Political Roundup: 7 April 2022

Political Roundup: 7 April 2022

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Items of interest and importance today

ASHLEY BLOOMFIELD
Barry Soper (Herald): Why there was no point sticking around for Ashley Bloomfield
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Ashley Bloomfield goes out on top after adroitly mixing health, politics
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Dr Ashley Bloomfield 'just didn't have enough' left to lead ministry post-major reforms - Health Minister
Rowan Quinn (RNZ): Ashley Bloomfield's resignation: 'He felt the pressure along with the rest of us'
Andrew Dickens (Newstalk ZB): Ashley Bloomfield was the right man for the right moment
Rachel Thomas and Bridie Witton (Stuff): What will Dr Ashley Bloomfield do now?
Derek Cheng (Herald): Director general of health Ashley Bloomfield resigns: Covid response not perfect, but he leaves giant shoes to fill - Derek Cheng (paywalled)
Toby Manhire (Spinoff): What will Ashley Bloomfield do next?
Claire Trevett (Herald): 12,575 cases, 15 deaths as boosters extended for teens, Ashley Bloomfield resigns
1News: 'Mixed feelings' for Bloomfield as he steps down from role
RNZ: More leading Ministry of Health officials resign
Tess McClure (Guardian): Dr Ashley Bloomfield, who led New Zealand’s pandemic response, resigns
Derek Cheng (Herald): Public health exodus: Chiefs Caroline McElnay, Niki Stefanogiannis join Ashley Bloomfield in departing from Ministry of Health
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Sir Ashley? A knighthood could be next for Director-General of Health Dr Bloomfield
Amberleigh Jack (Stuff): Dr Ashley Bloomfield's finest on-screen moments
Bridie Witton (Stuff): 'Tireless dedication': Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern pays tribute to Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield after resignation
Bridie Witton (Stuff): Ministry's top public health leaders leaving with Dr Ashley Bloomfield
Monique Steele (Today FM): Stressful jobs under scrutiny following resignation of Director-General
Lloyd Burr (Today FM): Thank you Dr Ash, you've done a brilliant job
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Post peak Omicron red without Saint Bloomfield – Winners, losers & predictions

CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM, CO-GOVERNANCE AND THREE WATERS
Peter Dunne (Newsroom): Māori co-governance deserves better than a bitter and divisive public debate
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Three Waters, Treaty and Labour's co-governance predicament (paywalled)
David Farrar: Parliament votes to end “one person, one vote”
Vaughan Gunson (Herald): Debate needed on co-governance
Stefan Dimitrof (Māori TV): Christopher Luxon: NZ wants one system, not two
The Standard: Water and Money

EMPLOYMENT AND FAIR PAY AGREEMENTS
Leon Salter and Mohan Jyoti Dutta (The Conversation): Voiceless and vulnerable, NZ’s gig workers faced more risk with fewer protections during the pandemic
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Cleaners and drivers say they suffer from 'race to the bottom' Government deals
Morgan Godfery (Stuff): Fair Pay Agreements 'just New Zealand catching up with the rest of the world'
Damien Venuto (Herald): How do Kiwi workers feel right now? Burnt out, unproductive, increasingly concerned about their finances (paywalled)
Ireland Hendry-Tennent (Newshub): Christopher Luxon says Fair Pay Agreements won't mean mandatory unionisation after National accused of spreading misinformation

UKRAINE
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Jacinda Ardern defends New Zealand's aid to Ukraine, saying country is contributing to war effort
John MacDonald (Newstalk ZB): I thought I was seeing things when I saw that Henare wants to send weapons to Ukraine
Today FM: 'Absolutely necessary' - Former Defence Minister says Ukraine needs help with weaponry
Chris Trotter (Daily Blog): Forgetting to remember: News coverage of the Russo-Ukrainian war
Stephen Hoadley (Herald): Russian propaganda and its New Zealand audience (paywalled)

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND DEFENCE
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta to represent New Zealand at NATO meeting
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Lift defence spending – National
ABC: Case against Australian SAS soldier collapsed after NZ witnesses denied jury protections

CLIMATE CHANGE
Richard Harman: Luxon and climate change; an incomplete policy (paywalled)
Keith Woodford (Interest): He Waka Eke Noa is now the main game in rural politics
The Standard: Last chance to see or finally acting as if our lives depend on it?
Jono Galuszka (Stuff): Flood protection short by $150m per year as councils grapple with climate change impact

COVID
Torika Tokalau (Stuff): Experts 'shocked' at low booster and child vaccine rates
1News: 16, 17-year-olds can get Covid booster shot from Thursday
Julia Gabel (Herald): Plateauing adult booster rates concerning as new age group now eligible
Stephen Forbes (Local Democracy Reporting): Leaked memo raises questions over Ministry of Health’s daily Covid-19 case numbers
Herald: Editorial: What rhymes with orange? (paywalled)

MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS
Karanama Ruru (Stuff): Trust in mainstream media has dropped 8% in two years, report reveals
Andrew Barnes (Herald): Let's support the media to serve its key purpose (paywalled)
Robbie Nicol (Stuff): Facebook and radicalisation: how can we regulate the internet to prevent harm?

