Mike Hosking Breakfast: Recent Episodes
Newstalk ZB
Like so many of these things, a day or so after the big event is when you really get a measure of what is true and what is BS, or spin. The PREFU was bad news. The upside of the bad news was the Government argued and, sadly, the too many of the media, who either don’t have time to digest the real numbers, don’t care to digest the real numbers, or don’t know how to digest the real numbers, swallowed the line that there was "light at the end of the tunnel". The light at the end of the tunnel came from a journalist in the gallery who are now famous for asking patsy questions. "Is there light at the end of the tunnel?" What do you think Grant Robertson was supposed to say to that? A couple of the banks have put some perspective on where we are really at. These are real numbers and they involve debt. Debt, as I keep trying to argue, is the thing that will sink us. Debt is easy to get into, it's easy to get even deeper into, and then once you’ve been sucked into that it's a nightmare to get out of. What we know from PREFU is the annual surplus, that's the yearly balance of whether you spent more than you earned, has been pushed out yet again. We can't even balance the books and annually haven't for years. Then you get to what we already owe and what that costs to service. The updated figure was close to $10billion a year and that’s only the interest. Now, the banks have put a number on what we will need to borrow going forward, what we need to go to the market for to cover the obligations the Government has made. $1billion is what we will be borrowing. $940million to be exact. Per week. Let that sink in. Virtually one billion dollars a week of borrowings. Not earnings, not profit. More debt. And you wonder why the bill to service that goes to almost $10billion a year. As the banks say, that is a lot for the market to absorb. Here's a question; what if the market can't, or won't, absorb it? The answer is we go to people who will give us the money. But what happens then is we pay a premium and the $10billion servicing bill climbs higher. It can't be any more black and white than this. Look at what we spend on defence, or police. That's pocket change compared to what we borrow and that is why things are as bad as they are. Numbers don't lie.
Grant Dalton is not expecting much backlash from the decision to take an America’s Cup preliminary regatta to Saudi Arabia. After being touted as a potential host venue for the 37th edition of the America’s Cup in 2024 before Barcelona was finally revealed as the chosen host, Jeddah will host the second of three preliminary regattas, with America’s Cup teams to descend on the Saudi Arabian port city in late November. It’s another case of Saudi Arabia’s controversial rise as a major player in world sport, labelled as ‘sportswashing’. Examples include the country’s heavy involved in the worlds of football, Formula One, combat sports, and golf, with human rights organisations arguing Saudi Arabia is using sport to divert attention from its tarnished reputation and human rights violations. Speaking to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, Dalton said he did not expect to face much political backlash when the America’s Cup ventures to the Middle East. “No. Frankly, I think that, from our side, it’s the future,” Dalton said. “Saudi Arabia and, in this case, Jeddah is embracing it, all sports are embracing it. There’s always political fallout but, I would suggest, from a lot of people that frankly haven’t been there. I have been there and I’ve seen what is happening, and I think it’s a great place.” Posed with the debate over Saudi Arabia pumping money into sports and that it is where the centre of sport is eventually going to be, Dalton said “you’ll never win that argument” but noted that with a large percentage of the Saudi Arabian population being under 34 it was a way for the nation to find pathways into sport. Reuters reports that a 2022 census showed 63 per cent of the nation’s population were under age 30, while the median age of the total population was 29. “It’s just one fact alone,” Dalton said. “I think get onboard because that is the future.” The decision to host a preliminary regatta immediately created an issue for one America’s Cup syndicate, with the New York Yacht Club’s American Magic unsuccessfully seeking an exemption from participating in the regatta. They cited heightened safety concerns for a team representing America in a place marked by the US State Department as a terror risk. Sailing in the preliminary regattas is compulsory for all teams, and the arbitration panel ruled the matter was out of their hands, leaving the decision to Team New Zealand and Ineos Britannia as the defender and challenger of record respectively. In their submissions to the panel in regard to American Magic’s application, both Team New Zealand and Britannia opposed it being granted, however a formal decision on the matter is yet to be announced. For now, all attention will be on the first preliminary regatta in Vilanova i la Geltru, about 50km southwest of Barcelona, this weekend where the teams will get their first opportunity for proper racing against one another – albeit in the one-design AC40s. The same vessels will be used for the event in Jeddah, with the final preliminary regatta being contested on AC75s, just before the beginning of the Challenger Series next August. -NZ Herald
The cost of food is still going up, but more slowly. Stats NZ says in the year to August prices rose 8.9%, particularly eggs, yoghurt, and non-perishables like potato chips. That's down from the 12.5% lift in April and June, but still historically high. Foodstuffs NZ Managing Director, Chris Quin, told Mike Hosking that while it is increasing year on year, it’s coming down month on month. He said that they know customers need prices to fall again, and they hope that they can move past some of the weather events and shortages causing these prices. LISTEN ABOVE
The divide between the right and left continues to grow heading into the election. The latest 1 News Verian poll shows Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins are neck-and-neck in the preferred prime minister rankings: both on 23%. But the right bloc is on 49%, well ahead of the left bloc on 41%. Put to him that they had "less than no money" to run a country, Luxon said: "Yep. We're going to have a really tough and difficult country. But National governments always have to come in and clean up a mess left behind by Labour. We'll have to do the same, I think, here again." He told Mike Hosking that the country can’t afford another term of a Labour-led government. LISTEN ABOVE
A medical school leader says they've been waiting to be allowed to train more doctors. If elected, Labour's promised to train an additional 335 doctors every year from 2027, with numbers increasing from next year. National previously announced a new medical school at Waikato University, which would provide 220 extra places by 2030. Otago University Acting Dean of Medicine, Tim Wilkinson, told Mike Hosking that they're not able to train more than the Government allows. He says there's plenty of people who want to be doctors, most would be good doctors, but they haven't been able to train more until now. LISTEN ABOVE
A retired judge believes the public shouldn't be driving policy when it comes to law and order. Party leader David Seymour wants to boost prison capacity by 500 beds and toughen sentencing for offending against vulnerable workers. Act also wants new youth justice beds under Corrections and ankle bracelets on youth offenders. Rosemary Riddell told Mike Hosking that what we need is prisons with serious rehabilitation. She understands dairy owners want to see tough punishments but if policy is driven by public outcry, we'll get it all wrong. LISTEN ABOVE
So was this PREFU better than expected as a number of headlines suggested? Answer: possibly. Possibly not. What numbers were they looking at? It's important to point out this is not retrospective. This is not stuff that has happened, therefore cannot be argued with. This is a projection and the projection comes from Treasury. There are some numbers from their projections to ponder, such as we are not returning to surplus until 2026/27. That is now years after they first suggested they would. That's strike one. Strike two is tax revenue is dropping in terms of what they thought it would be. Strike three is expenses are rising from what they originally thought. Strike four is debt per GDP is worse. Strike five is net Government bond issue, which is debt, to 2027 is worse. Strike six is inflation is higher for longer. So where is all this good news? Well, they see a little bit more growth. Unemployment, although going up, isn't going to go up as much as they thought. And that is about it. In totality I am not seeing a net score card that is demonstrably better than they thought. When you look at the numbers, at the debt, the spend and the current account deficit, none of it is good at all. The tired, old line the Government uses about us being not as badly off as others is technically true. But given there are almost 200 countries in the world, it's not hard to line yourself up against a bunch of economic numpties. It is not aspirational in any way, shape or form to find a collection of failures and pump your tyres up by standing next to them. The simple reality is there is no hiding from the real danger this economy is in. It is one of the few, among our trading partners with Germany being the other, that has reached recession. We have spent more, we have borrowed more and we are still nowhere near close to even looking like achieving an annualised surplus. Our saving grace might, might, be migration and that might lead to a boost in housing and alleviate the labour shortage. But I think what has happened here is we are so punch drunk, so beaten down by the misery of the economic mess that anything, no matter how meagre, is grasped as some sort of shiny nugget in a desert of economic sand. When you see where we were, i.e the rock star economy a handful of years ago, and where we are now there is little, if anything, to be proud of.
We've never seen record migration figures like we are now. The country's seen a net gain of 96,200 people in the year to July, with 135,000 non-citizens arriving, and 39,400 New Zealanders leaving. Citizens of India, the Philippines, China, South Africa, and Fiji have driven the numbers. CEO of Malcolm Pacific Immigration, David Cooper, told Mike Hosking that having a high number of people coming into New Zealand is good for the country. He said that to reverse the trend of people leaving we need people coming in, bringing their skills and talents. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
The Finance Minister is confident in Treasury's prediction that New Zealand will avoid a long-term recession. Treasury's pre-election update forecasts that Government debt will peak at $185-billion in 2025, and the Government won't return to surplus until 2027. That's predicted in a forecast that the economy will grow by an average of 2.6% over the next four years. Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking that he believes Treasury's forecast over the gloomier predictions from some commentators. He says while growth forecasts have become more an art than a science, the overall trend is line with most other forecasts. LISTEN ABOVE
A former finance minister is warning that whoever wins the next election will need to tighten the belt. Treasury's pre-election update is forecasting the Government won't return to surplus until 2027, a year later than previously forecast in the May Budget. Government debt is now forecast to reach $185-billion by 2025, well above the $83-billion forecast from three years ago. Former National Finance Minister Steven Joyce told Mike Hosking that the Government's books are in a worse position now than at the peak of the Global Financial Crisis. He says there will have to be a closer look at government spending than there was when National came to power in 2008. LISTEN ABOVE
The ICC Cricket World Cup is set to take place in India from the 5th of October through to the 19th of November. The team features a number of experienced players, Kane Williamson and Tim Southee joining the ranks of players who have been selected for four or more ODI World Cups. Black Caps Coach Gary Stead told Mike Hosking that they tried to select a squad that gives them balance. He said they wanted to have options and the ability to change players in and out depending on environmental conditions. LISTEN ABOVE
The tide could be beginning to turn on our real estate market. QV data shows the average national home value increased by 0.5% in the last three months and its now sitting at just over $893-thousand. It's the first quarter of positive growth since the housing downturn began in late 2021. Operations Manager, James Wilson, says it's driven primarily by first-home buyers outside of our main urban areas. He expects the trend of flattening and slight increases will continue to be seen in coming months. LISTEN ABOVE
Elton John is one of the most iconic artists of the fifty years, but his lyricist Bernie Taupin is nearly as well known. The partnership between the two is known as one of the most successful in history, as the pair have been working together since the 1960s. It began with a talent advertisement from Liberty Records and while neither of them passed the initial audition, a connection was formed. “It’s beyond explanation, and I don’t think you really want to figure it out.” Taupin told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking. “If you think about things too much you might gum up the works,” he said. While it might be hard to believe considering the massive critical acclaim the music has received, Taupin said they weren’t that good in the beginning. “We were just trying to find our way and we were sort of emulating what was current at the time,” he told Hosking. “We we’re just doing bad versions of a lot of good stuff.” Eventually they realised that they needed to create something original, culminating in the creation of ‘Your Song,’ their first International Top 10 single. While Taupin wrote the lyrics, Elton John was the one to put them to music. In the early days, Taupin explained that he didn’t really know what song writing entailed and was “flying by the seat of his pants.” “The fact that I got hooked up with somebody who could actually make sense of it was icing on the cake.” Although most people would know of Bernie Taupin through his partnership with Elton John, going into his memoir expecting 417 pages of Elton would be a mistake. “I think the subtitle of the book is a bit misleading if people think the entire book is about Elton and I’s adventures,” Taupin told the Newstalk ZB host. “He only partakes of the book, probably about a quarter of it.” Most of the book focuses on Taupin’s own life and experiences to date: “It doesn’t get any better than what it is at the moment.” “That’s not to say this is the end of my career,” he told Hosking. “We’ve got lots more to do.” He said that they’re going to start recording again now that Elton is done with touring. “We can’t wait to get back in the studio.” ‘Scattershot: Life, Music, Elton and Me’ is out now and available at all bookstores.
