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Checkpoint FOR FRIDAY 21 SEPTEMBER 2012
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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158 buildings around the country have the same potentially fatal flaw as the CTV building, including 59 in Wellington and 46 in Auckland. But people aren't going be told if they're working in one. The CTV's non-ductile gravity concrete columns appear to have played a big part in its collapse which killed 115 people in the Christchurch earthquake. The Building and Housing agency reluctantly this afternoon issued to Checkpoint a list of where most of the 158 buildings are - as well as Wellington and Auckland, there are eight each in Hamilton and Rotorua, and six each in Whangārei and Christchurch. The other 25 are scattered around smaller centres, for instance Napier which has two. In Wellington's case another six buildings' records are too patchy to tell if they have the columns and in Auckland there are another 81 buildings like that. Wellington woman Courtney Brown questions why she's being left in the dark. CUT Building and Housing is emphasising that the 158 buildings might NOT be unsafe and has asked local councils to get further engineering assessments done on all of them. The Minister for Building and Construction Maurice Williamson joins us now. I/V
The United States has lifted a ban on New Zealand Defence Force vessels visiting American ports, further thawing relations after a 26-year stand-off over nuclear armed and powered ships . The American Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, made the announcement this afternoon following talks with the New Zealand Minister of defence, Jonathan Coleman, in Auckland today.
The Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman is with us now. I/V
For the first time, a snapshot of student achievement under national standards has been made public today. It shows 76 percent of primary school children reached or exceeded the benchmark for reading, 72 percent for mathematics and 68 percent for writing. But almost 30 percent of boys failed to meet the reading and writing standard - and more than 40 percent of Māori and Pasifika children have fallen short. The vice-president of Educational Institute, Frances Guy, says the results are nothing new. CUT And the Labour Party's education spokeswoman, Nanaia Mahuta, says the figures are not as useful to parents as other sources of information. CUT I asked the Education Minister, Hekia Parata, what the figures show us that we didn't already know. I/V
Four officers of a Korean fishing boat found guilty of dumping about a million dollars’ worth of fish have been fined more than 420-thousand dollars ($424,000).
The captain of the Oyang 75 must pay half that because the judge found him to be ultimately responsible for illegally discharging more than 400 tonnes of quota fish off the South Island's east coast last year. A fifth officer found guilty of helping dump the fish is still to make a last minute submission, and his sentencing has been delayed. Marcus Irvine was at court. PKG
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS WITH - Kate Gudsell
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The Serious Fraud Office has launched its first investigation into earthquake insurance fraud in Christchurch which could involve tens of millions of dollars. The Chief Executive Adam Feely won't name the insurance company that's made the complaint or say whether staff are involved or if someone outside the company has been organising multiple false claims. He says the investigation is still in the early stages. I/V
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17.30 HEADLINES
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Police will flood the centre of Sydney with officers this weekend in an attempt to prevent a repeat of last weekend's riot. Nine people have now been arrested since a demonstration in the city - against an American-made anti-Islamic film - turned violent last Saturday. The force says social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter are being monitored, after provocative messages from anti-Muslim groups, trying to incite violence. In mosques and prayer halls across Sydney, Muslim leaders are using Friday prayers to call for a ban on any protests - peaceful or otherwise. From Sydney, the ABC's Will Ockenden. PKG
The Air Line Pilots' Association wants the sale of lasers banned following the sentencing of an Auckland teenager who aimed a beam at several aircraft in the city earlier this year. Pravikash Chandra, who is 19, escaped a prison term this afternoon when he was sentenced to four and a half months home detention. Our reporter Sam Morrah was at the Manukau District Court. PKG
Christchurch was jolted by a magnitude four-point-three earthquake this lunchtime. The tremor was centred 20 kilometres east of the city and was classified by Geonet as "strong". And it gave Cantabrians a nasty reminder. VOXIES There have been no reports of damage, but to tell us more we're joined by seismologist with GNS Science, Dr Martin Rayner. I/V
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17.45 MANU KORIHI Eru Rerekura
Tēnā koutou katoa, good evening,
A new way of measuring pupils' performance shows more than 40 per cent of Māori school children are underachieving in their writing skills.
