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 by Dr Bryce Edwards.
Industrial relations
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Winston Peters holds the keys to new union laws. Will he unlock a solution?
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Why even Jacinda Ardern has gone cold on Fair Pay Agreements
Jason Walls (Herald): Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters takes swipe at unions while speaking to the CTU today
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern warns unions off radical industrial change
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Appreciation but impatience for Ardern at union conference
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Labour under fire from ‘frustrated’, ‘impatient’ unions calling for sector-wide fair pay agreements
Derek Cheng (Herald): PM confirms more consultation for Fair Pay Agreements
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Time for government to get on with it with Fair Pay Agreements, says union head
RNZ: Fair pay agreements an urgent priority – Council of Trade Unions
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Winston vs the CTU – what’s really going to happen next year?
RNZ: SkyCity workers picket over unsociable hours
Parliament
Richard Harman (Politik): Bridges heads for confrontation
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): National Party calls Trevor Mallard’s bluff over attack ads
Derek Cheng and Jason Walls (Herald): Parliament video defiance: Mallard penalises Bridges but opts for light punishment
Jo Moir (RNZ): National leader’s questions slashed by speaker over attack ads
1News Colmar Brunton poll
1News: Being likeable doesn’t make a good PM, Simon Bridges says while shrugging off negative approval rating
1News: Ardern and Bridges approval ratings revealed in 1 NEWS Colmar Brunton Poll
Government
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: Labour’s ‘Year of non-Delivery’ bites (paywalled)
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern’s year of delivery has been sloppy and confused
Jason Walls (Herald): The Government’s ‘nine years of neglect’ defence has become a tired cliché (paywalled)
David Farrar: Labour’s Year of Delivery
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Outcry over Shane Jones playing with an AR15 is stupid
Operation Burnham inquiry
Thomas Manch (Stuff): SAS commander Jim Blackwell says Defence Minister Wayne Mapp was informed of possible civilian deaths
Boris Jancic (Herald): Defence Minister was told about Afghan civilian deaths report, top officer says
Grace Cocker (Newshub): Operation Burnham inquiry: Retired SAS commander Jim Blackwell denies hiding classified document
RNZ: Operation Burnham: Records system under spotlight
Defence
Boris Jancic (Herald): ‘National security’: Defence Minister overrules Whenuapai noise ruling
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Defence Minister trumps Environment Court decision on Whenuapai Airbase engine noise
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Defence Minister Ron Mark overrules Environment Court on Whenuapai Airbase noise restrictions
RNZ: Defence Minister overrules environment court over Whenuapai Air Base
Local government – Wellington
Tommy Livingston, Collette Devlin and Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern will apologise for labelling Justin Lester an independent
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to apologise over Justin Lester Labour blunder
Tommy Livingston and Collette Devlin (Stuff): Justin Lester says Jacinda Ardern made a ‘mistake’ when labeling him independent
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Justin Lester Labour blunder ’embarrassing’
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Tom Hunt (Dominion Post):Can centre-right Foster wrangle a left-leaning Wellington council
Charlotte Graham-McLay (New York Times): Peter Jackson Has a Lot of Power in New Zealand. Some Say Too Much.