Chris Hipkins is accepting responsibility for the party's falling poll numbers. There's now a 14-point gap in support between the incumbent party and National according to the latest Newshub-Reid Research poll. Labour is down to 26.8% while the Nats hit 40.9%, and both party leaders are on 22.5% for preferred Prime Minister. The Labour leader told Mike Hosking that the polls are not where they need them to be, and they have a job to do to turn them around over the next five weeks. He says they have to campaign on their policies, claiming a lot of people are yet to register what they're putting forward. Hipkins says they'll also be campaigning on the risk of a change of government. LISTEN ABOVE
The economic slowdown is likely to be having a major impact on the Government's books. Treasury is releasing its Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update at 1pm, the final fiscal update before Advanced Voting begins in two weeks. It's expected to show revenue is lower and debt is higher than forecast in May's Budget. Economist Michael Reddell told Mike Hosking that New Zealand now has a very high fiscal deficit. He says while our debt is below the OECD average, it's much higher than it's been in the past. LISTEN ABOVE
The psychological impacts are becoming clear for our two main parties 32 days out from the election. The latest Newshub-Reid Research poll has Labour down 5.5% to 26.8%, while National has jumped 4.3% to 40.9%. ACT has fallen two points to 10%, but can comfortably govern with National. Newstalk ZB Political Editor Jason Walls told Mike Hosking that it’s hard for Labour to get supporters out there knocking on doors when they're low. He says meanwhile for National, they've hit heights not seen for some time, which will rally and energise their base. LISTEN ABOVE
eal in hand to draw yet another one of China’s neighbors closer to the United States. In just the last five months, Biden has hosted the Philippines’ president at the White House for the first time in over a decade; he has fêted the Indian prime minister with a lavish state dinner; and he has hosted his Japanese and South Korean counterparts for a summit ripe with symbolism at the storied Camp David presidential retreat. At each turn, Biden’s courtship and his team’s steadfast diplomacy have secured stronger diplomatic, military and economic ties with a network of allies and partners joined if not by an outright sense of alarm at China’s increasingly aggressive military and economic posture, then at least by a growing sense of caution and concern. The latest page in the US’s Indo-Pacific playbook will come via the establishment of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” that will put the US on par with Vietnam’s highest tier of partners, including China, according to US officials familiar with the matter. “It marks a new period of fundamental reorientation between the United States and Vietnam,” a senior administration official said ahead of Biden’s arrival in Hanoi, saying it would expand a range of issues between the two countries. “It’s not going to be easy for Vietnam, because they’re under enormous pressure from China,” the official went on. “We realize the stakes and the President is going to be very careful how he engages with Vietnamese friends.” The US’ increasingly tight-knit web of partnerships in the region is just one side of the US’s diplomatic strategy vis-à-vis China. On a separate track, the Biden administration has also pursued more stable ties and improved communication with Beijing over the last year, with a series of top Cabinet secretaries making the trip to the Chinese capital in just the last few months. The latter part of that playbook has delivered fewer results thus far than Biden’s entreaties to China’s wary neighbors, a dichotomy that was on stark display as Biden attended the G20 in New Delhi, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping did not. The president did not appear overly concerned when questioned Saturday about his Chinese counterpart’s absence at the summit. “It would be nice to have him here,” Biden said, with Modi and a handful of other world leaders by his side. “But, no, the summit is going well.” As Biden and Xi jockey for influence in Asia and beyond, merely showing up can be seen as a power play and Biden sought to make the most of Xi’s absence, seizing the opening to pitch the United States’ sustained commitment both to the region and to developing nations around the world. In Vietnam, it’s not only China whose influence Biden is competing with. As he arrived, reports suggested Hanoi was preparing a secret purchase of weapons from Russia, its longtime arms supplier. On Monday, Biden plans to announce steps to help Vietnam diversify away from an over-reliance on Russian arms, a senior administration official said. As China’s economy slows down and its leader ratchets up military aggressions, Biden hopes to make the United States appear a more attractive and reliable partner. In New Delhi, he did so by wielding proposals to boost global infrastructure and development programs as a counterweight to China. Beijing and Moscow have both condemned a so-called “Cold War mentality” that divides the world into blocks. The White House insists it is seeking only competition, not conflict. Biden told reporters on Sunday that he is “sincere” about improving the United States’ relationship with China. “I don’t want to contain China, I just want to make sure we have a relationship with China that is on the up-and-up, squared away, and everyone knows what it’s all about,” Biden said. “We have an opportunity to strengthen alliances around the world to maintain stability. That’s what this trip is all about, having India cooperate much more with the United States, be closer to the United...
The only thing National did wrong on Friday was release its literacy policy. Friday is not a good day for news cut-through. To a degree, they were at a disadvantage, as was every other party considering Labour released some heating ideas for houses. If you release it Friday many will miss it. But if you don't release anything you can be accused of a missed opportunity. But the literacy policy is more fertile ground for National given the record of the Government. Labour rolled out poor, old Jan Tinetti who was gobsmacked and heartbroken and various other emotions over the change. But she, like Ginny Andersen the day before when Labour laughably promised to crack down on gangs, is in no position to debate their portfolios, given they have been abject failures. There is simply no hiding what has happened to our education system under this Government. It has been Maorified, kids don’t turn up, results are shocking, standards have slipped and international testing shows the parlous state we are in. Enter Erica Stanford, who is as good a prosecutor of her portfolio as any politician and is backed up by Chris Luxon, who talks of her being world-class. Also on Friday, as a death knell of sorts for Labour was yet another poll. This one was the Taxpayers Union Curia poll showing Labour in nightmare country in the 20s. Winston Peters is also below 5 percent so there is a change of Government. The other criticism was the growing commentary from the media on the lack of energy by Chris Hipkins. It is palpable - he looks tired and worn down and lacklustre. He has nothing to say. A lot of his policies fall flat because they are juxtaposed against the reality of what has been delivered. Also, against him is what the media are claiming is the energizer bunny of Chris Luxon. Luxon and Hipkins in the aforementioned poll in preferred Prime Minister numbers are even. That’s a growing story and next stop is Luxon overtaking him. Let me tell you this for nothing - a lot of the media have been kind to Labour and even kinder to "Chippy from the Hutt". That has turned. They see what we see. They see a bloke from the private sector, a success story who at last is delivering with confidence and detail and aspiration. And they see a political lifer, out of puff with a record in tatters. As much as we can say it, in mid-September, it is over. If you want to make predictions, not only will we see a change of Government. It is increasingly likely that a landslide is on.
Kiwi Erin Routliffe has been crowned US Open doubles champion after winning the final in straight sets with partner Gabriela Dabrowski, of Canada, today. In only their fourth tournament together, they beat 2020 champions Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva 7-6 (9), 6-3. It was the first grand slam women’s doubles title for both Dabrowski, a Canadian, and Routliffe. The No 16 seeds in Flushing Meadows first paired up last month in Montreal. The final lasted more than two hours. The last New Zealand woman to win a grand slam doubles title was Judy Connor in 1979, when she claimed the Australian Open title with Diane Evers. After the lengthy tiebreaker in which both teams had set points, Dabrowski and Routliffe quickly seized control in the second set by breaking Zvonarena’s serve in the first game, then Siegemund’s in the third for a 3-0 lead. The No 12 seeds won the next two games and were within 4-3 after Siegemund held during a lengthy game, but Dabrowski and Routliffe won the next two games to close it out. An emotional Routliffe was close to tears at the awards ceremony, praising Dabrowski for taking her on as a teammate. “She really took a chance on me. I really appreciate it and love her for it and, obviously, I hope we get to have many great results to come in the future,” the Kiwi said. The Canadian was equal in support. “You took a chance on me too,” Dabrowski said. “It’s been a tough year for us both. I’m proud of the way we stood by each other through thick and thin the last two weeks. We improved a lot from the first tournament we played in Montreal. I am so grateful we’ve been able to work together.” Siegemund and Zvonareva were playing in their first tournament together when they won the title at Flushing Meadows, with no fans attending because of Covid-19 restrictions. They have won four championships as a team. Siegemund, who cried after being booed by fans for playing slowly when she lost to women’s singles champion Coco Gauff in the first round, was thankful to have them in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday. “It was just great to play with people again, not like in 2020,” Siegemund said.
There's plenty of water to go under the bridge before a call's made on the future of Christchurch's cardboard cathedral. The Anglican Diocese has made the decision to pull together a working group to discuss options for its future use. They say the cathedral will be safe from being sold for at least four years. Anglican Bishop of Christchurch Peter Carrell told Mike Hosking they won't be solely focused on the building. “We’ll be also focused on what is our best inner-city ministry in Christchurch. We used to have three parishes plus the cathedral – we're now down to one parish plus the cathedral and that’s some food for thought.” LISTEN ABOVE
Not the way the All Blacks wanted to kick off the Rugby World Cup. But the pool games aren't the problem - it's the knockout round where there are more sides as good as France waiting. Former All Blacks coach Alex Wyllie joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
An opinion New Zealand needs to lift its game in addressing its critical housing shortage. Act wants builders to be able to use insurance companies as an alternative authority for consenting - cutting local council out of the process. Leader David Seymour says he tried to help a man get a new type of Gib plasterboard approved by Auckland Council at the height of the Gib crisis. He told Mike Hosking the council worker responsible for registering building material had gone away from work for three weeks. “If you can’t get something like that done in any length of time in New Zealand, then there’s no way we’re gonna see innovation and get the more affordable housing that we want.” LISTEN ABOVE
Questions around the National Party's plan for Road User Charges. It's looking to extend road user charges to all vehicles if elected, including electric vehicles. Motor Industry Association chief executive Aimee Wiley says it's not clear exactly how it will be rolled out. She told Mike Hosking there are clear benefits to a fuel tax which aren't present with this new model. “It’s a complicated problem because charging a fuel excise duty per litre is almost a foolproof system. It doesn’t need enforcement or monitoring.” LISTEN ABOVE
National's Health spokesperson Shane Reti says he's hopeful of fixing the health portfolio. The party's pledging to bring back targets if elected – focusing on shorter ED stays, faster cancer treatment and child immunisation rates. It also wants shorter wait times for first specialist assessments and surgery. Reti told Mike Hosking he's committed to getting the system to a point where it's out of the political spotlight. He says health has been a bit like education was: one of those suicide portfolios – it's hard, and been made worse by Covid. LISTEN ABOVE
An end may just be in sight for Rotorua's emergency housing. If elected, the National Party are promising to scrap Rotorua's emergency hotels within 2 years. They also want to reform Kainga Ora, giving the organisation more power to evict unruly tenants. Rotorua mayor Tania Tapsell joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The All Blacks: 8/10 Here we go. Is it possible we can win? Is Foster a redemption story? Pretty much nothing, sports wise beats the Rugby World Cup and the All Blacks. Or does it? The Warriors: 8/10 Putting last week behind us as quickly as possible, what chance we beat the Panthers? What chance we go all the way? What chance that this is our year? The election campaign: 7/10 Because with the launches it got real. So then, the launches and the week; Labour: 4/10 A chaotic launch. Too many loose MP's with lies, two bad polls and bad policies, especially yesterday's gang one that looked like too little, too late. National: 7/10 Solid launch. Very American, very expensive, some good policies like the ute tax turnaround, a tunnel, and the ombudsmen. The polls aren't great but aren't bad either and Luxon is looking increasingly confident. Act: 7/10 Good cut through for a smaller party normally squeezed at this time for space. Their productivity idea is the policy of the week. Greens: 4/10 James Shaw not really having a degree despite his LinkedIn page saying he does, doesn’t help. Liam Lawson: 8/10 Did all they asked for and more at Monza. He's on his way to Singapore next weekend, then hopefully Japan and then hopefully full time in 2024. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
So week one of the campaign, well I call it week one because the two major parties had their launches. Of course, they've been campaigning for months, unless you are Chris Hipkins who upon receiving a poll a week or so back claimed he hadn't campaigned at all, until Megan Woods on this show busted him. He showed ironically that same trait this week when he started defending Willie Jackson, who blatantly made stuff up about Act and National and the minimum wage. Even when he corrected it, he got it wrong. Instead of being straight up and down about it, Hipkins started dancing on the head of a pin and used the word "technically". He shouldn't do that, it makes him look churlish and dishonest. It was the same trick with the vaccines. No one made you get one, technically he was right. But if you were a nurse, or ran a business where a jab was required, you didn't have to get one the same way you didn't have to have a business or a job. So not really a choice then, is it? The policy of the week was Act and their productivity work. National gets a mention for a tunnel and some EV chargers, but mainly the dumping of the ute tax. Labour get the "are you serious?" policy award for their five things to make the economy grow, as though anyone can argue with them and they should have already been in place for at least six years. And in that is part of their problem. The cold, hard truth is they really can't campaign on their record, for obvious reasons. The media get a 6/10. There is no shortage of coverage but, boy, you have to look for it. There are live streams of announcements, there is detail about the place; but there is also a predilection for the pointless. There's been coverage of protests and name calling and, from some, an obsession to see skullduggery where there isn't. The lying, the straight up and down lying, by your Andrew Little's and Willie Jackson's and Shannon Halbert's does need to be called out. It needs to stop. Chris Bishop gets Cry Baby of the Week for his faux upset over the union ads. Yes, they were low rent and, given about a quarter of union members voted for National in 2017, you might ask whether it's a good use of your subs. But it is hardly the most egregious campaign crime ever committed. Add to that a couple of polls, so we've had the numbers to chew over, and for the first week I've had a ball. The desperation isn't on show yet and no one made a major gaffe. But there's plenty of time for that yet.
