NZ Politics Daily - 10 May 2018
10 May 2018
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).
International relations and trade
Pattrick Smellie (Stuff): MFAT's challenge: How hard to 'hug the panda'
Press Editorial: The anxiety of influence in the Pacific
Laura Walters (Stuff): NZ is a long way off its international aid commitment, but is moving in the right direction
1News: Winston Peters explains $900m foreign affairs' spend, saying New Zealand needs 'respect, and we intend to get it back'
1News: Winston Peters says $714 million Pacific aid boost in response to potentially 'adverse' new players in region
Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Pacific has to 'stand up' for itself, tighten security - Winston Peters
Claire Trevett (Herald): Sausage rolls, diplomats and Winston Peters' warm-up as PM
1News: Watch: Ardern defends multi-million dollar Pacific aid investment after Bridges accuses her of prioritising it over slashing cost of GP visits
1News: An embassy in Sweden prioritised over cheaper GP visits? National MP calls move 'horse-trading'
RNZ: Pacific aid boost 'shows the lie' in govt's social deficit claims
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): National urges govt not to forget NZ-based Pasifika
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Simon Bridges: NZ will never win in chequebook war of diplomacy
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Kiss of death - Winston Peters is betraying his voters
RNZ: "Blurring" of Australian aid to Pacific raises concern
Sophie Boot (BusinessDesk): Government denies political concerns behind choice not to tax Chinese steel imports
1News: Winston Peters says Trump’s decision to pull out of Iran nuclear deal ‘worrying’
Stuff: Iran deal 'provides stability in Middle East' - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
RNZ: Trump's Iran threat 'pretty concerning' for NZ exporters
Mark Jennings (Newsroom): Trade barriers our biggest risk: economist
Ryan Dunlop (Herald): New Zealand and Australia will slip in power by 2030 according to Lowy Institute Asia Power Index
Auckland
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): Analysis: A public partnership money-go-round
Hamish Fletcher (Herald): Comment: Super Fund should not be Auckland's slush fund
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Super Fund gives huge vote of confidence to light rail plan
Simon Wilson (Herald): Business should be salivating over new light rail lines
Thomas Coughlan (Newsroom): NZ Super model for light rail just the beginning
Simon Wilson (Herald):NZ Super Fund wants to own and operate two of Auckland's light rail projects
Thomas Coughlan and Bernard Hickey (Newsroom): Government green-lights Auckland light rail
Isaac Davison (Herlad): Auckland's new rail lines could be ready within six years, but only if Labour is still in power
Budget and tax
Simon Chapple (Newsroom): Time to tackle ‘incoherent’ tax policies
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Tax Working Group papers highlight concerns over ‘inequality’
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): More measures coming to ensure self-employed don't dodge tax
Isaac Davison (Herald):Majority of Kiwis want Govt to collect more tax
No Right Turn: Kiwis want to pay more tax
Jason Walls (Interest): Spoiler alert – the Finance Minister has plenty to be happy about, with a surplus almost $1 billion higher than expected
Dene Mackenzie (ODT): Election spending promises may not all be realised
Anne Gibson (Herald): Budget 2018: Tax expert calls for KiwiBuild details in Budget: 'Can we afford it?'
Thompson & Clark spying
David Williams (Newsroom): Security firm probably spied: Treasury
Anna Bracewell-Worall (Newshub): Revealed: The email the PM sent ordering an end to Thompson & Clark's spying
Health
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Non-medical facility built at Middlemore without approval
Hannah Martin (Stuff): Warning labels on alcohol could change New Zealand's ‘ignorance'
George Block (ODT): Debate over selling single cigarettes
RNZ: John Potter: 'There are no super foods'
Jessica Long (Stuff): Attempts to oppose school booze ban a flop, says Auckland health service
Adam Jacobson (Stuff): Report reveals racism and rough handling of rheumatic fever patients
RNZ: Lack of Northland mental health services 'endangering lives'
Stuff: Mental health advocates concerned over 13 Reasons Why
Aaron Leaman (Stuff): Call for more resources to help Kiwi patients reach possible donors
RNZ: Baby formula makers criticised for adding nutritional info to products
Employment
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Time seems ripe to start lifting wages
Megan Gattey (Stuff): 'System has to change' after migrant construction workers reportedly left in the lurch
RNZ: Labour shortage prompts govt to rethink abatement rates
1News: Kiwifruit picker labour shortage sparks Government commitment to allow people to work more while receiving dole
RNZ: Kiwifruit body wants more RSE workers
Eleanor Ainge Roy (Guardian): Kiwi crisis: New Zealand changes visa rules to save bumper crop of national fruit
