Checkpoint for 11 July 2000
HEADLINES & NEWS
SPEIGHT COULD BE IN NEW FIJI CABINET
The armed hostage-takers at Fiji's parliament say they're supremely confident their leader George Speight will be part of the new government to be named by the Great Council of Chiefs on Thursday. The rebels who stormed parliament on May 19 taking Prime Minister Mahrenda Chaudry and his MPs hostage, now look set to become the country's new rulers. The Council is due to appoint a new interim government after the military caved in to another of Speight's demands and dissolved the government it had set up. Speight's spokesman Joe Nata says a dispute over where Thursday's meeting will be held is not expected to delay the appointments - I asked him if he can guarantee the hostages will be released [illegible] day as promised. PREREC
Foreign Affairs Minister Phil Goff joins us now.
TAINUI EXECUTIVE MUST MAKE DECISION
The deadline has just passed for Tainui leader Sir Robert Mahuta to resign from the directorships he holds on key tribal companies, or be sacked. The ultimatum follows a ten-week power struggle between Sir Robert and the tribe's new executive, over management of its finances. Waikato-Tainui announced a radical debt recovery programme in February after failing investments saw the tribe run into cash flow problems. This included a 40-million dollar write down of the tribal estate and selling off land and corporate investments to pay back the bank 15-million dollars. Jeff Green was once seen as Sir Robert Mahuta's heir apparent but was unceremoniously dumped at the beginning of the year and blamed for the tribes financial problems. He joins me now. LIVE
Our Māori Issues Correspondent Chris Wikaira joins me now LIVE
BUSINESS NEWS with GILES BECKFORD
NURSING SHORTAGE
Health Minister Annette King asks for an urgent report on whether the national nursing shortage is putting patients at risk (Blair McLaren).
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES and sport with Chris Reid
MINISTRY OF HEALTH GETS SLAMMED FOR DELAYING VITAL INFORMATION
The Ministry of Health has been taken to task by the Chair of the cervical cancer inquiry in Gisborne over difficulties and delays in obtaining important information. Ailsa Duffy QC expressed her frustration at the problems, saying the constant delays are making it difficult for the inquiry to meet its terms of reference. Our reporter Heugh Chappell is at the inquiry and joins me now. LIVE
FEARS FOR PEACE PROCESS GROW - SOLOMON ISLANDS
In Solomon Islands the peace process appears threatened by the execution of two rebel fighters in their hospital beds yesterday. The shooting was witnessed by a nurse, who says three hooded men entered the hospital on Monday afternoon shooting the two members of the Isatambu Freedom Movement (IFM) militiamen in their beds. The government has said it's paying the two militias a multi-million dollar compensation package for lost land and damaged property in the hope of negotiating a peace deal. But the hospital slaying has raised fears that negotiating a peace deal is now futile. Joining us now from Honiara is New Zealand High Commissioner Nick Hurley. LIVE
OLYMPIC WINDFALL FOR NORTHLAND
Growing numbers of New Zealanders working in the food industry are heading for Sydney - and the boom generated by the Olympic Games.
Although the Games don't start till September, new cafes and restaurants are opening daily, and employers have been head-hunting skilled staff for weeks. Lois Williams reports: PKG
AIDS CONFERENCE WANTS CHEAPER DRUGS
At the international AIDS conference in South Africa, there have been renewed calls for drastic reduction in the cost of anti-AIDS drugs in developing countries. In most developing countries the price of the medicine - known as anti retro viral drugs - is so high that they can't be provided within the national health budgets. From Durban, the BBC's Greg Barrow reports. PKG
LIFE JACKETS WON'T BE MADE COMPULSORY
The Water Safety Council says it's not going to push for boaties to be made to wear life jackets despite a big increase in the number of boatie drownings this year. Latest figures show the overall number of drownings at 80 for the first six months of this year, up 21 for the same period last year. Water Safety New Zealand says one of the biggest concerns is the number of fatalities in boating accidents, 17 so far this year compared to 12 for the whole of 1999. But executive director Alan Muir says making it mandatory to wear life jackets on boats would be impossible to police and some countries are now reviewing such rules because of that difficulty. He says a rule for children has been looked at. PREREC
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