National Radio Midday Report

Diabetes Funding – Wharf Accident – Qantas Collapse – Engine Incident – Home Detention – Cancer Drugs – Rail Death – Ethiopian Hijacking – Maj McNutt – Ox Employment – Taiwan Delegation – Industrial Hemp

- DIABETES FUNDING: The Government is refusing to make any promises about new funding for diabetes, but says she will closely examine a new report which says a $14m funding increase now will save significant amounts of money in the future. A looming diabetes epidemic is tipped to cost billions of dollars. Diabetes funding is currently going up by around $5m a year.

- WHARF ACCIDENT: A man has died in an accident at a Whangarei boat yard. Police say he was hit in the head by a heavy hook or crane and fell into the sea.

- QANTAS COLLAPSE: The engineering union says the directors of Qantas NZ should explain what went wrong with the airline and may yet face legal action over its collapse.

- ENGINE INCIDENT: The Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority says it is looking for answers from Qantas and Rolls Royce as to why two panels fell off a 747 engine on Tuesday as it was preparing for takeoff.

- HOME DETENTION: The head of the Criminal Bar Association is concerned that a man awaiting trial on drugs charges escaped, but has said it should not prompt a review of electronic tagging in home detention.

- CANCER DRUGS: The Cancer Society believes that not enough is being done by the public health system to standardise the availability of cancer treating drugs around the country.

- RAIL DEATH: Tranz Rail’s safety record has been described as “appalling” at the company’s sentencing today over the death of a rail worker last year. The rail company pleaded guilty to two charges under the Health and Safety in Employment Act The maximum penalty that could be imposed on the company for the incident is $75,000.

- ETHIOPIAN HIJACKING: The hijackers of an Ethiopian military plane have released all of the women and children hostages, TV has reported.

- MAJ MCNUTT: The brother of Major John McNutt, who was killed by an American fighter jet in a bombing blunder in Kuwait, says he and his family are not seeking revenge.

- OZ EMPLOYMENT: There are seven unemployed people for every advertised job in Australia. The statistic has prompted calls for the federal Government to change its employment strategy.

- TAIWAN DELEGATION: Peter Dunne, the leader of delegation of MPs to Taiwan is outraged that the Chinese Embassy has written to members of the group saying they shouldn’t have gone to Taiwan.

- INDUSTRIAL HEMP: The Government has given the green light to trial plantations of industrial hemp in New Zealand.

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