Angela d’Audney presents the news. The Government Caucus is preparing for a major showdown tomorrow for the Anzac Frigate Project. Eyewitness has learned that the Caucus will meet earlier than usual to allow for debate. A study climate change team found that average temperatures will rise by one and a half degrees, meaning many regions could grow new crops, but some would be even more prone to drought and farmers would have to learn to cope with new pests and diseases. Social Welfare Minister Michael Cullen says old folk can’t expect the Government to fund every effort to keep them alive. The helm has been taken over by experienced yachties from the Fiji navy from the wife of Aucklander Richard Johnson who was swept overboard on Illusions II. Atrocious weather has forced Police to call off a search for a man missing off Tauranga after their yacht was overturned. The Canterbury Area Health Board plans to close two geriatric hospitals in Christchurch to cut costs. The safety of hospital patients can no longer be guaranteed, according to the country’s nurses. The NSW State Government has frozen a grant of $45,000 to a Sydney offshoot of Northland’s controversial Hopetown Center. [Foreign news]
Lindsay Perigo presents the issues of the day in depth. “New Zealand’s export earnings are at record levels to the end of July, reaching just over $15 billion. But our import costs are also ballooning, setting a new July quarter record. The Government says its more good economic news, underscoring the fact of recovery. Others remain sceptical. Mary McCallum reports.”
[Foreign news - French Prime Minister Michel Rocard visits Fiji]
“Earlier this evening we reported on the greenhouse effect and its affect on New Zealand. One of the major contributing factors to the heating of the planet is the continued destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Environmentalists have rejected claims by the Brazilian government that the burning of the Amazon forest is now under control. August is the month when the burnoff reaches a peak, and thousands of acres are destroyed to create more farm land. But the effect is to reduce the Earth’s supply of fresh oxygen and produce more of the gasses that heat up the Earth’s climate.” BBC report.
“The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has begun an awareness campaign to remind New Zealanders of the consequences of foot and mouth disease. An outbreak here would cost the country an estimated $100 million a week in lost export earnings as well as long term damage to our international markets. Although the farm stock disease has never appeared in New Zealand, MAF says there is no cause for complacency. Jim Greenhough reports.”
Weather.