NZ Politics Daily: 26 May 2023

1NEWS KANTAR POLL
Jessica Mutch McKay (1News): Poll: ‘If the Greens can’t get it together, the left will be in opposition’
Felix Desmarais (1News): Poll: National, ACT have numbers to govern, Luxon lags in preferred PM
Felix Desmarais (1News): ‘Disastrous’: Greens on possible National-ACT coalition
Claire Trevett (Herald): Whether the poll was a thumbs down for Budget or Chris Luxon’s Te Pāti Māori move, Chris Hipkins’ honeymoon is in the rear-view mirror (paywalled)
Richard Harman (Politik): Too close to call (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): TVNZ Poll: ACT/National Government as Greens plunge- Winners, Losers and Predictions
Spinoff: A polling snapshot
Adam Pearse (Herald): 1 News Kantar Public poll: National and Act can govern alone
RNZ: Political poll puts National and ACT in driver’s seat
David Farrar: Leaders in Preferred PM ratings

ELECTION, PARLIAMENT
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Te Pāti Māori and the ‘coalition of chaos’ (paywalled)
Anna Whyte (Post): Ministry of Education leads government spending on contractors and consultants (paywalled)
1News: Kerekere will still vote Green, talks about ‘reputation being tarnished’
Jack Tame (1News): Ruling out NZ First could help Luxon become PM
Max Harris (Post): We can’t afford a politics that lacks ambition (paywalled)
Josie Pagani (Stuff): So, you want to win the election?
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Christopher Luxon worries it’s hard to understand Māori names. What bubble is he in?
Brent Edwards (NBR): The Budget, interest rates, cold showers, business subsidies
Herald: The Māori Roll call continues as the July cut off date draws nearer
1News: PM jokes sausage rolls cause of 5kg weight gain this year

NATIONAL’S AI ATTACK ADS, AI
Justin Hu (1News): Revealed: National’s rejected AI attack ads
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Privacy Commissioner says groups should be ‘clear and upfront’ about AI content, loop in ‘senior leaders’
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Privacy Commission issues warning to companies and organisations using AI
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Artificial intelligence privacy warnings issued for companies, departments

HOUSING
Henry Cooke (Spinoff): Luxon’s housing backtrack will come back to bite the right
Bernard Hickey: Luxon kills the hopes of Townhouse Nation
\Malcolm McCracken: The future of the Medium Density Residential Standards
Ben Gracewood (Spinoff): Another urban planning fail, and Auckland’s outer suburbs get shafted
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Chris Luxon to ditch housing policy, wants ‘opt out’ option for higher density
Sinead Gill (Press): More than 700 children ‘homeless’ in temporary housing in Christchurch (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: Interest rates aren’t the problem – debt is the problem (paywalled)
David Hargreaves (Interest): Reserve Bank figures show the near-moribund mortgage market is being propped up by first-timers

LOAFERS LODGE FIRE TRAGEDY, BOARDING HOUSE SAFETY
James Shaw (Post): Fatal Loafers Lodge fire symptomatic of our political failings (paywalled)
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Auckland Council falls short on MBIE-recommended boarding houses checks
1News: Two more Loafers Lodge fire victims named by police
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Fourth Loafers Lodge victim identified as Kenneth Barnard, 67
Stuff: What we know about the four identified Loafers Lodge victims

GOVT’S MONEY-SAVING TIPS, COST OF LIVING
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Government’s campaign suggesting shorter showers to save money costing $2.8 million
Steven Cowan: Power to the People
No Right Turn: Labour lectures rather than acts
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Government advice on saving money is condescending
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says energy saving campaign’s ‘tone a bit off’
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Minister Megan Woods admits the tone of Government’s power saving campaign is ‘a bit off’
William Hewett (Newshub): Concerns cost of living crisis could lead to malnutrition and health issues

CLIMATE CHANGE, EXTREME WEATHER
Bernard Hickey (Spinoff): A better plan to pay us all for cutting our carbon use
Dan Brunskill (Interest): The Opportunities Party would give the Climate Change Commission independent powers similar to the Reserve Bank
Tatiana Gibbs (The Press): Companies faking clean green images to be called out in school climate strike(paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): The kids are right to be angry
Rob Stock (Stuff): Managed retreat: Day of reckoning for flood-hit homeowners nears
Rob Stock (Post): Tower deepens risk-based pricing in response to crime, inflation, extreme weather and higher reinsurance costs (paywalled)
John Campbell (1News): Wairoa mayor battles for 69yo disabled man to return home
Nick Wilson, Tim Chambers, Marnie Prickett, Adele Broadbent, and John Kerr (Public Health Communications Centre): Water infrastructure failures from Cyclone Gabrielle show low resilience to climate change
Felix Walton (RNZ): ‘Hard lessons we need to learn’ – Stormwater conference faces harsh climate reality
Jamie Morton (Herald): Maps reveal NZ’s hot spots for extreme coastal flooding
Alex Lo (Newsroom): When renewable energy is not ‘green’ enough

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, DEFENCE
Audrey Young (Herald): US v China: We know what side we’re on, says Defence Minister Andrew Little (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): New Zealand, Five Eyes issue alert warning of China state actor engaging in ‘malicious cyber activity
RNZ: NZ warned after Chinese hackers target critical US infrastructure – intelligence agencies
Thomas Manch (Post): Five Eyes countries issue warning about Chinese cyber spying (paywalled)
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): NZ blocks Myanmar from Asean study tour
Thomas Manch (Post): Defence Force experimenting with exploding drones due to ‘stark’ vulnerability (paywalled)
Adam Pearse (Herald): Army gets new $100m Bushmaster fleet as resignation requests dip after pay bump

