Today’s content
Foreign affairs, defence, trade
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): China strategy dominates New Zealand’s foreign policy year
Matthew Hooton (Herald): Why new Cold War risks turning hot (paywalled)
Matthew Hooton (Patreon): Why Ardern Should Choose Washington & Canberra Over Beijing & Moscow (paywalled)
1 News: China warns of ‘politicising sports’ after O’Connor’s comment
Richard Harman (Politik): United – in confusion (paywalled)
Pete McKenzie (Guardian): New Zealand faces growing challenge from Chinese nationalism, defence report warns
Thomas Manch (Stuff): New Zealand wants to benefit from Aukus nuclear defence pact, defence minister says
No Right Turn: Why would we want to do that?
Nicholas Khoo (Stuff): The US-China relationship – it’s our problem too
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern tells world leaders our model of democracy is ‘being challenged across globe’
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Afghanistan response: Government denies being ‘late to the table’ but accepts housing Afghans an issue
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): NZ troops patrol China-US proxy war in Solomon Islands
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Pre-Covid supply chains may never return – official
RNZ: International trade shows strong growth after setback last year
RNZ: The Detail: Muscling up and moving in on the ice
Govt management of Covid-19
Alexander Gillespie (The Conversation): A century on from the 1919 influenza inquiry, NZ needs a royal commission into its COVID-19 response
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): Crown fronts Waitangi Tribunal on Covid response
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (1 News): Bloomfield advised Govt to prioritise Māori over 50 in rollout
Maxine Jacobs (Stuff): Government ignored Bloomfield’s age band advice for Māori vaccinations
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): Minister continues to defend government’s Covid response
Herald: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern shuts down Facebook commenter during live video
Auckland border, Traffic light system, regional MIQ
Chris Trotter (Bowalley Road): Keeping Out The Virus Of Racism
1 News: Swarbrick, Seymour clash over Northland’s iwi checkpoints
Stuff Editorial: Can holidays risk the health of others?
John Weekes (Herald): All South Island, several regions were considered for ‘green’ light setting
Matai O’Connor (RNZ): Covid-19 risk: Council supports iwi request for people to stay away from region
Will Trafford (Māori TV): ‘Stay Away’ – Iwi and Council’s united message for Holidaymakers
Marena Mane (Māori TV): PM tells Christmas travellers to follow the rules
RNZ: Rapid antigen testing to be free for some domestic travellers over summer
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): We aren’t getting the summer we were promised
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Isolation spaces being secured in Queenstown Lakes
Vaccine pass, rollout,
Ian Powell (Second Opinion): Integrity and vaccine production: lessons for New Zealand
Tony Wall (Stuff): The influence of a few vaccine-sceptic GPs in remote, vulnerable communities
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Expert calls for Māori, Pasifika and South Auckland to be prioritised in vaccine roll-out for children
Kirsty Frame (RNZ): Concern over Covid-19 vaccine for children: ‘Protective instinct kicks in’
1 News: Tauranga mum urges vaccination after daughter catches Covid
Michael Neilson (Herald): Hesitancy still high for parents over vaccine for 5 to 11-year-olds ahead of planned January rollout
RNZ: More advice needed before accelerating vaccine booster rollout – Hipkins
James Halpin (Stuff): Vaccine roll-out to drug users contributed to elimination failure – expert
Hannah Martin (Stuff): NZ fewer than 59,000 second doses off 90 per cent vaccine goal
RNZ: All three Auckland DHBs hit 90 percent first dose milestone for Pacific people
Moana Ellis (Stuff): Whanganui DHB vaccination rates among worst in the country
