NZ Politics Daily - 4 February 2020
4 February 2020
Today's content
Political donations
Guyon Espiner and Kate Newton (RNZ): Wealthy and powerful NZ First Foundation donors revealed
Kate Newton and Guyon Espiner (RNZ): Donations and declarations: The NZ First Foundation explained
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Simon Bridges not concerned about Serious Fraud Office poring over party's donations
Boris Jancic (Herald): Labour receives 2019's largest donation
Waitangi, Māori land, water rights
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern to tell Māori 'progress not perfection' at key Waitangi address
Morgan Godfery (Guardian): Forget anti-racism. This Waitangi Day demand our land back
TVNZ: Resolution to Ihumātao land dispute not likely by Waitangi Day, 1 NEWS understands
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Whina Cooper’s influence lives on in Ihumātao action
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Dame Whina Cooper remembered, honoured, with Panguru statue
Zane Small and Lisette Reymer (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern brings Neve to honour Māori land activist as Ihumātao protest leader Pania Newton watches on
Peter de Graaf (Northern Advocate): PM vows Dame Whina's legacy will be taught in schools
Anna Whyte (1News): Dame Whina Cooper's 'vast contribution' to Aotearoa recognised with 1975 land march statue
Leigh-Marama McLachlan (RNZ): Iwi leaders open to deal to keep water rights out of court
Jo Moir (RNZ): Winners announced for $30 million of investment in Māori land
Herald: Jacinda Ardern: Use of 'Aotearoa New Zealand' will rise as more people speak Māori
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern won't commit to 'Aotearoa' country name change
Teuila Fuatai (Herald): At the frontline
Coronavirus
RNZ: Chinese consul general criticises decision to bar travellers from China over coronavirus concerns
TVNZ: Trade, tourism and 'people's sentiments' likely to 'drop dramatically' due to NZ travel ban - ambassador
Wang Zhijian (ODT): China calls for calm and rationality
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Coronavirus: Simon Bridges calls China's consul general's comments 'concerning', 'regrettable'
Newstalk ZB: Jacinda Ardern defends Government's reaction to coronavirus
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Government's reaction to coronavirus flawed
Steven Cowan: Racist hysteria
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Whangaparāoa readies for Wuhan evacuees
RNZ: Wuhan coronavirus: No new suspected or confirmed cases in NZ
Matthew Theunissen (RNZ): New Zealanders going through rigourous testing before flight from Wuhan
Herald: Kiwi Wuhan coronavirus evacuees to return to New Zealand on Wednesday
Eryk Bagshaw and Anthony Galloway (Stuff): Australia to send coronavirus evacuees to New Zealand
RNZ: Wuhan coronavirus: New Zealand to help neighbours evacuate
Ben Heather (Stuff): Flights from China to New Zealand continue despite ban on entry of non-New Zealanders coming from China
Ben Heather (Stuff): Coronavirus: Parents struggle to get kids back from China after Air New Zealand cancels flights
RNZ: All travellers entering NZ to be manually processed through customs
RNZ: Pacific nations move to protect borders from coronavirus
TVNZ: Coronavirus could be 'devastating' for Pacific Islands, Kiwi microbiologist warns
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Is New Zealand about to feel the downside of explosive growth in trade with China? (paywalled)
Florence Kerr, Luke Kirkeby and Libby Wilson (Stuff): Coronavirus sees logging crews across New Zealand down tools
TVNZ: NZ economy could lose tens of millions every week amid coronavirus outbreak
Jihee Junn (Spinoff): What impact will coronavirus have on New Zealand’s economy?
