NZ Politics Daily: 9 August 2021
National Party
Jane Patterson (RNZ): National Party’s annual conference: Something old, something blue – but little new
Liam Hehir (Guardian): Resolutions but no revolution as National ends its annual conference as divided as ever
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National promises unity, but finds it has delivery problems (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): In her conference speech, the National leader shifted from demanding debates to announcing debates had started. But where, asks Toby Manhire, was the policy?
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Collins and the seven deadly debates
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): National Party ‘letting it all hang out’, losing public faith – political analyst Bryce Edwards
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Newshub-Reid Research Poll shows nearly half of National voters think Judith Collins should be replaced as leader
Richard Harman (Politik): Behind Peter Goodfellow’s re-election (paywalled)
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): National board elections
Jane Patterson (RNZ): David Carter resigns from National Party board with ‘zero confidence’ in Goodfellow
Katie Bradford (1 News): ‘No confidence’ – David Carter explains exit from National Party
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): David Carter has ‘no confidence’ in Peter Goodfellow to fix National’s fortunes
1 News: Goodfellow remains National Party president, Carter resigns
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Peter Goodfellow re-elected National Party president
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): National Party president Peter Goodfellow re-elected
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Judith Collins promises bruised National has learned its lesson, promises ‘extreme vetting’ of candidates
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National conference: Judith Collins says party can win in 2023 if ‘focused’
RNZ: National Party conference: ‘Bitter lessons’ to learn from 2020
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): ‘Extreme vetting’ in future for National candidates (paywalled)
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Collins signals focus shift to ‘big issues’ in conference speech
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Judith Collins says National can rebuild for ‘easily winnable’ election
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Judith Collins gets stuck into ‘spin over reality’ Government, insists election ‘easily winnable’ in AGM speech
Henry Cooke (Stuff): ‘No longer the party of rural NZ’ — National members furious following conference
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Former Speaker David Carter resigns as he has ‘no confidence’ in Peter Goodfellow as president
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Judith Collins promises National Party members unity as she launches conference
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party members vote to rein in board and seat-hopping MPs
Anna Whyte (1 News): Collins pledges ‘zero tolerance for disunity’ in National
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Judith Collins embraces tikanga Māori at National Party conference after week of demanding debate on New Zealand name change
Claire Trevett (Herald): National slathers plaster over its cracks, but can it hold? (paywalled)
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – National’s internal discontent and mood for change
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Pleas for unity as drums beat in National
Andrew Gunn (Stuff): When support flags. Dispelling the ghost of a prime minister past
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of … The Collins Gang (paywalled)
1News: Muller won’t attend National caucus meetings when he returns
Greens
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): James Shaw wipes floor with rival as Marama Davidson lets rip at National Party
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Green Conference vs Blue Conference 2021: So many feelings
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Greens challenge National stance on conversion therapy, use of te reo
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Davidson decries ‘ghost of Don Brash’ in National Party
Derek Cheng (Herald): Green co-leaders unleash scathing attack on National Party
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): Shaw sees off challenger for Greens’ co-leadership
Bridie Witton (Stuff): James Shaw remains Green Party co-leader as National targeted at annual general meeting
Derek Cheng (Herald): Challenge to James Shaw’s Green Party co-leadership fizzles at AGM
Amelia Wade (Newshub): James Shaw shrugs off leadership challenge, Chlöe Swarbrick features in preferred Prime Minister rankings
Stuff: Greens co-leader James Shaw easily beats off challenge
