The main issues in NZ Politics today are Len Brown, National, Labour, Avatar subsidies, and inequality and child poverty. [Read more below]
Today’s links
Len Brown
RadioLIVE: Guidelines to ensure council accountability
Keith Locke (Daily Blog): Upgrading the Auckland mayoralty debate
Newswire: Brewer in clear over council junket
Ben Irwin (Herald): Brewer junket on register
Radio NZ: Brewer defends actions over Australian trip
Grant Duncan (Policy Matters): Should Granny Herald stick to her knitting?
Bernard Orsman and Patrice Dougan (Herald): Quax hints further revelations still to come
Dan Satherley (TV3): Councillors threaten Mayor with legal action
Radio NZ: Mayor's critic didn't declare trip
Catriona MacLennon (Herald): Use of power to get sex ensures equality a myth
Colin Espiner and Sarah Harvey (Stuff): Councillor: Mayoral inquiry bill huge
Colin Espiner (Stuff): Super-city's weakest link
Matt McCarten (Herald): Only selflessness can save Brown
John Roughan (Herald): City's visionary now a bad joke
Fran O'Sullivan: Mayor's dealings with SkyCity need inquiry
Bernard Orsman (Herald): Pay vote adds to pressure on mayor
Kerre McIvor (Herald): Shameless embarrassment
John Weekes (Herald): Brown urged: Skip royals
Lynley Bilby (Herald): Chuang pays price for affair
Herald: Editorial: Spotlight on Brown catches critic in glare
Grant Duncan (Policy Matters): Who'll date Len Brown now?
Chris Ford (Voxy): Len Brown part of nasty political war that will heat up come next year
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Fran on why the Auditor-General should investigate
Frank Macskasy (Daily Blog): An Open Letter to Len Brown’s Council Critics.
No Right Turn: A liar and a hypocrite
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Auckland Council scrutiny
Don Franks (Redline): Len Brown and his bed makers
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil):Power, Sex, and Len Brown
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): Remember this? Same old rubbish and excuses. Nothing has changed
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): Len Brown fails to deliver on Living Wage
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): Words of impending doom from ratbag mayor
Pete George (Your NZ): Cameron Brewer and Mediaworks
National Party
Audrey Young (Herald): Bennett: Sip It Sweetie and help my re-election campaign
John Armstrong (Herald): Year ends on a high note for National
Polity: Herald poll mirrors Poll-of-Polls
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): National up in latest poll
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Armstrong on good year end for National
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): Armstrong on the state of the parties
David Kennedy (Local Bodies): Key Sees Greens as Biggest Threat
Labour Party
Radio NZ: Labour's Tai Hauauru candidate anti-mining
Audrey Young (Herald): Cunliffe gets written warning for byelection tweet
TVNZ: Phil Goff rules out Auckland Mayor bid
Michael Field (Stuff): Goff: No mayoral ambitions
TVNZ: Cunliffe gets police warning after rule beaking tweet
Michael Fox (Stuff): Police warn Cunliffe over tweet
TV3: Police warn Cunliffe over election tweet
Jenny Michie (Daily Blog): Shhhhh….Labour’s candidates selected
Patrick Leyland (Progress Report): More on Labour’s selections
Scott Yorke (Imperator Fish): Right Thinking: just another lawbreaking socialist villain
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Cunliffe warned by Police
Greg Presland (The Standard): David Cunliffe’s first hundred days
Martyn Bradbury
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): Martyn Bradbury the anti-semite
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): APOLOGY: Benefit of the doubt – Daily Gallery image
Scott Yorke (Imperator Fish): Solidarity!