Bad news for Warriors fans as Shaun Johnson has been ruled out of the playoff against Penrith. It was announced on Instagram that the halfback has a calf injury and is unable to play as a result. Former League player Richie Barnett told Mike Hosking that calve injuries are the most difficult injury to have when it comes to getting back onto the field. He said they’ll be doing anything possible to get him back on the paddock. LISTEN ABOVE
National says we should be the safest country in the world, but we're not. If elected, Labour's announced a plan which would boost Police numbers by 300 over four years and tackle gangs. It would allow Police to go after convoys and confiscate cars, motorbikes, and tractors. National’s Justice Spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking that they have their own announcement to make soon. LISTEN ABOVE
Canterbury scientists say they're getting closer to growing fruit without a tree, vine, or bush. The Food by Design research team is 18-months into a five year programme, aiming to produce fruit from cells. Co-leader Samantha Baldwin told Mike Hosking that at the moment they're working on growing cell clusters and then fruit tissue. She said the goal is to produce a product which provides the same eating experience as a fruit, but without the pips or cores. Baldwin added that lab grown fruit could be a solution to urban population growth. LISTEN ABOVE
The leaders of one of the Government's flagship projects are under fire for spending millions of dollars on a building weeks out from an election that could see it scrapped. Auckland Light Rail has signed off on a $33-million contract to buy the Kiwi Bacon Building on New North Road in Kingsland. That's despite National vowing to scrap the $14.6-billion project if it's elected next month. Mark Thomas —the director of the Committee for Auckland think tank— told Mike Hosking that the land purchase is strange, given the uncertainty surrounding the project. LISTEN ABOVE
France is rolling out unprecedented security measures across the country ahead of tomorrow's opening game of the Rugby World Cup. The All Blacks take on France at 7.15 tomorrow morning, New Zealand time. The French government is mobilising a record number of police at every game, keen to avoid a repeat of the dangerous and chaotic scenes at the Champions League football final at the Stade de France last year. Newstalk ZB rugby commentator, Elliott Smith, told Mike Hosking that armed police are out in force in Paris, particularly around team hotels and team areas. He says French officials are very worried and are being stringent about making sure nothing goes wrong at this event. LISTEN ABOVE 'Notre histoire': French newspaper set the tone for RWC opener -Will Toogood, NZ Herald French national sporting newspaper L’Equipe have set an early tone for the Rugby World Cup opener. Against the foreground of the All Blacks in full flow of a rendition of Kapa o Pango, current and former members of Les Blues can be seen linking arms in a cold-faced challenge to the haka. L'Equipe's front and back page feature former and current France stars (from right) Thierry Dusautoir, Grégory Alldritt, Emile Ntamack, Matthieu Jalibert, Christophe Dominici and Antoine Dupont. Photo / L'Equipe The cover leaves nothing to the imagination as to the mood in France ahead of the World Cup. The headline “Notre histoire” or “our history” alludes to the intense rivalry between the French rugby team and the All Blacks - particularly at World Cups. Thierry Dusautoir, far left in the photo, captained the French in their 2011 World Cup campaign. One of the All Blacks’ great adversaries, his battles with Richie McCaw were particularly epic. The openside flanker was considered one of, if not, the best tackler in the world during his playing days, breaking the record for most tackles in a game in 2007 against New Zealand with 38. He was Man of the Match in the 2011 Final, scoring France’s only try. Number eight Grégory Alldritt, who stands to Dusatoir’s right in the photo, won his first cap in 2019 and was 2023′s European Professional Club Rugby Player of the Year, so is a worthy inclusion in this prestigious list with the year he has had for La Rochelle. Third from left comes Emile Ntamack, father of injured French first five-eighth Romain Ntamack. He was part of the Grand Slam-winning French side in 1997 and played in both 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He was also formerly France’s attack coach. With a touch of class, on Ntamack’s left comes the man who is replacing his son as France’s first five - Matthieu Jalibert. The 24-year-old made his international debut at just 19, so is no stranger to being thrust into the big occasion. Earning 26 caps so far, he is far from inexperienced - but many French hopes will be riding on his shoulders come September 9 (Saturday morning, September 10 NZT). Again, L’Equipe show class with their next inclusion. Christophe Dominici passed away in 2020 - New Zealand Rugby saying at the time: “Small in stature but a titan on the field, Christophe Dominici, we will never forget you.” In a career that spanned 17 years, the winger cemented himself as a giant of French rugby, scoring 25 tries in 67 caps for France. It wouldn’t be a list of great current and former French players without Antoine Dupont - the halfback has been the main rival to Aaron Smith for title of best in the world for some time. Named 2021 World Player of the Year, and along with Brian O’Driscoll, Dupont is one of only two to win Six Nations Player of the Tournament three times. Dupont’s resume is as good as they come - as is his pass, for that matter. The All Blacks, performing Ka Mate, are confronted by the French before the 2007 Rugby World Cup quarter-final clash. Photo / Getty Images Significance of the cover L’Equipe choosing to show their former and current stars accepting the challenge of the haka is of significance. In the ill-fated...
The Northern Infrastructure Forum says key highway projects will deliver game-changing perks. Its data shows the proposed Warkworth to Wellsford and Cambridge to Piarere routes would each add up to $500 million annually to our GDP once operational. That's $6 billion over 20 years. It would be generated through improved supply chain efficiency, resilience, and business productivity. Forum Chair, Simon Bridges, told Mike Hosking that the strongest message is that we should get on with these. He said that ignoring them is leaving money on the table. LISTEN ABOVE
My policy of the week, and this may or may not become a thing for the next couple of weeks depending on the quality of what we see, goes to Act and their productivity ideas. That’s not to say a tunnel in Wellington isn't a solid idea, but it's not hard to announce a tunnel. Productivity is one of the great handbrakes on allowing this country to be great. We have talked about it for years and failed at liftoff every single time. Part of it is the make up of our economy. Productivity is hard to grasp in certain areas because simply doing more is not necessarily more productive. Being in tech is an area more open to productivity gain than say farming corn, for example. But as Act quite rightly point out, we place an emphasis on the Treaty and we look at things through climate lenses, so why not productivity? Imagine if every major call had to pass the same hurdle a road does. That is why you end up with the road and a cycleway and a bus lane. It's why this Government has carved out Lord knows how many examples of race based policy exclusively for Maori. Act are specific around productivity - cut taxes, reduce barriers to investment, revisit all old and new regulations and cut red tape. It's the sort of thing you can't really argue with. But you can let it creep if you don’t give it priority. Now, this is big picture stuff. But it does go back to what we were saying yesterday. Is anyone interested in policy, in actual specifics? Or are we just on a vibe of "I like these guys and I don’t like those guys". By the end of this campaign, will anyone be able to articulate a policy on productivity? Or will it have been reduced down to a few headline grabs? I note yesterday the media coverage of one of the debates being held involved Willie Jackson and him calling people thick. So that’s the news coverage is it? No policy, just the one line grab. Is that this campaign is it? Pop your head over a fence, disrupt a meeting, call someone a name and, bang, you're guaranteed a headline? Act deserve credit for offering up actual ideas that are broad based and full of potential and also by being one of the few so far that talk about the future of this country beyond October 14.
An unlikely pair are creating a buzz on Stewart Island. Baywatch star David Hasselhoff is spending a few days filming a TV show on Rakiura with New Zealand comedian Rhys Darby. The duo participated in a special South Sea Hotel quiz night and filmed a segment with the island's only police officer. Constable Stuart Newton told Mike Hosking that Hasselhoff was very down to earth, taking him up on his offer for a ride home. Filming is expected to continue around the country. LISTEN ABOVE
One of New Zealand's smallest fuel companies is pointing to competition as an explanation for price disparities. The Commerce Commission has asked fuel companies to explain why significant differences exist within cities and between regions. Waitomo Group Owner Jimmy Ormsby says some pricing in the market is hard to justify. He told Mike Hosking that he doesn't expect the disparity to last long. Ormsby says some markets are too competitive and that won't last, while others don't have enough competition and will be forced to by regulators. LISTEN ABOVE
More trouble for the carbon credit scheme that Labour wants to use to fund climate initiatives, and National wants to use to pay for tax cuts. The government has now tried —and failed— for a third time to auction off credits which would give businesses the right to emit carbon dioxide. That means the Government is short of almost a billion dollars it expected to have, as it heads into next Tuesday's Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. ANZ Agricultural Economist Susan Kilsby told Mike Hosking that the credits will be up for grabs again at the fourth auction in December. She says the more times the units fail to sell, the harder it could be to sell them. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's books are taking a short-time hit after its carbon credit auction failed for a third consecutive time. Businesses have again passed up the opportunity to buy credits allowing them to emit carbon dioxide, with the credits being put back on sale at the next auction in December. Labour wants to use the proceeds of credit sales to fund climate initiatives, while National wants to use the money to pay for tax cuts. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking that this will cause a shortfall that will be reflected in next Tuesday's Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Update. He says almost a billion dollars worth of credits were on offer yesterday, and that money would have gone into the Government's coffers. LISTEN ABOVE
With the Rugby World Cup in France fast approaching, two former All Blacks took it upon themselves to give kiwis a taste of what the host country has to offer. ‘Izzy and Beaver’s French Connection’ follows Israel Dagg and Stephen Donald on an action-packed tour through France, taking in the sights and scenery, meeting new people, and, of course, causing a bit of mischief. The French have a bit of a reputation when it comes to tourists, English-speaking tourists in particular. However, Dagg and Donald told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that as soon as they found out that they were Kiwis they were perfectly welcoming. “If they think you’ve got any resemblance with England they don’t want a bar of ya,” Dagg told Hosking. “But as soon as you tell them you’re from New Zealand, they jump straight into the All Blacks chat.” Throughout the show, Dagg’s love of food, wine, and culture is on display, while Donald indulges his love of history, taking the lead on planning, though not on driving. “I was driving,” Dagg joked with the Newstalk ZB host. “I was driving and he would sleep the whole time.” While the pair visited all sorts of places on their trip, they developed a fondness for the little pieces of history. The pair visited Pont du Gard, the Roman aqueduct in Nîmes, and the Sénanque Abbey in Gordes. “It’s the places we never would’ve gone to,” Stephen said. “They blew our minds.” But even if you take the boys out of New Zealand, you can’t take New Zealand out of the boys, and Saint-Tropez was a favourite as well. “Once we hit the coastline? It was awesome,” Donald told Mike Hosking. France is known for its cheese and wine, and according to the pair, it lived up to the hype: “we came back about 28 kilos heavier than we left,” Dagg joked with Hosking. And as for the World Cup itself, both boys are backing the All Blacks, despite their disastrous showing against South Africa. “I feel like it was a mindset thing, they were on different spectrums.” Dagg said of the South Africa loss. “Dump that one and move on,” Donald agreed. Another thing they agreed on was Ireland, giving them “no chance.” “I know people are saying they’re ranked number one in the world, but I think World Cups are different.” Where they disagreed was the final - Dagg’s betting on the All Blacks and France battling it out again, “like in 2011.” But Donald thinks it’ll be South Africa taking on the All Blacks. “The South African-All Black final hasn’t happened for a while. I reckon we’re long overdue it,” he told Newstalk ZB. ‘Izzy and Beaver’s French Connection’ premieres Sunday 10th of September at 6:30pm on Bravo.
