Public sector pay freeze
Bryce Edwards (Democracy Project): Political Roundup: The Public sector worker backlash against Labour
Andrea Vance (Stuff): Why Jacinda Ardern needs to make a John Key-style u-turn on pay sector freeze
Alexia Russell (RNZ): Pay freezing out your traditional voter base
Liam Dann (Herald): Muldoon or Richardson? Robertson cops it from all sides (paywalled)
Claire Trevett (Herald): Labour in trouble with public sector pay ‘freeze’ (paywalled)
Branko Marcetic (Democracy Project): Labour’s public sector pay freeze isn’t just a betrayal of frontline workers – it’s a rejection of mainstream economic thinking
Herald: Ardern says public sector pay freeze excludes the ‘too many low-paid’ workers in NZ
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Police Minister Poto Williams says three-year pay freeze for cops won’t hurt recruitment
Dileepa Fonseka (Stuff): Why is a Labour government encouraging its employees to become contractors?
Jessica Mutch McKay (1News): Ardern penny pinching on nurses and police pay makes no sense
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Pay freeze hits public servants but not contractors
RNZ: Government’s wage freeze and fair pay policy under fire
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Pay freezes and fair pay agreements: the unions get their biggest win in decades
Jason Walls (Herald): Union bosses to Government: We won’t take public pay freeze ‘lying down’
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Public servants ‘blindsided’ by hearing about pay freeze in the media first
Brent Edwards (NBR): Fact or Fiction: unseemly scrap, public service pay restraint, KiwiRail largesse (paywalled)

Fair pay agreements
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour accused of being ‘stuck in 1970s’ as Business NZ calls for Fair Pay Agreements to be terminated
Jason Walls (Herald): Unions vs businesses: Fair pay agreement news staunchly divides factions
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Government announces ‘Fair Pay Agreements’ plan in radical overhaul of New Zealand employment laws
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): Fair Pay Agreements ‘unnecessary’, hospitality business owner says
Zane Small (Newshub): Labour forges ahead with Fair Pay Agreements: 10 pct workforce support can spark negotiations
RNZ: Fair Pay Agreements will ensure working Kiwis get a fair go – Michael Wood
Hamish Rutherford (Herald): Pay freeze and fair pay agreements; this week was more about unions than workers (paywalled)
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Is this government listening to itself?
Brent Edwards (NBR): Treasury reservations about fair pay agreements dismissed by government (paywalled)

He Puapua document and Maori self-determination
Stuff: Editorial – Let sunlight in to the race debate
Caitlin Ellis (Newshub): Judith Collins calls for ‘national conversation’ from Jacinda Ardern after controversial He Puapua report
Jason Walls (Herald): National and Act raise questions after leak of documents parties say recommend a major DoC shake-up
Meriana Johnsen (RNZ): He Puapua report bogged down in ‘swamp of politics’
Richard Harman: Collins prepares to ride Pakeha backlash (paywalled)
Winston McCarthy (E-Tagata): Orewa’s ugly echoes
Siobhan Wilson (1News): National’s opposition to policies promoting Maori equity unlikely to gain them much traction — commentator

China and New Zealand
Jamie Ensor (Newshub): New Zealand-China relationship: Aotearoa’s balancing act of trade and human rights
Elizabeth Beattie (Reuters): New Zealand ‘shadow boxes’ over Xinjiang amid pressure to speak up
Jane Clifton (Listener/Herald): NZ asserts its right to treat trade and security separately (paywalled)
Caitlin Ellis (Newshub): China currently ‘very happy’ with New Zealand – international law expert
Dan Satherley (Newshub): MPs fine with upsetting China, our biggest trading partner, by criticising ‘severe human rights abuses’ against Uighurs
Colin Peacock (RNZ): China’s PR intensifies as media focus falls on Uyghurs
Geoffrey…
Peter Wilson (RNZ): Week in Politics: Don’t interfere, China tells New Zealand
Siobhan Wilson (1News): NZ should separate foreign affairs from trade when dealing with China, Asia analyst says

Parliament’s Speaker Trevor Mallard
Damien Grant (Stuff): Trevor Mallard’s blunders have cost him the mana required of the Speaker
Alison Mau (Stuff): Fireworks in the House will not fix Parliament’s dirty issue
Martin Van Beynen (Stuff): Trial by media — the defendant, Trevor Mallard
Steve Braunias (Herald): The secret diary of Trevor Mallard (paywalled)
Waatea News: Mallard squawk a test for parliamentary privilege

Housing crisis
Mandy Te (Stuff): ‘It might wear off but I’m happy’: The woman who sleeps in a Wellington bus shelter
Miriam Bell (Stuff): ‘Five to seven years’ to fix housing supply problem
Mikaela Wilkes (Stuff): Explainer: What are rent controls, and would they actually make things better for renters?
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): End emergency housing next year, National challenges Labour
Ethan Griffiths (Herald): How much is spent on emergency housing in Whanganui (paywalled)
Miriam Bell (Stuff): From Te Awamutu to Timaru, here’s where Aotearoa’s ‘affordable’ homes are hiding
Michael Reddell: Banks, housing lending, and fixing housing
Carmen Hall (Herald): Rental crisis: Would you pay $30,000 upfront to get a rental? Tenants’ desperate measures (paywalled)
Benn Bathgate (Stuff): Rotorua moteliers fear penalties for refusing unwanted emergency housing guests
Steven Walton (Stuff): ‘It’s quite harsh out here’: Data reveals clusters of social housing in Christchurch
RNZ: House prices increased 21% in the last year, despite action to slow growth

