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 6 JULY 2015
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The Financial Markets Authority has walked away from a four million dollar investigation into the collapsed Hanover finance group saying an 18 million dollar settlement is better than going to court. But it admits some of the five and half thousand investors who lost money would have preferred to see the six directors, including Mark Hotchin and Sir Tipene O'Regan in court for misleading people about the state of the company between December 2007 and mid 2008. All up 13 thousand investors lost around half a billion dollars but the FMA says it only had strong enough evidence to take action on behalf of a smaller group. Glen Stanton on is 50 thousand dollars out of pocket and says he doesn't care about the ten to 20 cents in the dollar he'll get back later this year. CUT In a statement this afternoon, four of the directors say investors lost out because the Global Financial Crisis, not because of any mismanagement at Hanover. And they say if it had gone to court, they would have won. The FMA was sueing for 35 million dollars but the Chief Executive Rob Everett says the outcome was uncertain and the primary goal was always to get money back for investors. He says the prospect of appeals meant court action could have dragged on for years. i/v
European leaders have been stunned by Greece's overwhelming rejection of a rescue package from creditors overnight. Sixty-one percent of Greeks voted against the deal, which would have provided the country with much-needed funds in return for further austerity measures. But the vote leaves Greece in uncharted waters - without more emergency funding, its banks could run out of cash within days, after a week of public desperation with cash machines running dry and banks remaining closed. Our correspondent Jack Parrock is in Athens. i/v
Chants, songs, applause and cheering in Dunedin as more than 10-thousand Highlanders fans lined the streets today to celebrate their team's first Super Rugby title. The Highlanders defied the odds to beat the Hurricanes on their home turf. Michael Allan reports. PKG
People in Christchurch who argue they've had a rough deal from the insurer are backing plans to double the maximum amount EQC pays out on a home destroyed in a disaster. It would jump from 100 to 200 thousand-dollars and private insurers could also help handle claims. Conan Young reports. PKG
Danny Lee, has become the first New Zealander to win a PGA Tour title in a decade, winning the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia this morning. 24 year old Lee finished the final round on 13 under par - tying him for first with three other golfers and forcing them into a four-way play-off. It took just two play-off holes to come away with the win and a cheque for 1-point-2 million US dollars. Lee told reporters that he was incredibly nervous on the final few holes - but that all changed when he reached the playoff. CUT The sports editor at the Charleston Gazette, Mitch Vingle, covered the tournament. He describes the win as a life-changing moment for the young golfer. i/v
Video evidence has been played in court of a girl telling authorities her primary school teacher pulled her onto his lap and touched her chest and thighs in front of the class. The girl's teacher, a man in his fifties with name suppression, has denied 16 charges of doing indecent acts on girls as young as nine. Our court reporter Edward Gay has been at the Auckland District Court . i/v
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17.30 HEADLINES
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17.35 BUSINESS
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A hapu leader who quit from his Treaty talks role over the kereru case says Sonny Tau's fronted up to Ngapuhi and a hui was right to back him. Mr Tau apologised to the hui in Kaikohe on Friday but the kuia and kaumatua didn't take him up on his offer to quit as chair of the Ngapuhi runanga. He'll appear in court late this month charged with hunting and possessing five kereru, a protected species. Mita Harris was at the hui - earlier he quit as the Ngati Toro hapu's representative on Tuhoronuku over the kereru smuggling. He's with us now. i/v
A champion New Zealand weightlifter has voluntarily pulled out of the Pacific Games in Papua New Guinea after making a reference to PNG and cannibals on social media. Kim Baker Wilson reports. PKG
Australia's most famous humpback whale - Migaloo - a rare albino, appears to have moved into New Zealand waters. A white whale has been spotted frolicing with other whales in a pod at the east head of Tory Channel. There are reputedly just four albiono humpbacks in the world, and Migaloo is so famous in Australia he has his own website. Oskar Peterson, who runs the site, was sceptical when he heard reports that Migaloo was now in New Zealand. i/v
Patients forced to fast for up to 18-hours before an operation may no longer have to endure the headaches, cramping and nausea that comes with not eating . Having food increases the risk of anaesthesia-induced vomiting where patients can inhale stomach fluids. Now, an Australian anaesthetist is recommending having a clear carbohydrate drink. Doctor David Rowe has surveyed over 2-hundred people who did this, and says there are real benefits. i/v
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17.45 MANU KORIHI with Laura Bootham
A prominent Ngapuhi kuia says she understands the kereru Sonny Tau was caught with in Murihiku, were a gift; Whanganui is bracing itself for another round of heavy rain, just weeks after the region experienced its biggest flood in recorded history. The MetService has issued a severe weather watch for the region and expects downpours to hit the area tonight and tomorrow morning; Waikato-Tainui says an education plan for its people for the next 30-years has a strong focus on the marae.
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Australians are being threatened with a fine of 1-point-1-million-dollars if they advertise their homes on the popular renting site - Airbnb. State governments have come under pressure to clarify the law after some local councils banned short-term letting. Here, Local Government New Zealand says Airbnb is new territory and councils are still figuring out where they stand on it. Sydney Morning Herald reporter, Jennifer Duke, has been looking at the problem in New South Wales. i/v
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Presenter: Mary Wilson, Jim Mora
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor: Phil Pennington
Producers: Mei Heron, Michael Allan, Denise Garland, Duncan Snelling