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 16 OCTOBER 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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John Banks has resigned as a Government Minister after a judge this afternoon ordered him to stand trial for electoral fraud. This came shortly after he said he would not stand down, though the Prime Minister said he would be talking to the ACT party leader about it. Under the charge, that he put in a false electoral return for his 2010 Auckland mayoralty campaign, if he's convicted he would lose his seat in Parliament as the maximum punishment is two years in prison. Judge Phil Gittos in the Auckland District Court this afternoon said the electoral form Mr Banks signed off was clearly false when it stated that a 50 thousand dollar donation from Kim Dotcom - split into two parts - and a 15 thousand dollar one from Sky City, were anonymous.
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John Banks says the judge's decision is wrong. He said outside the court he'll plead not guilty and won't be standing down, referring to an earlier police investigation that found insufficient evidence to consider a prosecution..
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But in the last hour, the Epsom MP issued a statement saying he told John Key's office last week he would offer to resign if he was sent to trial, and now he has. He says the case would be a distraction to the Government, which he says ACT will continue to support. Graham McCready of Wellington brought the prosecution against Mr Banks. Four years ago he took Labour MP Trevor Mallard to court, and he's now helped set up and is working for the company New Zealand Private Prosecutions Limited. He's with us now.
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The Prime Minister is holding a news conference at parliament - Brent Edwards is with us now .
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The New Zealand writer, Eleanor Catton, has a major international literary career opening up before her after winning the prestigious Booker Prize for English language literature in London today. At just 28 years of age, she is the the youngest winner in the competition's history . Ian Burney has more details.
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The Trade Minister, Tim Groser, has acknowledged the Ministry for Primary Industries is under-resourced and was unable to effectively respond to the Fonterra botulism scare. Furthermore, he says his concerns have been repeatedly ignored and dismissed. Infant formula was pulled off shelves in August, and millions of dollars of export trade was disrupted, after tests results suggested some product had been contaminated. It was later revealed to be a false alarm. Mr Groser today told an Auckland business conference that the Ministry for Primary Industries was understaffed and did not have a satisfactory communications strategy. He joins us now.
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS with Kate Gudsell
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Just over 24 hours after confirming he'd had a two year affair, Auckland's mayor Len Brown has returned to work, setting up his second term in office. Key senior councillors have pledged their support to him, while one opponent, Dick Quax, says he should resign. Mr Brown yesterday confirmed a story published on a right-wing blog, that he had had a relationship with a woman who was member of an advisory board to the council. The mayor's day has been spent meeting freshly-elected councillors one-by-one. One of the newcomers, Waitakere ward's Linda Cooper says the mayor's personal matters got barely a mention.
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Our Auckland correspondent Todd Niall joins us now :
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17.30 HEADLINES
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The Whanganui River is dropping from the near record levels it reach overnight and the state of emergency in the city has been lifted. People evacuated last night have been returning to their homes. The city's Civil Defence controller Kevin Ross is defending getting the 130 people out of the way, given the amount of water in the rain swollen river.
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Roads have reopened and stopbanks repairs will now begin. The owner of the historic river boat, The Wairua, David McDermid, is one of those breathing a sigh of relief as he shifts his boat back to its usual mooring.
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Much of Kowhai Park in the city, including the Wanganui Motor Boat Club, is still underwater but only small amounts of ponding remain on Anzac Parade, where several houses had minor flooding last night. But households at Koitiata at the coast, west of Turakina are still cut off. Keith Gray lives out there.
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Keith Gray at the Turakina rivermouth.
Ged Shirley from the Regional Council for Manawatu and Whanganui is with us now
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The country's investor watchdog has pulled the plug on a company director's scheme to raise up to ten million dollars to set up a chain of renal dialysis clinics. The Financial Markets Authority has cancelled the prospectus of FMP Medical Services Ltd saying the documents are false and misleading. The Authority scrutinised the offer when it was first listed on the financial service provider register in August. The FMA's Simone Robbers says there were a lot of problems.
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17.45 MANU KORIHI with Eru Rerekura
Kia ora mai, good evening,
A long-standing member of the kōhanga reo movement, Peggy Luke-Ngaheke, says she's confident the Kōhanga Reo National Trust will deal appropriately with allegations of financial mismanagement at a trust-owned company.
The Education Ministry will audit the organisation following allegations the general manager of the company, Lynda Tāwhiwhirangi, used business credit cards to buy personal items, including dresses.
Peggy Luke-Ngaheke says Lynda Tāwhiwhirangi's done good work for kōhanga.
She says Ms Tāwhiwhirangi's been a diligent soldier of the movement, and she's sure the directors will take action to ensure there won't be a repeat of any misspending.
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A Kura Kaupapa Māori in Whanganui had to close its doors to its tauira or students today due to heavy rain which flooded its grounds.
Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Te Ātihaunui-ā-Pāpārangi is located in suburb of Pūtiki, next to the river, which has eased back from its overnight peak but is still running very high.
The tūmuaki or principal of the kura, Miriama Harmer, says the road to the kura was only opened at eight o'clock this morning.
RAIN-KURA-TP
IN: SINCE THEN IT DID...
OUT: ...TOMORROW MORNING.
DUR: 16"
Miriama Harmer says if all goes well the kura will be open tomorrow.
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The Māori singer and songwriter, Maisey Rika, has been recognised at the Silver Scroll awards, which celebrates the nation's best songwriting.
Her song "Ruaimoko" took out the 2013 Australasian Performing Right Association's Maioha award at a ceremony in Auckland last night.
Natasha [nuh-tash-uh] Bayler reports:
ccnMAISEY-SCROLLS-WRP
IN: The award recognises...
OUT: ...This is Natasha Bayler. (music fades out)
DUR: 1' 05"
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Māori Television's long-serving financial manager, Alan Withrington, has been appointed as the temporary chief executive of the channel.
The step up follows a failed recruitment process amid political allegations made in Parliament, that a leading contender for the top job had links to the chair of Māori Television.
While recruitment is on hold, Alan Withrington will run the broadcaster from Monday.
TWITTER PLUG:
Remember you can keep up to date with all the latest Māori news on the go by subscribing to us on twitter: at-temanukorihi
I'll have another another bulletin in an hour.
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A man from Kiribati is arguing in the High Court in Auckland that he should be given refugee status because of the damage global warning is having on his island. Ioane Teitiota (ee-on-ay tay-ee-see-otter) says rising sea levels caused by manmade climate change has killed crops and contaminated their water and he fears for his children's lives if the family is returned home. He has been refused asylum by Immigration New Zealand and the Immigration and Protection Tribunal and is seeking leave to appeal. Gill Bonnett was at the High Court in Auckland.
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There is still no solution in sight to the political standoff in Washington over America's debt ceiling and its budget shutdown. And one of the world's leading credit ratings agencies is warning of a possible downgrade in America's triple A status as the deadline to resolve the crisis approaches. The ratings agency Fitch says although it thinks there will be an agreement before or shortly after the October 17 deadline the political brinkmanship could increase the risk of default. Ben Friedman is a Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University - he's doubtful the warning will have much affect.
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More than forty people have been killed across China's southern provinces over the past 3 months in a surge of Hornet attacks. In one province alone 30 children have suffered severe organ failure after being stung repeatedly, some more than 100 times by the Asian giant hornet. It's highly toxic venom causes tissue degeneration, anaphylactic shock and renal failure. The ABC's Adam Connors reports :
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Presenter: Mary Wilson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Mei Yeoh, Craig McCulloch