Many buildings in the Christchurch central city will be demolished. If owners have insurance, the insurance company might pay for a new building. However, employers will lose business in the meantime. The government will help to pay workers for a few weeks until the business opens again. However, when a business moves to a new part of the city, it takes time to get new customers. Workers could lose jobs.

Farmers have lost buildings too, including milking sheds and large silos which store wheat. They have damage to their land too.

Rent for homes and businesses could increase because so many homes and buildings have been badly damaged.

Insurance premiums will increase throughout New Zealand because this earthquake will cost insurance companies so much.

The cost for taxpayers will be huge. Already the government is saying it will cost $4bn to repair public buildings, roads, electricity, water and sewerage systems. The government is also providing $7.5m to social services to help people in the community who are in need.

However, there is good news for the construction industry – builders, plumbers, bricklayers, electricians, roofers, painters and all the other people involved in building. Recently many of these people have been out of work. Some of them talked about moving to Australia. There will now be plenty of work in Canterbury for a long time.

Questions
1. The earthquake will have an emotional impact on people as well as an economic impact. Can you explain what this is?
2. Children have also been affected by the earthquake. Why? What can parents do?
3. Many old and interesting buildings will be demolished. Should the Christchurch City Council control the design of new buildings?

Unfortunately, it has done more damage. Some buildings which had no damage from Saturday’s quake, were damaged this morning. Some buildings that were already damaged, received more damage. Plumbers trying to mend broken water and sewer pipes found that this morning’s after-shock broke more pipes.

Schools will stay closed until Monday. The university had more damage today and it is possible that the main library will not open again this semester. University classes will not start again until 20th September.

However, the good news is that Christchurch water is now safe to drink. They no longer have to boil the water.

Many people are feeling under stress because of the after-shocks and the worry that there could be another big earthquake. Of course, nobody knows. Civil Defence people tell us the safest thing to do in an earthquake is to get under a table, away from a window. If you are outside, stay away from brick walls, chimneys or windows.

It measured 7.1 on the Richter scale. At first we were told it was 7.4. That would mean nearly three times stronger. Each 0.2 means double the strength. On average, 18 earthquakes between 7.0 and 7.9 occur each year somewhere in the world.

The earthquake occurred on a fault line that had been hidden for 16,000 years. We knew about the Alpine Fault line running along the west side of the Southern Alps but nobody knew about this one. It had been covered by gravel for thousands of years, building up pressure. The fault line is about 22 km long. Photos from a plane show the ground moved where it crossed the fault line on Saturday. A row of trees in a field was in a straight line last week. Now part of the row has moved 4m.

There was a pre-shock of 5.4 a few seconds before the main earthquake on Saturday. This probably woke people and gave them time to move to safety.

We have had about a hundred after-shocks since the big earthquake. Most are between 3 and 4 on the Richter scale but last night there were two strong ones measuring 5.4. After-shocks could continue for several weeks but will become weaker and occur less frequently.

Listen to July 18th 2009 and July 22nd 2009 to hear about the Fiordland earthquake last year.

Questions

1. Is any place in the world safe from earthquakes?
2. What other places in New Zealand could have hidden fault lines?
3. What does this mean for new buildings?

No buses operated today and workplaces in the central city were closed. This will mean a loss of business and a financial cost to owners. The central city is home to many international students studying at language schools.

Schools and pre-schools are also closed until Wednesday to give time to check they are safe and have power, water and sewerage. Some schools may be closed for longer than that because some areas still do not have these services. Both the University of Canterbury and Lincoln University are closed at least until next week. Outside, there are cracks in some buildings and inside, books, papers and equipment were thrown around and broken water pipes flooded some areas. For some graduate students there will be heartache as their experiments are ruined.

We now know that about 100,000 houses are damaged, some of them very badly. In areas near rivers or the sea, where houses have been built on sandy soil, water pushed up through the sand, bringing mud and sand with it. The clean up is hard work for home owners. Some roads developed large cracks; some dropped a metre, some rose a metre. Houses developed cracks. Many houses will have to be demolished.

However, one positive thing is good relationships with neighbours. On Saturday morning, people checked that neighbours were OK. With fine weather Saturday and today, people have been outside helping each other clean up. Others have volunteered time to help those who have moved out of their homes. There have been many stories of people helping others.

