Daily News Roundup – 28 April 2020

Eliminating Covid-19
Derek Cheng (Herald): Eliminating Covid 19 coronavirus: Jacinda Ardern’s trailblazing mission that we may have already won (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Why the hero-worship of Jacinda Ardern is unhealthy
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup: The Challenge of speaking “truth to power” in a time of crisis
Steve Elers (Stuff): Prime minister needs to be held to account over coronavirus claims
John Roughan (Herald): Why end lockdown tonight? What do we know today we didn’t last Monday?
Kim Moodie (Herald): Half of those infected with virus might not even know it
Newshub: Almost half of Kiwis think we’re coming out of lockdown too soon – survey
Newstalk ZB: Poll finds support for staying in isolation, providing Police with mobile data
Roger Morris (Stuff): What lies ahead, and what NZ can teach the world about fighting Covid-19
RNZ: NZ’s responses to Covid-19 and polio vastly different
Zane Small (Newshub): Siouxsie Wiles claps back at David Seymour’s claim coronavirus risk ‘not as big as it was sold’
1News: US social distancing policies would save trillions of dollars – US Professor

Contact tracing
Clive Elliot (Herald): Contact tracing – Fighting Covid-19 without undermining our democratic values (paywalled)
Brian Gaynor (Herald): Contact tracing system still in development as full lockdown ends
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Contact tracing system still in development as full lockdown ends (paywalled)
RNZ: Covid-19 contact tracing app: National decries slow pace
RNZ: New Zealand contact tracing app due within two weeks
1News: Covid-19 tracing app gets go-ahead from Ministry of Health
Jason Walls (Herald): NZ’s own tracing app on way as Australia rolls out COVIDSafe
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): The story behind the doctor pushing for better Covid-19 contact tracing

Level 3
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern says there is a ‘good chance’ we won’t stay in Covid-19 level 3 long
Claire Trevett (Herald): PM Jacinda Ardern on making the big calls, and the rocky road ahead (paywalled)
1News: ‘I will not risk the gains we made’ – Alert Level 3 may be extended beyond two weeks, says Jacinda Ardern
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Prime minister ‘optimistic’ as New Zealand heads to Covid-19 alert level 3
Jason Walls (Herald): Last day of lockdown – Jacinda Ardern’s message to New Zealand
1News: ‘Do not become complacent’, Kiingi Tuheitia urges M?ori as New Zealand moves into Alert Level 3
James Fyfe (Newshub): M?ori King places rahui on Waikato and Waipa Rivers amid COVID-19
Steve Braunias (Herald): Farewell (and good riddance) to level 4 (paywalled)
Andrew Gunn (Stuff): Gransplaining and other Covid-19 additions to Kiwi English
1News: Anzac weekend sees over 800 breaches of Covid-19 lockdown, nearly 100 prosecutions
RNZ: Lockdown breaches: 87 prosecutions over Anzac weekend
Andrew Geddis and Claudia Geiringer (UKCLA): Is New Zealand’s COVID-19 lockdown lawful?
Herald: Second lockdown lawsuit against Jacinda Ardern, Ashley Bloomfield and Sarah Stuart-Black fails

National Party
John Armstrong (1News): Simon Bridges has to go but is there another leader in National’s ranks?
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The quandary facing the National Party
Claire Trevett (Herald): Is Simon Bridges’ goose cooked? Don’t count him out just yet (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan: Simon Bridges is on borrowed time (paywalled)
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Exclusive: Senior National MP Nick Smith lashes Simon Bridges’ decision-making in a caucus-wide letter
1News: National MPs questioning Simon Bridges’ leadership after recent misstep
Dan Satherley (Newshub): National Party leadership: Judith Collins insists she’s ‘not interested’ after topping poll
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Simon Bridges not keen on helicopter cash, wants lockdown to end sooner
Amelia Wade (Herald): National MP Tim Macindoe slammed for joking about domestic violence
Jenna Lynch and Zane Small (Newshub): National MP Tim Macindoe apologises for joking about pushing women off a balcony

