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 THURSDAY 12 SEPTEMBER 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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New Zealand is easing sanctions brought in to punish Fiji's coup leaders, despite opponents of its military regime saying the government of Frank Bainimarama is still repressive. The Foreign Minister Murray McCully announced the move today, just days after the election of a new Australian Government which intends to restore full diplomatic relations with Fiji and wants it allowed back into the Commonwealth. New Zealand's sporting sanctions on Fiji will be lifted, though they were loosely applied anyway. And some travel bans will stay in place. Fiji's main political Opposition group says New Zealand should have consulted it first. Mick Beddoes is a leader of the United Front for a Democratic Fiji.
CUT
The chair of the NGO coalition for Human Rights in Fiji, Shamima Ali says the Bainimarama regime has not changed and is still repressing the media, political opponents and trade unions.
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The Fiji Government has just brought in a new constitution. And Murray McCully says it's made progress in the last few months towards holding free and fair elections next year.
I/V
A wide-ranging review following a series of high-profile deaths in the military says the defence force suffers from a casual attitude to safety and needs to make urgent changes. The independent report, commissioned by the defence force, makes 20 recommendations and says the military should aim to eliminate non-combat deaths. Our defence reporter Kate Newton filed this report.
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Interest rates hikes are getting closer, due to the gathering pace of economic activity. The Reserve Bank expects to lift interest rates from record lows in the first half of next year, which prompted a hike in the dollar. Our economics correspondent, Patrick O'Meara reports.
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Cabinet papers show the Government ignored Treasury's advice to not pay a subsidy for the Tiwai point smelter. The Government announced last month it would give New Zealand Aluminium Smelters a one-off payment of 30 million dollars. The company also negotiated a new contract with Meridian for lower electricity prices. Here's our political reporter, Liz Banas
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS - Anusha Bradley
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The United States and Russia will sit down in Geneva tomorrow to discuss how the Syrian president might hand over all of his chemical weapons. And as the US marks the anniversary of September 11, it's promising to take any agreement between it and Russia to the UN Security Council to get a binding resolution. The ABC's North America correspondent Michael Vincent reports.
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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A wide-ranging review prompted by a series of high-profile deaths in the Defence Force is calling for urgent safety improvements. The review says the Defence Force doesn't measure its health and safety properly, so there are gaps. It heard feedback from military personnel rating the Force's commitment to health and safety at just 3 or 4 out of 10 - but at the same time they believed that because the work can be dangerous, the training should be dangerous too. Among the review's 20 recommendations, it wants a Health and Safety Directorate set up - but that in a Defence Force that's been shedding staff and been ordered by the Government to cut $300 million a year. The Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman is with us now.
I/V
Nine thousand households are still have no power in Canterbury following Tuesday night's violent storm. And the extent of damage is still being accessed revealed as Nicola Grigg reports.
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI Eru Rerekura
Kia ora, good evening,
A Bay of Plenty tribe say there's nothing wrong with the Resource Management Act - and says the Government shouldn't attempt to make any changes to the legislation that looks after the environment.
Ngāti Pūkenga is applauding the Māori Party for opposing a planned amendment, which would remove some key features of the original law.
The Party says it's not prepared to accept that economic development is given priority over environmental protection.
A spokesperson on the RMA for Ngāti Pūkenga, Buddy Mikaere, says his tribe is happy with parts of the Act that are earmarked to be changed.
RMA-BUDDY-TP
IN SECTION SIX AND. . .
OUT . . . SUPPORT THESE REFORMS.
DUR 25"
Buddy Mikaere of Ngāti Pūkenga.
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The East Coast iwi, Ngāti Porou, says money made from a community fund through mobile company, 2 Degrees, will likely be driven into Information Technology kaupapa.
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngāti Porou has entered into a partnership with 2 Degrees to connect its pan tribal organisations with the network, and set up a first-of-its-kind Community Development Fund.
The acting chief executive of the rūnanga, Allan Jensen, says five per cent of the iwi organisation's and members' monthly contract spend will be donated back into the fund.
He says there's potential for the fund to draw hundreds of thousands of dollars in its first year, to be reinvested in the community.
Mr Jensen says there is a general trend for this fund to be directed at rangatahi, young people, and the ICT space.
He says scholarships and career expos related kaupapa would be a key part of where the fund is directed.
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A Whanganui iwi man has been speaking at this year's Kiingitanga Day - aiming to inspire Māori designers to use their artwork to influence everyday surroundings.
Johnson Witehira of Whanganui and Ngāpuhi descent, has today presented at Waikato University after recently arriving back from New York where his digital kowhaiwhai patterns were electronically displayed on high rise buildings in Times Square.
He says Māori designers need to be encouraged to mould their artwork around what people use and see around them.
DIGITAL-KINGITANGA-TP
IN: ONE OF THE. . .
OUT: . . . INTO THE WALLPAPER ITSELF.
DUR: 30"
Māori digital artist, Johnson Witehira.
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Māori music and the latest fashion designs will take centre stage tonight at the 6th National Waiata Music and Te Kōhanga Fashion Show.
The annual event at the Hawke's Bay Opera House in Hastings will include national Māori hand games, vocal and taonga pūoro workshops as well as a discussion panel.
That's Te Manu Korihi news I'll have another bulletin in an hour.
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A man has been found not guilty of the murder of a security guard who was attacked with a wooden post on his first day at work in Auckland nearly two years ago. Charanpreet Dhaliwal's body was found in a pool of blood at a construction site in November 2011. Our Reporter Lauren Baker was at the High Court in Auckland
I/V
The fishing industry wants a company seeking to mine the ocean floor for phosphate to release all the information it has about how the environment would be harmed. Chatham Rock Phosphate is applying for a permit to mine phosphate from a depth of 400 metres between Canterbury and the Chatham Islands, a process the fishing industry says will harm fish stocks. Conan Young reports.
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A police officer has admitted smuggling contraband such as tobacco and cigarettes, to prisoners in court cells. Lotovale Perese was a prisoner escort, based at the Henderson station, and has been in the force for 11 years before resigning two weeks ago. Detective Inspector Bruce Scott says Perese smuggled in a wide range of banned goods.
I/V
Hundreds of thousands of people have formed a human chain right across the Spanish region of Catalonia to demand independence. They chose a symbolic moment to start their action - 17:14 local time, because it was on the 11th of September in the year 1714 that the Catalan capital Barcelona fell to the Spanish king after a siege that lasted more than a year. The Catalan president says he plans to hold a referendum on independence next year. But as the BBC's Tom Burridge reports from Barcelona, the Spanish central government in Madrid is strongly opposed.
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Presenter: Susie Ferguson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Mei Yeoh, Craig McCulloch