Today’s content

Govt management of Delta outbreak
Ian Powell (BusinessDesk): The politics of pandemic traffic lights
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Covid-19: Explaining the tipping point New Zealand wants to reach (and why it matters)
Derek Cheng (Herald): ‘I worry that it’s too risky’ – expert and modeller on easing restrictions in Auckland
Brittney Deguara (Stuff): Cases could increase by over 300 a day as restrictions ease, modeller warns
Jamie Morton (Herald): Level 3.2 risks later, longer peak – modeller (paywalled)
1 News: Baker says it’s ‘not ideal’ time for loosening of restrictions
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Modelling shows Covid-19 hospitalisations may double in Auckland
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): Dawn Chorus: Can Auckland really reopen with 200 cases per day? (paywalled)
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Fewer than 100 staff at national contact tracing centre
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): 1pm presser cutbacks a good thing
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): The real Royal Commission into Covid will be in Sept 2023
Selva Selvarajah (ODT): We must adapt to the virus by outsmarting it
Kate Nicol-Williams (1 News): Court of Appeal rejects 2020 Covid-19 lockdown was illegal
RNZ: Appeal over legality of 2020 Covid-19 level 4 lockdown dismissed
Katie Harris (Herald): Challenge over legality of 2020 level 3 and 4 lockdown rejected by Court of Appeal
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap: Unlinked cases, change in level for some, funding for Māori vaccine initiatives
Justin Giovannetti (Spinoff): Auckland’s restrictions could be eased next week
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Level 3 phase 2: Winners & Losers
1 News: PM visiting Auckland a ‘good idea’ – Collins
Jane Nixon (1 News): Ardern to visit Auckland after changes to Parliament’s Covid rules

Northland, Waikato
1 News: Getting vaxxed way for Far North to get ahead of virus – mayor
Kate Gregan and Sarah Robson (RNZ): Ngāpuhi Covid-19 response group backs snap lockdown in Far North
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland’s low vaccine rate not Government funding failure, PM says
Karina Cooper and Mike Dinsdale (Northern Advocate/Herald):  Part of Far North plunged into level 3 lockdown after unlinked cases emerge
Anna Whyte (1 News): Northern Northland to enter Alert Level 3 after unlinked Covid cases
Lucy Xia and Bernadette Basagre (Stuff): Northland waits over potential undetected spread
Zane Small (Newshub): Northern part of Te Tai Tokerau to enter alert level 3 lockdown over ‘unlinked case’ of COVID-19
Mina Kerr-Lazenby and Sapeer Mayron (Stuff): Northern part of Northland to shift to alert level 3 at 11.59pm tonight 
1 News: Incorrect claim of Covid case visit sees resort entry blocked
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1 News: Waikato wakes to eased restrictions in L3 step two
Nikki Preston (Herald): Hamilton mayor tells PM not to forget Hamilton

Cases, demographics
Anna Whyte (1 News): More than 700 kids under 12 part of Delta outbreak
1 News: New cases of Covid emerge in Auckland prison facilities
1 News: Two more Auckland rest home staffers contract Covid
Rachel Moore (Stuff): Eighteen more cases in Waikato with four ‘provisionally’ in Ōtorohanga, mayor says

Vaccine rollout
Jamie Morton (Herald): How do we close NZ’s vaccination gap?
RNZ: Māori vaccination data: ‘Bureaucracy has failed us’ – John Tamihere
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘Frustration’ as MPs blast Ministry of Health for withholding Māori vaccination data
Lucy Xia (Stuff): Whānau Ora racing to get more Māori vaccinated after legal victory
Adam Pearse (Herald): Help is on its way’: Low Māori vaccination areas to be targeted following High Court ruling
Michael Neilson (Stuff): Call for ministry to apologise over withholding Māori data from Whānau Ora
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): Ministry of Health ‘reconsidering decision’ to not provide Māori vaccine data
Tumamao Harawira (Māori TV): Whānau Ora scores major win over access to Māori vaccination data
Māori TV: Bureaucrats told to hand over detailed vaccination data to Whānau Ora ASAP
David Fisher (Herald): Gang leaders urge whānau to get vaccinated; Willie Jackson’s idea
RNZ: Māori Covid-19 funding approved for eight groups to boost vaccinations
Peter de Graaf (Northern Advocate/Herald): PM convinced Northland can still hit 90 per cent target
Northern Advocate: Prime Minister in Northland to support vaccination drive
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): Does a visit from the PM boost vaccination rates?
RNZ: Pfizer’s ability to manufacture paediatric vaccines to meet demand will be a challenge – Bloomfield
Ashleigh Yates (1 News): Kiwis receiving second Covid-19 vaccine dose trends up
Laura Mills (Greymouth Star): Race to meet 90% target

