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Checkpoint FOR WEDNESDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2012
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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The internet millionaire, Kim Dotcom, came to Parliament today, and spoke out saying it's obvious that John Banks has been unethical, but it's time to move on. Mr Dotcom is at the centre of a controversy with the ACT Party leader and Government Minister. He made two 25-thousand dollar donations to Mr Banks' 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign, which the police say the campaign falsely declared as anonymous. Here's our political reporter, Chris Bramwell. PKG
After watching question time Kim Dotcom spoke to reporters on the parliamentary forecourt. He said he was in no doubt that Mr Banks knew it was him who had made the donations. CUT Our parliamentary chief reporter, Jane Patterson, was there and she joins us now I/V
Hundreds of teachers have again been underpaid or not paid at all as the problems with their new pay system get worse. It's failed again despite assurances it would be fixed, leaving 11 hundred teachers and support staff short-changed and 400 without any money at all. A fortnight ago when the Novopay system started up 55 people missed out on their wages and five thousand were underpaid. Sam Douglas, a teacher aide at Clyde Quay School in Wellington found her pay today was short by four days - but that's not so bad - two weeks ago she got nothing. CUT
At Sacred Heart College in Lower Hutt, today's pay was out by 12-hundred dollars, with relievers hardest hit. The principal is Lisl Prendergast CUT The primary principals' federation says one school has spent three hundred hours on payroll problems. The Secondary Principals' Association says it will press the Education Minister Hekia Parata at a regular meeting tomorrow to get the payroll sorted. Ms Parata wouldn't be interviewed - her office says it's an operational issue and Association Education Minister Craig Foss' responsibility. Leanne Gibson is the Ministry of Education's top person on the payroll switch-over. She says she never promised the problems would be fixed by now. I/V
A band of protesters burst into an oil industry conference today to disrupt an address by the Minister of Energy and Resources. Phil Heatley had been praising the oil industry for becoming New Zealand's fourth largest exporter and producing 7-thousand-7- hundred jobs directly and indirectly but was forced to halt his speech. After the women were hustled out, oil industry executives argued that far from being too easy, oil exploration is too difficult. Eric Frykberg reports. PKG
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH Sharon Brettkelly
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President Obama has used primetime TV to have a go at Mitt Romney's latest gaffe, with the Republican challenger's campaign reeling from another video leak. Mr Romney is caught on camera saying the Palestinians don't want peace and that they're committed to the destruction of Israel. The recording which was made at a 50-thousand dollar per person fundraiser in May.
His comments are also drawing criticism from Republican insiders about the prospect of the party winning this November. Our correspondent in Washington is Simon Marks. I/V
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17.30 HEADLINES
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About 120 protesters are gathered outside a Wellington hotel hosting a conference on petroleum. The conference was the target of an earlier incident when protesters invaded the conference hall and stopped a speech by the Minister of Energy Resources, Phil Heatley. Our reporter Eric Frykberg is there I/V
Olympic champion Valerie Adams has arrived home, and will finally get her hands on the gold medal at a ceremony which is due to kick off soon in Auckland (starts at 1850) Adams flew into the country this morning, to be greeted by dozens of proud family and friends from the Tongan community. Bridget Mills was at Auckland Airport. PKG
NATO's secretary general has defended a decision to scale back joint operations with local security forces in Afghanistan, after a spike in attacks against international troops by people wearing Afghan uniforms. 51 ISAF troops have been killed this year in the so-called green-on-blue attacks. Tanya Nolan reports: PKG
Polluting nutrients are still pouring into the Manawatu River despite a multimillion-dollar upgrade, with a scientist warning it could change the whole ecosystem. The upgraded waste water treatment plant was meant to stop this happening, and now the search is on to find out why it hasn't. Nick Butcher reports. PKG
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17.45 MANU KORIHI - Eru Rerekura
Tēnā koutou katoa, good evening,
Whanganui Iwi say they will be using the Crown's consultation hui today over freshwater rights to reinforce its Treaty claims over the Whanganui River.
The Government's visiting different iwi this month with ties to waterways used by state-owned companies such as Genesis Energy and Mighty River Power.
An interim Waitangi Tribunal report on freshwater suggested offering Māori special shares as part of its proposal to partially privatise some state-owned power companies.
But a Whanganui Iwi Treaty negotiator, Gerrard Albert says until the Crown and Iwi can settle the tribe's Treaty claims discussions about special shares in state-owned power companies is inappropriate.
WATER WHANGA TP
IN: AND THAT'S ALL...
OUT: OF POWER GENERATORS.
DUR: 25"
Gerrard Albert of Whanganui Iwi.
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Meanwhile, a South Waikato Iwi, Ngāti Raukawa, says the Māori King asked Tainui Iwi not to attend last night's government consultation hui on water rights.
The first of six meetings with Māori that have links to waterways used by state-owned power companies, such as Mighty River Power, was held in Hamilton yesterday.
Only 15 people attended the hui - none of them were Tainui leaders.
The chair of the Raukawa Settlement Trust, Vanessa Eparaima, says they didn't go last night because following a request from Kingi Tūheitia.
WATER-KING-TP
IN: HE HAD ASKED...
OUT: OPTION WE TOOK.
DUR: 18"
Vanessa Eparaima says her tribe went to the hui held in Taupō because they have an obligation to their own people so they know what's going on.
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The Auditor General's office says it is not able to investigate the funding process of Te Raukura, known as Te Wharewaka o Pōneke, on the Wellington waterfront.
Late last week, the Office received a request to reopen its investigation into funding of Te Raukura, which at one stage was at the centre of a lengthy dispute regarding a specially built waka.
The Wellington-based Taranaki tribal collective also argued the site, which was opened on Waitangi Day last year, lacked a cultural connection.
The Auditor General's office says it has no power to investigate the activities or audit the accounts of Te Wharewaka o Pōneke Trust because it is a private entity.
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A traditional Māori navigator says his crew is being led by the forces of nature as they sail across the South Pacific Ocean retracing the ancient voyages of their tūpuna.
The Waka Tapu expedition is about to make their first stop on their journey to Rapanui or Easter Island, and are about three or four days away from Tubuai in the Austral Islands.
Two doubled hulled Māori sailing canoes left Auckland last month to make a return journey to Rapanui on their last leg of the Polynesian triangle.
Jack Thatcher says without GPS equipment most of the time they have to literally throw caution to the wind.
That's Te Manu Korihi news; I'll have a further bulletin in an hour.
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The Government is being told that having fewer warrant of fitness inspections could lead to more crashes on the road. The Associate Minister of Transport, Simon Bridges, is now asking the public for submissions on whether the vehicle licensing system needs to be simpler and more efficient. New Zealander's pay 245-million dollars per year to get warrant of finesses, and the government is wondering if that's money well spent. Mr Bridges is with us now. I/V
The Green Party today used the theme of life on an imaginary Planet Key, to tackle the Prime Minister on poverty. Yesterday the Greens' co-leader, Metiria Turei, asked John Key a question about the John Banks affair and whether he had a new "don't read, don't care" approach on what she called 'Planet Key'. Today she launched a fresh attack. Here's our political reporter, Liz Banas filed this. PKG