Checkpoint for Thursday 25 March 2021

5:10 PM.A recent returnee to New Zealand is describing apparent failures at an Auckland MIQ facility a "betrayal of trust".

Health officials are contacting 250 returnees who have left the Grand Mercure Hotel… Read more Video, Audio

5:20 PM.Hospitals across the country have reached crisis point, with some emergency departments reaching capacity.

People are being treated in corridors, increasing numbers of staff are reporting burn out… Read more Audio

5:25 PM.The New Zealand Olympic committee is being urged to make it compulsory for athletes going to the Tokyo Games to be vaccinated against Covid-19.

The government is offering early access to vaccination… Read more Audio

5:29 PM.Sold to another bank, listed on the New Zealand Stock Exchange or winding down the business completely, speculation is rife over what will happen if Westpac decides to withdraw from its New Zealand… Read more Audio

5:41 PM.An art studio tucked away in a suburban Auckland park is looking to expand.

But Māpura is a unique kind of studio, it specialises in art therapy and connecting people living with the effects of… Read more Video, Audio

5:50 PM.Members of New Zealand's Pacific communities are emphasising the importance of clear messaging about the Covid-19 vaccine.

The country's rollout of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is still in its early… Read more Audio

5:54 PM.Undersea robots have journeyed deep under the ocean floor - collecting data that will shape our understanding of earthquakes, like the one that prompted mass evacuations earlier this month.

The… Read more Video, Audio

6:08 PM.Hospital emergency departments around the country are heaving, and it is not yet winter.

In the past 48 hours, Dunedin Hospital and Whangārei Hospital reached capacity, and were forced to ask people… Read more Video, Audio

6:16 PM.There were fiery clashes at Parliament today, as the Mongrel Mob gave a submission on a proposed firearms control law.

MPs are mulling National MP Simeon Brown's bill which seeks to give police… Read more Audio

6:22 PM.As the call for a government apology for New Zealand's Dawn Raids of the 1970s gathers momentum, the desire for meaningful reparations does too.

The Polynesian Panthers social justice movement has… Read more Audio

6:25 PM.The Prime Minister left the cabinet papers in the van today to play conductor on a new commuter train service linking the Waikato and Auckland.

Jacinda Ardern and Transport Minister Michael Wood… Read more Audio