Nick James and Sophie Trigger (Herald): Mandatory vaccine passports introduced at Victoria University from 2022
Avina Vidyadharan (Herald): More than 150 Northland teachers say no Covid-19 vaccination (paywalled)
Gianina Schwanecke (Herald): Hawke’s Bay hospitality in ‘panic stations’ as large businesses rejig work dos to include the unvaxxed (paywalled)
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Restaurants feel pressure to break vaccine pass rules amidst financial strain
Katie Townshend (Stuff): ‘Disrespectful’ behaviour puts Tākaka Village Market users on notice
Lois Williams (Local Democracy Reporting): Covid-19 anti-vaxxers damaging Reefton, says Inangahua Community Board chair
Vita Molyneux (Herald): Upper Hutt City Council say strong support on Facebook for not enforcing vaccine passes
Sophie Trigger (Herald): Freedom bus to Parliament protest requires vaccine passport or negative Covid test
1 New: How to get vaccine pass ready for Air NZ domestic travel
Vaccine exemptions
Patrick Gower (Newshub): Police investigating Canterbury doctor Dr Jonie Girouard for giving out medical certificates as vaccine exemptions
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Fears there could be more doctors issuing bogus vaccine exemptions
RNZ: Medical Council to put to GP ‘serious concerns’ over fraudulent vaccine exemptions
RNZ: Unofficial Covid-19 vaccine exemptions ‘very unethical’ – Hipkins
Herald: Police confirm investigation into GP caught issuing ‘illegitimate’ medical certificates
Martin Van Beynen and Marine Lourens (Stuff): Police investigate as concerns about doctor filmed giving vaccine exemptions escalate
Conan Young (RNZ): Unvaccinated Kaiapoi GP under investigation for fraudulent vaccine exemptions
Herald: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says anti-vax doctor putting lives at risk
Susan Sandys (Christchurch Star) Selwyn teen’s life in limbo as she waits for vaccine pass exemption
Delta outbreak
Louise Ternouth (RNZ): Entering the ‘red zone’ – A look inside an Auckland Covid-19 ward
1 News: Nurses’ union: Govt’s claim health system coping inaccurate
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Auckland nurse says notion hospitals could cope with Covid-19 surge ‘utter nonsense’
ODT Editorial: Hospitals under pressure
Jamie Morton (Herald): Why do fully vaxxed people show up in daily cases?
RNZ: Tairāwhiti DHB boss appeals for testing, assures support for anyone with Covid-19
Farah Hancock (RNZ): Active case numbers inflated with recovered people
Esther Ashby-Coventry (Stuff): Pleasant Point’s politically incorrect Christmas Parade cancelled
Parliament, parties
Max Rashbrooke (Herald): New Zealanders have had enough with ‘dark money’ in politics (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Politicians operating in the shadows
Steven Cowan (Against the current): Jacinda Ardern: Propping up a failed democracy
Nadine Porter (Stuff): National leader Christopher Luxon visits schools as party attempts to woo back voters
RNZ: Watch: Christopher Luxon speaks to media in Christchurch
1 News: ‘Bit rusty’ – Luxon bowls cricket ball into orbit
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Christopher Luxon, poet
RNZ: MP Kiri Allan given all-clear after months of cervical cancer treatment
1 News: Kiri Allan announces ‘huge milestone’ in cancer journey
Stuff: ‘Huge milestone’: Labour MP Kiri Allan says scan shows no sign of residual cancer
Herald: Jacinda Ardern and the Queen: Forbes reveals 100 most powerful women of 2021
Bernadette Basagre (Stuff): Jacinda Ardern makes Forbes list of world’s most powerful women for fourth year, drops two places
Herald: Act leader David Seymour on his biggest mistake in 2021
Fair pay agreements, employment
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Marching To Class War
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): No surprises and the Fair Pay Agreements slapdown (paywalled)
Herald Editorial: BusinessNZ move may not end Fair Pay Agreements but Government has dropped pretense (paywalled)
1 News: Business NZ turns its back on proposed Fair Pay Agreements