To see photos and a video of Christchurch after the earthquake go to The Press website.

Questions

1. Geological scientists are saying that this earthquake was not the big one. We are overdue for a big earthquake somewhere in New Zealand. Should we be worried?
2. Will Christchurch find it difficult to attract international students in the future?

The earthquake was centred about 30km west of Christchurch and was quite shallow, only about 10km deep. There is a lot of damage to buildings in some parts of Canterbury while other parts have very little damage. The railway lines are twisted west of Christchurch. The central city area in Christchurch has many old buildings which have lost walls, chimneys and roofs. Some areas in the east have large cracks and holes in the ground. There are flooded streets in some places.

Most places in Christchurch had no power or water for some time this morning. However, on some streets, there were broken water pipes sending jets of water into the air. A fire started in one building when the power came on again.

The first shock lasted less than a minute but was very scary. Most people jumped out of bed as soon as the quake started, to stand under a doorway. Buildings shook back and forward and it was almost impossible to walk until the shaking stopped. Smaller after-shocks are still continuing. They are also scary.

It was lucky this happened when most people were home in bed and not out on the streets.

Questions
1. What is the safest thing to do when an earthquake hits at night when people are asleep?
2. What is the safest thing to do when an earthquake hits during the day when people are at work or school?
3. What can you do to your house to prepare for an earthquake?

First it is the second largest finance company in New Zealand and the debt of $1.6bn is the biggest debt that a New Zealand finance company has ever had.

Second, the government has agreed to use taxpayer money to take control of the company. Two years ago, the government decided to guarantee investments in finance companies and banks. This means that if a finance company is bankrupt, the government will pay back investors. They will not lose their money.

Listen to July 24th 2008 for more about finance companies in trouble.

Also listen to Oct 15th 2008 for more about the government guarantee for finance companies.

This company, SCF, was started in 1926. In the 1950s, a Timaru accountant Alan Hubbard, bought most of the shares in the company. He wanted to lend money to farmers in Canterbury although today many other businesses borrowed money from this company, including property developers. When the property market was in trouble, SCF was in trouble too.

Alan Hubbard made a lot of money in the last few years but he is a generous man and gave millions of dollars to many organisations. He is very popular in Timaru because of the good work he has done for people. He and his wife live in an old house and he drives an old VW car. They do not live a life of luxury. He is now 82 and not in good health. He had to give up working in this company recently but he still has a lot of shares in the company. He will lose all his money because shares are not covered by the guarantee.

Questions
1. Investors who put their money in a finance company instead of a bank can expect higher interest but there is a higher risk. Should the government pay back these investors?
2. When investors get their money back in the next two months, what will they do with it? Will this be good for the economy?
3. One CEO of a company recently took his family on a long expensive holiday after the company went into receivership. How do investors feel when a CEO of a finance company in receivership still lives a life of luxury?

The hotel weighs 740 tonnes and is two storeys. It is moving uphill, along concrete beams, a bit like thick railway lines. The cost of moving it will be $2.5m but this is a heritage building, built 124 years ago. New Zealand does not have many old buildings left so Aucklanders want to keep this one.

Listen to May 9 2010 for more about heritage buildings.

This is not the first heavy building to be moved in New Zealand. In 2006, the Waihi pumphouse, in Coromandel, was moved 300m south and then west along beams. It took 3 months to move. The concrete pumphouse is three storeys high and weighs 1840 tonnes. It was built in 1904 to pump water out of the underground gold mine. Today the gold mine is an open cast mine. The ground underneath the building was not stable because of the old mine underneath it and the building started to tip to one side. The people of Waihi wanted to keep the old building although it is not used today.

If you are interested in seeing photos of the move, go to their website

The first heavy building to be moved was the Museum Hotel in Wellington in 1993. This concrete building weighed 3,500 tonnes and was five storeys high. The new Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa, needed that site so the building was moved across the road and then 90 degrees for another short journey, a total of 120m. It was put on wheels like train wheels and then on tracks like railway tracks. It moved at 5 to 10m an hour and took two days. It was not an old building but the owner wanted to keep it.

If you are interested in seeing pictures of the move, go to their website. There is also a short video.

