Kiwi Bank – Labour Soaring In Latest Poll - Auckland Woman Found Dead – Tasmanian Bus Crash – More Chubb Robbers – Chile Floods – Submarine Crash

KIWI BANK: Tomorrow the people will get a new bank. Today they say they don’t want one. NZ Post will brief Labour and Alliance caucuses tomorrow for a final vote on the People’s Bank. Jim Anderton and Ross Armstrong say the National Party has been leaking information obtained illegally. Jenny Shipley says it is outrageous that she has been criticised. The PM isn’t saying where the document came from – but the Alliance suspects a National Party appointment to the NZ Post board. Shipley says she has shredded any information she had. In a poll 60% said they wouldn’t switch, 21% said they would and 18% said they didn’t know.

LABOUR SOARING IN LATEST POLL

Party Vote Race:

Labour 49% up 3
National 34% down 4
Alliance 4.5% up 1.5
Green 4.7% down 0.6
ACT 3.6% up 0.6
NZ First 1.5% down 1.5

Labour is more popular than ever in the poll and could govern alone with 62 seats. The PM however thinks the result is possibly better than could be achieved in an actual election.

In Preferred PM stakes:

Helen Clark: 30 down 1
Jenny Shipley: 13 down 1
Bill English: 5 down 1

In approval ratings:

Clark: 63 down 3
Shipley: 54 up 12

AUCKLAND WOMAN FOUND DEAD: A woman found in Auckland could be Marie Jamieson. The body is believed to have been their for a week. Jamieson went missing in Avondale nine days ago. She was seen leaving a bar and later in a liquor store. Police want to know whether she caught a bus home to Blockhouse Bay. Police are not willing to identify the body they have found yet officially.

TASMANIAN BUS CRASH: Two NZ Tourists have escaped alive from a bus that fell 30m down a Tasmanian mountain. The plunge killed four and took place in the dark. The bus was on a sightseeing trip to see night-time wildlife. Tasmanian police say most of those taken to hospital had only minor injuries. Six remain in hospital with two in critical condition.

MORE CHUBB ROBBERS: Three more people have pleaded guilty to NZ’s biggest ever aggravated robbery. Five people have now pleaded guilty to the robbery of a Chubb Security van in Wellington at Christmas. Eight people have been charged with the robbery.

CHILE FLOODS: Flash floods in Chile are the worst in 50 years. The floods have cut important transport routes and killed several people.

SUBMARINE CRASH: The US Navy have released pictures of the Japanese trawler sunk when a US Submarine collided with it. The Japanese want the boat recovered believing bodies may be inside. The National Transportation Safety Board is expected to complete its work at the accident site this week.

© Scoop Media

Alastair Thompson

Scoop Publisher

Alastair Thompson is the co-founder of Scoop. He is of Scottish and Irish extraction and from Wellington, New Zealand. Alastair has 24 years experience in the media, at the Dominion, National Business Review, North & South magazine, Straight Furrow newspaper and online since 1997. He is the winner of several journalism awards for business and investigative work.

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