Labour's defending its plan to grow the economy, saying it's about capitalising on strengths rather than playing the same old tune. The five point plan includes growing an export-led country, boosting renewable energy, enhancing tourism, and focusing on sustainable agriculture technology. Labour Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking that New Zealand's always been an export nation, but this is about maximising the value of that. He says they want to shift what we do into areas that are of more productive value, and therefore pay higher wage jobs. Robertson claims there've been a number of advances in these areas in the past few years. LISTEN ABOVE
As much as things change, the more they stay the same We have already witnessed one of the election's major lessons - Government's lose the vote, Opposition's don’t win them. We vote on the vibe, on a mood and the specifics are wasted on the engaged and the wonks. Labour and their mates have worked very hard since last week to try and undo National's tax policy, but they have failed. The evidence is in Thomas Coughlan's piece in the NZ Herald yesterday, a piece well worth reading because it's full of detail. But here is the key line - "It is complicated stuff. Many people contacted for this story politely declined to give their view on the issue, citing niche complexity of international trade and tax agreements. The dispute is being fought in a hotly contested area that only a handful of people can claim to fully understand." And with that, you move on. If the so-called experts can't agree, and the rest don’t even want to talk about it, I think we can safely conclude there is no resolution and you will decide not on the minutiae, but whether you like the idea of keeping more of your money. Another policy that got little coverage was National's idea to set up a cyclone and flood recovery ombudsman, the idea being you address disaster a lot faster than we have seen this year. The Prime Minister dismissed it as more bureaucracy, which I thought was kind of odd, given his own bureaucracy has left at least three regions and part of another very unhappy with how they have been dealt with. In other words, Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Northland and chunks of Auckland are only just sorting themselves out after delays in decisions over events in January. Do they feel good about the way they have been treated? Are they voting on specifics of policy or the sense that they were let down badly when they needed help and what was offered didn’t cut it? That, essentially, is the story of this campaign, or at least it will be when it's played out. A two term Government with a record that too many will have decided is not for them; whether it's crime and ram raids or health and ED's you can't get to or clinics that are closed because of lack of staff or they're on strike or the recession we have been in, and perhaps the second one we are about to battle through, - that’s what drives votes. Policy is a distant second to the mood. Specifics are well down the list to the emotion of how you are feeling. It's why we don’t read the fine print.
New Zealand’s rising crime rates have begun to catch international attention. The US Overseas Security Advisory Council has released a report warning Americans who plan to travel to New Zealand about things like ram raids. Haka Tourism Group General Manager Eve Lawrence told Mike Hosking that while New Zealand still scores highly across a variety of safety indexes, the rise in vehicle thefts, ram raids, and gun related crimes paints a bad image. She said that if it isn’t tackled, it will affect the tourism industry and the economy. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
The Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme is under scrutiny again. Immigration NZ is already facing criticism over speculation that appropriate migrant visa checks aren't being conducted, while migrant exploitation rates increase. Recruitment marketing agency Talent Propeller’s Managing Director Sharon Davies told Mike Hosking that the programme is a mess, with smaller business unable to access it. She says most don't even try to use it due to how long it takes, the costs, and the uncertainty around achieving accreditation. Davies says the Government went ahead with the scheme to make money, without considering the implications on businesses. LISTEN ABOVE
Officials are warning that the Government risks trade retaliation from other countries if it forges ahead with a Digital Services Tax. The tax would target offshore tech companies whose arrangements often mean they pay little tax in jurisdictions like ours. The Government is part of an OECD process to create a global framework but has reserved the right to implement the tax if these efforts fall through. Deloitte tax partner Robyn Walker told Mike Hosking it's an unusual position to take. She says it's a little odd we've decided to step aside slightly from a process that 138 counties committed to following just in July. LISTEN ABOVE
Dairy farmers won't have much reason to celebrate the latest slight rise in dairy prices. Overall prices have risen 2.7% at this morning's Global Dairy Trade auction, the first rise in four months. The crucial Whole Milk Powder price is up 5.3%. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking that the rise won't change Fonterra's Farmgate Milk Price, which has plummeted from a midpoint of $8 to a mid-point of $6.75 over the past five weeks. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association says a targeted approach to youth crime is a good move. The Government's launched a programme which will see New Zealand's 60 worst young offenders assigned an incentive support social worker, who'll tailor their work to them. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking it's worth a shot. He says Police in Christchurch are dealing with a horrific youth problem, but they say the 20 to 30 top offenders are causing the most problems, so targeting them is worthwhile. LISTEN ABOVE
Kiwi film-maker Simon Mark-Brown has been directing for nearly thirty years, his documentaries and films having successful runs in film festivals both nationally and worldwide. His recent work ‘Brown vs. Brown’ is a love letter to his father, late architect Peter Mark-Brown, and takes viewers on a tour of New Zealand’s mid-century architecture. Simon told Mike Hosking that he initially started it 23 years ago but had to park the idea as he couldn’t find the right angle. He properly started the project in 2022, and it has since gained international attention. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the reasons the Grocery Commissioner will largely amount to nothing is that they battle with ideas, as opposed to specifics. And ideas can't be regulated. As part of the Commerce Commission's review into supermarkets they found some of them bought land and prevented competitors opening near them. That is a 'specific' and you can change those rules, and they did. You can also change the rules around how long it takes to pay someone like a supplier, so if they decide 120 days is too long they can make it 90 days. But the relationships, the so-called bullying, the idea that a huge player lauds it over a smaller player can not, and will not, be fixed, anymore than having a Grocery Commissioner will drop the price of lamb. It's the same with petrol. We did a market study on the price of petrol. Is it down or is it priced the way it has always been priced, on the price of oil and transport? They have talked a big game on building supplies, on supermarkets and now on banks. I note S&P, one of the world's biggest ratings agencies, said that study will make little or no difference to the way banks operate, and they are right. If you want to make it slightly political, it is one of the many reasons the Government will lose office in a few weeks. A lot of what they talked about versus what they actually did, didn't translate. They're big on theory, not so much on delivery. In these cases their fundamental understanding, or lack of, business nouse undid them and led to the inevitably disappointing results. There is plenty of competition in supermarkets if you shop around. You don’t lack choice and never have. If you live in a small town you have less choice than a city. If it rains the price of lettuces goes up, there are specials and end of aisle deals. What the promise was made on was two-fold; are supermarkets big and seem rich? Yes. And do you pay too much for your groceries? Yes. But that is emotion. They tapped into the emotion that you were getting ripped off, that you weren't getting a good deal and that they were robber barons. Well, go check your price of lamb or your litre of petrol or your box of nails or your mortgage rate. Has anything changed because the Government said it would and did a study into it or rolled out a commissioner? I won't hold my breath waiting for the answer.
Preparations for the opening ceremony of the Rugby World Cup are underway in France. However, France is currently in the middle of a heatwave. France Correspondent Catherine Field said that it’s looking like it's going to be around 28-29C for kickoff, with clear sunny skies. LISTEN ABOVE
Ticket demand for the Warriors playoffs is through the roof. As a result, fans will be able to purchase presale access for $49, a perk usually reserved for those with full season memberships. Warriors CEO Cameron George said that while it doesn’t guarantee they get a ticket, the presale access provides the best opportunity to get tickets. LISTEN ABOVE
New tourism numbers show the sector is slowly climbing back. Before Covid it was our largest export, and it's now our third largest, with visitors spending 2.1 billion dollars in the last quarter - Australians being the biggest contributors. Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive René de Monchy told Mike Hosking that it's been a phased response from different parts of the world. He says China only opened up around January, and some other countries were also a bit slow to start travelling. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins is defending the Government's debt levels heading into the election. The Prime Minister and Labour Leader told Mike Hosking that the Labour Government has had to borrow more due to the Covid pandemic, and due to what he says is previous under-spending on infrastructure. LISTEN ABOVE
There’s a raft of reasons behind senior doctors and dentists walking off the job today. Members of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists will strike for two hours from midday after rejecting the latest offer from Te Whatu Ora. Former Executive Director Ian Powell told Mike Hosking that there are staffing shortages, stress, and burnout, along with a pay freeze and seeing the value of their incomes decline. He says they feel like they've been taken for granted for too long, working in insufferable conditions with no pipeline ahead to get out of it, and something has snapped. LISTEN ABOVE
The Yes campaign have a steep mountain to climb ahead of the October 14 referendum, as a new poll shows the No vote is now in the majority. The latest Newspoll for The Australian reveals support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament has fallen to 38 per cent, while those intending to vote No has risen to 53 per cent. With just under six weeks to go until Australians head to the polls for the first referendum since 1999, the new poll marks the first time since Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced his intention to constitutionally enshrine Indigenous recognition that opposition to the pitch has outranked support. The poll also shows support for the Coalition has reached its highest level since the May 2022 election – leading Labor 37 per cent to 35 per cent on the primary vote. And, ahead of what’s set to be a divisive campaign in the lead up to the referendum, Mr Albanese’s personal approval ratings have also fallen into negative territory for the first time since taking office – down from 52 per cent to 46 per cent. The latest poll comes as Opposition Leader Peter Dutton promised to hold another referendum should this one fall over and he be elected prime minister. Mr Dutton says his referendum would constitutionally recognise Indigenous people without enshrining a Voice. The Uluru Statement of the Heart explicitly calls for Indigenous recognition in the Constitution through a Voice to Parliament. Fresh off the high of a new ad featuring John Farnham’s “You’re the Voice”, the poll is set to be a sober reality check for the 30,000 Yes23 campaigners across the country who are this week embarking on more than 700 activities. Yes23 Campaign Director Dean Parkin said it would be a “massive week” for mobilising Australians yet to be convinced to vote yes. “We are taking our campaign to new heights this week,” Mr Parkin said. “Our volunteers will be everywhere and I encourage Australians to have a conversation and learn more about the importance of voting Yes on 14 October. “We are rolling out the biggest campaign this country has ever seen. “We want to make sure that every voter has the opportunity to have a conversation about why voting Yes will bring about positive change for this nation.” - by Ellen Ransley, news.com.au
I suppose, officially, it's all underway. Parliament has finished and the two major parties have kicked off their campaigns. So far it is sooo depressing. New Zealand First over the weekend promised, in a “made it up on the spot” sort of way, to compensate the vaccine injured and the vaccine mandated. How they would do that, I don’t know. It will never come to pass because they need to get 5 percent, be on the right side of the ledger in terms of Government and then even if they were involved in some sort of arrangement, get that policy across the line, which of course would never happen. So, once again, it's a depressing outworking of MMP, where minor players get to say anything with no real accountability. Other minor players, like the clowns who protested at Labour's and National's launches, get to make dicks of themselves by yelling and screaming and generally looking uncouth and out of control. But none of that is as bad or as depressing as watching a desperate Labour party reach into their grab bag of fantasy promises and tell us that free dentistry is coming, when no such thing can happen. I think I am right in saying that I can't remember, in any election campaign, a promise of this sort being made that would not be delivered for so many years. Here we are in 2023, about to vote, and the latter part of Labour's free dentistry doesn’t arrive until we are about to vote in the following election. A whole election later, a whole term of Government passes before what they promised gets delivered. That’s before you get to the real problem - not only is it years away, it's promised by the KiwiBuild and light rail and cycle bridge specialists, the people who make announcements and that’s the last you ever hear of it. We all get roads and highways and bridges are multi-year projects. But dentistry? How far out from the present does an election promise have to be before it becomes little more than fantasy? That’s how bad it has got. Desperation from a broke Government, mad ramblings from a geriatric, fringe player, yelling and screaming from conspiratorialists and revengeful sideliners. This is all at a time when most of us, I hope I speak for the majority, are actually interested in sorting this place out, getting a bit of professionalism and aspiration back, getting the old New Zealand back and having a bit of a rockstar economy as a reward for hard work. Remember any of that? Or are we all just down in the mud with the tragics and attention seekers looking to be the loudest bottom dweller?
