NZ Politics Daily: 7 September 2023

ELECTION – OPINION POLLS
Andrea Vance (Post): Labour slumps to new poll low but numbers offer some comfort (paywalled)
Luke Malpass (Post): National/ACT in pole position, but it is far from over (paywalled)
Liam Hehir (The Blue Review): Public hardens attitudes against government, crime
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Roy Morgan Poll – Left have male voter meltdown – ACT soar to 18%

ELECTION – NATIONAL AND ACT
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Discussions of coalition between ACT and National get testy as policy gulf grows
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): After a rough week, National needs to sharpen up (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): National leader Christopher Luxon rules out scrapping 39 percent tax rate if elected
Annemarie Quill (Stuff): National admits tax brochure case studies were fictional ‘scenarios’
Newshub: National ‘bluffing and blustering their way through their jiggery pokery’ tax cuts plan, Patrick Gower says
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Are we listening to policies or voting on a vibe?
Seni Iasona (Newshub): Economist reveals how National’s tax plan could tempt property investors to sell
David Williams (Newsroom): Living in a fishbowl with Luxo
Spinoff: Youth Wings: The political upbringing of a Young Nat
Morgan Godfery (Post): Is David Seymour New Zealand’s most dangerous man? Yes (paywalled)
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Women’s council Kate Sheppard led slams David Seymour’s claim she would have voted ACT
Tara Ward (Spinoff): More famous dead people who would definitely vote Act
Gabi Ladies (Spinoff): Shop the fit: Nicola Willis

ELECTION – LABOUR, ECONOMY
Tim Murphy (Newsroom): Here’s to you, Mrs Hipkins
RNZ: Labour leader Chris Hipkins announces party’s five-point economic plan
Brent Edwards (NBR): Labour’s priorities for economic growth (paywalled)
RNZ: Chris Hipkins again aims to position Labour as ‘fiscally prudent’ in pitch to business community
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government books will show path to surplus – Hipkins
Dan Brunskill (Interest): Off to India: Labour outlines third term economic plan
Felix Desmarais (1News): Labour’s ‘five economic priorities’ if re-elected
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Prefu could show government debt as much as $10b off course by June next year (paywalled)
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Labour boosts its books with last-ditch digital tax (paywalled)
Jenée Tibshraeny (Herald): Economist warns taxpayers may need to fork out to secure buyers of govt debt (paywalled)
Glenn McConnell (Stuff):Labour and ACT’s very different solutions to fix the productivity crisis
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Helen Clark’s advice to Labour in a ‘silly season’
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Analysis: Labour candidates’ misinformation undermines trust in Chris Hipkins
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Labour under fire for numerous examples of misinformation, Greens’ James Shaw edits social media to correct study history
Peter Williams: James Shaw (not) BA
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Labour’s Chris Hipkins says Willie Jackson made incorrect claim about National, ACT ‘in heat of moment’
Felix Desmarais (1News): Hipkins defends MP’s ‘incorrect’ minimum wage comments
Kathy Spencer (Herald): Pre-election policy frenzy is not the worst of it (paywalled)
Alex Holland (Bassett, Brash & Hide): Labour’s Failures

ELECTION – TOP
Seni Iasona (Newshub): The Opportunities Party wants to introduce 4-year terms, lower MMP threshold and voting age
Anna Whyte (Post): TOP promises ‘a different energy’ (paywalled)

ELECTION
Melanie Parkes (Stuff): Jessica Mutch McKay says election season is like ‘two Christmases in one year’
Kamala Hayman (Post): The Press Leaders Debate to be held at the Christchurch Town Hall (paywalled)
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): The Hypocrisy of calling CTU advert ‘dirty politics’ – let’s remind Millennial Newsrooms what dirty politics looks like again
Felix Desmarais (1News): Campaign trail: Hipkins tickles a robot, Luxon serves ice cream
Liam Hehir (Newsroom): In the swing seats: Why I vote one way and donate another
Anneke Smith (RNZ): On the campaign trail in Ikaroa-Rāwhiti with Labour’s Cushla Tangaere-Manuel and Te Pāti Māori’s Meka Whaitiri
Moana Maniapoto (Whakaata Māori): Shaw deflects personal trauma onto violent language directed towards ‘brown female MPs’
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): Could a Dunedin poetry reading fall foul of electoral law?
Anna Harcourt (Re: News): Analysis: Which political party is using TikTok best
George Heagney (Stuff): Damage to election billboards a sure sign it’s election time
Debbie Jamieson (Stuff): Only in Queenstown: vote for a Golden Retriever or Edmund Blackadder
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): How to vote if you’re travelling overseas during the election

