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
Government, parliament
Andrea Vance (Stuff): How Jacinda Ardern is using soft propaganda to beat Covid-19
Graeme Edgeler (Democracy Project): On being sure of your legal footing
Sam Hurley (Herald): Law Society calls for greater Govt clarity on curbs to our freedoms and commerce (paywalled)
Eugene Bingham and Adam Dudding (Stuff): Coronavirus podcast: Inside Jacinda Ardern’s coronavirus bubble: What’s on the PM’s mind during Covid-19 crisis
Audrey Young (Herald): A spot of trouble in Jacinda Ardern’s virtual bubble (paywalled)
Damien Grant (Stuff): Ashley Bloomfield must step out of the Prime Minister’s shadow
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Jacinda Ardern’s war on Covid complacency
David Brain (Spinoff): New poll shows rising support for government handling of Covid-19
MIke Houlahan (ODT): Clark’s actions could cost Dunedin dear
Colin James (Democracy Project): An Easter message on democracy
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: The exit plan and life after level 4
Richard Simpson (Spinoff): How do you prepare for a pandemic?
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): Have Australia and New Zealand stopped Covid-19 in its tracks?
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): CNN praises Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand COVID-19 response
Stuff: More international praise for New Zealand’s response to Covid-19
Herald Editorial: Trump and Ardern – A tale of two leaders (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury: Well, well, well – so US Intelligence KNEW in November about pandemic – when was NZ told?
Newstalk ZB: David Seymour criticises Govt for continuing legislation during lockdown
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Simon Bridges ‘open’ to taking a paycut amid COVID-19 pandemic
1News: David Seymour forges ahead with proposal to cut MPs pay in solidarity with Kiwis losing work during pandemic
1News: Jacinda Ardern gets behind the NZ Egg Hunt at Wellington home
1News: Jacinda Ardern shares daughter Neve’s contribution to #NZEggHunt campaign
Steve Braunias (Newsroom): Book of the Week: Jacinda Ardern by Madeleine Chapman
Election
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Labour Party is polling well but are they untouchable? (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Why National and NZ First want a delay and what’s best for Labour (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Winston Peters might want it but the election can’t be delayed
Jack Tame (Newstalk ZB): Should we delay the election?
Henry Cooke (Stuff): What is Fortress New Zealand going to look like?
Jason Walls (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern sticks with planned election date despite Peters’ lobbying
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): New Zealand election: Ardern resists calls for delay amid Covid-19 outbreak
Jo Moir (RNZ): Opposition doubts public will be ready for September election
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Winston Peters says the election should be delayed due to Covid-1
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Henry Cooke (Stuff): Green Party initial election list puts newcomer Teanau Tuiono ahead of several sitting MPs
David Farrar: Green Party initial list
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Green Party List – but can they get over 5% on election day?
Public health strategy
Michael Baker and Nick Wilson (Guardian): Elimination: what New Zealand’s coronavirus response can teach the world
Kate Newton (RNZ): Lockdown could eliminate Covid-19 – new NZ research
Jamie Morton (Herald): New data reveals bullet NZ dodged by locking down when we did
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): We could have had 200 new Covid-19 cases Thursday
Ian Powell (Democracy Project): Eliminate or Mitigate; why not Exterminate?
Dan Satherley and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): NZ could be ‘its own bubble’ by wiping out COVID-19 – researcher
Roger Morris (Stuff): Time to look for loopholes in our national strategy
TVNZ: Q+A: Lockdown ending ‘won’t be a return to life as we remember it’ – disease specialist
Elisabeth Easter (Herald): Professor Michael Baker – ‘I wept when PM announced that NZ was going into lockdown’ (paywalled)
Farah Hancock (Newsroom): How will we know it’s gone?
Dave Armstrong (Dominion Post): Let’s hear it for the scientists who’ve saved us from ignorance
Michelle Cooke (RNZ): Why is NZ’s mortality rate so low?
