Daily News Roundup – 9 April 2021

Covid: India travel ban
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Is the the ‘temporary’ India travel ban proportional or a massive overreaction?
Keith Lynch (Stuff): What the numbers say about the India travel ban
1News: Michael Baker says halting arrivals from India ‘absolutely right thing to do’
1News: Temporarily halting travellers from India has ‘element of racism’, says Indian community leader
Jason Walls (Herald): Jacinda Ardern not ruling out extending India travel ban to other high-risk nations
Herald: New Zealand’s India travel suspension leaves Kiwi family in limbo
Herald: Emirates introduces NZ flight restrictions days before India travel ban starts
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): India travel suspension: ‘Suddenly you’re left to fend for yourself’
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): India flights suspended, community outraged (paywalled)
RNZ: New Zealand temporarily suspending travel from India – PM Jacinda Ardern

Covid: Vaccinations programme and border
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Coronavirus: Government doesn’t know how many border workers there are, but still insists 90 percent have got COVID-19 vaccine
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Vaccination rollout a ‘shambles’
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour’s Dr Ayesha Verrall fends off jeering MPs in tense standoff over Covid-19 vaccine rollout
Chris McDowall (Herald): Analysis: Is New Zealand’s vaccine rollout on track? (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Government plans to hire army of coronavirus vaccinators
Peter Dunne: Transtasman travel bubble at last
Herald: Chris Hipkins: Border worker who tested positive for Covid-19 offered vaccine ‘several’ times
1News: MIQ security guard confirmed as Covid case after second positive test, his close contacts test negative
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Covid-19: Unclear why infected MIQ worker unvaccinated seven weeks into rollout
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government’s trans-Tasman bubble afterglow gives way to Covid-19 crunch
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The pandemic made us reconsider everyday life. We shouldn’t take that for granted

Housing crisis
RNZ: The back-firing probability of rent controls
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Community housing regulator falling short – report
Colleen Hawkes (Stuff): Collective housing is our future: New report recommends a solution to the housing crisis
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Landlords told: Planning to increase rent? You might be disappointed
Miriam Bell (Stuff): Rents rising fastest in provincial areas
Dan Satherley and Caitlin Rawling (Newshub): Housing crisis: Landlords’ threats to hike rents or sell are likely empty – expert
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Landlords could face jail if they form rent cartels
Luisa Girao (ODT): ‘Depressed’ by lack of affordable houses in city
Robin Martin (RNZ): Hotel management school opens student accommodation to the homeless
Anne Gibson (Herald): Auckland Council limits house inspection bookings after developers created ‘nightmare’ (paywalled)
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): The Salvation Army criticises National MP Todd McClay’s ‘unhelpful’ comments about emergency housing tenants
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): NZ isn’t alone in having a red-hot housing market (paywalled)
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Racist graffiti at Auckland K?inga Ora social housing development ‘grossly unfair’
Marta Steeman (Stuff): New insulation rules for windows, walls, ceilings and floors in new homes set to ramp up building costs
Herald: Editorial: Think outside the box to beat the urban squeeze (paywalled)

Mental health crisis
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup – An overwhelming vote of no confidence in Labour’s mental health reforms
Stuff: Editorial – Facing up to our mental health challenges
Chris Lynch (Herald): How will mental health improve when reports are being censored? (paywalled)
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Health Minister Andrew Little denies ‘cock-up or conspiracy’ behind controversial mental health report
1News: Health Minister rejects ‘conspiracy theory’ that mental health report edited to make Govt look better

Parliament
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Parliament lets MPs rent property from themselves, at the taxpayer’s expense
Audrey Young (Herald): Phone numbers of three NZ cabinet ministers and party leader in Facebook hack attack (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Labour looks set to torpedo Simon Bridges’ tax bracket bill
Newstalk ZB: ‘Crazy silly talk’: Bridges dismisses rumour of new leadership bid

Local Government
Harry Lock (RNZ): Mana whenua gain full voting rights on Wellington City Council
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Wellington mayor accused of delaying tactics over mana whenua voting rights
Damian George (Stuff): Wellington Mayor Andy Foster accused of seeking ‘political cover’ after calling for public feedback on iwi voting rights proposal
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Palmerston North to create Maori wards
Joel MacManus (Stuff): More than 1200 Wellington bus services cancelled during March
Chloe Ranford (Stuff): Marlborough Sounds councillors fear cuts to ward

Economy and work
Bernard Hickey (Spinoff): On the new plan to unravel capitalism’s ‘doom loop’
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): ‘Are prices too high?’ Energy Minister Megan Woods puts market on notice amid soaring wholesale prices (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Herald): ‘Price of everything’ set to increase: Consumers face pain at the checkout (paywalled)
Brian Fallow (Herald): Expect Reserve Bank to keep things loose (paywalled)
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Chinese workers’ agents, visa approvals need to be probed – lawyer

Health
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Health data system fragmented, leaving clinicians and patients in the dark – IT experts
Gary Payinda (Stuff): With majority of cervical cancers now preventable we should already be halfway to eradicating it – but we’re not
Louisa Steyl (Stuff): Bed blocks may get worse, Southern DHB boss fears
RNZ: Grant Robertson says government focused on Pharmac solution to cancer treatment

Ports of Auckland dispute
Craig Harrison (Herald): Time to listen to the port workers on the frontline (paywalled)
RNZ: Pressure mounts on Ports of Auckland chief executive Tony Gibson to resign
Mina Kerr-Lazenby (Stuff): Ports of Auckland CEO absent as letter calling for his resignation is delivered
Michael Barnett (Herald): Why is Ports of Auckland CEO Tony Gibson being personally targeted? (paywalled)

Media
Mike Hosking (Newshub): Barry Soper is right, I can’t ban the Prime Minister
Newshub: Mike Hosking backtracks on assertion he no longer wants PM Jacinda Ardern on his show
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): ‘Three pillar’ approach for new $55 million public interest journalism fund revealed
Daniel Dunkley (BusinessDesk): Journalism funding plan revealed (paywalled)

Auckland public transport
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Michael Wood, light rail and the new role that could wreck a career (paywalled)

Environment and climate change
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Most coal boilers would need to go by 2037 under Government plan
Richard Harman: National threatens to end bipartisan climate change consensus (paywalled)

Other
John Bishop (Stuff): Let’s remedy the failings of our colonial past
Max Rashbrooke (Stuff): Another blow for the doom-mongers
Katarina Williams (Stuff): In the eye of the taniwha – the lived experience of pandemic racism