herald): Threat of Aussie bank sell-down welcomed by local market (paywalled)
Zane Small (Newshub): Academic’s warning: Reserve Bank capital requirements would hit mortgages
Duncan Bridgeman and Tamsyn Parker (Herald): CBL report: Reserve Bank should have been more decisive (paywalled)
Stuff: Reserve Bank criticised over failure of $750 million insurer CBL
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): The scathing verdict on the RBNZ’s handling of CBL Insurance
Rob Stock (Stuff): Reserve Bank builds regulatory muscle after $750 million CBL failure
Amy Williams (RNZ): Bank staff speak up on pressures of bonus culture
Housing
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Drop the dogma if KiwiBuild to be saved
Anna Whyte (1News): KiwiBuild’s new leaders enter scheme’s second year with 786 house shortfall
Ben Leahy (Herald): Tenants flood call centres with insulation complaints following new law (paywalled)
Marta Steeman (Stuff): OIO grants 30 “transitional” exemptions allowing apartment sales to foreign buyers
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Tenant looking for new home after leaving bad review
Douglas Fairgray (Herald): Why converting more land will fail to ‘fix’ housing prices (paywalled)
Canterbury quakes
Michael Hayward (Stuff): Christchurch City Council stacks Regenerate Christchurch board with members from other council organisations
RNZ: Regenerate Christchurch appoints new board chair
Liz McDonald (Stuff): Homeowners lose onsold home case in Supreme Court
RNZ: Supreme Court rules against ‘onsold’ insurance claimant
Environment
David Williams (Newsroom): Canterbury water conflict exemptions taken to court
RNZ: Quick action needed from Hauraki Gulf environment advisory group – EDS
Jono Edwards (ODT):Sage backs zero bycatch policy for sea lions
Jason Walls (Herald):Foreign Minister Winston Peters concerned that Japan has restarted commercial whaling
Tracy Neal (RNZ): $1m funding to help plant 70k natives under Billion Trees scheme
Tim Newman, Cherie Sivignon and Skara Bohny (Stuff): Government announces 70,000 trees to be planted around Waimea Inlet, near Nelson
Nicole Lawton (Stuff): Oil spill off the coast of Cape Reinga not visible from the air, Maritime NZ says
MIchael Morrah (Newshub): Maritime NZ, NZ Defence Force investigating oil spill off Far North coast
1News: Multiple agencies responding to potential oil spill near Three Kings Islands
RNZ: Maritime NZ investigating oil spill near Cape Reinga
Logan Savory (Southland Times): New River Estuary: “It looks beautiful, but it isn’t”
RNZ: Taupō sewage spill four times worse than first thought
Stuff: Taupō wastewater spill : Residents urged to save water for three to five days
RNZ: Taupō cleanup begins after 190,000 litre sewage spill
1News: Permanent solution to Taupō’s broken wastewater pipes could be ‘months’ away
1News: Watch: Drone footage shows extent of burst water main that led to wastewater entering Lake Taupō
RNZ: New bait setting trial launched to save endangered seabirds
Skara Bohny (Nelson Mail): Natureland tuatara died from secondary rat poisoning
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Cut away the handles: Indian takeaway finds a way to get around the NZ plastic bag ban
Paul Mitchell (Manawatū Standard): Palmerston North restaurant frustrated its new takeaway bags still breach ban
Tom McKinlay (ODT): Valuing the local
Health
ODT Editorial: The Blair Vining project
Emma Russell (Herald): This is cancer victim Blair Vining’s story (paywalled)
RNZ: Patients waiting longer for cancer treatment at Auckland hospital
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): Tribunal finds universal health failings
Carmen Parahi (Stuff): Māori Development Ministry, Te Puni Kōkiri, accused of failing Māori and breaching Treaty
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Delays in patient transfer
Cushla Norman (1News): Clearing cataract surgery wait list would reduce number of accidental falls by a third, research suggests
Harry Lock (RNZ): Social media ‘amplifies’ vaccination fears, scientists say
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Vaccination row: Auckland parents take fight over daughter’s immunisation to court
Herald: Parents fighting in court over whether to vaccinate daughter
RNZ: New ACC mediation service aims to settle disputes faster
Luke Appleby (1News): Ministry of Health investigating South Auckland homeopath advertising himself as a ‘doctor’
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Auckland homeopath could mislead patients by using ‘doctor’ title – ministry
Michael Hayward and Cecile Meier (Stuff): New suicide prevention programme Every Life Matters attracts support
Education
Simon Collins (Herald): School camps saved: Minister says schools can charge for camps and still get $150 grant
Josephine Franks (Stuff): School camp charges won’t count as donations for schools claiming $150 grant
Jessica Long (Stuff): Kindergarten teachers next in line to negotiate Government’s collective agreements
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Kindy teachers want what primary teachers have got
Katy Jones (Stuff): ‘Side-lined’ principals cease new ministry initiatives
Herald Editorial: All Kiwi kids deserve happy school days (paywalled)
Te Kuru o te Marama Dewes (Māori TV): “Bring the kōhanga reo children to the marae” – Moehau Reedy
