Checkpoint for Thursday 20 May 2021

5:07 PM."The biggest benefit rise in a generation" - the headline of Budget 2021.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson has delivered a boost for beneficiaries in his first Budget of the Labour majority… Read more Video, Audio

5:10 PM.Finance Minister Grant Robertson has delivered his first government Budget without a coalition or support partner.

The first 'Labour' Budget in decades. What does that mean? He talks to Lisa Owen.

5:18 PM.Ports of Auckland boss Tony Gibson has announced he's resigning and will step down at the end of June.

Gibson has been at the Port for a decade and in recent times has come under scrutiny for major… Read more Video, Audio

5:24 PM.Cook Islands tourism operators are conceding life may never be the same for the island nation as it tries to bounce back from a global pandemic.

Wage subsidies and free accommodation have been… Read more Video, Audio

5:30 PM.Opposition to the Olympic Games is intensifying, but the IOC boss is determined they can go ahead safely.

Japan is facing a growing number of Covid-19 cases and a slow moving vaccination programme.

… Read more Video, Audio

5:39 PM.In its first unconstrained Budget in decades, the Labour majority government has hiked benefits to help reduce inequality and stimulate the economy in the wake of Covid-19.

The spending is fuelled by… Read more Video, Audio

6:07 PM.The embattled Ports of Auckland Chief Executive has quietly announced his resignation, amid the flurry of Budget Day.

Tony Gibson had been facing mounting pressure to resign following a scathing… Read more Video, Audio

6:13 PM.Big bumps to benefits have been mostly welcomed among people on the streets of the main centres.

The government's preparing to splash $3.4 billion in four years, in a bid to put food on people's… Read more Audio

6:16 PM."Nothing in it for middle New Zealand" - that's how National's describing Budget 2021.

The Opposition party says it lacks a plan, ambition, aspiration and direction, and there's not much for… Read more Video, Audio

6:22 PM.An 84-year-old Northland woman who is raising her teenage grandsons let out a little 'woop' when she heard about today's benefit boosts.

The government has announced all main benefits will jump by… Read more Audio

6:27 PM.Pop-up warnings on a police computer system that told them to take a heavily intoxicated man to hospital have been the focus at the trial of three Taranaki police officers.

They are charged with the… Read more Audio