Bernard's Pick 'n' Mix for Wednesday, July 10

Hamilton motels group gets over $100 million from Govt for emergency housing; Farmers pushing hard for law change to overturn court block of irrigation scheme; Inside the amazing Toast Electric

Photo by Jannis Brandt on Unsplash

TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am are:

1. Investigation: Benefitting from the misery of others. Over 40% of emergency housing funding went to a concentrated group of moteliers, including one Hamilton group receiving over $100 million. BusinessDesk-$$$’s Maria Slade and Murray Jones

2. Scoop: ‘Big Farm’ pushes hard for law change after mega-irrigation court loss. Lobby groups claim the decision – reinforcing that water health must be at the forefront of decision-making – creates a “regulatory roadblock ... no farmer can pass through”.  The Post-$$$’s Andrea Vance

3. News: ‘It’s unsafe’: Hutt doctor says concerns ignored. A senior doctor says he raised the alarm about dangerous working conditions at a Lower Hutt clinic before a ‘meltdown’ which has seen patients unable to access GPs. The Post-$$$’s Rachel Thomas

4. Deep Dive: NZ at bottom of table for EV chargers - but there's some good news RNZ’s Eloise Gibson

5. Solutions Graphic Explainer: Five (realistic) food policy ideas for a healthier NZ. What would happen if we made a population-wide shift to sustainable diets? The Spinoff’s Toby Morris

6. Solutions Feature: "It transformed our winter": How Toast Electric is changing lives with new power company model. NZ Herald’s Kirsty Wynn

(Full paying subscribers can see more detail below the paywall fold.)

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The Best of the Rest

News, Scoops, Investigations, Analyses & Deep Dives

Housing

News: Housing changes will make it “harder for disabled people”, says advocate. Wheelchair-users may be unable to access the smaller apartments a new government policy hopes to usher in. Stuff’s Ripu Bhatia