Refugee Offer May Be Unnecessary – NZ Offer Reaction – NZ First Reaction – Prison Strike – East Timor Elections – Fiji Elections – Canterbury Nurses Strike – Christian Barnard

REFUGEE OFFER MAY BE UNNECESSARY: The PM says that an Australian court case may mean that plans for refugees to come to New Zealand are not necessary. She says she hopes the case does not drag on.

NZ REFUGEE OFFER REACTION: The Attorney General Margaret Wilson says that NZ’s move on the refugees has been applauded at an International Conference on racism in South Africa.

NZ FIRST ON REFUGEES: The NZ First Leader says that NZ’s decision to offer a place for 150 refugees will allow them to jump the queue. He would prefer charity to start at home.

PRISON STRIKE: A spokesman for the Corrections Association says that plans to get army staff to take over supervision of prisons are unnecessary, and that in any event they have offered to vary their action to remove health and safety concerns. The Defence Force will not comment this morning nor will the Department of Corrections.

EAST TIMOR ELECTIONS: Provisional results are likely later today from the East Timor elections.

FIJI ELECTIONS: Police in Fiji have mounted a round the clock guard on counting stations at which votes in the Fijian elections are being counted. An overall result is not expected till mid week.

CANTERBURY NURSES STRIKE: Canterbury District Health Board is planning to close Princess Margaret Hospital during an upcoming strike action by nurses. Around 200 mental health and elderly patients will be affected as will a large number of meals on wheels recipients.

CHRISTIAN BARNARD: The pioneering heart surgeon Christian Barnard has died.

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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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