NZ Politics Daily: 24 August 2023

ACT
Felix Desmarais (1News): ACT’s Seymour ‘happy’ another candidate left a month ago
1News: ACT candidate who compared vaccine mandates to concentration camps quits
Russell Palmer (RNZ): ACT’s David Seymour defends vetting after candidate controversies
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Act Party candidate Elaine Naidu Franz highlights Labour’s last electoral chance
Vaimoana Mase (Herald): Opinion: A Pacific perspective – get better jokes, David Seymour
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): David Seymour thinks it could be funny if people joke about blowing up ACT Party
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): TVNZ takes David Seymour literally when they should have taken him seriously!

ELECTION
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): The potholes and pitfalls National needs to dodge in the next 50 days
Jessica Mutch McKay (1News): The numbers aren’t looking pretty for Hipkins
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Big National Party donors investigated for operating crowded migrant hostel
Greg Presland (The Standard): NZ First gets some hefty donations from National donors
Brent Edwards (NBR): Possible post-election arrangements might influence voters (paywalled)
Luke Oldfield (The Big Q): What Impact Could Smaller Parties Have on New Zealand’s Policy Reforms?
Tova O’Brien (Stuff): Parliament gets a serious case of campaign fever, hits ‘peak holy moly’
Robert MacCulloch: Did the PM Just Mislead the Country about the Advice he received about the Wealth Tax?
1News: Hipkins to miss engagements to care for 4yo daughter in hospital
RNZ: PM Hipkins to work from hospital with sick child
Robin Martin (RNZ): Te Pati Māori election billboards targeted in ‘frightening’ attacks
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson says ‘very unlikely’ members will consider National alliance
Steven Cowan: Cycnical election posturing from the Green Party
Newshub: Former ACT Party press secretary Trish Sherson’s advice to National as party soars ahead in polls
Robin Martin (RNZ): New Plymouth voters weigh in on Labour, National candidates
Rachel Moore (Stuff): King Country farmer in home invasion case where teen intruder’s finger cut running for Parliament
Ethan Manera (Salient): Candidate Kōrero: Scott Sheeran
Zöe Mills (Salient): Candidate Kōrero: Ibrahim Omer
Ethan Manera (Salient): Candidate Kōrero: Tamatha Paul
Gabi Lardies (Spinoff): The best political party merch of 2023

NATIONAL PARTY LIST
Jo Moir (Newsroom): For National, gender seems to be the hardest word
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): While Labour prepares for opposition, National looks to a second term
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): It pains me to say, but Michael Woodhouse has a point
Mike Houlahan (ODT): National defends Woodhouse’s contribution
Nathan Morton (Herald): Departing National Party MP Michael Woodhouse says he is no ‘toy-throwing misogynist’
RNZ: Michael Woodhouse denies claiming gender was behind demotion
Michael Daly and Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Michael Woodhouse takes shot at National’s leadership, says he lost ‘diversity’ contest
1News: Luxon responds to claim ‘diversity’ cost a senior MP his job

PARLIAMENT, PUBLIC SERVICE
Nikitin Sallee (BusinessDesk): Public service locks in CEs to 2026 election and beyond (paywalled)
Andrew Geddis (Spinoff): Can MPs really say whatever they like in parliament?
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Rawiri Waititi appears to breach suppression in Parliament
Herald: Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi faces possible censure for comment in Parliament on court case
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Te Pāti Māori’s Rawiri Waititi shocks with comment under parliamentary privilege
RNZ: Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi’s Parliament question could have breached law
Stewart Sowman-Lund (Spinoff): Te Pāti Māori co-leader accused of ‘contempt of court’ in question time
RNZ: Michael Wood ordered to apologise to Parliament over shareholdings
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Todd Muller: The man who could have been prime minister
Thomas Couglan (Herald): Todd Muller bows out with plea for climate action and more co-operation between National and Labour
Kiri Gillespie (Bay of Plenty Times/Herald): Bay of Plenty MP Todd Muller reflects on ‘rollercoaster’ nine years in politics (paywalled)
RNZ: Todd Muller leaves Parliament – ‘I’ve done my best’
Adam Pearse (Herald): Resigning National MPs give final speeches in Parliament: ‘Don’t hide from the problem’
Mike Houlahan (ODT): Departing Dean pleads for better healthcare for region
Johnny Blades (RNZ): Valedictory warning about divisive style of politics
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Jamie Strange’s very strange valedictory
Julie Jacobson (Post): Public Service Watch: Sign here – putting it to the politicians (paywalled)
John Braddock (World Socialits): The right-wing record of the New Zealand Māori Party

