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Checkpoint is a drive-time news and current affairs programme on Radio New Zealand National. It broadcasts nationwide every weekday evening for two hours and covers the day’s major national and international stories, as well as business, sport and Māori news. This recording covers the first hour. The following rundown is supplied from the broadcaster’s news system:
Checkpoint FOR THURSDAY 22 AUGUST 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The Labour leader David Shearer is calling it quits - and it could be weeks before a new leader is announced. At 1:30 this afternoon he made this statement to reporters following an emergency caucus meeting.
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David Shearer wouldn't take any questions after that statement. The party whip, Chris Hipkins, then stepped forward to outline how the new leader will be elected. Nominations will open in 48 hours and it'll be three or four weeks before the new leader is chosen. But reporters wanted to know more about why David Shearer had resigned.
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Checkpoint has contacted numerous Labour MPs - including Shane Jones, Annette King and Jacinda Ardern. None of them would speak about the leadership. Andrew Little isn't ruling out a tilt at the top job, and neither is the current deputy leader, Grant Robertson - he spoke to reporters at parliament and was asked if he was going to run.
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David Cunliffe is also considering his position.
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And we'll be speaking with the previous Leader of the Opposition, Phil Goff, after 6 here on Checkpoint.
The Labour Party President Moira Coatsworth says David Shearer told her today that he was resigning as leader.
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People living in David Shearer's Mt Albert electorate are stunned to learn of his resignation. Radio New Zealand spoke to voters walking past his electorate office this afternoon, including this man who says Mr Shearer just wasn't right for the job.
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This voter said she preferred previous Labour leaders.
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Shelby Bannister and Campbell Stewart weren't fans of Mr Shearer at all.
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This man believes trouble had been brewing for some time.
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With us now our political editor Brent Edwards.
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Did he jump or was he pushed? The former head of Parliamentary Service, Geoff Thorn, refused to answer questions about that today when he appeared before Parliament's Privileges Committee. The Committee is looking into the unauthorised release of Andrea Vance's email and phone records to an inquiry to find who leaked her a report on the Government's spy agency. Our political reporter, Liz Banas was there.
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS
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UN Security Council members have emerged from an emergency meeting in New York to say they are seeking clarity on claims that Syrian troops have used chemical weapons in an attack near Damascus. The main opposition group in Syria says as many as 13-hundred people were killed when government forces fired rockets that released deadly fumes. UN members made only a brief statement to reporters after the session saying the claims need to be investigated and they hope their inspectors in Syria will be given access to the site. Our reporter in New York is Nick Harper.
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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The Labour leader David Shearer is calling it quits, though who'll take over may not be known for weeks. His announcement this afternoon changes the equation too for Labour's likely coalition partner after the next election, the Greens. National has argued that Labour and the Greens are hell-bent on taking New Zealand to the far-left, and cited their joint policy to set up a state-owned company to buy electricity. The co-leader of the Greens Metiria Turei is with us now.
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Fonterra has announced yet another contamination scare - three months after it happened. Chinese officials detected excessive levels of nitrate in forty-two tonnes of milk powder in May, after it was given the all clear by testing in New Zealand. This follows on from the botulism scare earlier this month and the DCD one in January. Earlier this week Westland Milk products changed its testing after Chinese tests picked up high nitrate levels in lactoferrin powder that had passed muster in New Zealand. Fonterra's group director, Food Safety and Quality, is Ian Palliser.
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The Ministry for Primary Industries refused to make anyone available to interview.
Beggars will have to be bashful in Auckland, or risk being banished from the city streets. The council today voted to ban beggars who intimidate or cause nuisance to the public. Olivia Wix was at the council meeting.
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI
Kia ora mai,
The Māori Party co-leader, Te Ururoa Flavell, says he feels sympathy for David Shearer - after the Labour leader's resignation this afternoon.
Mr Flavell became the co-leader of the Māori Party after challenging former leader, Pita Sharples, who stood down in July.
He says it's unfortunate that David Shearer's chosen a different path - but politics is a tough game.
LABOUR-URUROA-TP
IN I FEEL SORRY FOR HIM
OUT TO GO ANOTHER PATH
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Te Ururoa Flavell says he's surprised by how quickly Mr Shearer's resignation happened but he says it wasn't unexpected.
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A Ngāi Tūhoe leader is looking into other ways his people might communicate with one other - as a result of new spying laws. .
The Government Communications Security Bureau bill passed its third and final reading last night, giving the bureau the power to carry out surveillance on New Zealand citizens.
The Ngāi Tūhoe leader, Tamati Kruger, says tribal members will have to be more vigilant in the way they interact.
GCSB-TALK-TP
IN for Tūhoe we
OUT so good light
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Tamati Kruger says his people will also need to make sure that what they say isn't misinterpreted.
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A major Māori health provider in Whanganui says shifting all its services onto one site will make it more efficient, and show its kotahitanga, or unity.
Te Oranganui Iwi Health Authority was established 20 years ago as a GP service, and it's grown over that time into different services in five locations.
It's now moving them all to the Tupoho Community Complex - the old Whanganui Polytech site.
Te Oranganui Chief Executive, Nancy Tuaine, says that'll let the services connect more easily, and it will be more convenient for clients.
The last of the five services to be relocated - Te Waipuna Medical Centre - moves to the Tupoho Campus next month.
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A Countdown store manager is praising his company for exposing more shoppers to the Māori language.
Countdown's installed bilingual signage in 31 new and refurbished supermarkets around the country, to show its commitment to Te Reo .
The initiative began at the Tokoroa store in 2011 after requests from its staff - and with help from the Raukawa Trust.
The former Tokoroa store manager, Mike Olsen, says after mainly positive feedback the Countdown's decided to introduce the Māori-English signs permanently in all its new stores.
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IN: THE INSPIRATION COME. . .
OUT: . . . THAT PART OF THINGS.
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Matamata Countdown store manager, Mike Olsen.
and that's te manu korihi news
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A crown prosecutor has described a convoluted pattern of deceit at a failed finance company including illegally hiding from investors the founder's history of bankruptcy and fraud. Neil Williams is already serving more than three years in prison for misleading investors through the company's prospectus. Now the founder of Five Star Finance has been sentenced to five years in jail on fraud charges over lending millions to businesses or people associated with him or his directors. Crown prosecutor Brian Dickie says the lending was disguised through William's wife's shareholding - the money was lost or used elsewhere and then there was more lending to cover that up. Mr Dickie says the money was channelled through a number of entities controlled by Williams or his directors.
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China's biggest political trial in decades has started. The disgraced former senior Communist Party leader Bo Xilai is charged with bribery, corruption and abuse of power. The BBC's John Sudworth is outside the courthouse:
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Presenter: Mary Wilson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Susie Ferguson, Rachel Askew