Today’s content

Parliamentary Grounds occupation
Caitlan Johnston (Stuff): Former police negotiator says protesters aren’t ‘being heard or listened to’ by Government
RNZ: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says Parliament protesters not ‘interested in engaging’
Claire Trevett (Herald): MPs wrote off Parliament’s Covid-19 vax protesters but do they need to be answered? (paywalled)
David Farrar: Social cohesion
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘Acting like a kid’: Opposition MPs criticise Speaker Trevor Mallard’s actions against protests
Claire Trevett (Herald): Shifting Parliament’s protesters: Speaker Trevor Mallard and the police vs protesters (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Herald): The fine line between advice and instruction (paywalled)
Steven Cowan: Why the liberal left hates the Wellington demonstrators
Michael Daly (Stuff): Protest at Parliament looks ‘imported’, Jacinda Ardern says, questions the motivations of those involved
John Weekes (Herald): Police diverge from Speaker over Celine Dion strategy, say they’ll pursue negotiations with occupiers
Jack Tame (Herald): Only a fool wouldn’t take some of those messages seriously
The Standard: Parliament protests and the road to splintered societies
David Fisher (Herald): Behind the protest: Organiser’s unsuccessful political career and failed gold mining scheme (paywalled)
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Protesters’ mistrust and fear makes them easy targets for manipulation
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Vaccine mandate conversation can’t start till protesters leave
Karl du Fresne: How tolerant of diversity are we? I mean, really?
Janet Wilson (Stuff): This ragtag of disaffection highlights the shattering of a once united population
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): ‘Splintered realities’: How NZ convoy lost its way
Ellen O’Dwyer and Matthew Tso (Stuff): The people behind the capital protest: many adamant days on
Charlie Mitchell (Stuff): Inside the disorienting, contradictory swirl of the convoy, as seen through its media mouthpiece
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Convoy conundrum confronts editors
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): What is Trevor Mallard playing at?
Richard Harman: Why the Government can’t end the protest (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Parliament Protest Meltdown – Winners & Losers
Associated Press (Guardian): New Zealand authorities deploy Barry Manilow against Covid protesters
Sophie Cornish and Ellen O’Dwyer (Stuff): Police say more force on Wellington streets as protest enters second week
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Wow, hasn’t middle class NZ Left glee for State violence at Parliament been surprising?
Newstalk ZB: Former Speaker: Mallard’s behaviour doesn’t do anything for our reputation
1News: Jacinda Ardern says Parliament protest ‘feels imported’
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Police taking over stadium carpark to move mandate protesters’ vehicles
1News: Protests: Police to have ‘highly visible’ presence in capital
David Farrar (Patreon): How the Government could end the occupation in a few minutes (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (Patreon): “That’s different” and why it’s not (paywalled)
Bryce McKenzie: Current Parliament Protest
1News: Law school dean outlines rights of anti-mandate protesters
Bridie Witton (Stuff): ‘This will make people angrier’: Top negotiator criticises decisions to turn sprinklers on, blast music at Parliament protestors
BBC: New Zealand plays Barry Manilow to repel parliament protesters
Francesca Rudkin (Newstalk ZB): Soon, no amount of Barry Manilow will save them
Kevin Norquay (Stuff): Manilow, the Macarena, and Mallard versus the Parliamentary protesters
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Dear Jacinda – you have to rein Trevor in or he’s going to cause an insurrection
Adela Suliman (Washington Post): New Zealand switches on sprinklers to deter ‘Freedom Convoy’-inspired protesters and is mocked for being mild
Thomas Manch, Matthew Tso, Ethan Te Ora and Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Loud music blasted to deter Parliament protesters in Wellington
Ashleigh Stewart (Global News): Faced with sprinklers, New Zealand anti-vaccine mandate protesters dig trenches
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Parliament protest: Sprinklers, blasting music ‘not a tactic we would endorse’ police say
Simon Ewing-Jarvie: Mallard’s Epic Tactical Fail
Lana Hart (Stuff): We might say it best when we say nothing at all
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The Media are the biggest problem in this Parliament protest
Sophie Cornish and Tom Hunt (Stuff): Raucous protesters sing and dance in mud as parts of Wellington hit by record levels of rain
RNZ: Photo essay: Parliament grounds occupation
Greg Presland (The Standard): The right to protest
Michael Neilson (Herald): Protesters flood onto Parliament grounds as skies open
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): The week started with calls for my execution, and ended at a strange festival
Michael Neilson (Herald): Matt King joins Parliament protest, reveals he has resigned from National
Mikaela Wilkes (Stuff): Tiki Taane voices support for vaccine mandate protestors at Parliament
Mark Stevens (Stuff): Gear smashed and violent threats: abuse and attacks on Kiwi journalists must stop
Andrew Gunn (Stuff): We’ve got a freedom convoy … ain’t she a beautiful sight?
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of the convoy protest (paywalled)
Denise Irvine (Stuff): Separating the political and personal: Seeking moments of everyday good humour in the Covid climat
RNZ: Right to protest lost for those who ‘threaten, harass and disrupt’, Robertson says
Herald: Editorial – Parliament protest a broad church of dissent (paywalled)
Matthew Tso (Stuff): Soggy morning for Parliament protesters as they dig trenches to redirect sprinklers
Herald: Sprinklers turned on, ‘second wave convoy’ en route
Claudette Hauiti (Waatea News): Messy as protest
Herald: Police say force used ‘proportionate’
Erin Gourley and André Chumko (Stuff): Parliament protest: ‘Several hundred’ complaints made to IPCA
1News: Protest: Range of different causes and motivations, police say
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Epidemiologists warn Wellington protest could help Omicron spread
1News: Cops stop carrying batons at Parliament, concern over kids at protest
André Chumko, Sophie Cornish, Erin Gourley and Matthew Tso (Stuff): Parliament protesters dig trenches to avoid ‘all night’ sprinklers
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Protest overshadows Parliament’s first week
Herald: Victoria University staff and students told not to come to Pipitea campus due to protes
Newstalk ZB: Wellington District Police: Parliament protests aren’t something we can arrest our way out of
Herald: Police warn of far-right protesters, ‘sanitation issues’ at Wellington anti-vaccine mandate protest
1News: Labour MP’s office vandalised with anti-mandate messages
1News: Protests taking toll on MPs’ families, Robertson says
Herald: Editorial: Pressure piles on leaders around the world (paywalled)
Matthew Hampson (Stuff): Picton protesters defy weather