1 News: James Shaw fights off leadership challenge at Green Party AGM
1 News: Marama Davidson says National is haunted by ‘ghost of Don Brash’
Newshub: James Shaw’s full Green Party AGM speech
Newshub: Marama Davidson’s full Green Party AGM speech
Health
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Andrew Little’s hospital pass
RNZ: DHB reforms: Government reveals ‘accountability’ for new health system
Anna Whyte (1 News): New indicators released to show health sector performance
Herald: New health system will keep public healthcare service authorities accountable
Zane Small (Newshub): Health Minister Andrew Little introduces 12 new indicators to replace ‘arbitrary’ health targets
Derek Cheng (Herald): Health reforms: Andrew Little’s hostile reception from GPs at Wellington conference
Newstalk ZB: Andrew Little and Mike King on new health indicators
Alex Psirides (Stuff): New Zealand doesn’t have enough ICU capacity, even without the effects of a pandemic
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Wellington Hospital emergency department: 11 nurses resigned in 10 days amid health and safety complaints
Siobhan Wilson (1 News): Mark Solomon slams Ministry of Health as ‘Ministry of Incompetence’
Phil Pennington (RNZ): DHB confident resthome currently meeting expectations
Cecile Meie (Stuff): Plan for $250m refit of ‘squalid’ Christchurch Hospital wing downgraded
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Preferred contractor built Chch Hospital
Cate Broughton and Kate Newton (Stuff): Rise in anti-depressant use ‘positive’, Ministry of Health says
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘It’s too important’: Andrew Little frustrated at slow pace of mental health projects
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Matt Doocey slams Labour on mental health at party conference
Mark Longley (Newshub): Mike King says Gumboot Friday won’t be applying for Government’s Mental Wellbeing Innovation Fund
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Māori health expert supports mental health review
Grace Curtis (Newsroom): ‘The reality of one, single suicide’
Amelia Wade (Newshub): GPs at breaking point as labour shortages, COVID-19 and health system cause widespread frustration
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Students called out for lying about mental health to get work extensions
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Vaping ‘a scourge’ sweeping through high schools, deputy principal says
Mike Dinsdale (Herald): Whangārei list MP Shane Reti’s cancer medicines members bill pulled from Parliamentary ballot (paywalled)
Conversion therapy
Breanna Barraclough (1 News): Opinion: National’s U-turn on conversion therapy ban flawed and contradictory
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Why it has taken so long to ban conversion therapy (paywalled)
Phil Smith (RNZ): Conversion practices & debate therapy
Dan Satherley (Newshub): National MPs defend vote against conversion therapy Bill, despite saying they support a ban
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Young Nats take fight to Judith Collins over gay conversion therapy at party conference
Newstalk ZB: Auckland Pride: National not welcome anymore after conversion therapy bill voting
Aotearoa or New Zealand?
ODT Editorial: Aotearoa v New Zealand faux fight
Jack Tame (Newstalk ZB): Don’t like ‘Aotearoa’? Don’t say it
Victor Billot (Newsroom): An ode for … Aotearoa
Budget documents
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Visa numbers tipped to fall after immigration reset, documents show
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Tax change expected to spur higher demand from cashed-up investors than owner-occupiers
Newstalk ZB: Deloitte tax partner: We could be seeing the beginning of a tax system rejig
RNZ: Abuse in care: Treasury recommended reducing investigations
Billionaire Larry Page granted entry to NZ
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): How fascinating are the Larry Page revelations?
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Google boss Larry Page secured New Zealand residency under wealthy investor category
Christine Rovoi (RNZ): Larry Page can travel to and from NZ due to residency visa
Tess McClure (Guardian): Google co-founder Larry Page is a New Zealand resident, government says
Covid-19
Claire Trevett (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern on the next six months, a vaccination pass and the Delta plan
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Reopening NZ – a Pandora’s box (paywalled)
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Level 4 lockdown likely if Delta variant takes hold in NZ, experts say
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Just one Delta Covid-19 case could prompt lockdown – expert
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why aren’t we using tracer app, scanning QR codes?
