Welcome to Midday Report essentials. In this episode: A new study is out on smoking decline in New Zealand. We spoke to ASH who say smoking rates among Maori have fallen faster than anywhere in the world. They say the drop in smoking has coincided with the rise of vaping - which is now the major quitting tool. Pike River miner's advocate Sonya Rockhouse told us why she's at Parliament today protesting the new health and safety laws. Lastly, AI expert Karen Hao tells us about the Resist List: strategies of the resistance against what her book calls the Empire of AI.