Omicron outbreak, cases, public health measures
Felippe Rodrigues (Stuff): Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins presented a vaccine roll-out plan that was millions of doses out of whack
Tim Watkin (Pundit): The Good & Bad Of NZ’s Omicron Plan As The Wave Hits & Tactics Need To Change
RNZ: Daily case numbers not showing extent of Omicron spread – Michael Baker
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Explaining Covid-19 modelling and why it’s so contentious
Isaac Davison (Herald): Big jump in positive cases moves New Zealand close to Phase 2
Josephine Franks (Stuff): Infection rate could be ten times reported case numbers, epidemiologist says
RNZ: All New Zealanders likely to encounter virus in coming weeks – expert
Isaac Davison (Herald): Shift to Phase 2 likely this week as cases near 1000 a day
David Cohen (Daily Telegraph/Herald): New Zealand, the ‘hermit nation’ time forgot (paywalled)
Cas Carter (Stuff): MIQ is not a swear word
Herald: Editorial: Boosters are needed now – and study shows more are likely down the track (paywalled)
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): NZ late and lame to the party with intensive-care hospital facilities (paywalled)
1News: Calls for Govt to approve ‘game-changing’ Covid-19 test
Mediawatch (RNZ): Quest for certainty undercuts Omicron analysis
Nicholas Agar (Newsroom): Protests show we must boost cognitive herd immunity

