Midday Edition: 12 August 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 12 August 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 Susan Nordquist. This is your midday news
fix for Tuesday, the twelfth of August. Time is ticking
for our economic recovery, which is still pressured by unemployment.
West PAC's August Economic Overview predicts the rateful peak hit
five point three percent by the end of this year,
declining the following two years. West pac enz economist Kelly

(00:26):
Eckols says signs unemployment will full should come around Christmas time.
There were concerns, perhaps if you look back a couple
of years ago, that the unemployment rate Michael will have
six percent before turning around. A senior National MP is
admitting his party's pole results could be better. One News
variant poll shows National stable on thirty four percent, but

(00:49):
support for Labor has risen four points, putting it one
below National on thirty three percent. The Coalition could govern
again on the numbers with fewer National and Act MPs
and lightly more New Zealand First members. Chris Bishop says
sorting the economy takes time. Of course, anyone wants to
be high on the pulse. You lie to you if
I said we didn't want to be high. A crash

(01:10):
has been causing major delays at Monaco on Auckland's Southern
Motorway and in the Bay of Plenties or Port Dickey.
A rolled truck is blocking State Highway thirty five. Auckland's
Altier Square has reopened after an evacuation prompted by an
unattended bag. Security staff at the Altia Center gave police
called just before nine and the square was caughtened off.

(01:33):
About fifty people were also evacuated. News Talk creb's Jacob
Jones has been speaking with a cop at the scene.
It was a suitcase quite near one of the entrances
to the ATS Center building. The bomb squad wasn't called in,
but our specialist search was called in. Disney is pulling
the plank on its cruise services in a land far

(01:54):
far away, but an expert sees a silver lining. The
Disney Wonder Ship has operated across lous the Tasman since
twenty twenty four, but is moving on from twenty twenty six.
Cruz Association head Jackie Lloyd believes high fees and posed
on ships are a factor. She says it's hoped talks
with the government or lead to a reduction in those costs.

(02:15):
Letting Disney return in the future. If we do get
things right, we'll be able to see you change as
early as twenty seven twenty eight season. We're too late
for twenty six twenty seven at the moment, but it
would definitely make a difference. Chris Hipkins says investment in
renewable energy, rather than gas exploration, is the answer to
fixing our energy woes. A Business NZ survey has found

(02:36):
almost half of commercial and industrial gas users have had
to reduce operations, increase prices or cut staff due to
higher gas prices. The government says the revoking of the
Oil and Gas Band will help, but Hipkins says finding
a new gas field is unlikely and we should focus
on what we can control. We've got an abundance of

(02:57):
geo thermal, We've got an abundance of wind. We've gotten
a abundance of the sun. We've got an abundance of hydro.
To Sportner and All Blacks coach Scott Robertson claims he
has no need to coddle First Five's Boden Barrett and
Damien Mackenzie. When Ritchie Mouanga becomes available for selection from
October twenty twenty six, Chris Wood is confident All Whites

(03:18):
teammates Tyler Binden and Marco Starminich could soon join football's
Premier League. And today mark's the fiftieth anniversary of Sir
John Walker becoming the first athlete to run under three
minutes fifty seconds for the mile. I'm Susie Nordquist and
that is your latest news fix. We'll be back with
the next update at five pm from the news talksy

(03:38):
B news room.