Afternoon Edition: 18 June 2025

The Afternoon Edition of News Fix for 18 June 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 Rayleen Ramsay. This is your afternoon news
fixed for Wednesday, the eighteenth of June. The Prime Minister
is pushing for diplomacy and trade in China as he
visits with ministers and senior business leaders. Discussions will include
boosting education and tourism and attracting more international students to
New Zealand. Chris Larksen will have face to face talks

(00:26):
with prior Chinese President Shijin Ping in coming days. He says,
they want to advance trade and keep an open dialogue, and.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
We have a strong relationship with the political leaders here
in China. I want to continue to strengthen those relationships.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Arguments Ditching the traditional censors will remove a way for
struggling communities to reach out. Statistics Minister Shane that Etti
has an outstat senz will move to a system using
government collected ADMIN data, saying the current five yearly census
is financially unsustainable. Sense of style questions will still be

(01:02):
asked in much smaller annual surveys looking at a small
fraction of the population. Institute of Economic Research principal economist
Bill K. Blake says census data is collected for a reason.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
I think it's worth the money, so that we can
understand communities better and apply our resources.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
In the right ways. David Seymour is asking manufacturers of malatonin,
used to help insomniacs and regulate sleep, to offer products
in New Zealand. The Associate Health Minister says the medication
widely available overseas, will soon be available here over the counter.
Medsaves decided there's no reason to limit it. Seymour says

(01:41):
pharmaceutical companies who can apply to ship malatone into keyweek chemists.

Speaker 3 (01:46):
New Zealanders with insomnia and jetlag have been neglected by
the malatonin manufacturers of the world and we have not
been able to get access, just like most of the
developed world.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
The Health Minister is standing by sending people to private
providers for elective surgeries. Health Inset is getting private hospitals
to do procedures. Speaking to the Health Select Committee for
Scrutiny week, Simon Brown says he makes no apology for
getting people seen labour Zicheverel put a Treasury claim to him.

(02:17):
She says, it's stated the government's getting help for people
who haven't been waiting long, so it's seemed to be
meeting targets.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
Treasuries, all sorts of things. My point here is the facts.
The facts are the majority of the people receiving treatment
or elective boost are people waiting over four months.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
The Workplace Relations and Safety Minister has acknowledged how contentious
the government's pay equity changes are. It's bill, passed last
month under urgency, halted claims of gender discrimination and made
new ones harder to lodge. It gave nearly thirteen billion
dollars savings to this year's budget. Brook van Walden's faced

(02:56):
the Education and Workforce Committee today. She says reform film
was needed, claiming the pay equity regime was untargeted and unaffordable.

Speaker 2 (03:05):
Hey, equity remains, equal pay remains and no one has
had their pay cut.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
To Sport and the Crusaders have named Macus Springer to
start on the left wing and super in the Super
Rugby Final against the Chiefs after Chaffi Hackey was ruled
out due to a head knock suffered in the semi finals.
Prop To Mighty Williams has been declared fit to start
after missing the semis with a knee injury, and the
Chiefs have named an unchained starting fifteen. The Morons believe

(03:35):
they can keep the State of Origin series alive at
a venue that has been a graveyard for Queensland hopes.
And the Florida Panthers remain Ice Hockey's best after defending
NHL's Stanley Cup. And that is your latest news fix.
There'll be another update for you tomorrow morning from the
news Talk zb newsroom