1News: Willie Jackson questioned by Paula Bennett over whether the unemployed should pick fruit in testy exchange in Parliament
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): BusinessNZ says labour law changes will mean unions control conditions of entire workforce
Ella Prendergast (Newshub): Kiwis should have major concerns over Employment Bill - Business NZ
Donal Curtin (Economics NZ): Mind the gap
Poverty, inequality and welfare
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub): Child poverty: Commissioner says politicians can undo 30 years of damage
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Children's Commissioner Andrew Becroft challenges parties to work together to reduce child poverty
RNZ: 'Gutting' decision as at-risk kids' service denied funding
Liz Gordon (Daily Blog): Fixing Work and Income
Isaac Davison (Herald): Family violence services to get $76 million cash injection from Govt
Newshub: Govt announces family violence services funding boost
Education
Herald: Peters' Te Reo comments a 'decent exchange': Ardern
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Ministers rebuked over te reo Māori stance
Newshub: Nanaia Mahuta won't back down over te reo Māori in schools
1News: 'Move away from the word, compulsory' - Maori Language Commission want discussion over Te Reo in schools to focus on revitalisation
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Politicians have no right to decide what gets taught in schools
RNZ: Novopay must 'be replaced or rewritten' by 2020 – report
Simon Collins (Herald): Daycare tragedy report: 'They did wonder if he had fallen'
Paul Mitchell (Stuff): Little Monkeys owner and Lorenzo's parents harassed and abused as second incident uncovered
Lucy Bennett (Herald): Charter schools applying to be state schools, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says
Barry Soper (Newstalk ZB): Battle lines remain as charter schools go
Melinda Webber (Newsroom): Māori identity matters for student success
Torika Tokalau (Western Leader): More than 300 students disciplined for taking a weapon to school
Shane Cowlishaw (Newsroom): Can polytechs be saved?
RNZ: Massey Albany overtakes Palmerston North campus
World Made in NZ controversy
Courtney Sanders (Spinoff): Why we need to look beyond the ‘Made In…’ label
Emma Gleason (RNZ): Fighting fast fashion: The struggle to be Made in NZ
Aimee Shaw (Herald): Zambesi latest brand caught up in 'NZ made’ saga
Environment
Gerard Hutching (Stuff): Greenpeace wants to stop Mackenzie dairy development in its tracks
Andre Chumko (Stufff): Ngāti Kahungunu in disbelief over report outlining options for Te Mata Peak track
Brian Easton (Pundit): Scoring Carbon Emissions
Stephen Tindall (Herald): NZ primed to lead charge into clean-energy future
RNZ: Bill McKibben: 'We're still near the beginning in climate change'
Laurel Stowell (Wanganui Chronicle): Ōhakea group trusts government process on contaminated water, says chairman
Will Harvie (Stuff): Kiwis fear cancer after working near leaky US nuclear reactor in Antarctica
Primary industries
Eric Frykberg (RNZ): Fonterra milk buying guarantee may be relaxed
Gerald Piddock (Stuff): Tremendous opportunity for New Zealand farmers to be world leaders
Maja Burry (RNZ): First case of cattle disease in North Canterbury found
Hannah Bartlett (Nelson Mail): Nelson farmer in court after calves found dead, rotting and dying
National
David Fisher (Herald): National leader Simon Bridges accidentally 'liked' social media post mocking Clarke Gayford
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Bridges' mea culpa for Twitter faux pas
Emma Hurley (Newshub): National leader Simon Bridges admits liking a tweet mocking Clarke Gayford
Newshub: Paul Goldsmith deflects claims of Epsom coup
Local government
RNZ: Law change to put alcohol restrictions in local govt hands
Eva Corlett (RNZ): Bella Vista homeowners: 'We deserve answers'
Liam Hehir (Pundit): Where it is not necessary to change... take a seat
Andre Chumko (Stuff): Art expert says Havelock North sculpture 'a political Molotov cocktail'
Defence
Colin Robinson (Herald): Time to reconsider NZDF's Iraq deployment?
RNZ: Spike in number of bomb squad call-outs
Other
Catherine Hutton (RNZ): Govt's electric train promise now off the rails – union
John Campbell (RNZ): ‘We thought we were buying our future’
John Tamihere (Herald): I've had enough of faceless well-paid bureaucrats
Claire Trevett (Herald): Landmark Ngāti Porou foreshore settlement makes it to Parliament after a decade
Ged Cann (Stuff): Privacy Commissioner launches certification for sites designed with privacy in mind
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Call for senior male law firm partners to sign #metoo pledge
BusinessDesk: ComCom warns power companies to keep it competitive
Jane Clifton (Listener): New Zealand will become a republic – but there’s no hurry
Bill Manhire (Herald): A grown-up society needs arts and sports equally
Anna Bracewell-Worrall (Newshub):'My Little Pony is racist' - Why did the PM's office send this email?
Stuff: TVNZ political journalist Katie Bradford's horrific experience of cyber-bullying
Sam Sherwood (Stuff): Youth gangs bragging about violent crimes 'an absolute tragedy' - top cop