NZ Politics Daily: 23 February 2022

Parliamentary Grounds occupation and mandates: Analysis
Toby Manhire (The Spinoff): Divided? Splintered? What the parliament occupation says about New Zealand now
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): The protesters are losing the PR battle
Juliet Moses (Herald): Anti-Semitism and the Wellington protesters (paywalled)
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): Covid has caused Māori conflict – healing must unite us again
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Grim mood shift at protest as police tighten siege net
Geoffrey Palmer (Stuff): Peace, order, and police powers in demonstrations
Brigitte Morten (NBR): Once teddy bears, now protests: Cracks of division (paywalled)
Rodney Hide: The Protestors Have Won
Deborah Chambers (Herald): Baby, where did our rights go? (paywalled)
Stuff: Editorial – Mandates have served us well
Herald: Editorial – Omicron outbreak editorial: Mandates will end when we are ready (paywalled)
Laura Walters (Stuff): How the presence of children at the Parliament occupation complicates everything
ODT: Editorial – Policing the protest
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Is this really the most divisive govt in recent memory?
Adam Pearse (Herald): Parliament protest: Why today is a turning point after riot police action
Samuel Hill (The Platform): The protest of a generation
Kristin Hall (1News): False flag conspiracies rife after Parliament protest clashes
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Promoting division among people is the most ‘unkind’ thing a govt can do
Kris Shannon (Herald): Five reasons why we should stop knighting sportspeople (paywalled)
Jo Raphael (Herald): Gathering deteriorates into dangerous, chaotic, filthy mess
Michael Daubs (Newsroom): Radicalisation in real time
Linda Hall (Herald): Shout out to our awesome NZ Police
Pat O’Dea (Daily Blog): Solidarity forever

Parliamentary Grounds occupation: News reporting
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Christopher Luxon hits out at PM Jacinda Ardern, denies he sympathises with anti-mandate protesters
Zane Small (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern accuses National’s Christopher Luxon of dancing ‘dangerously close to sympathy’ for protesters
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern ‘concerned’ for police safety, but says army is not required
Herald: Attacks on police during Parliament protests ‘absolutely disgraceful’ – Jacinda Ardern
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern rejects ‘differences in opinion mean we are divided as a nation’ over COVID-19 response
Tom Hunt (Stuff): ‘Dangerous’ and ‘appalling’: Fury after Wellington mayor meets protesters
Ben Strang and Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Police respond ‘affirmatively’ as occupation grows more aggressive
RNZ: Police ‘appalled’ after violent scenes, three injured
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Two arrests after clash with police reportedly injures three officers
1News: ‘Increasingly volatile’ protest shuts Wellington Girls’ College
RNZ: Wellington local says he witnessed ‘violent’ assault at Parliament protest
George Block (Stuff): Senior Auckland Hells Angels gang member at Wellington protest
Michael Neilson (Herald): Police ramp up actions as tensions rise at Parliament occupation
Nick Truebridge (RNZ): Police criticise ‘disgraceful’ protesters after early morning conflict
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): NZ First leader Winston Peters tours Parliament protest camp as police prepare for another showdown in central Wellington
1News: Winston Peters tours Parliament protest camp
Newstalk ZB: Winston Peters: MPs should have met with protesters weeks ago
Stuff: Sir Russell Coutts latest sportsperson to attend anti-mandate protest at Parliament
Herald: Criminals subject to GPS monitoring among those attending Parliament protest
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Police anger Wellington residents by taking car parks
Newshub: Patrick Gower says ‘absolutely no need’ for dialogue with protesters at Parliament
Stefan Dimitrof (Māori TV): Matthew Tukaki: Pack up, clean up and go home
Kirsty Johnston (Stuff): ‘It’s like a cult’: How anti-vaccine “mumfluencers” are fuelling the Parliament occupation

Covid
Alex Psirides (Guardian): Two years have passed since the Covid pandemic began but New Zealand ICUs still aren’t ready
RNZ: Omicron outbreak peak could reach 4000 cases a day in northern areas – modelling
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Frustration over Govt’s ‘misleading’ Covid testing figures
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Another misleading number from Dr Bloomfield? (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Yet more Bloomfield bs (paywalled)
Jean Bell (Newsroom): Week-long waits for Covid PCR test results will worsen outbreak – epidemiologist
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Auckland testing centres will give out rapid antigen tests to all
Aimee Shaw (Stuff): Sir Ian Taylor urges Government to allow business to sell and distribute RATs(paywalled
James Hadfield, Jemma Geoghegan, Joep de Ligt, and Michael Bunce (The Conversation): As New Zealand’s Omicron infections rise rapidly, genome surveillance is shifting gears
Kirsty Wynn (Herald): Online grocery orders expected to surge along with Omicron as more households isolate
Andy Anglemyer (Herald): Demystifying maths behind vaccination status and hospitalisation (paywalled)
Nikki Preston and Julia Gabel (Herald): Community testing sites in Auckland continue to face high demand
David Farrar: We need a NZ version of this

