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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 9 DECEMBER 2013
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1700 to 1707 NEWS
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Leaked papers on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade talks reveal deep differences between the 12 countries negotiating the agreement. Negotiators are trying to stitch together a deal in Singapore but the papers released by Wikileaks indicate they might struggle to do so. Our political editor Brent Edwards has been looking at the papers.
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A new report has confirmed that a quarter of New Zealand children are now living in poverty - and 10% of them suffer extreme hardship. Poverty's defined as living in a home where the annual income's less than 60% of the national median of $44,000, once housing costs have been paid. The figures are worse in Northland where nearly two-thirds of the children are born into poverty, and health authorities are warning of a time bomb. Lois Williams reports
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A Christchurch woman and her three children are moving into a tent in a public park because she says she can't find an affordable place to rent. The earthquake damaged house Nellie Hunt has been living in has been sold and she was told three months ago she'd have to be out by today. Housing New Zealand has told Radio New Zealand Ms Hunt has only been on a waiting list since last week but Ms Hunt says that's wrong, it's been a lot longer. She says it's been impossible to find a new flat.
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In Thailand, the Prime Minister has buckled after weeks of unrelenting pressure from protesters - dissolving parliament and calling a snap election. The announcement comes after the opposition party members said they would all resign - claiming they could not longer work alongside the Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. The leader of the main opposition Democrat Party, Abhisit Vejjajiva (PRO Abbasit Whicha-chee-wa) says an election is the first step in solving the political crisis - but says today's massive protest march onto the steps of Government House will still go ahead. The Washington Times' Richard Ehrlich [UR-lick] joins us from Bangkok:
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1720 TRAILS AND BUSINESS with Jenny Ruth
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The Prime Minister is on his way to the memorial service for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg but is being criticised for not taking the anti-Springbok tour activist, John Minto, with him. Instead John Key is being accompanied by the Labour Party leader, David Cunliffe; the Maori Affairs Minister, Pita Sharples; former Prime Minister Jim Bolger; and the former secretary-general of the Commonwealth, Sir Don McKinnon. Both Mr Bolger and Sir Don were members of the National Party Cabinet which allowed the Springbok rugby tour to proceed in 1981. David Cunliffe has suggested Mr Minto, who led the protests agains the tour, should have been invited to join the delegation. Mr Key rejects Mr Cunliffe's criticism although he says he did consider taking Mr Minto.
CUT
John Key, who has previously said he couldn't recall whether he opposed the 1981 tour, has been asked again about his view of the tour.
CUT
The Prime Minister, John Key.
And John Minto has been listening to that –
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17. 30 HEADLINES
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The son of a woman charged with murdering her husband has admitted trying to bribe his mother in return for not going to the police. Helen Milner faces one charge of murder and two of attempted murder at the High Court in Christchurch over the death of Philip Nisbet in 2009. Evidence was heard today from Helen Milner's son from an earlier marriage, Adam Kearns, who admitted asking her for a 20-thousand-dollar bribe. The figure was the same amount of money Mrs Milner allegedly offered Mr Kearns and another of her sons to kill her husband. Adam Kearns today related an exchange of text messages between him and his mother where he asked for the money in return for his silence.
CUT
Earlier today, Mr Kearns said his mother often talked about killing Mr Nisbet including details of how she would do it.
CUT
Adam Kearns, who was living with his mother and Mr Nisbet at the time, said he didn't think she had it in her and treated the threats as a joke. However one night he found her in the kitchen filling Panadol capsules with crushed blue pills.
CUT
Adam Kearns warned Mr Nisbet his mother was trying to kill him but said Mr Nisbet laughed it off. Under cross-examination, Adam Kearns, had to admit his relationship with Mr Nisbet wasn't always a good one. He said Mr Nisbet didn't want him to live with him and his mother and that he broke Mr Nisbet's jaw during a fight.
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Adam Nisbet said his mother was manipulative and any friction between him and Mr Nisbet was the fault of his mother. Our reporter, Conan Young has been covering the hearing and joins me now.
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The Labour Party is accusing the Government of fostering a culture of fear in the public sector through the use of bullying tactics. A report, released today by Transparency International New Zealand, says it appears public servants feel less able to give free and frank advice. It also flagged the need for greater transparency around political party funding. Here's our political reporter, Craig McCulloch.