Economy, Business
Damien Grant (Stuff): Finance Minister Grant Robertson is acting as the Pied Piper
Kate MacNamara (Herald): Income insurance uses Covid to justify $3.5 billion scheme (paywalled)
Tom Dillane (Stuff): Finance Minister ‘actively considering’ further hospo funding after Chlöe Swarbrick open letter
RNZ: Labour market favours jobseekers, despite drop in job listings – report
Jenée Tibshraeny (Interest): Painful journey ahead to ‘normalise’ an off-kilter economy
1News: Robertson rejects Govt spending to blame for soaring inflation
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Minimum wage rise a gift to National (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Reserve Bank concerned half of first home buyers face mortgage distress when rates hit 6% (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): Investing to beat inflation? How about $500,000 sneakers (paywalled)
Brian Easton (Pundit): How Viable Is The New Zealand Economy In The Long Run?
Jared Savage and Sam Hurley (Herald): Auckland businessman sentenced after police target professional money launderers in covert Operation Menelaus (paywalled)
Nicholas Jones (RNZ): Meet NZ’s first Aged Care Commissioner – a nurse who heads a $1.6b business (paywalled)
Jenny Ruth (BusinessDesk): RBNZ and its plans for a digital currency (paywalled)
Herald: Business Insider: The Thiel Deal (paywalled)
Jenny Nicholls (Stuff): Covid-19 reveals chronic structural weaknesses in every society – even Waiheke’s

Polls, Parliament, parties, MPs
Anna Fifield (Stuff): Ardern set to give Harvard’s coveted graduation speech in May
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Luxon extends helping hand to PM on vaccine mandates
Anneke Smith (RNZ): Omicron outbreak may empty Parliament’s debating chamber
Russell Brown (Listener/Herald): House prices, hope and life after Covid: Why Grant Robertson isn’t looking over his shoulder (paywalled)
The Standard: Can this government get re-elected?

Foreign affairs
Geoffrey Miller (Democracy Project): Ukraine, Russia and China behind Antony Blinken’s flying visit to South Pacific
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Ukraine crisis: New Zealand Government calls on Kiwis in Ukraine to leave immediately
RNZ: NZ government: Kiwis in Ukraine should leave immediately
John Braddock (World socialist website): New Zealand joins diplomatic offensive against Russia amid escalating war build-up
Simon Draper (Stuff): As borders reopen, it’s time to strengthen NZ’s relationship with Asia

Transport, Fuel prices
Jessica Swan (1News): Advocates call for free transport to combat climate change, poverty
Andrea Fox (Herald): Govt rail strategy flawed, ‘deliberately vague’: road freight report (paywalled)
Ben Strang (Stuff): Transmission Gully opening in 2022 not certain, but ‘expected’
Joel MacManus (Stuff): Transmission Gully: Who is CPB, the Australian company behind the ongoing delays?
Michael Wood (Herald): Light rail should have arrived in Auckland years ago (paywalled)

Public service
Stuff: Things we didn’t learn this week
Olivia Shivas (Stuff): ‘Cultural insensitivity’: Disability advocates to protest over nondisabled person leading set-up of new Ministry for Disabled People
Anna Fifield (Stuff): Letter from the editor: After the brickbats, some bouquets

Environment, Climate Change
RNZ: The ban that wasn’t – mining on conservation land
Amelia Wade (Newshub): Climate Change Minister James Shaw was warned emissions target was too ambitious, too expensive
Aaron Hawkins (Stuff): We culturally fixed on the hull of the status quo, like barnacles on a sinking ship when it comes to climate change

Health, ACC
Cate Broughton (Stuff): Dying cancer patients say they are waiting too long for diagnosis, treatments
Andrew Little (Stuff): Are our hospitals ready for the worst? Andrew Little says yes

Local government
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Political parties need to get over their fascination with youth
Tim Cadogan (Stuff): How to confront local govt election-year apathy?

Other
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Immigration ‘reset’ could link migrant numbers to building consents, and tightly limit migration
John Roughan (Herald): There may be something dirty about the Three Waters plan (paywalled)
Yashas Srinivasa (Stuff): Three Waters alternative offered to Government by Communities 4 Local Democracy
Tess McClure (Guardian): ‘What would your mother say?’ New Zealand urges citizens to wind back online rage
Simon Chapple (Newsroom): Social insurance plan: Labour degrading democracy
Rod Oram (Newsroom): Disinformation and divisions undermine our vaunted democracy
David Skilling (Interest): The superpower of successful countries
Sapeer Mayron (Stuff): Bill banning conversion therapy ‘doesn’t go far enough’, campaigner says