Afternoon Edition: 20 May 2026

The Afternoon Edition of News Fix for 20 May 2026, 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 (00:02):
Good afternoon. I'm Rayleen Ramsay. This is your afternoon news
fix for Wednesday, the twentieth of May. Fourteen prison staff
have been arrested in Auckland after a police operation across
two corrections facilities. Nine offices were taken into custody from
Mount Eden Corrections Facility today and five reintegration offices at

(00:23):
Auckland South Corrections Facility. A spokesperson for Auckland South says
it has zero tolerance for any behavior that compromises safety.
It says it remains confident most staff act with integrity
every day. Police have been approached for comment. The Finance
Minister says she's disappointed by new revelations. M FAT is

(00:45):
exempt from cutting spending this year. It's been confirmed the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade won't be given a
reduced baseline budget. Most agencies face two percent cuts. M
FAT will be subject to the same five percent reduction
for MOOST agencies next year and the year after. Nikolouella
says debate will continue on value for money in foreign affairs.

(01:08):
I'm disappointed on behalf of those New Zealanders who might
have liked to see if there were some savings that
in fact, could have been making. The Minister for Regulation
warns New Zealand's regulation environment needs a critical review. The
ministry's inaugural State of Regulation shows we have nearly two
hundred and seventy different entities. David Seymour cites the example

(01:29):
of dog control, which is governed by five different government
agencies with laws spanning eleven different acts. He says it
would be a great outcome to reduce regulators by a
quarter or a third. I think a fair and logical
goal should be that any New Zealander wanting to do
something should only have to knock on one regulator's door.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins doesn't think the public much cares

(01:51):
about which companies would be in the party's future fund.
It won't be revealing key details, including the cost to
the crown and which stay assets would go into it
until after voters go to the polls. Finance spokeswoman Barbara
Edmonds yesterday said they'll need official advice post election before
knowing which public assets can feed into the fund. Hepkins

(02:14):
says the objective is simple. Propositions quite clear. National wants
to sell public assets. We want to keep them and
put those profits to work for New Zealanders. More than
one hundred birds have died at a Nelson community garden
after eating grain volunteers believe was poisoned by security in
Zeda's taking swabs to rule out infectious disease. The Banking

(02:36):
Association's advising people to test the market. Consumer in z
hasn't given out the People's Choice Banking Award this year
for the first time in a decade, saying too many
customers were unhappy. But despite the low satisfaction, only four
percent swapped banks in the past year. Banking Association Chief

(02:56):
Executive Roger Beaumont has a clear message for New Zealanders.
You are in any way dissatisfied with your bank, you
should switch banks to Sport and South Sydney. Ford Gi
Arrow has announced his retirement from the NRL after being
diagnosed with motor neuron disease. Arrow has played one hundred

(03:16):
and seventy eight NRL games and twelve matches for Queensland.
Will Jordan returns from a calf injury for the Crusaders
in their Round fifteen Super Rugby match against the Chiefs
on Friday, and the New York Nexts have launched a
twenty two point comeback over the Cleveland Cavaliers to take
Game one in the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals, one fifteen,

(03:39):
one oh four in overtime. That is your latest news fix.
We'll be back with the next update tomorrow morning from
the News Talk Seedban news Room