HEALTH
RNZ: National, Waikato University planning third medical school ‘for years’ – Luxon
Sally Wenley (RNZ): Eight-week wait for skin cancer test results risking lives – doctors
Bernard Hickey: The Kaka Project for Election 2023: Universal dental care
Bridie Witton (Stuff): The politics of teeth: Should millionaires dip into the public purse for basic dental care?
David Hill (Local Democracy Reporting): Vaping epidemic prompts cameras in school
Rachael Kelly (Southland Times): Closed for business: Are our schools restricting access to toilets?
Rachel Thomas (Post): Second doctors’ strike to go ahead next week (paywalled)
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): Here’s the real reason for today’s health strike
Alex Spence (Herald): Senior doctors call for 24/7 security as ED crisis becomes ‘worst that we have ever seen’

PUBLIC SERVICE
Roger Patridge (Herald): The myth of public service neutrality (paywalled)
Jem Traylen (BusinessDesk): National will set consultant spending caps for each agency (paywalled)
RNZ: ACT’s David Seymour unveils red-tape review policy’s first four sectors

MEDIA
Duncan Greive (Spinoff): Ten crucial revelations from New Zealand’s most important media data
Shayne Currie (Herald): Media Insider: NZ on Air Where are the Audiences research – the fall of linear television; the rise of a new audience (paywalled)
George Block (Herald): NZME super-injunction: Mystery foreign entities linked to Kiwi institution take Herald to Court of Appeal
Thomas Cranmer: Cranmer Unmasked (paywalled)
David Harvey: Who is Cranmer?
Thomas Cranmer: On Being Outed by BusinessDesk

TRANSPORT, INFRASTRUCTURE
Mildred Armah (Stuff): Government admits it never meant to promise half price fares for disabled users
Liam Dann (Herald): Oil shock: Motorists should brace for more pain despite ComCom warning to petrol companies (paywalled)
RNZ: Commerce Commission issues ‘please explain’ to fuel companies on pricing anomolies
Gareth Vaughan (Interest): Commerce Commission seeks explanation for retail fuel price ‘anomalies’ from fuel companies
Dita De Boni (NBR): ComCom asks companies to explain wide variation in fuel pricing (paywalled)
Amelia Wade (Newsroom): Greens’ James Shaw takes shot at National’s plan to cut Clean Car Discount
RNZ: Watch: National Party will deliver 10,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2030, leader says
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): National promises $257 million for 10,000 new electric vehicle chargers if elected
Jonathan Mitchell (NBR): National promises to abolish clean car discount and fee scheme (paywalled)
Oliver Lewis (BusinessDesk): Infrastructure investment generates wider benefits (paywalled)
Joel MacManus (Spinoff): Plucky Foodstuffs takes bold stand against children on bikes
Erin Gourley (Post): Supermarket giant goes to court over Wellington cycleway (paywalled)
Virginia Fallon (Post): The rage is right, but its target is wrong (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Post): Here’s how to transform urban areas: Lessons from a ‘city shaper’ (paywalled)

IMMIGRATION, MIGRANT WORKERS
Lincoln Tan (Herald): Immigration visa scams: Worry about accommodation for migrant workers, more victims found
RNZ: More migrant work visa scam victims identified
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): Immigration u-turn over deporting migrant whistleblower with 18-month-old baby
Blessed Tom (RNZ): Indian and Chinese nationals have topped deportation figures since 2018
John Weekes (Herald): Visa system is a crazy and infuriating bureaucracy, crisis in food supply and air-conditioning looming, recruiter says

CLIMATE CHANGE
Eloise Gibson (RNZ): Next prime minister must lead emissions cuts: Simon Upton report
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): How to successfully create the next national plan to cut emissions
David Williams (Newsroom): National to elevate climate minister
Olivia Wannan (Stuff): The Government misses out on $1B chance to raise revenue
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Carbon credit auction fails again, depriving Treasury of about $900 million
Dan Brunskill (Interest): An entire year’s supply of carbon units will be offered in the year’s final ETS auction and will be erased if unsold