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David Fisher (Herald): Ashley Bloomfield’s rise to the top – the inside story (paywalled)
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): ‘Delivers the stats like no other’: New Zealand’s Covid-19 crush on health chief
Jason Walls (Herald): Ashley Bloomfield takes questions via Facebook live on Covid-19 response
1News: Dr Ashley Bloomfield responds humbly to news of petition for him to be New Zealander of the Year
Debates over ending the lockdown
RNZ: Most New Zealanders willing to extend Covid-19 lockdown ‘pain’ – survey
Keith Woodford (Interest): There are big risks if we move to LEVEL 3 too quickly without greatly improved contact-tracing. There is no way back if we get this wrong
Matthew Hooton (Herald): A second national lockdown would be catastrophic (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (Democracy Project): The Amity Island solution
Coin Peacock (RNZ): ‘Your money or your life’
Coin Peacock (RNZ): Media beat the drum to roll back lockdown – and sound the alarm
Nicholas Agar (Newsroom): Let’s not end lockdown early
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Newstalk ZB: Winston Peters: Health an imperative ‘but not at all costs… we’ll be broke’
David Seymour (Herald): ‘Stay home, save lives’ a blunt, costly strategy (paywalled)
Sam Stubbs (Newsroom): In saving lives, are we destroying the economy?
Cathy Odgers: By Definition On April 23 New Zealand Should Be At Level 1 Alert
Grant Guilford (Newsroom): Will an extended lockdown cost more lives than it saves?
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Lockdown rules should be relaxed, health experts say
Lizzie Marvelly (Herald): Fear, death and protecting the vulnerable (paywalled)
Ani O’Brien (Democracy Project): Class in the age of COVID-19
Border measuers, quarantine
AAP: Trans-Tasman travel not on the agenda after fifth Covid-19 death, Jacinda Ardern warns
BusinessDesk: Start planning transtasman ‘bubble’ now, says Auckland airport chief
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Mandatory border quarantine for all returning Kiwis announced
1News: Compulsory two-week quarantine for overseas Kiwis returning to NZ to be enforced
RNZ: Quarantine or ‘managed isolation’ compulsory for all arrivals into NZ, PM says
Newstalk ZB: Jacinda Ardern defends delay in quarantining all international arrivals
RNZ: Military may help escort returned citizens to holding centres – Winston Peters
Andrew Todd (Spinoff): At home in an Auckland hotel: My two weeks in Covid-19 quarantine
Testing
Oliver Lewis and Felippe Rodrigues (Stuff): Where Covid-19 testing is highest – and lowest – in New Zealand
RNZ: Whanganui DHB to expand testing after low numbers
Rachel Moore (Stuff): Regions struggle to get Covid-19 samples tested without Air New Zealand flights
Leilani Momoisea (RNZ): ‘I was angry about the process’
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Test based on loss of smell, researcher says
Phillipa Yalden (Stuff): Coronavirus health academics call for localised reporting of Covid-19 test results
Tracking, use of location data
Chris Keall (Herald): As NZ considers TraceTogether, a Kiwi in Singapore gives his verdict on the tracking app (paywalled)
1News: Government warns Covid-19 tracing app not a ‘silver bullet’
1News: Privacy Commissioner ‘understands’ why apps are being explored for tracking Kiwis during lockdown
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Govt looking into tracking phones to curb spread of COVID-19
Katie Kenny (Stuff): What telco data tells us about the economic impact of lockdown
Katie Kenny (Stuff): Government pulls telco location data for Covid-19 pandemic planning
Hospitals, health system
David Galler (Spinoff): Life on the other side of a health crisis
Ian Powell (Stuff): US coronavirus crisis shows the benefit of a universal health system
1News: Dr Ashley Bloomfield says relaxing rules around dying family members being ‘actively’ looked at
RNZ: Health Ministry looking at rules around people visiting dying family members – Director-General
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): No compassion for sick, dying elderly during lockdown, say family
Kristin Hall (1News): Doctors desperate to get message across that Kiwis needing medical help can still be treated
1News: People needing emergency medical treatment urged to get it, even during lockdown
RNZ: Patient numbers at emergency departments in Auckland, Northland fall
Lois Williams (RNZ): District Health Board regulates flu vaccine supply on West Coast
1News: Nationwide lockdown causes number of ACC claims to drop
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Sir John Kirwan app to receive Government mental health funding
1News: Government launches online tools to help improve Kiwis’ mental health during Covid-19
Masks and protective gear
Kristin Hall (1News): We’re not getting masks, gloves because of PPE confusion, say disability support workers
