6.30 NEWS & TOP HALF. 19/04/1985

News, current affairs, sport and weather.

Main stories:
Revelations that award wage rates for tradespeople are less than the dole. Interviews: Minister of Labour, Jim Knox (FOL President).
Independent examiner appointed to inquire into alleged sex ring involving Dunedin police.
University Entrance (UE) exam to be abolished in 1986. Interview: Russell Marshall (Education Minister).
General Secretary of Chinese Communist Party [Hu Yao Bang], in Wellington on a formal visit, announces cut in China’s armed forces.
Health repercussions for Royal Navy officers exposed to 1950s British nuclear tests in the south Pacific under scrutiny, as officer’s widow sues the British government for her husband’s premature death.
Catholic bishops say they cannot take a firm stand either for or against the Homosexual Law Reform bill. Interview: Cardinal Tom Williams (Archibishop of Wellington).

Top Half:
Selwyn College coaches scrap rugby for the season in protest at NZRFU decision to tour South Africa. Interviews: Neil Corstar, Murray Ashcroft.
Stu Wilson expresses concern at safety of All Blacks on tour. Interview.
Upcoming church forum on the Homosexual Law Reform bill institutes ticket only entry in order to screen out supporters of the bill. Interviews: Peter Wall (Gay Task Force spokesman), Fran Wilde (MP).