Midday Edition: 14 March 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 14 March 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 fourteenth of March. The Prime
Minister is laying out the red carpet for potential investors
at the Infrastructure Investment Summit in Auckland. Delegates are hearing
from ministers and Opposition Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds as the
government looks to boost overseas investment in infrastructure. Christopher Luxen

(00:26):
says the focus is now about moving deals forward. I
don't want the end of the day to be the
end of our relationship. For us, the summit is really
just the first step. It's an introduction and a chance
to actually build relationships that I hope we can continue
for many years to come. And Infrastructure and Transport Minister
Chris Bishop says the government's ready to put stakes in
the ground for a second Auckland harbour crossing. He says

(00:47):
work will commence in the coming days to determine whether
a bridge or tunnel would be more suitable, with a
decision being made by the middle of next year. And
Bishop's told the summit the government's exploring tolls for all
its upcoming major roading projects. He says all the future
roads of national significance are being assessed for tolling, including

(01:08):
the hawks By Expressway and the Belfast II Pegasus Motorway,
and more than one hundred entities managing about six trillion
dollars in capital are taking part in the summit. Queensland
Investment Corporation infrastructure partner Patrick mulholland says they're looking at
opportunities in health, energy and transport transportation. We do have
TOLRD investment in Australia, but not in New Zealand, so

(01:30):
that's definitely a space we'd look at. To other news,
Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with US officials in Moscow
to discuss a potential thirty day ceasefire with Ukraine. He
suggested he'll only agree to a deal if it leads
to enduring peace and addresses the root causes of the crisis,
comments Ukraine is calling manipulative. The BBC's James Landale says

(01:55):
Donald Trump now has to figure out his response Russia
and Vladimir Putin. Our basic playing for a much longer
term solution to this. Mister Putin says all of these
issues need to be looked at in a very painstaking way.
An employment expert says businesses shouldn't be concerned about a
new law making it a crime for employers to steal workers' wages.

(02:16):
Workers can now go to the police instead of the
employment court to report their employer if they're not being
paid wages their owed. The Labor Members Bill passed its
final reading on Wednesday, with only ACT and National opposed.
Massey's School of Managements Zoe Port says most businesses should
have nothing to fear but a scare mongering about just
being the big bad wolf for business. But really, I

(02:38):
think it's about sending a clear message to a few
unscripts employers. Actors putting pressure on Auckland University to scrap
its compulsory first year course covering the Treaty of White
Tonguey and Maori te Kunger leader David Seymour told Mike
Hosking students within his EPSOM electorate or upset, I'm just
saying this is not only not of interest to us,

(02:59):
but more important, it's a perversion of academic freedom. The
university says the course offers core knowledge and skills to
transition students into tertiary education and set them up for
success to sport. Liam Lawson is getting his first taste
of Formula One as a full time Red Bull driver,
with practice for the season opening Australian Grand Prix in

(03:21):
Melbourne this afternoon. A mercurial even par round of seventy
two from golfer Ryan Fox has him six strokes off
the lead. It's after the opening round of the Players Championship.
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 ZB newsroom.