Wage subsidy
Catherine Harris (Stuff): Was Covid-19 wage subsidy scheme too lenient for big business?
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): In a time of free money, how exactly are we all in this together? (paywalled)
Jason Walls (Herald): Finance Minister condemns businessman ‘profiting’ from wage subsidy scheme
Bevan Hurley (Stuff): Business owner pockets $150,000 from Government wage subsidy, and he’s not paying it back
RNZ: Business owner says government should not have given wage subsidy in lump sum
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): The 12-week wage subsidy is nearly over, but businesses are still feeling pain
Jody O’Callaghan (Stuff): Christ’s College claiming more than $1m in wage subsidies
Jason Walls (Herald): Government’s fraud investigations unit doing wage subsidy audit
Zane Small (Newshub): Economist warns profitable firms against taking COVID-19 wage subsidy as audit reveals extent of abuse
Anuja Nadkarni (Stuff): The Warehouse asks staff to take 10 to 20% pay cuts or face redundancy

Economy and society
John Anthony (Stuff): Inviting rich foreigners to invest in New Zealand will do little to benefit Kiwis
James Fyfe (Newshub): High credit rating shows NZ in strong position to bounce back from COVID-19 – Finance Minister Grant Robertson
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Budget 2020 may be time to look beyond Covid-19 ‘relief’ and towards recovery
Tim Hazeldine (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus recovery needs tax breaks, not shovels (paywalled)
Paul Goldsmith (Stuff): Getting New Zealand working again? Here’s my plan
Michael Neilson (Herald): Greens want $1b for nature-based fund to save economy
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Greens propose $1b nature-based economic recovery package
Rachel Sadler and Emma Stanford (Newshub): Green Party proposes $1 billion environment package to create nature-based jobs
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Dylan Asafo (E-Tangata): Are we finally paying attention?
Paul Barber (Stuff): We need to build something better out of what is broken
Steven Cowan: The new normal could be worse then the old normal, if we let it
Kerensa Johnston (E-Tangata): Doing the right thing in the post Covid-19 world
Kaila Colbin (Stuff): What do we focus on post-lockdown
Lana Hart (Stuff): A vision for a post-Covid New Zealand urgently required

Inequality
Max Rashbrooke: Building a bridge across the coronavirus ravine
Pete McKenzie (Stuff): Charities struggling under an explosion in demand as Covid-19 thrusts thousands into poverty
Pearl Little (Newshub): Coronavirus is much worse for M?ori, but it shouldn’t be
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Over 1000 families without hygiene basics during Covid-19 outbreak
Mihingarangi Forbes (Newshub): Risk of inequity growing thanks to COVID-19 – Finance Minister Grant Robertson

Universal Basic Income
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Universal Basic Income high on Government’s post-lockdown agenda high on Government’s post-lockdown agenda (paywalled)
Geoff Simmons (Stuff): Coronavirus demonstrates the power of a UBI as long-term solution to our failing welfare system

Unemployment, essential workers
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Nearly 30,000 more people on jobseeker benefit
Anna Whyte (1News); Thousands more on benefits during Covid-19 lockdown
1News: Fears of M?ori unemployment ‘tsunami’ post Covid-19 lockdown
Tim Brown (RNZ): Unemployment could reach 30% in Queenstown
RNZ: Queenstown migrant workers need access to benefit – community group
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Kristy Johnston and Chris Knox (Herald): How women became the lockdown’s most essential workers (paywalled)
RNZ: Plea for supermarkets not to end workers’ Covid-19 bonus pay

Business
Madison Reidy (Newshub): Banks aren’t handing out loans fast enough to save businesses, experts warn
Newstalk ZB:‘That’s not Jacinda’s way’: Why Labour MP wasn’t told off for hurtful comments
Herald: MP Deborah Russell apologises for comments about small businesses

Fast food
John Anthony (Stuff): McDonalds’ plans to hand customers food, cash and receipts, which breaches level 3 rules, union says
RNZ: Union worries fast food outlets may breach level 3 restrictions
1News: Burger King employee pleads for patience from customers during re-opening – ‘Not a time to be a dickhead’
RNZ: Employees must feel safe working at level 3 – union

