Political Roundup: 23 December 2022

Political Roundup: 23 December 2022

Items of interest and importance today

PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Co-governance plan kicked down the road to 2024
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): RBNZ director hired, and then asked to give up another directorship to avoid being fired (paywalled)
Danyl McLauchlan (Listener/Herald): Dollars and sense: Does social investment work?(paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Te Pāti Māori wants to connect with Māori drawn to ‘white supremacist’ movements during the pandemic
1News: Te Pāti Māori frustrated by Govt’s incremental approach
1News: 2022 in Review: Māori voice grows louder throughout society
Adam Pearse (Herald): David Seymour will choose policies over positions in a National-Act government
Brent Edwards (NBR): Political winners and losers in 2022 (paywalled)
Newshub: Politicians reveal their highs and lows of the year (video)
David Farrar: Kiwiblog’s 2023 predictions
David Farrar: Scoring my 2022 predictions
1News: Man who won $100K ‘arrogant prick’ auction needs loan to pay for it
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern’s ‘arrogant prick’ comment snapped up by Reefton vet at auction
Newshub: ‘Arrogant prick’ Jacinda Ardern, David Seymour transcript auctioned off for $100,100
RNZ: Jacinda Ardern’s ‘arrogant prick’ insult aimed at David Seymour raises more than $100k for charity
Guardian: Jacinda Ardern’s ‘arrogant prick’ comment nets more than $100,000 at auction

TRANSPORT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): The 200 consulting firms working on Auckland Light Rail
Ben Strang (RNZ): Government agencies admit trouble achieving Road to Zero targets
Isobel Ewing (Newshub): Auckland Transport resorts to safety screens on buses after ‘startling’ increase in violence towards drivers
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): Air New Zealand reschedules nearly 2000 international flights for 2023

CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT, CONSERVATION
Bernard Hickey: Govt concedes to farmers on emissions
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): An emissions price in name only
RNZ: Climate activist says government locked in a compromised emissions pricing scheme
Rod Oram (Newsroom): Bold COP15 deal can halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030
Whakaata Māori: Plenty of fish in the sea for a feed

HEALTH AND COVID
Denise Piper (Stuff): Whangārei Hospital rebuild won’t stop long waits at ED, leaked documents show
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Hutt Hospital patients to remain in building despite earthquake risk
Bryan Betty (Herald): Getting the basics right in GP care forms my Christmas wish list(paywalled)
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): ACC sensitive claims counselling waitlist still rising
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Counties Manukau DHB’s $52m underspend on major projects exposed
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Demoralising, heartbreaking’: Gisborne nurse describes difficult working conditions
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Pharmac announces alternative drug for type 2 diabetics
Sophie Harris (Stuff): Auckland woman with terminal heart failure can’t get cardiologist appointment
Avina Vidyadharan (Stuff): A Christmas honeymoon in hospital – the cost of our health crisis
RNZ: Thousands to miss Christmas thanks to Covid-19 – how to avoid making it worse
Rachel Maher (Herald): Baby at centre of vaccinated blood stand-off discharged from hospital after life-saving surgery

ECONOMY
Bernard Hickey: Why are we using a blunt and short-term demand lever in response to two long-run supply shocks?
Bernard Hickey: CTU wants new Act to cut inflation and lift disposable income
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Economics Panel: NZ economy may surprise, shock in 2023(paywalled)
RNZ: Economist urging different approach to tackle inflation with new legal framework

BUSINESS
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Govt underwrite of business loans in 2020/21 wasn’t entirely necessary (paywalled)
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Govt business loan guarantee scheme not a great success(paywalled)
RNZ: Covid-19 business support loan scheme had room to be better – review
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Govt loan scheme helped marginal firms during Covid-19, review finds
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): Police officer accused of fraudulently getting Covid-19 wage support payment
Anne Gibson (Herald): Retirement village law review underway: Ministry ponders upping consumer protection (paywalled)
David Chaston (Interest): Business sentiment recoils after RBNZ shock

EDUCATION
Merran Davis (Stuff): Te Pukenga needs accountability, not teflon suits
Olivia Shivas (Stuff): Educational neglect of disabled children still happens today, advocates say
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Universities lukewarm on new website aimed at foreign students

HOUSING
Miriam Bell (Stuff): More chances for first-home buyers as house prices at cheaper end of market fall
Tracey Roxburgh (Herald): ‘It’s just nuts’: Workers leaving Queenstown in droves
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): What recession? Herne Bay, Arrowtown ride it out(paywalled)

OTHER
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Slow progress on changes to police practice of photographing people
Stuff: 501 deportee advocate will fight on after Crown human rights appeal
K Gurunathan (Stuff): As old Treaty grievances are settled, will today’s generation pass the latest acid test?
Max Frethey (Local Democracy Reporting): Only half of Nelson residents satisfied with council
André Chumko (Stuff): Quarter of Kiwi artists homeless or sought housing assistance in last five years – research
BusinessDesk: NZ Post keeps $400m of Kiwibank sale proceeds
RNZ: Taupō District Council loses chief executive Gareth Green to New Plymouth
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Stats NZ calls on Kiwis to get involved in collecting Census data for $30 per hour