Midday Edition: 31 January 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 31 January 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 Friday, the thirty first of January. Shane
Jones says it's time New Zealand has a conversation about
mining on conservation land. The Resources Minister delivered a speech
in Wyhe this morning and release the government's mineral strategy,
which includes a renewed focus on coal. Jones says the

(00:25):
government also intends to take aim at current regulations preventing mining.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
If we want economic growth in New Zealand, we have
got to have a profound discussion as to what percentage
of the green take can we actually afford.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
And dozens of protesters were gathered outside Oceana Gold in Wyhe,
where Jones has been speaking this morning. The US Transportation
Safety Board says it can't yet rule human or mechanical
factors in or out in yesterday's midiar collision over Washington,
d C. The sixty seven people on board the American

(01:01):
Airlines passenger jet and Army Blackhawk helicopter are all presumed dead.
Video shows a fireball after the moment of impact, then
wreckage plummeted into the Potomac River into s B chair
Jennifer Homandy says they'll leave no stone unturned. We are
going to conduct a thorough investigation of this entire tragedy,

(01:24):
looking at the facts. The government's announced to the former
Cadbury factory will be the new Dunedin Hospitals in patient building.
Health Minister Simeon Brown says they've acted to get cost
overruns under control. More problems for the school lunch program.
The School Lunch Collective is experiencing a technical problem with

(01:46):
ovens in Auckland today. Other campus compass kitchens around Auckland
are being used to heat meals. It's anticipated all meals
will arrive late to school today. Fears that pests and
diseases could become an even greater issue for farmers if
new products aren't approved soon. A dozen primary sector businesses

(02:07):
and groups are calling for swift action to clear the
backlog of more than one hundred farming product applications. Animal
and Plant Health New Zealand says unlocking the queue will
benefit people all across the country. Chief executive Liz Shackleton
says in Hawks Bay apple growers need solutions to diseases
like black spot. It is their nomber one barrier to

(02:29):
tread in the QRE solutions for that sitting under assessment
for the last three and a half years. Economic forecasters
have an optimistic outlook on the future for the first
time in years. Infometrics expects are growth to pick up
throughout the year, with GDP growth averaging zero point five
percent each quarter. It says it's a significant improvement on

(02:52):
the flat results averaged throughout the last two years. Chief
forecaster Gareth Cwnan says household spending is starting to increase
as interest rates come down. Two different fatal crashes in
Auckland and Hawkes Bay. A motorcyclist lost their life at
a crash on or Tarda's Hills Road yesterday and a
cyclist has died after being hit by a car in

(03:14):
Flaxmir last night. To Sport, former Warriors captain Steve Price
is backing James Fisher Harris to lead the club this
NRL League season after Torhu Harris's retirement. Golfer Lydia Coe
is tied for twenty seventh. That's eight strokes off the
lead after carting a one over pass seventy three in
the first round of her opening LPGA event of the season.

(03:38):
She's defending the Tournament of Champions in Florida. I'm Malcolm Jordan.
That's your latest news fix. We'll be back with the
next update at five pm from the newstalk ZB newsroom.