Ukraine and foreign affairs
Charlie Dreaver (RNZ): National Party pushes for legislation to sanction Russia over Ukraine actions
Robert Ayson (Newsroom): What New Zealand could do about Ukraine
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Ukraine crisis: Nanaia Mahuta accuses Russia of breaching international law after Vladimir Putin declares two Ukraine states ‘independent’, sends in troops
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Ukraine Crisis: Nanaia Mahuta concerned Vladimir Putin laying grounds for Ukraine invasion
James Halpin (Stuff): Ukraine: NZ says recognition of breakaway republics is ‘pretext for invasion’
James Halpin (Stuff): Nanaia Mahuta says NZ ‘supports Ukraine’s sovereignty’ after Putin sends troops in
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Western powers weigh up sanctions as Russia orders troops into Ukraine, bringing Eastern Europe to brink of war
Bernard Hickey: What the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine might mean for Aotearoa-NZ (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Mahuta heads to a Europe looking abroad, stressed within
Lucy Craymer (Stuff): The old order of the Pacific has changed: China has a growing list of friends and ever greater influence

Economy and employment
David Burton (Stuff): Pay rises a hairy issue for both private and public sectors
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Weaning New Zealand off financial heroin
Oliver Hartwich (Herald): An inflation crisis of the Government’s making (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Govt must wake up to the economic pain it’s causing
RNZ: Call to support Tongan workers in NZ, Aust labour programmes
Henry Burrell (BusinessDesk): A plan with no plan: the government’s digital tech blueprint (paywalled)
Matthew Martin (Stuff): New sustainable lithium extraction tech could be New Zealand’s ‘white gold’ – Nash
Andrea Fox (Herald): Radical new fuel import system sparks big concerns for New Zealand (paywalled)
Matt Nippert (Herald): Covid-19 wage subsidy: Auckland man admits ripping off scheme

Housing
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Worsening housing affordability to impact on local elections
Miriam Bell (Stuff): ANZ: This is the interest rate that will make First-home buyers struggle
David Hargreaves (Interest): Westpac economists see housing shortage ending in Auckland next year
Anne Gibson (Herald): Vietnamese modular housing apartments planned for Northcote state land(paywalled)
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Kāinga Ora’s new tools to address bad neighbours

Media, social media, and information
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Decision made on TVNZ, RNZ merger by the Cabinet, sources suggest
Jean Bell (Newsroom): Investors seek transparency from social media giants after mosques attack
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Sean Plunket vs Duncan Grieve in NZ on Air smack down
Newshub: Oriini Kaipara joins Simon Shepherd as Newshub Nation co-host

Local government
Andrew Marshall (ODT): City joins 3 Waters protest
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Dunedin councillor told he was ’embarrassing’ himself by mayor
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Kāpiti council forced to apologise by Ombudsman

Health
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Concerns new St John critical care model will increase health inequity in some areas
Laura Walters (Stuff): New telehealth service will remove barriers to accessing abortion
Rachel Thomas (Stuff) Wellington children’s hospital opening delayed further
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Cancer patient’s operation in Christchurch cancelled as she waited in hospital gown

Other
Richard Shaw (The Conversation): Mid-term pressures test Jacinda Ardern’s Labour government, but National must still find the new political centre
Audrey Young (Herald): Co-governance and the Treaty partnership project – all you need to know(paywalled)
David Williams (Interest): March 15 families retraumatised by state
Lucy Xia (Stuff): Chinese applicants to fast tracked residency scheme face delays
Stuff: Editorial – Real positives emerge from shameful attack
Miriam Burrell (Herald): Victims of coercive relationships likely to normalise behaviour and not seek help, survey reveals
Carrie Leonetti (Newsroom): The Family Court’s shocking practice of arresting children
Isaac Davison (Herald): How a Tūhoe researcher rose through the academic ranks to lead the largest study of child development in New Zealand (paywalled)
Nikitin Sallee (BusinessDesk): The Kwok: a public servant ‘doing his job’
Patrick Rooney (Daily Blog): Trains connect our communities and are part of climate action. So why are we runnning them down?