Inequality and poverty
Claire Achmad (RNZ): A brave and bold Budget 2021 is needed
Anna Whyte (1News): Child poverty report ‘grim reading’, says action group
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Child poverty report shows no measurable improvement in housing conditions, hospitalisations, food security
Michael Neilson (Herald): Child poverty: High housing costs, poor quality continue as factors, Government reports say
Zane Small (Newshub): Children going hungry: One in five Kiwi kids living in households where food runs out
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Principal on government lunch waste: ‘Schools, sort your systems out’
Jason Walls (Herald): Government spends $300,000 on My Food Bag for beneficiaries and food banks (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Child poverty: High housing costs, poor quality continue as factors
Political finance and donations
Sam Hurley and Jason Walls (Herald): Labour Party donations case: Solicitor and public servant among the six accused who allegedly created ‘illusion’
Zane Small (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern signals electoral law changes after Labour joins list of donation investigations
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Serious Fraud Office charges six people over 2017 Labour Party election donations
Sam Hurley (Herald): Serious Fraud Office charges six people in Labour Party donations case
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): SFO files criminal charges against six people in Labour Party donations case
Zane Small (Newshub): Serious Fraud Office charges six people over Labour Party donation
No Right Turn: Labour: Dirty and corrupt
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Electoral Commission chased Hutt South Labour for missing donation
He Puapua document and Maori self-determination
Chris Trotter (ODT): The He Puapua revolution
RNZ: Rawiri Waititi: Maori ‘sick and tired’ of being a political football
Abbey Wakefield (1News): Simon Bridges labels Maori Party co-leader’s haka in the House as ‘fun and games’
Zane Small (Newshub): How MPs reacted to Maori Party’s ‘racist rhetoric’ dispute
Employment relations; Pay freeze and Fair Pay Agreements
Democracy Project: Union worker: Pay freeze was an attempt at intimidation by a government scared of strikes
Matthew Hooton (Herald): What’s really driving Government’s pay agenda? (paywalled)
Laura Meriluoto (The Conversation): As the government is learning, a ‘wage freeze’ can come with unintended consequences
RNZ: Fair Pay Agreements bring a shift in industrial relations
Brent Edwards (NBR): How did government botch public sector pay expectations? (paywalled)
RNZ: Grant Robertson says public pay sector restrictions do not amount to pay freeze
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): BusinessNZ claims its input on risks of FPAs is ignored in Cabinet paper (paywalled)
Budget 2021, economy and work
Brian Fallow (Herald): What about the workers, Grant? (paywalled)
Anne Gibson (Herald): Budget 2021: Assistance to help more Maori get into homeownership a new focus (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): I’ll be tough and miserable says National’s Andrew Bayly but never boring (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Post-Covid wishlist needs to be backed with action and money
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Here’s how New Zealand’s income tax take compares to other countries
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): How much longer do we keep superannuation universal? (paywalled)
Parliament and Government
Peter Dunne: Labour’s post-Ardern leadership
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): Shocker of a week for the government
Bob Jones: The National Party’s Dilemma
Covid
Derek Cheng (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: How will New Zealand open up to the world?
Derek Cheng (Herald): Government’s blunt message for general public vaccine walk-ins
Florence Kerr (Stuff): Are the “priority groups” just guinea pigs for everyone else?
John Hartevelt (Stuff): This is the whole truth about the Covid-19 vaccine
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Dumb good luck’, not expert management, behind NZ’s Covid-19 success – expert
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Expert says call to ‘blow the health system up’ during Covid-19 vaccine rollout is bad timing
Mark Quinlivan and Dan Satherley (Newshub): Andrew Little hits out at medical expert for criticising timing of health sector reforms
Wellington City Council
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington City Council agrees to introduce Maori ward
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City councillors vote to establish a Maori ward
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington councillors vote to investigate car-free central city by 2025
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington Mayor Andy Foster’s fate to be decided in public
Damian George (Stuff): Councillors overturn plan to debate critical code of conduct findings behind closed doors
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Wellington Mayor commissions own legal advice saying he shouldn’t apologise to staff member, after critical report
Local government
Stuff: Editorial – ICC right to reject Maori ward but still faces tricky call over mana whenua seats
Tim Newman (Stuff): Maori Ward resolution ‘just the first step’ for Nelson
Tim Newman (Stuff): Mixed reaction to Nelson City Council’s Maori Ward decision
Housing crisis
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): What action is next from the Reserve Bank on housing?
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Is the housing market losing steam? Economists disagee
Miriam Bell (Stuff): House building costs have spiked as capacity constraints and supply shortages start to bite
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Emergency housing: Move to end ‘mixed-use’ motels practice in Rotorua
Leah Tebbutt (Herald): Govt’s $30m Rotorua motel emergency housing shake-up ‘not a solution’, says MP Todd McClay (paywalled)
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): More proof the Government has got it wrong on housing
International relations
Thomas Manch (Stuff): New Zealand raises international law violations with Israel, expresses ‘grave concern’ over escalating violence
Steven Cowan: Nanaia Mahuta: Failing the Palestinian people
Suzannah Jessep (Asia Media Centre): Reframing the India-NZ Relationship
Immigration
Richard Harman: An end to large scale immigration (paywalled)
RNZ: Immigration Minister confronted at rally over border restrictions
Nadine Porter (Stuff): ‘Families need to be reunited’: Vigil highlights heartache over residency delays
Michael Neilson (Herald): Heartbreak, tears and frustration at protest to reunite migrant families
Jacques Steenkamp (BusinessDesk): Labour shortage at ‘crisis point’ (paywalled)
Health
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Outsourcing underscores SDHB failure: academic
Justice
Daisy Hudson (ODT): Prisoner’s death prompts change
Harry Lock (RNZ): ‘We’ve got to stop bashing’: Politicians told to work together on Wellington safety
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): New Zealand’s adoption, three strikes laws ‘dreadful’ – former Judge
Education
Edward O’Driscoll (Newshub): Pre-Budget 2021 boost: Hopes early learning teachers’ pay boost will pep up dwindling workforce
Ben Strang (RNZ): National hammers government over unclear gun buy-back estimates
Other
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Ministers spent contingency funds of $6.8b project, after warnings from Treasury
Zane Small (Newshub): Tens of millions of dollars spent on Auckland light rail despite no shovels in the ground
Glenn McConnell and Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Newshub to close its Dunedin newsroom
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Taika Waititi fronts anti-racism campaign aimed at teachers
Imogen Wells (1News): Parliamentary inquiry finds lack of transparency in country’s uni hall sector
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Is your school burning fossil fuels? Even the Government may not know
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