Daily News Roundup – 14 April 2021

Housing crisis
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Housing bonus: National say councils should be given $50,000 for every new house built
Claire Trevett (Herald): National puts up its solution to housing shortage woes
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): ‘Motel generation’ feared as emergency housing need continues
Damian George (Stuff): City council brushes off criticism over $400m social housing gap
Daily Telegraph (Herald): Why billionaires are snapping up second homes in New Zealand
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): Two-thirds of economists predict rise in rent on the back of Government’s rule changes
Miriam Bell (Stuff): ‘Fake’ rent bills campaign irks landlords
John Collyns (Stuff): Let’s not confuse retirement village living with homeownership
Colin Comber (Stuff): Don’t confuse the property investor with the speculator
Tony Alexander (One Roof): Will landlords follow through on rent rise threats?
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): Government’s housing policies hamstrung by reluctance to act on timber, power prices (paywalled)
Ewan McDonald (One Roof): NZ’s most expensive properties: Who’s buying?
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Fears over ‘inaction’ on mouldy, damp, cold, sinking state house

Drug reform
Tess McClure (The Guardian): ‘A lack of political courage’: New Zealand’s drug reform efforts flounder
Zane Small (Newshub): Judith Collins pours cold water on Jacinda Ardern’s hope for bipartisanship on drug law reform

National Party leadership
Claire Trevett (Herald): Simon Bridges’ cryptic dance on Luxon-Bridges leadership talk
Irra Lee (1News): Collins confident National caucus backs her as leader, amid ‘whispers’ of Luxon-Bridges takeover
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): National Party facing another leadership contest rumour as Judith Collins seeks answers to party’s donations debacle
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): National need to cool their jets when it comes to the leadership

Maori Party referred to Police over donations
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup -The Maori Party needs to come clean
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘That’s the game’: Maori Party MPs warned attacks will come over donations scandal
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Ministers confident no taxpayer money used in Maori Party donations

Climate change
Jamie Morton (Herald): Climate change: Why are NZ’s emissions still rising?
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Uptick in climate-heating gases proves the need for a dry-year power fix — Megan Woods
Richard Harman: We have missed every emissions target so far (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Greenies can’t have it both ways with EVs

Parliament, Government, Greens
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Parliament takes its time on big human rights decisions
Oliver Hartwich (Herald): The politics of legal sausage-making (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Is personal ambition behind the Greens’ latest kooky idea?

New Parliamentary buildings
Amelia Wade (Newshub): From waterslides to karaoke to a Coke Zero fountain: What MPs dream of at Parliament
Jason Walls and Claire Trevett (Herald): New Parliamentary buildings include six-storey property next door, executive wing
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Parliament upgrade: Speaker unveils plans for three new buildings to future-proof Parliament complex
RNZ: New Parliament building to house MPs, staff planned for 2022 build

Local Government
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): ACT’s David Seymour compares Labour to Communist China after Tauranga commissioners vote for Maori ward
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): Horizons Regional Council seeking views on Maori representation (paywalled)
Don Brash: Maori wards again
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Paul Eagle’s power play raises question of Wellington mayoral bid (paywalled)
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Report being finalised after independent review of Wellington City Council
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Sludge tax: Wellington ratepayers could pay new levy for sewage

Economy and work
Richard Prebble (Herald): It is Social Credit and it will ruin us (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZ may have avoided ‘double-dip’ recession, NZIER believes
Newstalk ZB: Labour facing pressure to raise benefits in the Budget
Gerald McGhie (Herald): Exploring more trade possibilities with Russia (paywalled)

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Derek Cheng (Herald): All on track? Health Ministry urgently seeks several positions for vaccine roll-out
Herald: Editorial: Unvaccinated frontline staff our Achilles heel (paywalled)

Mental health crisis
Libby Wilson (Stuff): Nowhere to go for high needs patients stuck in Waikato DHB mental health ward
RNZ: Mental health acute units went over capacity several times – Waikato Hospital review

Health
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Safety concerns as nurses fill in for midwives on short-staffed wards
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Herald): Maori in fight of our lives against cancer (paywalled)
David Wait (Herald): Why nurses have rejected the collective agreement offer (paywalled)
1News: DHBs’ pay offer lacking and will put patients at risk — Christchurch Hospital nurses

Anti-terrorism laws and campaigns
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern admits proposed terror law changes wouldn’t have prevented Christchurch terror attack
Derek Cheng (Herald): Christchurch mosque shootings: Government to widen counter-terrorism law gaps
RNZ: Counterterrorism laws expansion bill follows up mosque attacks report
1News: Ardern says Christchurch Call making ‘tangible progress’, two years on from terrorist attack

Education
Charlotte Cook (RNZ): Hutt Valley High School principal ‘beyond angry’ as classrooms close due to mould, leaks
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Public v private: Parents urged to consider children’s needs rather than prestige when deciding on schools

Other
1News: Exclusive: Government set to announce end to live animal exports
Helen Castles (1News): Winston Peters shows he’s lost none of his trademark charm in rare post-election defeat interview with 1News
RNZ: Police photographing Maori woman at checkpoint ‘arbitrary, unlawful’ – IPCA
Julie Iles (NBR): Act Party president embroiled in charity probe (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Grant Robertson’s Air New Zealand letter puts airline board ‘in invidious position’: National (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): ‘That’ letter from the govt to Air NZ: what’s really in it? (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Islands of the lost heritage