Health system
Andrea Vance (Stuff): The health system is in crisis. Can Covid-19 help?
Elspeth McLean (ODT): Public has interest in report
Ruth Hill (RNZ): Nurses complain of lack of consistency in Covid approach
Rawiri Taonui (Waatea): COVID Update 27 April 2020| Data Sovereignty – Is Ministry of Health Data Racist?
Rawiri Taonui (Waatea): COVID Update 26 April 2020| Opposite Concerns Testing M?ori and Pacific Communities
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Pharmac says it will need more funding amid global Covid-19 crisis
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Pharmac won’t fund drug Spinraza to help children with spinal muscular atrophy
Cathy Stephenson (Stuff): How medicine supplies are managed during Covid-19 crisis
RNZ: Flu vaccinations double from last year – government
Kim Moodie (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus: Record number of Kiwis get the flu jab before winter
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Record number of New Zealanders receive flu vaccine
Katarina Williams (Stuff): Cancer diagnosis, treatment ‘must be prioritised’ following Covid-19 lockdown
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): DHBs need to prioritise cancer treatment – Cancer Society
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Coronavirus pandemic will add months to knee, hip surgery backlog
Katarina Williams & Georgia-May Gilbertson (Stuff): Community midwives pen letter to Jacinda Ardern
RNZ: Lockdown leads to ‘advances’ in healthcare delivery
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Dentist bills set to rise as clinics pass on cost of expensive protective gear
RNZ: Dentists relegated to ‘poor cousin’ without govt funding – advocate
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): Waitemat? DHB staff open to rongo? M?ori traditional medicine

Mental health
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Government’s new mental health funding blasted by counsellors
RNZ: Govt announces $40m funding for mental health service
1News: Free mental health, addiction services to be made available for 1.5 million New Zealanders
Ben Leahy (Stuff): Free mental health services roll out to more districts
1News: National calls for free online psychological first aid training to help Kiwis deal with distress of Covid-19

Nurses union
Andre Chumko (Stuff): New Zealand Nurses Organisation president resigns after feud with executive team
RNZ: NZNO nurses union president Grant Brookes resigns

Parliament
Stuff Editorial: New Zealanders must recoup our democratic rights
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Should Parliament be using urgency during lockdown?
Phil Smith (RNZ): Going virtual: taking parliament onto the holodeck
Daniela Maoate-Cox (RNZ): Parliament post-lockdown: more money and bills but fewer debates and MP
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Health Minister David Clark reveals when he’ll be back in Wellington
Dan Satherley (Newshub): MPs defend each other in wake of public abuse, Simon Bridges death threats

Foreign affairs and trade
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Australian government wants travel restrictions with NZ to ease in second half of 2020
RNZ: Travel to New Zealand likely to re-open with ‘natural partner’ Australia
AAP: Senior Australian politician says opening border with NZ a ‘logical first step’
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Trans-Tasman travel bubble ‘may be possible’ in future – Grant Robertson
Jo Moir (RNZ): Trans-Tasman bubble could start ‘more quickly than we think’ – Peters
Martin van Beynen (Stuff): Aussie-NZ bubble should be on fast track
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern and Scott Morrison want to axe border restrictions between New Zealand and Australia
David Parker, Simon Birmingham, Elizabeth Truss and Chan Chun Sing (Herald): Why restoring and deepening global trade is vital in response to Covid 19 coronavirus
Simon Draper (Stuff): How we understand and engage with Asia is more important than ever
RNZ: Covid-19 will disrupt NZ hosting APEC forum and leaders’ summit

Media
Gavin Ellis: Trust is a percentage gain
David Cohen (BusinessDesk): Foundering media pin hopes, mastheads on Faafoi’s second try
Eric Crampton: Media shakedown
Bob Jones: Our dying newspapers
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Government won’t stop spending millions on Google and Facebook ads – Kris Faafoi
Newstalk ZB: Kris Faafoi hints at Facebook/Google crackdown
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Struggling media get takeaways from government
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Media ramp up news of going down a level
Tom O’Connor (Stuff): Retaining Kiwis’ voice an essential part of the rebuild
Eric Crampton:Media funding

Early childhood and schools
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): On average 5% of children to return to schools and early learning centres under Alert Level 3
Andre Chumko (Stuff): ‘It’s just impossible’ says educator as schools prepare to reopen
Tony Walls and Philip Hill (Newshub): Opinion: Sending your children to school is as safe as it’s ever been
1News: Sending children to school at Alert Level 3 ‘as safe as it’s ever been’, says infectious disease expert
RNZ: ‘School is as safe as it’s ever been’ – infectious disease expert
RNZ: Schools prepare to resume classes
RNZ: One third of early childhood centres to remain closed at level 3
Katarina Williams and Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Coronavirus: Teachers concerned with online and in-school teaching demands in Covid-19 level 3
William Terite (Newstalk ZB): Concerns for senior students and their learning