Local government
Karl du Fresne: Maori wards: what councillors who vote ‘no’ can expect
Georgina Campbell (Herald): What’s there to hide? Call to lift the lid on investigation into Wellington’s mayor
Jimmy Ellingham (Stuff): Education and publicity could be key to reversing abysmal voter turnout
Cherie Sivignon (Stuff): ‘Faith wanes’ in council management of Waimea dam project
Stephen Forbes (Stuff): Auckland congestion charge could hit poor hardest, councillors warn

Economy, Budget, and work
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Budget 2021: Finance Minister Grant Robertson to reveal how tight money will be
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Budget 2021: Grant Robertson to reveal if there’s any extra money in the budget
Simon Gray (Herald): Financing New Zealand’s infrastructure and improved social outcomes (paywalled)
Mark Quinlivan (Newshub): Political pundit slams Provincial Growth Fund as ‘a disaster’, ‘giant slush fund’ after marae upgrade announcement falls short on delivering jobs
Fran O’Sullivan (Herald): Covid reveals too many empty chairs (paywalled)
Lucy Xia (Stuff): Eight illegal workers detained, two deported after raids on Government-run sites in Auckland
Simon Draper (Stuff): New Zealand Inc needs its workers to be multi-lingual

Health
Mike King (Herald): Ministry needs to sort out crisis in mental health services
Peter Davis (Stuff): Health system overhaul ‘won’t make a difference in Auckland’
Peter Davis (Herald): Maori leadership needed on health equity for all (paywalled)
Bridie Witton (RNZ): Corridor nursing reaches ‘crisis point’ in the emergency department
Steve Stannard (Stuff): Health reforms should empower the people and focus on prevention
Jason Walls (Herald): Budget 2021: Government commits $53 million to help fight cervical cancer
Kate Green (Stuff): Cervical cancer self-test to be available from 2023, should reduce health inequality for w?hine Maori
Newstalk ZB: High burnout levels in medical and dental professions, leads to errors
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Sir Mason Durie the first Maori Health Authority appointment
Florence Kerr (Stuff): Ng?ruaw?hia locals want the kind of healthcare first envisioned by Princess Te Puea H?rangi 100 years ago
Neil Warrington (Herald): Why nurses are bewildered by the DHB pay offer (paywalled)
Meriana  Johnsen (RNZ): Iwi leaders tire of political bickering over Maori Health Authority
RNZ: Youth mental health funding boost not enough, but a start – advocates
Jonny Wilkinson (Herald): Let’s ‘Be Kind’ – and that includes you, Pharmac
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Government to build new ‘opt-out’ breast cancer screening system to reach missing 271,000 people

Parliament and political parties
Bill Ralston (Listener/Herald): National Party fracturing along religious lines (paywalled)
Phil Smith (RNZ): Public help makes good bills great law
Stuff: Points of Order: A single moment of moral clarity during a truly tawdry week at Parliament

Christchurch Call 
Derek Cheng (Herald): Will the US joining the Christchurch Call give it any teeth? (paywalled)
Georgia Forrester (Stuff): PM Jacinda Ardern: United States an ‘important partner’ as it joins the Christchurch Call taking on terrorists and violent extremists
Anna Leask (Herald): New Zealand, France to co-chair Christchurch Call leaders’ summit
RNZ: Ardern and Macron to co-chair Christchurch Call leaders’ summit

Covid and border
Katie Todd (RNZ): MIQ staff often feel unable to report breaches, union says
Herald: Editorial: Still waiting – vaccine rollout suffers from a lack of urgency (paywalled)
Jamie Morton (Herald): Covid-19 coronavirus: Many port workers missing out on vaccine, union boss says

Other
Dan Satherley (Newshub): Oranga Tamariki strip searches to be ‘phased out’ – Minister for Children Kelvin Davis
1News: Taxpayers shell out more than $12,000 to transport dead turtle, give it a funeral
1News: Returning endangered turtle’s body to Canterbury hap? right thing to do — DOC, Te Papa
Justin Latif (1News): Are free school lunches hitting the spot for South Auckland kids?
Brianna Mcilraith (Stuff): Animal activists continue bid to speed up end of live animal exports
Te Aorewa Rolleston (RNZ): Half of Maori women experience sexual or physical violence – study
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): Power woes: ‘We need a solution or we are going to wreck our economy’
Mike O’Donnell (Stuff): NZ’s ‘trusted’ reputation is one of our greatest assets
James Goodhue (Stuff): For regions to survive, they must avoid the temptation of urban sprawl
Brian Easton: Why are we moving to Auckland?
Daniel Laufer (Stuff): When PR firms become the news, it’s a different kind of crisis
Lana Hart (Stuff): We’re growing up as a nation
Laura Twyman (1News): NZ’s vaccination helpline labelled ‘dysfunctional’, ‘a shambles’ by adviser taking the calls
RNZ: Principal suspects teachers’ health issues linked to toxic mould
1News: Less than 15 per cent of schools using Government-funded programme on sexual education
Dubby Henry (Herald): Waikato University professor apologises after using n-word in

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