Checkpoint for Tuesday 8 October 2019

5:10 PM.Finance Minister Grant Robertson is hinting he's ready to spend up after unveiling the biggest Budget surplus in more than a decade.

The Reserve Bank has been strongly hinting that the government… Read more Video, Audio

5:15 PM.The competition watchdog has been left red faced after a computer which has confidential information on it was stolen from an external provider.

The Commerce Commission says the computer was taken in… Read more Video, Audio

5:20 PM.Protesters have been waving their flags all day at Gisborne as a replica of the Endeavour arrived to mark 250 years since Captain James Cook landed.

There's been a civic service with the… Read more Video, Audio

5:25 PM.Police are calling for anyone with video of a Dunedin flat party where a 19-year-old university student died to contact them.

Sophia Crestani died when hundreds of people tried to flee a party on… Read more Video, Audio

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

5:35 PM.Only a third of schools so far have signed on to the government's offer to compensate them for scrapping school donations.

The government has budgeted more than $75 million a year to pay $150 per… Read more Audio

5:40 PM.Should superannuants who are still earning big bucks in retirement pay a special higher tax rate, to cut the cost of pensions?

That's one idea up for discussion in a three-yearly review of retirement… Read more Video, Audio

5:52 PM.Rugby World Cup bosses, teams and fans are keeping their eyes on powerful typhoon forming to the south of Japan which could bring fierce winds and torrential rain over the weekend.

Japan's… Read more Video, Audio

6:10 PM.The new head of the Climate Change Commission says he's not convinced there's enough evidence to declare a climate emergency.

Rod Carr has been named as the chair-designate of the independent group… Read more Video, Audio

6:15 PM.Farming communities from Wairarapa to Wairoa are asking the government to put the brakes on forestry policies they say put the future of rural settlements at risk.

An RNZ investigation has found at… Read more Video, Audio

6:20 PM.Local Government New Zealand says it's still too early to make a prediction on voter turnout for Saturday's election.

With four days to go, voter turnout around the country varies, but is looking… Read more Audio

6:25 PM.The colour of Carterton's central clock tower is dividing residents as the town votes on options to repaint the landmark.

The tower - dubbed Carterton's Big Ben - is to get a makeover as part of… Read more Video, Audio