Today’s content

National Party
Josh Van Veen (Democracy Project): The Ghost of lockdowns Past
Ben Thomas (Stuff): The end is nigh as Judith Collins stumbles once too often
Richard Harman (Politik): Is Bridges the answer? (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Poll crash for National could spell catastrophe for Judith Collins (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Why did Janet Wilson give that interview to the Spinoff?
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): ‘Paranoid storm’ and a poll from hell cloud Collins’ leadership
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Judith Collins hits back at former staffer Janet Wilson over claims of a culture of fear and ‘paranoid storms’
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Judith Collins denies paranoia claims and hits back at former staffer Janet Wilson
1 News: Judith Collins and ex-press advisor in slanging match over Siouxsie Wiles attack
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Judith Collins’ former chief press secretary attacks Opposition leader, ‘moribund’, ‘on the brink of oblivion’ National Party
RNZ: Judith Collins stands by calling microbiologist Siouxsie Wiles a hypocrite

UMR, Curia polling
Henry Cooke (Stuff): New poll has National at just 21 per cent, ACT not far behind at 15 per cent
Claire Trevett (Herald): New poll reveals initial impact of outbreak on political parties’ fortunes
RNZ: Support for Labour steadies, concern about catching Covid-19 rises – UMR poll
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): First Delta UMR Poll – Winners & Losers
Herald: The National Party’s polling company has the party crashing to within six points of Act
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): National Party slumps to 21.3 pct, ACT just 6 points behind in new NZ Taxpayers’ Union poll
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): New Taxpayer Union Poll – Winners & Losers

Vaccine rollout
Vaughan Elder (ODT): ‘Thousands of deaths’ from Covid a risk in reopening scenario: modeller
Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): New Zealand could see thousands of deaths once borders open if vaccination rates don’t increase – Michael Plank
Dan Satherley (Newshub): ‘Scared’ countries are rushing to get vaccines, NZ should too – epidemiologist Rod Jackson
Henry Cooke and Kate Newton (Stuff): New Zealand’s vaccine rollout explained in 10 charts, as it hits halfway mark
Newstalk ZB: Andrew Little: Like to see 90% vax rate before restrictions can ease
Stewart Forsyth (Herald): Team Auckland versus Team Rest of New Zealand in vaccine race (paywalled)
Nikki Macdonald and Lucy Xia (Stuff): Trained pharmacy vaccinators ‘going to waste’ in Auckland
Siouxsie Wiles & Toby Morris (Spinoff): Do I really need a Covid-19 vaccine, even if I’m fit and healthy?
David Farrar: (Kiwiblog) Vaccination rates
RNZ: Checkpoint: Rob Fyfe calls for ‘ambitious’ vaccine target from government
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): All sectors urged to step up and get Aotearoa vaccinated
Danielle Clent (Stuff): 250,000 Pfizer vaccines from Denmark arrive in Auckland
Jessica Roden (1 News): Focus turns to 22% of Kiwis not vaccinated against Covid
Herald: Jacinda Ardern’s final 4 for ‘Mr Whippy’-style jab bus names revealed
Ripu Bhatia and Geraden Cann (Stuff): Jab Lab, Vax Van, or Mr Pricky: Your names for the Covid-19 vaccination buses
Newshub: Jacinda Ardern reveals shortlisted names for ‘Mr Whippy’ style vaccine buses
RNZ: Little clarifies plan for buses and mobile clinics to boost vaccination rates
Nikki Preston (Herald): NZ’s biggest retirement village operator wants all staff to be vaccinated
Zoe Holland (Herald): Woman shocked to learn Covid-19 vaccination centre closed
Zane Small (Newshub): Israel, where 3 in 5 are fully vaccinated, has a message for New Zealand: COVID-19 jabs reduce hospitalisations
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Booster shots could prolong pandemic by increasing risk of variants in unvaccinated nations – scientists
Herald: Medsafe hits back at Covid jab misinformation as it probes 15 deaths
Anna Leask (Herald): Coroner says death of teen not linked to vaccine
RNZ: Teen’s death investigated but no evidence of link to vaccine – Chief Coroner