Universities
Kristin Hall (1News): University staff may be fired if student accommodation ‘holding fees’ aren’t paid: Victoria University vice-chancellor
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Victoria University double-charging for rooms amid Covid-19 lockdown
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Pay-up-or-get-out: Rent strike against Victoria University’s halls ultimatum
Kristin Hall (1News): Victoria University students plan rent strike after being charged for rooms they can’t stay in
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Victoria University students organise rent strike to protest placeholder fee
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Victoria University of Wellington students refuse to pay $150 per week ‘placeholder fee’ for unoccupied rooms
Joel MacManus, Andre Chumko (Stuff): Victoria University halls charging rent despite locking students out
Cherie Howie (Herald): Victoria University of Wellington halls of residence students told to pay for unoccupied rooms
Rachel Thomas (RNZ): Victoria University students pay fee for rooms they cannot access
1News: Victoria University students blindsided by student accommodation ‘holding fee’
Salient: Absent VUW Halls Students Being Charged For Their Rooms
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Auckland university’s lockdown accommodation fees slammed
Rachel Sadler and Emma Stanford (Newshub): University of Auckland halls of residence charging students for unoccupied rooms
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): All you need to know about how universities will operate at Covid-19 alert level 3
RNZ: AUT helps Maori and Pasifika students with computers and internet
Stuff: Otago Uni’s Harlene Hayne donates 20 per cent of salary to student fund

Community checkpoints
Rawiri Taonui (Democracy Project): Checkpoints – A Pakeha or Maori problem?
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): More iwi checkpoints to be set up in Taranaki for alert level 3
Leighton Keith (Taranaki Daily News): Taranaki iwi checkpoints to go ahead as uncertainty remains about Covid-19 case numbers
Herald: Taranaki iwi community checkpoint plans start tomorrow
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Politics isn’t a reason to ignore vigilantism
Karl du Fresne: Coster: a masterclass in fudging

Local government
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Councils warned not to cut rates to ease Covid-19 pain
Todd Niall (Stuff): Big Macs vs playgrounds and jobs – the rates-rise dilemma
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Up to 150,000 households could struggle to pay Auckland Council rates this year
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council bleeding hundreds of millions of dollars, looking at help for struggling ratepayers
Jim Tucker (Taranaki Daily News): No need for councillors to take a pay cut
Virginia Fallon (Stuff): Town houses sit empty nearly one year after Porirua City Council’s $10m purchase
Lois Williams: Coast councils support legal challenge to wetland labels on M?ori reserves
Lois Williams: West Coast districts may end up with differing rules to regulate Airbnbs
Susan Botting: Whang?rei rates to be used towards likely $3m council Covid-19 relief
Susan Botting: Whang?rei Council considers $6m rate cut from budget
Aaron van Delden: Gisborne council heeds call for urgent rates relief
RNZ: Invercargill considers rates relief
Donna-Lee Biddle (Stuff): Councillors give to charities, community, during Covid-19 lockdown
Laura Smith (ODT): About 100 ICC staff on 50% of wages
Laura Smith (ODT): Rates policy on agenda
Mike Yardley (Press): Covid a chance to right-size Christchurch council

Wellington City Council
Damian George (Stuff): Problems at Wellington City Council could result in Crown commissioner being brought in to help, says former deputy mayor
Damian George (Stuff): Tensions continue at Wellington City Council as spat between councillors leads to official complaint
RNZ: Wellington city councillor in hot water over online criticism
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington council divided over whether facilitator needed to sort squabbles
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Wellington City Council promises support to airport in Air New Zealand-type deal (paywalled)

Housing
1News: Government pledges $107 million to house rough sleepers during and after pandemic
Collette Devlin (Stuff): Government funds 1600 motel units for homeless after lockdown
Jason Walls (Herald): Government to spend $100 million on housing homeless in motels
Rachel Sadler (Newshub):Government to spend $100 million on housing the homeless in motels
RNZ: Government announces $100m for housing homeless
Scott Palmer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern reveals one good thing about lockdown
Lana Andelane and Miriam Harris (Newshub): COVID-19 response has helped tackle homelessness in New Zealand – Megan Woods
Newstalk ZB: Why the Government’s homeless package won’t keep people off the streets
Virginia Fallon (Dominion Post): Coronavirus lockdown delays construction of new state houses in Porirua