Andrew MacFarlane (1 News): Helen Clark doesn’t see NZ’s Covid-19 strategy changing
Anna Whyte (1 News): Too early to consider state of bubble suspension – PM
Covid-19 – Border restrictions, immigration
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Health Minister Andrew Little throws support behind ‘terrific’ Ashley Bloomfield, despite misleading committee
Brittney Deguara (Stuff):Dr Ashley Bloomfield exchanged text messages with Foreign Affairs Secretary over Covid-positive UN worker’s evacuation from Fiji
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Director-General of Health apologises to select committee for providing incorrect information
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Ashley Bloomfield should explain memory lapse to select committee – Chris Bishop
Herald: Clearer border rules after vaccination required (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Kiwis would prefer no lockdowns over loosening border – Ardern
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern says there’s no magic vaccine number that will see NZ open the border
Peter Wilson and Julie Fry (Interest): Manākitanga in the age of Covid
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): How Aotearoa-NZ could live up to its kind ‘Team of 5m’ self-belief
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Migrants’ dilemma: Farewell dying family via video or be locked out of NZ
Nick Truebridge (RNZ): NZ resident for nearly a decade ‘helpless’ after Immigration stalls, refuses wife’s visa
1 News: Govt defends decision to let Wallabies into NZ for Bledisloe Test
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): South African travel agency still waiting on school trip visa refund after Covid cancellation
Covid-19 – MIQ
Andrea Vance (Stuff): After a year of MIQ the complaints mount up – it’s time for a watchdog to step in
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National Party floats idea of a points-based system for managed isolation spots
RNZ: ACT criticises setting aside 400 MIQ rooms for expo attendees
Claire Trevett (Herald): Sir John Key on Covid MIQ, vaccine ‘failures’, National Party, 60th birthday(paywalled)
Kristin Hall (1 News): John Key calls MIQ booking system a ‘failure’
Heather Roy (Stuff): MIQ should be run by the airlines, not the Government
Covid-19 – Vaccination rollout
Jane Clifton (Herald): NZ’s vaccine rollout is embarrassingly slow, should they be compulsory?(paywalled)
Corazon Miller (1 News): MMR vaccines worth around $10m at risk of being dumped
Jamie Morton (Herald): Right-wing, conspiracy beliefs linked to vaccine scepticism
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Ashley Bloomfield ‘in the market’ for annual Covid-19 vaccine booster shots
Amy Williams(RNZ): ‘They have just rocked up’: People getting vaccine early despite not being eligible
Robin Martin (RNZ): Taranaki residents relieved, pleased to be vaccinated against Covid-19
Parliament, Māori roll, voting age
Jon Johansson (Stuff): The clock is ticking for Labour
Henry Cooke (Stuff): As Jacinda Ardern stumbles, Judith Collins has trouble tripping her up
Stuff: Points of Order: Are you ‘jacked off’? National Party MP Chris Luxon reckons you might be
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Labour slips off its pedestal
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Where do we begin on housing, migration, and almost everything else?
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): The Labour Party has a case of imposter syndrome (paywalled)
1 News: Inside Parliament: Beating the bots to MIQ, new RSE Covid bubble
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Tracing steps in fight against child poverty
James Elliot (Newsroom): Yesterdaze: The Band of the Wrong White Crowd
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Make switch to Māori roll easier, say Taranaki politicians
Housing
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern accused of treating politics ‘as a game’ after post emerges of her calling for housing as human right
Cira Olivier (Herald): Housing crisis: Children in emergency housing rises 34pc in a year (paywalled)
Jessica Tyson (Māori TV): Being Māori is not a limitation to becoming a homeowner – Otago University study
James O’Sullivan (Stuff): Why are house prices so high? It’s our own delusional thinking
Cira Olivier (Herald): Child poverty ‘dire’, calls for practical community support as housing unobtainable(paywalled)
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): State house development rises from ashes of tragedy
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Mayor Andy Foster to meet with Minister in battle for social housing subsidy
Tina Law (Stuff): Plea for leafy suburb to be exempt from new housing density rules
Hate speech
Matt McCarten (E-Tangata): We need fewer restrictions on speech, not more
Dan Satherley and Perry Wilton (Newshub): Muslim group questions whether MPs should be allowed to spread hate ‘under the cloak of Parliamentary privilege’
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): My submission to the Hate Speech law review
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Faafoi is a coward for hiding from Free Speech debate but Labour/Green apologists are worse
Labour market, industrial relations, migrant workers
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): What is behind the immigration delays, and why are some proposing an amnesty to resolve the deadlock?
Janet Wilson (Stuff): Does last week’s apology foreshadow another one?
Liam Dann (Herald): Don’t let inflation panic overshadow jobs success (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Skills crisis: Tech boss says ‘anti-immigrant’ New Zealand moving the goalposts(paywalled)
Jonathan Mosen (Stuff): Businesses not employing disabled people a moral and economic failure
Matt Burrows (Newshub): MBIE investigating Waikato dairy company Maharaj Farms after migrant worker claims boss didn’t pay him for 20 months
Daniel Riordan (NBR): Labour shortage here to stay, says bank regional forecast (paywalled)
Kirsty Wynn (Herald): Work Wellbeing Index: Healthcare workers, tradies and teachers say wellbeing is ignored
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Iranian man’s permanent residency delayed by years due to ‘absurd’ suspicion he will build WMDs
Energy
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Has Labour been sitting on the solution to fix the power market all along?
