Checkpoint for Tuesday 1 October 2024

5:49 PM.Once the economic driver of Tairawhiti, forestry in some parts of the region has ground to a halt. The sector's decline has triggered calls for the government to urgently commit to helping resource a… Read more Audio

5:40 PM.Australia correspondent Peter Ryan spoke to Lisa Owen about how how critical the deal with Qatar Airways is to shaking up competition in Australia's airline industry, talks of Virgin Australia… Read more Audio

5:36 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Audio

5:30 PM.A new programme is being piloted at two kindergartens in Nelson and Motueka to help tamariki improve their speech skills before they start school. It comes after research shows children have fewer and… Read more Audio

5:27 PM.The All Whites begin the qualification process for the 2026 Football World Cup next week knowing they need to be the best team in region to progress. A team from Oceania will get automatic… Read more Audio

5:18 PM.In tough financial times more of us are lining up to get credit cards, with applications at their highest levels since 2021. This despite overall demand for consumer credit dropping 4 percent compared… Read more Audio

5:08 PM.Patients could die if plans for a new Dunedin Hospital are down graded and it's backed up by research, according to the Nurses Organisation. 35,000 people marched in Dunedin at the weekend, opposing… Read more Audio

4:54 PM.A criminologist is calling on the government to invest in addiction programmes to treat the causes of crime, rather than spending billions of dollars on locking more people up. The government has… Read more Audio

4:48 PM.Lebanon's capital has been pummelled from the air by warplanes and now its border regions are being targeted by a ground invasion. Although it had been signalled, it is a major escalation. Middle East… Read more Audio

4:45 PM.There are calls to review the coronial system which can pit lawyered-up government agencies and bereaved families. Figures obtained by Checkpoint show that for two long-running inquests, Te Whatu Ora… Read more Audio

4:38 PM.Residents in Lower Hutt say they're shutting themselves indoors and turning off the air con to stop themselves becoming physically sick from yet another wave of putrid odours emanating from the… Read more Audio

4:32 PM.RNZ sports reporter Jamie Wall spoke to Lisa Owen about the lowdown of a stoush last year on the rugby field between Rieko Ioane and Ireland's Johnny Sexton and how it's become a bit easier to attend… Read more Audio

4:26 PM.A flutter of kiwi feathers will soon be winging its way back to Aotearoa. There's 65 of the birds living at 18 international zoos or aquariums and the feathers they naturally shed are collected for… Read more Audio

4:17 PM.United States correspondent Todd Zwillich spoke to Lisa Owen about Hurricane Helene leaving a path of destruction across multiple states, the vice presidential candidates set to duke it out on the… Read more Audio

4:07 PM.You may have spotted what's believed to be New Zealand's first TV ad generated entirely by Artificial Intelligence. It's for Bremworth wool carpets and features a woman with tumbling dark hair… Read more Audio