Today’s content
Parliament, parties, polling
Richard Harman (Politik): Delta’s big victim; Jacinda Ardern and her Government (paywalled)
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Time running out for Govt’s big reforms
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Delay to proactive release review at two years and counting
Matthew Hooton: Christopher Luxon’s got the job — now what? (paywalled)
Chris Trotter (Bowalley Road): Luxon’s Tough Assignment
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): What is important in the latest poll for National (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (Patreon): No longer needed: a theory of the case
The Country (Herald): National Party leader Christopher Luxon on Three Waters and carbon farming
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Afternoon Briefing: Not A True Story
Whatitiri Te Wake (Māori TV): Green leaders: More Te Tiriti-centric approaches needed
Whatitiri Te Wake (Māori TV): Māori Party year in review – ‘Māori still at the bottom of the cliff’
Rukuwai Tipene-Allen (Māori TV): Major Māori events cancelled -how will MPs kick off the 2022 political year?
Northland Age: Shane Jones, former coalition Government minister, to run for Parliament in 2023
Govt management of Covid-19
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Buying the vaccine: How NZ almost turned down Pfizer
Gordon Campbell: On fostering the culture of Covid complaint
Derek Cheng (Herald): How contact-tracing capacity has been nearly doubled for summer outbreaks (paywalled)
Ian Powell (Second Opinion): A Covid graph that reveals so much
Diane McCarthy (Stuff): Iwi gather for collective Covid effort in a time of ‘real threat’ to Māori
Herald: Ministry of Health to start new way of providing Covid updates
Herald: PM Jacinda Ardern ‘Tinder liaisons have reopened’ quote goes viral on Stephen Colbert’s show
1 News: Unknown community Covid-19 cases may be in Gisborne
RNZ: Covid-19 wrap for 16 December: Omicron in NZ, vaccine milestones and mandate protests
Herald Editorial: Auckland carried the weight and showed the way (paywalled)
Omicron, Border, MIQ
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Left unchecked Omicron could lead to tens of thousands of cases daily
RNZ: Bloomfield to speak to minister about changes to vaccine booster programme
Jordan Bond (RNZ): Experts advise speeding up vaccine booster doses after variant detected in MIQ
1 News: Time between second dose, booster may be cut – Bloomfield
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): Ashley Bloomfield not ruling out recommending further lockdowns if Omicron gets into community
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Expert calls for border reopening to be postponed, fully vaccinated to be redefined
RNZ: Checkpoint; Omicron can be kept out of NZ – Professor Baker
1 News: Omicron: Baker urges caution around international border
George Clark (Herald): Government should consider delaying border reopening – Michael Baker
Herald: Experts react to New Zealand’s first Omicron case in MIQ
Hamish MacLean (ODT): Omicron next big challenge
RNZ: Omicron case found in Christchurch MIQ
1 News: NZ’s first Omicron case discovered in Christchurch MIQ – Bloomfield
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RNZ: Relax immigration rules, open new medical school to tackle health worker shortage – National MP Dr Shane Reti
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Woman in race against time to see mum before she dies as MIQ takes five days to ponder exemption
Health system, hospitals
Michael Morrah (Newshub): Healthline call logs reveal COVID-positive man who died at home wasn’t spoken to by clinician despite low oxygen levels
Margaret Crozier (Stuff): Aged care faces a registered nurse crisis, and we need new thinking to solve it
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Middlemore Hospital prepares to cope with ED surge as restrictions lift
Newstalk ZB: Health Minister asks for patience when it comes to hospital funding
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Government funds to assist upgrades to health facilities
Megan Wilson (Herald): Tauranga Hospital upgrade: MP says $17.9m funding is ‘too little too late’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Go-ahead for $170m in funding will help people access their health data, Ministry says
Bridie Witton (Stuff): National’s Shane Reti says hospital upgrades don’t help chronic short-staffing
Vaccine rollout, mandate
Qiuyi Tan and Adam Pearse (Herald): The 90% Project – How did we get to 90% fully vaccinated
Liz McDonald (Stuff): New Zealand reaches 90 per cent vaccination milestone
Ireland Hendry Tennent (Newshub): New Zealand hits 90 percent fully vaccinated milestone
RNZ: Covid-19 milestone: 90pc of eligible New Zealanders are now fully vaccinated
New Zealand hits 90 percent fully vaccinated milestone
Denise Piper (Stuff): Northland only DHB that hasn’t reached 90 per cent first dose vaccine target