It's being suggested forcing children to participate in mandatory school sports can have serious long-term impacts on mental health. They also believe in some cases, it can destroy their relationship with exercise. But Engage Training child psychologist Kathryn Berkett told Mike Hosking science shows most people need to be pushed into uncomfortable positions. “If we don’t stretch into a tolerably uncomfortable space, we’re not going to get better.” LISTEN ABOVE
Authorities are investigating a death at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert as thousands of people remain trapped on site after heavy rains inundated the area and created thick, ankle-deep mud which sticks to campers’ shoes and vehicle tires. Attendees were told to shelter in place in the Black Rock Desert and conserve food, water and fuel after a rainstorm swamped the area, forcing officials to halt any entering or leaving of the festival. “A little over 70,000 people,” remained stranded Saturday, Sgt. Nathan Carmichael, with the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office, told CNN Sunday morning. Some people have left the site by walking out but “most of the RVs are stuck in place,” he said. On Sunday morning, event organizers said roads remained closed as they were “too wet and muddy” and more uncertain weather was likely on the way. While some vehicles were able to leave, others got stuck in the mud, organizers said on the event’s website. “Please do NOT drive at this time,” they added. “We will update you on the driving ban after this weather front has left the area.” The remote area in northwest Nevada was hit with 2 to 3 months’ worth of rain – up to 0.8 inches – in just 24 hours between Friday and Saturday morning. The heavy rainfall fell on dry desert grounds, whipping up thick, clay-like mud festivalgoers said was too difficult to walk or bike through. More rain is likely Sunday afternoon, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service office in Reno. “Stronger storms will be capable of very heavy rainfall, small hail, and wind gusts to 40+ mph,” the weather service noted. Those conditions were likely to be in the Burning Man Festival area from around 12 p.m. to 4 p.m. local time, a CNN analysis showed. The sheriff’s office said it is investigating “a death which occurred during this rain event.” Authorities did not publicly name the person or provide details on the circumstances of the death. “The family has been notified and the death is under investigation,” the sheriff’s office said in a late Saturday news release. The individual was found on the playa and life-saving procedures to revive them were not successful, Carmichael said Sunday, but did not share further details. Playa is the term used to describe sunken dry lake beds in deserts where water evaporates rather than running off, and even a small amount of rain can quickly soak a large area. Event organizers said they plan to burn the Man – the huge totem set on fire at the festival’s culmination – on Sunday night, if weather allows. How long this could last Authorities have not provided information on when roads could reopen, but the sunshine is expected to return Monday. “We do not currently have an estimated time for the roads to be dry enough for RVs or vehicles to navigate safely,” Burning Man organizers said in a Saturday evening statement. “Monday late in the day would be possible if weather conditions are in our favor. It could be sooner.” Organizers noted the rain falling on an already saturated playa overnight and Sunday “will affect the amount of time it takes for the playa to dry.” For now, the gate and airport into Black Rock City remain closed and no driving is allowed into or out of the city except for emergency vehicles, the organizers said on social media. Black Rock City is a temporary metropolis erected annually for the festival and comes complete with emergency, safety and sanitary infrastructure. The rain “made it virtually impossible for motorized vehicles to traverse the playa,” the Pershing County Sheriff’s Office said, noting people were advised to shelter in place until the ground has dried enough to drive on safely. Vehicles trying to drive out will get stuck in the mud, Burning Man organizers said Saturday. “It will hamper Exodus if we have cars stuck on roads in our camping areas, or on the Gate Road out of the city,” the organizers added. “If you are in BRC, please shelter in place & s...
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to discuss the NZR review, the Warriors' loss to the Dolphins, Courtney Duncan's fourth world title and Liam Lawson's 11th-place finish in Monza. LISTEN ABOVE
Even within the same schools, more than half of New Zealand teachers are agreeing students learn different things depending on who is teaching them. A survey from The Education Hub is highlighting how the open nature of New Zealand curriculum is leaving both kids at different schools and the same school receiving very different educational experiences. The Education Hub founder Dr Nina Hood joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour's Health spokesperson is labelling the party's latest dental policy "ambitious". The party's promising to offer free basic dental care for under 30-year-olds by 2030 if it holds onto power. The policy would cost $390 million and start in 2025. Ayesha Verrall told Mike Hosking it would be a big step. “It is a fundamental change in what we see the responsibility of the public health system to be by moving from 18 to 30 as your eligibility for free dental care.” LISTEN ABOVE
The latest police data shows the likelihood of being charged for drug use and possession is now about 50-50. That likelihood drops to 17 percent for first time offenders - down from 50 percent in 2016 and most of 2017. If police catch you with cannabis, the chances of being charged are about 1 in 3 - but it's still high for meth - at about 3 in 4. Former Detective Inspector Lance Burdett told Mike Hosking there needs to be thought put into the discretion of charges and the drivers of drug use in the first place. "We're just sort of putting the ambulance at the bottom the cliff rather than looking at this thing holistically." LISTEN ABOVE
The election campaign is truly under way, as Labour and National kick off their appeals to voters while dealing with protests that are fast becoming a theme of this year’s race to form the next government. Both of New Zealand’s major parties held their campaign launches in Auckland over the weekend, and the two leaders did their best to point out their opponent’s flaws and expose holes in each other’s policies. Labour on Saturday unveiled its plan to provide free dental care for under-30s, starting in mid-2025, while National opted not to add to the 37 policies it has already announced - instead revealing a pledge card detailing the party’s eight main commitments if elected. Both parties were forced to deal with protesters from the Brian Tamaki-led Freedoms NZ party. Hipkins copped it the most as his speech was interrupted at least four times by people who had made it into the Aotea Centre, despite the launch being a ticketed event. Protesters had also blocked the stairs of the venue, making it hard for Labour supporters to get through, and on Sunday, Hipkins was shouted at by the former owner of the New Lynn Lone Star cafe, which shut down during the pandemic.
Covid response critic Brendon Pascoe seeks to rebuke Labour's leader, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, at the Avondale markets. Photo / Alex Burton Luxon’s speech was not disrupted, but Tamaki himself appeared alongside about 100 protesters outside the Due Drop Events Centre in Wiri to call on the National leader to be more upfront about his Christian values. While selling their party’s vision for New Zealand was central to both leaders’ speeches, attacking the other side was a strong theme in both campaign launches. Hipkins on Saturday continued his criticism of National’s tax plan, calling it a “tax swindle” and “sneaky”, and questioned the costings, saying it had overstated the revenue it would get from a foreign buyers’ tax and online gambling tax. He also hit out at National for using climate funding to pay for tax cuts instead. Hipkins also pitched his own leadership style against Luxon’s, saying he believed people should be treated with dignity for who they were. “I don’t see that on the other side. I see people who want to win the election whatever it takes - and bugger the cost.” On Sunday, Hipkins deemed National’s costings were “fantasy-land stuff” and believed Kiwis would be smart enough to see through the tax cut promise and consider the entire package.
Labour's leader, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, meeting with people at the Avondale markets on Sunday morning. Photo / Alex Burton Luxon employed a similar tactic, warning the more than 1000-strong audience “power doesn’t concede easily” and National would be contesting Labour’s campaign, which he claimed was based on “fear and disinformation”. “Hang on, help is coming” was a phrase Luxon repeated on several occasions when referencing different groups of people he felt were suffering through higher interest rates, rising violent youth crime, increased farming regulations and higher grocery prices. Luxon echoed a phrase often used by Hipkins, which was that he believed Kiwis who worked hard should be able to prosper. While Hipkins was supported by former Labour PM Helen Clark, National deputy leader Nicola Willis and Luxon’s two children were tasked with warming up the crowd on Sunday.
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Willis asked supporters how Kiwis had benefited from Labour’s increased spending in Government, while also issuing a warning of how Labour would campaign. “Labour loves tax like a shark loves blood... and it’s time for National to sort it out,” she said. “At this election, there will be some who seek to appeal to the worst in us, to fear, to...
An immigration lawyer says New Zealand has a major problem on its hands. Over the weekend, Immigration Minister Andrew Little met with Nepalese and Indian community leaders, following revelations 188 employers are being investigated for migrant exploitation and breaching visa rules. It's alleged migrant workers are paying thousands for non-existent visas and jobs. Aaron Martin told Mike Hosking things kicked off when the accredited employer visa system began, and he's never seen this level of scamming in his 26-year career. A review of the scheme was announced last month. LISTEN ABOVE
The problem with infrastructure is that it's boring. It's also years away and, given all that has unfolded in this country of late, half of us don’t believe it will ever happen anyway. Nevertheless, it's important. When you get a few reports into the sector, they never get the noise they really deserve. There has been a report into the CRL, the City Rail Link that is a fortune over budget and a mile behind in terms of delivery. That report found we don’t have, and have never had, enough specialist workers to tackle such a project properly. There was a report into the civil construction industry. They have little, if any, faith in our infrastructure to hold up in future weather events. This all comes at a time when the Government are still considering what they call pumped hydro at Lake Onslow. This has been going on for years. It was a Jacinda Ardern thought bubble and part of the Government's ongoing obsession with 100 percent renewable energy, even though we have reports telling us 100 percent isn't worth it because it's too expensive. Can we do 97 percent? Yes. Can we do 100 percent? No. Let us learn from Australia, where we find that their pumped hydro project, the so-called Snowy 2.0, has struck trouble. It was announced by Malcolm Turnbull in 2017 and due to be finished two years ago. Of course, that hasn’t happened. What has happened is the cost has doubled in the past six months. Malcolm said it would cost $2 billion. By May this year that had blown out to $6billion. As of yesterday it's now $12 billion. With Lake Onslow the Government, before spending $30million they didn’t need to into a report given they already had reports, told us theirs would cost $4 billion, which seemed absurd. But not as absurd as the $16 billion they now reckon it will cost. And given the figures I have just given you, you know full well that $16 billion will not be the reality, or anywhere close to it. Our trouble, and clearly Australia's as well, is the idea is one thing but the execution is another. If the industry doesn’t have faith and we don’t have the workers, we might like to sort that before we go bumbling forward into the next gargantuan hole we don’t now how to dig, or finish.
