Daily News Roundup – 23 April 2021

NZ-China-Australia relations
Chris Trotter: The Kangaroo encounters the Taniwha
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Speculation Five Eyes will become Four Eyes is completely ridiculous
Richard Harman: Mahuta has to defend her Five Eyes comments
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Commentators need to calm down over Five Eyes, NZ and China
Jason Walls (Herald): Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta talks up NZ’s role in Five Eyes amid waves of criticism
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne takes no issue with New Zealand’s Five Eyes’ wariness
Anthony Galloway (Sydney Morning Herald): Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta’s remarks on China blindside Australian officials
Stuff: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern labelled the ‘West’s woke weak link’ over reluctance to join Five Eyes’ China stance
Julie Iles (NBR): A ‘changed’ China creates contention between Australia and New Zealand (paywalled)
Newstalk ZB: Defence expert says NZ’s in danger of being expelled from Five Eyes alliance
AAP: NZ given reminder from Australia that Five Eyes is ‘a vital strategic alliance’
Paul Buchanan: “A View from Afar” on NZ foreign policy independence reframed
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): NZ-Aussie ministers paper over Five Eyes cracks (paywalled)
Andrew Bolt (Newstalk ZB): NZ has left Five Eyes ‘in the lurch’ over China
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Australian PM Scott Morrison to visit New Zealand in the coming month
Jason Walls (Herald): Foreign Ministers Nanaia Mahuta and Marise Payne all smiles ahead of likely tense bilateral talks

Health reforms: General analysis
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Andrew Little’s bold plan shows the way (paywalled)
RNZ: Our bold health system shakeup
RNZ: Health system reform: What the experts are saying
ODT: Editorial – Bold changes for health system
Denise Piper (Stuff): New $500m hospital for Whang?rei, wh?nau empowerment, key priorities in health reforms
1News: Andrew Little admits there are ‘gaps to fill in’ as Government looks to shake up healthcare system
RNZ: Govt health shake-up ‘bold, necessary’ – veteran DHB chair
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Consumer voices could be lost in health reforms
Grant Miller (ODT): Scrapping DHBs will lead to marching on the streets – Woodhouse
Oliver Hunt (Herald): Is the DHB shake-up a chance to make healthcare more sustainable? (paywalled)
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Experts hope reforms will help ‘crisis’ in access to trans healthcare
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Hodgson accepts Little’s criticism was deserved
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Southern board singled out as example of need for change

Health reforms: Maori Health
Barry Soper (New Zealand): Maori Health Authority not the right way to get a level playing field
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Addressing inequity among chief concerns for Maori Health Authority out of Porirua
Jessica Tyson (Maori TV): John Tamihere calls for new policy to tackle racism in health sector
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Maori Health Authority must include holistic wellbeing – Ng?i Tahu health provider
Stephen Forbes (RNZ): Maori Health Authority ‘could be a big step forward for our people’, experts say
Newstalk ZB: Maori health professor: Prioritising Maori health will fix generations of inequitable outcomes

Economy and work
ODT: Editorial – The story of subsidies
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Grant Robertson moves further into Reserve Bank sphere with eye on ‘wider government objectives’ (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘Slow’ Reserve Bank forces Government’s hand, economist says
Rob Stock (Stuff): What the planned bank deposit guarantee scheme means for you
Brian Fallow (Herald): Digital skills are essential skills (paywalled)

Poverty and welfare
Max Rashbrooke (Stuff): Plan and budget both AWOL in child poverty fight
Zane Small (Newshub): Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni hits back at National, Greens over welfare attacks
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Stats NZ corrects child poverty, household income statistics after errors found
John Bishop (Stuff): Why we’ve paid the Aussies almost $1.3 billion in the past 21 years

Housing crisis
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Private infrastructure charges ‘the answer to boost housing supply’
1News: Government paid $75 million to top 10 providers of emergency housing over four years, new figures show
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Housing crisis: Price for rentals hits new all-time high
Karl Puschmann (Herald): TVNZ’s Renters is everything wrong with NZ (paywalled)

Local government
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council budget: Costs cut by $119m, but worries about impact on staff
Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Hastings City Council to consult members of the public on Maori wards
Andrew McRae (Stuff): Waikato councils must be amalgamated – Chamber of Commerce
Georgina Campbell (Stuff): Lock out notice issued ahead of Wellington bus drivers striking tomorrow
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington City Council is not brand Coca-Cola (paywalled)
Luisa Girao (ODT): Maori ward ‘must be effective, meaningful’

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Johnny Blades (RNZ): Will NZ support a vaccine intellectual property rights waiver?
Derek Cheng (Herald): Govt to move to risk-based approach for handling flights from Covid-ravaged countries
Herald: Editorial: Post-Covid travel – the only way is up (paywalled)
Ben Strang (RNZ): How a family fled and returned to MIQ facility in Auckland

Climate change
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern calls on other countries to follow New Zealand’s lead at US climate change summit
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): NZ makes no new commitment at Biden climate summit
RNZ: ‘Time for action’ – Helen Clark urges climate change response
Sonia Mazey and Jeremy Richardson (Newsroom): How high hopes in Wellington may be dashed in our cities, farms and homes

Other
Graham Adams (Democracy Project): Seymour outflanks Ardern on hate speech
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Royal Commission into Abuse in Care blows $56m budget
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government looks to phase out fuel taxes, road user charges under transport review
Samantha Gee (Stuff): Demand for youth mental health services at crisis point
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Underspend in community mental health funding as GPs say they can’t afford to pay for space
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): We need an honest debate on Gallipoli and a fresh approach to history
Maria Armoudian (Herald): The big lie about the Armenian Genocide (paywalled)
Chris Lynch (Herald): Framing debates as left or right is pointless