Politics Central

The Finance Minister's earned fresh ire from the Opposition for his comments about capping rent rises.
Grant Robertson has not ruled out limiting how much landlords can raise rents, saying it isn't on the Government's agenda, but they'll keep an eye on what happens.
National Party leader Judith Collins told The Weekend Collective any sensible person would have ruled it out straight away.
"The fact is he doesn't understand what happens when he causes such immense uncertainty for people who are property investors or who have bought one or two houses than they rent out."
On her own turf, Collins is unfazed by speculation that Christopher Luxon could take up the leadership one day. 
The former Air New Zealand boss-turned Botany MP gave his maiden speech to Parliament this week, where he discussed his faith.
Collins says it was really good.
"I don't worry about anyone coming through. I think it's really important that I encourage people so we always have some people we can look at and say 'who else could take over if I got run over by a bus'?"."
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Pressure from Australia is likely to be behind the move from our Government to make a move on the trans-Tasman bubble. 
Anticipation is building ahead of Cabinet's discussion around a two-way trans-Tasman travel bubble with Australia.
Ministers are expected to meet tomorrow to talk about a potential start date, and it is understood it could be put in place between mid to late April.
Public pressure over the last week has been seen by some as being a factor in pushing the Government towards this move. 
Former Minister and United Future leader Peter Dunne agrees that will be a factor, but he told The Weekend Collective that Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's comments criticising the Government's slowness, and reports about the country looking for a Singapore bubble instead, will have a bigger factor. 
"I think Australia to some extent has forced New Zealand to come to the party sooner than we might have expected."
He says Australia has very effective Covid-19 controls, and given there is "clear air" there is no reason why we shouldn't go ahead. 
Dunne expects families will benefit from the bubble at first - but the idea of travelling internationally might draw people overseas instead of going around New Zealand. 
"That might be something our industry will find a little hard to take."
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U.S. relations with its two biggest geo-political rivals are facing severe tests as President Joe Biden tries to assert America's place in the world and distinguish himself from his predecessor.
Airing myriad complaints, the Biden administration took an extraordinarily tough line with China and Russia this past week. Public spats between the countries erupted as  Biden characterized Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "killer" and his top national security aides excoriated China for a litany of issues.
Moscow and Beijing both fired back, setting the stage for months, if not more, of escalating tensions that are unlikely to be resolved without intense discussions at the leadership level and major concessions from all sides.
Biden himself kicked off the latest round of recrimination in a television interview in which he sought to draw clear differences between his Russia policies and those of former President Donald Trump. who was accused of being soft on Putin. Just 24 hours later, Biden's top diplomat and national security adviser blasted Chinese officials in face-to-face talks.
Although Biden's strong comments about Putin reflected a shift from Trump's often conciliatory approach to the Kremlin, the harsh criticism directed at China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan in many ways mirrored the previous administration's hard line toward Beijing.
The contrasting styles suggested that Biden is intent on reversing years of perceived U.S. weakness toward Russia while rejecting Trump's 2020 campaign allegations that he's not tough enough on China.
In taking a strong line on Russia, Biden has said the days of the U.S. "rolling over" to Putin are done. And, in the interview with ABC broadcast on Wednesday, Biden replied "I do" when asked if he thought Putin was a "killer." Russia responded by recalling its ambassador in Washington for consultations.
Putin then shot back by pointing to the U.S. history of slavery, the slaughter of Native Americans and the atomic bombing of Japan in World War II in an "it-takes-one-to-know-one" response.
As that was unfolding, on Thursday in Alaska, China's top two diplomats reacted in similar fashion to criticism from Blinken and Sullivan about Beijing's human rights record in the western Xinjiang region and Tibet and its aggressive actions in Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea.
Communist Party foreign policy chief Yang Jiechi and Foreign Minister Wang Yi accused the U.S. of hypocrisy for condemning China while at the same time grappling with its own internal issues, including violence against Asian Americans and other people of color and political unrest following the 2020 presidential election.
Blinken and Sullivan took umbrage at those comments and replied that the U.S. was not perfect but sought to openly and honestly address such matters. Sullivan said Americans' willingness to confront their shortcomings was the "secret sauce" of U.S. success.
And, they sought to reframe U.S.-China relations in the context of the Biden administration's resolve to correct those issues, strengthen the U.S. economy and improve ties with democratic allies in Asia such as Australia, Japan and South Korea.
Blinken, having just finished a trip to Japan and South Korea with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, made clear to the Chinese that the U.S. is aligned with its allies.
"I have to tell you, what I'm hearing is very different from what you described," he told Wang and Yang. "I'm hearing deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we're re-engaged with our allies and partners. I'm also hearing deep concern about some of the actions your government has taken."
Blinken appears to have impressed his boss. "I'm very proud of the secretary of state," Biden said after the testy talks in Anchorage.
A similar effort with allies is underway in Europe with respect to Russia.
Blinken...

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An intelligence expert has questioned if police are doing enough to screen right-wing extremists on social media.
The police promised they would keep an eye out for extremist activity on known websites after the Christchurch mosque attacks two years ago.