Vaccine mandates and certificate, Anti-vaxxers
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Schools estimate several thousand staff are vaccine-resistant
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Family doctors cop abuse from patients wanting vaccine exemptions
1 News: Countdown, Auckland University announce vaccine mandates
Craig Kapitan (Herald): University of Auckland issues vaccine mandate
Joanna Davis (Stuff): Should we have ‘no vax, no entry’ for our private homes too?
RNZ: Reefton gym owners shut shop rather than police vaccine certificates
Herald Editorial: Vaccination record of frontline health staff is essential (paywalled)
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Alienating half a million unvaccinated Kiwis won’t help the vaccine roll-out, health provider says
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Chris Trotter (Interest): Turning up angry
Newstalk ZB: Sociology Professor: anti-vaxxers lashing out because they feel cornered
1 News: Davis says pair who heckled Ardern ‘think they are smarter than the virus’
1 News: Protester interrupts Jacinda Ardern’s Northland news conference
Henry Cooke and Denise Piper (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern press conference in Northland disrupted by anti-Covid-vaccination heckling
RNZ: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shuts down and moves press conference after heckling
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern press conference in Northland shut down after heckler hijacks question time
Cira Olivier (Herald): Katikati woman offered $200 to get vaccine for someone else (paywalled)
RNZ: Auckland councillor told to take safety precautions after threat from suspected anti-vaxxers
Justin Latif (Local Democracy Reporting): Police monitoring councillor’s home amid concerns anti-vaxxer threats on rise
eorge Parker and Eva Neely (Spinoff): We’re home-birthers, we have a healthy distrust of medical authority, and we’re vaccinated against Covid-19

Health system
Anna Matheson (Newsroom): Covid inequities no surprise
Sam Olley (RNZ): Whangārei Hospital: Leaky roofs, dodgy lifts, waiting lists and Covid-19’s here
Cecile Meier (Stuff): Health boards request funding for extra ICU beds as Covid-19 looms
Glenda Alexander (Stuff): Why we should be glad New Zealand’s nurses have settled
RNZ: Southern DHB outlines scenarios if virus becomes endemic
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Planning for Covid scenarios
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): MIQ changes for health staff won’t plug South Auckland gap – NZ Nurses Organisation
Mike Houlahan (ODT): SDHB’s very long waiting list
Mare Haimona-Riki (Māori TV): Cancer whānau will be directly impacted by vaccine rollout
Jason Walls (Newstalk ZB): Govt’s sidelining of gold-standard Health Select Committee beggars belief 
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Health NZ to take on at least $700m worth of deficits from DHBs
Michael Neilson (Herald): Major Pharmac review delayed nearly 3 months
Brooke van Velden (Herald): End  of Life Choice Act gives Bobbie the choice she deserves

Alert Level Rules and breaches
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Aucklanders confused by lockdown rules, one-third admit breaking them
Catrin Owen (Stuff): Auckland sex worker accused of lockdown breach yet to enter plea
1 News: Second man arrested over latest Auckland Domain protest
Miriam Burrell (Herald): Anti-lockdown protester denies fresh charge over weekend gathering
Herald:  Video shared of anti-lockdown protest MC Kaleb Cave’s arrest

MIQ, NZ border, Home isolation
Lorna Thornber (Stuff): Is New Zealand the new laughing stock of the travel world?
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): MIQ changes for health staff welcomed, but won’t plug South Auckland gap
Ian Taylor (Herald):  Ian Taylor descends into Los Angeles on his private MIQ trial
Tom Hunt and Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Round six of MIQ virtual lobby books out as Kiwis try to reunite with family, in smallest queue to date