Questions
The cost of moving heavy buildings is very high. Is it a good idea to spend this money on keeping the buildings?
Listen to these details and write them down: the names of the buildings, location, age, weight, height, distance moved, speed, time it took, cost.

Around 8pm, the police saw a car travelling at about 90kmh in a 50kmh zone. They followed the car. Thirty seconds later, the driver drove through a red light and hit a Daihatsu. Both cars flew in the air then rolled over and over. The two elderly people in the Daihatsu were killed. The driver of the car which caused the crash was taken to hospital. He is 22 years old. His car had no Warrant of Fitness, it was not registered and the driver had no licence because he had been disqualified from driving.

Last month three young people in a car in Christchurch were chased by police for speeding. They hit a power pole and were killed. Two months ago another young driver in Christchurch hit a tree and was killed, as he was speeding away from the police.

In the last year, four motorcyclists and two other people in cars have died as a result of police chases.

Listen to Oct 21 2009 on Boy Racers.

Questions
1. What should the police do if they see a car speeding or being driven dangerously?
2. What effect does a crash like this have on the police?
3. How does someone get disqualified from driving?
4. If the driver had stopped when he saw the police car, what would happen to him?
5. How will this driver feel about causing this accident

Nearly two years ago, a British tourist, Emily Jordan, aged 21, died when she was river-boarding in Queenstown. She was trapped under a rock and drowned. The company which operated this river-boarding had no training, no rescue plan and no rescue equipment. The company was fined $66,000 and had to pay $80,000 to the family. Emily Jordan’s father wrote to the Prime Minister to say that adventure tourism operators in New Zealand needed to have training, safety checks and a licence.

There are about 1500 adventure tourism operators in New Zealand, many of them in Queenstown. About 850,000 foreign visitors each year enjoy activities like bungy jumping, rafting, jet boating, quad-biking, tandem sky diving and tandem parapenting, and the number of new activities is increasing. People enjoy the thrill of doing something a little bit risky but they also need to know that these activities are as safe as possible.

A report this week says that adventure tourism operators will need to be registered. There will also be safety checks and operators will need to have rescue plans. However, the report does not say that all operators need qualifications because there are no qualifications for some activities like quad-biking.

In recent years there have been a number of deaths from outdoor adventures. Listen to April 17th 2008 to hear about our worst adventure tourism tragedy which killed six young people.

Questions
1. Why do people do things like sky diving?
2. One well-known doctor in Dunedin said he has done bungy jumping several times. He said it gave him courage for his life. Do you think bungy jumping gives people courage to do other things?
3. There is always a risk in outdoor activities like skiing, surfing or hang gliding. How can people who do these things keep themselves safe?

Here are some of the main changes. Drivers under the age of 20 may not drink any alcohol at all. Young people under the age of 18 can drink alcohol only if parents give their permission. This should stop many teenage parties where parents do not know there is alcohol. Shops which sell alcohol may not sell to anyone under 20. However, 18 year olds can drink in a bar. Mixed drinks called RTDs (Ready To Drink) will have less alcohol in them. RTDs are sold in cans and contain alcohol mixed with soft drinks. They are popular with young women. Shops selling alcohol will have to close at 11pm.

Many people think these changes are not enough. Some people want the drinking age to be raised to 20. The Law Commission recommended an increase in the price of alcohol but the government does not plan to do this. The government will also not change the law about the amount of alcohol a driver can drink. At the moment it is 80mg per 100mls of blood. Many countries allow only 50mg or even less.

Like many western countries, New Zealand has a problem with alcohol. It is not just young people under the age of 20 and the government’s law changes do nothing about older people who drink too much.

Listen to Aug 1st 2010 for more about shops selling alcohol.

Questions
1. What is the drinking age in your country? Do you think it should be 20?
2. Why doesn’t the government increase the tax on alcohol?
3. People who drink and rive can cause road accidents. What other problems can alcohol cause?

Both the Labor leader, Julia Gillard, and the Liberal leader, Tony Abbott are talking to the Independents, hoping to form a coalition – two or more parties working together. The Independent MPs are in a good position to demand a reward, like becoming a Cabinet Minister.

It will be another two weeks before 2 million postal votes arrive. Australians, who are away from home, can vote by post before the elections.

