Midday Edition: 17 July 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 17 July 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 Malcolm Jordan and this is your midday
news fix for Thursday, the seventeenth of July. The Education
Minister says she's looking into helping fund schools to modify
existing open plan rooms. All new classrooms will revert to
traditional formats, dumping the innovation introduced by John Keyes government
in twenty eleven. Erica Stanford says she's tasking the School

(00:27):
Property Agency to look into ways to help schools change
teaching spaces. In the meantime, schools do have property budgets,
so they've got five year budgets and within those there
is a.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Category for classroom modifications.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Businesses will soon be paying lower fees for Visa and
MasterCard payments. The Commerce Commission has decided that total fees
should reduce from one billion dollars a year to nine
hundred and ten million. It expects the average business to
pay five hundred dollars less annually to payment processing companies.
John Small told Herald Now's Ryan Bridge they hope retailers

(01:04):
will reduce or scrap consumer search charges without needing to
be compelled by regulation. Ultimately, it will check a pressure
on retail prices, que pressure on search charges and that
will benefit consumers at the till A Wellington Merrill hopeful
believes a rates cap isn't a good idea and central
government shouldn't be involved. Local Government Minister Simon Watts has

(01:26):
told the Local Government Association conference in christ Church a
decision on rates caps will be made before Christmas. Wellington
rates have risen thirty percent over the past two years
and is a big concern for many locals. Merrill candidate
Andrew Little says councils need to make their own decisions.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
There elects to make decisions. They should make decisions and
if they get it wrong, they'll be booted out of office.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
That's how political accountability works.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
But I'm not sure that a rates cap is going
to help.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Chris Luxon says New Zealand needs to change its thinking
on flooding risks. Official data projects up to fourteen and
a half thousand homes will face damage from extreme events
in the next thirty five years. News Talk ZB analysis
suggests per capita, Tasman and Nelson will be the hardest hit.
The Prime Minister says we need to plan carefully for

(02:13):
the future. We can't have people building in flood signed
these things are going to keep happening. How are we
going to manage them? The Government's received one expression of
interest to become a charter school in the latest round,
Jordan Dunn has more eight.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Schools have now made the conversion, the latest being Twin
Oaks Classical School in Auckland. The latest expressions of interest
means a total of seven this year have made the
first step to becoming a charter school. The Agency responsible
says it is in discussions with about a dozen other
schools who are actively considering the option.

Speaker 1 (02:45):
Auckland Council wants to overhaul animal control laws on such
things as managing an animal while its owner is prosecuted.
It received about seventeen thousand reports of roaming dogs in
the past year and were contacted over nearly three thousand
dog along standing debate continues over where to put an
erebus memorial to the nineteen seventy nine plane crash disaster,

(03:07):
with the latest proposal a christ Church site to sport.
The All Blacks have made ten changes to their side
for the third Test against France and Hamilton on Saturday.
Six are in the backs, with Rico Yuani the only
survivor on the left wing. And four are in the Fords.
Brody McAllister could debut from the bench. Roger to Ivasa
Check is a candidate to switch codes again in twenty

(03:30):
twenty seven. The Warrior is a target of the proposed
Rugby three to sixty competition, and Welsh football club Wrexham
looks set to sign All Whites defender Libby Kikacci for
the looming English Championship season. I'm Malcolm Jordan. That's your
latest news fix. We'll be back with the next update
at five pm from the news Talk ZB newsroom.