The Kākā’s Pick 'n' Mix for Monday, July 15

Immigration allowed Chorus fibre-laying contractor to exploit migrants for years; Te Whatu Ora hiring freeze worsens; Premium charges likely on hundreds more aged care beds due to Budget cuts

Photo by Jessica Loaiza 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 three days to 9:00 am on Monday, July 15 are:

1. Investigation: Immigration NZ refused to prosecute an alleged exploiter despite a mountain of evidence - then allowed a new company with ties to the man to bring in more workers. Stuff’s Steve Kilgallon.

2. Scoop: Frontline hospital roles unfilled amid Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ hiring freeze RNZ’s Rowan Quinn

3. Scoop: Hundreds of aged care beds to attract premium charge if Te Whatu Ora doesn’t spend more The NZ Herald’s Adam Pearse

4. Solutions Column by Joel MacManus in The Spinoff: ‘Why Wellington is considering a switch to land value rates.’

5. Op-Ed by Richard Hills in The Sunday Star Times-$$$ ‘Our kids are worth more than 14 seconds: Forced safer speed reversal will cost lives.’

6. Solutions Column by Mike O’Donnell in The Post-$$$ ‘Power hungry AI an opportunity for rural Aotearoa.’

(Full paying subscribers can see a lot more juicy links and detail below the paywall fold.)

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