Political Roundup: 7 September 2022

COVID
David Fisher (Herald): Blunder in Wellington let women into Northland and shut the region for 11 days
Sam Olley (RNZ): Details revealed of investigation of women who sparked Northland Covid-19 lockdown
Richard Prebble (Herald): Why an independent Covid inquiry is needed (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Herald): Explained – where – and why – NZ must keep masks on

GOVERNMENT AND PARLIAMENT
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Lawyer claims Labour official knew of donations scam
Gareth Hughes (Newsroom): Tax backflip and house flips, neither pays for nurses and firefighters
Brigitte Morten (NBR): Time to re-examine some parliamentary tools (paywalled)

JUSTICE AND LAW AND ORDER
Adam Pearse (Herald): Will the Government’s new $53m youth crime package actually work?
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Māori TV): Be careful about new police powers against gang assets, pundit says
Herald: Youth crime: National Party leader Christopher Luxon calls on parents to take responsibility after spike in serious offending
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): National ‘wouldn’t support’ ACT’s idea to put youth offenders who commit serious crimes in ankle bracelets – Christopher Luxon
Herald Editorial: Decreasing gun crime may help shoot down other problems (paywalled)
John MacDonald (Herald): Gang crackdown can’t come quickly enough
Katarina Williams (Stuff): School board vetting to be considered after white supremacist’s election tilt
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): White supremacist group infiltrated

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ELECTIONS
David Shand (Herald): Auckland voters – here’s some questions you should be asking
Simon Wilson (Herald): Co-governance, climate change and the big fix Auckland needs(paywalled)
Mihingarangi Forbes (Newshub): Mayoral candidates refuse to acknowledge mana whenua groups
Danielle Zollickhofer (Herald): Get to know your council candidates before you vote
Kiri Gillespie (Herald): Fewer female candidates in Bay of Plenty councils ‘significant concern’
No Right Turn: A corrupt abuse of power

ECONOMY, EMPLOYMENT AND INEQUALITY
Hayden Donnell (Spinoff): Let’s copy and paste Australia’s tax code
John Weekes (Herald): Dawn of a trillion-dollar wealth transfer: Kiwi philanthropic donations keep on even during pandemic (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Russian-Ukraine war: NZ’s Treasury warns of higher inflation, interest rates, food prices and lower economic growth, house prices (paywalled)
Kate Newton (Stuff): Inflation seems to be stabilising in patches – but NZ remains largely at the mercy of forces beyond our control
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Property investors are banking on capital gains to justify their investment, tax data shows
Damien Venuto (Herald): Why NZ’s housing market is seen as the world’s ‘crash test dummy’
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Continuous Disclosure: The infamous tax bill wasn’t all bad
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Key player in Government’s income insurance scheme threatens to pull support if tax cuts not included
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): A tight NZ job market will add to future skill shortages
Roger Partridge (Herald): Flawed RBNZ board appointment process symptom of wider malaise (paywalled)

HOUSING
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): MP wants funding freeze for Rotorua homeless motels, investigation of ‘absolute train wreck’
Liz Gordon (Aotearoa Insight): Farming the old, warehousing the poor
Kerre Woodham (Newstalk): I’m not OK with the Govt giving out billions for emergency housing and failing to account for it
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk): Rotorua will not recover from this
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Rotorua emergency housing motels: What mayoral candidates would do

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Pacific Island states bristle at ‘Indo-Pacific’ label
Christine Rovoi (Stuff): Mahuta visits PNG: NZ to strengthen Pacific ties amid China tensions
Mike Smith (The Standard): ‘Training’ for an early grave

OTHER
Dita De Boni (NBR): RNZ’s promiscuous approach to content sharing a problem(paywalled)
Suraya Sidhu Singh (Spinoff): One simple trick to get more people on trains and buses: run them more often
RNZ: Greenhouse gas emissions fell during lockdowns – Stats NZ
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Low pass rates in trial of NCEA literacy and numeracy tests alarm principals
Mike Hosking (Newstalk): Govt priorities for education are all wrong
Aaron Smale (North & South): The Misery-Go-Round
Cas Saunders (ODT): Cuts could lead to street protests: mayor