Checkpoint for Tuesday 1 September 2015

6:48 PM.An East Coast family are fighting to keep their ancestral land not once, but twice; Ngati Paoa in Auckland says it's with a heavy heart that the iwi considers court action to affirm its mana whenua… Read more Audio

6:44 PM.The Christchurch Catholic Diocese has been given permission to start pulling down parts of its earthquake damaged cathedral so it can restore parts of the building. Audio

6:36 PM.The Tree Council warns large areas of vegetation in Auckland will be cut down in the next decade thanks to a law change that comes into effect on Thursday. Changes to the Resource Management Act mean… Read more Audio

6:26 PM.The Australian Government is dismissing a scathing Senate inquiry that found a culture of abuse at its asylum centre on Nauru as a political witch hunt. The Federal Senate Committee has heard from… Read more Audio

6:22 PM.The economic impact of the June floods in the central North Island now tops more than a quarter of a billion dollars. Audio

6:19 PM.All of the government's support partners say there's a strong case for New Zealand's annual refugee quota to be increased from 750, to at least 1000. Audio

6:12 PM.A designer says the four alternative proposed national flags are poorly thought out and too complex. The Government's panel has whittled more than 10 thousand designs down to four, and people are… Read more Audio

6:07 PM.An update from the team at RNZ Sport. Audio

5:57 PM.The police in Queensland are scouring bushland on the outskirts of the Gold Coast, where they say a murdered New Zealand woman may be buried. Audio

5:53 PM.Two Hawkes Bay iwi entities are backing a retired probation officer's urgent claim alleging the Crown has failed to cut the high number of Maori in prison and their reoffending. Audio

5:48 PM.Gales and heavy rain battered many parts of the country today, causing havoc on roads. Two women were injured when the ferry they were on hit a rogue wave on their way to Waiheke Island. Audio

5:44 PM.The statutory managers of an Allan Hubbard investment fund say all the money investors put in has been returned. Grant Thornton Statutory Managers says investors in the Hubbard Management Fund have… Read more Audio

5:43 PM.The Police are investigating sexual allegations involving students at Opotiki College in Bay of Plenty. They won't say what the allegations are, but that they don't involve teachers. Audio

5:40 PM.The prominent Northland kaumatua, Dover Samuels has told the Waitangi Tribunal a generation of Maori children were subjected to painful and degrading beatings for speaking te reo at school. Audio

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

5:27 PM.The Ashburton community and Ministry of Social Development staff today marked the first anniversary of the deaths of two workers in their local Work and Income office. Audio

5:25 PM.A lawyer who's admitted having methamphetamine is hoping to escape convictions. The man, aged in his forties, works for a well known firm and appeared at the Auckland District Court today. He was… Read more Audio

5:22 PM.The Refugee Council says New Zealand is meeting its refugee quota, despite official figures showing it is not taking enough people from Syria. A year and a half ago the Government promised to take in… Read more Audio

5:22 PM.The Prime Minister, John Key, says there is enough variety for the public to choose between, in the final four alternative flag designs revealed. Three of the four flags feature the silver fern, two… Read more Audio

5:19 PM.All three of the Government's support partners say there's strong case for New Zealand's annual refugee quota to be increased from the current 750 to at least a thousand people. Audio

5:17 PM.The victim of a killing in central Hamilton last month has been revealed as a convicted paedophile. 71-year old Jacques Donker died after being punched and hit over the head with a full bottle of… Read more Audio

5:09 PM.We're down to four in the battle to design a new national flag, and people are already complaining they look too similar. Three of them have a silver fern, while the other is an unfurled fern, a koru… Read more Audio

5:00 PM.Designer says flags are poor; Victim of killing revealed as a convicted paedophile; Government support parties support refugee increase; Refugee council says NZ meeting refugee quota; Dover Samuels… Read more Audio