The first set of results from the Government's new National Standards have been released today.
The data also shows more than 30 per cent of Māori are failing to meet the reading standard.
It's a similar picture for maths, with only 63 per cent reaching the benchmark set by the Ministry of Education.
The Minister of Education, Hekia Parata, says it's concerning that a number of Māori are not meeting the standards.
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The Council of Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, will advertise the position of Chief Executive of the tertiary institution in coming months.
According to an internal notice sent to staff, Te Mana Whakahaere, or the Council, says it is required to either advertise the position or re-appoint the Chief Executive for a further five year term.
The Council says it has been seven years since applicants were sought to lead Te Wānanga o Aotearoa - and the institution now sits in a completely different place within the education sector.
It says it expects a number of applicants to come from within the institution.
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Māori have been presented with opportunities to enter into the business world as part of a conference that's just wrapped up in Rotorua.
The two-day 'Business is Business' conference was hosted by Te Arawa Federation of Māori Authorities Incorporated and the Māori Research Institute.
A co-director of the Institute, Tom Walters, says iwi from around the country came for the conference as well as academics and other professionals.
He says the difference with this conference is that things will be done as a result of it.
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A co-director of the Māori Research Institute, Tom Walters.
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The organiser of a Māori beauty pageant says the competition proved that intellectual substance is more important than looks.
The Miss Aotearoa 2012 show was held in Hastings recently with six young wahine Māori from throughout Aotearoa vying for a place to go on and represent New Zealand at the Miss South Pacific parade.
Angela Cudd of Ngāti Porou descent - a former Miss Aotearoa - says she set a high criteria to ensure the ideal candidates came through who know their whakapapa including having cultural knowledge.
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Angela Cudd says wanted to dispel any aversions people have about beauty pageants.
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The winners of the national secondary schools Māori speech competition - Ngā Manu Kōrero have been awarded their prizes in Nelson this week.
It is an annual event where young orators demonstrate how articulate they are in spoken English and Māori.
The first place winners are:
Shayla Fiaui [fee-oh-ee] from Papanui High School in Christchurch who won the junior English category;
Te Aranga Hakiwai from Te Aute College in Hawkes Bay who took out the junior Māori category;
Rangimārie Teautama from Wellington East Girls College who won senior English section;
And Kaharau Keogh from Ngā Taiātea Wharekura in Waikato who won the senior Māori section.
That's Te Manu Korihi news; I'll have a final bulletin in an hour.
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A woman soldier has given birth in Camp Bastion in Afghanistan's Helmand Province, which was the site of a fatal attack by the Taliban last week. It's the first time a British soldier has given birth on the frontline and the woman involved, a gunner, says she didn't even know she was pregnant.
The ABC's Rachael Brown reports. PKG
Sky-dive operators and hot air balloonists have until the middle of December to show they're doing random drug and alcohol testing on their staff, or taking other such measures to keep tourists safe. New Zealand has been criticised strongly for having a lax safety system by the families of some foreign tourists killed in accidents here. In one, the Fox Glacier skydiving crash in 2010, two of the jump masters had cannabis in their systems, as did the pilot in the Carterton balloon crash this year. Explicit new rules will demand that operators show they're guarding against drug or alcohol use. The Civil Aviation Authority's chief executive Graeme Miller says that points to random drug testing. I/V
Syrian opposition groups say at least thirty people have been killed when a petrol station in the north of the country was hit by a bomb dropped by the Syrian Air Force. Dozens of people are said to have been injured in the attack near the Turkish border which activists have described as a terrible massacre. They've released a video which shows clouds of smoke rising from the wreckage of the petrol station but it can't be independently verified. Jim Muir has been following developments for the BBC from neighbouring Lebanon: PKG