Avatar
Sean Plunkett (Dominion Post): Avatar deal first step to prosperity
Adam Dudding (Stuff): Behind the scenes of film U-turn
Paul Little (Herald): Minor players deserve a share
Toby Manhire (Herald): Bright blue future lurks inside Pandora's box
GCSB
Kirsty Johnston (Stuff): Fury over US release of Dotcom 'evidence'
Tom Donoghue (Stuff): US lays out case against Dotcom
David Fisher (Herald): FBI releases evidence against Dotcom
End of year reviews
Herald: Herald on Sunday editorial: Santa may deliver but we won't
Matthew Hooton (NBR): The year from A to Z
Stuff: Annual Polly awards
Greg Presland (The Standard): Wally of the Year
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Hooton’s A to Z
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Fairfax Political Awards
The Ruminator: Ruminator’s 2013 Person of the Year
Idealog: The year that was…
John Tamihere
Kathryn Powley (Herald): Tamihere unrepentant over Amy
Patrice Dougan (Herald): Tamihere threatens litigation against MediaWorks
Patrice Dougan (Herald): Tamihere may have a case against Mediaworks – expert
Laura Walters (Stuff): Tamihere not happy with MediaWorks
Andrew Geddes (Pundit): First they came for John Tamihere, and I did not speak out
MPI
Radio NZ: MPI eyes changes to structure
Stuff: MPI considers shake-up
3 News Online Staff (TV3): MPI proposes huge restructure, claims Labour
Waikato Times: Come clean on changes
Child poverty and inequality
Amanda Parkinson (Stuff): Children fall sick in damp housing
Dr Russell Wills (Herald): Child poverty is everybody's business
John Dew (Herald): Clear picture needed of nation's most vulnerableTaranaki Taranaki Daily News: Well - paid workers key to healthy economy
ODT: Meeting the needs of the people
Ross Henderson (Stuff): The dignity of a liveable wage
Pete George (Your NZ): Turei on kids and inequality
Keith Rankin (Daily Blog): Rebuilding Christchurch highlights the need for flexible benefits
The Standard: Not the brighter future….
Radio NZ: Inquiry provides ideas for tamariki well-being
Asset sales
Steve Baron (Stuff): Give our referendums bite for a taste of real democracy
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Govt given warning over Air NZ selldown
No Right Turn: John Key lied to our faces
Chris Ford (Voxy): The Citizens Initiated Referendum: a definite mandate for no more sales
Electricity prices
Stephen Franks (NBR): $150m power price savings now up to ComCom
Radio NZ: Review of power profits expected by lawyer
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Competition and choice is great
Rape
Kirsty Johnston (Stuff): Alternative road for victims of sex crime
Amy Maas (Stuff): Courts 'set up against accused'
Stuff: 1 in 100: What we want to achive
Education
Newswire: Applications open for new charter schools
TVNZ: Claims of favourable treatment for charter schools
Stephen Franks: Research you won’t hear about from NZEI
Maori politics
Audrey Young (Herald): Maori Party holds key to government
Audrey Young (Herald): Tua boxing clever with two parties
3 News Online Staff (TV3): Treaty project progress slammed
Radio NZ: Urewera raids report 'disappointing'
Radio NZ: Councils slated for lack of Treaty understanding
No Right Turn: History repeats at TPK
Solid Energy
3 News Online Staff (TV3): Auditor-General to investigate Solid Energy
Newswire: Auditor-General still looking into Solid Energy
Hamish Rutherford (Stuff): Solid Energy to face further scrutiny
Forestry
Greer Berry (Manawatu Standard):Forestry deaths inquiry overdue
Liam Hyslop (Stuff): WorkSafe focusses on forestry
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): 10 forestry deaths
Mandela
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Everybody was Mandela's buddy
Scott Yorke (Imperator Fish): Was he truly great?
Construction price fixing
Michael Fox and Catherine Harris (Stuff): Carter Holt hit with price fixing claims
Corazon Miller (Newstalk ZB): Construction price fixing could just be the start
Economy
Bernard Hickey (Herald): Our economic party is heading for a hangover
Brian Gaynor (Herald): Why everyone likes trading in our money
Rob Stock (Stuff): NZ could follow UK swaps lead
Radio NZ: Record number of people visiting NZ
Kirsty Johnston (Stuff): Civil service feels festive pinch
Superannuation
Wayne Thompson (Stuff): Pensioners fear for future under Housing NZ plan
Rob Stock (Stuff): NZ should be retirement haven
Other
Peter O’Neill (Timaru Herald): Editorial: Workplace gear woes
Radio NZ: Dunne happy to see 'worst' year end
Steve Kilgallon (Stuff): Holy pokies dispute
Simon Day (Stuff): Scant help for refugees
Rodney Hide (Herald): Al's prediction a snow job
Will de Cleene (Gonzo): Kiwi Killjoys; 5 Fun Criminal Acts That Weren't Illegal in NZ When I was Born
Siobhan Downes (Stuff): Police quieter as new booze laws hit
Matt Rilkoff (Stuff): Land wars to lease wars
Geoff Cumming (Herald): Drilling checks are box-ticking, say lobby group
Wayne Hope (Daily Blog): Pike River Manslaughter – review of ‘Tragedy at Pike River Mine:How and why 29 men died`
Jessica McCarthy (Newstalk ZB): MP calls for more transparency at EQC
Jimmy Ellingham (Herald): Police officers to sue Commissioner Peter Marshall
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Greens trying their best to scaremonger and destroy the dairy industry
Radio NZ: Councillor goes to police over article
The Standard: First the Hone bash, then the royals