Environment, climate change, conservation
Gordon Campbell: On decoding the COP26 climate change hype
Eva Corlett (Guardian): New Zealand plan to halve greenhouse gas emissions criticised as an ‘accounting trick’
Eloise Gibson (Stuff): Can we pay other countries to save the climate for us? Should we?
George Driver (Spinoff): Will New Zealand really reduce its emissions by 50% by 2030?
Rod Oram (Newsroom): Things start to move at COP26
RNZ: NZ politician promises to amplify Pacific positions at COP26
Ralph Cooney (Herald): Can nuclear power or geoengineering deliver?
Simon Wilson (Herald): Glasgow Diary – November 3 (paywalled)
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RNZ: Water discharging into sea not up to standard after Christchurch treatment plant fire
RNZ: Little risk of contamination after fire at sewage treatment plant – council
RNZ: Wilding pine control efforts praised for efforts exceeding expectations
Matthew Littlewood (Stuff): New approach to tahr management by Department of Conservation

Economy, business, Wage subsidy
Bonnie Flaws (Stuff): Farmers pays bonus to managers while others remain on 80 per cent pay
Eva Corlett (Guardian): New Zealand company founded by students gives employees $10,000 ‘thank you’ bonus
Rahul Bhattarai (Herald): Government’s traffic light system a ‘waste of time’ say Auckland hairdressers (paywalled)
Jane Nixon (1 News): Ministry of Health approves Botox under step 2 of Level 3
Kirsty Wynn (Herald): Covid-weary workers plan longer holidays this summer – red light or green
Anne Gibson (Herald): Auckland mall owner ‘disappointed’ about waiting extra week for alert level 3.2 (paywalled)
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Auckland, Northland businesses show high debt stress
Amanda Cropp (Stuff): Business defaults in Auckland and Northland reflect lockdown distress
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Government decided not to follow through on idea of talks to save refinery
Ian Llewellyn (BusinessDesk): Ministers thought about subsidising oil refinery (paywalled)
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): New Zealand is staring down the barrel of a recession
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Tax more or spend less, Treasury warns (paywalled)
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Auditor-General criticises Government’s ‘difficult to track’ accounting of public spending
Rahul Bhattarai (Herald): Beer and other alcohol prices to rise due to cost pressures and excise taxes – DB Breweries (paywalled)
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Law firms pitch to wealthy Kiwis over possible court challenge to Inland Revenue survey (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): The Great Resignation could lead to a great deal of employee theft, expert warns – pointing to recent heist (paywalled)

Supermarket inquiry
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): ComCom prepared to go hard on big supermarkets
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Āpōpō or Costco: The two faces of a new supermarket chain
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Is there a direct role for Government in the supermarket sector? (paywalled)

Housing
Greg Ninness (Interest): Average value of NZ homes increases $217,136 in the year to October
RNZ: House prices spiked in October as Reserve Bank anticipates drop
RNZ: Housing prices pose risk to New Zealand’s financial stability, RBNZ governor says
Katie Bradford (1 News): ‘Tide is changing’ on house prices – Reserve Bank
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Housing crisis: All eyes on housing market ahead of Reserve Bank’s next report
David Hargreaves (Interest): Orr pleads with Kiwis not to put all their eggs in the housing basket
Tamsyn Parker (Herald): Reserve Bank governor Adrian Orr says access to land remains biggest challenge to housing market
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Adrian Orr says Reserve Bank only has ‘bit role’ in unsustainable house prices
David Hargreaves (Interest): RBNZ says recent increase in house prices ‘at odds’ with the fundamental drivers of the market
Daniel Riordan (NBR): Runaway house prices not our fault, Reserve Bank says (paywalled)
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): RBNZ plays just ‘a bit part’ in fueling house price inflation: Orr (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Stuff): House prices rising again because of lockdown listing shortages and strong buyer demand
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Govt could intervene if property owners use covenants to stymie intensification
Luke Kirkeby (Stuff): Quadrupling of house price shocks Taupō real estate agent who’s still in the game at 89
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Wellington tops main centres in property value growth as housing crisis groans on
Jake McKee (RNZ): Frustration rising along with Wellington rental prices
1 News: NZ home loan rates going to continue to grow – economist
Anne Gibson (Herald): Auckland property – Barfoot & Thompson sales plummet 41% as pandemic bites

