Social Agency Merger – Ansett – Air Traffic Problems – Interest Rates – Petrol Prices – Defence Pay Rise – Israel – Mental Health Privacy - Cancer Inquiry – Speed – Belting Up

SOCIAL AGENCY MERGER: Papers released under the Official Information Act show that senior Ministers of the Government disagreed over the merger of MOSP and the Department of Work and Income. RNZ’s political editor says an explanation is necessary.

ANSETT: The Australian air safety watchdog which grounded 10 Ansett NZ 767s is itself facing criticism in an internal audit. CASA responds that the audit is not worth the paper it is written on.

AIR TRAFFIC PROBLEMS: A shortage of Air Traffic Controllers due to illness led to 10 planes being left circling above Auckland airport yesterday morning.

INTEREST RATES: The Reserve Bank has announced a 25 basis point cut in the official cash rate to 6.%. Meanwhile the Federal Reserve Bank in the US has announced a 50 basis point cut in interest rates.

PETROL PRICES: All eyes are on the major petrol companies to see if they will follow Caltex with a five cent per litre petrol price rise.

DEFENCE PAY RISE: Defence personnel have received a pay rise but critics say that it will not fix a morale problem in the forces. National says that it is only just above inflation.

ISRAEL: The Israeli army has again gone into the Gaza strip with its tanks, this time to demolish a security post. Israel said its incursion was a response to Palestinian gun fire.

MENTAL HEALTH PRIVACY: Annette King has ordered a review into how much information mental health professionals are allowed to release about their patients.

CANCER INQUIRY: There are calls this morning that more support should be given to women affected by the Gisborne Cancer debacle.

SPEED: Police plan to treble the number of teams they have to raid meth-amphetamine laboratories. At present the police have one team.

BELT UP: Plunket is calling for more to be done to insure children are in car restraints when in motor vehicles. The call follows an accident that has left several children hospitalised.

© 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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