Items of interest and importance today
PARLIAMENT
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Te Pāti Māori plans for a big 2023, but happy to stay cross bench
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): In which we earnestly predict the date of the 2023 New Zealand general election
Anna Whyte (Stuff): Summer off politics: Marama Davidson heads to Hokianga and the ‘Hawaii of Auckland’
COVID-19, HEALTH
Keith Lynch (Stuff): Why the Covid Christmas curve may have been accidentally flattened
RNZ: Covid-19: ‘Novel features’ of Kraken cause for concern – Michael Baker
RNZ: Diabetes NZ wants Pharmac to fund ‘life-changing’ monitors for diabetics
BUSINESS AND EMPLOYMENT
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Battle of the brands starts NZ corporate year (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Vodafone says name change to One NZ not threatened by TVNZ trademark challenge
Chris Keall (Herald): TVNZ files trademark opposition to Vodafone’s ‘One’ rebrand (paywalled)
Daniel Smith (Stuff): Flexible working no longer just for office workers
PRIMARY INDUSTRIES
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): The Whole Truth: Are New Zealand farms the world’s greenest?
Riley Kennedy (BusinessDesk): Mid Canterbury feedlot at centre of M. bovis outbreak emptied (paywalled)
TRANSPORT
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Clean-car scheme reaches $288.5m in payments (paywalled)
David Chaston (Interest): The year electrified vehicles became mainstream
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Queenstown agreed to $600k annual sweetener for $2 bus fares (paywalled)
UKRAINE
Charlie Gates, Liz McDonald, Tina Law and Sinead Gill (Press): Ukrainian city where Kiwi Andrew Bagshaw disappeared now destroyed, under Wagner Group control
Finn Blackwell (RNZ): Missing in Ukraine: Andrew Bagshaw likely in Russian hands, says translator
RNZ: Safety concerns for aid volunteers with New Zealander missing in Ukraine
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
ODT: Candidates spent $10K-plus on campaigns
Tom Kitchin (RNZ): Napier City Council seeking funds from government to complete National Aquarium upgrades
MEDIA
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Mediawatch: Poll shows NZers want TVNZ/RNZ Merger
Annamarie Jamieson (Stuff): Stuff’s annual B Corporation report – January 2023
HOUSING
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Australia takes over from New Zealand as the canary’s canary for plummeting house prices
David Chaston (Interest): The latest ‘Property Report’ from Realestate.co.nz reveals rising listing overhang relative to sales, and falling asking prices
OTHER
Rachel Trow & Morgan Godfery (Metro): Whose land is it anyway: Inside the fraught battle for mana whenua recognition in Auckland
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): What 2023 has in store for the New Zealand economy
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Helipad fight: 2023 will be crucial, protestors says
RNZ: Lost luggage saga prompts MP’s call for faster payout of travel insurance claims
RNZ: NZ Catholic Church to purge abusers’ names from titles
Julie Jacobson (Stuff): ‘We want to come home as a family’: Deportation pleas go unheard
