Midday Edition: 20 February 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 20 February 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 twentieth of February. Latest data
reveals no movement in child poverty, with about one hundred
and forty three thousand children living in material hardship. Stats
NZ figures annually to June twenty twenty four show none
of the nine measures showed statistically significant change compared with

(00:27):
the previous year. Lachlan Rennie has more.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
The rate of material hardship remains the same as twenty eighteen,
when the Labour League government first brought in the child
poverty reduction targets. In December, the Child Poverty Reduction Minister
set a target of lifting about seventeen thousand more children
out of material hardship by twenty twenty seven.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Two houses in Auckland's Massy have extensive damage after a
car smashed into them this morning. A couple was woken
with the car plowed into their bedroom, headlights shining. Police
are seeking the driver who fled. The heralds Rachel Mayer
says the neighbour's entire living room was taken out. Lots
of debris on the scene, lots of broken glass where

(01:08):
the boards sworn to parts. When I spoke to the
owner on the scene of the home, he was frantically
calling insurance this morning and trying to clean up the mass. Meanwhile,
firefighters have been injured after a wall has collapsed in
a building next to Hawks Bay's Tapohue fire station. Hawks
Bay to Day reports at least one has been taken
to hospital. Crews from Napier and Bayview are helping at

(01:28):
the station. The Reserve Bank doesn't expect New Zealand's low
productivity to pick up in the near future. It expects
the economy to recover slowly, boosted by high beef and
dairy prices and a low Kiwi dollar, but productivity remains
an ongoing concern. Governor Adrian Or told Mike Hosking we

(01:48):
need to change up how we do things.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
Generally, the economic growth has seen over decades now has
been about more people coming into the country. We need
investment in technology and people.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
The National EWE Chairs Forum says Mauri have honored the treaty,
the Crown has not submissions on as Treaty Principles. Bill
submissions continue today. Appadahama Edwards famously moved the microphone from
Act leader David Seymour at Waitangi. Today he and Tohuia
Bill Hamilton spoke for the Forum. Hamilton says as a

(02:22):
treaty educator, he's asked if Rangatira knew what a treaty was.
He says they always did.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
However, I doubt the Crown knows what a treaty is
because for the past one hundred and eighty five years,
Alfarnu have experienced racism, colonization, discrimination and breaches via parliament.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
UK Prime Minister Sirka Starmer has expressed support for Ukraine's president.
The US president labeled Voladimir Zelensky a dictator on social
media after Zelensky accused Donald Trump of repeating Russian disinformation.
The BBC's Rajini Vaid nat Yan Nafa says Starmer supports

(03:02):
Zelenski as Ukraine's democratically elected leader, said that it was
perfectly reasonable to suspend elections during wartime. Zelenski's first five
year term was due to end in May twenty twenty four.
To sport, Manchester City have missed out on Champions League
Round of sixteen football for the first time in twelve seasons,

(03:22):
ousted six to three on aggregate by Real Madrid, and
in the English Premier League, Aston Villa and Liverpool have
drawn to all This morning. Strikers Chris Wood and Earling
Harland are set to meet on football's international stage. The
All Whites have secured a friendly against Norway in Oslo
on October fifteen. I'm Malcolm Jordan. That's your latest news fix.

(03:45):
We'll be back with the next update at five pm
from the newstalk ZB newsroom.