Political Roundup: 28 December 2022

Items of interest and importance today

PARLIAMENT, POLITICS, 2022 IN REVIEW
Damien Grant (Stuff): Even contrarians deserve a happy Christmas
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): The political farces of 2022 (paywalled)
Richard Prebble (Herald): Shuffling the deck chairs but ministers responsible for worst problems likely to stay put (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): What Amazon wanted from New Zealand’s prime minister
Tess McClure (Guardian): Jacinda Ardern’s popularity plummeted this year. Things could get worse in 2023
Michael Neilson (Herald): Te Pāti Māori not picking sides ahead of 2023 election, signal ‘exciting’ candidate at Waitangi campaign launch (paywalled)
Brent Edwards (NBR): The Green Party’s independent strategy for election year (paywalled)
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Year in Politics: Changing fortunes, losses and gains
Jo Moir (Newsroom): From hot mics to goneburgers – 2022 had it all
1News: Year in review: Protest, Three Waters, Ukraine dominate politics
Jordan Lane (1News): 2022 in review: Convoys to cost of living – the biggest political moments
Conan Young (Local Democracy Reporting): Rounding up the top stories of 2022
Herald Editorial: After all that, it ends with a laugh (paywalled)
ODT Editorial: Act again seizes the moment
Andy Fyers (BusinessDesk): A strange year in data: five defining charts (paywalled)
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Fighting words show Christopher Luxon means war (paywalled)
Herald: Act Party leader David Seymour pens a letter to his 25-year-old self (paywalled)
Gary Hamilton-Irvine (Herald): Napier MP Stuart Nash says he has ‘a lot of work to do’ to retain seat in 2023 (paywalled)
Ethan Oneroa (1News): 2022 in review: Kaupapa Māori hit big online
Herald Editorial: This year and the next – looking at the good and bad (paywalled)
Steve Braunias (Herald): The Secret Diary of 2022 (paywalled)

THREE WATERS
Kate MacNamara: Three Waters and a small window on what the big budgets buy (paywalled)
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Three Waters: Nanaia Mahuta introduces 130 pages of changes to a law hours after passing it
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Three Waters’ magical kete with room to borrow more and more
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Paying for Three Waters: the local pūkeko v the imported partridge
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Who would actually manage the borrowing for Three Waters infrastructure?
Suzanne Wilkinson and Rod Cameron (The Conversation): Already under fire politically, Three Waters is also threatened by NZ’s critical shortage of skilled engineers
Nicholas Boyack (Stuff): Water meters would help address Wellington’s leak problem – but will politicians act?

ECONOMY, BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT, COST OF LIVING
Chris Leitch (Herald): Why the Reserve Bank and Adrian Orr should have taken a different path (paywalled)
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Beef and lamb producers cook up dodgy data for Christmas dinner
Rayssa Almeida (RNZ): Small businesses missing out on government’s tourism fund, some in sector say
Grant Bradley (Herald): Christmas spending: What the figures say about consumer sentiment (paywalled)
Soumya Bhamidipati (RNZ): New Zealanders break record, spend $100m on Boxing Day sales
Chris Walters (Herald): Can you afford the retirement you want? (paywalled)
Henry McMullan (1News): Number of people on flexi-wage self-employment scheme rising
Rayssa Almeida (RNZ): ‘It’s always about people’ – Mission serves up Christmas spirit
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): Fair Pay gathers pace with fourth application (paywalled)
Daniel Smith (Stuff): How will a recession change the way we work in 2023?
Rebecca Rendle (BusinessDesk): It’s a wrap: 2022’s stand-out employment cases (paywalled)

HEALTH, COVID
Kate Nicol-Williams (1News): ACC sensitive claims counselling waitlist still rising
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Elective surgery waiting list numbers up 53 percent in Counties Manukau
Janet Wilson (Stuff): This Christmas, let’s take our judgment about size and shape off the table
Rachel Thomas (Stuff): Covid-19: Why are New Zealanders turning down antivirals?
Brooke van Velden (Herald): Why I don’t buy PM’s summer Covid message (paywalled)
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Community groups still meeting the needs of those in Covid-19 isolation
Adam Pearse (Herald): New unknowns prompt Minister’s drug-checking plea to festival-goers this summer
Mana Wikaire-Lewis (Whakaata Māori): A no brainer’ – Māori tech innovator joins Mike King’s I Am Hope charity
Laura Frykberg (1News): Call for more IVF funding to reduce long wait times
Ro Hennin (Stuff): Time to test the real effectiveness of Māori health reforms

WAITANGI TRIBUNAL TE PAPARAHI O TE RAKI REPORT
Jamie Tahana (RNZ): Crown overstepped authority to govern Northern Māori in 19th century – Waitangi Tribunal
RNZ: Tears of joy, sadness, over ‘groundbreaking’ Waitangi Tribunal report
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Waitangi Tribunal report finds Crown breached treaty principles, should return all Crown-owned land in northern district to Māori
Peter de Graaf (Northern Advocate): Waitangi Tribunal’s massive Northland report calls for land return, constitutional makeover (paywalled)

HOUSING
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Compo for emergency housing owners hits $2.4m in 10 months, biggest payout $10K
Sinead Gill (Stuff): Housing intensification changes for Christchurch a year away
Edward Gay (Stuff): Illegal boarding house shut down after multiple breaches of fire regulations
Erin Gourley (Stuff): Broken lift means 77-year-old council tenant has to lug groceries up 14 flights of stairs

TRANSPORT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Michael Wood orders ‘please explain’ over proliferation of potholes (paywalled)
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): Government must make ‘right decision’: Transport Minister Wood (paywalled)
Georgina Campbell (Herald): National says Wellington’s $7.4b transport plan is on life support
Jonathan Killick (Stuff): Hundreds of millions in contractors’ claims delay Auckland’s ‘holiday highway’
David Gordon (Herald): What’s involved in the three-year rail rebuild in Auckland (paywalled)
David Farrar: Consultants love Labour!

MEDIA
Brad Tattersfield (Stuff): John Armstrong Obituary: Humble man whose writing packed a punch
Geoffrey Whitehead (Stuff): It’s time to create a public broadcaster that meets Kiwis’ needs
Stuff: RNZ presenter Māni Dunlop to leave the broadcaster in 2023
Anna Fifield (Stuff): Letter from the Dominion Post editor: Farewell, and please support local journalism