Daily News Roundup – 16 April 2021

National Party leadership
Matthew Hooton (Herald): My message to National – and how to avoid another leadership fiasco (paywalled)
Peter Dunne: National needs to sort out what it stands for before it thinks about leadership
Grant Duncan: The National Party’s leadership woes

Government
Richard Harman: So Grant, what’s next? (paywalled)

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Government is taking the p*ss when it comes to MIQ
Jason Walls (Herald): Chris Hipkins offers half-hearted support for Covid testing register
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): How are officials this useless and still in work?
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The billion-dollar plan to get everyone who wants a jab vaccinated by 2022
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): MIQ security guard’s testing hiatus: Ardern maintains company, guard to blame
Peter Williams (Magic Talk): Why you should be sceptical of Hipkins, Bloomfield
Kerre McIvor (Newstalk ZB): Officials prove once again we’ve survived by dumb, pure luck

Housing crisis
Rob Stock (Stuff): Standard & Poor’s predicts an ‘orderly unwinding’ of house prices
Madison Reidy (Newshub): Growing hesitancy in housing market as fear of missing out gives way to fear of overpaying – industry insiders
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): House prices soar as sales rise to 14-year high
Ethan Te Ora (Stuff): Wellington has the most understocked housing inventory in the country, says new data
Kate Green (Stuff): The only way is up: high-density housing key to responsible land use in Wellington facing climate change
Herald: Wellington house prices jump nearly 25 per cent in a year

Local Government
Joel Maxwell (Stuff): Welcome to the new age of Maori power as Hamilton council revokes Maori ward decision
Damian George (Stuff): City councillors welcome review highlighting poor governance, allegations of bullying, and lack of direction
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Wellington Central Library adopts gifted name: Te Matapihi ki te Ao Nui
Joel MacManus (Stuff): No new pokie machines will be allowed in Wellington as council passes sinking lid policy
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Maori wards vote may be close as Manawatu councillors split over issue
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Public to have say on Maori wards in Hamilton
Nikki Preston (Stuff): Ratepayers fund Waikato Regional Council chair’s ‘feel-good gifts’ at train launch

Parliament
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Covid-19 committee carry-on catches Labour lacking
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Labour reprimanded for treatment of National MP Chris Bishop at testy parliamentary committee
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour’s ‘patsy’ questions prompt Speaker Trevor Mallard to give National extended scrutiny of COVID-19 response

Economy and work
1News: Three billion dollars for about 7000 jobs: Has the Provincial Growth Fund worked?
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Amazon may be on the way to New Zealand, as Government signs subsidy deal
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Hospitality businesses predicted to be hardest hit in wave of insolvencies (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Energy Minister Megan Woods not ready to give power firms the ‘Telecom’ treatment
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Record shift off benefit ‘sign of improving job market’
Grant Bradley (Herald): Grant Robertson letter to Air New Zealand: What chairman Dame Therese Walsh thinks (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): Reserve Bank signals ‘prolonged period of time’ before monetary policy changes (paywalled)

Climate change
1News: Govt not living up to promise of Ardern’s climate change-nuclear-free moment speech, James Shaw admits
Jamie Morton (Herald): Does ‘people power’ distract from corporate responsibility?
Jamie Morton (Herald): Are we doing enough to prepare?
Brian Fallow (Herald): Climate change plan – emissions impossible for farmers? (paywalled)

Transport
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Slow start for passenger numbers on new Hamilton to Auckland train’s first week
Herald: Slow start for Hamilton to Auckland commuter train, plans underway to lure more passengers
Kate Hawkesby (Newstalk ZB): NZTA needs to listen to their own people

Health
Lucy Xia and Kendall Hutt (Stuff): Government to expand school mental health, wellbeing programme
RNZ: Business case for new Dunedin hospital to go before Cabinet
Stuff: Editorial – Smoking’s last gasp
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government proposes drastic cut to tobacco retailers, limiting sales to specific R18 stores or pharmacies

Law and order; Justice
Geraden Cann (Stuff): String of gang incidents in Auckland this week suggests escalating tension
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Police told to carry guns on average once a week, figures reveal
Kirsty Johnston (Stuff): The court said she was lying about being abused. She did a year on home detention. She wasn’t lying

Live animal export ban
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Live export ban may cause backlash from trading partners, Southland Fed Farmers boss says
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Live export ban wrecks a growing industry

Other
Chris Trotter: Can the state pull the lone wolf terrorist’s teeth?
ODT: Editorial – Drug reform response confused
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Report suggesting removal of now-mouldy classrooms ignored by ministry – school’s board members
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Report shows extent of dairy farming destruction – environmental activists
Paul Thomas (Listener/Herald): The real royal crisis and the effect it could have on New Zealand (paywalled)
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Entire board of Museums Aotearoa abruptly resigns
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Law Commission proposes changes to succession law
Herald: Law Commission proposes changes to ‘out of date’ succession legislation
Brent Edwards (NBR): Will Prince Philip’s death spark renewed debate on NZ becoming a republic? (paywalled)
Bruce Munro (ODT): More than 67,000 animals bred for testing at Otago University – but simply killed