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 20 NOVEMBER 2014
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The Commerce Commission has dismissed accusations made by Shane Jones that Countdown supermarkets illegally threatened and intimidated their suppliers, demanding millions of dollars in back payments. Shane Jones first made the claims in Parliament in February this year triggering the Commission's nine month investigation. It received nearly 90 complaints about Countdown's behaviour but says the supermarket never got any retrospective payments from suppliers whose products hadn't made enough profit. The Commission did warn Countdown not to talk to suppliers about other supermarkets pricings, and said staff should not be asking them to get competitors to keep prices high. The Commission's Chief Executive Brent Alderton says two big multinationals thought the company was asking for money in a confusing negotiation this year but never felt intimidated and there was no threat of blacklisting. i/v
Shane Jones refused to talk to Checkpoint, referring all our questions to his one-time colleague MP Clayton Cosgrove. Mr Cosgrove, Labour's current commerce spokesperson is defending Mr Jones' claims of "corruption, racketeering and blackmail" under parliamentary privilege. He says the law isn't strong enough and supermarkets should have a mandatory code of conduct imposed on them CUT The Commerce Minister Paul Goldsmith's response is lukewarm. CUT
Countdown's managing director is Dave Chambers. i/v
In the strongest push yet for controls on foreign drivers, a southern coroner is calling for more police powers to get unsafe motorists off the road, and for tougher tests by rental companies. Richard McElrea in his findings into the deaths of two motorcyclists in November 2012, says overseas drivers should be banned if they have inadequate experience. Dennis Pederson and Grant Roberts were hit by Kejia Zheng, <Key-gia Yjing> , who was on the wrong side of the road in Lindis Pass. The police had received numerous calls about Ms Zheng's driving, and tried to find her for two hours - but they arrived too late. Our Queenstown reporter Steve Wilde spoke with the Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss CUT
The Chinese President and the Prime Minister John Key have held talks in Wellington today, covering among other things human rights and increased trade. Earlier, President Xi was welcomed to New Zealand with a haka, powhiri, and 21 gun salute at Government House. The President and Mr Key have just addressed reporters at Premiere House. Our political editor, Brent Edwards, was there and he's with us now.... i/v
Auckland councillors have voted to push forward with a massive IT project that it was confirmed today is 100-million dollars over budget. The project aims to bring together the different IT systems used by the eight local bodies that merged into the SuperCity. It had a budget of 71-million dollars but is running a year behind schedule, and its managers are asking for more of ratepayers' money. Murielle Baker reports. PKG
A police watchdog finding reveals a patrol car butted into a fleeing four wheel drive on Auckland's northern motorway in the middle of a weekday, endangering other drivers. The officer who was driving was worried his car was going to spin out. Later, even though the chase was over, another officer broke the law by driving on the wrong side of a busy North Shore road at a dangerous speed. Mei Heron has been reading the report. i/v
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17.30 HEADLINES
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17.35 MARKET UPDATE
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A Dunedin City Council report has looked into demolishing the city's covered rugby stadium built for 200 million dollars just three years ago. But the mayor says that was about putting to bed a lunatic idea, and the Forsyth Barr stadium was never going to be knocked down. Instead the solution to its chronic debt is likely to be to increase by almost two million dollars what ratepayers are putting in. That will be debated by councillors on Monday. The Mayor, Dave Cull says its finance model was always grossly optimistic and something has to change i/v
Samoa's rugby players will go ahead and play England this weekend because of the threat, they say, of having a landmark test against the All Blacks taken off them if they don't. They've lifted their threatened boycott of the English test at Twickenham but tensions remain between the management and players, who are now getting support from some All Black players, also in the UK. The sports editor at the Samoa Observer, Keni Lesa, says the stand-off arose from long-simmering issues . i/v
A petrol station attendant is considering legal action saying he's had his pay docked hundreds of dollars for motorists driving off without paying for fuel. Kerry McIvor has quit his job at the Masterton branch of the Night and Day convenience store after the late night thefts. Alison Hossain reports: PKG
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Rangatahi are being encouraged to take on leadership roles when pushing the message of preventing suicide.
Community groups, leaders and researchers have met in Auckland as part of an annual hui for a National suicide prevention programme for Maori and Pasifika.
Mani Dunlop from Te Manu Korihi news was there.
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A doctor says a Crown agency that is unexpectedly being axed actually quadrupled some backoffice costs at her DHB, when it was created to save money. Health Benefits Limited or HBL is being cut after four and a half years and almost 110 million dollars put into it, having made only a fraction of the 700 million in savings promised. It still has 50 staff, including about 30 contractors. And the back-office cost cutting programmes it started, such as trying to combine hospitals' catering contracts, will continue. No one from HBL would come on Checkpoint. A statement from it talks about keeping up momentum till it winds up in June 2015. The acting chair of the Canterbury DHB clinical board, and head of the Canterbury Hospital Medical Staff Association, Dr Ruth Spearing, says DHBs are looking forward to that. i/v
A massive snowstorm has wreaked havoc in the north-eastern United Stated and killed seven people in upstate New York. There's been one-and-a-half-metres of snow dumped in the Buffalo area, with more forecast to come. The BBC's Nick Bryant reports. PKG
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Presenter: Mary Wilson, Jim Mora
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Jo Leavesley, Mei Heron, Sharon Brettkelly, Bridget Mills