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 10 SEPT 2014
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The State Services Commissioner is promising to protect the right of any public servant to be politically active in their own time and wants to hear from anyone who feels that right has been trampled on. The author of Dirty Politics, Nicky Hager has accused the Commissioner, Iain Rennie, of being hopeless at defending those rights and the union the PSA says its members are scared of speaking out. A public servant has told Radio New Zealand that when he was spotted on TV in the background at a Hager event and his bosses gave him a clear message to keep his head down and stay out of politics. I asked Mr Rennie if public servants are allowed to go to a Nicky Hager talk outside work hours. i/v
The media have agreed to hold back on publishing details about blogger Cameron Slater's personal life, gleaned from his emails and private Facebook messages. The deal means the Whale Oil blogger's has dropped court action to stop the material being published although now there is further legal action from Mr Slater who wants all the hacked information back. Clare Bradley is the lawyer for Mediaworks, one of the three companies involved. She explains what the ban on publishing private material covers. i/v
The Productivity Commission is adamant that increasing the amount of land for building on will make houses cheaper. The Government has told it to carry out an inquiry into improving councils' rules and processes to increase land supply and bolster the number of houses in towns and cities. But the Auckland Council says that won't be enough to make ensure affordable houses are built. Our economics correspondent, Patrick O'Meara reports. PKG
The owner of a Kaitaia tourist lodge has appeared in court charged with drugging, indecently assaulting and filming young male guests. The police were not available to come on Checkpoint but say it's vital they talk to anyone who's stayed in Michael Harris's home at the Main Street Lodge he runs. Our reporter Carla Penman is with us now. i/v
The Fiji Government has been forced into an embarrassing backdown over its claim that 45 of its peacekeepers captured in Syria would be released this week. The soldiers are being held by the Al Qaeda-linked group Nusra Front in the Golan Heights and for several hours this morning news of their imminent release made global headlines. This was how it was reported on the BBC. CUT Al Nusra says it won't release the soldiers until it's taken off the UN's terrorist list, gets humanitarian assistance and compensation for some of its members killed in fighting. Walter Zweifel of Radio New Zealand International has been covering today's developments. i/v
President Obama says he has the authority he needs to carry out a broader military campaign against jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The comments were made during a meeting to congressional leaders on Capitol Hill. Mr Obama, who has been criticised for failing to outline a strategy, is to set out his "game plan" against Islamic State militants in a speech later today. The BBC's Rajini Vaidyanathan reports PKG
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17.30 HEADLINES
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17.35 MARKET UPDATE
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Australia's former prime minister Julia Gillard says if she had a time machine, she would do things differently when she provided legal advice to set up a union slush fund for her former boyfriend in the 1990s. Ms Gillard appeared before a Royal Commission in Sydney today, set up to look into corruption at the Australias Workers Union. As part of its investigation, the commission is examining a slush fund which was set up by Ms Gillard's former boyfriend, Bruce Wilson. She has always denied any wrongdoing. Derek Petersen from Sydney's 2UE Radio has been at the Commission today and is with us now. i/v
More than a thousand people have applied for 80 new Kmart jobs in Whangarei. The Northland Chamber of Commerce says it shows unskilled workers are having a tough time, with a limited pool of jobs in the region. More than 4-hundred of those who've applied are registered as unemployed. The retail giant is opening its first Northland store in the Okara Park shopping centre in November. The Northland Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive, is Tony Collins. i/v
Teenagers who smoke cannabis daily are nearly seven times more likely to attempt suicide than those who never use the drug. This is revealed in new research examining data from three long-running Australasian studies, including one from Otago University which has followed 12 thousand New Zealanders from birth until their thirties. Its co-author says it's no brainer that there should be tougher penalties for anyone who pushes the drug to young people. Murielle Baker reports. PKG
Federated Farmers wants an extra 600 million dollars of government funding into agricultural research saying that's what's needed to stop New Zealand falling behind the rest of the world. The president William Rolleston (ROLL-ston) says the country's agricultural research institutes, some whose funding is at risk, need more money to focus on food innovation, biosecurity and reproduction. He's with us now. i/v
AS WE SAID BEFORE THAT A truck has crashed in Christchurch with gas bottles on board. there's a road closure along McCormacks Bay Road, in Mount Pleasant, is in place. the crash HAPPENED ON Glenstrae Rd, which feeds into McCormacks Bay Road. avoid the area SAY POLICE
Career criminal Arthur Taylor and other inmates have asked a court to allow them to vote in the election, saying a blanket ban is unlawful. A 2010 law change blocked all prisoners from voting in elections, regardless of how long their sentence is. Previously, the ban had only applied to prisoners serving a sentence of three years or more. Kate Newton has been at the High Court in Auckland - i/v
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Labour's candidate for Tamaki Makaurau claims the Crown doesn't trust tribes to keep land open to the public.
Peeni Henare says giving whenua back to iwi - which then hand it back to the Crown - is 'nonsense'.
From Te Manu Korihi, Gareth Thomas, reports.
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The Green Party wants to kickstart the country's gaming industry by giving developers up to nine million dollars over the next three years. The party's co-leader, Russel Norman, launched the policy this morning at the Outsmart video game studio in Auckland. Here's our political reporter, Craig McCulloch. PKG
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Presenter: Mary Wilson, Jim Mora
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Jo Leavesley, Mei Yeoh, Sharon Brettkelly, Bridget Mills