There will also be some re-counting of votes, especially if an MP has lost by just a few votes. That takes time, so it will probably be another two weeks before we know whether Australia will have a Labor coalition government or a Liberal coalition government. In the meantime, it is called a ‘hung parliament”.

New Zealand is used to coalition governments now. We have a National government in coalition with ACT and the Maori party. In 1996, Winston Peters of the New Zealand First party took six weeks to decide which party he would support. He finally chose the National party. His reward was the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

The Australian election results will probably not affect New Zealand very much. Our governments have always managed to have a good relationship with Australian governments.

Listen to June 26th 2010 for more about Julia Gillard becoming Prime Minister just two months ago.

Questions
1. In Australia it is compulsory for everyone over the age of 18 to vote. Do you think voting should be compulsory?
2. NZ now has an MMP voting system. Listen to Sept 8th 2009 for more about MMP. This gives small parties a chance to win seats in Parliament. Is this a good system?
3. Australia has an upper house and a lower house. New Zealand used to have an upper house but it was abolished in 1950. What advantages does an upper house have?
4. Like New Zealand, Australia has elections every three years. Do you think four or five years is a better gap between elections?

Christchurch is the right place to show these photos because this is where both Scott and Shackleton started their journeys to the Antarctic. Christchurch has a strong link with the Antarctic today; USA, New Zealand and some other countries use Christchurch airport to fly their scientists south to the Antarctic. Christchurch also has an Antarctic centre near the airport and a historic Antarctic display in the museum. The exhibition will return to London in February.

All New Zealand children learn about Scott’s journey to the South Pole. He and his team wanted to be the first to reach the Pole but when they got there, they found a tent with the flag of Norway. The Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, had got there 35 days before. Scott and the four other men all died on their return journey.

Shackleton’s ship, The Endurance, with 28 men on board, was crushed by sea ice near the Antarctic, in the winter of 1915. The story of how they survived is shown in these amazing photos. Sadly, the photographer, Frank Hurley, had to destroy 400 of his negatives which were on glass plates and too heavy to carry to land. He kept 120 which are now part of the Queen’s collection.

The photos of Scott’s expedition were taken mostly by Herbert Ponting. Today, these are large, beautiful photographs showing wonderful scenery of icebergs and pictures of the men on this expedition. The quality of the photos is first class.

Questions
1. Does your country have a scientific base in the Antarctic?
2. What were cameras like 100 years ago? Both Ponting and Hurley also had movie cameras. What were they like/
3. Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton were explorers. Are there still unknown places for explorers to explore today?

In 1961, women had an average of 4.3 children but today women have an average of 2.2 children. Replacement birth rate is 2.1 for every woman. This means the number of babies to keep the population the same. The birth rate for Maori women is higher – 2.85 – and they are younger when they start having their family. The median (average) age for Maori women having babies is 25.6 years, for Pacific Island women it is 27 years, for Asian women it is 30 and for European women, 31 years. On average, European women have their first child when they are 28 years old.

The highest fertility rate – when most women have their babies – is in the 30 to 34 year range but there has been a big increase in later births – 35 to 39 year range. In the 40 to 44 year range, there were 15 births for every 1,000 births.

25% of babies had more than one ethnicity; for example part Maori and part Asian. 66% of Maori children had more than one ethnicity.

With an increase in babies, there is a shortage of pre-school education in some areas. In the near future, more primary schools will be needed, then more secondary schools.

For more on this topic, listen to these two items: Birth Statistics and New Zealand becoming more multi-cultural.

Questions
1. Do you know the birth rate for your country? How does it compare with the New Zealand birth rate?
2. Can you suggest why the birth rate in 1961 was much higher than today?
3. Can you suggest why there has been an increase in births to older women?

The boat, Oyang 70, is an 82 m factory fishing boat owned by a South Korean company. The crew consisted of 8 Koreans, 26 Indonesians, 6 Filipinos and one Chinese. Although the boat was 38 years old, it had a full safety inspection last month and was in good condition. The sea was calm at the time so it is hard to understand why the boat sank.

The boat was fishing for southern blue whiting when it gave a mayday call at 4.40am this morning. Ten minutes later, it sank. Six other fishing boats were nearby and they helped to rescue the crew and to look for the missing men. The fishing boat with the Oyang crew on board will arrive in Christchurch on Friday morning.

