RNZ: The Week In Review

A review of the week's news including... the weather, questions about how the Greens and New Zealand First can work together, a philanthropist property developer says he'll spend 50 million dollars building a replacement children's hospital in Wellington, the police say a huge drop in the number of breath tests is quality over quantity, is the Maori Party's ambitious plan to resurrect rail in the regions doomed to failure?, an Auckland marae will open its doors to the homeless again and the Government is footing the bill, a New Zealand couple whose mentally ill son died in a Japanese hospital have described his treatment as cruel and medieval, a New Zealand woman dies after a jet engine blast knocks her to the ground in the Caribbean and both experienced and relatively new musicians have been nominated for New Zealand's top song writing award.

A review of the week's news including... An official apology and a law change - three decades in the making, the Amercias cup is paraded through Auckland CBD as the Government writes a five million dollar cheque to help Team New Zealand, there's fresh pressure on the Government to tackle high petrol prices, the volume of house sales in Auckland plummets according to the latest QV data, more of Checkpoint's ongoing coverage of billionaire Peter Thiel who became a New Zealand citizen after spending only twelve days in country - just who is he?, another call to raise the drinking age, the minister responsible for drug reform U-turns on medicinal cannabis, fears the Government may try to change the law to get round a Supreme Court ruling against the controversial Ruataniwha Dam, Auckland's new $1.4 billion tunnel opens for its first Monday morning rush hour and 50 years is a long time between red cards.

A review of the week's news including... Team New Zealand wins the America Cup, the Police re open their investigation into whether Todd Barclay secretly recorded staff in his electorate office, we tour Labour's interns accommodation, the Government digs in over it's decision to make an American billionaire a New Zealand citizen, young children are to learn the basics of computer programming, a shipwrecked New Zealander says hitting a remote reef was like a freight train hitting a brick wall, the new United States ambassador asks New Zealanders to give him and his President a fair go and the last word from the mother of victorious Team New Zealand helmsman Peter Burling.

A review of the week's news including... National MP Todd Barclay falls on his sword while Labour is in damage control, the decision to not prosecute the Pike River Mine CEO is to be contested in the Supreme Court, the lawyer for Akshay Chand says she sought bail on his behalf believing his mother and aunt would monitor his every movement, The Education Ministry is forced to apologise for its flawed handling of school closures and mergers after the 2011 Canterbury earthquake, The Health Minister is forced to defend his embattled Ministry following a major budget blunder, employment lawyers aren't surprised another health sector group is taking a pay equity claim, Ministry for Primary Industries officials come under fire at a packed Stewart Island public meeting on the cull of the island's farmed oysters, it's Plan B for a crowd funded initiative that wants to take control of Dunedin's Cadbury factory and All Black great Sir Colin 'pinetree' Meads has been immortalised in bronze.

A review of the week's news including... Labour promises to cut immigration numbers by a year, the Prime Minister congratulates Theresa May on her re-election as British Prime Minister, a police prosecutor tells an inquest she assumed the judge was well aware Akshay Chand was living just a few minute's walk from his victim's home, New Zealand and Israel agree to restore diplomatic ties, a scathing report by UNICEF is highly critical of the status of children in New Zealand, new emails show how KiwiRail gave in to pressure from the Transport Minister's office to keep a report secret, an Auckland building consultant demands the Government suspend certification of a type of cladding in the wake of the fatal tower fire in London, Winston Peters' potential kingmaker role is underlined in the latest RNZ Poll of Polls, most Cantabrians want Christchurch's quake-damaged cathedral to be restored, we check the pulse of the rural sector at the National Agricultural Fieldays, Devonport's most famous musical export releases her second album, our Navy's only tanker is being decommissioned and Team New Zealand will contest the America's Cup after a convincing defeat of its challenger rival in Bermuda.

