Afternoon Edition: 19 December 2025

The Afternoon Edition of News Fix for 19 December 2025, straight from the Newstalk ZB newsroom - bringing you everything you need to know in news, politics, business, entertainment and sport.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Good afternoon, I'm railing Ramsay. This is your afternoon news
fix for Friday, the nineteenth of December. A resident at
Wellington's Loafers Lodge the night it went up in flames,
says he's lost everything. Essera lor Longer was today sentenced
to life in prison with a minimum non parole period
of twenty two years, after he murdered five people when

(00:26):
he set fire to the hostel in twenty twenty three.
Dozens piled into the public gallery at the High Court
in Wellington, some crying as the sentence was handed down.
Former resident Jason King says he's traumatized and struggles every
day to turn his life around.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Reclusive stand office from people I find ard to go
out one eighteenth presents life was gone downhill so badly.

Speaker 1 (00:51):
No Longer will be detained as a special patient in
hospital until he's deemed fit for prison. A gun buyback
schemes being rolled out in off Australia in the wake
of the Bondai Beach terror attack. Fifteen people were killed
when two shooters opened fire on Harneker celebrations. Australian authorities
believe the attack was inspired by ISIS. Prime Minister Anthony

(01:14):
Albinezi says tougher gun laws aren't the whole answer. He
promises he'll do everything possible to keep people safe. Weann
to make sure that these laws don't get past and
then get knocked over. Two men have been arrested following
a shooting that injured two others in Gore. Police were
called to upp at Emma Street on Wednesday night after

(01:35):
reports of a firearm being discharged. One person remains in hospital.
A man has been suspended from driving the first and
the government's new roadside drug testing scheme. A pilot of
the saliva testing began in Wellington this week. Police a
forty year old man with his young daughter in the car,
tested positive for methamphetamine during a checkpoint on Hut Road

(01:57):
last night. Superintendent Steve Greeley says the man was later
required to provide a blood sample but refused. He was
then summoned to court and lost his license for twenty
eight days. Duty lawyers are ringing in the new year
with industry election over concerns about pay. Forty two Auckland
lawyers will be making themselves unavailable for rostering from January

(02:21):
twelve to seventeen, as three years of government pay rise
requests stay unaddressed. Barrister Dennis Ansley says conditions are creating
a shortage of lawyers, leaving legal support for the most
vulnerable increasingly out of reach.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
I means that justice is going to become available for
the rich people. We're a free service to the public
and it's vital. I mean we see sixty to eighty
people a day in Auckland. That's just one court.

Speaker 1 (02:49):
The government's committed twelve million dollars to help stamp out
hornets in Auckland. The yellow legged hornet was detected on
the North Shore earlier this year. It poses a serious
threat to honeybees and by extension to the agricultural sector.
To sport and the appointment of Whitney Hanson as the
new Black Ferns coach on a two year deal is

(03:10):
the latest in a number of moves at the top
of New Zealand Sport. Insaid Cricket Chief Executive Scott Weenink
has resigned and will leave on January thirty after beginning
the role in September of twenty twenty three. That follows
the departure of Netball New Zealand CEO Jenny Wiley on Thursday,
following the Dame Nolente Todo's stand down controversy and other

(03:33):
ructions in the code. That is your latest news fix.
We'll be back with the next update tomorrow morning from
the news Talk SeeDB news Room