Nicholas Pointon (RNZ): Wholesale electricity prices remain high despite above average hydro lake levels
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Petrol market about to become more competitive, Waitomo and NPD predict
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RNZ: Marsden Point potential closure: Government defends import-only strategy
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Marsden Point refinery closure threatens energy security, Maritime Union says
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Energy Minister offers sympathies to refinery workers after closure vote
Denise Piper (Stuff): ‘Devastated’ workers and Northland leaders upset with oil refinery closure
RNZ: Refining NZ shareholders vote to switch Marsden Point to import-only terminal
No Right Turn: Marsden Point and security of supply
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Marsden Point’s fuel company owners split over biofuels
Local government
David Williams (Newsroom): Conservation board bust-up: Minister weighs in, ex-chair speaks
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): Three resign from West Coast Conservation Board over Ngāi Tahu conflict
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): City council spent $30,000 on unsuccessful bid to stop public meeting
1 News: Concerns raised after Otago Regional Council hits pause on air quality work
1 News: Lianne Dalziel hopeful of bright future for rebuilt Christchurch
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): Franz Josef floodwall cash signed off
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Hearing reveals alarming alcohol harm among Southland youth
Tom Dillane (Herald): $192,000 to paint Auckland, Henderson intersection blue slammed as ‘shambolic’ waste of public funds
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): Council-run plant nursery’s $188k loss ‘favourable to budget’
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): P-card spending at New Plymouth District Council tops $1 million in two years, as review finds system is failing
Luisa Girao (ODT): City council committee to consider policy on allowances and expenses
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): A call to arms for honesty on Hamilton’s history
Environment, climate change, conservation
Peter Griffin (Stuff): Climate change: We need a post-growth world
Baz Macdonald (Guardian): New Zealand farmers have avoided regulation for decades. Now their bill has come due
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Making sense of ‘Milk and Money’
Rod Oram (Newsroom): Time to put right the damage we’ve done to nature
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Should we buy out dairy polluters?
Laura Smith (ODT): Idea of monetary incentive for land use conversion raised
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Calves’ stomachs can be trained to produce less methane, research finds
Will Harvie (Stuff): Environmental groups at odds over Christchurch estuary walkway
Sally Rae (ODT): Ambitious plan evolving
Will Trafford (Māori TV): Whitebait: New rules as experts warn species face extinction
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Aiming to make New Zealand the global exemplar for sustainable fashion(paywalled)
Transport
1 News: Auckland Council, AT, sued over RLTP’s failure to reduce emissions
1 News: Auckland councillor calls for free public transport to address fairness
Steve Stannard (Stuff): ‘Ute tax’ not the smartest way to get Kiwis driving down carbon emissions
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Survey claims Government’s clean car scheme could shift the market
Keith Lynch (Stuff): ‘The Hunger Games of transport’: One of Auckland’s busiest cycleways explained
Eric Crampton (Stuff): Deciding how to decide about transport
Simon Wilson (Herald): Why is the Government burning all the harbour bridges? (paywalled)
Simon Wilson (Herald): Blowout! Auckland harbour tunnels will cost $15 billion
Claire Trevett (Herald): Auckland harbour cycle bridge: Jacinda Ardern confirms Government looking at other options (paywalled)
Damian George (Stuff): Southern Hemisphere’s first fully-electric passenger ferry to launch on September 9
International relations
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): ‘Crushing’ deportation to NZ after four decades in Australia
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): The new militarisation of the Pacific
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Pacific leaders look back on 50 years, and ahead at ‘perfect storm’
RNZ: Pacific Islands Forum marks 50th anniversary
Clare de Lore (The Listener/Herald): ‘They will kill me’: Taliban target appeals to Jacinda Ardern for help(paywalled)
Kelly Dennett (Stuff): ‘The spy who came to Dor’: How French spy Christine Cabon, a ‘crucial’ part of the Rainbow Warrior bombing, fled NZ police
Media
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Mediawatch: Accountability in question after MediaWorks review
Alison Mau (Stuff): The MediaWorks mess: What will Cam Wallace do next?
