Morning Edition: 18 May 2026

The Morning Edition of News Fix for 18 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 ready MANU, and this is your
morning news fix for Monday, eighteenth of May. In this update,
a banking expert doesn't see any advantages to the government
buying out BNZ. New Zealand First has announced its intention
to buy the bank from the National Australia Bank if
his party returns to power in November. Leader Winston Peters

(00:24):
says it would be merged with Kiwi Bank to form
the National Bank of New Zealand, but Massi University banking
expert Clear Matthews says it would be very expensive and
quite authoritarian of done by force. She says it could
have a big impact on New Zealand's global reputation. A
criminal defense lawyer says prohibiting good character considerations and sentencing

(00:48):
will discourage rehabilitation. The National Party has announced judges won't
be able to give sentence discounts to sexual offenders for
good character if re elected, but Iri Dieberg KC says
for first time offenders, it acknowledges the criminal is less
likely to reoffend. She says in her experience, victims of

(01:09):
sexual offenses feel better knowing the offender is making efforts
to better themselves. Dieberg says the survivor then feels like
there will be fewer victims. Concern that ncea's revamp could
be a little old fashioned. The Education Minister has announced
more detail on what's replacing NCEEA. Year eleven students will

(01:31):
need a Foundational Literacy and Numeracy Award under the new system,
while senior students face compulsory exams in every subject and
must pass at least three Canterbury's Darfield School principal Andy
England told Ryan Bridge there's no doubt NCEEA needed a revamp,
but this is a bit retro. He's concerned it's oversimplified.

(01:52):
The helicopter involved in a fatal crash near Wanaka yesterday
had been charted by a hunting group. Emergency this is
were called to Mount Aspiring Park about ten am, finding
the two people on board dead. Their three hunting mates
were on the ground at the time and uninjured. Belize
say the deaths have been referred to the coroner, and
the Civil Aviation Authority and the Transport Accident Investigation Commission

(02:16):
are making inquiries. Skinny Mobile's latest campaign has caused a
stir by playing ads in private phone calls owned and
operated by spark. Its recent TV ad made history by
digitally cloning a customer in exchange for free mobile data.
It's now been trying to cut costs by playing pre

(02:38):
recorded adverts during phone calls, involving at least one skinny customer.
The campaign ran until the end of last month, with
three thousand people participating and more than six hours of
ads played. Advertising expert Vaughan Davis says people seek items
that cost less to buy and use, and he says
if the price for that product is having ads in it,

(02:59):
there's an opportunity there. With free to air TV and
radio also supplemented by ads. In sport, Warriors coach Andrew
Webster is fearing a season ending ACL knee injury for
half back Tenor Boyd after the forty two to twelfth
NRL League win over the Broncos in the Magic Round.
Jarnick Sinner has joined Rufal Nadal in becoming the second

(03:21):
man to sweep all three Clay Caught ATP Masters one
Thy tennis titles in a single season. Bruno Fernandez has
equaled the Premier League Football goal's assist record for a
single season with twenty as Manchester United wrapped up third
on the table with victory over Nottingham Forest. I'm Nevaretti

(03:42):
Manho and that your latest news fix. We'll be back
with the next update at midday from the news dog
ZB News Roup