Midday Report Essentials for Wednesday 6th August 2025

In today's episode, unemployment has edged to a near five-year high and there are now an extra 16,000 people without work compared to last year; The government is inching closer to replacing petrol tax with electronic road user charges, or RUCs, on all light vehicles, in what the Transport Minister calls the biggest shake-up of road funding in half a century; Police are worried about public safety due to a spate of powerline tampering incidents of powerline tampering and theft across the Christchurch area; The amount of commercial and industrial waste being sent off to landfill has plummeted according to the latest snapshot of our waste and recycling habits.