4 May 2017

Top Stories for Thursday 4 May 2017

From Morning Report, 6:00 am on 4 May 2017

As Australia plans to triple or even quadruple university fees for New Zealanders and permanent residents studying across the Tasman, there are worries making New Zealanders living there pay to send their children to primary and secondary schools could be next on the agenda. Local publications send a strong message to their parent companies that they are a vital and essential part of their community, amid fears some may be shut following the Commerce Commission's decision to reject a Fairfax / NZME merger. Victoria University media studies lecturer and chair of the Campaign for Better Broadcasting Peter Thompson says the Commerce Commission made the right decision. He says the both companies are profitable and he doesn't think newspapers will disappear in a hurry "it's the hard copies that are propping the companies up." Terry Murphy, an Auckland signwriter who was working up on scaffolding, helped the police try to track a suspect after a bank robbery in Glenfield. As a strong economy is credited with a fall in the unemployment rate, employers says this is a downside. And that's because they're struggling to recruit. Four day weeks, social outings and weekends away are just some of the incentives on offer. "It's an outright admission that the government's failed in Corrections, they haven't just shifted the goalposts, they've actually taken the goalposts right off the field." Labour's Kelvin Davis reacts to the Government scrapping a target to have fewer criminals re-offending once they leave prison, after it fell well short of the goal set five years ago. The FBI Director James Comey says he feels 'mildly nauseous' at the thought he swayed the US election but says his decision to say Hillary Clinton remained under investigation over her emails was the right one.