Checkpoint for Tuesday 5 May 2020

5:07 PM.After a video meeting between Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday morning, the two leaders say they are committed to introducing a trans-Tasman… Read more Video, Audio

5:14 PM.Education leaders have variously described the Education Ministry's response to the pandemic as a shambles, a game of Russian roulette, as well as nimble and responsive.

They warned Parliament's… Read more Audio

5:17 PM.Glen Denham is the principal of Massey High School in West Auckland. He discusses the impact of the level 4 and level 3 lockdown on education in New Zealand. Read more Video, Audio

5:25 PM.The Prime Minister says the response to appeals to break mandatory quarantine on compassionate grounds should not be an 'automated' one.

Speaking at the Covid-19 media briefing on Tuesday, Jacinda… Read more Audio

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

5:37 PM.New Zealand has been at Alert level 3 for a week now and with more businesses operating, it has brought some relief to the economy.

With the number of new cases of Covid-19 staying at single digits… Read more Video, Audio

5:43 PM.Two family-owned Auckland fruit shops are criticising lockdown rules as confusing. Longstanding businesses Jack Lum, in Remuera, and KC Loo Fruit Centre, in Mt Eden, initially believed they could open… Read more Video, Audio

5:50 PM.The Waitematā District Health Board is creating work 'bubbles' to limit staff movements at hospitals dealing with Covid-19 patients.

It comes amid a probe into how three nurses at Waitakere Hospital… Read more Audio

5:53 PM.Leaked Ministry of Social Development documents show the agency is planning for hundreds of thousands of extra people to apply for benefits as Covid-19 creates a tidal wave of unemployment.

RNZ… Read more Video, Audio

6:10 PM.A bunch of us are hanging out for the social freedoms of level 2 maybe a few drinks with buddies, or even a previously outlawed party.

Businessman Leo Molloy is one of them. He is planning a level 2… Read more Audio

6:13 PM.The Opposition is pitting its own financial rescue package against the government's, arguing National is better placed to rebuild the economy in the wake of Covid-19.

The plan begins with a bold $8… Read more Audio

6:17 PM.Pests of the non-human variety have been caught on camera breaking lockdown rules on an island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.

Cameras were set up on pest-free Motukorea/Browns Island in March after a… Read more Audio

6:20 PM.A North Canterbury family have finally had positive news after their two family dogs were poisoned by an epilepsy drug on Friday. Read more Video, Audio

6:25 PM.There have been a few ruffled feathers on a couple of West Auckland Facebook pages over the past week with a number of unconfirmed sightings of barn owls.

Barn owls are widespread in Australia, and… Read more Audio