Public sector pay freeze
Jenna Lynch (Newshub): Grant Robertson schedules union crisis meetings after failing to communicate public pay freeze properly
Chris Trotter (Interest): Playing by a new set of rules
RNZ: Government urged to rethink public sector pay freeze decision
Henry Cooke (Stuff): Government in damage control over public sector pay freeze ahead of meeting with union
Jason Walls (Herald): Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern forced on defensive over the public sector pay freeze
1News: PM won’t say how much money saved by public servant pay freeze when challenged by John Campbell
Hannah Kronast (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern defends public sector pay freeze, says it doesn’t reflect workers’ Covid-19 response
Phil Pennington (RNZ): Contractor and consultants’ pay rates rises figures not available with ministry
Newstalk ZB: Political commentator: Pay freeze an ‘own goal’ from Government
Dita De Boni (NBR): Finance minister denies public sector pay movement pause is a ‘freeze’ (paywalled)
Brent Melville (BusinessDesk): Robertson lukewarm on public sector pay freeze (paywalled)
Shane Te Pou (Herald): Labour policies both bold and bewildering (paywalled)
Budget 2021
Richard Harman: Robertson to present a “Maori” budget
Helen Robinson (Herald): Impossible choices deprive our people of hope (paywalled)
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): BusinessNZ hopes Budget will focus on investment
RNZ: Finance Minister Grant Robertson: ‘Budget 2021 will be a recovery and wellbeing budget’
Zane Small (Newshub): Finance Minister Grant Robertson dampens expectations ahead of Budget 2021
He Puapua document and Maori self-determination
Steven Cowan: The Reactionary politics of He Paupau
Rachel Sadler (Newshub): He Puapua report: Judith Collins calls on Government to lay out its implementation plan for report
Zane Small (Newshub): National leader Judith Collins questions Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s ruling out of separate Maori Parliament
Local government
Peter Neilson (Stuff): Let’s extend MMP into local elections
Todd Niall (Stuff): Auckland Council cuts 643 staff despite strong building activity
Todd Niall (Stuff): The winds of change blow up a storm in Auckland
Tom Hunt (Stuff): Fifty complaints a day about Wellington’s leaky water pipes
Damian George (Stuff): Overwhelming support for Maori ward in Wellington
Luisa Girao (ODT): Creation of Maori ward discouraged
Matthew Dallas (Stuff): Maori ward in Manawat? District only path to an inclusive democracy
Economy, Budget, and work
Emile Donovan (RNZ): Why employment figures don’t tell the whole story
Mike Rudd (Stuff): Bracket creep key to addressing unfairness in tax system
Susan Edmunds (Stuff): Tax freedom day: From today, you’re working for yourself
Rob Stock (Stuff): Households and businesses hoard $600 million of cash over Covid fears
RNZ: PPP review could lead to improved investment model – specialist
Fair pay agreements
ODT: Editorial – ‘Fair pay’ diminishes competitiveness
Mike Hosking (Newstalk ZB): Fair Pay Agreements not only radical, but dangerous
China, international relations, national security
Thomas Coughlan (Stuff): Officials said Grant Robertson should use Five Eyes meetings for greater trade liberalisation
Jason Young (Stuff): The China Challenge: US-China strategic competition
Thomas Manch (Stuff): Risk of worst-case terror attack ‘very high’ according to Government’s Terrorism Risk Profile
Media
Gavin Ellis: Two hundred candles on the cake
Tom Pullar-Strecker (Stuff): TVNZ planning to launch paid, ad-free on-demand service
Housing crisis
Heather du Plessis-Allan (Newstalk ZB): Rotorua’s mayor needs to take a stand on emergency housing
Anne Gibson (Herald): Commerce Commission to probe building materials sector: Grant Robertson (paywalled)
Stan Stubbs (Stuff): Why don’t we get longer fixed-rate mortgages?
Health
Derek Cheng (Herald): Drug law impact revealed: Number of people charged per month dropping dramatically; less bias against Maori (paywalled)
Lana Andelane (Newshub): Govt’s commitment to providing self-test for HPV ‘great news’, but solution needed to bridge two-year delay – expert
Craig McCulloch (RNZ): Govt dismisses calls for medicinal cannabis review to be widened
Christchurch Call
Thomas Manch (Stuff): More countries, tech companies expected to join Christchurch Call
Duncan Garner (Newshub): Jacinda Ardern’s Christchurch Call just got a major shot of credibility – the US coming on-board
Covid and border
Tova O’Brien (Newshub): Government sat for nearly a week on key information about border worker who hadn’t been tested for five months
Luke Malpass (Stuff): Government announces more MIQ spaces for important ‘skilled and critical’ workers
Other
Pattrick Smellie (BusinessDesk): Labour: How to lose friends and infuriate people (paywalled)
Stuff: Editorial – Motherhood in manacles? Oh hell no.
Michelle Duff (Stuff): Women are being forced to give birth in handcuffs, with prison officers in the room
Matt Burrows (Newshub): Simon Bridges announces ‘intensely personal’ memoir National Identity, on masculinity, race and fitting in
Leah Tebbutt (Herald): Simon Bridges has written a book, but he says it’s no political memoir
Melanie Carroll (Stuff): NZ ‘needs to get more bang from its investor migrants’ bucks’
Maori TV: Maori content shake up for law schools
Murdoch Stephens (Overland): The battle of the refugee quotas
1News: NZ should be ‘embarrassed’ about its global ranking on young carers, says world leading expert
RNZ: Sue Kedgley: 50 years at the feminist coalface
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