A review of the week's news including... The oyster industry says a crisis is imminent, the US Secretary of State drops in for a short visit, the controversial question of whether people with terminal illness should be able to take their own life has dropped like a bomb into election year, the head of the Salvation Army's social services says the Prime Minister asked for his help to tackle a looming housing crisis in Auckland six years ago, the Transport Minister is caught trying to block an Official Information request, Shane Jones comments on the Government's withdrawal from negotiations with Ngapuhi, the President of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party defects, the Government is in no rush to demand big online companies share encryption secrets at the next Five Eyes meeting, overseas visitors lodge nearly thirty claims a day with ACC, this week sees the 100th anniversary of The Battle of Messines and Team New Zealand are through to the finals of the challenger series of the Americas Cup.

A review of the week's news including... Legal action looms over the Auckland Council following its decision to vote for Mayor Phil Goff's targeted accommodation rate, the Auditor General releases a report critical of what happens when mental health patients are discharged from hospital or in-patient care, Wellington mayors unanimously vote to support an indoor arena that would seat up to 12,000, eighty percent of New Zealand's native bird species are in trouble, New Zealand politician's reaction to the United States pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord, two students take a petition to Parliament calling for GST to be removed on sanitary products, dairy owners say the Government's 1-point-8 million dollar fund to help them buy security equipment is nowhere near enough to protect them, New Zealand Defence Force soldiers return from a six month deployment in Iraq believing they've made a difference in the fight against IS, a rodeo cowboy caught abusing animals escapes formal punishment, KFC's deal to sponsor this year's Rugby League World Cup has been called a coup for the company but a tragedy for public health, the mother of Kiwi IndyCar driver Scott Dixon is grateful her TV coverage went to an adbreak just moments before her son's spectacular Indianapolis 500 crash and the British and Irish Lions seek to write their names into rugby folklore.

A review of the week's news including... Analysis of this week's budget, former whistle blowing Transport Ministry workers speak out for the first time about being forced out of their jobs, a Kaitaia doctor and former New Zealander of the year launches a passionate attack on a controversial film, New Zealand joins the space age, Kim Dotcom is described as ridiculous and manipulative by the family of a murdered man he says was the leaker of emails to Wikileaks, dairy owners say quitting selling cigarettes is not an option in tackling the growing number of aggravated robberies, concern in Canterbury that a lucrative water consent attached to a former wool scouring plant could be used to export bottled water, a new report into ACC finds hundreds of thousands miss out each year on cover, treatment and support - four times ACC's own estimates, the mayor of Christchurch warns of years of legal wrangling if the Anglican Church tries to get a resource consent to demolish the city's cathedral, the former head of Auckland's downtown promotions agency is released early from prison and what has the Hillary step gone?

A review of the week's news including... A high profile suicide prevention campaigner makes a very public exit from a Government advisory group, the Opportunities Party wants cannabis laws reformed, the Government is urged to demand answers over the planned closure of a sheep meat plant in Ashburton, the Solicitor General applies to the High Court for an unprecedented third trial of a serial rapist for the murder of an Auckland woman, police release CCTV footage of the latest aggravated robbery and link the increasing cost of cigarettes to a jump in robbery numbers, the former Conservative Party leader and a leading blogger go toe to toe in court, a woman who was granted compassionate release from prison last November has died of cancer, the Prime Minster is happy Japan is continuing with the TPP and Auckland needs more film studios.

A review of the week's news including... Embattled Kiwi rugby league players not being considered for the World Cup after allegedly buying cocaine, does Australia think of New Zealand as a soft back-door path for immigration? Netflix announces a second season of a controversial TV series, major political leaders are reluctant to support a prison based on Maori values, an inquiry into Havelock North's water contamination finds there was 'a failure to protect public health', the education council underlines it's zero tolerance approach to cannabis, is a black market in cigarettes driving the rising number of aggravated dairy robberies? we hear from two MPs who don't own a home, more Myrtle Rust is found in Northland, the former Conservative Party leader reads letters to his then press secretary out loud in court, an expat Kiwi group in Canada objects to an energy drink called 'Haka' and who and what is representing New Zealand at the World's biggest contemporary art event?

