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 MONDAY 23 DECEMBER 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Some Auckland pensioners fear being kicked out of their state flats on sought-after inner city land after learning Housing New Zealand is bringing developers in. They say they've been kept in the dark, but now have documents showing the state agency is aiming to make at least the book value of 8 point 5 million dollars from selling the 5 thousand 800 square metres at Freemans Bay. It wants at least 80 new flats built and would lease back 42 of them. Today, following media coverage, Housing New Zealand said its regional manager would visit tenants to reassure them that any decision is a years away. But Ava, who has lived in her unit for more than a decade, is appalled.
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Jaquie, who has been in her flat for 15 years, is in disbelief.
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Tenants have got hold of Housing New Zealand's expressions of interest document or EOI, though they say the agency tried to keep it confidential. The agency's general manager of tenancy services is Kay Read.
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66 year old retired researcher Bob Tait has lived at the flats for 4 years. He says they were told in October about a possible re-development but had no idea they could lose their homes.
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New Zealanders are paying almost a third more for some phone and internet deals than the average for developed countries. The Commerce Commission report says a bundle with 60-gigabytes of data is costing 30-percent more than the OECD average even though prices have fallen 14 percent over the past two years. And the price for a phone line without broadband is one of the highest in the world. A consumer lobby group says the report echoes its view that costs here are simply too high. Paul Brislen is from the Telecommunications Users' Association.
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Tiger Woods' former caddie has described the shock dumping of Lydia Ko's coach, Guy Wilson, as ill-timed and unethical. Ko has announced she is splitting from Wilson, who has coached the World Number Four since she was five years old. The 16-year old who turned professional in October has chosen American David Leadbetter as her new coach. Steve Williams who now caddies for Adam Scott is a good friend of Wilson's. He spoke to him this morning.
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS with Jenny Ruth
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BNZ is holding out as the only one of the major banks to NOT raise home loan interest rates so far in the run up to Christmas. Kiwibank and ASB today joined the move upwards led by ANZ and Westpac which last week raised fixed rate mortgages for terms from six months to five years, some by fairly hefty amounts. Bruce Patten is a director of the large mortgage broking firm Loanmarket.
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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Ethnic violence in South Sudan is escalating. A week after fighting erupted it has become an increasingly dangerous place. The conflict began as a power struggle amid accusations of a coup attempt by the former vice president. The American State Department says all of it's citizens have been evacuated from the rebel held city of Bor a day after a rescue mission had to be aborted. The South Sudanese authorities and United Nations troops assisted with the evacuation. The UN Secretary General Ban ki Moon has repeated calls for an end the violence. The BBC's Emily Buchanan has our report from South Sudan.
PKG
President Obama has retreated to his birthplace and childhood home in Hawaii for Christmas in what aides hope will be a fortnight of uninterrupted rest and relaxation. But even as he tees off for his first golf game, political pundits are dissecting what's been called the worst year of his presidency. Here's Jane Cowan in Washington :
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Matt Cairns had just finished a quick dip down at the beach in Gisborne on Saturday - when he heard screams for help from a surfer who was being dragged out to sea. An experienced surf life-saver for the local club, Matt didn't hesitate and quickly headed out to help. All part of a day's work, except Matt was actually on his way to a wedding - his own wedding. Luckily for his waiting bride-to-be, he was only a few minutes late. He explains what happened.
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Work to beautify the site of the collapsed CTV building in Christchurch will begin shortly after Christmas. Today the mayor, Lianne Dalziel and the Earthquake Recovery Authority, announced plans for a temporary memorial on the site where 115 people were killed. This comes after Maan Alkaisi, whose wife Maysoon Abbas died inside the wrecked building, appealed to the city council for help to tidy up the site. Nicola Grigg reports.
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI with Eru Rerekura
Kia ora mai, good evening,
The Mangatu Incorporation says it's let down by the Waitangi Tribunal's decision not to make binding recommendations for the return of Crown land in Gisborne.
In a report released today, the Tribunal dismissed applications for it to compel the Crown to return thousands of hectares of Mangatu Crown forest licensed land.
The Mangatu Incorporation initiated the application, and three other groups joined in.
The Tribunal says those claims overlapped or competed with the incorporations, and said it risked creating fresh grievances by appearing to favour one group.
The chairman of the Incorporation, Alan Haronga, is disappointed.
WAITANGI-MANGATU-TP
IN THAT LAND WAS TAKEN. . .
OUT . . . WE'RE DISAPPOINTED.
DUR 12"
Alan Haronga.
The Tribunal has urged the parties to take steps to mend their relationships, and negotiate further with the Crown.
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A group of politicians wants the Government to go through its report on the health and happiness of Maori children with a fine toothcomb.
MPs have held an inquiry into ways to improve the well-being of tamariki.
They've made almost 50 recommendations, including reviewing the welfare scheme Working for Families, to assess if it's really helping whanau.
The Chair of the Maori Affairs Select Committee, Tau Henare, says ministers across all portfolios should study the report.
INQUIRY-TAU-TP
IN ONE OF THE. . .
OUT. . . DEAL WITH IT
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Tau Henare of the Maori Affairs Select Committee.
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Seven Hawke's Bay hapu are on their way towards settling their claims for historical Treaty of Waitangi breaches.
Ahuriri Hapu of Napier have signed an Agreement in Principle at Parliament
One area of discussion with the Crown will be Te Whanganui a Orotu, a lagoon named after the people's ancestor - Te Orotu.
The Office of Treaty Settlements has been told the lagoon was coveted as an important food resource necessary for the survival of people and creatures.
As part of its redress, the sub-tribes will be given half a million dollars to help manage the Ahuriri Estuary.
Elsewhere, the settlement will ensure the hapu have first of refusal to buy a stake in Hawke's Bay Airport, should the Crown decide to sell its shareholding.
The next step in the negotiation process is for both parities to initial a Deed of Settlement.
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Australian aborigines in a remote community in Victoria say they are being driven off tribal freehold land by ever-increasing rents.
The aboriginal sharehold-owners have collectively owned the freehold property at Lake Tyers since 1981.
A resident from a shareholder family, Lorraine Sellings, says her rent went up without notification and she and her three children have been evicted.
Another resident was charged with trespassing in his own house after he found it too difficult to pay the rent charged by the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust.
The administrators say rents have increased by about thirty-dollars a week compared with a few years ago, and says the money is spent on maintenance, council and water rates.
That's Te Manu Korihi news, I'll have a further bulletin in an hour.
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He's finally out of jail, but not out of the limelight. The former Russian billionaire, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, took just a couple of days to acclimatise after a decade behind bars before addressing the world's media. He chose a location in the heart of Berlin to talk of his plans for the future and to declare that the struggle for power isn't for him. But that doesn't mean Mr Khodorkovsky will be staying out of the political debate entirely. The ABC's Europe correspondent Barbara Miller reports.
PKG
An old net used to protect cannibis plants from birds has killed a kiwi in a scenic reserve. The reserve near Whakatane was filled with old cannibis plots before Department of Conservation workers cleared it to make way for a kiwi habitat restoration project. The two month old bird was being monitored when it died. DoC's biodiversity ranger is Bridget Palmer.
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Earlier this year - a Christchurch couple took justice into their own hands when they lay in wait for a burglar to return to steal again. When Melissa Skurr and JC Anderson's home was broken into, the robbers took their laptops, hard drive, and PlayStation 3 console, but a quadbike was left behind. The police said they could not come to the house to investigate for 48 hours, but Ms Skurr had a feeling the offenders would be back before then.
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Presenter: Mary Wilson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Meg Fowler, Mei Yeoh