1News: New Wellington mayor Andy Foster concedes Sir Peter Jackson’s backing was crucial
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Lets Get Wellington Moving: Election promises v spades in the ground (paywalled)
Damian George and Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): New Wellington mayor looks to have a fight on his hands over extra Mt Victoria tunnel
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): New Wellington mayor wants action on second Mt Victoria tunnel
Caitlin Bishop and Felix Desmarais (Stuff): New Wellington mayor Andy Foster resolute the Central Library should be repaired
Local government
1News: Councils need to ‘step up in national interest and build intensified housing – Twyford
Jordan Williams (Herald): For the centre-right to win elections, they have to turn up (paywalled)
Herald Editorial:Local body elections – New Zealand has spoken, now like it or lump it (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Online voting won’t lift participation but a midweek public holiday might
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Bernard Orsmasn (Herald): Auckland Council bonuses of $1.1m despicable, says Living Wage Movement (paywalled)
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): 10 questions with Auckland’s re-elected mayor Phil Goff
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Auckland politician Paul Young urges police action after election sign shot
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Rotorua’s youngest councillor still in shock days after election win
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): New Lower Hutt mayor Campbell Barry’s 100-day plan for the Melling Interchange
Joel Maxwell (Dominion Post): Maybe no easy options for CE, but we still need to know what happened, and why
Virginia Fallon and Joel Maxwell (Dominion Post): Dumped mayor Mike Tana calls for an investigation over leaked email
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Three votes separate two Motueka ward hopefuls ahead of final count
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Marlborough’s Francis Maher vows to strengthen relationship between farmers and council
Emma Dangerfield (Press): Landslide victories for two new North Canterbury mayors
Building industry
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Two-thirds of buildings investigated by Palmerston North City Council may have structural problems
Jono Galuszka (Manawatū Standard): Report finds Palmerston North buildings possibly have design problems, opens up legal action
Anne Gibson (Herald): Experts question shoddy building claims: ‘no evidence’ steel being pulled from concrete
Dominion Post Editorial: Too many of our buildings are broken. We have been warned
Immigration
MItchell Alexander, Tova O’Brien and Zane Small (Newshub): National granted repeat drink-driver temporary visa in 2013
1News: Under fire for granting residency to six-time drink driver, Government says it had no choice
Derek Cheng (Herald): PM defends immigration decision: National would have done the same
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway defends residency of convicted criminal
Katie Fitzgerald and Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern can’t intervene over repeat drink-driver granted residency
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Residency case ‘Sroubek 2.0’, National claims
Tova O’Brien (Newshub):Immigration Minister refuses to say if residency-granted drink-driver is war criminal or terrorist
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Iain Lees-Galloway chose ‘lazy’ option granting residency to drink-driver – Simon Bridges
Katie Todd (RNZ): Immigration NZ criticised for confusion around Electronic Travel Authority rules
RNZ: Fake visa websites fleecing overseas visitors
Police
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern puts pressure on to reach police staff targets
Ben Strang (RNZ): Police bullying claims: Minister says ‘two sides of every story’
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Public support for armed police up after Christchurch terror attacks
Laura Walters (Newsroom): More Kiwis now support arming of police
Anna Leask (Herald): Mosque massacre: Police commended for ‘relentless’ work following March 15 attack
Anna Leask (Herald): Organised crime evolving ‘rapidly’ in NZ as borders become ‘porous’ to illicit trade
Laura Macdonald (Newshub): Police face new challenge as organised crime moves to the regions
Gangs
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Police concerned for ordinary Kiwis – want powers to ‘hammer gangs destroying families’
Daisy Hudson (ODT): ‘Huge’ rise in gang numbers
1News: Gang competition in North Island meth market helps drive patched migration south
Environment
Zane Small (Newshub): Scientist knocks ‘complacent attitude displayed by Judith Collins’ on climate change
Katie Fitzgerald (Newshub): Government fleet electric vehicle numbers not good enough – Jacinda Ardern
Md Arif Hasan and Ralph Brougham Chapman (Stuff): The carbon footprint of electric versus fossil cars
Basil Sharp (Newsroom): EV revision a reality check, not a back-down
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Penguins ‘living on a plastic beach’, Wellington clean-up crews say
1News: Mount Maunganui ‘could slide into the ocean’ if myrtle rust kills pōhutakawa
Primary industries
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Western Saharan activist aims to end phosphate trade