A review of the week's news including... New questions are raised by leaked video footage showing a robot and two workers inside the Pike River mine just months after the 2010 disaster, fresh happy faces in the newly announced Labour list line up, the country's two biggest media companies have been given a strong message from the regions after their proposed merger is knocked back, a full biosecurity operation launched in Kerikeri, Wellington house prices soar, a helicopter pilot describes his crash north of Wellington as 'frightening', women in the Mongrel Mob say there is now less violence towards women, a review of the Kaikoura earthquake reveals it generated a tsunami of nearly 7 metres, the most annoying driving habits on Christchurch roads and one half of a champion rowing crew is surprised by the other half's retirement announcement.

A review of the week's news including... Invercargill police say they're shocked to be investigating one of their own for murder, the Censor's office has created an entirely new classification specifically for the Netflix show 13 Reasons Why, an American tourist sentenced on two charges of careless use of a motor vehicle causing death and four charges of careless use causing injury talks exclusively to Checkpoint about the weight of his guilt, New Zealand's high use of solitary confinement and restraint practices in prisons has been lambasted, patients with lung cancer have their fingers crossed that they'll be next in line to get free access to the drug Keytruda, a warning there could be thousands of cases of a dangerous potentially lethal superbug infection every year if action isn't taken, the Government announces 11-billion-dollars of infrastructure spending over the next four years, what's expected to be the National Government's last Cabinet reshuffle before the election, a national shortage of fruit and vegetables following Cyclones Debbie and Cook, a woman is attacked by a shark at Curio Bay and stargazers around the country were treated to an epic show not once, but twice.

A review of the week's news including... a two billion dollar pay equity settlement, the Government announces changes it says are aimed at improving the quality of immigrants and controlling the quantity, irresponsible, unsafe, and unethical -- that's how a new Netflix series aimed at teenagers is being described, the top family court judge fires back at criticisms levelled at the court system by a new women's advocacy group, the Prime Minister who oversaw the dramatic undermining of unions now says unions have probably become too small, a review of Mental Health Services finds they are under pressure, under resourced and not widely understood, the Air Force's NH90 helicopters have been all but grounded, an eight-year-old girl is pulled alive from Manukau Harbour after treading water for more than two hours, the conversion of thousands of hectares of the Mackenzie Basin to dairy farms has been halted, tampons and sanitary pads will not be subsidised for all women by Pharmac, the government department set up to make the economy bigger isn't sure it can reach the goals it set for itself, Central Christchurch residents say they're under siege from sex workers and are threatening legal action, the massive Kaikoura earthquake may have saved the town from having to spend millions of dollars and the largest multi-sport event in the world has arrived in Auckland.

A review of the week's news including... Relief after cyclone Cook passes quickly down the North Island with limited damage, questions about what was known about the increasing risk of Edgecumbe stop banks bursting, the man who gave us Fred Dagg has died suddenly, three more former CERA staffers are being investigated after conflict of interests prompted calls for a wider inquiry, a warning more homeless families will be sleeping in cars parks and garages in Auckland this winter, the High Court rules excessive defamation damages against Colin Craig constitute a miscarriage of justice, a verdict in a defamation against the Labour leader Andrew Little, relatives of New Zealand soldiers killed on duty in South East Asia are relieved their family members will be finally returned home, US consumer campaigner Erin Brockovich visits Christchurch homeowners who are trying to settle earthquake insurance claims six years on, three teams have been cut from the Super Rugby competition and a more than 50 year old copper time capsule has been cracked open.

A review of the week's news including... Flooded Edgecumbe residents scatter as the Rangataiki river sweeps through their town, a church at the centre of a typhoid outbreak says members feel let down by health authorities, a decade of independent scrutiny into how police treat sexual assault victims and investigate their own officers' behaviour is about to end, the Opposition leader defends himself against a High Court defamation suit filed by tourism operators, the Greens target the youth vote with new candidate selections, the theft of two Lindauer paintings has art experts puzzled, the Privacy Commissioner publishes a report highly critical of the Government's plan to make community groups hand over clients' private details, a vigilante says he was proud of slashing the tyres of cars parked near Wellington airport, the Prime Minister is accused of joining a seven year cover up, and RNZ's Checkpoint turned 50 this week - we have a special feature celebrating the milestone.