Katie Doyle (RNZ): Ruapehu rural reading scheme spells out a winning idea
Elena McPhee (ODT): Polytech’s value to Dunedin up $40m in five years
Local Government
Jean Drage (Stuff): Who do you want on your local council? Your choices start now
Arvind Kumar (Stuff): Auckland mayoral candidate John Tamihere hints at new political party
Melissa Chan-Green (Newshub): Phil Goff mocks John Tamihere’s ‘dumb’ Watercare part-privitisation plan
RNZ: Auckland mayoral candidates battle over selling Watercare stake
1News: Auckland to reduce bus, train and ferry fares for children
Michael Neilson (Herald): Bermageddon 2: Auckland Council wants to ban parking on urban berms (paywalled)
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Auckland politician Duncan MacDonald censured after threatening member of public
Mandy Te (Stuff): Auckland politician swamped with requests to re-home geese from Western Springs
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Half of local government representatives should be women: Julie Anne GenterHalf of local government representatives should be women: Julie Anne Genter
Alice Geary (Stuff): Lake Ohau Village takes on Waitaki District Council over water supply
Chris Morris (ODT): Dunedin-Oamaru trail mooted
Provincial Growth Fund
Jono Galuszka (Stuff): Provincial Growth Fund pumps money into Te Apiti Manawatū Gorge
RNZ: North Island region aims to become a tourist destination after strife
Justice, crime, police
Derek Cheng (Herald): Crime stats show number of crime victims dropping in Auckland, rising in Eastern North Island (paywalled)
George Block (ODT): Bomb threat causes lockdown at prison
Jan Jordan (Spinoff): New laws are great, but rape victims deserve more radical change
No Right Turn: The same problems everywhere
Transport
Damian George and Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Resilience of Wellington transport network called into question following train derailment
1News: Capital’s commuter chaos yesterday shows infrastructure is ‘fragile’, business leader says
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): Heroes of the commuter chaos are just what Wellington needs
Michael Cropp (RNZ): Wellington trains running again after transport chaos
Nicole Lawton (Stuff): Blind Foundation calls for e-scooters and electric vehicles to emit noise
1News: Speed limit slashed on Christchurch’s Summit Road after dozens of crashes
Stuff: Capital grinds to a halt as train derailment leaves 20,000 stranded
Primary Industries
Maja Burry (RNZ): Farmers to vote on selling Westland Milk Products
Andrea Fox (Herald): Westland sale independent adviser kept in dark about $1.6m executive bonuses (paywalled)
Guy Trafford (Interest): How much deception is being swept under the carpet?
Evan Harding (Southland Times): Livestock contract dispute ruled on by High Court Judge
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Forestry firm hit in Tasman wildfires wants tougher fire-prevention rules
Employment
Dennis Maga (Stuff): Government needs an effective social procurement policy
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): What are your employment rights when public transport goes down?
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Businesses concerned about skills shortage following retirement of baby boomers
Oranga Tamariki
Stuff: Open letter: Oranga Tamariki social workers in ‘terrible, almost untenable position’
Regan Paranihi (Māori TV): Ngāti Tūwharetoa protect tamariki through iwi-agency initiative
Defence
Simon Ewing-Jarvie: Charge of the Capital Brigade
Point of Order: When Ron Mark is speaking in China, the best form of Defence (it seems) is to refrain from attack
Tara Shaskey (Taranaki Daily News): Young army veterans in need of mental healthcare are ‘slipping through the gaps’
Other
Jason Walls (Herald): MBIE admits being hacked twice in the last year and that it faces up to 330,000 attempts a month (paywalled)
Derek Cheng (Herald): NZ pulls out of world’s biggest radio telescope project
Steve Deane (Newsroom): TAB to get more pokies, run virtual horse races in 2020
Paul Goldsmith and Kelvin Davis (Stuff): Tuia 250: Celebration or commemoration for anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival
Danny Keenan (Stuff): The problems that remain with our telling of the New Zealand Wars
Talisa Kupenga (Māori TV): TPK set for strategic and leadership reset
1News: ‘We’re all going to be exposed’ – woman launches petition to stop 5G in Mangawhai
Chris Rattue (Herald): The surprising lack of outrage over Sevu Reece’s All Blacks selection (paywalled)
Mohan Dutta and Murdoch Stephens (Spinoff): For a few weeks, we heard Muslim voices. Then the free speech debate took over
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Bar retrains staff after couple denied entry due to facial moko
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Hell Pizza says it has been ‘completely open’ with MPI over fake meat
Stuff: New Zealand slips in passport power rankings
RNZ: Drop in Chinese visitors to NZ part of ‘little fluctuations’ – minister
Mounty Soutar (Newsroom): Ka mate, ka mate: Māori on the killing fields (extract)
Jeff Sparrow (Overaland): Looking for treasure in the censor’s archive: Jared Davidson’s Dead Letters
1News: Jacinda Ardern reiterates interest in luring $1.5b Lord of the Rings TV series to NZ