TRANSPORT
Susan Botting (Local Democracy Reporting): Government to spend $550M on Northland railway, including spur to Northport
Zane Small (Newshub): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern defends $51 million spent on cancelled Auckland cycle bridge
Todd Niall (Stuff): Top level talks to avert Auckland public transport service cuts
RNZ: Auckland Transport says it needs more money to keep operating
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Parliament passes law to slash road user charges cut by at least $27
Nikki Mandow (Newsroom): Govt subsidy and war spark boom in electric car sales

HEALTH
Newsroom: The urgent need for more GPs
Kaaren Mathias and Sarah Lovell (The Conversation): NZ’s health service is failing some communities: building a better national system requires local partnerships
Ian Powell: More than egg running down face; it’s an entire poultry farm’s yolk
Herald: Meningitis Foundation 'horrified' as vaccines wasted
Steven Walton (Stuff): Who pays for fluoridating Christchurch's water? Not us, council says
 
JUSTICE, POLICE AND LAW AND ORDER
Gill Bonnett (RNZ): Silence over why mall attacker's request to leave NZ ignored
1News: New data shows Kiwis waiting longer for police help
Mike Hosking (Herald): Why is Government ignoring questions over gang violence? (paywalled)
Ben Strang (Stuff): One in eight police staff seconded to Wellington for Parliament occupation
Today FM: Corrections minister responds to peaking proportion of Māori in our prisons

LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Rosie Gordon (RNZ): Local body elections 2022: where it will heat up
Logan Savory (Stuff): DIA wants local government to learn from Invercargill City Council troubles
Felix Desmarais (Local Democracy Reporting): Rotorua Lakes Council's use of lawyer at Local Government Commission hearing queried
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Hastings District Council to get Māori ward with three councillors

IMMIGRATION
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): NZ may get 60,000 more migrants than forecast under visa scheme, says National
Michael Neilson (Herald): Immigration NZ unsure of how many migrants could be approved under 2021 one-off residency
Matthew Scott (Newsroom): Where two years without immigration puts New Zealand
 
ECONOMY
Jordan Bond (RNZ): IRD says high income earners may be trying to avoid new tax bracket
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Working for Families leaves some households with marginal tax rates near 60 per cent
Brent Edwards (NBR): National’s tax plan less generous for low income earners than its 2017 proposal (paywalled)
Herald: Meet the new billionaires of 2022: Peter Jackson joins ranks of world's richest
RNZ: Mortgage applications fall amid ongoing economic uncertainty
David Hargreaves (Interest): The awful truth is dawning about inflation...

HOUSING
Glenn McConnell (Stuff): Green Party pushes for rent controls, hoping house and rental prices will fall
Bernard Hickey: Inside our housing supply catastrophe (paywalled)
Herald: Wellington property values drop, homes taking twice as long to sell

PARLIAMENT AND GOVERNMENT
Thomas Coughlan (Herald): Government to privatise science business, with weapons company a possible buyer (paywalled)
Merepeka Raukawa-Tait (Herald): Labour MP Louisa Wall quits: I don't blame her for leaving Parliament (paywalled)
RNZ: Tauranga by-election to be held on Saturday 18 June
Bay of Plenty Times: Jan Tinetti running in Tauranga by-election for Labour
The Standard: Change nothing
Josie Adams (Spinoff): Remembering iPredict, the website where you could cash in on MPs resigning
Stuff: Former Speaker, Clutha MP, Sir Robin Gray dies
 
POLITICAL HARASSMENT, TOXICITY AND EXTREMISM
Brigitte Morten (NBR): The rise of online trolling and why it must be stopped (paywalled)
Erin Gourley (Stuff): Bloomfield: 'We absolutely need to do something' about gendered online abuse
Matthew Cunningham (Spinoff): The troubling growth of the radical right within the ‘anti-mandate’ movement