Political Roundup: 11 November 2022

Items of interest and importance today

PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Shane Jones (Herald): Stop the forays into identity politics, de-colonisation and global posturing, St Jacinda. We must focus on economic essentials (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Luxon is not yet the direct threat Labour is painting him as
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Luxon set to reveal his election year team
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Labour terminates membership of volunteer who helped Dr Gaurav Sharma
Jonah Franke-Bowell (Stuff): Back to the future – Prime Minister visits Hamilton to back her candidate in by-election
Damien Venuto (Herald): Labour and National to duke it out in by-election battle
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Waititi’s bid to change Māori electoral option fails – but change will happen
Arena Williams and Stuart Smith (Stuff): Government departments are here to serve us – they need to remember that

RESERVE BANK, INFLATION
Herald Editorial: Political stand-off around Reserve Bank Governor not good for anyone(paywalled)
Tim Hunter (NBR): Reputation is the RBNZ’s big challenge now (paywalled)
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): Reserve Bank board chair says it’s open to an independent inquiry (paywalled)
Gyles Beckford (RNZ): Reappointed Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr in eye of ‘pandemic induced inflation storm’
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Reserve Bank rejects political criticisms, stands by review
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): National says Reserve Bank’s monetary policy review ‘fails credibility test’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Adrian Orr grateful for five more years as Reserve Bank governor(paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Report card: Reserve Bank gives itself a pass for handling of Covid chaos
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Reserve Bank’s $71b of money printing equivalent to 90-point OCR cut (paywalled)
Nona Pelletier and Russell Palmer (RNZ): Reserve Bank review finds worst-case economic scenarios were avoided
Katie Bradford (1News): Reserve Bank should’ve acted faster to fight inflation – report
David Hargreaves (Interest): Reserve Bank concedes inflation could have been lessened if it had acted earlier
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): RBNZ gives itself two thumbs up (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): RBNZ acknowledges it should’ve raised interest rates sooner(paywalled)
Gordon Campbell: On the midterms, Adrian Orr and taxing the Banks

BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT, COST OF LIVING
Cameron Smith (Herald): Global economic pendulum: Where will it leave New Zealand businesses and workers? (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Stuff): How the cost of living crisis has influenced how we work and spend
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Countdown owner offers Christmas price drop in Australia, no such luck for New Zealand
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Te Ao – Māori News): Long Covid symptoms for food support, survey finds
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Staff shortages still hitting hospitality and other sectors
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Thousands of KiwiSaver members ‘still missing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars’
RNZ: Applications invited for $54m fund for tourism initiatives
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): $54 million funding pot for projects that will transform NZ tourism
RNZ: Horticulture research firm up for liquidation six years after $8.4m govt funding
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Kiwi Wealth sale could be ’embarrassment of epic proportions’ (paywalled)
Kate McVicar (NBR): Business wellbeing falls as financial concerns rise: BDO (paywalled)

BANKING
Rob Stock (Stuff): How much are big bank bosses paid? It would take most of us decades to match them
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Expert disappointed open banking at least two years away
RNZ: Open banking: sector will be first to adopt data-sharing to make switching easier
Maiki Sherman (1News): Some experts divided on open banking
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): What is open banking? Government confirms change so Kiwis can get ‘best bang for buck’
Brent Edwards (NBR): Banking first sector to come under consumer data right mechanism(paywalled)

HOUSING
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Government ‘may have’ paid to move people to Rotorua motels
RNZ: Govt puts $204m more into Porirua infrastructure development
Luke Kirkness (Rotorua Daily Post): People complaining about Kāinga Ora Devon St plans make me sick (paywalled)
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Reserve Bank outlines design plans for tool it could enforce on banks to limit the debt-to-income ratio of home buyers
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Iwi group plans kaumātua village for Wairoa
Anne Gibson (Herald): NZ’s busiest privately owned residential developer laying off 30% of staff – also still hiring (paywalled)

EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Chronic absence rate nearly doubles in second school term – report
RNZ: Low school attendance further proof of decline of NZ education system – critic
Adam Burns (RNZ): No excuse for low attendance in schools says Luxon
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Pupils’ results worse in technology, arts than five years ago, tests show
David Farrar: Sometimes accountability means resignations
Tom Taylor (RNZ): Student nurses at breaking point with unpaid placements