Border, MIQ, immigration
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Alleged quarantine escapee sent home after just 10 days without being tested
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Quarantine: Out after only 10 days
Maiki Sherman (1 News): Over 100 Pasifika overstayers deported last year during pandemic
Denise Piper (Stuff): Fifty yachts to sail from Fiji to Northland, raising health fears
1 News: Software developer: New MIQ lottery improvement, but flaws remain
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): MIQ virtual lobby ‘no silver bullet’, warns Hipkins
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Pause on managed isolation room releases lifted
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand reopens MIQ border bookings as new Covid cases drop to 14
Michael Neilson (Herald): National calls for points-based MIQ priority system
RNZ: NZ’s MIQ booking system to resume on Monday
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): Trans-Tasman bubble: Kiwis stranded in Australia not eligible for MIQ until bubble decision
RNZ: Checkpoint: Stressed NZers stuck in Australia face pension cuts
Amelia Wade (Newshub): MIQ fix isn’t good news for all with some Kiwis stuck in Australia forced to pause their pensions
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Cook Islands tourism operators frustrated with new travel policy 
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Residency limbo: Emails reveal pleas of rural GP, while convicted criminals granted stay
Yadharsh Yathin Vijayakuma (Stuff): Migrant’s chances of being with fiancée in New Zealand slimmer every day
Anuja Nadkarni (Newsroom): The $140,000 job not a single Kiwi has applied for

Contact tracing, testing
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Act says the Government did not test contact tracing system, the Government says Act has its definition wrong
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Mobile COVID-19 test providers say ‘we need more’ to close service inequity for Māori, Pasifika
Adam Pearse (Herald): Why 7000 Aucklanders need to be tested per day
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Middlemore Hospital testing every ward patient for Covid-19
Amy Williams (RNZ): Weekly tests for essential workers crossing Auckland border come in tomorrow

Government management of outbreak, expert advice
Vaimoana Tapaleao (Herald): Life after lockdowns – health officials working on new outbreak response strategy
Chris Bishop (Kiwiblog): On the longest lockdown
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Something is working in the state of Denmark
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap: what happened on 15 September
Herald Editorial: Are we losing the ability to see the positives? (paywalled)

Wānaka Couple
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): The Indiscrete Charmlessness Of Upper-Class Rule-Breakers
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Pākehā granted name suppression three times as often as Māori
RNZ: Law Society to look into rule flouting by lawyer who fled to Wānaka
Giles Dexter (Newshub): How New Zealand’s suppression laws could be tweaked after alleged lockdown breachers’ names widely shared online
Kevin Norquay (Stuff): Maybe we should cut the Wānaka lockdown breach couple some slack
Sasha Borissenko (Herald): Wānaka couple’s initial name suppression – do different rules apply to rich people? (paywalled)
Nadine Porter and Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Queenstown mayor wants Wānaka lockdown breach couple to face prosecution
Lana Andelane and Lydia Lewis (Newshub): Psychiatrist calls on Kiwis to stop harassing, vilifying William Willis, Hannah Rawnsley on social media
Wyatt Ryder (ODT): Response to flouting law called ‘cruel’

Alert level rules, compliance, enforcement, misinformation
Cira Olivier (Herald): Aucklander found in BOP let through checkpoint due to safety concern – police
Hazel Osborne (Whakatāne Beacon): Aucklander who fled level 4 lockdown to Whakatāne may face prosecution
1 News: MSD client who fled from Auckland to Whakatāne made to return
Geraden Cann (Stuff): Anti-vax group drops leaflets in Auckland, despite lockdown
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Northland man crossed border to Auckland to buy boat
Herald: Brian Tamaki tells followers to ‘do away with’ masks
RNZ: Bloomfield warns against social media Covid-19 misinformation
1 News: Bloomfield debunks claim Vitamin C protects or treats Covid-19
1 News: Attempted imports of Ivermectin spike in recent months
Ella Prendergast and Sarah Templeton (Newshub): Pressure from clients, stigma in system mean ‘small amount’ of sex workers operating during lockdown – Dame Catherine Healy

Wage subsidy, business, economy
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): ‘Lockdowns are killing us’: Call for clarity on vaccine target
Jamie Gray (Herald): NZ’s current account deficit widens to 3.3% of GDP – Stats NZ
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): What’s the economic road-map? Grant Robertson in the spotlight (paywalled)
Mitchell Alexander (Newshub): Government workers urged to return to office as COVID-19 bites for Wellington CBD businesses
Daniel Dunkley (Stuff): We need to get creative to help hospitality
Sam Hurley (Herald): ‘Treacherous trio of scams’: Markets watchdog FMA issues warning about Covid-19 exploitation
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Guns N’ Roses NZ tour ‘unlikely’ to go ahead, promoter yet to make final call