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): ‘Unfair’ pay agreements: Business leaders reject industry-wide negotiations
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): BusinessNZ’s withdrawal is a spanner in the works for Michael Wood
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Employers could lose out after Business NZ walked away from agreements – Michael Wood
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Fear BusinessNZ’s refusal to be part of the Fair Pay Agreements scheme could put employers on the backfoot in negotiations
James Nokise (Stuff): At Christmas, remember those working on the checkouts are people too
RNZ: Covid-19 lockdowns leads to lowest job applications, despite record advertisements
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Timaru big build projects ‘will struggle to get workers’
RNZ: Flick Anticimex fined after workers suffer acute poisoning from toxic fumigant
TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com
Economy, business, government subsidies
David Hargreaves (Interest): The next year won’t ALL be about the housing market – but will be a LOT about the housing market
David Hargreaves (Interest): It was the year of unwelcome guests and house prices that wouldn’t quit
Cameron Bagrie (BusinessDesk): Can the government pivot? (paywalled)
Brian Fallow (Herald): The man to curb your enthusiasm (paywalled)
1 News: Study finds 70 percent of infrastructure consent costs goes to consultants
RNZ: Freight movements data further sign economic activity is on the move
Grant Bradley (Herald): ‘It’s not pretty out there’ – Auckland tourism bookings down 90 per cent on last year (paywalled)
Grant Bradley (Herald): Pure Milford: Re-launched cruise operator says Kiwis willing to pay more and slow down (paywalled)
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): NZ an expensive place to get infrastructure resource consents, report finds
Liam Dann (Herald): Trade disruptions set to hit consumers hard in 2022 (paywalled)
Andrea Fox (Herald): Tall Poppies and tragedy – Kiwi entrepreneurs speak out on mental health stress, toxic criticism (paywalled)
Chris Keall (Herald): NZ’s largest game studio sending jobs offshore as NZ fails to match Aussie tax incentives, border opening (paywalled)
Smoking
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Smokefree 2025: How will the Government’s new plan for a smokefree generation work?
Russell Palmer (RNZ): Smokefree action plan: Cigarette sales to be banned for younger generations
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand to ban smoking for next generation in bid to outlaw habit by 2025
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Government to ban tobacco sales to young people for their lifetime in first-ever ‘smokefree generation’
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Hone Harawira calls for ‘death tax’ on Big Tobacco, vaping wiped out as well as cigarettes
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Smokefree 2025 plan is ‘100 per cent theory’ and will destroy dairies, owners’ group says
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): ‘Smokefree generation’ that can’t buy smokes will still be able to purchase vapes
Michael Neilson (Herald): Fears Smokefree 2025 legislation could stoke growing black market
Michael Neilson (Herald): 14-year-olds will be banned from smoking under new law
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Social good’ from booze, none from cigarettes – Simon Bridges
1 News: Luxon ‘broadly’ supportive of Govt’s tobacco buying ban
Health
Emma Hatton (RNZ): Carer for disabled daughter wins right to be employed by Ministry of Health
1 News: National health strategy needed for tamariki ‘right now’
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): Aged care workers call for minimum staffing levels
Will Trafford (Māori TV): 10,000+ Māori going Untreated for Gout
Stuff: More Māori should be on preventive treatment for gout — Pharmac
Māori TV: Doctor says Pharmac’s diabetes funding delay killing whānau
Samantha Mythen (Herald): No lack of eager midwifery students at Ara despite nationwide shortage
Peter Davis (Stuff): Where to now for Pharmac?