Andrea Chumko (Stuff): New national PPE distribution system introduced after faults and shortages
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Union claims Waikato Hospital nurses who caught COVID-19 were told to remove PPE
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Waikato Hospital doctor urging Government to make face masks mandatory
Aaron Leaman (Waikato Times): Waikato Hospital doctor says compulsory masks vital to stopping Covid-19
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom):Carers forced to wash and reuse masks
RNZ: DHBs accused of ‘rationing’ PPE say they’re working to distribute it
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): New Zealanders ‘caught short after masks sent to China’
Rest homes, care for our elderly, disabled
Conan Young (RNZ):‘Requests fallen on deaf ears’: Rest homes consider buying Covid-19 tests
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Health authorities reinforce message to rest homes after death
1News: ‘I just want my mum safe’ – Concerns grow for residents at two Christchurch rest homes that are Covid-19 clusters
1News: Daughter of Rosewood Rest Home resident praises staff dealing with Covid-19 outbreak
RNZ: Elderly concerned access to vital information mostly online
Samuel Murray (Newsroom): What’s the plan to keep disabled people safe?
Health workers
Glen Scanlon (RNZ): Are government agencies ignoring official advice?
Glen Scanlon (RNZ): Casual healthcare worker’s Easter wish is ‘our normal life’
Glen Scanlon (RNZ): Health workers left struggling to pay the rent
Kate Nicol Williams (1News): Immunocompromised support workers staying home to protect themselves from Covid-19 left with reduced pay
Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Retired community nurse works for free amid Covid-19 pandemic
Enforcing the lockdown, lockdown breaches
Imogen Wells (1News): Heightened police presence around the country as police roll out new Covid-19 response units
1News: Police release new figures around level four lockdown breaches
RNZ: 64 prosecutions for breaches over Easter
Anna Whyte (1News): More than 800 breaches of Covid-19 lockdown rules with 109 prosecutions
Amelia Wade (Herald):Aviation Security Service officers join lockdown enforcement effort
Impact of Covid-19 on Māori and Pacific communities, iwi checkpoints
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Data systems need to focus on equity – Māori health specialist
Carmen Parahi (Stuff): Māori health experts question government testing
Geoffrey Rice (Stuff): Māori have every reason to be concerned about the pandemic
Carmen Parahi (Stuff): The demand for equality in the battle against Covid-19
Dean Nathan (Māori TV): Closing gateway to Far North to protect against virus great for community
Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Iwi establish more checkpoints to protect communities from Covid-19
1News: Māori and Pasifika communities being supported by iwi in Hawke’s Bay during lockdown
Wiremu Manaia (E-Tangata): Māori millennials are showing the way
Lockdown lessons and NZ post-lockdown
Chris Trotter: The ‘What’ And The ‘How’
Liam Hehir (Pundit): What Is The Real Economy?
John Minto (Daily Blog): Lessons from the first fortnight of lockdown
Gordon Campbell: ON the changes that Covid-19 is causing, plus a Spotify playlist for y’all
Paul Buchanan: A pandemic Peter Principle
Cherie Howie (Herald): How Kiwis’ lives will change during pandemic (paywalled)
Steve Maharey (Pundit): After Covid-19: Towards A New Normal
Richard Wagstaff (Stuff): The pandemic offers us a chance to become the country we think we are
Nicholas Agar (Newsroom): What was once unthinkable becomes thinkable
Matevž Rašković (Newsroom): How to tame ‘wicked problems’ like Covid-19
Rod Drury (Newsroom): What we do now will shape New Zealand’s future
Bob Jones: The coming economic crisis and its political consequences
Grant Shimmin (Stuff): The pandemic should put our focus back on people
Tava Olsen (Newsroom): Vital supplies: produce locally and stock up
Economy
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Big government is back (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Sir Bill English warns that if markets shake off Covid-19, the public will respond (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Why I am optimistic we can get through Covid-19 without becoming paupers
Liam Dann (Herald): Ghost of Sir Robert Muldoon – state support can’t mean a return to the 1970s (paywalled)
Peter Vial (Herald): Time for a tax rethink as part of balance sheet repair job (paywalled)
Geoff Simmons (NBR): Universal basic income: An economic vaccine to fight Covid-19? (paywalled)
Norman Gemmell (Stuff): The shape of New Zealand’s post-Covid-19 economy
Alan Bollard (NBR): How to pay for Covid-19 : Lessons from previous wars (paywalled)
Bruce Munro (ODT): Much ado about nothing?
