Concerns over Auckland’s outbreak of Covid-19 have shifted to yet another mini-cluster linked to “bereavement activities” in the city.
Six new cases of the virus were confirmed in the community yesterday, all originating from the Mt Roskill Evangelical Fellowship church, a group Health Minister Chris Hipkins says has been “challenging” to deal with at times.
All members of the church are being urged to get retested following the new infections, with the police being called in to help with contact tracing for the sub-cluster.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it’s “frustrating” that some people haven’t been fully open with contact tracing teams as these new cases emerge outside of isolation.
The new cases this week include a St Dominic’s Catholic College student, a West Auckland public health service worker and a bus driver . Details of the routes he drove on can be found here , however passengers are not considered close contacts due to social distancing measures on public transport.
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Govt relaxes border rules
Strict border rules are being eased to allow more people to enter the country, including migrant workers and the partners of New Zealand citizens and residents.
The new rules apply to people who have lived in the country for more than a year and cover partners in Australia and 61 other countries.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi says many of these visa holders have lived in New Zealand for years.
"It is only fair to let these visa holders return given their long-standing and ongoing connections to this country,” he says.
Both the EMA and DairyNZ have welcomed the move, with many industries crying out for skilled migrant workers.
Many families, meanwhile, are looking forward to being reunited with loved ones they haven’t seen since New Zealand’s borders closed back in March.
Labour proposes new tax rate
Labour’s plans to introduce a new top tax rate of 39 per cent was the big talking point of yesterday’s election campaigning.
The new rate applies to people earning over $180,000 a year. Labour says this will affect two per cent of New Zealanders and is estimated to generate $550 million annually.
Tax rates for everyone else remain unchanged. Labour’s finance spokesperson Grant Robertson also promised to keep the company tax rate the same, with no further increases to fuel tax either.
The new tax rate proposal was met with criticism from multiple parties, including Labour’s allies .
Green Party co-leader James Shaw says the tax proposal is long overdue, “but it is tinkering that won’t address the long-term challenges facing Aotearoa”.
Meanwhile, National’s finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith says, “no country in the world has ever taxed itself out of recession”. National also claimed Labour would “come after middle-income earners” next, a statement Labour’s Jacinda Ardern dismissed as “misinformation”.
ACT's David Seymour says the proposal is "divisive populism and it will raise little revenue".
Experts say many top earners will likely be able to get around the proposed new tax rate.
Meanwhile, the Māori Party released its income policy yesterday.
The party is pledging to double baseline benefit levels and immediately increase the minimum wage to $25 an hour.
Co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer says the policy will address Aotearoa's low-wage economy.
Support for free lunches
More than half of all New Zealanders think the government should provide free lunches for students in state schools.
According to exclusive numbers from TVNZ’s Vote Compass tool , 51% of the population are in favour of the free lunch move, while 31% are against the idea.
Senior Research Fellow at AUT Dr Lisa Chant says there’s particularly strong agreement among younger people.
It comes as a group of child welfare organisations launch a campaign calling for the needs of children living in poverty to be a top priority for parties at the election.
‘Five to Thrive’ identifies five issues where they say urgent change is needed when it comes to the welfare of Aotearoa’s tamariki.
These include investing in children’s early years, affordable and healthy homes for every child and lifting children and their families out of poverty.
Nats outline infrastructure plan
National is pledging to build a large National Infrastructure Bank if it wins the election.
The organisation would provide finance and advice to central and local government infrastructure projects.
It would see the merging of Crown Infrastructure Partners, NZ Green Investment Finance, residual holdings at Crown Irrigation Investments Limited and loans made by the Provincial Growth Fund.
National leader Judith Collins says the proposal would "deliver world-class infrastructure that grows our economy and gets Kiwis back to work".
Search for ship called off
The Japanese coast guard has suspended its full-time search for the 40 missing people, including two Kiwis, who were on board a livestock ship that capsized off the country's coast.
Authorities made the decision overnight and will now only look for survivors from Gulf Livestock 1 as part of their regular patrols in the area. No survivors from the ship have been found since late last week.
That decision comes as new footage emerged from on board the ill-fated ship the day before it disappeared.
The video taken by one of the Australian crew members shows water filling the decks of the ship.
"Really safe," he can be heard saying sarcastically.
Other news of note this morning:
- Weta Digital staff are disputing claims the company has cracked down on misconduct.
- Auckland’s Watercare has been granted consent to take an extra 100 million litres of water a day from the Waikato River.
- Winston Peters says the Government should buy back full ownership of Air New Zealand if it means the regions will be serviced better.
- Construction sites around New Zealand are flying flags to mark World Suicide Prevention Day.
- The coroner says the road knowledge questionnaire tourists have to answer before hiring a car is "wholly inadequate" .
- A traditional Māori weapon could be returned to New Zealand after being on display at a US home for 20 years.
- And the case of a stolen historic cannonball has been solved three years after it disappeared from a Porirua museum.
And finally...
A few months ago, Seven Sharp ran a story about a volunteer firefighter by the name of Matt Owens.
He shot to fame after nursing two injured magpies back to full health – and if the new arrivals at his house are anything to go by, word has obviously got around the local birds about the modern-day Dr Dolittle in their neighbourhood...
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