Ask to use material, get more information or tell us about an item
HEADLINES & NEWS
The convicted Christchurch murderer Gay Oakes is to be released from prison on Monday after serving eight years of a life sentence for the killing. Oakes poisoned her partner Doug Gardner in 1993 and with the help of two friends buried him in the garden where he remained for 14 months until the police were tipped off. Although a life sentence normally carries a minumum non-parole period of ten years, the Parole Board last year said she could apply for early release saying there should be flexibility in cases involving battered women. Last month Oakes made an application for early parole and the board in agreeing to her release says she is not a threat to the community. Kathy Dunstall of the Howard League for Penal Reform in Canterbury, has welcomed the decision and says taking battered women's syndrome into account brings New Zealand into line with Britain and Canada. DROP IN
Doug Gardner's family strongly opposed Gay Oakes being released. Mr Gardner's sister Bunny Lowe told me a spokeswoman from the Parole Board rang them today to say the application had been successful. PREREC
The Government is to be the new landlord of pensioners living in public houses in Auckland. housing New Zealand is paying 83 million dollars to buy the Auckland City council's 1700 housing units and flats after it threatened to sell them on the open market. Sally Wenley reports. PKGE
Scientific evidence has been the focus today at the Teresa Cormack murder trial. The High Court in Wellington is now coming to the end of the first week of the trial of 44 year old Jules Mikus (pro:mee kiss) who has denied abducting, sexually violating and murdering the six year old Napier schoolgirl in June 1987. Our Court Reporter Merle Nowland joins me now. Q+A WITH DROP INS
BUSINESS NEWS WITH JOHN DRAPER
The Minstry of Agriculture has announced it's most unlikely that GE contaminated maize crops found in Pukekohe and Gisborne earlier this year have pollinated nearby maize or sweetcorn crops. Officials have finished their investigations into the GE scare in August, when the Australian company Pacific Seeds announced it'd discovered the contamination despite earlier tests on the imported seeds coming up negative. 30 tonnes of seeds were destroyed and [illegible] testing ordered. MAF now says fewer than 800 plants in a total of about one point eight million were ge contaminated, which is less than one in two thousand. The Deputy Director of the Ministry of Agriculture Larry Ferguson says a lot of time was spent investigating whether the contamination had spread. PKGE
The build up to Sunday's National Rugby League grand final has started with a special breakfast in Sydney today for the New Zealand Warriors and their Bondi based rivals, the Sydney Roosters. The Warriors have picked up some high profile Australian fans ahead of the big game as our Australia correspondent Eric Frykberg reports. PKGE
5.30 NEWS HEADLINES
SPORT with STEPHEN HEWSON
The Commerce Commission is investigating allegations about Air New Zealand's internet fares. The Commission says it's received several complaints about the company's claim that consumers will save money by making a booking on Air New Zealand's website. As Anna Tait-Jamieson discovers that's not always the case. PKGE
The Arbitrators and Mediators Institute says there's merit in the Government's move to set up a mediation service to deal with the leaky building crisis. The initiative for low-cost mediation with voluntary participation has been criticised by opposition MPs and some building industry figures, who say it's poorly thought-out and a weak response to a serious problem. But a fellow and former vice-President of the Institute says mediation is a great way to begin to patch up the leaky buildings crisis. Virginia Goldblatt, who is now a Senior Lecturer in Dispute Resolution at Massey University - and a practicing mediator - joins me now. LIVE
The US Congress has begun debating a resolution with wording agreed to by both parties which would allow President Bush to use force to remove Saddam Hussein. Under the proposals drafted by the American Senate and House of Representatives, the White House would not require UN approval for a strike against Baghdad. Our correspondent Nina-Maria Potts has the latest from Washington. PKGE
The New Zealand First leader Winston Peters is back on the attack over what he calls the "Treaty Of Waitangi claims industry". In one of his speeches this year he called it "the bloated leech that is gorging itself on a geyser of [illegible] money..." Today, at Parliament's Māori Affairs Select Committee, he focused his attention on the Crown Forestry Rental Trust, asking questions that at times bordered on interrogation. And Mr Peters also managed to spark a row between himself and other members of the committee. Our Māori Issues Correspondent Gideon Porter was at the select committee and he joins us now. Q+A WITH DROP INS
The news that software billionaire Larry Ellison may set up shop in New Zealand and is looking for property in the Bay of Islands has been greeted enthusiastically by Northland business-boosters. Mr Ellison says the region offers a great place to bring up kids and he's considering setting up a software research and development centre there. John Halse, who works for the economic development agency Enterprise Northland, says Mr Ellison is the latest in a line of local and overseas hot-shots who've been drawn to the "magnet for magnates". PREREC
MANA NEWS
CLOSE & THEME