NZ Politics Daily - 15 December 2017
15 December 2017
Today's content
Below are the links to the items online. The full text of these items are contained in the PDF file (click to download).
Government’s Mini-Budget
Audrey Young (Herald): Stunning impact for Government's no surprises package
Tracy Watkins (Stuff): Labour's big ticket families package puts a stake in the ground
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): National gasping for air
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Grant Robertson’s “Mini Budget” Presents Progressives With A “Maxi-Problem”
Chris Trotter (Bowalley Road): Transformational Politics Demands Transformational Economics
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Labour's families package a massive political risk
Corin Dann (1News): Labour delivers on election promises in mini-budget and keeps books in the black, although there is limited wriggle room
Dene Mackenzie (ODT): Restraint evident in budget statement
Dene Mackenzie (ODT): Cutting child poverty one aim of $5.5b Families Package
Stuff Editorial: The mini-budget is a test of new powers
Herald Editorial: Treasury expects higher growth in two years
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Treasury shrugs off plunge in confidence with rosy outlook for economy
David Snell (Herald): Robertson walking tightrope between paying for policy and controlling debt
Richard Harman (Politik): Government calls on private sector to help balance books
Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Analysis: Debt anchor dragging Labour into PPPs
Patrick O’Meara (RNZ): Solid economy to underpin government's spending plans
Herald: Labour's Families Package good for Maori, children and parents
Claire Trevett (Herald): Goodbye tax cuts but Labour's families package expected to halve child poverty
Shane Cowlishaw (Newsroom): Good news for children in poverty
Claire Trevett (Herald): Finance Minister Grant Robertson: health, education and poverty focus of Budget 2018
Brad Flahive (Stuff): Families Package: What the Best Start payment means for you
Henry Cooke (Stuff): The table that shows how much each family gets in mini-budget
Henry Cooke (Stuff): How the mini-budget affects five Kiwi families
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Govt reveals $5bn families package: Will it affect you?
Nita Blake-Persen (RNZ): Families look forward to budget boost for 'the little things'
Andrea Vance (1News):'Feel-good' Budget promises to slash child poverty and make nearly 400,000 families better off by $75 a week
Lloyd Burr (Newshub): Labour introduces major $5b plan to halve child poverty
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Economists cast doubt over Treasury's 'optimistic’ forecasts
Jenee Tibshraeny (Interest): Bank economists say Treasury's projections are ‘somewhat of a best-case scenario’
Michael Reddell (Croaking Cassandra): A few HYEFU thoughts
Audrey Young (Herald): Books point to tight cost pressures ahead for new Government
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Government will start paying into the NZ Super Fund on Friday
Dene Mackenzie (ODT): Govt resumes payments to NZ super fund today
Sam Carran (Newstalk ZB): Sir Michael Cullen warns super fund can't recover lost ground
Herald; At a glance: half-yearly Treasury update
Chris Bramwell (RNZ): Books opening shows fiscal hole real – National
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Labour's books 'look very tight' – National
Nicholas Jones (Herald): National hits out: 'the Grant that stole Christmas'
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Government is saying it will keep new spending to $600 million a year
NZ spy agencies
David Fisher (Herald): The Big Read: How our spies got so out of control that they wound up getting Kiwi data 'unlawfully'
David Fisher (Herald): Spies slammed by watchdog for 'unlawful' access of database which includes most Kiwis
Chris Bramwell (RNZ): SIS unlawfully accessed Customs data for 19 years
No Right Turn: NZ's intelligence oversight is a bad joke
Government and 2017 in review
Toby Manhire (Herald): Ardern's year beyond a shadow of doubt
Jane Patterson (RNZ): Govt tracking to hit its 100-day goals
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Winston Peters' KiwiSaver dream a step closer
Herald: Greens win extra safeguard in waka-jumping bill
Herald: Coalition agreement to stay secret after Ombudsman Peter Boshier's ruling
RNZ: Ombudsman rules coalition document outside OIA
Laura Walters (Stuff): Ombudsman says Prime Minister entitled to refuse release of coalition document
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Ombudsman backs Govt over coalition document in final ruling
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Which Associate Ministers actually have a proper job?
International relations
Terence O’Brien (Dominion Post): Money, military keys to Aussie foreign policy
Ged Cann (Stuff): Protesters stand for Manus Island refugees with a classic Aussie barbecue
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Peters aims to tackle diplomatic 'inexperience'
Workplace safety
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Ex-Marsden Point Oil Refinery worker with cancer wants compensation, claiming lead poisoning
James Paul (Stuff): The nature of deaths in the forestry industry is changing, worrying WorkSafe NZ
Euthanasia
Sinead Donnelly (Herald): Palliative medicine uses morphine with care
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Why I do not welcome euthanasia in New Zealand
1News: David Seymour says three quarters of Kiwis would support voluntary euthanasia in referendum
No Right Turn: Passed
Health
Cecile Meier (Stuff): Opinion: Electric shock therapy without consent is a disgrace
Craig Hoyle (Stuff): Medicinal cannabis users pen open letter to new government, pleading for law change
Karen Brown (RNZ): Departing DHB head: 'We have to be super-efficient'
Education
Herald: Education Minister Chris Hipkins announces review of NCEA
Te Aniwa Hurihanganui (RNZ): Mainstream schooling failing rangatahi, says former teacher
Dominion Post Editorial: Karori Campus: Asset or liability?
Environment
Jamie Morton (Herald): NZ's glaciers have shrunk by a third in area
Kate Pereyra Garcia (RNZ): Officials refusing to release foam contamination info
Johnny Moore (Stuff): Belfast water bottling rort shows we undervalue our most precious natural resource
Defence
Gordon Campbell (Werewolf): On Defence spending, Alabama, and Dolly Parton
Keith Locke (Daily Blog): $639 million upgrade poses question of whether we need frigates
Herald: Ministry of Defence shields previous Govt from $148m blowout
Sam Sachdeva (Newsroom): Defence takes blame over frigate cost blowout
Housing
Nicholas Jones (Herald): Housing constrained by lack of builders, lending: Treasury
John Anthony (Stuff): Housing New Zealand has nearly 4000 Auckland state homes worth more than $1m
Stephen Selwood (Herald): Housing needs big investment in the future
CTV building collapse
Michael Wright (Stuff): CTV families vow to 'keep fighting' following police meeting over criminal charges
Media
Colin Peacock (RNZ): Prime time presenters call it quits
John Drinnan (ZagZigger): Weatherman Sam To Take Over From Hosking
Herald: John Campbell and Hilary Barry: Could this be the new face of Seven Sharp?
Herald: Mike Hosking, Toni Street to leave TVNZ's Seven Sharp
RNZ: Hosking, Street step down as Seven Sharp hosts
John Drinnan (Herald): Maori news unit to boost te reo?
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): 'Dinosaur' v dominatrix: Don Brash didn't stand a chance
Guy MacGibbon (Stuff): MPs are more compelling when they look like a Renaissance painting
America’s Cup
Todd Niall (RNZ): Council chooses preferred option for America's Cup village
Newshub: America's Cup: Auckland Council votes for Wynyard Basin site
Auckland
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Phil Twyford's big challenge for Auckland's success
Tony Garnier (Herald): 2018 will be a defining year for Auckland
Michael Barnett: (Herald): God save Auckland
Other
Amber-Leigh Woolf (Stuff): Government ponders Auckland backup for Beehive emergency management centre
ODT Editorial: Can cattle disease be contained?