Checkpoint Podcast Options

5:48 PM.Some beneficiaries are about to lose more than $60 from their weekly pay, despite demand for food banks and emergency assistance being at record levels.

The government doubled the Winter Energy… Read more Video, Audio

5:48 PM.It could take months to fully extinguish a scrub fire in the Mackenzie District, even though it's hiding under a blanket of snow right now. 
The fire has ripped through more than 3000 hectares of… Read more Video, Audio

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

5:29 PM.Greens' co-leader James Shaw has fronted up with a massive mea culpa over the Green School fiasco, but no solution.

One may be on the horizon though, with the school breaking its silence to tell RNZ… Read more Audio

5:21 PM.The Earthquake Commission (EQC) chief executive says the agency doesn't have the capability to lead any future repair programme. Read more Video, Audio

5:11 PM.A Rotorua trial of the CovidCard will still go ahead, despite one of its original backers - businessman Sam Morgan and his team - pulling out, Digital Services Minister Kris Faafoi says.

The card… Read more Video, Audio

5:07 PM.Entrepreneur Sam Morgan has walked away from the $100 million CovidCard project, saying he's sick of the bureaucracy and lack of will by the Health Ministry.

But the government has hit back saying it… Read more Audio

6:25 PM.Getting tested every four days is making the U.S Open experience a very different one for New Zealand tennis player, Michael Venus.

Several big names have opted out of the New York tournament, which… Read more Audio

6:21 PM.Greens co-leader James Shaw is scrambling to fix a storm of controversy over his decision to give millions of taxpayers' dollars to a private 'green' school.

Mr Shaw, who's also associate finance… Read more Audio

6:17 PM.The government plans to introduce legislation to change the Earthquake Commission's operations, after a report found major failings.

It found EQC was woefully unprepared as it dealt with the… Read more Audio

6:14 PM.The Ministry of Health has launched a review into a blunder which saw hundred of thousands of Aucklanders advised to get a Covid-19 test when they did not need to.

The Prime Minister said yesterday… Read more Video, Audio

6:11 PM.The message to mask-up seems to have been well-received in Wellington today, with high compliance across all forms of public transport. RNZ reporter Eva Corlett took the bus to Wellington station to… Read more Audio

6:07 PM.Masked-up Aucklanders cautiously made their way back to school and work today as the city returned to something resembling normal.

It was still quieter than before the latest level 3 lockdown… Read more Video, Audio

5:58 PM.In Tokoroa, Checkpoint reporter Nick Truebridge and cameraman Nick Monro spoke to locals about how Covid-19 is affecting their town. Read more Audio

5:54 PM.The government maintains it made the right call moving Auckland down an alert level, despite some of the country's top public health doctors worried it's too soon.

And the Health Minister say phone… Read more Audio

5:43 PM.Some 10 years on from the devastating Canterbury quakes, the wait is still not over when it comes to law changes needed to improve the Earthquake Commission.

The government will not get it done until… Read more Video, Audio

5:38 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. Video, Audio

5:29 PM.In Victoria the death toll has risen by 41 in the Australian state at the epicentre of the country's Covid-19 outbreak.

The number of daily infections has fallen to a near two-month low, with 73 new… Read more Video, Audio

5:25 PM.Firefighters are continuing to battle a large scrub fire in the South Island's Mackenzie District.

The fire is believed to have started around half past eleven yesterday morning near Lake Pukaki.

… Read more Video, Audio

5:16 PM.The Education Minister has issued a plea for all Auckland parents to send their children back to school, after thousands opted to stay away from classrooms today.

Around 250,000 children were… Read more Audio

5:07 PM.NZ businesses are being warned to batten down the hatches as cyber criminals expand their targets after taking down the stock exchange for the fifth consecutive trading day.

Two media outlets, RNZ… Read more Audio

6:31 PM.Resilience has been a valuable commodity over the past six months. And for the New Zealand wheelchair rugby community, there's been no shortage of positivity and ability to get through in the… Read more Video, Audio

6:16 PM.The National Party has pledged it will keep the Tiwai Point Aluminium Smelter running for at least five more years - if it is elected in October.

The clock is already ticking down to the closure of… Read more Audio

6:07 PM.Green Party co-leader James Shaw is facing criticism from party members for approving nearly $12 million in funding for a privately-owned 'green' school in Taranaki.

It flies in the face of the… Read more Video, Audio

5:48 PM.NZ Blood is stockpiling plasma from recovered Covid-19 patients so it can be used in international clinical trials or more widely if it's proven to be an effective treatment.

This week the US food… Read more Video, Audio