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Daily News Roundup – 30 April 2021

The BFD

Housing crisis
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Government’s fix for its housing problems are just a game of whack-a-mole (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Even if house prices fell 20 percent, three-quarters of renters still couldn’t afford one
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Govt crunches numbers to reveal property investors’ incomes
Vita Molyneux (Newshub): ‘I feel ill’: 1995 Wellington house prices nauseate distressed millennials
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Increasing housing supply the key to affordability, minister advised
Katie Bradford (1News): Low socio-economic areas feeling the pain of soaring house prices
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Low interest rates get Govt blame for rising house prices
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Early signs heat coming out of auctions
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Rent controls would a big mistake – NZ Initiative
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): Govt ignored HUD advice on measures to deter landlords (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government asked for advice on temporary rent controls as it prepared massive housing package
Jason Walls (Herald): Government is mooting prospect of rent controls, new documents reveal
Zane Small (Newshub): Government considered capping rents to stop landlords passing on increased costs
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Robertson wasn’t joking when he said he’d take action if rents soared
Brent Edwards (NBR): Officials warn no quick fix to housing crisis and question tax changes (paywalled)
1News: Ardern: Govt ‘keeping an eye on’ rent increases, as median prices continue soaring
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Low interest rates get Govt blame for rising house prices
Hamish Cardwell (RNZ): Emergency accommodation support services lack a ‘moral failure’ by government – social housing provider
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Emergency housing issues another example of public sector failure
Newstalk ZB: ‘Wanton disregard for taxpayer dollars’: Cost for damage to emergency housing motels unknown

International relations
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Nanaia Mahuta’s foreign policy reset: the first six months
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): New analysis of Nanaia Mahuta’s statements offers clues to her foreign policy agenda
Zane Small (Newshub): Aussie journalist Jonathan Swan, who went viral for grilling Donald Trump, takes on Jacinda Ardern over China, Five Eyes
Audrey Young (Herald): Jacinda Ardern: We are not choosing between US and China
Michael Reddell: Economic coercion
John Anthony (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern speaks after meeting with US Chamber of Commerce to discuss NZ-US relationship
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): NZ and US should ‘quickly deepen’ relationship: Ardern (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Labour Party undecided on parliamentary motion on ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang, China
Newstalk ZB: Ardern: Labour caucus to debate ‘genocide’ in Xinjiang

Economy and work
Liam Dann (Herald): The three reasons Covid couldn’t knock down the Kiwi economy – ASB report (paywalled)
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Reserve Bank Governor ‘incredibly comfortable’ with changes
Brian Fallow (Herald): How far will Grant Robertson move into Reserve Bank’s territory? (paywalled)
Rob Campbell (Herald): Tackling mental wellbeing in the workplace (paywalled)
Kate MacNamara (Herald): New research submitted to the Commerce Commission claims anti-competitive behaviour by supermarkets (paywalled
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Tackling of money laundering ‘adequate’ but more can be done, watchdog finds
Sam Hurley (Herald): Abuse of NZ shell companies and trusts highlighted in global money laundering report
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Probe of NZ’s anti-money laundering efforts recommends a register for our hundreds of thousands of trusts

Health reforms: Maori Health Authority
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Judith Collins takes aim at the wrong target (paywalled)
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Deputy PM ‘deeply disappointed’ to hear Maori health initiative labelled ‘separatist’

Government and Parliament
Claire Trevett (Herald): Grant Robertson interview: A Labour Budget and how he deals with PM Jacinda Ardern (paywalled)
Audrey Young (Herald): Labour’s manifesto now has the teeth it lacked last term (paywalled)
David Farrar: More on the laziest Ministers

Media, communications and information
Colin Peacock (RNZ): We’ve got trust issues – with news
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Fewer than half of New Zealanders trust the news, AUT study suggests
Richard Harman: Peeps at Parliament and other Press Gallery observations over 150 years (paywalled)

Local government
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Developer’s $10 million plan to end 24-week-and-counting Shelly Bay standoff
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland mayor’s closest aide switches to Sky City
Georgina Campbell (Herald): New chief of staff appointed in Wellington mayor Andy Foster’s office
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council running up a big repair bill for rundown and unsafe buildings (paywalled)

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Vaccine ‘risk’ to New Zealand economy
ODT: Editorial – A question of compulsory vaccination
Piers Fuller (Stuff): GPs critical of planning around Covid vaccine rollout

Health
Adam Jacobson (RNZ): Government told to include fully-funded ambulance service in health reform
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Pharmac’s budget hole hundreds of millions of dollars deep
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Under-resourced bowel cancer screening a ‘national disgrace’
Kerre McIvor (Newstalk ZB): I support funding GP visits – but who will pay for it?

Other
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Iwi haven’t given enough back to their people, says Maori Economic Development Minister
Karl du Fresne: Kowtowing to censorious “stakeholders”
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Government’s winter energy payment due to kick in – but it’s still not enough, some say
Nikki Macdonald (Stuff): Police national headquarters fails to answer more than half of OIA requests on time
Peter Williams (Magic Talk): How can the National Party fix itself?
Daisy Hudson (ODT): Need to give safe abortion care
RNZ: Number of parents smacking children drops by half in 15 years
David Farrar: Junk Maths from NZTA
Doug Sellman and Ian Hutson (Stuff): Frustrated at process and outcome of cannabis referendum
Brent Edwards (NBR): Race could dominate political debate again, heading into election 2023 (paywalled)
George Heagney (Stuff): Maori want a say over protecting New Zealand’s waterways

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