Questions

1. The company that hired this Korean boat was a New Zealand company. Can you suggest why they used a Korean boat?
2. Why do you think there were so many Indonesian crew members?
3. When the boats are fishing for blue whiting, they usually stay at sea for about six weeks. The boat with the Oyang crew is returning to land after only a few days. Who should pay for the lost fishing time?

Local body elections are held every three years. You vote for the mayor and councillors in your district, town or city, for community board members and for hospital board members. It is a postal vote – you vote then post the voting papers in the envelope provided by midday October 9th.

Hospital Board voting uses single transferable voting (STV). With this type of voting, you rank each candidate. This means that you give your first choice number 1, second choice 2 and so on. Most other local voting uses First Past the Post – FPP. With this type of voting, you tick the people you want to vote for. If you are allowed to vote for two people, then you tick two people only.

It is not easy to know who will be good councillors or board members. The local newspaper usually gives you some information about each candidate and sometimes candidates put some information in your mail box. They might also have a website. Candidates for the job of mayor are often on TV or radio.

For the first time, Aucklanders will vote for the mayor and councillors of the new super-city. Listen to March 29th 2009 for more about the new super-city.

Questions
1. How can you know if a candidate will be a good councillor? What information will you look for?
2. What qualities should a mayor have?
3. We pay rates (property taxes) to councils. What do city and district councils do?

Yesterday morning, the ski field opened as usual to skiers but by around 11.30am, the North Westerly wind was blowing so strongly that the manager closed the ski field and the access road. This meant no one could leave. Some people said that the wind was so strong that it was difficult to stand up. Everyone hoped that the wind would die down some time in the afternoon but that didn’t happen. Instead, the manager decided that the safest thing to do was to close the access road and keep skiers safe in the day lodge on the mountain. The wind finally died down this morning and the road opened around 10am. Everyone left the mountain soon after that.

Mt Hutt is the largest ski area in New Zealand. It is 80km from Christchurch to the bottom of the access road. Then the access road up to the ski area is long and steep, and can take cars 30 to 40 minutes. The summit of the mountain is 2190m. After last weekend’s snow fall of more than 1 metre, many skiers and snowboarders enjoyed the fresh snow on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday looked like a good day also but the weather changed.

Mt Hutt has been the scene of some bad experiences this season. Three skiers or snowboarders have been killed when they slipped and fell, and one man was killed went his car went off the access road. This is the first time in 5 years that anyone has been killed on the mountain. This is probably why the Mt Hutt manager decided it was safer to keep everyone overnight in the lodge. This is the first time that skiers have been unable to leave the mountain to go home at night.

While the day lodge was very crowded with people sleeping on the floor, the staff managed to feed everyone. People could buy dinner for $2 last night and breakfast this morning was free. Skiers will probably also get some money back on their ski lift pass.

The Mt Hutt ski company will not make money from this but at least everyone was safe. Children on school trips thought it was fun.

Questions
Is it a good idea to take children on ski trips during the school term?
Is it the responsibility of the ski field to provide food for everyone who could not get home?

The military service lasted two hours today. The Prime Minister, the Governor-General and the Chief of the Defence Force spoke at the service. Members of his family and friends also spoke. About 1200 family, friends and soldiers were present. The New Zealand flag covered the coffin which was placed on a gun carriage. Two Iroquois helicopters flew over at the end and a 21 gun salute finished the service.

At the same time, a public service was held in St Paul’s cathedral, Wellington and another military service was held at Burnham military camp near Christchurch. Tim’s battalion was based at Burnham and he had many friends there. We heard today that he was a leader and a man who loved being a soldier; he had courage and he was well-liked.

The New Zealand flag flew at half mast today on all public buildings to show that the country is mourning the loss of a soldier.

Questions
Why do some people want to be soldiers?
What qualities do you need to be a soldier?

Many tourists visit souvenir shops to buy New Zealand products to take home as gifts or as a reminder of their visit to New Zealand. They don’t want to take home a New Zealand gift made in China. Under the Fair Trading Act (FTA), sellers cannot mislead consumers. It is not necessary for a product to have the name of the country where it is made but the seller cannot give false information. The name, “Aotearoa New Zealand” or pictures of New Zealand animals on a product gave false information because people thought that the product was made in New Zealand.