EDUCATION
John Gerritsen (RNZ): Excellence, merit or not achieved? Teachers grade Labour’s efforts to fix education
Tumamao Harawira (Whakaata Māori): Te reo Māori on shaky school grounds under National
ODT: Editorial – Time to tick TEC off? (paywalled)
Bob McCoskrie: The public view of gender ideology that the media won’t share

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
ODT Editorial: Gore CEO goes (paywalled)
Tim Scott (ODT): Williams could face action over racist slur
Tim Scott (ODT): Board chairman’s racial slur revealed
Karina Cooper (Herald): Kaitaia Airport: Government tells Far North District Council to ‘come to the party’
Erin Gourley (Post): Rates lower for businesses, higher for vacant land in council proposal (paywalled)

HOUSING
Simon Wilson (Herald): Labour, National and Greens commit to 1000 more state houses a year in Auckland (paywalled)
RNZ: Labour, Nats and Greens pledge 1000 new state houses each year for Auckland
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Just as TDB predicted! National will flog NZ houses to foreign buyers!
Robert MacCulloch: The Herald calls Luxon untruthful and bases its argument on false numbers
Peter de Graf (RNZ): Kāinga Ora downscales social housing plans in Kerikeri
Matthew Littlewood (ODT): Plan to turn 16 homes into 41 (paywalled)
Nicholas Boyack (Post): Public Service Watch: Generational scrap over Hutt housing (paywalled)

BUSINESS, EMPLOYMENT
Rituraj Sapkota (Whakaata Māori): Workplace deaths and injuries higher for Māori
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Electric Kiwi takes complaint over ‘big four’ power firms to Commerce Commission
Rebecca Stevenson (Interest): Big four power gentailers are ‘screwing’ consumers, Electric Kiwi says
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Post): Major telco faces embarrassment today when watchdog ranks customer service (paywalled)
Dita De Boni (Newsroom): Govt wants high-value tourists, but tourism funding set to be cut
Jonathan Milne (Newsroom): Last spin of the loom: how carpet can salvage NZ’s dying wool industry
Kerstin Hagena, Alina Hagena and Luis Arevalo (Reimagining Social Work): Whānau Ora versus animal agriculture in the age of climate change

FOREIGN AFFAIRS, TRADE, DEFENCE
Chris Trotter: Bob Semple’s Tank
Mick Hall (Consortium News): Unease Over New Zealand Overtures to US in Pacific
The Standard: This Election we need to talk About China
Thomas Manch (Post): New Zealand wins dairy trade dispute with Canada (paywalled)
RNZ: Passengers give up seats to others as Niue-NZ flights lack capacity

OTHER
Baz Macdonald (Re: News): Who’s to blame for the cost of living crisis?
Brent Edwards (NBR): Auditor-General urges more debate on Treasury’s wellbeing report (paywalled)
Eric Crampton: Debating tax
Emma Hatton (Newsroom): Crown takes second stab at NZ First prosecution
Edward Gay (Stuff): Billy Te Kahika supplied different figures in all four Electoral Commission returns
Will Trafford (Whakaata Māori): ‘One of those glass ceilings we’ve shattered’ – Davis on new law in te reo Māori
Eda Tang (Stuff): Dame Tariana Turia, Dr Cathy Dewes, Patricia Grace recognised by National Iwi Chairs’ forum
Tema Hemi (Whakaata Māori): For government’s programme for the worst youth offenders to work, poverty must be addressed – youth worker
Jessie Chiang (RNZ): The Detail: Policing in a new era of crime
Niva Chittock (RNZ): Waimate waste-to-energy plant consent process now in hands of central government
Peter Griffin (BusinessDesk): Labour may have missed the boat on science sector reform (paywalled)
Lianne Dalziel (Newsroom): The importance of dispute resolution mechanisms when disaster strikes
Lauren Crimp (RNZ): Hawke’s Bay residents with untouched houses deemed unlivable fight to stay put
Mark John (ODT): 3 Waters go-live date protest renewed (paywalled)