Penny Tucker (Stuff): Urgency required, or more will die needlessly
Housing
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Auckland housing crisis: ‘Monumental task’ for first home buyers as prices continue to rise
Rob Stock (Stuff): New lending laws a ‘nightmare’ for people seeking home loans
Justin Latif (Local Democracy Reporting): Plans for 5000-home, carless South Auckland community run into road block
Herald: Residential land values jump 72 per cent in three years in Nelson
Greg Ninness (Interest): A buyer’s market and bargain house prices could be on the cards in 2022, says CoreLogic
Greg Ninness (Interest): Average rents up by more than $70 a week in September year in parts of Auckland, declining in parts of Wellington
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Bed in a garage: Auckland property listing slammed by MP
Amy Ridout (Stuff): Mould, holes in walls, and puzzle used to fix window: another fine for notorious Nelson landlord
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): NZ’s newest label: #1 in global house inflation (paywalled)
RNZ: Hopes fast-tracked project will help alleviate housing shortage in Cromwell
Jake Law (Stuff): Nothing ugly about housing reform that eases Auckland’s affordable homes shortage
Local government, Three Waters
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Controversial Three Waters reforms delayed until next year
Steven Walton (Stuff): Christchurch joins push for alternative water reform model
Skara Bohny (Stuff): Three Waters debate simmers as council gives feedback on part of package
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Councillors aim to put Three Waters race row under the bridge
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Carterton’s multimillion dollar wastewater ponds damaged
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Inconsistent wastewater enforcement allegations
Nikki Preston (Herald): Waikato Regional councillors censure chairman over racist comments, tell him to perform better
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Council employee reported to police over alleged credit card and expenses fraud
Kirsty Frame (RNZ): Wellington council looks at incentives for quake-prone building owners to meet deadline
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Government asked to step in over costs of repairs to earthquake-prone buildings
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Review of unused earthquake-prone loan scheme lands with ministers
Grant Miller (ODT): Paper Vandervis used often misrepresented: MoH
Luisa Girao (ODT): Councillors should reveal vax status, Kett says
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Carterton wastewater ponds damaged before being commissioned
Jared Morgan (ODT): Poster attack short-lived
Inequality, welfare
Benedict Collins (1 News): Govt promises to help children affected by welfare sanctions
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Welfare debts pushing thousands into ‘poverty trap’
Rosemary McLeod (Stuff): My question for Christopher Luxon
Lake Alice
Aaron Smale (Stuff): Lake Alice survivor laid first complaint in 1978 and is still looking for justice
Tess McClure (Guardian): New Zealand police charge one staff member over child abuse at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital
Public service
Nikitin Sallee (BusinessDesk): Capital gains: public service growing in Wellington
Anuja Nadkarni (Newsroom): Private sector wins on pay against public service
Environment, conservation, Climate Change
Peter Simons (Stuff): The fundamental shifts we need to make to decarbonise New Zealand
Herald: Climate change behind flooding in Canterbury in May
Katy Jones (Stuff): ‘Blue carbon’ stores measured in groundbreaking Nelson inlet study
Jake Kenny (Stuff): Eco-friendly timber walls could replace steel or concrete, research finds
Peter Matheson (ODT): We should be helping our neighbours in struggles for survival
RNZ: Wainono Lagoon testing to increase after potentially toxic algae found
Stuff: Council authorises inquiry over contaminated material entering Clutha River
William Hewett (Newshub): Concrete company charged, fined $60,000 for emptying liquid contaminants into Whangamatā Harbour
Education
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Government refuses to fast-track ECE rules review
Steven Cowan (Against the current): Freedom of speech under attack again from the liberal left
ODT: Code funds to assist polytechnic
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Border exemption for 300 teachers brings in 0 teachers
Immigration, NZ border
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Overseas residence application processing resumes after court ruling
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Immigration NZ should be investigated over residence visa ‘shambles’ – industry
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Nurses still struggling to return to New Zealand despite MIQ slots for healthcare workers
Corazon Miller (1 News): Opinion: A tale of two migrant families
Police, Justice, legal profession
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Review prompts police to halt plans to use facial recognition technology
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why arming Police as a response to rising gun violence is a really bad idea
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government helps National Party pass ‘Insane Offenders’ bill into law
Stuff Editorial: Drug harm: ‘prevention first’ doesn’t mean enforcement can be a too-distant second
Edward Gay (Stuff): Murder at Paremoremo prison: ‘They fed him to the wolves’, grieving mum says
Herald: Reporter who worked on Russell McVeagh expose discusses ‘watershed’ moment
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Russell McVeagh partner must face stiff sanction, tribunal told
Imogen Wells (1News): Ex-Russell McVeagh partner’s sexual misconduct penalty reserved
Self-ID bill
RNZ: Parliament unanimously passes bill allowing change to birth certificates
Eva Corlett (Guardian): New Zealand passes law making it easier to change sex on birth certificates
Michael Neilson (Herald): Parliament passes ‘Self-ID Bill’ at third reading, making it easier for trans people to update birth certificates
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Parliament unanimously passes sex self-identification law, simplifying changes to birth certificates
Transport
RNZ: Transport Agency’s highways plan to hike-up emissions – lobby group
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): First electric ferry in Southern Hemisphere afloat in Wellington
Chris Keall (Herald): Fullers unveils electric ferry for Devonport run, wider EV plans (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Taxpayers should pay for any national fuel reserve once refinery shuts, Z argues
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Transport pursuing powers to remove parking spaces without consulting local residents
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): KiwiRail, commercial player or public good?