Newshub: Coronavirus: 'Time will tell' long-term economic impact on New Zealand - Jacinda Ardern
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Close to $100 million hole in tourism earnings from Chinese travel ban
John Anthony (Stuff): Air New Zealand should prepare for 'prolonged financial damage' when China flights resume, report says
Jamie Gray (Herald): Coronavirus: Futures pricing points to a big hit for NZ dairy industry (paywalled)
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): Why it's come at the worst time for New Zealand farmers
Chris Morris (ODT): Hit to Otago’s economy expected
Oliver Lewis (Stuff): Police investigating 'ignorant, arrogant' coronavirus email
Herald: 'Disgusting virus spreaders': Parents get anonymous email telling kids to stay home
TNVZ: Police investigating racist coronavirus email sent to Canterbury woman
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Police investigating racist coronavirus emails
Chris Morris (ODT): University calls for ‘self-isolation’ and outlines measures
National Party
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Nats take election campaign tips from Scott Morrison's Liberals in Australia
Claire Trevett (Herald): National Party calls in Australian campaigner for election campaign advice (paywalled)
Bryce Edwards (Herald): Political Roundup: The big implications of National ruling out NZ First (paywalled)
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The drag race election: What happens now Simon Bridges has ruled out NZ First?
Gordon Campbell: On National’s hopes of driving NZF out of Parliament
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): National's line in the sand to deepen lines between governing parties
David Cormack (Herald): Simon Bridges ain't no Mr Key (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Bridges doesn't care who leads NZ First - coalition is out (paywalled)
RNZ: Simon Bridges says caucus backs him on ruling out New Zealand First move
Henry Cooke (Stuff): National supporters appear pleased with decision to rule out Winston Peters
Herald: National Party leader Simon Bridges gets thumbs up for decision to cut off Winston Peters
James Fyfe (Newshub): Kiwis fed up with Winston Peters 'holding the country to ransom' - Simon Bridges
NZ First
Jason Walls (Herald): NZ First MP Mark Patterson is warning voters about the 'extremes' of a Labour/Greens Govt
Morgan Godfery (Metro): What does Winston Peters want?
Mike Moore
Chris Trotter (Interest): The political career of Mike Moore, New Zealand's 34th Prime Minister
Richard Harman (Politik): Labour’s last working class hero
Richard Prebble (RNZ): Michael Moore was lucid, funny and kind - former MP Richard Prebble remembers his lifelong friend
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Why Mike Moore was my favourite politician
Cat MacLennan (RNZ): Barbed wire and two small pieces of brick: Reminders of Mike Moore
Newstalk ZB: Mike Moore remembered as valuing both world politics and local problems
Angie Skerrett (Newshub): 'Ahead of his time': Farming leader's personal tribute to Mike Moore
Foreign affairs and trade
Keith Locke (Spinoff): NZ shouldn’t get caught up in the US game over Huawei
Peter Zámborský (Newsroom): NZ and the EU - life after Brexit
Herald Editorial: EU divorce costs rising for Britain
Robert Ayson (Newsroom): Why NZ won’t quit the Middle East
John Minto (Herald): Justice for Palestine is in our hands (paywalled)
Rob Berg (Herald): Palestinians need to accept Israel as a nation (paywalled)
Infrastructure
Dileepa Fonseka (Newsroom): Who rules the road? Fact-checking Ardern vs Bridges
Nona Pelletier (RNZ): KiwiRail details $1b infrastructure spend
State care of children
TVNZ: PM says more work needs to be done after report accuses Oranga Tamariki of power abuse
Māni Dunlop (RNZ): Oranga Tamariki review: 'Treatment of Māori women has been inhumane' - Dame Naida Glavish
TVNZ: 'They're stealing our children from their beds' - Oranga Tamariki blasted after report into baby uplifts
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Damning report into Oranga Tamariki reveals state discrimination, abuse of power
RNZ: Carer who took in removed children says process deeply traumatic
Inequality, poverty
Max Rashbrooke (Spinoff): It is folly to take on social dysfunction while avoiding all mention of the p-word
Bruce Munro (ODT): Lines that divide: A Dunedin paper road separates two worlds
Lorene Royal (E-Tangata): Our communities are broken
Renee Liang (North & South): Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Toby Morris (Spinoff): Fairer Future: Fixing Poverty in Aotearoa
Rob Stock (Stuff): Why New Zealand is unsympathetic towards the poor
1News: Government reports massive spike in emergency hardship grants
Child Poverty Action Group: Evidence of poverty relief lacking in 2020 Budget Policy Statement
RNZ Sunday Morning: 'It's time for New Zealand to wake up to its poverty problem'
Duncan Garner (Newshub): 'Let's do this' – free lunches in schools a no-brainer
Nicola Martin (Stuff): Fun times in the sun throw the country's wealth inequality into stark relief
Julie Chapman (Stuff): Child poverty: For some families, life is a relentless, exhausting struggle
Laura Grigg (Newshub): Principal says child poverty worst she's seen as back-to-school costs keep kids at home
Noted: Back to school costs keep kids at home – survey
