Midday Edition: 15 December 2025

The Midday Edition of News Fix for 15 December 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 Monday, the fifteenth of December. The suspected
shooters behind a deadly terror attack at Sydney's Bondai Beach
are a father and son. Just before nine last night,
two gunmen wearing black opened fire into a crowd of
more than one thousand people celebrating the first day of
the Jewish holiday Haneker. Sixteen people were killed, including one

(00:27):
of the gunmen, a fifty year old man. His son,
a twenty four year old man, is stable in hospital
with critical injuries and authorities aren't looking for any other offenders.
New South Wales Police Commissioner mal Lanyon says police have
recovered six firearms from the scene, as well as an
address linked to the men. The fifty year old male
is a licensed firearms holder. He has six firearms licensed

(00:51):
to him. Prime Minister Anthony Albanezi, who has this morning
visited Bondai and laid flowers, says the attack was an
act of pure evil. Will do whatever is necessary to
stamp out anti Semitism. It is a scourge and we
will eradicate it together. Police have released a photo of
a person of interest in relation to a double homicide

(01:12):
and Ruatiti near Huanganui National Park over the weekend. Two
people were found dead at a Muru Muru Road property
on Saturday afternoon. They say twenty nine year old Mitchell
Koal should not be approached. Police believe he's in the
Ruatiti area, and police investigating the death of a man
and a home invasion in waik and I have arrested

(01:33):
six men, charging five with murder. Michael Tofts died at
on Kakariki Grove on November nineteen. Police say several attackers
were also injured in the invasion and a firearm was used.
That gun is yet to be recovered. Assurance most Wellington
motorists won't now be pulled over and tested for drugs,

(01:54):
with roadside testing rolling out today. The pilot program is
kicking off in the Capitol with the aim of it
going countrywide mid next year. Officers can do random roadside
saliva tests screening for cannabis, meth MDMA and cocaine. Otago
University professor Joseph Bowden says police will be targeting the
testing of suspicious drivers. You have the swab and you

(02:16):
have to wait for five minutes, so it's not going
to be like a situation with breathalyzers where it takes
ten seconds and you could breathalyze every driver in a queue.
The half year economic and fiscal update will be unveiled tomorrow,
with some economists expecting a projected surplus to be pushed
out by another year. Chris Luxon says the reports were
completed in October so believes it's not a current view

(02:39):
of the economy, which he says has strengthened since a
total ban on open air fires and fireworks is in
place in Hawks Bay following more than fifteen vegetation callouts
for CRUs in the past month. Political reporter Tover O'Brien
has been announced as TV and z's new breakfast presenter,
joining Chris Chang on the morning show. O'Brien replied Jenny

(03:00):
Mae Clarkson, who left the show last month, and visitors
to some of the South Island's most popular scenic sites
are now paying to park. The Department of Conservation has
launched a pilot program with parking fees at Punakaiki, Franz
Joseph and Iraqi Mount Cook to sport a record breaking
swim for Lewis Clearbirt In Australia, He's broken a national

(03:22):
record in the two hundred meter free style at the
Queensland Championships, racing at a time of one minute forty
three point zero three seconds. The Kansas City Chiefs have
crashed out of NFL playoff contention with a sixteen to
thirteen loss to the Los Angeles Charges, and the Australian
combination of Australasian combination of Lydia Coe and Jason Day

(03:45):
have slid to an equal last finish in the teams
event at the PGA Tour in Florida. 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.