Aged and disability care, resthomes
Judy McGregor (Herald): Covid 19 coronavirus throws focus on our treatment of elderly (paywalled)
RNZ: Lack of social connectedness with elderly a big concern – Research NZ
RNZ: Care organisation worries about PPE
Kaysha Brownlie (Newshub): High security remains at rest homes for most vulnerable

Transport
Tracy Neal (RNZ): New Zealand’s shrinking national carrier
RNZ: Air NZ to drop two international routes
RNZ: Bus union calls for higher wages under lockdown
Rebecca Moore (1News): Big biking boom: Kiwis turn to other modes of travel and fun while in lockdown
Herald: Auckland Transport encourages face masks, health officials say ‘not important’

Primary industries
RNZ: Struggling fishing industry must be monitored, Forest and Bird warns
John McCrone (Stuff): Not your typical sheep paddock: why sunflowers and lentils herald NZ’s regenerative revolution

Police
Pounamu Jade Aikman (E-Tangata): We don’t have to go down this path
1News: Controversial Police Armed Response Teams trial to end on Sunday
RNZ: Police Armed Response Teams trial to end on Sunday

Green Party
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Left-wing Green faction wants to axe co-leader James Shaw, and Eugenie Sage and Chlöe Swarbrick

Cannabis and Euthanasia referendums
Isaac Davison (Herald):Cannabis referendum All you need to know about what your vote means (paywalled)
Isaac Davison (Herald):Euthanasia referendum: All you need to know about what your vote means (paywalled)

Anzac Day
Jared Davidson (Guardian): Covid lockdowns give us a chance to reimagine Anzac Day and consider war more honestly
1News: Jacinda Ardern lays flowers outside Premier House to mark Anzac Day
1News: Jacinda Ardern records poem for Westminster Abbey Anzac commemorations
Daniel Faitaua (1News): Turkish gardener lays wreaths at deserted memorials in honour of Kiwi soldiers

Defence
RNZ: Survey points to prevalence of PTSD in NZ military
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Nearly 80 percent of Maori military personnel have PTSD symptoms
RNZ: Rim of the Pacific naval exercise risks Covid-19 spread – activists, academics
Willie Cuthers (RNZ): Rewriting the stories of the Pasifika Coastwatchers

Justice and corrections
Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Ombudsman ‘discouraged’ from accessing prisons amidst Covid-19 lockdown concerns
RNZ: Beefed up safety measures for reopened courts
1News: District Court taking extra measures to ensure safety when court reopens to public tomorrow

Repatriation
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Kiwis, Aussies stranded in South America brought home on Anzac Day
Herald: Qantas’ Anzac Day rescue flight to bring stranded Kiwis home from Argentina

Whakaari/White Island eruption
1News: Group of White Island eruption victims’ families to sue Royal Caribbean cruise line
RNZ: White Island volcano victims to sue Royal Caribbean


Other
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Why it’s time to resurrect the ‘feebate’ scheme
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): BNZ profits rise despite Covid-19 crunch
Liam Napier (Herald): From Britain to NZ – what quarantine is really like (paywalled)
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Ng?puhi descendants in Auckland rally together during lockdown
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Domestic violence calls up 34 per cent in four weeks of lockdown
Ryan Anderson (Stuff): Life in lockdown at Ihum?tao protest site in south Auckland
Dale Husband (E-Tangata): Shayne Walker: Social work as an act of love
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Sir John Key gets keys to luxury $6m pad – and lists it the next day
Tom Dillane (Stuff): Civil unions in New Zealand turn 15; same-sex couples reflect on struggle for equality
Elisabeth Easter (Herald): My Story: Dr Juliet Gerrard – The life and times of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor (paywalled)
Gavin Evans (BusinessDesk): Stark, tough choices coming at Marsden Point (paywalled)
Dominic Harris (Stuff): Rules rethink needed to save New Zealand’s beleaguered events industry
Indira Stewart (RNZ): Independent grocers ask for flexibility to open in alert level 3