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Environmentalist claims he’s being harassed in Southland
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): European aristocrats buy large North Island farms for forestry conversion
Anna Campbell (ODT): NZ must urgently rethink its future as a food producer
Education
1News: PM defends new university pastoral care code as not just ‘knee-jerk reaction’ to student’s death
Ella Prendergast and Juliet Speedy (Newshub): Students hope new rules will give them the support they’re missing
James Caldwell, Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Low decile schools look forward to additional support
Tom Dillane (Herald): ‘Thanks, but no thanks’ – Rotorua schools weigh up Government’s free lunch trial amid kitchen upgrade costs (paywalled)
Katy Jones (Stuff): ‘Tick box process’ fears over tertiary reform consultation
Welfare
Sarah Robson (RNZ):Benefit levels need to rise to relieve cycle of debt – advocates
John Gibb (ODT): Debt rethink is needed
Health
John Gibb (ODT): Vape flavours ‘tragedy waiting to happen’
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Prefabs considered to create space at Palmerston North Hospital
Katie Fitzgerald and Mel Logan (Newshub): Staff at Christchurch’s Hillmorton Hospital taking time off due to attacks
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk):Fletcher in $31m dispute with ministry over Greymouth hospital
Chris Keall (Herald): Taxpayer-backed prostate cancer startup Caldera Health goes into liquidation (paywalled)
Cannabis
Scott Palmer (Newshub): US cannabis expert explains our reform options (video)
Hannah McGowan (Spinoff): Weed and woo: Separating facts from fiction on the health benefits of cannabis
Transport
Katie Todd (RNZ): Lower SH6 speed limits a ‘terrible and senseless’ idea – drivers
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland speed reductions: Decision looms on proposal to cut limits on 700 roads
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): NZTA has no idea how much it’s spending on roadside artwork
Tuia 250, James Cook
Graeme Lay (Listener): Hero or villain?: The still-debated legacy of Captain James Cook
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Pākehā and Māori should acknowledge all of colonisation’s consequences
Brian Gil (Herald)l: Captain James Cook put NZ birds on the map (paywalled)
Economy
Peter Lyons (ODT): NZ interest rates joining race to the bottom
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Keep adapting to adversity as summer and party time beckon (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Building confidence: NZ’s gloomiest economist – We’re still glass half-full (paywalled)
Banks
Madison Reidy (RNZ): Big banks cop capital changes on both sides of Tasman
Michael Reddell: Holding the Bank to account: OIA requests
Online extremism
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ISPs react cautiously to extremism internet filter
RNZ: Funding to open up more jobs in Chief Censor’s office
Foreign affairs
Jason Walls (Herald): The Government has contacted the Turkish ambassador to directly raise its concerns around developments in Syria
Anneka Smith (RNZ): Samoa prison death: Jurisdiction separate to New Zealand – Winston Peters
Justice
1News: New Chief District Court Judge wants to see more focus on tikanga Māori
Taroi Black (Māori TV): Judge Heemi Taumaunu seeks transformative change in justice system
Other
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government wants to crack down on its algorithms, urging more human oversight and transparency
Paul Buchanan: The rot at the top (2).
Susan Hornsby-Geluk (Stuff): A New Zealand guide for whistleblowers
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green investment fund yet to invest a cent, but minister says it is on track
Tommy Livingston (Stuff): Child-protection cases investigated by police continue to rise
1News: Jami-Lee Ross prepares to fight for Botany electorate, one year on from explosive feud
RNZ: The Detail: The drug testing dilemma – how we are getting around it
Tracy Neal (RNZ): Survey prompts call to add stalking to Harrassment Act
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Man killed in Northland sailing tragedy was ACT Party candidate Stuart Pedersen
Derek Cheng (Herald): Police Minister Stuart Nash rules out extending outlawed guns amnesty
Max Whitehurst and Anisha Sankar (Spinoff): How the ‘free speech’ excuse targets people of colour and trans people alike
Jordan Oppert (1News): KiwiSaver members should be able to use funds for investment properties – Retirement Commissioner
1News: Jacinda Ardern responds to Sir Elton John wanting to be her – ‘I was surprised’
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The far right links of the Trump-style hats
Herald:‘Make Ardern Go Away’ hats make a comeback on Trade Me
RNZ: First Up: World Rugby rules discriminate against Pacific players – Impey
RNZ: Pacific language weeks not enough – Aupito William Sio
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Bill English co-founds Wellington start-up that measures impact of philanthropic investment (paywalled)
Katie Fitzgerald and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): Problem Gambling Foundation issues warning ahead of $38 million Lotto draw
Matthew Littlewood (Newshub): Opinion: Sir Roger Douglas wrong to say Government should have a ‘$30 billion deficit’