Products which are made in New Zealand are usually more expensive than products made in China. ProKiwi International was able to sell products more cheaply and this was unfair to makers of New Zealand products. These products were sold in many souvenir shops in New Zealand.

The Commerce Commission took this company to court. The company pleaded guilty to 17 charges of misleading the public and was fined $48,000.

Questions

1 If orange juice is imported from Australia but bottled in New Zealand with some New Zealand water added, is this New Zealand-made? (Answer: The FTA says, NO. The main ingredients must be New Zealand ingredients.)
2 The FTA says food products do not need to have the country of origin on them. Do you think we need to know where our food has come from?
3 If a jacket is designed in New Zealand but made in China, can this have a New Zealand label on it?

The cup is the largest one in World Rugby. It was designed in New Zealand and made by a famous silver company in England.

Question
Do you think this cup is more important for NZ or Australia?

He is the first New Zealand soldier to die in Afghanistan. 109 New Zealand soldiers are in Bamiyan province helping to build hospitals, schools and roads. They are also helping to train Afghan police. The New Zealand soldiers are very popular with the people in Bamiyan province. However, three vehicles were travelling through a valley when they were attacked from the hills above them.

New Zealand also has 86 soldiers fighting in Kabul. These are SAS soldiers. Their work is usually much more dangerous. Listen to May 4th 2010 for more about our soldiers in Afghanistan.

NZ has had soldiers in Afghanistan since 2003. The Prime Minister said New Zealand will continue to send soldiers to Afghanistan for another year and maybe for longer. The soldiers serving in Bamiyan will return to New Zealand next month but more soldiers will replace them in October.

The death of Tim O’Donnell is a very sad day for his family, friends and all who knew him. He was a fine young man. In 2008, he received a medal for bravery when he saved the lives of other soldiers in East Timor. The army is planning a military funeral for him. The New Zealand flag was flying at half mast on Parliament buildings today. This shows that someone important has died.

Questions
1. Do you think New Zealand should continue to send soldiers to Afghanistan?
2. The soldiers in Bamiyan are helping to re-build the country. Why were they attacked?
3. The USA has lost more than 1200 soldiers in the war in Afghanistan. Why are we so sad about the death of one soldier?

Now the United Nations has decided to hold an Inquiry into this attack. New Zealander Sir Geoffrey Palmer is the Head of the Inquiry. He will start his new job on August 10th. The first progress report is due by the middle of September. One Israeli, one Turk and the President of Columbia are the other three members of the Inquiry. They will meet in New York.

Sir Geoffrey is a very well-known lawyer in New Zealand. He was also Prime Minister for a short time from 1989 to 1990. He was probably chosen for this job because New Zealand is not involved with either Israel or Palestine so a New Zealander can be fair to both sides. He is also a very respected lawyer.

Questions
1. Why is Israel represented on the Inquiry but not Palestine?
2. Why is Turkey important in the Middle East?
3. Will a UN Inquiry report change anything in the Middle East?

Supermarkets have been allowed to sell beer and wine since 2000. In 2001, some small convenience stores applied to the Liquor Licensing Authority (LLA) for permission to sell alcohol also. At first, just one or two stores applied, but within a few years, more than 50 small stores have had a liquor licence to sell beer and wine. However, the LLA then said it would not renew licences.

Many convenience stores in the cities are open all night. While pubs and bars have to close late at night, convenience stores have been able to sell liquor all night.

When a Christchurch Night ‘n Day could not renew its liquor licence, it took this case to the High Court. The High Court looked at the 1999 law and found that only bottle stores and big supermarkets of more than 1,000 sq m had the right to sell alcohol. The law did not allow small stores like corner dairies to sell alcohol. The High Court decided that a convenience store is more like a dairy than a supermarket because it does not sell basic household food.

Now all other convenience stores in New Zealand will not be able to sell alcohol.

Questions
1. Is it a good idea to sell beer and wine in supermarkets?
2. Rural convenience store owners say they should be allowed to sell alcohol because there are no supermarkets in small towns. Do you agree?
3. Do city convenience stores sell basic household food?

Chris Carter did not sign the letter. It was anonymous. However, he addressed each envelope in his own handwriting so it was easy to guess who had written the letter.