ENVIRONMENT
Richard Harman (Politik): Farmers ambush Shaw (paywalled)
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Fonterra warns it risks losing customers, faces trade barriers if it doesn’t meet sustainability expectations
Keith Woodford (Interest): Flawed Government messaging creates further heat in the agricultural GHG debate. There is lots of work still to be done
Max Rasbrooke (Stuff): Climate and inequality: How a rising tide can sink the smallest boats
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Fisheries observers removed over health and safety fears
Luke Malpass (Stuff): National confirms end to offshore oil and gas ban if elected in 2023
Rachael Nath (RNZ): Tuvalu urges COP27 to adopt global treaty on fossil fuels
Robin Martin (RNZ): OMV signals exit from fossil fuel energy production
Robin Martin (RNZ): Decision to terminate Maari deal commercial – NZ Petroleum & Minerals
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): McAnulty to visit Northland in wake of new govt climate change report naming vulnerable communities
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Insurers call for ‘urgent’ action as climate change drives up home insurance costs
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Masterton council endorses hybrid road solution
Deborah LaHatte (Te Ao – Māori News): Tūpuna Maunga Authority takes next step in controversial tree plan

HEALTH
Ian Powell (BusinessDesk): New NZ health plan is a car without an engine (paywalled)
Peter Davis (Herald): Health crisis? What health crisis? (paywalled)
Kim Moodie (RNZ): Rural health network calls for action on ‘massive issue of rural inequity’
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Hawke’s Bay was promised a cancer radiation machine three years ago. The region is still waiting
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Māori receive equitable ACC support once entitlement claims are accepted, study finds
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why Sir David Skegg is ‘cautiously optimistic’ worst of Covid-19 is over
RNZ: Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations rising, death rate likely to increase – Health Ministry
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Daily cases could peak at 11,000 if new variants cause another wave
Newshub: Watch: Dentist visibly emotional as he spells out consequences Kiwis face when they don’t visit dentist
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Crohn’s drug that could ‘transform’ lives among seven medicines Pharmac will fund
1News: Pharmac funding 7 new medicines, increasing access to 2 more
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Aged-care ginger group gets personal with politicians(paywalled)
Molly Swift (Newshub): Aged care organisation behind elderly Jacinda Ardern billboard pleads for urgent change
Vita Molyneux (Herald): Billboards show aged versions of Jacinda Ardern, Grant Robertson to highlight care sector crisis
RNZ: Campaign sells West Coast as natural choice for health workers

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The real reasons people didn’t vote at the local elections
Tim Murphy (Newsroom) Auckland Council: What they’ve got to hide
Bernard Orsman (Herald): The two big winners in Auckland mayor Wayne Brown’s committee structure shuffle
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): ‘The real work starts today’: Plugging Auckland Council’s leaky budget
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Auckland mayor meets council to discuss $270m budget shortfall
Steven Walton (Stuff): Council criticised for keeping report on illegal occupation under wraps for a month
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Canterbury’s Ngāi Tahu councillors ‘here for all of us’
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Timaru council proposes to retain gambling policy
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Council reverses decision to revoke reserve status of Rotorua sites
Samantha Gee (RNZ): Nelson City Council votes no on $46m riverside library redevelopment project

THREE WATERS
Stephen Minto (Daily Blog): The Treaty of Waitangi and 3 waters Co-goverance
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Two National MPs back mayors over Three Waters
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): What is it that these government consultants do exactly?

CIVIL DEFENCE AND EMERGENCIES
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): Coast civil defence structure called out – ’11th hour’ and ‘headless chickens
Brendon McMahon (Local Democracy Reporting): West Coast fuel resilience project ramps up
RNZ: Nelson City Council assembles taskforce for post-deluge rebuild
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Emergency services to get $1.4 billion communications network

TRANSPORT
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington’s Snapper card rollout on trains comes with a catch
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): Council’s bus cuts prove city commuters can’t win(paywalled)

OTHER
Chris Finlayson (Listener/Herald): Hate speech legislation could have a chilling effect on NZ (paywalled)
Ripu Bhatia (Stuff): Racism affects 40% of Asian New Zealanders since Covid-19 pandemic onset
Golriz Ghahraman (Guardian): To the murderous regime that oppresses Iran, hear this: at home or abroad, we will never surrender
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Recapturing a national sense of belonging
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Would-be terrorists will be easier to catch as arms control reforms take effect, police minister says
Damien Venuto (Herald): TVNZ-RNZ merger: Simon Power’s message to Government, advertisers as uncertainty hangs over state broadcaster (paywalled)
David Farrar: ACT’s Karen Chhour on a ‘racist’ Oranga Tamariki policy
Julia Gabel (Herald): ‘Sobering’: New data highlights experiences and issues faced by rainbow community
Felix Walton (RNZ): Auckland suburb raises solidarity flag after homophobic incidents
Tumamao Harawira (Te Ao – Māori News): Brown Butterbean out to promote Census 2023
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): Over a million historic NZ photographs are going up for auction