HOUSING, COST OF LIVING
Emily Writes (Stuff): The gravy train is over: Why my tiniest violin is out for landlords
Morgan Godfery (Post): Our economic model is broken – the question is how much worse it gets (paywalled)
Mary Williams (ODT): Homeless staying in hostels
Ethan Te Ora (Post): Council housing tenants handed rent increases of up to $85 a week (paywalled)
Liam Dann (Herald): How much interest rate pain is too much to bear? (paywalled)
Kerry Harvey (Stuff): There’s no reason we should have a food crisis, says documentary maker Bryan Bruce
Esther Taunton (Stuff): From privileged to struggling: Half of New Zealanders ‘deeply anxious’ about savings
Alka Prasad (Herald): Retail spending falls to lowest level per person in four years: Where Kiwis are cutting back
RNZ: Retail spending continues to fall as economy contracts
David Hargreaves (Interest): Stats NZ figures show retail sales volumes have fallen for a third quarter in a row, with figures only propped up somewhat by a surge in motor vehicle sales to beat changes to the Clean Car Discount Scheme
BusinessDesk: Household demand looks to be cooling in line with RBNZ wishes (paywalled)
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Another bank hikes mortgage rates as OCR expected to remain high for some time

HEALTH AND DISABILITY
RNZ: Checkpoint: National Poison Centre data reveals hundreds of children potentially harmed by vape products
Bill Hickman (RNZ): Vaping regulations: Fewer than 100 infringement notices issued to retailers
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Vaping laws: National ‘broadly supportive’ of Labour’s proposed crackdown, Christopher Luxon doesn’t rule out more measures
Rob Campbell (Herald): Life saving cancer drugs should not be used as a carrot and stick by politicians
Phil Pennington (RNZ): No warnings of IT outage that cancelled treatments at Wellington, Wairarapa hospitals
RNZ: Surgical mesh pause: Long overdue but validating, injured patient says
1News: ‘I wasn’t believed’: Advocate describes female surgical mesh struggle
Herald Editorial: Pause on surgical mesh operations long overdue (paywalled)
1News: Buller Health staff shortage: ‘A matter of time’ before someone dies
Kristie Boland (Stuff): Christchurch 24-Hour Surgery to close over several nights in coming weeks
Craig Ashworth (Local Democracy Reporting): Māori hopeful health changes will stick despite election
Michael Plank (The Conversation): With COVID now endemic, modelling suggests targeted protection will be more effective than blanket measures
Max Frethey (Local Democracy Reporting): Nelson-Tasman disabled facilities a ‘letdown’
Jo Moir (Newsroom): Junior doctors feel forgotten as bargaining looms
Kristie Boland (Press): Psychology sector calls for urgent funding to train more psychologists (paywalled)

EDUCATION
Gabrielle McCulloch (Stuff): Growing up in New Zealand: More than 10% of kids are physically bullied
Pippa McKelvie Sebileau (Post): School lunches programme is about more than feeding hunger(paywalled)
Megan Wilson (Herald): Teacher shortage: Education Minister Jan Tinetti says 1300 new teachers recruited in 18 months
Alwyn Poole (Kiwiblog): Turning around the runaway education train
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): National would keep fees-free policy, wouldn’t means-test, despite reckons from candidate
Stephen Ward (Post): Staff ‘frustrated’ as Te Pūkenga extends restructure timeframe (paywalled)
Hamish McNeilly (Stuff): University of Otago criticised for $1.3m rebrand as over 100 staff made redundant
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): University to shut down Christchurch physio clinic (paywalled)
Rachael Kelly (Stuff): Bremworth to help schools access wool carpet after Govt favours synthetic floor coverings
RNZ: Wool carpet in classrooms campaign gets carpet maker Bremworth’s support