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Kids in poverty miss start of school year, as siblings share one uniform
Steven Cowan: Jacinda Ardern: She claimed she would tackle poverty, but she hasn’t delivered
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Why redistributing wealth will never work
Welfare and MSD
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Benefits now worth less than after they were cut by 'Mother of all Budgets' in 1991, Salvation Army says
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): The benefit battle: 'Every cent counts'
Jamie Ensor and Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni not ruling out benefit increase
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Poverty advocates' message to Jacinda Ardern: Beneficiaries need money, not budgeting help
Stuff: Data shows people on benefits aren't frittering away their money, budgeting service says
Jonathan Baron-Crangle (Stuff): You think we've got it easy on the benefit? I challenge you to walk in my shoes
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Core benefits don't provide enough to budget with, money helpline says
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Beneficiaries receiving fewer meetings with employment officers, despite more resources
NZ Herald: Government defends soaring benefit numbers
Sarah Robson (RNZ): Work and Income too busy giving hardship grants to find employment for beneficiaries
Natalie Akoorie (Herald): Food allowance for disabled teen Eamon Marshall makes for 'extremely' limited diet (paywalled)
Wealth and property tax reform
Shamubeel Eaqub (Stuff): Should New Zealand just tax land?
Gareth Kiernan (Stuff): Why an increasingly unequal New Zealand needs a wealth tax
Terry Baucher (Stuff): Is the capital gains tax really dead?
Anne Gibson (Herald): Trust obsession: massive 325,000 NZ properties have trust ownership, four times Australia, UK rates (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Property investment, tax systems help propel super rich to greater wealth
Employment and wages
Kelly Dennett and Josephine Franks (Stuff): How employers are freezing the over 50s out of the job market
Evan Harding (Stuff): New Zealand workers have had a gutsful: Union organizer
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Lunch break is becoming a luxury for many New Zealanders
Alice Wilkins (Newshub): Four-day work weeks to be trialled by more Kiwi businesses
Andrew Barnes (The Guardian): I pioneered the four-day week – now it must be used to fight the climate crisis
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Minimum wage rise could break 'psychological' $5 coffee barrier
Boris Jancic (Herald): Minimum wage rise expected to create 6500 fewer jobs: MBIE
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Increasing minimum wage linked to lower suicide rates
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Call for $25 minimum wage
Perry Wilton and Dan Satherley (Newshub): National questions timing of minimum wage report
Eric Crampton: Minimum wages and employment
Michael Reddell: Wages and the economy
Christine Rovoi (RNZ): Auckland's Pacific community celebrates new drivers
Siouxsie Wiles (Stuff): The NZ university pay gap is outrageous
CEO pay
Aimee Shaw (Herald): NZ’s top bosses earned massive pay rises last year. Here’s the top 50 (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Herald): CEO pay survey: What the country's top bosses earn (paywalled)
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Kiwi CEOs' 12% pay rise: Are they worth it? (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Don't let envy drive debate about CEO mega-salaries (paywalled)
Climate change
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Kiwis no more likely to act on climate change than others, survey shows
Elizabeth Thomson (RNZ): Number of Kiwis who view climate change as an issue doubles
Victoria Young (BusinessDesk): Climate change case against Fonterra, Genesis and major corporates kicks off (paywalled)
ODT: DCC to begin climate change consultation
Conservation
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Government puts major kauri dieback plan on the backburner
RNZ: Almost $800k boost for conservation efforts in Northland announced
Housing
Iain White and Gauri Nandedkar (The Conversation): Housing crisis? What crisis? How politicians talk about housing and why it matters
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Government plans to take land and parks for high-density housing worries Auckland Council
Health
Nick Truebridge (RNZ): Government to unveil new plans to avoid another measles outbreak
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Finance on new SDHB agenda
Amy Williams (RNZ): Billboard campaign aims to help cancer patient fund treatment
Denise Piper (Stuff): Plain packaging on chips and snacks proposed to combat obesity
Disability
RNZ Checkpoint: Government denies Laura Fergusson Rehabilitation asked for money
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): IHC job course failed to keep disabled man safe - report
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Support service failed to protect intellectually disabled man from sexually aggressive behaviour - Health and Disability Commissioner
Education
Peter Lyons (ODT):Should teachers pay so much to work?
