Midday Report Essentials for Tuesday 17 February 2026

Christchurch weighs a state of emergency as flooding slams the city: suburban streets are knee deep in water, four people are rescued from a car stuck in floodwaters in Little River and huge downpours hit Banks Peninsula. We crossed to our reporter on the ground and spoke to the Christchurch Mayor; And as New Zealand creaks and groans with climate disasters what is the state of our infrastructure: spoiler alert: it's not great. A report released in the last couple of minutes says we have a $200 billion gap between our infrastructure ambitions and our ability to pay for them. Geoff Cooper is CEO of the Infrastructure Commission - he joined us live; And Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, The Eagle has Landed: time to delve into the film archive as the credits roll for Robert Duvall, he's passed away aged 95