RNZ - All Programmes

The Roy family all pitch in getting berries from orchard to Christmas plate over the festive season. They have been growing berries in Piopio for more than three decades, and nearly all are sold from the farmgate. We go behind the scenes of the Christmas berry rush.

Rural postie Tracy Marshall takes visitors along her mail delivery route which winds along the Whanganui River.

"You can come here and see nearly every type of forestry system that can be applied," Blair Jamieson says of Tamata Hauha's demonstration farm near Palmerston North.

A round-up of the week's news from the primary sector.

Now it's time for Country Life.

In part two, New Zealand's Yoga Teacher of the Year, Hamish Kenworthy, celebrates the rising popularity of the practice.

The leaders of ACT, New Zealand First, Te Pati Maori, and the Green Party sit down with RNZ's press gallery team to share their thoughts on 2025, and what they've got up their sleeves for election year.

Tonight, on The Panel, Wallace Chapman is joined by panellists Andrew Clay and Denise L'Estrange-Corbet. First up, a Tauranga-based social services organisation is being stretched to the brink by the number of people living in hardship. SociaLink chief executive Lix Davies gives the lowdown. Then, does the introduction of bigbox retail like IKEA mean the death of local 'block of shops' retail in New Zealand? Butcher and local retail advocate, Reuben Sharples, joins the show.

Whether your goal was to thrive or survive 2025 it's certainly been a big year. We've done 228 shows in the past twelve months, covering plenty of remarkable and difficult stories. Despite the hard moments there's also been plenty to smile about. And since it's our last programme of the year we thought we'd listen back to some of the lighter moments we've had on Checkpoint in 2025.

United Kingdom correspondent Lucy Thomson spoke to Lisa Owen about some of the survivors of the Manchester Arena Bombing receiving some good news, as well as the UK Sports Personality of the Year being announced.

News from the business sector, including a market report.

The Black Caps are still well in control of the third and final test at Mount Maunganui. It's been another profitable period with the bat for the Kiwis who have declared with a mammoth total of 575. Sports reporter Jonty Dine spoke to Lisa Owen.

Frustrated health workers are questioning why hospitals and health services are being asked to find another five hundred million dollars in "efficiency savings" out of this year's budget, while half a billion dollars earmarked for salaries went unspent last year. The "underspend" was due to unfilled vacancies, unpaid Holidays Act remediation - and the fact Health NZ has yet to settle its collective contract disputes with senior doctors and nurses. Ruth Hill reports.

An advisory group set up to tackle retail crime is in the spotlight again over its spending, It was revealed earlier that the Ministerial Advisory Group for Victims of Retail Crime, or MAG, has spent $100,000 a year for office space in the Auckland CBD, and paid chairman Sunny Kaushal $230,000 for his first year of work. Now documents show MAG has spent over $24,000 on catering and venue hire to run stakeholder engagement meetings around the country. Correspondent Jimmy Ellingham spoke to Lisa Owen.

The man found guilty of five counts of murder over the Loafers Lodge blaze will spend a minimum of 22 years behind bars. Esarona David Lologa was found guilty in September of setting the Wellington boarding house alight in May 2023, which killed five residents. Nick James reports.

All the top stories and other headlines from the day

Researchers at the University of Auckland have been given an $850,000 grant to investigate the power of music for people with dementia. The collaboration with Yale University in the US aims to find out why patients still respond to music even as their memory fades. Felix Walton has more.

Vital lab tests for Gisborne patients are facing unnecessary delays as samples are flown or driven hundreds of kilometres across the country for analysis, according to one union. Apex represents MedLab workers who are currently locked in a pay dispute. It says delays to key diagnostic tests for life threatening conditions like meningitis, leukaemia and antibiotic resistance are because the medical lab at Gisborne is 50 percent owned by a private company that is profit driven. National Secretary for Apex, Deborah Powell spoke to Lisa Owen.

As Kiwi's flock to the beaches in the summer heat, the need for surf lifeguards couldn't be greater. But Surf Life Saving New Zealand says that with the growing population, they'll need 1000 volunteers over the next three years, especially at Auckland's wild west coast beaches. One of those popular black-sand beaches, Bethell's, has been identified by Water Safety New Zealand as one of the country's drowning blackspots. But with its club house still yellow-stickered after Cyclone Gabrielle, they're struggling to retain some volunteers they need to keep people safe in the water. Bella Craig reports.

A retired Waikato couple who worked for Hamilton's hospital for over six decades between them are facing a lengthy wait for tens of thousands of dollars of holiday pay. Errors in calculating holiday pay date back over 15 years and will cost Health NZ about $1.8 billion in payouts. Most current employees have been repaid, but Health NZ has only recently started paying former staff, and many won't see a cent for another year. It says the process is a complex, requiring constant checks and accessing different payroll systems. Jimmy Ellingham reports.