Peter Lyons (Herald): We don’t need to make Covid 19 coronavirus impact any worse (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Economist calls for ‘Ashley Bloomfield of economics’ to explain how we’re going to recover from COVID-19
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): New Zealand has advantage in world trade slump, economist says
Infrastructure
Richard Harman (Politik): After the lockdown, here comes the biggest construction boom – ever.
Eleanor West (Stuff): Why some ‘shovel-ready’ projects are bad options for Covid spending
Iain White (Spinoff): The problem with the ‘shovel ready’ strategy for post-Covid-19 rebuild
Business, unemployment
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Grant Robertson warns that even in the double digits, unemployment will be masked by the wage subsidy
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): Pilots ‘helping to stock supermarket shelves’ with unemployment figures set to be released
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Government must ‘think outside the square’ to get Kiwis back into jobs, says Winston Peters
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says more support for businesses is on the way
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Finance Minister Grant Robertson says lessons of hasty move up alert levels will be used in slide downwards (paywalled)
Tom Hunt and Kate Green (Stuff): 60,000 hospo jobs could soon fall to Covid-19
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Mitre 10 confirms job losses at its Albany support centre
RNZ: Mitre 10 lays off some support centre staff
John Anthony (Stuff): 160 jobs at stake as Green Cabs ceases trading
Brian Gaynor (BusinessDesk): Politicians are poor choices as company directors (paywalled)
Wage subsidy, employment
Rob Stock (Stuff): Watershed moment as businesses become Covid-19 beneficiaries
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Taxpayers’ Union gives up ‘ideological purity’, accepts $60,000 in taxpayer wage subsidies
Newstalk ZB: Taxpayers Union defends taking wage subsidy
RNZ: Complaints probed: Employers pocketing wage subsidy face fraud charges
Jacob McSweeny (ODT): Pay unfair, Scott workers claim
Amelia Wade (Herald): The Kiwi businesses taking up Govt’s wage subsidy scheme
RNZ: Farmers, The Warehouse, apply for wage subsidies
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): How much NZ’s most popular restaurants have been paid in welfare amid Covid-19 crisis
Glen Scanlon (RNZ): Some workers missing out despite wage subsidy
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Can you be forced to take leave without pay during the Covid-19 lockdown?
Rod Oram (Newsroom): CEO interview – Richard Wagstaff, CTU
Welfare
Thomas Manch, Thomas Coughlan, and Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): More than 20,000 benefit applications during first week of Covid-19 lockdown
Anna Whyte and Brodyn Knuckey (Stuff): Benefit numbers jump due to Covid-19 crisis
Janet McAllister (Stuff): Thousands face welfare struggle if they lose their jobs
Newshub: An A-Z of all the Government help you could get if your job’s been affected by COVID-19
CPAG: Change NZ’s welfare system now – before this health crisis becomes a child poverty crisis
Inequality, poverty
Stephen Forbes (Stuff): Salvation Army report highlights social impact of Covid-19 lockdown
RNZ: UNICEF teams with The Salvation Army to support NZ children in need
RNZ: Increased electricity usage means bigger bills coming in
1News: Food banks around the country struggle to cope with demand created by coronavirus lockdown
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Low-interest loan providers braced for surge in demand
Supermarkets and essential workers
1News: New World worker tests positive for Covid-19 in Hawke’s Bay
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Foodstuffs pledges at least $1m in donations, recognises ‘privilege’ of trading
Herald: Foodstuffs pledges million-dollar helping hand for Kiwis struggling due to pandemic
1News: Paywave limit increased to $200 at Countdown stores in effort to stop Covid-19 spread
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Call for in-home health workers to get supermarket priority
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Covid-19 Secret Diary of the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy (paywalled)
Wealth
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Covid 19 and the rich – time for the wealthy to step up and help NZ (paywalled)
Rob Stock (Stuff): How Tindall, Morgan and Fyfe worked to ready country for Covid-19 fight
Rob Stock (Stuff): Economic turmoil massively reduces wealth of the super-rich
Tourism
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Hospitality horror – how fast will the industry recover?