Jenny Nicholls (North & South): Where’s the nanny state when you need it?
Public service
Brian Easton (Pundit): Will the New Public Service Act result in better services to the public?
Richard Norman (Newsroom): Putting the ‘service’ back into public service
Victoria University Of Wellington: Bringing out the best in the bureaucracy
Gangs
Blair Voorend (Hawkes Bay Today): National leader Simon Bridges sees chance to unseat Stuart Nash in Napier over gangs
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Hawke's Bay police stop carrying arms as gang tensions settle
Jared Savage (Herald): Turf war between Mongols and Mongrel Mob in Tauranga as police investigate suspected arson and revenge shootings (paywalled)
James Fyfe (Newshub): 'We're at a precipice': NZ's gang problem worst it's been in decades - Black Power member
Newstalk ZB: Police Commissioner: Tackle gang violence by hitting them in the pocket
NZ Herald: Police Minister Stuart Nash admits New Zealand has a gang problem
Charlotte Graham-McLay (The Guardian): 'People are fearful': New Zealand police admit gang violence is out of control
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): 'If there's a bleeding sore in the social periphery of New Zealand, it's the gangs'
Sahiban Hyde (Hawkes Bay Today): Gangs and gun licences: Police minister's plan to rein in Napier shootings
Local government
Melanie Earley (Stuff): Auckland Council chief executive Stephen Town quits job earlier than expected
Felix Desmarais (RNZ): Late ratepayers owe Rotorua Lakes Council nearly $6.5 million
Mark Price (ODT): Deputy mayor ousted from airport group
Shelly Bay
Mandy Te (Stuff): A very basic guide to a very confusing place - Wellington's Shelly Bay
RNZ: Hui to held on Shelly Bay development, but iwi unimpressed with 'short notice’
Building standards, earthquake risk
Phil Pennington (RNZ): More questions over Auckland skyscraper project's building standards
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Seismic risk forces ministries out of Wellington offices
Ben Strang (RNZ): Wellington underground market to close due to being quake prone
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Wellington's Underground Market to close due to earthquake risk
Media
Joanne Black (Listener): Gordon McLauchlan: 1931-2020
Gavin Ellis: Fatal overkill
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): Senior Otago Daily Times journalist quits over buried story
Other
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): What another 1989-style rewrite would look like
Dave Armstrong (Stuff): Diary of a Labour list MP: We've done so much!
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Bankers spruik Tiwai, as analysts predict smelter will be sold rather than close (paywalled)
Brian Gaynor (BusinessDesk): No, New Zealand is not a 'broken country’ (paywalled)
Damien Grant (Stuff): Our economy is vulnerable to a far more dangerous pandemic than the coronavirus
TVNZ: 'Alarming' number of Kiwi children found to be carrying weapons, including guns
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Assistant Privacy Commissioner takes top role at Consumer NZ
Listener Editorial: Should the Pike River Mine re-entry be put to rest?
Debrin Foxcroft (Stuff): New Zealanders shopping online locally after 'Amazon tax' takes effect
Duncan Garner (Newstalk ZB): Corrections owes more than an apology to Benjamin Lightbody