Checkpoint FOR FRIDAY 9 MARCH 2012
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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There have been tears of relief on the West Coast today at the news the Pike River coal mine is being sold to the state-owned company, Solid Energy. A spokesperson for the families of the twenty nine men who were killed in the mine says for some, it's the best news they've had since the explosions. Bernie Monk says it gives much more certainty the bodies will be brought out.
More from him shortly. At this stage the agreement is still conditional on due diligence, but should be settled in May. Solid Energy wouldn't talk to Checkpoint and instead referred us to the receiver John Fisk. He won't talk about the price and says there are still discussions going on with the Crown about the recovery of the bodies. PREREC
Bernie Monk is the spokesperson for some of the families of those killed in the explosion - he's relieved about today's news. PREREC
Less than a month before the Rena ran aground on Astrolabe reef off Tauranga, a similar sized container ship passed just one and a half nautical miles from the reef. And newly released tracking data also shows 70 percent of commercial ships passing the Astrolabe inside the three nautical mile zone that it's recommended tankers keep out of to lessen the risks of an oil spill.
No rules are being broken by the ships, but critics say it's the very lack of rules and laws that the Government needs to fix urgently. Our Bay of Plenty reporter, Lorna Perry, has the story. PKG
The Foreign Minister Murray McCully has indicated a possible softening towards Fiji's military regime. Fiji has just outlined a 12 month public consultation process for drawing up new constitution which will pave the way for the long awaited elections in 2014. Mr McCully is meeting with his new Australian counterpart Bob Carr about now. Media across the Tasman are reporting that Mr Carr will start reversing Labour's hard line policy against the dictator Frank Bainimarama and will talk about this with Mr McCully today. New Zealand's sanctions against Fiji include banning members of the regime and their families from coming here and a ban on seasonal workers.
I asked Mr McCully if he could confirm Australia's new position. PREREC
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Jonathan Mitchell
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A hundred beneficiaries in Canterbury are to be taken off the dole, and employed to help patrol the streets in a bid to reassure people living in red zoned suburbs that are all but deserted. The work scheme will target those under the age of 25, and who've been on the benefit for longer than six months. The participants, who'll be on the minimum wage, will also help to tidy and maintain the red zone houses which the government now owns. Here's our parliamentary chief reporter, Jane Patterson. PKG
A dying Central Otago man who murdered his estranged wife has been sentenced to life imprisonment. Sixty-seven-year old Warren Johnston from Roxburgh, shot Lesley Johnston almost a year ago (11 mar 2011) before turning the gun on himself, though he later recovered in hospital. The judge described the case as a tragedy, but still imposed life because there was too much premeditation. Ian Telfer reports from the High Court at Dunedin. PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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New Zealand health authorities are dealing with a contaminated blood scare after Australia quarantined the blood additive albumin. (al-BUE-min) The company that supplies all the albumin to New Zealand hospitals, Melbourne-based CSL, has found tiny traces of antifreeze in batches of it. Albumin is used in intensive care and surgery. The Chief Medical Officer, Don Mackie is with us now. LIVE
The former American marine who killed New Zealand-born nurse Michelle Beets will spend the rest of his life behind bars in New South Wales. Ms Beets, who was a nurse manager at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital, was found dead on the veranda of her home in April 2010. She had her throat cut and was stabbed eight times by Walter Marsh in retaliation for not renewing his nursing contract - today he received a life sentence for the murder. Michelle Beets's brother Marty was in the packed courtroom which erupted with cheers when the verdict was read.
He says it's hard to believe it's over. CUT Paul Bibby from the Sydney Morning Herald has been covering the story - he says Marsh didn't look well today. PREREC
A year on from the earthquake and tsunami in Japan which claimed 16-thousand lives, progress in one of the worst-hit towns has been slow - as Roland Buerk reports. PKG
The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says new details on how the accused internet pirate Kim Dotcom was let into the country show how dysfunctional the Immigration Department is. Papers released under the Official Information Act show the department cleared itself of any wrongdoing in letting the Megaupload founder settle here despite his previous criminal convictions. Immigration was aware Kim Dotcom had been fined 8-thousand dollars after being convicted of share trading offences in Hong Kong, and that he also had convictions in his native Germany. Sam Morrah reports. PKG
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17.45 MANU KORIHI
Tēnā koutou katoa, good evening,
The Green Party Co-leader has accused the Crown and its representatives of breaching the Treaty of Waitangi, during the settling of grievances by Māori.
Metiria Tūrei told Parliament last night the settlement process wasn't designed by Māori or for Māori, but according to the needs of the Crown.
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Metiria Tūrei told Parliament because the Green party doesn't believe the settlement process is just for Māori, it would abstain on the first reading of the Ngāti Manuhiri Claims Settlement Bill.
She says it's a big step for the party, but the Bill isn't a satisfactory outcome for the hapū and iwi concerned.
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follows:
Meanwhile, New Zealand First's Māori Affairs spokesperson, Brendan Horan told Parliament he's concerned at the haste by the Crown in pushing Treaty settlement claim bills through Parliament.
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Brendan Horan says recent history has shown that when the Government rushes through bills, there is usually a harmful side effect.
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Members of Te Rārawa iwi in the Far North have voted to ratify a treaty settlement - with just under 85 per cent accepting the deal on offer from the Crown.
But only about a quarter of all tribal members took part in the ballot.
Voters are overwhelmingly behind the Rūnanga becoming the recipient of the package, which includes almost 34-million dollars and six schools.
The Chair of Te Rārawa, Haami Piripi, says the process has taken 10 years to complete - largely because iwi negotiators wouldn't accept earlier offers or proposals made by the Crown.
He says the Rūnanga will decide on its next move over the coming weeks.
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A Bay of Plenty Incorporation is officially opening 10 new homes tomorrow - built for Māori on Māori land.
The batch of cedar-clad houses has been constructed for kaumātua or elders in Tauranga.
Local rangatahi doing carpentry apprenticeships did some work on the project.
A trustee of Mangatawa Papamoa Blocks Incorporated, Victoria Kingi, says the homes have been a vision for more than 20 years.
They were built in conjunction with a Housing New Zealand fund, called the Māori Demonstration Partnership.
That's Te Manu Korihi news I'll have a final bulletin in an hour.
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The head of the debt riddled Otago Rugby Union is upping its chances of survival after winning a stay of execution for a second week running. The union's board was poised to file for liquidation last Friday, but that was put off till today, when it delayed the axe yet again. But as Joe Porter reports, not everyone's optimistic. PKG
A court has been told confusing safety manual's led a pilot to fly his Boeing 737 out of Queenstown in the winter of 2010, after the daylight curfew had passed. The Pacific Blue pilot has been charged with careless use of an aircraft, but the defence says he was following what he thought was standard procedure. Our reporter Steve Wilde has been following the case. LIVE
A seventeenth century poster, offering a reward for the capture of the English king, Charles the Second, has been sold at auction in England for more than fifty-thousand dollars. The hand-printed poster was issued in 1651 by the civil war and anti-monarchist leader Oliver Cromwell.
Claire Marshall reports from the auction house. PKG