Midday Edition: 06 December 2024

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 06 December 2024, 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 Friday, the sixth of December. An out
of control scrub fire in the Southern Alps near Canterbury's
Lake Pearson has almost doubled again in size. Nine helicopters
and three fixed wing aircraft are battling the blaze, which
now spans nine hundred and eighty hectares. Jamie Cunningham reports.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Incident Commander Brian Cowan says the aircraft are using retardants
to suppress the fire as crews work with heavy machinery
on the ground. All but eleven homes self evacuated at
Castle Hill Village yesterday and a community meetings being held
for affected people in Springfield at one pm. Fire and
Emergency continues to assess when it's safe to reopen State

(00:48):
Highway seventy three between Springfield and Arthur's Pass.

Speaker 1 (00:52):
A Dunedin chicken farm has tested negative for bird flu
and MPI suspects that deaths in its birds are due
to any existing disease in New Zealand. In Otago, eighty
thousand birds are being killed at a Moidraiki Farm egg
farm managed by Mainland poultry that tested positive for avian
flu last weekend. MPI Deputy Director General Stuart Anderson says

(01:16):
testing is continuing at both properties. There have been no
sign of illness at Mainland Poultry's other farms in the area.
New Zealand's Defense and Foreign ministers Judith Collins and Winston
Peters are meeting their Australian counterparts in Auckland, with the
UCUS Security Pact lightly high on the agenda. The talks

(01:37):
with Richard Miles and Penny Wong are a follow up
to a meeting in Melbourne in February. News Talk zb's
Claudia O'Neill is with them.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Today's discussions will likely focus on the growing geopolitical instability
in the Asia Pacific and further Afield. Collins will also
sit down directly with Miles and Peter's with Wong to
discuss defense and foreign affairs respectively.

Speaker 1 (01:58):
The threat of a tsunami has passed from a seven
magnitude earthquake off California's coast. Its epicenter was about eighty
kilometers off shore. After shocks continue and about ten thousand
people have been left without power. CNN's Chad Meyers says
fears that the shake could have been on a subduction
zone area didn't eventuate.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
These zones went back and forth rather than up and down,
so that's why we didn't get the big wave that
was possible.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Calls from the Prime Minister to rethink our attitude to
foreign investment and OECD reports found New Zealand's economic momentum
remains weak despite falling interest rates. It's projecting one point
four percent growth next year and two point one the
following year. Chris Luckson says we have low productivity and
a thin pool of capital.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
We've done a very poor job of attracting foreign investment.
The mentality has been welcome to New Zealand, but it's
a privilege for you to invest here, versus we should
be saying thank you for bringing your money here.

Speaker 1 (02:57):
The Police Minister is downplaying concern us the government won't
meet its promise of having five hundred more cops by
the end of next year. New Commissioner Richard Chambers has
indicated to ensure quality training June twenty twenty six is
more likely, but Minister Mark Mitchell says everyone is on
track to meet the target to sport eleven. Former New

(03:19):
Zealand international cricketers have been inducted into the national body's
inaugural Hall of Fame. Our leading Test wicket taker, Sir
Richard Hadley is among the inaugural inductees. Harry Plummer felt
he was too far down the pecking order of all
blacks first fives to stick around. In the hopes of
adding to his one Test, he signed with Clement and

(03:40):
Auckland City FC have been drawn to meet German giants
Bayern Munich, Argentine's side Boker Juniors and Portuguese outfit Benfica
for June's FIFA Club World Cup. 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 z'b newsroom.