1News: Tourism industry will need to rely on Kiwis to keep afloat following lockdown, says business owner
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom):Is Covid-19 the beginning of the end for mass tourism to NZ?
Cas Carter (Stuff): Time to reassess what tourism looks like after Covid-19
Primary and extractive industries
Steve Elers (Stuff): Primary interest: Time to cut the cord and let agriculture thrive
1News: Government dodges massive payout over 2010 kiwifruit disease outbreak
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Kiwifruit growers’ PSA case: Government cleared of liability
Esther Taunton (Stuff): Kiwis grab horticulture jobs as Covid-19 reshapes labour market
RNZ: Crayfish exports pick up but far from normal
Robin Martin (RNZ): Offshore oil and gas rigs working skeleton crews during lockdown
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Oil and gas group OMV declares ‘positive result’ in the final well of its campaign (paywalled)
Housing
Lydia Lewis (Newshub): KiwiBuy campaign chair’s plea to Government to resume housing projects during lockdown
Vanessa Cole (Action Station): Reimagining housing during COVID-19 and beyond recovery
RNZ: Kāinga Ora apologises after state housing tenants told rent was going up
Vera Alves (Herald):Fears as ‘disaster tourists’ book Auckland apartments for short lockdown stays
1News: Over 68,000 home owners request mortgage assistance amid coronavirus pandemic
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Banks not sharing the pain with mortgage ‘holidays’
Martin van Beynen (Stuff): No big rise in residential tenants not paying rent during Covid-19 lockdown
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Lockdown ‘final straw’ for worried property investors
Kendall Hutt (Stuff): More than 1000 Tenancy Tribunal hearings adjourned due to Covid-19
John Anthony (Stuff): Property prices likely to fall but by how much is the big unknown, experts say
Anne Gibson (Herald): Where property prices may head when lockdown ends, Auckland likely hit hardest (paywalled)
Lawrence Gully (Stuff): Waipā moves residential growth out of rural areas and into ‘enclaves’
Homeless
Karoline Tuckey (RNZ): Homeless given motel rooms during lockdown
Eva Corlett (RNZ): Nearly 1000 motel units available for homeless
1News: Government paying to house homeless in motels during Covid-19 lockdown
Virginia Fallon (Dominion Post): Wellington homeless sheltered in serviced apartment for lockdown, after agencies step in
Transport
John Anthony (Stuff): Air New Zealand and the ‘black swan’ event that brought air travel to its knees
RNZ: Air New Zealand job cuts rushed, poorly planned – union
1News: Air New Zealand to make nearly 1500 cabin crew staff redundant
Brook Sabin (Stuff): Air New Zealand: Inside the future domestic airline
1News: Nearly 130,000 Kiwis could lose aviation jobs due to Covid-19 pandemic – trade association
RNZ: Airways to close seven traffic control towers
RNZ: More freight-only passenger flights expected over next month
ODT: A glimpse of aviation’s future?
