Checkpoint FOR TUESDAY 5 MARCH 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The former Secretary of Education, who returned to England after just thirteen months in the job, has been paid out almost half a million dollars. Lesley Longstone had a tense relationship with the Education Minister, Hekia Parata, and quit in December after a series of controversies over class sizes, Novopay and restructuring in Christchurch. Here's our political reporter, Tim Graham.
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More than a thousand people have protested outside the offices of Government MPs' today angry and frustrated at the on-going problems with Novopay. William Ray went to one protest outside the office of the Education Minister, Hekia Parata.
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At Epsom Girls Grammar in Auckland five teachers have not been paid at all since the start of the year. The school has 220 teaching and support staff - the deputy principal Fiona Cottam says in the latest pay period 56 have some kind of problem with their wages, including full-time teachers getting a part-time salary. She says it's getting worse.
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About 35 thousand people had pre-registered for the Mighty River Power share float by 4 o’clock this afternoon, with the newly launched website buckling and slowing at times under the pressure. The Government says the response after the launch this morning has been huge with about five registrations per second. Kiri Ennis filed this report.
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One critic of the sale says it's a huge strategic blunder by the Government because the assets are grossly under-valued. Dr Wayne Cartwright is a former director of the Graduate School of Business at Auckland University. Mighty River Power, is valued at about 3-point-6 billion dollars, but Dr Cartwright says hydropower assets are going to at least double in value over the decade as it becomes harder and more expensive to get oil and gas out of the ground.
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH PATRICK O'MEARA
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A sailor has been kicked out of the Navy and sentenced to six months' detention, for secretly filming women showering and using the toilet while on his first voyage. Ordinary Electronic Technician, David Simpson, unexpectedly pleaded guilty to 25 charges at the beginning of his court martial today. His dismissal kicks in after his detention at the Burnham Military Base in Christchurch. But his lawyer argued that lots of sailors knew about the hole in the panel that he spied through. Olivia Wix was at the hearing at the Devonport Naval Base.
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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A graphic video of two men being beaten in Fiji has emerged on the internet amid claims that either the Fiji police or military are behind the attacks. The footage has sparked outrage from Amnesty International but Fiji authorities have yet to make any comment. Alex Perrottet perro-tay has more.
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Police in California are investigating whether a rest home nurse who refused to give CPR to a dying woman has committed any crime. The nurse made an emergency call after the 87-year-old patient collapsed and now a recording has revealed how the operator begged her to try to resuscitate the elderly woman. The ABC's Lisa Millar has this report which starts with the 911 call:
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The Israeli Prime Minister has told America's biggest pro-Israel lobby group only a credible military threat will have any effect against Iran's nuclear intentions and that diplomacy has failed. But still unable to put together a coalition government five weeks after Israel's elections, Benjamin Netanyahu, was forced to speak to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting by video- link rather than in person. And those political problems could force the cancellation of his planned meeting with the president, Barack Obama in ten days' time. The ABC's Brendan Trembath reports from Washington :
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A teenage bar tender has won almost 14-thousand dollars in compensation after being unfairly sacked for pocketing 12 dollars in unclaimed pokie winnings. The Employment Relations Authority has awarded the money to Jamie Hammond, who was 18 at the time, after finding she'd been incorrectly trained at the Grosvenor Hotel in Timaru. Our reporter Craig McCulloch's been reading the finding.
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI
Kia ora mai
The Taranaki Regional Council has agreed to hand over a set of small islands off the coast of New Plymouth to Māori as part of two treaty settlements.
The decision was made today after the council received eight submissions - five in support and three opposed to the land transfer.
The Ngā Motu or Sugar Loaf islands include five uninhabitable islands and several large rocks in a marine protected area near the Taranaki port.
The regional council is considered the owner of the outer islands and the New Plymouth District Council the inner ones.
Both councils have been consulting separately about transferring the ownership for the Crown to use in two treaty settlements, Te Ātiawa and Taranaki iwi, currently under negotiation.
The New Plymouth council has yet to decide.
Any hand-over will not change the islands' protected status and public access.
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A western Bay of Plenty hapū says it's been given solid assurances that an expansion of the Port of Tauranga won't harm the harbour.
The Government today granted consents for the port to be widened and deepened to allow bigger container ships to carry more goods for importers and exporters.
The port sits on the tribal lands of Ngāti Ruahine.
The deputy chair of the sub-tribe, Irene Ruka, says there are written agreements to ensure the environment is cared for.
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IN THEY'VE SATISFIED BY...
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Irene Ruka - the deputy chair of Ngāti Ruahine.
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A man's been fined for milling native timber from the National Park.
Stephen Albert Fahey has to pay more than 4-thousand dollars in reparation to the Ministry of Primary Industries.
He pleaded guilty at the Ōhākune District Court last Thursday to illegally milling Matai and Rata timber - in contravention of laws drawn up to protect forests.
Forestry investigators raided his property - where they found a portable sawmill in a shed and Rata that had been dragged from a nearby indigenous forest.
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The co-chair of a panel set up to seek people's views on New Zealand's constitution says the future role of the Treaty of Waitangi will form a crucial part of the discussion.
Twelve panel members, co-chaired by Sir Tipene O'Regan are finding out how the public wants New Zealand to be run in the future.
The panel's co-chair, Sir Tipene O'Regan, says it is important to discuss how the Treaty of Waitangi will mesh with rules governing the future.
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IN IT'S NOW PRETTY WELL...
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Sir Tipene O'Regan of the constitutional review panel.
I'll have another bulletin for you in an hour
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The Christchurch couple taking their insurance company to the High Court over their earthquake pay-out have knocked almost a quarter of a million dollars off their claim. Matt and Valerie O'Loughlin (O'Locklin), want Tower to pay for the full replacement of their red zoned house, which they say their policy entitles them to. Nicola Grigg has been in court.
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Community workers are praising census workers for scouring Christchurch's red zone to find homeless people so they aren't overlooked in tonight's national population count. In one final effort, the census workers will go out on Salvation Army trucks on their regular rounds tonight to make sure no one's been missed. Christopher Gilbert reports.
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The prosecution in a trial involving a New York police officer and a cannibalism plot has wound up its case by showing disturbing images from websites devoted to the idea of torturing and eating women. The BBC's Barbara Plett has more
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