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Auckland Council: Should Māori get two seats at the table?
Tumamao Harawira (Whakaata Māori): Māori seats on Auckland Council ‘morally repugnant’
Tina Law (Press): Costs are mounting over mysterious absence of two senior council managers(paywalled)
Todd Niall (Stuff): ‘Transformative’ year at Port of Auckland’s sees profit and dividend boost
Andrea Fox (Herald): Port of Auckland aims to pay a ‘$1 million a week’ dividend payment to ratepayers in three years (paywalled)
Nicholas Pointon (NBR): Ports of Auckland doubles council dividend in rebound year (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Port of Auckland drops the ‘s’, reports $30m dividend (paywalled)
Glenn McLean (Taranaki Daily News): Port Taranaki posts record after-tax profit
Kiri Gillespie (Herald): Commissioner meeting in Mount Maunganui: Air pollution, Plan Change 33 and Oceanbeach Rd traffic hot topics (paywalled)
ODT: Council lobbying for auditor fee reduction (paywalled)
Rachael Comer (Timaru Herald): Timaru District Council to announce new chief executive in coming days
Janine Rankin (Manawatū Standard): Angry people the biggest risk to council workers’ safety
Susan Murray and Leah Tebbutt (RNZ): Could take years to shut down polluting piggery – council

EMPLOYMENT, WORKPLACE SAFETY
Brent Edwards (NBR): BusinessNZ and the CTU’s different view on employment law (paywalled)
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Company failed two young men killed in a crash on their way to work, coroner finds
Ric Stevens (Open Justice Reporting): Anniversary of death: Seven years on, family gather in court to see private prosecution of forestry employer
RNZ: Food and fibre sector brings $1.2b more to economy than expected

CLIMATE CHANGE, EXTREME WEATHER 
Chris Nicoll (Newsroom); A way forward for managed retreat
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Auckland flood relief: Council, Government to unveil $1 billion+ package to buy out hundreds of homes
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Investors who take buy-out offers won’t pay tax on capital gains
RNZ: Bright-line tax rate won’t be used on storm buyouts, Labour pledges
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Government promises law change to stop family home being taxed after new Inland Revenue interpretation of bright-line test
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Cyclone & flood damaged homes exempt from bright-line test in voluntary buyout
Gary Taylor (BusinessDesk): Six big issues for business and climate change (paywalled)

MEDIA
Chris Lynch: Government accused of manipulating news with paid content on TVNZ and STUFF
Marc Daalder (Newsroom): Bill tabled to make Meta and Google negotiate with news outlets

FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Robert Patman (The Conversation): The defence dilemma facing NZ’s next government: stay independent or join ‘pillar 2’ of AUKUS?
Rituraj Sapkota (Whakaata Māori): NZ First plan to pull Aotearoa out of UNDRIP comes under heavy fire
Lydia Lewis (RNZ): Pacific leaders split over Fukushima nuclear wastewater release
Lydia Lewis (RNZ): Countdown starts to Japan’s first release of treated nuclear wastewater

TRANSPORT
Philip Laird (The Conversation): Slow train coming: only a genuine shift to rail will put NZ on track to reduce emissions
Matthew Birchall (Herald): Where’s the funding plan for big spending transport policies? (paywalled)
Georgina Campbell (Herald): Cook Strait ferry cancellations: Freight company says missed sailings are killing business (paywalled)

BUSINESS, TRADE
John Weekes (Herald): Kiwi exporters reveal their biggest wishes as tricky web of inflation, Covid hangover lingers (paywalled)
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Exporters bullish on Chinese economic woes
Eric Frykberg (Interest): Primary export values boom
Andrew Bevin (Newsroom): Buy-now-pay-later closure hits unfunded medicines
Rebecca Stevenson (Interest): We have to make it harder for scammers, but the battle against fraudsters won’t be won with one change: Janine Starks

DUN MIHAKA
Karanama Ruru, Ripu Bhatia and Eda Tang (Stuff): ‘He was a staunch man’: Leaders, whānau pay tribute to Dun Mihaka
RNZ: Māori activist Te Ringa Mangu ‘Dun’ Mihaka dies, leaves legacy of challenging status quo
Te Karere: Māori rights activist Dun Mihaka dies aged 81

OTHER
Christina Stringer (Newsroom): Paying to be a modern-day slave
RNZ: Final Three Waters bills pass through Parliament
Max Rashbrooke (Newsroom): Book of the Week: Labour’s lost blue-collar dogs
Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): Actress Jennifer Ward-Lealand to join Māori Language Commission
Tema Hemi (Whakata Māori): Whanau bitter that police officers who fatally shot Kaoss Price found not criminally liable
Hamish McNicol (NBR): Law Society accepts independent regulator should be established (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Law Society says it wants a new regulator (paywalled)