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Newstalk ZB: Easter road toll officially zero
Simon Wilson (Herald): $100 million for bikes and walkways? (paywalled)
RNZ: Push for friendly streetscapes as money repurposed for better social distancing
RNZ: Social distancing: more funding on way for wider footpaths, new cycleways
1News: Government wants widening of footpaths, more cycleways so people can maintain 2m distance after lockdown
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): How coronavirus will change the face of the cbd
Stuff: Government extends expired WoFs, regos, and licenses by six months
Jono Galuszka (Manawatū Standard): Manawatū Gorge replacement highway raises issues and opportunities for iwi
Local government
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council to discuss financial impacts behind closed doors
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Councils warned rates freezes could cripple economic recovery
Felix Desmarais (RNZ): Mayor says call for voluntary council pay cuts ‘morally indefensible’
Robin Martin (RNZ): New Plymouth residents told to expect service cuts due to Covid-19 crisis
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Wellington councillors vote for six months rates holiday
Laura Wiltshire (Stuff): Wellington region councils make moves to help residents through lockdown
Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): Wellington mayor suffers rare defeat over free city parking
Tom Hunt (Dominion Post): Cost blow out means Wellington ratepayers stuck with $16m sewer bill
RNZ: Dunedin city assets face tough times ahead
Aaron Hawskins (ODT): Revenue and spending must support recovery
ODT: Reduced rates rises on agenda for Southland councils
Hamish MacLean (ODT): ORC after more consultation over water quality plan
Christina Persico (Taranaki Daily News): Communications continue for councillors, but exception ‘should not become the norm’
1News: Redeployed Auckland library staff making welfare calls to over 15,000 vulnerable people amid Covid-19 pandemic
RNZ: Queenstown’s bed tax put on ice while region deals with Covid-19
Guy Williams (ODT): Visitor levy on hold; call for proposal to be dropped entirely
Brent Edwards (NBR): Treasury questions bed tax as it reviews local government taxation (paywalled)
Education, childcare
Mike Bedford (Herald): Restrict childcare to essential workers’ children first
Simon Collins (Herald): Expert warns of new outbreak if daycares opened too soon
1News: Schools given potential return date for students, should Level 4 lockdown be lifted after 28 days
Stuff: Education Minister says schools may reopen from April 29
Simon Collins (Herald): Schools may reopen for some students before others
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Schools may not open as Covid-19 lockdown lifts
Anna Whyte (1News): Alll schools reopening straight after lockdown ‘not going to happen’ – Education Minister
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Longer lockdown could harm education – principals
Indira Stewart (RNZ): Online learning poses challenge for low-decile schools
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Lockdown an opportunity to plan the future of Māori education
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Māori educational resources included in government support package
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John Gerritsen (RNZ): Students struggling during Covid-19 lockdown ‘ringing up in panic’
Samantha Mythen (Stuff): Lockdown life in uni halls – frozen meals, bubble tennis, study and puzzles
George Heagney (Stuff): NZIST ready to help with country’s learning needs after lockdown
Repatriation, expats
1News: Utter delight as New Zealanders who were stuck on Covid-19 hit cruise ship land in Auckland
Katie Bradford (1News): Those with NZ work visas who are stuck overseas plead to be able to return home
Jason Walls (Herald): Government to bring Kiwis stranded in India back to New Zealand
RNZ: Government announces repatriation flights for New Zealanders in India
1News: ‘Good progress’ made to repatriate Kiwis stuck in India
Scott Palmer and Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Hundreds of stranded New Zealanders helped home
Daniel Faitaua (1News): Commercial flights from London to Auckland still operating to get stranded Kiwis home
1News: Kiwis who helped stranded German travellers thanked with Auckland flyover by Lufthansa
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Kiwi expats eyeing the safe haven of home
Media, Bauer media
Tom Frewen (Scoop): Benefit Of The Doubt
Tim Hunter (NBR): Why Bauer is not a canary (paywalled)
Jim Tucker (Stuff): Why the Taranaki Daily News remains important in troubled time
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council magazine under threat with Bauer closure
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Another day another crisis; inside the Beehive bubble
