Checkpoint for Wednesday 26 August 2015

6:50 PM.Prime Minister, John Key, deals to rival party leaders in turn but eventually runs foul of the Speaker for creating disorder. In the Wednesday General Debate, United Future's Ohariu MP, Peter Dunne… Read more Audio

6:46 PM.The Horowhenua District Council will continue with plans to pump wastewater into land near a local marae, despite iwi opposition; The former Minister of Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples was awarded a… Read more Audio

6:45 PM.Judges will be given all the family violence history of defendants under a new pilot programme that aims to keep victims safer. The pilot begins next week in Porirua and Christchurch after two judges… Read more Audio

6:36 PM.The headmaster of Auckland Grammar School has rubbished suggestions state schools should not be offering foreign qualifications like the Cambridge exams. Audio

6:28 PM.A group of Christchurch homeowners are taking a government-owned insurer to court claiming it underpaid them by millions of dollars. Audio

6:24 PM.A child sex abuse taskforce in Australia is looking at chemically castrating paedophiles against their will. At the moment it can only happen if offenders choose it. But courts could make it… Read more Audio

6:19 PM.Nurses, midwives and healthcare assistants have won a 2% pay rise. But District Health Boards say some of them will struggle to pay it. Audio

6:10 PM.The Green Party is accusing the Government and Act Party of breaking their word on the Rugby World Cup Bill, which is expected to pass into law tonight. Audio

6:05 PM.An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

5:55 PM.In Australia experts are about to grapple with the vexed question of whether parents conceiving through in-vitro fertilisation should be allow to choose the child's sex. Already couples have been… Read more Audio

5:51 PM.The Horowhenua District Council will continue with plans to pump wastewater into land near a local marae, despite iwi opposition; The former Minister of Maori Affairs, Pita Sharples was awarded a… Read more Audio

5:47 PM.The Attorney-General has accused the Law Society of inaccuracy and a lack of rigour over its claims about law changes risking the right to a fair trial. Chris Finlayson says the society's got it all… Read more Audio

5:42 PM.The ructions on Wall Street where the stock market took its steepest one day fall in four years, has America finally waking up to the global perils of China's slowing economy. Audio

5:40 PM.Police have searched a central Auckland church metres from their own headquarters during a street drugs bust. Eight men and eight women were arrested as officers searched ten addresses including St… Read more Audio

5:37 PM.Air New Zealand is vowing to pass on its huge profits to customers, in the form of two million flights for under a hundred dollars this year. The company's announced an after-tax profit of $327… Read more Audio

5:35 PM.News from the business sector including a market report. Audio

5:23 PM.Two judges' pleas for a better way of putting rules around granting bail to people accused of family violence are being put to the test. A pilot in Porirua and Christchurch is about to start in which… Read more Audio

5:16 PM.Verbal blows have been traded in Parliament over the state of Housing New Zealand homes, with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition going head to head. Audio

5:13 PM.There are reports a group of endangered kea have been shot in a forest near Nelson. DOC refused to talk to Radio New Zealand while it is investigating. There are fewer than 5000 kea left. Audio

5:07 PM.The law change to let bars open for longer during the Rugby World Cup will be passed by Parliament despite a last minute spat with the Greens. Audio

5:00 PM.Rugby Cup bar Bill being passed despite spat; Resthome workers get massive pay rise; Blows traded over state of state houses; A better way to stricter bail gets a test in court; Nurses win 2% pay… Read more Audio