Doctors Strike – Palmerston North Murders – Travis Burns – Air Fares Rise – Ansett Crash Trial Revelations – Concorde’s
Last Moments
DOCTORS STRIKE: The junior doctors strike at Waikato Hospital has been called off. The doctors wanted 20% pay rises and
got a complicated deal. The details of the two-year contract remain under wraps. Junior Doctors say that it is not 20%
but won’t say what it is. Senior doctors remain concerned about student debt problems however.
PALMERSTON NORTH MURDERS: The body of a Palmerston North woman and her daughter were finally taken from the crime scene
today. The case remains mysterious. A happy family destroyed by murder. Friends and neighbours say they were a good
family to know. The Lundy family were last seen alive on Tuesday. The community is shaken by the murders. A neighbour
says there were people in the street being staked out by prowlers in the weeks before the murder. Children at Amber
Lundy’s school are very frightened. The family contributed lots to the community.
TRAVIS BURNS: Travis Burns the murderer of Auckland Teacher Joanne McCarthy’s past can now be revealed. He has several
prior violence convictions and twice escaped from prison, once earlier this year while on remand for McCarthy’s murder.
Burns is due to be sentenced later this year.
AIR FARES RISE: NZers felt another aftershock of oil price increases today with a rise in air fares. The managing
director of Marsden Point refinery says we are now seeing the flow on effects from price rises. The combination of a
doubling in the cost of freighting fuel to NZ and the low dollar are not helping either, he says. Qantas NZ says it is
reviewing fares in light of Air New Zealand changes.
ANSETT CRASH TRIAL: An engineer with Ansett NZ has told a court in Palmerston North that there were ongoing problems
with the under-carriage of a plane that crashed on approach to Palmerston North killing four. The plane had 11
under-carriage failures in 50,000 landings, he said. Ansett had foregone two modifications to the undercarriage because
of the cost. In 1994 Ansett decided to buy the modifications but only for the left undercarriage. It was the right
undercarriage that failed during the crash.
CONCORDE: The last moments of the Concorde flight out of Paris are recorded in a flight recorder transcript released in
a report issued today. All Concorde’s remain grounded.