Midday Edition: 18 July 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 18 July 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 eighteenth of July, and the
Prime Minister is talking up the government's new Auckland Science Institute,
labeled the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology. It's funded
to the tune of two hundred and thirty one million
dollars over four years, with a focus on breakthrough tech

(00:24):
like AI, quantum computing and synthetic biology. Chris Luxen says
its core aim is bolstering New Zealand's tech exports.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
This is a new public research organization dedicated to turning
world class advanced science like AI and quantum computing and
technologies into commercial success.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
China's ambassador is calling for our two countries to continue
working together at a time when the world seems to
be threatening to regress to the law of the Jungle.
Ambassador Juang Jao Long, speaking of the eleventh China Business
Summit in Auckland this morning, he said, as New Zealand
is at the forefront of China's Western relationships, bud Jao

(01:04):
Long warns global cooperation and the UN are under threat.

Speaker 3 (01:08):
As China and New Zealand we are both stakeholders, and
we both have agency. The steak is simply too high
for us not to play our roles.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
The Electricity Authority has announced changes aiming to make connecting
to the electricity network easier at once to reduce the
time and cost of connecting to things like public EV
charging stations and solar farms with more Business reporter Michael Sergal.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
Rules around how the twenty nine lines companies process and priced.
New connections are being standardized. The Authority says this will
be vital to getting more power into the network, bringing
costs down. New time frames and processes are being introduced
for larger users wanting to connect, like EV charge point
operators or public transport operators wanting to electrify their fleet.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Don't expect butter to get much cheaper anytime soon later.
Stats and Z figures show Kiwi consumers are now consistently
paying more than twice as much for butter as a
decade ago. Supermarkets and suppliers have been under pressure to
lower prices, but Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen says prices
are being driven by international supply and demand. He says

(02:18):
Europe's producing less and Asia is consuming more.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Higher dairy demand across the world, but not quite as
much dairy supply from a number of other producing nations
as meaning that there is a bit of a limitation there.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
Meanwhile, a breakthrough in the long running dispute with Canada
over our dairy exports. Canada has agreed to meet its
obligations under the CPTPP trade deal, worth about one hundred
and fifty seven million dollars to our dairy exporters, and
the UK government is lowering the voting age from the
next election to let sixteen and seventeen year olds have

(02:50):
their say, bringing it into lime with Scotland and Wales.
The Kiwi musician who founded iconic band Fat Freddy's Drop
has died. Chris Faiumu was also known as MoU and
DJ FITCHI to Sport. The Open Golf Major at royal
Port Rush marks the first time that five or more

(03:10):
players have tied for the opening round lead since nineteen
thirty eight. Jacob Scowe, Ollison, Lee how Tong, Christianne Bezadenhout,
Matts Fitzpatrick and Harris English have carded four under par
sixty sevens women's marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich has
been provisionally suspended after returning a positive doping test for

(03:34):
a band diuretic, and rapper Snoop Dogg has become a
co owner and investor in English Championship football side Swansea.
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.