The main issues in NZ Politics at the end of last week were offshore drilling, parliamentary severance payments, the economy, Fonterra, and Len Brown. [Read more below]
Today’s links
Parliamentary severance payments
Liam Hyslop and Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Payments 'buy the silence' of staff at Parliament
Laura Heathcote (Newstalk ZB): MP's chew through cash sacking staff
Laura McQuillan (Newstalk ZB): Claims taxpayers "buying silence" of former Parliamentary staff
Liam Hyslop (Stuff): Severance payments in spotlight
Isaac Davison (Herald): Payouts cost Parliamentary Service $400k
Offshore drilling
Herald: Editorial: NZ should relish Shell's show of confidence
Stuff: Shell proceeds with Great South Basin drilling
Radio NZ: Shell to drill well in Great South Basin
Hannah McLeod and Rob Maetzig (Stuff): Basin strike may be bigger than Maui
Southland Times: Editorial: Drill until you get it right
The Press: Editorial: Gas find would be great boost
Hannah McLeod (Stuff): Drilling holds promise of job bonanza
Pete George (Your NZ): Oil and gas unethical?
Pete George (Your NZ): Dunedin council divide on gas exploration
Pete George (Your NZ): Greens overstating oil spill risk
Ele Ludemann (Homepaddock): Bad and good
Economy
Laura Walters (Stuff): NZX trading activity increased in 2013
Radio NZ: Economic boost predicted for 2014
Laura McQuillan (Newstalk ZB): No surprise at NZ 'rock star' tag
Michael Cummings (Manawatu Standard): Editorial: Economy focus for election year
Josh Martin (Stuff): More good signs for job market
Josie Pagani (Pundit): Has National fixed the economy yet?
No Right Turn: A "rock star" economy?
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): HSBC says NZ will be rock star economy of world in 2014
Richard Meadows (Stuff): New high for Auckland house prices
Geordie Hooft (Stuff): 2013 tax year - laws and proposals
Fonterra
Gerald Piddock, Stacey Kirk, and Laura Walters (Stuff): Fonterra's 'bigger than this'
Amanda Gillies (TV3): MPI 'disappointed' with Fonterra case
Laura Walters (Stuff): Fonterra to "vigorously defend" damages claim
Len Brown
Radio NZ: McCready plans legal action against Len Brown
Rebecca Quilliam (Herald): McCready plans to file papers against Len Brown
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Parties wooed me – Chuang
Matthew Theunissen (Herald): Chuang: Len Brown is still my role model
RadioLIVE: Bevan Chuang ponders future in politics
Labour Party
Claire Trevett (Herald): Women MP target misses mark
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Most women against Labour’s gender quotas
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): How?
Stuart Nash (Daily Blog):It’s not what you say, but what they hear
National Party
Laura McQUillan (Newstalk ZB): Young National members line up to take on Dunne
Glenn Conway (Stuff): Wagner pondering her future in Christchurch Central
Conservatives
Laura Heathcote (Newstalk ZB): Colin Craig thinks Conservatives can reach double digits
Gordon Campbell (Stuff): Spotlight falls on support parties
Pete Goerge (Your NZ): Craig effectively rules out coalition
Maori politics
Stuff: Maori protocol warning
Kurt Bayer (Herald): Maori trust threatens blockade of Hole in the Rock
Karl du Fresne (Stuff): Resolving to pronounce Maori right
Pete George (Your NZ): Delahunty “political correctness gone mad” on Maori protocol modernization
Joshua Hitchcock (Ka Tōnuitanga): This Week in Māori Politics: The Welcome Back Edition
Ellipsister: Pōwhiri and gender essentialism
Climate change
Glenn Conway (Stuff): Rising seas threaten Christchurch homes
No Right Turn: Climate change: Four degrees
Gareth Renowden (Daily Blog): 2014: won’t get fooled by climate denial again
Peter Cresswell (Not PC): Councils’ “experts” among the last still drinking Al Gore’s Kool Aid
Russell (Brown (Hard News): Climate, money and risk
Inequality and poverty
Sarah-Jane O’Connor (Stuff): Income gap is wider – census
Pete George (Your NZ): Universal Basic Income
Ele Ludemann (Homepaddock): Living wage doesn’t apply
Electricity
Adam Bennett (Herald): Power prices should start to come down: Consumer NZ
Pete George (Your NZ): NZ Power double whammy?
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Wholesale electricity prices at a three year low
Underage drinking
Radio NZ: MP says drunk boy case will test law
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Is Labour really saying what counts is the strength of the alcohol a 9 year old drinks?
Scott Yorke (Imperator Fish): Youth drinking: who is to blame?
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): New Zealanders “the best” at drunk driving
Whaling
Newswire: McCully hopes court will end whaling
Dan Satherley (TV3): Whaling fleet in 'disarray', says Sea Shepherd
Eric Crampton (Offsetting Behaviour): Support grows for the Paretian Cetacean solution
National parks and marine reserves
Nelson Mail: Editorial: Push for marine reserves sensible
Nelson Mail: National parks must not be compromised
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Marine reserves
Road safety
Laura McQuillan (Newstalk ZB): Govt urged to share "untold story" of the road toll
Torben Akel (TV3): Shearer opens up about fatal crash
Lance Wiggs (Herald): Cycle safety needs to become a political issue
Shark finning
Isaac Davison (Herald): Shark finning gets total NZ ban
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Earlier start for shark finning ban
2014 election
Chris Ford (Voxy): For what it's worth here are my predictions for 2014
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): Upcoming election to overshadow important social, economic issues
David Farrar (Kiwiblog): Polls December 2013
Patrick Leyland (Progress Report): Candidates for the NZ 2014 election
NZ-US relations
Kurt Bayer (Herald): New US ambassador's appointment delayed
David Huebner (Stuff): US ambassador says farewell to NZ
Other
Stacey Kirk (Stuff): Seymour eyes Epsom for ACT
Ian Harris (ODT): Declining religious belief deserving of consideration
Nicholas Jones (Herald): GM material sent out of NZ illegally
Joshua Drummond (Stuff): Vaccination is a lie
No Right Turn: Use for the OIA: Uncovering piss-poor policy
Listener: Editorial: just do it
Martyn Bradbury (Daily Blog): Crime rate drops – yet we are locking up more NZers?
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): Peter Williams gets bored of reading screens, starts making news up
NBR: The top rating politics stories of 2013
David Killick (Stuff): Christchurch needs 'radical new solutions'
Marty Sharpe (Stuff): Aussies deport hundreds of Kiwis
Stuff: Too many MPs in that House
Dominion Post: Editorial: Rescued school must obey rules
Scott Yorke (Imperator Fish): My ordeal: a diary
Beith Atkinson (Integrity Talking Points): NZ’s low levels of corruption validated by NIS assessment
No Right Turn: Uses for the OIA: Uncovering the Bible in schools
Cameron Slater (Whaleoil): Pakeha Party flop attempts relaunch as “Real Websites Limited”
Ele Ludemann (Homepaddock): Map of NZ’s political geography
Rachel Stewart (Stuff): NZ backing the wrong high
Stuff: 'Shocking' obesity rate among kids
Ben Uffindell (The Civilian): World mourns famous person they didn’t know or care about until now
Bob Jones (Herald): Corruption a cancer that devours civil society
