Checkpoint for Thursday 30 April 2020

5:07 PM.New Zealand should brace itself for a new wave of immense poverty and mental distress as it grapples with the fallout from Covid-19.

That was the warning to MPs on the Epidemic Response Committee… Read more Audio

5:10 PM.A migrant worker was forced to ask a budget centre for adult nappies because he was sleeping in his car after losing his job and home due to Covid-19. He does not qualify for a benefit because of his… Read more Video, Audio

5:17 PM.The Director General of Health has poured water on calls from infectious disease specialists for a vaccine to be manufactured here in New Zealand.

On Thursday the specialists aired their fears that… Read more Audio

5:20 PM.An iwi roadblock north of Whangārei remains in place under level three, with volunteers reporting huge increases in traffic.

As questions remain over the legality of such checkpoints, some drivers… Read more Video, Audio

5:33 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Video, Audio

5:37 PM.A Hawke's Bay man has been sent to jail for stabbing a neighbour over a missing packet of tobacco.

Vaughan Davies was convicted of manslaughter for killing father of six Bruce Wirihana in Hastings… Read more Audio

5:39 PM.Fiona Robinson was in a sleepy coastal village somewhere in Argentina when quite by chance she discovered late in the piece, the world was shutting down all around her.

After a breathtakingly… Read more Video, Audio

5:45 PM.Are community checkpoints legal or illegal? Volunteers have run community checkpoints throughout the lockdown, with professional traffic management help, pulling cars over and questioning motorists… Read more Audio

5:51 PM.A disgraced police officer who raped his female colleague as she slept has been jailed for six years.

Jamie Foster raped the woman at a Kerikeri motel they had been put up in while working during… Read more Audio

5:55 PM.Animal welfare charities are expecting a flood of abandoned animals as the country loosens up lockdown restrictions.

Helping U Help Animals - also known as HUHA, was already at capacity across their… Read more Video, Audio

6:06 PM.A flurry of complaints about people flouting the alert level three rules has seen the Prime Minister reminding us about the restrictions still in place.

The police have set up an online reporting… Read more Audio

6:08 PM.Lockdown level 3 is breathing life into the economy again - but are we still leaving each other enough breathing space?

And were things better on Thursday? Lydia Batham - with the help of RNZ… Read more Video, Audio

6:14 PM.The Minister of Social Development is under growing pressure to do more to help migrant workers in desperate circumstances after losing their jobs due to Covid-19 lockdown and who are unable to access… Read more Video, Audio

6:23 PM.New Zealand Rugby's top decision makers opened the books on the state of the country's biggest sport today.

The national body was expecting to make a substantial loss last year - but things turned… Read more Audio