Expert Paul Buchanan told The Weekend Collective a specialist unit was set up, yet it took a public tip for them to find a man who made threats to the mosques 10 days ago.
"I mean, it wasn't like he was being secretive and encrypted, he was on these public bulletin boards.
"One has to wonder if Police are taking the issue of white supremacy as seriously they should be."
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Queenstown's Mayor is struggling with the injustice of tourist operators being denied a bailout.
Jim Boult says dairy farmers would've had Government assistance a long time ago, but tourist businesses are treated differently.
He told The Weekend Collective they've asked the Government for a trans-Tasman bubble after no luck seeking an assistance package.
"If this was the dairy industry and we couldn't export milk powder for two years, I don't think they'd kill off the herd and start a new one when we're able to start exporting again, and effectively that's sort of what's happening in the tourism industry."
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The Emergency Management Minister says there are clearly things to sort out, following Friday's earthquakes and tsunami alerts.
Major quakes off the East Cape and Kermadec Islands forced mass evacuations in parts of the east and west coasts of the North Island.
Minister Kiri Allan says most people heeded the warnings and did the right thing.
But she told the Weekend Collective there are some things she'll be talking through with officials first thing tomorrow morning.
"They'll be obviously some robust discussion. Officials have been meeting with groups over the weekend. 
"I've got questions, I'm sure they do too, and we will be working through those questions."
Those questions include if the signals were received at the right time and if they reached the right people. 
Allan says that there have been no reports of significant damage caused by the initial earthquake.
More than 100 aftershocks of magnitude 4 or higher have been recorded in the Kermadec Islands and East Cape since Friday morning.
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A vaccine expert says most New Zealanders will accept a Covid-19 vaccine when they have the information they need.
The Government has revealed it's actively involved in international discussions about vaccine passports -- and expects the passports to be in place by this time next year.
But it's still unclear how many people will take up Covid vaccines, when it become available to the New Zealand public later this year.
Auckland University vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris told The Weekend Collective most people will get the jabs, if they're given the right information.
"There's a lot of people who just like to wait and see how it goes.
"The people who really don't want to get it and are never going to get it are quite a small group."
The vaccination roll-out took another step forward this week, with Bay of Plenty essential workers getting their first jabs.
The Government also this week confirmed that healthcare workers will be the next group to get vaccinated, after the families of border workers. 
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ACT Party leader David Seymour has attacked the government's Covid-19 response.
Auckland moved to Alert Level Three this morning, while the rest of the country moved to Level Two. 
It comes after a new case - a 21-year-old man in South Auckland - was announced last night. He was meant to be self-isolation but had gone to tertiary and the gym while infectious. 
Seymour says the government has been too easy on people who flout rules around self isolation.
He told The Weekend Collective that we need to get tougher with people who break the rules.
"Someone who deliberately breaks the rules should have tougher penalties.
"I think repeat offenders should face jail time."
Seymour adds that people who flout the rules in Taiwan are fined. 
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern last night told media this was "frustrating" and the person was not following the rules.
But she warned against a pile on, as that might deter others from getting a Covid-19 test.
She did, however, call on New Zealanders to follow the rules "on behalf of everyone".
Seymour agrees, saying that people "getting out the pitchforks" would put people off getting tested. 
He says that what's "truly unforgivable" here is that the country's defences against Covid-19 have not changed since the August lockdown. 
"The Government is being paid quite a lot by taxpayers right now to have a sophisticated defence against this thing." 
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It's essential for the whole of Auckland to go to alert level 3 according to one epidemiologist.
Auckland went to level 3 this morning, while the rest of the country went to level 2.
Otago University epidemiologist Micheal Baker told The Weekend Collective it's important to prevent the spread of the virus no matter where in the country you are.
He says that while it wasn't impossible to have small scale borders within Auckland, it wasn't safe enough.
"The trouble is we know that the people move a huge amount across Auckland. There will be people who live in the northern half of the city who cross the Harbour Bridge every day and work in South Auckland, and vice-versa."
The lockdown was also deemed necessary as the case announced last night - Case M - was a 21-year-old man who had not been self-isolating, including going to a gym after getting his Covid test. 
However, Baker says that punishment is not the best way to go about making people follow rules.
"I think the law is very strong if it's needed, but the hope always is to promote voluntary behaviour."
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A law expert has condemned Australia's revoking of the passport of a woman accused of being a terrorist.
Suhayra Aden was born in New Zealand and moved to Australia when she was six.
She was arrested at the Turkish border alongside her two children and was accused of being affiliated with Islamic State.
International Law expert Al Gillespie told The Weekend Collective that Australia revoking her passport is not on.
"The difficulty you've got here is where you've got negotiations going on between two countries over how to deal with it, and then one country does the dirty on the other, that's always bad faith." 
He says Morrison is playing to his base with these types of actions, and is doing this for political reasons. 
"The one thing the Australians are very good at, and Scott Morrison in particular, is reading into polls, and there's strong support for this kind of action in Australia.
"And it's not with regards to this one person. You can also see it with the deportation of hundreds of other Kiwis who have served time over in Australia."
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