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A Christchurch couple's insurance claim for a 1-point-3 million dollar payout for their red-zone property has been rejected by a High Court judge as entirely inappropriate. Paul and Georgina Rout took their insurer Southern Response to court after it offered them 263-thousand dollars for a repair job on their Brooklands home. They argued they should get more than one million dollars to pay for expensive foundations so they can rebuild on TC3 land in their area. But the judge has awarded them 673-thousand dollars, saying that's closer to the actual cost of rebuilding a comparable house on sound land. Insurance lawyer, Grant Shand represented the couple in court, he's with us now:
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At least 100-thousand Ukrainians have filled the centre of the capital Kiev in a rally for greater integration with Europe. Independence Square and surrounding streets were packed, with some demonstrators pulling down a statue of the Russian communist leader Lenin. They're protesting against the President's decision to reject a trade deal with the European Union and fear losing some of their sovereignty to Russia. The BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from the rally.
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17. 45 MANU KORIHI with Eru Rerekura
Kia ora mai good evening,
The Maori child advocacy group, Mana Ririki, is hoping that new figures from the Child Poverty Monitor are an indication that abuse of Maori children is decreasing.
The first ever report concludes 265-thousand New Zealand children live in poverty, with a third missing out on basic needs such as kai, heating and doctors visits.
Maori children are twice as likely as European children to live in poor households.
The executive director of Mana Ririki, Anton Blank, says he hopes a downward trend in hospital admissions for
non-accidental injuries of tamariki Maori means less child abuse.
CHILD-MAORI-TP
IN: IT'S TOO EARLY TO TELL. . .
OUT: . . . A REALLY POSITIVE TREND.
DUR: 18"
Anton Blank says the report will help track Maori child abuse rates into the future.
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The Treasury says it's been slow to builds link with iwi and tangata whenua.
The Government department has made the admission in a speech to the Huihuinga Wahine Maori Women Leadership Summit.
The Treasury says, in the past, it's had a lot of contact over Treaty negotiations and natural resources, but it's been slower than some other government departments to create working partnerships with Maori and iwi.
Addressing the summit, its Deputy Chief Executive, Vicky Robertson, quoted a Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade official, who said the Maori economy is "bold, brown and on the move".
The Treasury acknowledges that it needs to have a good grasp of the changes, if it's going to be effective policy advisers.
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The writer, Patricia Grace, says her legal challenge against the Kapiti Expressway is due to be heard next February.
She and her whanau are asking the Maori Land Court to rule that a portion of ancestral land where the road will be built in Waikanae should be made a Maori Reservation.
The author, of Ngati Toa, Ngati Raukawa, and Te Ati Awa descent, plans to present evidence based on whakapapa, history and culture.
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The co-chair of the Constitutional Advisory Panel says many Maori believe the Treaty of Waitangi is too important to be put into a written constitution.
The panel recommends the Treaty be kept out if New Zealand adopts a single written constitution, which would govern the way residents live.
It received more than 5-thousand submissions and hosted 120 hui.
A co-chair, Sir Tipene O'Regan, says putting the Treaty into written concrete form is challenging because it is still subject to a range of interpretations.
And many Maori weren't for it.
CONSTITUTION-TIPENE-TP
IN: THERE IS VERY. . .
OUT: . . . IN A CONSTITUTION.
DUR: 20"
Sir Tipene O'Regan says the main issue is how uninformed the country feels about these issues, and recommends more accesible information for the public.
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Turangawaewae Marae in Ngaruawaahia is to host a service to honour the late Nelson Mandela.
He visited Turangawaewae in 1995 as a special guest of the late Maori Queen, Te Arikinui Dame Te Atairangikaahu.
The service will be held this Friday.
That's Te Manu Korihi news I'll have a further bulletin in an hour.
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Greenpeace has told the High Court in Wellington the Environmental Protection Authority failed in its legal responsibilities by allowing Anadarko to drill for oil off the coast of Raglan. Lawyers for Greenpeace argue the Authority made a legal error because it didn't see key documents about how an oil spill would be managed before making the decision. But the Authority is rejecting that accusation. Our reporter William Ray has been at the high court.
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Parents of children with special needs have spoken out about the discrimination they say their children face from schools and will support the IHC in its legal case against the Ministry of Education for alleged breaches of the Human Rights Act. They say schools have refused to enrol their children and failed to give them a decent chance at education. Our education correspondent, John Gerritsen, reports.
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Egyptian police have recovered an ancient statue of Tutankhamen's sister. The piece was stolen along with hundreds of other exhibits when a museum was looted amid clashes between police and Islamists earlier in the year. The BBC's Arab Affairs editor Sebastian Usher reports:
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Presenter: Mary Wilson
Editor: Maree Corbett
Deputy editor:
Producers: Mei Yeoh, Meg Fowler