Parliament, Government
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Roy Morgan poll October 2021
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): New Roy Morgan Poll – Labour hold on despite lockdown
Claire Trevett and Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern to travel to Auckland after Trevor Mallard drops restrictive Parliamentary Covid rules
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern will visit Auckland after speaker changes Parliament’s Covid-19 rules 
Katie Scotcher (RNZ): Speaker scraps isolation rules for MPs’ return to Parliament

Three Waters, local government
RNZ: Nine to Noon: Three Waters: Minister responds to outpouring of opposition
Matt Burgess (Herald): Three Waters needs to be on a commercial footing (paywalled)
Mike Tweed (Herald): Whanganui-based MP Harete Hipango labels Three Waters a ‘grab on power’ (paywalled)
Logan Savory (Stuff): Councillor: Time for Three Waters grandstanding to stop
Rebecca Ryan (ODT): Mayor, council pen protest on effect of Three Waters
Chloe Blommerde (Stuff): Waikato mayor’s fury at Government following Three Waters signal
Liu Chen (RNZ): ‘Disgraceful, criminal behaviour’: Councillors, staff increasingly abused
Star News: Declining satisfaction behind Christchurch City Council action plan
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Property sales in pipeline for ORC
Andrew Marshall (ODT): Rainbow crossing ‘PC virtue signalling’
Alice Angeloni (Local Democracy Reporting): Gisborne District Councils votes to review dog policy and bylaw
Robin Martin (RNZ): Lockdown leads to poetic justice for Whanganui pound dogs

Transport 
Zane Small (Newshub): Let’s Get Wellington Moving: How the capital could look after multibillion-dollar light rail transformation
Nile Bijoux (Stuff): New Zealand’s traffic barely registers on the list of most congested roads
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Commuter parking levy investigated for Wellington of up to $2500 per car park
Michael Wood (Herald): Light rail is coming for Auckland, at long last (paywalled)
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council drawing up radical plan to remove parking on roads across the city
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Final link in Palmerston North’s ring road back on track

Primary industries
Jamie MacKay (The Country): Does Groundswell NZ have a problem with anti-vaxxers?
RNZ: Growing regulation causing added stress for dairy farmers – Survey
Shawn McAvinue (ODT): Premium price suggested for milk produced using regenerative farming practices
Keith Woodford (Interest): No-one has found an alternative to dairy for New Zealand’s export-led economy

Media
Stephen Parker (Newsroom): Cabinet delays decision on new public broadcaster
John Anthony (Stuff): Covid-19 and elections drive Broadcasting Standards Authority complaints to 10-year high
Bill Ralston (Stuff): Little doubt Moralising Mike is target of Tova O’Brien hire
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Tova O’Brien just might shift the plates in NZ news radio
Mark Jennings (Newshub): Tova O’Brien: The new face of talk radio
Emily Brookes (Stuff): Tova O’Brien quits Newshub for new talk radio gig
Herald: Radio wars: MediaWorks poaches Tova O’Brien from Newshub to host breakfast show
Newshub: Tova O’Brien leaving Newshub, joining MediaWorks’ new talk radio brand
Gavin Ellis (Knightly Views): MediaWorks cuts the last tie to the past

Other
Vincent O’Malley (Guardian): New Zealand’s children will all soon study the country’s brutal history – it’s not before time
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Public servants invited to house Afghan evacuees
RNZ: The Detail: Copyright laws are a hitch in the UK trade deal
1 News: 40% of NZ kids showing signs of depression in lockdown – study
Priscilla Dickinson (Newshub): Why unemployment is more likely to drop than rise
ODT Editorial: Trust me, I’m a scientist
Bob Brockie (Basset, Brash and Hide): The flight from reason
James Halpin (Stuff): Only 4 per cent of alcohol sales happen after 9pm, so should hours be cut?
André Chumko (Stuff): The arts absent in Infrastructure Commission’s 30-year plan
Stuff Editorial: A ministry that will need abilities
RNZ: New ‘navigator’ to reduce methamphetamine harm on the West Coast
Jody O’Callaghan (Herald): Victims’ Christchurch terror attack stories told on New York stage
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Rob Everett’s tough love in a tough job
Todd Niall (Stuff): Dame Catherine Tizard: The trailblazer who ‘lit up the room’