NZ Politics Daily: 3 May 2023

MEKA WHAITIRI TO STAND FOR TE PĀTI MĀORI
Wena Harawira (Whakaata Māori): Meka Whaitiri jumps waka to Māori Party in shock move
Glenn McConnell and Luke Malpass (Stuff): Labour minister Meka Whaitiri to stand for Te Pāti Māori
Richard Harman (Politik): The Maori Party and Labour’s chances increase (paywalled)
1News: PM unaware of rumoured MP defection until UK arrival
Herald: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins learned shock news of minister Meka Whaitiri jumping ship to Te Pāti Māori on arrival in London
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Meka Whaitiri: Labour appears caught off guard as announcement looms
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Māori Party shockwave – Labour Cabinet Minister to defect
David Farrar: Meka defects
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Prime Minister’s Office appears to be blindsided by Meka Whaitiri move
Newshub: National says Labour ‘falling apart’, people escaping ‘sinking ship’ amid reports Meka Whaitiri defecting to Māori Party
Felix Desmarais (1News): Labour’s Meka Whaitiri to switch sides to Te Pāti Māori

PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Senior Green members to quit over ‘dragged out’ Elizabeth Kerekere bullying investigation
Roy Morgan: New Zealand: National/Act NZ on 44.5% are now just ahead of Labour/Greens on 42% but neither is set for a majority
Bridie Witton (Post): The dark arts of opposition research – does it work in New Zealand? (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (Post): Does opposition vetting in New Zealand work? (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Post): National challenges ACT for votes of 240,000 firearms users
Bridie Witton (Post): Winston Peters returns to Wellington with some strange new bedfellows (paywalled)
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): The Business of Government: DPMC’s Brook Barrington, trust in government and more … (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): National continues pursuit of Labour’s alleged secret tax in rowdy Question Time

IMMIGRATION
Madeleine Chapman (Spinoff): An apology and a wake-up call (literally)
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Heads should roll over Immigration NZ’s ‘dawn raid’ tactics
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Minister Michael Wood warns Immigration NZ over dawn raids tactics
RNZ: Dawn raid tactics still happening, despite government apology
Mildred Armah (Stuff): Immigration NZ mistakenly issues 115 visas, family told they could be deported
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Iranian-born doctor endures 17-month wait for security checks in visa process
Ankur Sabharwal (Stuff): It’s easy to lie and cheat your way into New Zealand
Elly Fleming (RNZ): The lottery keeping families apart and holding New Zealand back
William Hewett (Newshub): Economist Brad Olsen sounds alarm on impact of surging migration on critical resources

TRANSPORT
Thomas Coughlan and Chris Knox (Herald): Remuera-dwelling Tesla drivers – Where are the clean car rebates going? (paywalled)
Felix Desmarais (1News): ‘Tacky little culture war’: Wood, Brown spar over clean car scheme
Bernard Hickey: Govt throttles rebate scheme for electric cars
Tom Taylor (RNZ): Clean car customers waiting on orders may lose rebate
Nile Bijoux (Stuff): Biggest losers: those hit hardest by the Clean Car changes
Matthew Hansen (Post): Within the bowels of Clean Car measures lies a cruel irony (paywalled)
RNZ: EV rebates changed, fees on high-emitting vehicles raised under Clean Car Discount rethink
1News: Rebates and fees: Changes to Clean Car scheme explained
Piers Fuller (Post): Clean Car Discount changes hit farmers, tradies and used car buyers (paywalled)
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Further charges to clean-car discount scheme ‘bitter pill to swallow’ for farmers and tradies (paywalled)
No Right Turn: Michael Wood: Climate saboteur
Piers Fuller (Stuff): KiwiRail admits ‘systems failure’ leading to Wellington network fiasco
Georgina Campbell (Herald): KiwiRail reveals further problem that led to Wellington’s train fiasco
RNZ: KiwiRail orders investigation into failures leading to Wellington disruption
William Hewett (Newshub): KiwiRail boss admits they weren’t fully accurate in reasons behind Wellington’s rail disruptions
RNZ: Bus shortage adds to Wellington’s train troubles
William Hewett (Newshub): Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau calls for tougher punishments for Restore Passenger Rail protesters
Herald: Auckland’s bus woes: Mayor Wayne Brown says he is ‘seeking answers’ after swarm of cancellations

COST OF LIVING
Cameron Smith (Herald): Cost of living: 300,000 more New Zealanders worrying about money weekly (paywalled)
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Cost of living: One in two Kiwis worry about money daily or weekly as financial issues negatively affect wellbeing – report

HOUSING
Nicky Hager (Post): The bad processes risking bad decisions at Shelly Bay (paywalled)
Peter de Graaf (Northern Advocate): Kāinga Ora a no-show at public meeting about Kerikeri social housing plans
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Reserve Bank: Mortgage holders paying 22% of income in interest by year’s end
David Hargreaves (Interest): RBNZ expects more mortgage borrowers to fall behind with payments this year
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Government won’t support stressed mortgage holders (paywalled)
Greg Ninness (Interest): Residential property values are continuing to slide as the market heads towards winter
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Auckland’s median price drops below $1 million
Miriam Bell (Post): Why landlords hate not being able to issue ‘no cause’ terminations (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Why I support National’s tenancy policy
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Conditions for those living in council-owned motor camp ‘appalling, unfair’
John Collyns (Stuff: Let’s give people living in retirement villages some credit, please

TAX
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): No hiding from fact NZ’s wealthiest families own $85 billion (paywalled)
Gareth Hughes (Stuff): Tax reports gives us a failing grade
Richard Prebble (Herald): Why taxing ‘the rich’ will hurt us all