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): MediaWorks directors seem set on lying low after blistering review(paywalled)
Katie Harris (Herald): MediaWorks review: How things got so bad – the tight-knit culture that enabled toxic behaviour to thrive
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Mediaworks and sexual harassment
RNZ: The Detail: The group guarding NZ’s media freedom
Commerce Commission supermarkets report
Daniel Eb (Stuff): Cracking the code on a failing food system.
Mike O’Donnell (Stuff): Competition in the grocery sector is not working for consumers, so what could be an alternative?
Education and training
Katy Jones (Stuff): Three students: why no roll growth at special school saved from closure?
Kerre McIvor: (Herald): Don’t like their rules? Don’t choose that school for your child (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: The f-word and a lack of class at Macleans College (paywalled)
Laura Smith (ODT): Pupil petitioning Govt to raise boarding grant
Brooke Hunter (1 News): Palmerston North school keeping bathroom camera despite concern
John Cosgrove (ODT): Engineering academy launched
Laura Walters: (Stuff): Universities tweak relationships with China to protect academic freedom and autonomy
Matt Heath (Herald): Why being wrong is good – and being offended is cowardly (paywalled)
Critic investigation into Action Zealandia
Elliot Weir (Critic): Investigation Sheds Light on Aotearoa’s Largest Neo-Nazi Group
Elliot Weir (Critic): Fascism 2.0: Lessons from six months in New Zealand’s largest white supremacist group
Elliot Weir (Critic): I spent six months undercover in a neo-Nazi group and it was not fun
Pike River
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘He never went down’: Andrew Little slams Winston Peters’ Pike River claims
Conor Whitten (Newshub): Winston Peters alleges Govt broke its word on Pike re-entry, is taking fight to court
Other
Brian Easton (Pundit): How Broken Is The Public Service?
Katharine Cresswell Riol and Sean Connelly (ODT): Facing up to the hurt of hunger
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Inequality has exploded under Labour – is the egalitarian dream dead?
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Benefit sanctions: study reveals many unaware cuts can be challenged
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Work and Income to remove ‘shameful’ poster after social media outrage
Phil Pennington (RNZ): ACC cover for volunteer firefighters would be unfair, govt says
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): ‘An avoidable tragedy’: A problem gambler blew his life savings, then dropped dead
Jarrod Gilbert (Herald): Gun register vital to keep them out of gangs, other wrong hands (paywalled)
1 News: Influence of gangs in prisons rising, exclusive figures show
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Salvation Army throws support behind Tairāwhiti programme
Liu Chen (RNZ): Youths kept at residences for too long – report
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Oranga Tamariki apologises after violent father repeatedly told where to find son, despite protection order
Laura Smith (ODT): Winter grazing scrutinised again
Nadia Lim (Stuff): We need to bridge the urban-rural divide
Donna Miles (Stuff): An effective apology for the dawn raids must end with action
Khylee Quince (Stuff): Dawn raids apology highlights case for cultural justice
Bill Ralston (Herald): Isis bride Suhayra Aden was a teen who made a very poor choice. She deserves a second chance in NZ (paywalled)
Steven Joyce (Herald): Overheated economy about to burn borrowers (paywalled)
1 News: Greyhound deaths put NZ racing on notice
Kelly Dennett (Stuff): Ministry reviews regulations, as businesses fear bust amid slow-moving Medicinal Cannabis Scheme
Mike Dinsdale (Northern Advocate): Former Te Runanga-a-iwi o Ngāpuhi Chair Raniera “Sonny” Tau pleads not guilty to sex charge
Herald: Ministry of Justice survey: Cybercrime and sex attack victims reluctant to involve police
Rob Stock (Stuff): Shock end to James Hardie class action lawsuit prompts calls for controls over litigation lenders
Lawrence Gullery (Stuff): Defining moment for Ngāti Maniapoto as iwi urged to vote on Treaty settlement
Will Trafford (Māori TV): Australians use British dictionary definition in Mānuka trademark battle
Sela Jane Hopgood (RNZ): Pasifika abuse survivor calls for change in Catholic church
Cushla Norman (1 News): Clown bashed by police in 1981 Springbok tour wants answers