Phil Goff was angry and called a meeting of the caucus which is all Labour MPs. The caucus voted unanimously to expel Chris Carter. This means all members of the caucus voted the same way.

The Labour Party Council will meet on August 7th and will decide if he can stay in the Labour Party or not. If he is expelled from the Labour Party, Chris Carter will then have two choices. He can stay in Parliament as an Independent MP or he can resign from Parliament. If he resigns, there will be a special election called a by-election.

Chris Carter was one of the Ministers from the last Labour government who used his credit card to buy personal things. He also travelled a lot, and Phil Goff suggested that maybe he travelled too much, at a cost to the tax payer. Listen to Minister’s Credit Cards on June 20th (13th) 2010.

It is possible Chris Carter was thinking of how Julia Gillard replaced Kevin Rudd as Prime Minister of Australia. Listen to June 26th 2010 for more about Australia’s new PM.

Questions
1. Is it likely that other Labour MPs will support Chris Carter in the next few weeks?
2. Chris Carter believes very strongly in the Labour Party. Why might the Council want to expel him from the Labour Party?
3. Was an anonymous letter to reporters a good way to attack Phil Goff?

About 18,000 people are fluent in Maori but the number of fluent speakers is dropping. Only about 7% of Maori people speak the language well. However, 54% of Maori people say they can understand it. On the positive side, more young people are learning Maori and more Pakeha are learning Maori.

Some Maori words are now part of New Zealand English. Kia Ora is a common greeting and most of us know words like kai (food), marae (meeting house), hui (meeting), mokopuna (grandchildren), kaumatua (elders), hangi (cooking food in the ground), tangi (for someone who has died), Te Reo (Maori language). Children learn basic Maori words at kindergarten and school as well as songs in Maori. TV and radio often include Maori greetings or introductions. Government departments, polytechs, universities, libraries are just some of the places where we see Maori labels. Maori ceremonies for important visitors are also common. However, a few Maori labels, greetings, ceremonies and common words are not enough for the language to survive.

The government spends $250m on helping to keep Te Reo alive. Some of that money is for Maori radio and TV and some for Maori language lessons.

This week the focus is on kai – different foods, ways of preparing food, eating together. Some supermarkets have put Maori labels for food to remind us of Maori language week.

If you want to learn the New Zealand national anthem, listen to the NZ national anthem.

To learn some Maori words, go to www.koreromaori.co.nz.

Questions
1. Why is it important for Te Reo to survive?
2. What can the government do to encourage people to learn Te Reo?
3. What kind of things help a language survive?

New Zealand is interested in this court for three reasons. First, we have many refugees who escaped from Cambodia during the time of Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979. They had friends and family who were among the 1.7 Cambodian people murdered.

Secondly, a New Zealander, Kerry Hamill, was one of those people tortured and murdered by Duch. In 1978, he was sailing in a yacht off the coast of Thailand when strong winds blew his yacht south into Cambodian waters. He was taken to S-21 prison and later murdered. His brother, Rob Hamill, is a well known Olympic rower. Last year, Rob visited the prison and saw where his brother had died. He told the court about how his family had suffered. He returned to Cambodia this month to hear the guilty verdict.

The last reason that New Zealand is interested is because one of the five judges appointed by the United Nations is a New Zealand judge. She is Dame Silvia Cartwright. She was a judge and later became Governor General of New Zealand.

Questions
1. Duch said he was just doing what he was told to do. Was he responsible for the murders at the prison?
2. How can a human being do such things to other human beings?
3. These events happened more than 30 years ago. Is it too late to hold a trial?

The All Whites were the only unbeaten team in the recent World Cup, held in South Africa. Although they did not go into the second round, they were proud that good teams like Italy, the last World Cup winners, were unable to beat them.

This weekend there was more excitement for New Zealand football fans as a very good team from Argentina, called Boca Juniors, was in Wellington to play the Wellington Phoenix club at the Westpac Stadium on Friday night. However people who went to the stadium were not allowed to take musical instruments. The organisers wanted to make sure that the noisy African horn, which was played at the World Cup, is not played during games here.

Contributed by Chris Mahoney

Listen to other news about the All Whites: June 16th 2010, November 17 2009
and November 11 2009

Question
Do you think more young New Zealanders will choose to play soccer now?