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, CORONATION
Jamie Ensor: National MP Simon O’Connor says New Zealand ‘stable’ because of constitutional monarchy, other systems have violence like ‘in Sudan’
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Independence Daze: When did Aotearoa / New Zealand break free?
Herald: King Charles’ coronation: Prime Minister Chris Hipkins meets Prince William at Windsor Castle
1News: Chris Hipkins arrives in UK ahead of King’s coronation
Catherine Hubbard (Nelson Mail): Kiwis relaxed, friendly and good negotiators, says EU diplomat
Peter Fa’afiu (Stuff): The urgent need to protect human rights in a more insecure, threatening world

ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE
Isobel Ewing (Newshub): Heatwaves melt 17 pct of ice off Southern Alps glaciers in three years – study
Timothy Gordon Walmsley and James K Carson (The Conversation): NZ industry burns the equivalent of 108 litres of petrol every second – that has to reduce to meet our carbon targets
Nicholas Boyack (Post): ‘Substantial’ sea wall needed for shared pathway to protect Eastbourne (paywalled)
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): Councils look to build ‘waste to energy’ plant to burn Auckland rubbish

EXTREME WEATHER, NATURAL DISASTERS
Tom Hunt (Post): The disaster scenarios keeping those in charge up at night (paywalled)
Kate Green (RNZ): ‘There’s no timeline’: Communities in limbo awaiting categorisation of cyclone damage
RNZ: Mayors of cyclone-affected regions want certainty for flood-damaged properties
RNZ: Records tumble as IAG works way through deluge of claims
RNZ: Hawke’s Bay needs more financial assistance or faces ruin – report

HEALTH
Katie Kenny (Stuff): Tales from the front line: ‘Ninety-nine percent of the time, we have no beds’
Katie Kenny (Post):’ I’ve stopped looking for respite now’: Healthcare workers are burning out as winter approaches (paywalled)
Gianina Schwanecke, Lee Kenny and Anna Whyte (Post): ‘A whole new addiction’: Calls for Government to do more to stop young people vaping (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Stuff): NZ won’t follow Australia’s vape crackdown this Parliamentary term – health minister
Giles Dexter (RNZ): Urgent debate needed on future on vaping in New Zealand – GP
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): An unauthorised video sparked a woman’s years-long fight for support
Emma Houpt (Rotorua Daily Post): Lakes children face long waits for dental surgery, ‘complex problem’ worsening in NZ (paywalled)
David Farrar: Our immunisation disaster
RNZ: Stroke risk ‘quite significant’ in younger people – prize-winning scientist

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): Mayor and licensing trust boss at odds over job ‘option’ for harassment complainant
Michael Fallow (Post): Call for Invercargill councillor to resign after stadium incident (paywalled)
RNZ: Teen employee ‘left in tears’ by comments from Invercargill City councillor Nigel Skelt
Damien Venuto (Herald): The Front Page: Stadium wars – Should we renovate Eden Park or build a waterfront stadium?
Tommy de Silva (Spinoff): Christchurch’s journey to becoming a more inclusive city
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Speed dating’ with Hurunui’s mayor
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Whangārei’s old town hall to get renovated, council to pay

MEDIA
The Facts: Kiwis rate media leanings
Stuff: RNZ misled public over Govt decision to wrap up MIQ, broadcast watchdog rules
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Why Police Ten 7 had no option but to end

EDUCATION
Hamish McNeilly (Press): University of Otago quiet on volunteers for redundancies as union plans stop-work meeting
David Cohen (The Australian): NZ tertiary institutions risk going broke by going a bit woke (paywalled)
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): Teacher strikes: What you need to know about the upcoming protests
Sharon Brettkelly (RNZ): The Detail: Inside the government’s school lunches programme
The Hui (Newshub): Calls for Kura Kaupapa Māori scheme to run alongside existing system
Adam Hollingsworth (Newshub): Northland principal says region is cracking the school absence crisis
Jerry Coyne: A new paper presages the death of science in New Zealand

PINK SHIRT DAY, BULLYING, SHANEEL LAL
The Ministry has fallen: Bully fronts anti-bullying campaign
Bob McCoskrie: The inconvenient truth about Pink Shirt Day
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Can Shaneel Lal really claim people are critical because of topless photos?

PRIMARY INDUSTRIES, OIO
Matthew Ronsenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): ‘Extreme danger’ at Gisborne beaches until after winter
Whanganui Chronicle: Horizons Regional Council to carry out aerial assessment of intensive winter grazing
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Federated Farmers claim Greenpeace is lying about Farmers poisoning water when that’s exactly what is happening
Tina Morrison (Post): Ikea investment firm buys livestock farms in Southland, Hawke’s Bay for forestry conversion (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Dutch forestry giants linked to Ikea cleared to buy 1600ha more NZ land (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Coca-Cola cleared to buy Auckland homes: Mt Wellington expansion planned (paywalled)

OTHER
Alexander Gillespie and Claire Breen (The Conversation): Parliament protest report shows NZ police have come a long way since 1981 – but practice and law must still improve
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Single parents facing ‘discrimination’ in daily lives, ‘negative attitudes’ from govt departments, employers – report
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Ministers consider whether community services card ‘fit for purpose’
Herald Editorial: What’s in it for me? (paywalled)
1News: Generous Kiwis donate $36.6m to charity amid cost of living crisis
Rose Crossin and Joe Boden (Newsroom): An Aotearoa drug policy for the 21st Century
Bess Manson (Stuff): Sir Ashley Bloomfield back in front of the camera, with new acting gig