Intermediate aged kids from all over the Pacific are set to compete in this year's AIMS Games. Around 20,000 visitors are expected to flood into Tauranga over the next week for the 20th anniversary of the Year seven and eight sporting competition. Athletes from almost 400 schools across New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, and the Cook Islands will compete in 25 different codes. Tournament Director, Kelly Schischka, told Mike Hosking for the kids it's a week-long sleepover while playing sports with friends. She says they want them to make good memories, new friends and have a great time. The competition gets underway tomorrow. LISTEN ABOVE
Donald Trump may not have been in the Georgian state courts, but his plea was. The former US President has pleaded not guilty to counts of racketeering and conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking the plea was made through his lawyers. He says as it was submitted in writing, under Georgian law he wasn't required to show up in person. Arnold says Trump's former lawyer Rudy Giuliani is in bigger trouble, having been found liable for defaming two election volunteers. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The Warriors: 7/10 Just can't stop winning. Big changes this week but does that stop it being eight in a row? I don’t think so. Because this is our year. The All Blacks: 3/10 Inexplicable. But that’s the real issue, when you can be that good and then that bad. National and tax: 7/10 Innovative, popular and basically delivers what they said they would. Policy of the week. Liam Lawson: 9/10 Story of the week. In many respects he was tossed into a cauldron, in a way no one ever has been, and didn’t sink. Not only did he not sink, but he put up a result that, if backed up this weekend, is going to go an awful long way to cementing a full time gig next year. Coalitions: 4/10 National is still playing silly buggers with New Zealand First and it's going to bite them. I don’t get it. Fees free: 7/10 ACT getting rid of it is the third best policy of the week. It's ideological mumbo jumbo that never worked and wasted money. David Parker: 4/10 Shhhh, he might still be asleep. 5:45pm at night is too late to ask if hes around the next morning, 13 hours later for an interview? #asleepatthewheel #givenup #laughingstockoftheweek #toomanyhashtags. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
A former Speaker of the House says Adrian Rurawhe has done a good job this term, but politics is ever-changing. Sir Lockwood Smith, who served as Speaker from 2008 to 2013, is looking back at the 53rd Parliament. The House adjourned last night after scrappy debates and political hits from all sides of the House. Smith told Mike Hosking he reckons the MMP voting system is to blame for the political landscape changing. He says members were once accountable to their constituencies - meaning they had to help out people who'd never voted for them. LISTEN ABOVE
The scheme allowing pharmacists to treat minor ailments like fevers, scabies and lice for free and without a prescription could be rolled out nationwide. It's currently in selected regions to try relieve pressure on hospitals. Health Minister Ayesha Verrall says she's waiting on a review before officially deciding, but the scheme has shown promise. Rotorua currently isn't included in the scheme - and Rotorua pharmacist, Charlotte Schimanski joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions over whether Air New Zealand will match its competitor and remove the expiration on Covid flight credits. Qantas is ditching the expiration dates for more than $500 million worth of travel credits that were due to run out at the end of the year. Consumer NZ CEO, Jon Duffy, told Mike Hosking now that Air New Zealand's in the green again, there's no reason it couldn't offer something similar. He says given the uncertainty that constantly renewing the expiration date has, it's probably easier for them administratively to look at a similar policy. Its Covid travel credits are currently set to expire at the end of the year. LISTEN ABOVE
Some could take a glass half full view of ANZ's latest business confidence survey. It shows a nine point lift in August, to -4. Inflationary expectations are also down. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking everything has gone up - most notably the jump in construction intentions in the residential sector. LISTEN ABOVE
Supermarkets could cop multi-million dollar fines for unfair treatment of smaller, local suppliers. The Government's new grocery code of conduct has been released requiring chains to pay suppliers in a short time span, and engage in good faith. The new rules will initially apply to Woolworths and Foodstuffs - coming into force on September 28. Consumer Affairs Minister Dr Duncan Webb told Mike Hosking this comes in the wake of a Commerce Commission report calling for a crackdown. LISTEN ABOVE
The Bluff oyster season ends today. But thanks to dry weather conditions quality hasn't been quite as good this year - one operator says it's the worst he's ever seen. Graeme Wright, the General Manager of Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Findings from an independent review into the sport's constitution and governance are set to be released today. A four-person panel has been tasked with determining if the organisation remains fit for purpose. The Players' Association instigated the review after NZR's deal with Silver Lake. NZRPA boss Rob Nichol told Mike Hosking he welcomes the feedback, irrespective of outcome. LISTEN ABOVE
What makes the National Party's tax plan a winner is severalfold. 1) It's substantive. It's not pocket change. For many it is a material boost to their income. 2) It starts from day one, so what you get arrives immediately, not after years. 3) The taxes aren't the sort of thing that will scare people. If an immigrant or investor pays more to enter the country, who will complain about that? 4) Some of the savings, the consultants and $400milion, are already on the table from the Government. 5) It allays fears around things like foreign house buyers. Nothing under $2million is taxed so it protects the first time buyer but over $2million and you pay for the privilege. 6) It's obvious. Look at the bracket changes, they are years overdue. 7) It’s a genuine ideological difference to the Government's way of doing things. 8) It's bold. It's bigger than everyone thought. Labour tried to freak us all out at $11billion, when it's actually $14billion. 9) It comes with one of the most powerful political messages you can get - if you want to work hard, you can get ahead. The current Government destroyed that theory, favoured the few and based it on race and lack of contribution, hence the malaise that sits over the countryside today. Which brings us to, 10) It sits bang in the centre of where they want it to be, which is middle New Zealand. Middle New Zealand not only swings elections, we have been the biggest victims of the past six years. Actually getting up and grafting has not been rewarded. This, at least in part, recognises and addresses that. The area you can ask questions is when they rely on new streams of revenue i.e online gambling, you never know whether the figures are real until it actually happens. If the migrants don’t come and don't pay the visa fees and buy the houses with the new tax, then what? But, in theory, it works. In theory, if you build a good country they will always line up. They certainly lined up when we had a rockstar economy. So, the ideologies. National says you can keep more of your own money and Labour says they will spend it on your behalf. It's a good contest of ideas. But given what was at stake, given the build up and hype, this is National's best day yet and by some margin. They were already ahead in the polls and tracking to Government so this will do them no harm at all. It pretty much does what they said it would. Be a critic if you want. But you will be working pretty hard to find the cracks.
National says independent legal advice tells them a tax on foreigners buying houses will work. The party's unveiled its $14.6 billion tax policy, which includes shifting income brackets and expanding tax credits. It would pay for it, in part, by ending the ban on foreign buyers - for homes worth more than $2 million and taxing them 15 percent. National finance spokesperson Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking they can do it while complying with the free trade and tax agreements. LISTEN ABOVE
Te Whatu Ora is undeterred by revelations their contractors may not have been earning their keep. New documents show significant deficiencies in the agency's hiring processes, also revealing they had more than 1,000 highly paid contractors as of December last year. That number has dropped to just over 600 following the audit. Te Whatu Ora's Chief People Officer Andrew Slater told Mike Hosking a large number of the contractors were inherited. He says they're sorting it out, having cut more than half from December to June. Slater adds they have 16,500 people working back office jobs. LISTEN ABOVE
Grant Robertson believes Chris Luxon is confused about his own tax plan. National's policy would lift income tax brackets to compensate for inflation and expand tax credits. It promises to pay for the plan with about $8.4 billion worth of cuts and $6.2 billion of revenue increases, including taxing foreign buyers, which it thinks will bring in about $700 million. Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking he relies on that happening every year. LISTEN ABOVE
Once again, we have an interesting insight into polling. Yesterday we told you about the poll results from TOP and their numbers in Ilam. Ilam is a blue seat in Christchurch. It was held for years by Gerry Brownlee until the Covid upheaval three years ago when Sarah Pallett, who never thought in a million years she would win it, won it. Raf Manji, who is TOP's leader, did what Gareth Morgan should have done previously and is standing in a local seat with the outside chance of winning it, thus avoiding the 5% threshold of MMP, which they were never going to get to. The reality is, despite that, they aren't going to get to it this time. If I was giving advice, I would genuinely look at how they present themselves. I watched an interview with Raf a week or so back and was bewildered by what he was saying as regards teal visas. At the end of the interview I could not work out who they were, what they stood for and who they would align to by way of a major party. Yesterday, according to his Raf Manji's own party's polling, which to be fair polled a seriously larger number of punters than this morning's Taxpayers Union Curia poll, was behind the National candidate Hamish Campbell. But not by much. And the Curia poll confirms it. Or does it? That is the problem we are starting to see already this campaign - are the polls even slightly accurate? Has polling become too hard? Are there too many people, allegedly, undecided? In the Taxpayers' poll Manji, who was a close second in his own poll, is a distant third in this one, behind even the Labour candidate. If you take out the undecided's he is an even more of a distant third. In other words, who's poll do you believe? The margin of so-called era is out the door, out the window and it’s a picture of two completely separate races. As I say, I don’t think TOP have a chance, either in Ilam or at 5%. But what they wanted from their poll is the sense they were genuine contenders. And that is the danger of polls - who do you believe? How much do they affect the narrative and are they actually accurate, or just a vehicle for spin?
MPs Ginny Andersen and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
The Attorney-General says the Government's crackdown on ram raiding youth is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. A Bill allowing 12 and 13 year olds to be charged for ram raid offences in the Youth Court passed its first reading in Parliament yesterday. It had support from Labour, National, and Act. David Parker says children have the right to be dealt with in an age appropriate way, to be free from unreasonable search, and freedom of expression. Former Attorney-General Chris Finlayson told Mike Hosking he's right, and describes the legislation as rushed. LISTEN ABOVE
The controversial Central Otago airport near Tarras could host over 3.5 million passengers a year. This is according to documents released by Christchurch airport - who will be building it. The report also confirms the airport will impact the village of Tarras, but the site is the best spot between Queenstown, Cromwell and Alexandra. Chief Strategy and Stakeholder Officer at Christchurch Airport, Michael Singleton, joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Parliament is checking what it can do about MPs who appear to reference court cases with suppression orders under cover of Parliamentary Privilege. Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi was suspended for 24 hours yesterday for the conduct the Speaker labelled grossly disorderly. Electoral Law Expert Graeme Edgeler told Mike Hosking the precedent is being considered. He says the speaker sent it to the Privileges committee to ask what should happen in these situations in future. LISTEN ABOVE
90-day trials are back in the campaign conversation. National is promising to reintroduce the scheme, which allows employers to dismiss workers - without cause - within the first three months of employment. The trials were heavily restricted by the Labour Government in 2018. New Zealand Restaurant Association President Mike Egan told Mike Hosking says it's good news. Egan says it worked well a few years ago, with many small business owners using it to take a punt on someone they may not have been confident about. The National Party says the 10 days sick leave will remain. LISTEN ABOVE
Christopher Luxon has confirmed National will make changes to the tax brackets if it wins the election. It'll unveil its tax policy later this morning, with the leader trumpeting benefits to the "squeezed middle", meaning as much relief for middle income earners, as higher income earners. It'll be funded through a mix of spending cuts and "targeted" revenue tools. Luxon told Mike Hosking it's an exciting policy. LISTEN ABOVE
In a display of brass neck that even for Labour was quite something, Carmel Sepuloni tried to explain in an interview on TV that the current cost of living crisis wasn’t necessarily the Government's fault. As regards an explanation as to who's fault it might be, she seemed to settle on the weather. There is a theme here as the weather has taken a lot of heat this year. What a spectacularly convenient scapegoat it is because, in part, it's true, but only in part. The weather is no ones fault so it’s the perfect alibi. The weather excuse has been rolled out previously. Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson trumpet that we wouldn't have had a recession if it hadn't been for the weather. Carmel, having seen that, clearly thought she could stretch matters just that little bit further and suggest the entire cost-of-living crisis could be written off in the same fashion. Sadly, no. Her economic credentials are not good to start with. You might remember a few months back when she was standing in as Prime Minister she got given a series of questions in the house at Question Time around the economy and the trade deficit. It became awfully clear, awfully quickly she was a mile out of her depth. In fact the Finance Minister Robertson was heard at the time to be whispering the answers. The trick here, and I think we will see more and more of it, is there are a group of voters who either don’t care or aren't clued in enough to know that what is said is often not actually right. There are a group of voters who will hear Sepuloni say its not the Government's fault and will simply accept it. Sort of like the Police Minister saying we feel safer or the Prime Minister in the house last week saying we have record low unemployment. We don’t, but if he says it with gusto and no one picks him up, why can't it be true? For the record, the cost-of-living is entirely the Government's fault. The Reserve Bank, with Government backing, printed money to such an extent we would always end up with record inflation. The Government kept the borders closed so labour was critically short and we all got huge pay rises to cover the rising prices, hence the inflationary shambles we currently find ourselves in. The question is - does Carmel not get that? Or does Carmel fully get it but runs her line of BS anyway. Either way, the buck stops on the doorstep of her and her fellow economic saboteurs.
