Gisborne Cance Inquiry – Michael Palin – Sweat Shops – Suzanne Bruce (Editorial) – Pavarotti – Child Rape – Coromandel –
Helen Clark – Winston Vs Tamihere – The Price of Fish – One Tree Hill – Cancer Kid – ACT In Auckland
For full text see… http://www.nzherald.co.nz
GISBORNE CANCER INQUIRY: Up to 60 women whose cervical cancer tests were misdiagnosed by Gisborne pathologist Dr Michael
Bottrill may have the deadly disease developing inside them and be unaware of it. Dr Bottrill failed to report 525 of
625 slides containing high-grade abnormalities between 1991 and 1994, according to a re-analysis of his work made public
yesterday. Affected Gisborne women are shocked at the scale of Dr Bottrill's misreading of cervical smears, a test that
can trigger further cancer checks.
MICHAEL PALIN: Michael Palin has undoubtedly hit upon a successful formula for television. It goes something like this:
first, choose a nifty theme - say, travelling from the Arctic to Antarctica or perhaps circling the Pacific Rim.
SWEAT SHOPS: Backyard clothing manufacturers are flouting the law to produce popular clothing labels in garages and
sheds. A Herald investigation has found evidence that New Zealand is not only exporting jobs to countries with cheaper
labour, but importing what a union official described as "small pockets of Third World sweatshops."
SUZANNE BRUCE: Suzanne Bruce is legally still a New Zealand First electorate and list candidate despite "resigning"
again yesterday. And if she is elected as an MP at No 7 on the party list, she cannot be forced to resign.
SUZANNE BRUCE: The New Zealand Herald was tipped off about the Suzanne Bruce affair on the afternoon of Thursday,
November 11. Inquiries were made to the Palmerston North District Court, the city's crown solicitor, Ben Vanderkolk, the
city's branch of Inland Revenue and other sources. The Herald learned from its inquiries that Suzanne Bruce and her
husband, Barry Jinkinson, had been jointly charged as partners in a Feilding farm with 13 charges of filing false GST
returns worth a total of $20,700, relating to a period between June 1995 and April 1998.
PAVAROTTI: It was an entrance orchestrated for the world's most famous opera tenor. Three expensive European cars drove
on to the Auckland Airport tarmac in nose-to-tail formation and lined up in front of the private jet.
CHILD RAPE: A man turned his niece into a sex slave and punching bag, repeatedly raping her for 10 years while she lived
in his South Auckland home. In the High Court at Auckland yesterday, the 55-year-old, who has name suppression, admitted
10 sex-related charges, including seven rape counts, two charges of assault with a weapon and one of injuring with
intent to injure.
COROMANDEL: The National Party is pulling out all stops in Coromandel to prevent a Greens victory which could be crucial
for a centre-left government. A new poll gives the Greens' Jeanette Fitzsimons an eight-point lead over sitting National
MP Murray McLean.
HELEN CLARK: Even if they did not notice Helen Clark in their midst yesterday, North Shore shoppers could not miss her
campaign trail. Twenty people followed the Labour leader as she stepped on to an escalator at Glenfield Mall, in an
orchestra of clicking pens and ringing cellphones.
WINSTON VS TAMIHERE: A "paper war " has erupted between Labour candidate John Tamihere and New Zealand First leader
Winston Peters over their respective track records. Mr Tamihere, standing for the new Hauraki seat, has for the past
week carried around pictures of Mr Peters while campaigning.
THE PRICE OF FISH: Shoppers hoping to buy fresh New Zealand hoki for their dinner may have to be content with frozen
fish imported from South America. As exporters win top prices for our fish, local retailers report a growing shortage of
fresh New Zealand fish available at "reasonable" prices.
ONE TREE HILL: Three adults accused of ring-barking the One Tree Hill pine in September have given up their right to a
jury trial in a bid to be heard in the Youth Court with a teenage family member. Two women, a man and a 15-year-old girl
appeared in the Youth Court in Auckland yesterday after denying charges including intentional damage, trespass and
disorderly behaviour.
CANCER KID: The name Tyrell Dueck is as well known to Canadians as Liam Williams-Holloway is to New Zealanders. Tyrell
died in June after cancer on his leg spread to his lungs, but his case provoked similar dilemmas over conventional
versus alternative therapies.
ACT IN AUCKLAND: As Labour goes on the attack against Act, Richard Prebble is reassuring National his party is not
stealing its votes. The Act leader released private polling data in Auckland yesterday that showed the share of
centre-right votes is increasing.
EDITORIAL – SUZANNE BRUCE: Suzanne Bruce speaks disparagingly of "a media circus" in the wake of Herald revelations that
she faces 13 charges of filing false GST returns. Does she imagine that the media, and the public, would have no
interest in the fact that a political candidate and, in all likelihood a future New Zealand First list MP, was due to
appear in the Palmerston North District Court three days after the election? That would be just 72 hours after some
voters supported her and her party, oblivious of the tax charges pending. An accused person's right to be considered
innocent before being judged guilty is a cornerstone of our law. But who would argue - outside those with much to lose -
that voters should not have the right to learn of serious allegations against political candidates at such an important
time in any democracy? That right is surely indisputable, all the more so when the claims concern a candidate's honesty.