TV3 News

Tuesday, 18 July 2000, 6:16 pm
Article: Alastair Thompson

FIJI COUP: Indian Victims, New Cabinet – Business Confidence – Gang Shootout – Avalanche Exercise – WINZ Student Loans – Arts Policy – Naked Cop Video

FIJI COUP – INDIAN VICTIMS: While media attention was focussed on George Speight the victims were on the run. In a village near Lautoka TV3 finds victims. Beatings were with knives and stones. The refugees are all from an area that George Speight has close links to. Now they are living in a community hall. They are surviving at present on donations. The attacks started the day after the coup. One man says his seven year old son was attacked and thrown across the garden. Several women were raped but are reluctant to talk about it. The violence is blamed by the victims on George Speight. Worse still the fact the authorities did not help and some police in fact joined in the looting. More refugees are arriving every day.

FIJI COUP – NEW CABINET: Two supporters of George Speight are included in the new Fiji cabinet lineup. There are no women and no Indo-Fijians in the lineup. While Indo-Fijians were expected to be in theline-up they later withdrew fearing retaliation against their families.

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE: Fisher and Paykel are expanding their Mosgiel plant and Watties is increasing its staff. An Auckland music store owner says that the slow down is obvious in the retail economy. Several retail businesses are struggling to cope in Auckland. Finance Minister Michael Cullen says that confidence will increase once the ERB and ACC legislation are bedded down. NZ’s lack of business confidence is in stark contrast to the rest of the world. NZ and Italy are the only countries showing a dec

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GANG SHOOTOUT: A helicopter has been called to evacuate the victim of a gang shoot out in Levin.

AVALANCHE EXERCISE: Police are annoyed that they were called out to an avalanche exercise at Porters Heights ski-field. Emergency services scrambled all available helicopters to the exercise.

WINZ STUDENT LOANS: Heads will roll at WINZ if there are still problems with student loans processing next year. A report out today said that problems with the scheme snowballed. Today WINZ apologised to students for the problems. All students are not satisfied however.

ARTS POLICY: The Government has rejected recommendations from the Heart of the Nation inquiry to abolish Creative New Zealand.

NAKED COP: Croydon Hotel staff are laughing at their entry to a Sports Café TV show competition involving nakedness. Police are not amused however. A police officer is facing disciplinary action over his involvement in making the video in which an officer appeared clad only in a G-string.

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.

Contact Alastair Thompson

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