Morning Edition: 08 May 2026

The Morning Edition of News Fix for 08 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 morning, I'm never reatimanu and this is your morning.
Newswix for Friday, eighth of May. In this update, signs
New Zealand's for skill paths will become increasingly untenable if
our existing pension settings remain, and OECD snapshot of our
economy suggests without reform, health, long term care and pension

(00:24):
costs will lift by around five percent of GDP by
twenty sixty, but it says upping enz Super contributions and
means testing could counter this simplicity. Managing Director Sam Stubbs
says it's a huge problem that needs to be addressed urgently.
He says, at this rate, by twenty sixty all of
our income tax will only be able to pay for

(00:46):
health and National Super, with no money left for anything else.
City Rail Link cost concerns a reigniting calls for a
shakeup to the way we approach infrastructure. The project's former boss,
Shawn's Sweeney, claims the build could have been completed at
half the estimated five point five billion dollars. It sparked

(01:07):
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop to announce a full review of
the project after it's opened later this year. Civil contractors
New Zealand ce Alan Pollard says Sweeney's views line up
with broader overspending concerns, and he says we have a
tendency to favor bespoke design over standard design and to
over engineer. A promise to reinvest cash collected from tourists

(01:31):
visiting conservation land back into nature, A bill has been
ladged promising major reforms aimed at speeding up the dock
sign off process for concessions on conservation land. Minister Tama
Portucker says its estimated charging visitors will raise around sixty
million dollars a year to go to conservation, helping with
killing pests destroying the place. Sites where international visitors might

(01:55):
be charged could include the likes of Milford Sound, Cathedral
Cove and the Tonga ed Alpine Crossing. A renewed diplomatic
push has rekindled hopes of the US closing a deal
with Iran to end months of hostilities. Washington's delivered a
memorandum to Tehran via Pakistani mediators and a response is
expected today, but there's still an element of caution, with

(02:17):
talks falling apart the last time the two sides were
in this position. Znens Elana tren says that Donald Trump
still strongly opposed to Iran's nuclear ambitions. The World Health
Organizations declared the cruise ship hantavirus outbreak is not the
start of a global pandemic. Five of the eight suspected
cases of the rodent spread virus have now been confirmed,

(02:39):
Three including a sixty nine year old Dutch woman, have died.
The latest WHO briefing says the wider public health risk
has been assessed as low, and it says that the
virus is different to the likes of COVID nineteen as
it spreads through very close intimate contact. In sport, a
stark message from New Zealand rugby cheer David Kirk around

(03:01):
Mwana Pasifiker's future. He says if the franchise is financially
unable to continue, they need to orchestrate a managed exit.
The Dolphins have troutced the Bulldogs forty four to twelve
to open Round ten of NRL League. They trailed twelve
four before scoring forty unanswered points. England is set to

(03:22):
appoint former Australian cricketer Marcus North as their first foreign
national selector ahead of next month's Test series against New Zealand.
I'm never ready, Manu that your latest news fix will
be back with the next update at midday. From the
News Doork ZB Newsroom