Dan Satherley and Lucy Warhurst (Newshub): Medsafe approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for children, ball now in Cabinet’s court
RNZ: Medsafe gives provisional approval for Pfizer vaccine for children
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Pfizer vaccine approved for children aged 5-11
Sharnae Hope (Stuff): Wintec staff and students must be vaccinated from 2022
Katy Jones (Stuff): Outdoor education group urges vaccine pass exemptions for students
Luisa Girao (ODT):Invercargill City Council Front-line council staff guaranteed fully vaccinated
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Fletcher Building mandates vaccinations for all on-site staff
Carly Gooch (Stuff): Smartphone sales soar along with app help queries
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Justin Duckworth (Stuff): When we talk about freedom of choice, let’s remember those who have no choice
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Lower turnout at anti-vaccine mandate protest at Parliament with no politicians
Sophie Cornish (Stuff): No arrests after crowd ‘generally well behaved’ at Wellington protest
Whatitiri Te Wake (Māori TV): Anti-Covid protestors mistakenly converge on Parliament a day after the House rises
1 News: Anti-Government protesters gather outside Parliament
RNZ: Bus disruptions, road closures after Covid-19 protest in Wellington
Nick James (Herald): Claims Air NZ pilot wanted to kick unmasked pair off plane, but was told they couldn’t
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): A black market in Covid vaccine passes is issuing fraudulent, but effective certificates
Auckland border, testing, summer travel
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Planes landing in Queenstown but self-isolation rooms not yet secure
George Block (Stuff): Auckland/Waikato checkpoints scrapped after nine-hour queues predicted
John Bishop (Stuff): Sorry Northland, I’m not welcome, so I’m not coming
RNZ: What to do if you catch Covid-19 on holiday
Govt finances, economy, govt subsidies
Bernard Hickey (The Kākā): An intergenerational wellbeing crime scene
Liam Dann (Herald): What today’s GDP data really tells us about the economy (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): GDP drop of 3.7% in face of Delta lockdowns evidence of economic ‘resilience’
Katie Bradford (1 News): GDP down 3.7%, second largest quarterly fall since 1986
RNZ: GDP falls 3.7 percent in third quarter amid Delta outbreak lockdown
TDB Recommends NewzEngine.com
Housing, Building and construction
John Minto (Daily Blog): Labour’s betrayal of low-income New Zealanders
ODT Editorial: Time for a housing-price correction?
Greg Ninness (Interest): Apart from a few soft spots the housing market has a long way to go before prices start falling
Anne Gibson (Herald): Immigrant’s first Auckland house rising $4000/week (paywalled)
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Hamilton real estate agents say sanity is returning to housing market
Te Aorewa Rolleston (RNZ): Māori trusts receive funding to provide ‘whare for whānau’
Andrea Fox (Herald): Sleepyhead set to go ahead as appellants resolve issues
Joanne Naish (Stuff): Council backs down on floor policy after legal threat from builders
Anne Gibson (Herald): PlaceMakers warning: James Hardie products from Australia to cost 10% more next year (paywalled)
Local government
Janine Rankin (Stuff): Ombudsman criticises Palmerston North City Council secrecy
RNZ: Waimea Dam investigation finds no wrongdoing
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): ‘No red flags’ in information given to councillors over Waimea dam
RNZ: Lawyer engaged over West Coast stewardship land
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Rotorua Lakes Council reports overall $11.6m deficit for 2020 / 2021 financial year
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Auckland Council to consult mana whenua, urban Māori on creating Māori seats
Emily Ireland (Local Democracy Reporting): Tensions rise in Masterton’s civic centre talks
Moana Ellis (Local Democracy Reporting): Ruapehu District Council tackles ‘huge’ level of gambling harm
Matthew Rosenberg (Local Democracy Reporting): Southland District Council’s aerial erosion monitoring does not include area in front of old dump site
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Hamilton City Council puts off Founders Theatre decision, again
Herald: Wellington water woes: Investigation under way after flooding in Lower Hutt
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Privacy breach: Wellington City Council sends rates bills and addresses to the wrong people
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): Tasman District Council ends financial year with $69.5m surplus
Cass Marriot (ODT): Queenstown Lakes District Council Freedom Camping Bylaw vote unanimous