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Surge of support for crisis-hit media
Gavin Ellis: New guidelines on terrorism: I hope we will not need them
Environment and conservation
TVNZ: Q+A: Covid-19 pandemic ‘terrible’ for the environment – Climate Change Minister
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Coronavirus curveball for Climate Change Commission
RNZ: Predator control programme
Alcohol
Cira Olivier (Herald): ‘Furious’ doctors call for alcohol delivery ban during lockdown (paywalled)
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Online alcohol sales soar during the Covid-19 lockdown
Pacific
Josie Pagani (Herald): Much-needed aid turned off during Covid 19 coronavirus lockdown (paywalled)
RNZ: Website launched with covid info for Pacific communities in NZ
RNZ: Dozens of NZers brought out of Vanuatu post-Cyclone Harold
RNZ: UN reaches out to Pacific, post-Cyclone Harold
RNZ: Pacific nations stay vigilant against coronavirus in cyclone’s aftermath
RNZ: Fiji declares State of Natural Disaster after Cyclone Harold
Christine Rovoi (RNZ): Thousands in Fiji without power after Cyclone Harold
RNZ: Hundreds of weekend arrests in Fiji for breaching Covid-19 restrictions
RNZ: Fiji PM says Covid-19 links show why people should adhere to restrictions
RNZ: Samoa still Covid-free but borders to remain closed
RNZ: Further plea for help as 50 hotels close in Samoa and hundreds jobless
Justice, corrections
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Longer jury trials hiatus ‘devastating’ but understandable – defence lawyer
Edward Gay (Stuff): Parole revoked for eight foreign prisoners due to leave New Zealand
Public inquiry into Earthquake Commission, Canterbury quakes
Michael Hayward and Dominic Harris (Stuff): Costly legacy of failed repairs laid bare in critical Earthquake Commission report
Michael Hayward (Stuff): Inquiry finds EQC unprepared for Canterbury quake claims, says changes needed
Liz McDonald (Stuff): EQC report: Incompetence, dysfunction and arrogance – people’s experiences laid bare
Kurt Bayer (Herald): EQC rocked by quake report: Cantabrians now have ‘deep mistrust’ of government
Miriam Harris and Grace Cocker (Newshub): Scathing EQC inquiry finds commission ill-equipped for Chch quake response
Katie Todd (RNZ): EQC poorly prepared for Canterbury earthquakes – inquiry
RNZ: Lockdown stalls Southern Response appeal against class action
Te Huirangi Waikerepuru has died
Jim Mather (Aotearoa Media Collective): Former Māori TV boss salutes Huirangi
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Te Huirangi Waikerepuru dies aged 91
Te Karere: Force behind te reo Māori revitalisation Dr Huirangi Waikerepuru passes away
Jane Matthews (Stuff): Taranaki’s mighty tōtara Dr Huirangi Waikerepuru has died
Deena Coster (Stuff): Keeping the legacy of revered te reo advocate Dr Huirangi Waikerepuru alive
Other
Bryan Bruce: Lockdown Day 18: Interview with Chris Trotter
Bryan Bruce: Lockdown Day 14 : Who Owns NZ Now?
Elisha Foon (RNZ): Domestic violence concerns prompt lockdown plea
1News: Increase in family harm incidents during lockdown period, police say
RNZ: Sole parents dealing with ‘a lot of stress’
Mihingaarangi Forbes (Aotearoa Media): Tuna, tapenade but no tangihanga
RNZ: Weddings aren’t being encouraged at level 4, officials say
Tom Dillane (Herald): Schools and sports fields given ‘urgent maintenance’ lockdown exemption
RNZ: Creative New Zealand pulls together $16m emergency response package
1News: Jacinda Ardern sends personal thanks to ‘Jenny from Invercargill’ who treated Boris Johnson
Danielle Clent (Stuff): Dozens of complaints to Human Rights Commission about Covid-19 racism
Andrew Gunn (Stuff): Somewhere on the road between Tauranga and Wellington, a Zoom meeting
Nile Bijoux (Stuff): Fuel prices continue to fall
RNZ: Concerns women’s sport could bear brunt of financial cutbacks
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Non-essential sales continue on Facebook Marketplace
RNZ: TradeMe sales still focusing on masks, laptops, sanitiser
Greta Yeoman: Newly arrived refugees in limbo in lockdown New Zealand
Helen Clark (Stuff): Missing In Action: the lack of a globally co-ordinated response to Covid-19
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Martin van Beynen (Stuff): Police probe bribery claims surrounding NZ’s main Muslim organisation
Nicholas Jones (Herald): The Government is planning to put folic acid in bread. Here’s why
RNZ: Last NZ soldiers to serve in Iraq to head home after isolation
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Young Labour camp assault: Man loses bid to keep name secret
Jared Savage (Herald): Gangs of New Zealand: Inside the ‘uncontrolled growth’ of the gang scene (paywalled)
RNZ: Mosque attacks: 51-second silence on 15 April aims to promote peace
Dave Goosselink (Newshub): Concern lingers for Tiwai Point aluminium smelter’s future
