Checkpoint FOR WEDNESDAY 29 FEBRUARY 2012
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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A Turangi teenager is tonight beginning a 10 year long jail term for raping a five year old girl while he was high on drugs and alcohol.
Raurangi Mark Marino, (MAH-ree- noh) who is 16, attacked the girl inside the family's caravan with her parents just metres away, at a holiday park in Turangi close to Christmas. He was sentenced in the Rotorua District court today by Judge Phillip Cooper, who said a letter written by Marino's mother detailed how he was exposed to drugs, violence and gang culture from an early age. CUT Marino pleaded guilty to sexual violation, sexual violation causing grievous bodily harm and burglary. He'd been at a party close to the holiday park, and went back to the party after the rape. The police say they're pleased the girl's family, who'd been touring the country, will be spared a trial. Marino's lawyer Katherine Ewen joins us now.
LIVE
The captain of cargo ship Rena that struck Astrolabe reef off the Bay of Plenty last October has admitted falsifying the ship's documents. The ship hit a reef off the coast of Mt Maunganui last October, spilling hundreds of tonnes of oil and many containers into the sea. Both the captain who has name suppression and the ship's navigational officer admitted altering the ship's original passage plan, the GPS log book and other documents when they appeared in Tauranga District Court today. Eric Frykberg reports.
PKG
Parents at a primary school where a convicted sex offender worked undetected for two years are shocked and angry at the Government. The 41 year old Auckland man was arrested last week, but parents were told on Monday, and got their first advice on what to tell their children only this morning. A Ministerial Inquiry is looking into how the man got to work in several different schools since serving prison time for sexual offences against a minor in 2004. Bridget Mills reports PKG
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Jonathan Mitchell
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Sixteen hot air balloons have been grounded, as the Civil Aviation Authority zeroes in on an inspector in the wake of last month's fatal balloon crash. 11 people died near Carterton when their hot air balloon hit power lines and caught fire before plummeting to the ground. Urgent inspections were launched last week to check on the state of the country's 74 hot air balloons. Also last week Hawke's Bay Aviation confirmed it's the company that maintained the doomed balloon. Now the CAA's director, Steve Douglas, says the same company is also responsible for having checked the 16 newly-grounded balloons. PREREC
To the US now, where the Republican race for two key primaries has just finished. Michigan and Arizona were the main battle grounds and Mitt Romney has beaten Rick Santorum in both states. The stakes were high for Mr Romney in Michigan - it's his home state, his father used to be governor. Keeping a close eye on results is our correspondent in the US Simon Marks. LIVE
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The High court has turned down the U.S. Government's bid to have the New Zealand based businessman accused of global internet piracy, returned to jail. Kim Dotcom and three other men are on bail while the U.S. Government seeks to extradite them to face charges related to their website, Megaupload. Our reporter Georgina ball has been at court .......LIVE
The Labour Party today attacked proposals for millions-of-dollars worth of upgrades for the High Commissions in London and Niue, as well as 900-thousand dollars on a pool at the Tokyo Embassy.
But the Government's rejecting the claims that it's spending heftily while at the same time slashing the number of diplomats. Here's our political reporter, Julian Robins. PKG
A British photographer injured during the relentless bombardment in Syria has been smuggled into Lebanon, but there's still confusion over the whereabouts of another journalist, Edith Bouvier, who was also wounded. Meanwhile, the bodies of a Sunday Times reporter and a French photo journalist Rehmi osh-lik Ochlik still haven't been returned. The BBC's Paul Wood, has the details: PKG
Police are considering charging a couple whose five children were found locked inside a vehicle in the carpark of Auckland's Sky city casino. They say the children, ranging in age from five months to eight years, were spotted in distress on Sunday morning after having been left unattended for nearly an hour. Skycity says the parents were found on its premises playing the pokie machines.
Child Youth and Family says the family was previously known to the agency, and the five children are now living with CYF caregivers.
Detective Sergeant Iain Chapman joins us now. LIVE
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17.45 MANU KORIHI
Kia ora Susie, e te marea tēnā koutou katoa,
An organisation representing many total immersion schools is making checks to ensure a convicted sex offender hasn't worked in its kura.
A Ministerial Inquiry is underway after it was revealed a 41-year-old man had worked in a number of schools since his conviction in 2004 for sexual offences against a minor.
The chairperson of Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa, Rāwiri Wright, says it's concerned the teacher went undetected for so long.
Mr Wright says its focus now is to check if this man was employed by its schools.
SCHOOL-RAWIRI-TP
IN:........IF ANYONE IS ABLE...
OUT:....TAMARIKI MOKOPUNA.
DUR:...18"
Rāwiri Wright of Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori o Aotearoa.
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Results of the 2011 referendum on the future voting system for Members of Parliament, show a much higher percentage of Māori want to keep MMP, compared with the rest of voters.
57 per cent of those on the General Roll opted for MMP as their preference, but in Māori electorates more than 80 per cent support MMP.
The referendum was run in conjunction with last November's General Election, to gauge whether voters wish to retain mixed member proportional voting, go back to first past the post, or look at other voting systems.
The Electoral Commission says the results have triggered an independent review of MMP, in which voters can make submissions on any changes they would like to see made to the way MMP works.
Public submissions close at the end of May, with a final report presented to the Minister of Justice on October the 31st.
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The biggest Māori business network says a proposed new law to boost environmental controls over oil and gas exploration companies at sea must ensure Māori are explicitly recognised as a Treaty partner - and not just an affected party.
The Federation of Maori Authorities, or FOMA, makes the point in its submission on the Exclusive Economic Zone and Continental Shelf Environmental Effects Bill.
FOMA represents about 150 Maori authorities or entities.
Its Chair, Traci Houpapa, says consultation with Māori is a must - not a may.
She says its important FOMA's views and input into the drawing up of new legislation is considered and recognised as part of the development of marine protection policies.
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The manager of a Marlborough marae says the Minister of Māori Affairs did a good job in pushing to have a Māori face at the Rugby World Cup.
Dr Pita Sharples says he was determined to include Māori culture at last year's international tournament, because tāngata whenua didn't even get a look in during the America's Cup when it came to New Zealand in 2000.
He says Waka Māori for example pumped 9-million dollars into the Auckland economy - drawing more than 180-thousand people to the attraction.
Ōmaka Marae manager, Kiley Nepia, says everyone watching was exposed to different aspects of Māori culture and the benefits are obvious.
RWC-NEPIA-TP
IN:........THE FACT THAT...
OUT:....WINNER ON THE DAY.
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Kiley Nepia of Ōmaka Marae.
That's Te Manu Korihi news I'll have a further bulletin in an hour.
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The Government is playing down suggestions it might not be able to stop power plants from being sold by energy companies despite it holding on to a majority 51 per cent shareholding. The head of the Treasury has left open the possibility after being quizzed at a select committee today about the Government's responsibilities to minority shareholders in the power companies. Our economics correspondent, Nigel Stirling, reports. PKG
Officials in Washington have admitted the partial remains of some of those who died on September the 11th 2001 have ended up in a landfill site. The revelations were made in a review of operations at the mortuary at the Dover Air Force base, where the bodies of dead soldiers were mishandled. This latest revelation is prompting more anger, as the ABC's Ashleigh Hall, reports : PKG
The French president, Nicolas nik-uh-la Sarkozy, has ordered his government to prepare a new bill making it a crime to deny that Ottoman Turks committed genocide against Armenians during the First World War. It comes after a court ruled that an earlier law on genocide denial was unconstitutional because it infringed on freedom of speech. The BBC's correspondent in Paris is Christian Fraser. PKG