The Crafar family went bankrupt and could not pay their debts of around $200m. Then receivers took over the properties to try to get back the money that is owed to banks and a finance company. The receivers want to sell the farms for the best price.

Landcorp which is owned by the New Zealand government offered to buy the farms but the receivers did not accept the offer. Instead the receivers have accepted Natural Dairy’s offer of $213.2m. However all major sales to foreign buyers have to be accepted by the Overseas Investment Office (OIO). Natural Dairy was asked to give more information. The Overseas Investment Office will take a few weeks to make a decision.

The Minister of Agriculture, David Carter, did not think it was a good idea for New Zealand farms to be owned by a Chinese company. John Key has just returned from China where he said New Zealand wants to do more trade with China. However, he too is not sure about allowing Chinese companies to buy dairy farms.

The Chairman of Natural Dairy, Graham Chin said, “In the last 12 months the OIO has approved the sale of 80,000 hectares of land to foreign interest.” There is more than 2 million hectares of dairy farmland in New Zealand.

Questions
Would China allow NZ companies to buy Chinese land?
Are New Zealanders more worried about selling dairy farms rather than sheep farms to foreigners?

The new Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, spoke to John Key about her plan to deal with this problem. She said that before long, boat people will start coming to New Zealand if they can get bigger boats. She thought that East Timor could be a good place to process boat people, with the help of UNHCR (the United Nations High Commission for Refugees). After they have been processed, New Zealand could take some of these people as refugees. However, John Key did not promise anything. He said New Zealand could not take more than 750 refugees each year.

East Timor is not happy about Ms Gillard’s idea. It is a very poor country and they have enough problems of their own. However, the President agreed to look at the idea again.

Australia will hold elections very soon. The problem of boat people worries many Australians. Ms Gillard knows she has to find a solution to this problem.

Questions
What do you think should happen to boat people?

The Fijian Prime Minister, Frank Bainimarama thinks that Australia and New Zealand have been interfering in Fijian politics. Last year Fiji was expelled from the Pacific Islands Forum because Bainimarama did not hold elections by the end of the year. This month he planned to hold his own meeting with a small number of Pacific Island countries in Fiji but Vanuatu has decided not to go and the meeting is cancelled. The Prime Minister of Vanuatu said that they could not support a country that did not have a democratic government.

Bainimarama believes that Australia told Vanuatu not to go to Fiji. Fiji, therefore, expelled an Australian diplomat and sent her back to Melbourne with only 24 hours notice.

Bainimarama also thinks that NZ is interfering in Fiji’s politics but John Key said that New Zealand tried to extend the hand of friendship. “We want to see democracy in Fiji,” he said.

Questions
Why is democracy in Fiji important to New Zealand?
How can New Zealand improve relations with Fiji?

Last year the Auckland Regional Council (ARC) and the government spent $20m each to buy the Queens Wharf from the Ports of Auckland. The government planned to build a temporary building, big enough for a party for 20,000 people during the World Cup. However, there is a one-hundred year old shed – shed 10 – on Queens Wharf which the ARC chairman at first said was “old and cheap and nasty” and should be demolished. Since then, the ARC has listened to the Historic Places Trust which believes that the shed is part of our history and now the ARC has decided it is a heritage building and cannot be demolished. For more about heritage buildings listen to May 9th 2010. The ARC now plans to spend $17m on shed 10 so that it can become a terminal building for cruise ships.

The World Cup Minister, Murray McCully, is not happy with the ARC. Time is fast running out to build something for what he calls ‘Party Central’ for the World Cup.

Questions
If shed 10 becomes a cruise ship terminal building, will it still be a heritage building?
Is it a good idea to have one big place for rugby fans to have a party or is it better for them to go to many smaller pubs?

Usually police in New Zealand do not carry guns. Sometimes they have guns locked in the car but they first have to get permission to use the guns. We have special armed offenders police squads in the cities and they are trained to use guns.

Now some people think our police should carry guns at all times. The chief of police does not think this is a good idea. He said that if the police were armed, criminals would also be armed.

Questions
Do police carry guns in your country?
Do you think New Zealand police should be armed?
In what way is a police dog different from a family dog?