EDUCATION
Jonathan Ayling (Stuff): Academics don’t feel free to air controversial opinions, according to survey
Fox Meyer (Critic): $355 Million for Tertiary Sector Reappropriated
Vita Molyneux (Herald): Why a Bachelor of Arts degree is a priority not a punchline
Gianina Schwanecke (Stuff): Concerns about 20 hours free extension shared by others in early childhood sector
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Many in early childhood sector up in arms over Government’s announcement
Gianina Schwanecke and Tatiana Gibbs (Press): Burnout from ‘over-assessment’ sees more schools ditching NCEA Level 1 (paywalled)
Michael Johnston (NZ Initiative): With NCEA, nothing endures but change

OCR HIKE, BUDGET
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Budget was testing water on higher spending and taxes
John Campbell (1News): The Reserve Bank Governor said read the MPS, so I did
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Is anyone else wondering if Adrian Orr is covering for Grant Robertson?
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Adrian Orr says he doesn’t ‘have anything more to answer’ amid Nicola Willis’ accusations of ‘wildly wrong’ inflation projections
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): National presses Adrian Orr on Reserve Bank’s benign take on government spending
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): OCR hike: Opposition questions RBNZ’s thinking on immigration and govt spending (paywalled)
RNZ: Can the cash rate hold steady, or will house prices push it up?
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Budget 2023: The things you might have missed
Nicola Willis (Herald): How to get New Zealand back on an even keel (paywalled)
RNZ: National’s Nicola Willis confirms policy costings will be released earlier
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Four years on from the Wellbeing Budget, how are our wellbeing stats still so woeful?

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Tina Law (Press): Council records yet another dismal satisfaction rating as chief executive’s performance scrutinised (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown short of votes to sell Auckland Airport shares (paywalled)
Christine Fletcher (Herald): Troubling air pocket in flight to sell Auckland Airport shares (paywalled)
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Gore’s council to consider petition asking for its chief executive to resign
Alisha Evans (Local Democracy Reporting): Councillor ‘disheartened’ by disagreement over te reo Māori use
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Northland’s local body Māori wards working well – ex-Māori Affairs Minister Dover Samuels

CONSERVATION
Thomas Cranmer: Department of Conservation Hit By Funding Crisis
Cushla Norman (1News): Mining giant sets sights on NZ, including conservation land
Matthew Martin (Post): Waikato River at risk from freshwater clam invasion (paywalled)
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): Country’s largest pōhutukawa infected with deadly myrtle rust

BUSINESS
Kelvin McDonald (Whakaata Māori): Māori tourism gets $8m boost to ‘keep the waka steady’
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Kiwibank has ‘nothing to hide’ over profits, chief executive Steve Jurkovich says
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Mercury fined $279,500 by the Commerce Commission over its early termination fees
RNZ: Mercury NZ fined for wrongly charging termination fee
RNZ: Sealord turns to Vietnamese workers to boost factory workforce
Dita De Boni (NBR): Fast fashion needs freezing out by ethical investors (paywalled)
RNZ: Few exporting firms majority-owned or led by women – report
Herald: Skilled labour shortage: Freight, logistics sector needs 18,000 workers for jobs

HEALTH
Nicole Bremner (1News): NZ health reforms causing apprehension among trauma specialists
Kristie Boland (Press): ‘Appallingly depressing’ mental health facilities to be replaced
RNZ: Pay boost for thousands of GP and community nurses
Melissa-Jade Gregan (Newsroom): Wide impact of court’s liquor licensing decision
Kirsty Frame (RNZ): Wellington gets NZ’s first ‘wet house’ to help alcohol-addicted homeless

BASTION POINT 
Katie Doyle (Stuff): Hundreds gather for dawn ceremony to mark 45 years since the Takaparawhau-Bastion Point eviction
Te Rina Kowhai (Newshub): Hundreds commemorate events at Takaparawhau Bastion Point, 45 years after occupation ended
Tumamao Harawira (Whakaata Māori): Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei remember Joe Hawke 45 years after police ended Bastion Point occupation
Spinoff: Takaparawhau: The people’s story of the Bastion Point occupation
Spinoff: Takaparawhau: The people’s story of the Bastion Point occupation, part two

OTHER
Chris Trotter: Our Maori Future
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): The Persistence Of Racism: Is the Anti-Racist Cause Winning or Losing?
Virginia Fallon (Post): Finally, a love of dogs means the greyhound racing industry is done (paywalled)
Cushla Norman (1News): Alan Hall case: ‘No failure’ by Crown Law to act on evidence sooner
RNZ: Alan Hall: Inquiry clears Crown Law of wrongdoing in miscarriage of justice case
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Former police recruits speak out about alleged sexual assault by in-house doctor
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Let’s Get Wellington Moving ‘lacks transparency’ (paywalled)
Shanti Mathias (Spinoff): The ‘third world’ isn’t the bogeyman New Zealand seems to think it is
Tim Hunter (NBR): Entain deal a gamble for Government (paywalled)
Natasha Frost (New York Times/Herald): They cuddled a Kiwi. New Zealand said, ‘stop that’ (paywalled)
Joanna Kidman (Newsroom):A bloody difficult historian