Grant Miller (ODT): E-bus fine on city hills, trial shows
Primary industries
Adam Hollingworth (Newshub): Dairy farmers vote to restructure Fonterra to help ensure milk supply and farmer ownership
Nicholas Pointon (RNZ): Farmer shareholders vote in favour of Fonterra’s planned revamp of capital structure
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Fonterra farmers vote in favour of capital structure changes
Rebecca Howard (BusinessDesk): No questions asked as farmers back Fonterra’s capital idea (paywalled)
John Lewis (ODT): Fonterra revamp hailed
Tina Morrison (Stuff): Fonterra’s Hurrell says New Zealand milk is the most valuable in the world
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Wood over beaches in central Gisborne a summer ‘eyesore’
Karen Coltman (Stuff): Scheme aims to establish commercial seaweed farming sector
Kate Green (Stuff): Regional council moves away from grazing for good in major Kāpiti Coast park
Whakaari/White Island
Eva Corlett (Guardian): White Island anniversary passes quietly, with healing – and reckoning
Ben Strang (Stuff): Whakaari eruption: Mortality rate lower than expected, despite acid and microbe complication
Te Aorewa Rolleston (RNZ): Whakaari / White Island eruption: Victims remembered with karakia from Ngāti Awa
1 News: Hayden Marshall-Inman’s family remember Whakaari victim
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): White Island eruption: Survivor Stephanie Browitt recounts tragedy that ‘ripped’ her family apart
Lana Andelane (Newshub): White Island eruption: Karakia to be held on two-year anniversary in honour of first responders who put their lives on the line
Media
Matt Burrows (Newshub): ACT Party’s boycott of RNZ’s Morning Report caused by host comparing one of its policies to eugenics
Damien Venuto (Herald): Three media storylines to follow in 2022 (paywalled)
André Chumko (Stuff): Government announces review of how it funds the screen sector
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Vodafone to withdraw from television market by axing VodafoneTV
BusinessDesk: MediaWorks swallows Digital Commons (paywalled)
Other
Paul McBeth (BusinessDesk): Building back better by thinking big (paywalled)
Anusha Bradley (RNZ): Online hui first step as ACC seeks feedback on handling of sensitive claims
Sam Olley (RNZ): Fuel experts divided on impact of Marsden Point refinery closure
RNZ: Kiwibank faces court action as home loan customers overcharged
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): FMA takes Kiwibank to court in relation to allegation it overcharged 35,000 customers over 15 years
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Big banks had ‘much shorter survival horizon’ in RBNZ liquidity stress testing than small banks
RNZ: Consumer NZ to test products for sustainability and repairability
Christine Rovoi (RNZ): Pacific Languages Survey: Call for more support to NZ’s realm states
Marjorie Cook (ODT): Movie studio gets consent |