Despite AlphaTauri being impressed, Liam Lawson still says there's work to do after his 13th place finish in his Formula 1 race debut. The 21-year-old got the call up to the Dutch Grand Prix after teammate Daniel Ricciardo broke his hand in practice. In a statement, AlphaTauri said Ricciardo was on the road to recovery after undergoing surgery on his hand. “We hope to see him at the track again very soon, but until he is fully fit, we can confirm that Liam, who did a good job in difficult circumstances in Zandvoort, will continue to drive alongside Yuki, starting from our home race this weekend in Monza.” Lawson is now the tenth Kiwi to race in F1. Liam joined Mike Hosking for the only New Zealand interview he's doing before Monza. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is defending its level of spending over the past few years, saying much of it was out of its control. It's cutting spending on public contractors and consultants, in a bid to return to a more sustainable fiscal position. The Finance Minister says it'll save almost $4 billion over four years. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking we're having to pay the economic price of severe weather events - and the pandemic. "Supporting New Zealanders through the global pandemic has had an economic consequence - and we're still dealing with that." LISTEN ABOVE
A new home is on the way for the country's orchestra. Sir Peter Jackson and Dame Fran Walsh have chipped in $2 million towards Victoria University's new National Music Centre. It's also used by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and comes after revelations the Micheal Fowler Centre and Opera House were deemed earthquake prone. Symphony Orchestra Chief Executive Peter Biggs told Mike Hosking this allows the orchestra to record music for films and games. LISTEN ABOVE
Job ads listed on Seek have fallen for a fourth consecutive month. Its July report shows ad numbers fell four percent month-on-month and are just one percent higher than July 2019 - while applications rose 11 percent. The decline has been driven by weakening demand in manufacturing, transport and logistics, information and communication technology and trades. Country manager Rob Clark says the falling trend is the same across the country. He says Hawke's Bay was the one exception - which remained relatively flat, likely because of the continuous rebuild after Cyclone Gabrielle. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is trying to cut spending as economists predict it'll need to borrow billions more. Finance Minister Grant Robertson is cracking down on public contractors and consultants spending, announcing it'll mean savings of almost $4 billion over four years. Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold told Mike Hosking the Government is spending $137 billion dollars a year, but this'll help at the margins. He says given the revision of revenue estimates, it might need to borrow an extra $15 billion over the next four years. LISTEN ABOVE
Two weeks out from the Rugby World Cup the All Blacks faced a record loss to South Africa, losing 35-7. ZB’s rugby commentator Elliott Smith told Mike Hosking that the game really sharpened the focus of how good South Africa might be at the World Cup. He said that Fiji is a team to keep an eye on, but England seems to have gone backwards after changing their coach last year. LISTEN ABOVE
To use an old but, nevertheless, true saying, it would never have happened in my day. I read with alarm the revelation that TVNZ, a place I have worked for a couple of times over the years, including starting the countries first TV breakfast show about a life time ago, has taken money from the Government. In this case, the money came from a Government energy agency and in return TVNZ produced so-called news stories about climate and climate change. The agency is the EECA, the Energy Efficiency & Conservation Authority. They spent $300,000 and, in return, got a prime time climate special, a bunch of online content on the TV1 news page, five specific articles on the TV1 website and five social media posts. The breakfast show I once started and hosted gave out five interviews with a series of so-called experts and, indeed, they got an interview on Seven Sharp, another show I once hosted. So, a Government agency can hand over money and get on the news by doing so. If that isn't a scam and a scandal I don’t know what is. The defence was that in the corner of the screen was some sort of recognition that the EECA was involved. In my 42 years in this industry, that does not even come close to covering your badly exposed arse. Part of the trouble here is that the media has never been more under scrutiny and it is this very sort of thing that gives the critics all the material they need. Of course, it's made worse that it's a Government department handing over taxpayers money to a Government run media outlet, the same outlet that the same Government was desperate to merge with its Government radio station. That was the same merger that in its rules of engagement, as pointed out by the former TVNZ CEO no less, had editorial independence further down the list of priorities than it already was. You can't claim editorial independence, you can't defend and get exercised about editorial independence as so much of the media have these past handful of tumultuous years, if you are for sale to the Government who get to buy your content for $300,000. Yes, money is tight. The media are in the gun financially, sponsorship and partnerships are real and well established and, to be blunt, most welcome. But that’s not what we are talking about here. No one buys an interview on this show. Never have, never will. I would have said the same thing when I was at TVNZ and when I was at TVNZ the thought would have horrified us. I can hand on heart say I would not have touched it with a barge pole. So yes, it would not have happened in my day.
There are plenty of questions in the wake of an aircraft crash which has claimed the lives of three U.S. Marines. They died yesterday off the coast of northern Australia, during a routine military exercise. The Marine Rotation Force says five others have been transported to Royal Darwin Hospital in a serious condition. International Correspondent Steve Price told Mike Hosking that there were 23 Marines on the Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft when it crashed. He says the crash occurred on the Tiwi Islands at approximately 9.30 a.m LISTEN ABOVE
Staffing issues at Palmerston North Hospital's emergency department are reaching extremes. Earlier this month, the department's clinical lead wrote to Te Whatu Ora to say they're at risk of not being able to provide an emergency medicine service. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Executive Director Sarah Dalton told Mike Hosking that it's an issue still affecting many hospitals, and means patients aren't through in a timely way. She says it's fundamentally a resourcing issue, and the system is breaking after decades of negligence. LISTEN ABOVE
Bail breaches are proving to be more challenging for police. A leaked police report shows people are taking advantage of the limitations of ankle bracelets by wrapping them with tinfoil and re-offending. Police Assistant Commissioner Naila Hassan told Mike Hosking that the percentage of people breaching hasn't changed, but the number of people on bail has. Hassan says the increased volume means more people are breaching bail conditions, making it a more demanding problem than six years ago. She says she can't comment on whether these people should be in jail. LISTEN ABOVE
A racially-motivated shooting in the United States over the weekend is being investigated as a hate crime. The 21-year-old gunman legally bought the firearms used to kill three black people at a dollar store in Jacksonville, Florida. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that it was on the 60th anniversary of the civil rights march on Washington. He says a recent FBI report shows hate crimes spiked by 35% in the past year. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Luxon says Winston Peters is an afterthought. The National Party leader is refusing to say whether he'll work with New Zealand First. Labour and ACT have already ruled out working with Peters, with Hipkins labelling him a force of instability and chaos. National Leader Chris Luxon told Mike Hosking that Winston Peters and New Zealand First are not a consideration at all. He says they're not in parliament, they're below the threshold, and the bottom line is he's not thinking about them at all. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the growth industries these days is alarmism. There has been some solid reading to be done this week in Australia as they trumpeted some stunning so-called facts on climate change, based on "ground-breaking new research". The first claim is that globally we will be paying $1.5 trillion more each year on our debt as a result of the world not being contained, climate wise. The second is that, in Australia specifically, it will cost the economy over $400 billion over the next 40 years. To be fair, the estimate is between $135 and $423 billion, so it's a fairly wide target. What an amazing talent it is to be able to bring the estimate into within a million or so, 40 years out from the actual event. "Tourism will be damaged because people won't come because the beaches wont be there". Think about that for a moment; the beaches wont be there. What an astonishing thing to claim. Perhaps even more astonishing is the Treasurer has embraced this report and will be using it as part of his ongoing thinking, in terms of the Australian economy. It leads to a question or two around just how much energy you want to put into scaring the bejesus out of people. How much do you want to hobble your economic prospects by accepting as gospel what must be, surely, little more than a guess? Forecasts, as we have learned over and over during the Covid period, are famous for being hopelessly wrong. The Treasury here forecast in May, as part of the Budget, a series of numbers, whether it be debt or tax paid that are now, just two short months later, completely and utterly wide of the mark. And we think we can nail down a number 40 years down the track do we? In that is the danger of obsession and ideology. Nothing wrong with thinking about things like climate change, maybe even worrying a bit about climate change. Just this week we have seen the Auckland flood damage buyout deal, on the back of the Hawkes Bay buyout deal. Disruption is real, storms are real and change and an element of upheaval for some seems an increasing reality. But setting off the alarms screaming “fire” 40 years in advance and taking in no real estimates of scientific advancement strikes me as being ever-so slightly premature, if not immature.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Lists: 6/10 Between the gender balance and the whack jobs, I am not sure lists are a good thing for democracy and good Government. Polls: 6/10 A horrible week for the Government with further shovels of dirt in the political hole in which they are currently being buried. The All Blacks: 7/10 Foster is onto it. Name the best you’ve got, kill the Springboks and go into the World Cup five from five. Steve Hansen: 7/10 He can work for, or do a favour for, whoever he likes. Valedictories: 8/10 I know no one outside their families and me watches but they, at times, can be a brilliant insight into lives, careers and contributions that would have passed most of us by. The IRD bright-line interpretation: 2/10 Cock up of the week. Another example of poor planning that comes back to bite you. CRL: 2/10 Confession of the week. They had no idea the disruption it would cause! You dig a massive multi-year hole under the streets of the biggest city in the country, closing the roads, and you don’t think that’s not upheaval? Idiots. Space: 6/10 India-1, Russia-0 LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The All Blacks have signed off preparations for tomorrow's last World Cup warm up match against the Springboks in London. Newstalk ZB's voice of rugby, Elliott Smith is in the UK and joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined Mike Hosking to wrap the week that was. LISTEN ABOVE
It seems unlikely that Transmission Gully will get the green light for a speed boost anytime soon. Waka Kotahi's looking at potentially raising the speed limit on the Mackays to Peka Peka, and Peka Peka to Ōtaki expressways to 110km/h. Regional Relationships Director, Emma Speight told Mike Hosking Transmission Gully can't have the same treatment soon, due to outstanding work. She says there's still work to do at on and off ramps, and at State Highway 59. LISTEN ABOVE
Air New Zealand is promising customers it will get its processes right by Christmas. After a successful financial year the airline is looking to improve in other areas, including making the process of flying more efficient for passengers. CEO Greg Foran told Mike Hosking baggage collection and connecting flight delays can be up two hours - and this isn't good enough. Foran says he's committing to customers, on behalf of the company, that they'll get this right for Christmas. He says the main challenges have been building staff experience after employing lots of new people. LISTEN ABOVE
New alcohol legislation is being dubbed a move in the right direction. Communities will now have more of a say on whether liquor licences should be issued in their area. Community Law Centres Aotearoa's Sue Moroney told Mike Hosking people are concerned about the impacts of alcohol in their neighbourhoods. Moroney says although crime is often alcohol fuelled, communities don't have the opportunity to say anything about licences in their areas, but this can now change. LISTEN ABOVE