Supermarkets
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Supermarket study hits a brick wall with New World, Pak ‘n Save owners response
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Countdown joins Foodstuffs in rejecting case for forced split

Inequality, charities
Steven Cowan (Against the current): We’re not “all in this together”
Caroline Williams (Stuff): Salvation Army calls for wider access to food and financial assistance during lockdown
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Māori Food Network sends out 25 tonnes of kai to struggling whānau 
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Papa Hone fights poverty in the Northland ‘one whānau at a time’

Cases, demographics
1 News: MIQ worker Covid case a sign NZ has to turn away border cases: Baker
Hannah Martin (Stuff): More than half of cases in Auckland Delta outbreak linked to church group
1 News: Covid case who presented at Middlemore lives at Mongrel Mob gang pad
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Auckland Mongrel Mob members isolating after woman with COVID-19 goes home to gang pad
Jared Savage (Herald): Positive case at Mongrel Mob pad after patient discharged herself from Middlemore Hospital before test result
Rawiri Taonui (Māori TV): Total Māori cases pass Pākehā
Herald: Keeping kids safe in the pandemic (paywalled)
Jared Savage (Herald): Positive case at Mongrel Mob pad after patient discharged herself from Middlemore Hospital before test result
Herald: Covid-19 transmission risk ‘less than 0.1%’ on flights according to recent study

Health
1 News: Pasifika community leader slams health system after horror Covid experience
Ben Leahy (Herald): The three main treatments for the virus
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Government urged to buy ‘game changer’ Covid-19 drug treatment
ODT Editorial: Handling of visiting issue not sexy
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Mike Houlahan (ODT): 60 breast scans not reliable
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Leading the charge for nurses
Rebecca Macfie (Newsroom): No profit: Home care firm ditches DHB
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Government set to make announcement on ACC coverage of birth injuries

Afghanistan
Spinoff: Open letter: Our obligation to the people of Afghanistan
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Afghanistan: Sixty New Zealand human rights groups, activists call for Government to escalate response to ‘humanitarian disaster’
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Group makes urgent plea to NZ Government to take action
Stuff Editorial: Afghanistan deminers have a claim on our conscience
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government faces mounting pressure to rescue stranded New Zealanders and at-risk Afghans from Taliban

Environment, Climate change
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Mines, landfills near wetlands possible under Government walk-back of environmental rules
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Climate plan delay shows govt-as-usual not up to task
No Right Turn: Climate Change: Some “emergency”
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): Government pushes climate plan release back five months
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Government’s climate plan delayed five months
Michael Neilson (Herald): Government delays releasing climate change Emissions Reductions plan six months
RNZ: Government gives itself 5 month extension to publish Emissions Reduction Plan
No Right Turn: Climate Change: We need more than excuses on methane
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): James Shaw should go overseas – and so should we all (paywalled)
Matthew Rosenberg (Local democracy reporting): Coal exploration raises questions of carbon impact at forestry block
Amber Allott (Stuff): Climate change a looming threat for native invertebrates, reports find 
Herald: Fonterra makes inroads into its GHG emissions from coal reduction goal
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Fonterra reduces emissions from coal by 11% in the last year 
John Anthony (Stuff): Air New Zealand and Airbus launch zero-emissions aircraft project
Tina Law (Stuff): Millions spent on preventing old landfills from polluting waterways
Nicholas Pointon (RNZ): Huge waste-to-energy plant proposed in South Canterbury
Guy Williams and Andrew Marshall (ODT): Conservation projects get a cash boost

Te Reo Māori
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Tamati Coffey’s ‘triumph’, why Te Reo week creates such friction & Labour’s empty gestures
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Students struggling to retain Māori fluency after changing schools
Bruce Jepsen (Stuff): We need a law change to recognise te reo Māori as a curriculum, the same as English
George Heagney (Stuff): Police embrace use of te reo Māori to help others feel more comfortable
Rob Stock (Stuff): Government and business leaders explain their organisations’ te reo Māori names
Kayla Hodge (ODT): ‘You will be banned’: council says it will not tolerate racism online

Māori Party Aotearoa petition, place names
Peter Dunne: The courage, commitment and respect for tradition shown by Te Paati Māori must be met with the same courage and respect from the rest of the country
Karl du Fresne: A chance to end the dishonest shadow-boxing
Marena Mane (Māori TV): PM happy to call it Aotearoa; government not pursuing it though
Will Trafford (Māori TV): NZ to Aotearoa: Petition gains momentum as signatures top 25,000
Don Brash (Bassett, Brash and Hide): Opposition to ‘Aotearoa’ name change