Devon Bolger (Herald): Christchurch’s delayed $450m new convention centre Te Pae officially opens
Gianina Schwanecke (Stuff): Close to 60 people hospitalised from 2016 Havelock North gastro outbreak, study finds
Transport
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Auckland Council not in a ‘financial position’ to help pay for $14b light rail
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland Harbour Bridge will not have a lane for cyclists, says transport boss
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Aucklanders back on the bus following move to Covid-19 red light restrictions
Kate Green (Stuff): New airport bus for Wellington announced
Georgina Campbell (Herald): New fleet of electric buses to service Wellington airport route
David Haxton (Herald): Twenty-five passengers in first flight from Auckland to Kāpiti
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Transmission Gully interim agreement expires, builder now liable for $250,000 a day
Sam Sherwood and Joanne Naish (Stuff): West Coast driving instructor admits falsifying licences for gang members
Police, Justice, corrections
RNZ: ‘As a result, he is dead’: IPCA chair Judge Colin Doherty on action of officers in Allen Ball’s death
Robin Martin (RNZ): Police failed in duty of care to man who died in custody at Hāwera – IPCA
Tara Shaskey (Stuff): Taranaki police officers involved in custody death failed in duty of care – IPCA
1 News: Cops failed to seek medical care for man who died in custody
Robin Martin (RNZ): Partner of man who died in custody pleased someone is finally listening
Karl du Fresne: New Zealand: where being “anti-government” results in police surveillance
Blair Jackson (Stuff): Leading lawyer concerned about Invercargill Prison remand-only proposal
Karen Pasco (ODT): Lack of communication about prison changes ‘diabolical’, staff union says
Loren Portnow (Herald): With Family Court decisions there’s a lot at stake. So how well does it do? (paywalled)
Awards for bravery during Christchurch terror attack
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): ‘Kind and loving’ man killed trying to take down Christchurch terrorist gets top NZ bravery award – full awards list
Eva Corlett (Guardian): New Zealand honours ‘extraordinary’ bravery of 10 during Christchurch attacks
RNZ: Bravery awards recognise 10 people for saving lives during Christchurch terror attack
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Prime Minister offers ‘deepest respect and gratitude’ to March 15 heroes
1 News: Officers recount arrest of Chistchurch mosque terrorist
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): ‘Fear’s no good to you’: Officers describe the moment they arrested mosque terrorist
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Heroic police officers who took down Christchurch terrorist describe apprehending shooter
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Christchurch man who threatened to car bomb city mosques apologises and meets shooting survivor
Environment, conservation, Climate Change
Marjorie Cook (ODT): Mt Iron land sold to QLDC for safekeeping
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Sand dredging: What’s yours is mined
Grant Bradley (Herald): Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran – Covid pales into insignificance compared to climate change (paywalled)
Stuff Editorial: Whether we fight or adapt, climate change is here
Brian Fallow (Herald): Grant Robertson makes a down payment on the climate (paywalled)
Piers Full (Stuff): Climate change making hayfever season worse
Employment
Don Franks (Redline): Low paid workers: between a rock and a soft place
Max Rashbrooke (Stuff): Independent operators shouldn’t have to shoulder the biggest risks
Other
Thomas Mead (1 News): Sensitive info published online in Teaching Council privacy breach
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Reports detail Fire and Emergency’s struggle with ageing truck fleet
Karl du Fresne: Why I’m no longer compiling the Five-Minute Quiz
Rob Stock (Stuff): Commerce Commission scores victory in case against mobile trader
RNZ: New consumer credit rules may lead to friends, family asking for loans, financial consultant says
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Compromise ruling on UFB revenue caps looks set to leave pricing unchanged
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Reserve Bank chairman says high senior staff turnover ‘unfortunate but normal’ (paywalled)
RNZ: Reserve Bank appoints three new executives
Chris Tobin (Stuff): Foodbanks report massive increase in demand in lead up to Christmas
Nadine Porter (Stuff): Avalanche of need as Christchurch foodbank aims to feed 11,000 people in next two weeks
Naomi Arnold (RNZ): Bad then, worse now: How Covid-19 will hurt retired women
Camryn Brown (Patreon): A crisis delayed or a crisis averted? A case for retirement age indexation (paywalled)
RNZ: Green hydrogen production on the cards for Marsden Point refinery site |