Checkpoint for Friday 15 October 2021

5:07 PM.The emergency allocation system for MIQ has been described as hurtful and illogical, with fewer than 10 percent of applications being approved in some categories, numbers released under the Official… Read more Video, Audio

5:19 PM.New South Wales' new Premier says the state will soon do away with hotel quarantine.

From the November 1, fully vaccinated travellers will be allowed in without having to isolate in a hotel or at… Read more Audio

5:22 PM.About 3000 Cantabrians short changed on the payouts they received for their quake damaged homes are a step closer to getting their money, after the settlement of a landmark class action.

After a… Read more Audio

5:25 PM.The lengthy Auckland lockdown is making it even harder to address truancy - with growing concern some children will disappear from education entirely.

School principals have told Checkpoint as few as… Read more Video, Audio

5:30 PM.A bid to relive the community spirit, hi-jinks and inter-town competitiveness of telethons of the past will get underway across the country this weekend with the Super Saturday vaxathon.

Up and down… Read more Audio

5:38 PM.News from the business sector, including a market report. [embed] https://players.brightcove.net/6093072280001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6277186799001 Video, Audio

5:40 PM.The serious fraud office has started looking into businesses which may have abused the wage subsidy scheme.

More than three billion dollars has been paid out in the latest round of subsidies.

The… Read more Audio

5:44 PM.Weddings in alert level 3 can still go ahead but rather than lush and lavish they need to be more bespoke, intimate celebrations for just 10 people.

From flowers to multi-tier cakes and large orders… Read more Video, Audio

5:48 PM.Organisers of a Hawke's Bay cycling event have had to pull pin because someone's been scattering spikes and other sharp objects on the path it uses.

Cyclocross - which is like cross country cycling -… Read more Video, Audio

5:54 PM.I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! Or at least that's the hope, as Mr Whippy returns to the streets of Dunedin.

It's been more than 10 years since the ice cream vendor was based… Read more Video, Audio

6:08 PM.The emergency allocation system for spots in MIQ is cumbersome and demands an unrealistic levels of evidence, with fewer than 10 percent of applications being approved in some categories according to… Read more Audio

6:15 PM.Another round of the wage subsidy opens today, and with Auckland in its ninth week of lockdown, businesses say they cannot hold on much longer. Hamish Cardwell spoke to some of them. Audio

6:19 PM.Iwi leaders in Tairawhiti Gisborne want assurances from the government that their region will be protected from Covid-19. The threat of Covid-19 is heightened in the country's region with the most… Read more Audio

6:23 PM.The walk of a lifetime has come to a shuddering halt for trampers stuck in the upper North Island's alert level 3 lockdowns.

About 650 people are registered to walk the entire Te Araroa Trail - which… Read more Audio

6:26 PM.One of New Zealand's most scenic spots is also one of the most remote, and vulnerable if it gets cut off.

Piopiotahi Milford Sound is preparing for how it would cope if it was left stranded in a… Read more Audio