Housing
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn Chorus: House price inflation 31.1%, with more to come as rate hike ‘hope’ fades
Tony Alexander (OneRoof): What will happen to prices when Auckland comes out of lockdown?
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): When will the Govt realise it’s powerless over housing?
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): NZ house prices accelerate at second fastest rate in world (paywalled)
Greg Ninness (Interest): Latest REINZ figures show house prices still rising but the rate of growth is slowing
Miriam Bell (Stuff): No knocking Wellington rents off ‘most expensive’ perch 

Water reforms
Lois Williams (Local Government Reporting): Local Government New Zealand calls for halt to ad campaign for water reforms
Luisa Girao (ODT): Concern for local voice in water reform

Local government
Todd Niall (Stuff): Record level 4 lockdown has cost Auckland Council $65 million and rising 
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Wellington plans to build 147km cycleway network 
Diane McCarthy (RNZ): Kawerau councillors ‘jumped the gun’ on Māori wards – submitter
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Country’s largest water to land discharge system gets green light
Tina Law (Stuff): By-election candidates combat Covid-19 and apathy to engage voters
Logan Savory (Stuff): Invercargill City Council’s mana whenua appointees lined up for October start
Hamish McLean (ODT): ORC Chairman says he has spoken with minister
Hamish McLean (ODT): Conflict of interest query bemuses chairman

Education
George Heagney (Stuff): Students fear for ‘quality of education’ due to lack of in-person teaching
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Students stuck in Auckland say they’re missing out
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Remote learning across Auckland schools: ‘It’s pretty normal’
RNZ: School holiday date change too disruptive – principals
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Chris Hipkins expects school holiday decision by the end of the week
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): The government needs to put its foot down with the unions over moving the school holidays
1 News: Change to ECE funding ‘backpedalling’ from Govt, union says
Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Unions unhappy with Government’s pay parity pathway for early childhood teachers
Natasha Jojoa Burling (Herald): Schools lost $40 million in international student revenue during Covid pandemic

Cyber attacks
Chris Keall (Herald): Kiwis losing millions more to cyber attacks – and Cert NZ boss says reported no.s are ‘tip of the iceberg’ (paywalled)
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Kiwibank offers fee refunds to customers
Henry Burrell (BusinessDesk): Why cyber-criminals are still attacking NZ websites (paywalled)

Terrorism
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Minister Andrew Little rejects claims the Government neglected efforts to rehabilitate Auckland terrorist
Chris Wilson (Herald): Why late-stage planning of a terror attack should be an offence
Arena Williams and Stuart Smith (Stuff): The new Counter-Terrorism Bill will not solve all of our vulnerabilities
Audrey Young (Herald): Terrorism bill reported back to Parliament with change to definition

Conversion therapy
Zane Small (Newshub): Simon Bridges challenges Young Nats on ‘individual autonomy’ after youth wing endorses ban on conversion practices
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Churches at odds over conversion therapy in oral submissions
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand bill to ban LGBTQ conversion practices receives record 100,000 submissions

Other
Kate Nicol-Williams (1 News): Whangārei egg producer accused of animal cruelty after hens ‘left to rot’
Craig Hickman (Stuff): Unhappy farmers are missing an important point – policy changes are what customers want to see
Marta Steeman (Stuff): Consumer NZ lodges complaint with fair trading watchdog over retirement villages’ care claims
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Australian media ruling could change landscape in NZ
Derek Cheng (Herald): Are police ‘racist’? Data reveals huge differences across ethnicities from police use of drug laws (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): Reserve Bank hit with compliance notice from Privacy Commissioner over data breach
1 News: Privacy Commissioner issues compliance notice to Reserve Bank over cyber-attack
RNZ: Reserve Bank ordered to tighten systems to secure personal data
Laura Hooper (Stuff): End of an era: Ohai coalmine in Southland to close
1 News: Changes to learner and restricted licence renewals proposed
Rob Kidd (ODT): Prisoner’s treatment not best practice, court told
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Staffer blows whistle on blowhard America’s Cup plan
Tracy Neal (Newsroom): Govt wants answers on Cook Strait ferries cancellation
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Govt set to release latest Oranga Tamariki scrutiny

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