Morning Edition: 26 May 2025

The Morning Edition of News Fix for 26 May 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 morning. I'm never Rettimanu and this is your morning
news fix for Monday, twenty sixth of May, and this
update from today. New sanctions can be imposed on beneficiaries
who fail to meet job seeker obligations as part of
the government's new traffic light system. Social Development Minister Louise
Upston says the changes will support more people into work,

(00:27):
but they have been called cruel and punitive by the opposition.
Rather than reducing the benefit of a job seeker who
isn't meeting obligations, non financial sanctions can now be applied
for a four week period. Money management would put half
of someone's benefit onto a payment card that can only
be used at Approud stores. At the same time, Community

(00:49):
work Experience requires a placement at a voluntary organization for
five hours a week. Scientists a warning of a black
hole budget for the sector amid science reforms. The twenty
twenty five budget includes forty three million dollars for the
establishment of three new public research organizations and a gene

(01:09):
tech regulator. Association of Scientists warns many initiatives such as GeoNet,
which helps us understand earthquakes and tsunamis, are seeing budget
cuts of around thirteen percent. CO president Troy Basden expects
to see more job losses this year.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
There's a whole bunch of areas of science where effectively
there's no escape and no way to rebuild capability with
what's going to be lost if we don't ramp investment backup.

Speaker 1 (01:36):
Investigations continue into how a public bus was engulfed in
flames in Auckland's Epsom last night. Two fire crews put
out the bus fire, which started after six on the
corner of the Drive and Empire Road. An Auckland Transport
spokesperson says the fire broke out on the two nine
to five bus from the city center to Ellesleye. They
say the bus driver did a fantastic job getting everyone

(01:59):
off the bus quick, including someone with accessibility challenges before
the fire engulfed. The rest of the vehicle. Journeys heading
north out of Auckland will momentarily become a bit faster
from today. The speed limit is being raised to one
hundred and ten kilometers per hour on the Northern Gateway
toll road from north of Orderwa to south of the

(02:21):
Johnstones Hill Tunnels, a distance of five point five kilometers.
Northland Council's Regional Transport Committee chair Joe Carr says it's
an important step to improving connectivity with Auckland.

Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's a two way deal because we can produce a
lot of uclud's requirements up here. As lose the horticops
or Land, we've got more and more chance to step
of that space.

Speaker 1 (02:44):
Social media influencer Milly Elder Holmes has been fined five
thousand dollars for promoting online gambling. The Department of Internal
Affairs says she was worn to cease promotion before the fine,
but failed to comply. It's part of a wider cracked
on social media influences using their profiles to promote overseas
gambling sites. In Sport, Scott McLaughlin is out of the

(03:08):
ND five hundred, crashing in the warm up lamp at
the Brickyard. Lando Norris has won the Monaco Grand Prix.
Liam Lawson has finished eighth. The Warriors have been beaten
sixteen ten by the Raiders. In round twelve NRL League Action.
The Raiders moved to second with eighteen points, level with
the third placed Warriors. The Bulldogs lead on twenty I'm

(03:31):
never ready, MANU that Your latest news fix will be
back with the next update at midday from the newstalk
ZB news room.