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 WEDNESDAY 21 AUGUST 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The head of the inquiry into the leaking of the GCSB report has laid the blame on Parliamentary Service for releasing a journalist's phone and email records. David Henry appeared today as the Parliament's Privileges Committee began its investigation into the how the records of Fairfax reporter Andrea Vance, and of Ministers, were given to the inquiry. But the civil servant who quit as the head of Parliamentary Service amid the fallout, says the Henry inquiry undermined him. Here's our political reporter, Liz Banas.
PKG
The controversial GCSB legislation has entered its final phase in Parliament. MPs are debating the Bill which will allow the spy agency to legally carry out surveillance on New Zealanders and introduces stronger oversight for the Bureau. The bill is on its third and final reading and is expected to pass tonight with a one vote margin. The Prime Minister, John Key, told Parliament it is good legislation and necessary for national security.
CUT
He said there has been a lot of misinformation and conspiracy around the bill.
CUT
But the leader of the Labour Party, David Shearer, told MPs New Zealand deserves better than loose law.
CUT
Mr Shearer said the Government should have based the bill on a full and independent inquiry and promised that a Labour-led government would do so.
With us now is our political editor Brent Edwards.
I/V
Health authorities say the first person to be charged with selling illegal synthetic highs could be jailed for up to two years. Police have seized 1200-hunderd packs of unapproved synthetic cannabis from the man's Hamilton dairy. Last month it became illegal to sell synthetic highs unless they are proven to be safe. Kim Baker Wilson reports.
PKG
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS
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Afghan victims wounded in a U. S soldier's killing spree last year have confronted their attacker during chilling testimony in an American military court today. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has admitted to gunning down 16 people, mainly women and children in an Afghan village in Kandahar province last March. He'll be spared the death penalty because of his guilty plea but a jury of six officers will now decide how long he will spend in prison. The BBC's Alastair Leithead was there for the opening of the hearing in Tacoma, Washington.
PREREC
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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The Conservation Minister will review how large parts of the conservation estate are classified.
This is in response to a report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, which has found a third of conservation land is in legal limbo and open to commercial exploitation. Jan Wright, says the land, outside of National Parks has been essentially sitting in a statutory holding pen since DOC was established in the eighties. Here's our Environment Reporter, Olivia Wix.
PKG
More now on the third reading of the controversial Government Communication Security Bureau bill. The legislation, which will allow the agency to legally spy on New Zealanders, and brings in greater oversight, is expected to pass by a one vote margin. The Prime Minister, John Key, is unavailable to speak to Checkpoint. Labour's deputy leader is Grant Robertson
LIVE
Fewer New Zealanders are heading across the Tasman to live because the economy is improving. Official figures show just 12-hundred people moved to Australia last month, its lowest level in three-and-a-half years. Economic growth is also attracting more foreigners to look for work here. Our economics correspondent, Patrick O'Meara, reports.
LIVE
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI
Kia ora mai, good evening,
Iwi from around the country will discuss Māori rights to freshwater, at a national hui tomorrow, at Tūrangawaewae.
The hui is a follow-on from the big gathering last year, hosted by the Māori King, Tuheitia.
But the King's representative Tukuroirangi Morgan, says unlike that hui, this one's not driven by the government's latest plans to partially privatise hydro-power companies.
WATER-TUKU-TP
IN WE'RE NOT GOING. . .
OUT . . . BEST APPROACH THAT.
DUR 20"
Kingi Tuheitia’s spokesperson, Tukoroirangi Morgan.
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A youth law advocacy group, Just Speak, says the whole criminal justice system needs reviewing - to see if prevention programmes are really working.
A progress report on the government's Drivers of Crime programme shows major progress for Māori youth .
It says offending by young Māori is down by nearly a third and the number of children admitted to hospital with preventable illness, has dropped 22 per cent in four years.
A spokesperson for Just Speak, Tai Ahu, says the report is positive, but the results only show a small slice of what's happening.
Mr Ahu says a bigger picture is needed.
CRIME-ENTIRE-TP
IN WE NEED TO CONSIDER. . .
OUT . . . HOPE NEW ZEALAND.
DUR 15"
Tai Ahu of the youth law group, Just Speak.
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The state-owned farming business, Landcorp, says it's saving iwi big money by continuing to manage farms returned to Māori in treaty settlements.
Landcorp's managing three farms in the Far North for Muriwhenua tribes, whose settlement bill will be passed before the end of the year.
Its chief executive, Chris Kelly, says the Crown bought the farms for the iwi as part of their settlement, but it's very expensive for iwi to run them.
Mr Kelly says Landcorp has worked out a cost-effective way of running the farms for iwi for several years.
LAND-CO-TP
IN IT ENABLES THEM. . .
OUT . . . WORKS PRETTY WELL.
DUR 14"
Chris Kelly of Landcorp.
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Another smartphone application is on the way - to help teach Te Reo Māori me ona Tikanga.
Massey University's professor of Māori studies, Taiarahia Black, is meeting with developers to sign off on the app, known as Mokopuna me te Whenua - or grandchildren and the land.
It's the latest in a string of Māori language apps put out by tertiary education institutes, including Victoria and Auckland Universities.
Mr Black says the immersion app will be in a games format, aimed at quality reo and narratives to link mokopuna with the land.
And if all goes well the new app will be launched next month.
That's Te Manu Korihi news I'll have a further bulletin in an hour.
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The owner of a ferry that sank in Papua New Guinea last year is facing more than 160 counts of manslaughter. Captain Peter Sharp was arrested yesterday. The expat Australian is the managing director of Rabaul Shipping, which operated the Rabaul Queen that sank last February. He's facing other accusations including operating an unseaworthy ship. The ABC's Liam Fox is in PNG.
PREREC
The White House is denying it has quietly frozen millions of dollars in aid to Egypt in response to a bloody military crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood. President Obama has chaired a meeting of his National Security Council to discuss the situation, but it has produced no immediate changes. The ABC's Barney Porter reports
PKG
North Korean defectors have given international investigators graphic accounts of brutality and deprivation in the country's prisons. The UN has set up a panel to investigate human rights abuses. One man described what happened when a guard saw him drop a sewing machine.
READER + CUTS
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Presenter: Mary Wilson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Susie Ferguson, Rachel Askew