There are new calls for more firepower for front line police officers after yesterdays siege on the Huaraki Plains. Two people appeared in court today facing charges including attempted murder.
Speakers: Det Inspector Lex Denby, (Police); John Banks, (Police Minister).
A search is underway in South Otago for a group of students who failed to return from a bush walk. Police and locals are searching in the Tautuku area South of Balclutha where the ten pupils and two adults are missing.
An Auckland Company Secretary, 43 year old Graham Ball, has pleaded guilty to fraud totalling 2.6 million dollars. The list of offences stretches to more than 400 charges. The money was embezzled from Auckland trading Company L A Griffiths over a seven and a half year period. Ball will appear in the Auckland High Court next month for sentencing.
The Traffic Safety Service is discontinuing the use of motor bikes for traffic duties due to cost. They say petrol cars are now cheaper and more useful.
Speaker: Dep Chief Supt Ray Wharmough, (Traffic Safety Service).
New Zealand tomato growers claim the are being squeezed out of the domestic market by cheap Australian imports. Australian tomatoes have access to the local market because of CER. Even though the Australian product has less flavour, Supermarkets are clammering to buy them.
Speaker: Alan Guy, (Tomato Growers Federation)
The government’s user pays reforms are finally about to hit politicians as subsidies are removed from Parliament's Restaurant and Bar, Bellamys.
Local music received a boost tonight with the creation of the New Zealand Music Centre. The Centre will market Kiwi compositions both nationally and internationally with funding from the Arts Council and the Composers Federation.
Speaker: David Farquhar, (Composer); Merv Norish, (Music Centre Chairman).
Benefits and Costs - Benefit cuts were introduced two and a half months ago. Margot Chandler looks at the effects the cuts have had.
Speaker: Gilbert Myles, (National, Roskill); John Remijn, Pauline Broughton, (Beneficiaries); Lt John Wordsworth, (Salvation Army); Jane Higham, (Family Budgeting Services); Lorraine Yawdrey, (Single parent); Peter Dixon, (Sickness Beneficiary).