Afternoon Edition: 14 March 2025

The Afternoon Edition of News Fix for 14 March 2025, straight from the Newstalk ZB newsroom - bringing you everything you need to know in news, politics, business, entertainment and sport.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good afternoon, I'm railing Ramsey. This is your afternoon news
fix for Friday, the fourteenth of March. Serial rapist John
Hope Muchera Hondo has been sentenced to twenty three years
behind bars. Mucher To Hondo, who still denies the offending,
was found guilty last year on seventeen charges of rape
and sexual assault.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Emily Ancel reports mutire Hondo faced thirty one charges related
to alleged attacks on fifteen women between two thousand and
nine and twenty twenty one. Many of the acts were
filmed without the knowledge or consent of the women, just
as Lisa Preston says, his attitude of entitlement came through
loud and clear in the evidence. Preston says he escaped

(00:48):
the Crown's wish for preventive detention by a fine margin.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
A scrub fires broken out alongside State Highway one at
Waipu south of Fargarra. Fire crews have been called to
the blays between Murdock Crescent and South End Avenue. People
are being advised to delay travel if possible or use
alternative routes. The government's told foreign investors at its investments
summit in Auckland it's open to tolls for all its

(01:15):
upcoming major roading projects. Political editor Jason Walls as.

Speaker 3 (01:19):
Their Transport Minister Chris Bishop says all the future roads
of national significance are being assessed for tolling, including the
Hawks Bay Expressway and the Belfast to Pegasus Motorway. He
says tolls have several benefits, including upfront payments that can
be reinvested, increasing efficiency, and sharing operational risks with a
private operator.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
Meanwhile, Labor of Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds has told the
Summit her party won't support public private partnerships for prisons,
schools and hospitals, but she says they want to provide
certainty for investors. Labour isn't going to spend our first
year back in government pausing, canceling and reviewing everything just
because the current government started something.

Speaker 3 (02:02):
We aren't just going to stop it.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
French Canadian institutional investor CDPQ says a bipartisan approach from
National and Labor is crucial. The managing director of its
Australian arm, Jean Etienne LaRue, says there needs to be continuity.

Speaker 3 (02:19):
Making sure that there is a framework, there is an
approach to attracting foreign capital that lives through the cycles
political cycles is very important.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
The Desert Road has officially reopened after a two month closure.
In zta's Roger Brady is thanking everyone who worked on
the project and everyone who put up with the disruption.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
It's hard work, it's good planning, but most of it's
the ability to build to close the road that has
just been an absolute game change in terms of productivity,
tends to cost effectiveness, and also in terms of safety
for the cruise.

Speaker 1 (02:51):
Stargazers be on the lookout tonight there'll be a blood
moon lunar eclipse for about two hours from seven thirty
eight pm. Stardom astrologist Rob Davison says, while they aren't
super rare, we can go long periods without them.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
With the weather being how it is, you can easily
go many many years without having a chance to actually
see one, so any time one comes along, it's always
worth trying.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Thirty just sport Auckland boxer Joseph Parker set to get
another chance at a world title fight after unified heavyweight
champ Alexander Usik was ordered to put his WBO belt
on the line. The parties have been given thirty days
to negotiate a deal.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
Can we?

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Driver Liam Lawson's underway and his first Australian Grand Prix
for Red Bull Racing. The big Formula One race is
on Sunday. That is your latest news fix. We'll be
back with the next update tomorrow morning from the news
Talk seed B Newsroom.