National leader Chris Luxon says he's demoted an MP because he didn't adhere to the culture the party expects. Tim Van de Molen has been stripped of all his portfolios after the Privileges Committee found him in contempt of the House for threatening behaviour against Labour's Shanan Halbert. Luxon told Mike Hosking Van de Molen could have apologised earlier and that would have de-escalated the situation. He says the report is clear - his behaviour was aggressive, hostile, unprofessional and people felt threatened. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is standing firm on it's approach to sharing the cost of severe weather events. Auckland Council and the Government will jointly fund a $2 billion recovery and resilience package - with the Crown contributing about half. It includes $774-million to purchase about 700 Category 3 residential properties. Cyclone Recovery and Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking they've tried to apply the same 50-50 principle for buyouts in each region. He says different areas have slightly different support for other measures, such as flood protection and transport. LISTEN ABOVE
The dream run for Act is over. For a party that has been as clean as a whistle in terms of candidates, it all came unstuck yesterday. This past term saw an increase in numbers and as history shows, in parties like New Zealand First, the United Party, and to some degree the Greens, when you expand you run the risk of having a talent pool issue. The star of that show is New Zealand first and the arrival of the Tight Five - Tau Henare, Tuku Morgan and all that particular cluster that eventually imploded. It is a salutary lesson in expanding too fast, or not being prepared for an electoral result that is better than you anticipated. This past term Act has seen the rise of people like Brooke van Velden, who stands, according to polling, a very real chance of a boil over against National in the Tamaki seat. Nicole McKee has been a rising star. You need to be a bit of a parliamentary wonk and follow matters closely, but Chris Bailey, Simon Court and Karen Chhour have also performed well, just not with as high of a profile. So far so good - until yesterday when the nutters got flushed. One has gone a while back and sang some weird songs about Jacinda so let's discount him. One quit because of past social media commentary around vaccines and Nazi camps and one asked a bunch of dumb questions around vaccines and drowning that he now says was a mistake. Here is the mistake - not doing the due diligence on fruit loops. For New Zealand First, the Kirsten Murfitt candidate from the Bay of Plenty, to a degree, is grist to the mill. She's representative of a party and a bloke so desperate for power he will hang out with anyone for a vote. But, they are fringe. It's sad but it’s the sort of thing I am not surprised at, given the past three or four years of Covid and our response. Act though, are mainstream. Act have been the rockstar party of the past term. David Seymour's unrelenting prosecution of his particular political ideology is admired, even by people who would never vote for him. He has rightly earned real credibility and the polls have shown it. No party has been more consistent in their polling and no party has grown their vote as well as Act. There is a reason for that - it isn't because they have the crazies for candidates. Labour is spending a lot of time and energy now looking for dirt, because they don't have a record to stand on. What Rawiri Waititi did in the house is unforgivable. But this is where this campaign, tragically, is going. The trick is to stay clean, be beyond reproach and be above the fray. You don’t do that by selecting candidates who will haunt you.
Dai Henwood is one of New Zealand's most well-known comedians. He has toured around the world and has been on our screens for more than a decade with 7 Days, Family Feud, Dancing with the Stars and this year's season of Taskmaster NZ. This year he went public with a very personal battle - that he's been fighting bowel cancer. As part of that he is hosting a live-to-air comedy show tonight to raise funds for the Cancer Society - Dai Henwood joined Mike Hosking in the Newstalk ZB studio. LISTEN ABOVE
The first Republican debate of the presidential campaign begins in the swing state of Wisconsin. Former President Donald Trump - who is the clear front runner - won't be there. He says he doesn't need to take part, because he's leading the field by so much. Trump will instead release his interview with former Fox host, Tucker Carlson. Former campaign manager for Marco Rubio and now managing partner at Firehouse Strategies Matt Terrill told Mike Hosking Trump might not be there, but he'll be a topic of discussion. He says they'll need to draw contrast with the front runner to break through. LISTEN ABOVE
An Auckland secondary principal's coming to the defence of using artificial intelligence in schoolwork. But parents are split almost 50-50 on whether it's a good idea, according to a Norton cybersecurity survey. Albany Senior High School Principal Claire Amos told Mike Hosking instead of restricting it, we should instead educate kids on how AI works. She says AI is already woven into Microsoft and Google platforms and most online tools that are used in the classroom. LISTEN ABOVE
Criticism has come of the millions of dollars being spent to educate the children of our diplomats serving overseas. The Taxpayers' Union says the children's premium education costs taxpayers $5 million a year - with $800,000 going to children in the US, and $500,000 to children in China. Union spokesperson Oliver Bryan told Mike Hosking it's a waste given the amount he claims diplomats earn. Bryan says it's unfair for New Zealanders to foot the bill during a cost of living crisis, when our own schools are struggling. He says these children should go to state schools where possible. LISTEN ABOVE
This year's DHL export NZ barometer shows nine out of ten Kiwi exporters report seeing an increase in total costs in the past year. Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor is hitting back telling Mike Hosking everybody knows prices have gone up as there's international inflation. "Words like staggering and remarkable in DHL's Export New Zealand press release, a bit of an over hype of something that we are all aware of." LISTEN ABOVE
Kiwi exporters say high costs are a major barrier to doing business here. This year's DHL export NZ barometer shows nine out of ten Kiwi exporters report seeing an increase in total costs in the past year. Many are increasing prices to compensate. DHL Operations Vice President Chitra Shinde told Mike Hosking many companies are withholding stock, and pulling back. She says companies are holding onto inventory, because of uncertainty, which also accounts for costs. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland's port company has come back strongly after navigating some choppy financial waters. It's confirmed this year's net profit after tax increased by more than $50 million, following last years $10 million loss. The dividend to its parent Auckland Council have also increased by $15.8 million, to $30 million. Ports of Auckland CEO Roger Gray told Mike Hosking their continued success is dependant on a strong economy, but things are looking promising. Gray says the long term goal is to get to $80 to $100 million year net profit after tax. LISTEN ABOVE
Turns out it wasn’t just on the Mike Hosking Breakfast the Prime Minister got caught out saying stuff that you can quite justifiably say wasn’t true. In defence of the poll that shows his party heading for Opposition, Hipkins told the TV that he hadn’t started campaigning - which simply isn’t true. We called him out on that; he danced for a while on the head of a pin. He also suggested on TV yesterday that the poll result was in part because the media hadn’t covered the GST on fruit and veges announcement widely enough and people might have missed it. Small note to those who surround the Prime Minister and in some way shape or form offer him advice - tell him to stop it. Of all the announcements the Labour Party-come-government have made these past few weeks while they haven’t been campaigning, the GST call got more coverage than any of them - and I would argue by quite some margin. Now it might not have been the sort of coverage they wanted i.e. most people and - certainly all the experts in tax that were asked - quite rightly bagged it. The Opposition got kudos for the leak being right - and Grant Robertson spent quite a lot of time explaining his road to Damascus. He actually explained that on this show through another series of made up stories around frozen veggies and who buys more of them. But what the Labour Party /Government can’t even begin to argue is the policy announcement didn’t get coverage. Now I am not sure what’s going on here. In my briefish time in dealing with the Prime Minister, he does tend to argue for the sake of arguing and that might be starting to trip him up. He might be one of those people who says the first thing that comes into his mind and in the general cut and thrust of a day it never really gets picked up. But in an election campaign words matter, accuracy matters and facts matter. And given the heightened awareness of policy - whether through announcements or detail - you can’t just make stuff up. You can’t say poor people buy more frozen veggies when you don’t know that to true. You can’t say you aren’t campaigning when it’s patently evident it isn’t true and you can’t say your signature policy announcement didn’t get enough coverage when it got more than anything else. What matters most and what swings votes is credibility. Whether that is credibility through your record, through your ideology or through your consistency of message and policy. Making stuff up and hoping no one will notice isn’t credible. In election campaigns, too many people are watching.
A Labour Minister is coming to the defence of the Prime Minister, on unemployment stats. Chris Hipkins told the House yesterday the country had record-level unemployment, despite unemployment being higher than the previous quarter. Labour's Megan Woods told Mike Hosking the PM was making a point about how more people have jobs. She says unemployment is low. Woods also suggested National were more in the wrong, and that deputy Nicola Willis should carry a cleaning kit with her to sweep up Luxon's mistakes. National's Mark Mitchell says the PM was incorrect and was not giving the right information. LISTEN ABOVE
There are fears a plan to charge for stolen vehicle records will make one car ownership record provider's business unaffordable. Waka Kotahi plans to charge 19 cents for each query for stolen vehicle records from next month, while the Police service will remain free. CARJAM argue while they do charge for some information, this'll cost them around $1.5 million per year. CEO Paul Osborne told Mike Hosking they used to get a lot more data from Waka Kotahi for free. He says in 2011 they began charging for most information and the accurate stolen state of a vehicle is their last remaining free service. LISTEN ABOVE
Cancelled ferry sailings are causing a headache for freight. Interislander's Kaitaki sailings were cancelled Wednesday through to this Thursday afternoon as a safety precaution after weather-related damage. A door on the ship was hit by a large wave and needed to be looked at and repaired. Its Aratere ferry put on extra freight sailings to compensate. Canterbury Bulk Freight Managing Director, Alex Cowdell, says this is the latest in the ongoing saga of ferry problems, that have hurt their business. He says they don't know when they can sail and there are trucks parked up on both sides of Cook Strait. LISTEN ABOVE
There are hopes a pause in the use of surgical mesh for a common childbirth injury will give clarity on how many need it. The Health Ministry has recommended the pause for urinary incontinence surgery after a recent report, affecting around 100 operations. Alternatives including non-surgical interventions and surgery without using mesh will be available. Chief Medical Officer Dr Joe Bourne told Mike Hosking they've seen the number of surgeries decline as knowledge of injuries emerge. He says a registry, which is one of the key recommendations, will give them a clearer picture on the numbers affected and improve their datasets. LISTEN ABOVE
Michael Woodhouse isn't angry, he's disappointed. He told the ODT he would have had a 45 percent chance of getting back in to Parliament, and says the National party gave precedence to diversity, rather than experience. But, he told Mike Hosking that he denies he ever said being male cost him a better spot. On Breakfast, National leader Chris Luxon dismissed allegations MPs were missing out on top rankings due to their gender. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the largest business delegations from this country to India could strengthen economic ties. The 50 business people will travel to the nation this week. India's economy is expected to be the world's third largest economy by 2030. New Zealand International Business Forum Executive Director Stephen Jacobi told Mike Hosking it could be beneficial for both nations. He says our trade doesn't reflect the strength of India's economy, or New Zealand's export economy. LISTEN ABOVE
The number of gang-affiliated offenders sentenced to home detention has increased by nearly 60 per cent in six years, according to Department of Corrections data. The National Party says the rise is concerning from a “public safety” perspective and believes its policy of making gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing will make it more likely they will spend time in prison, rather than home detention. Labour says National’s policy “just tinkers with the status quo”, and the party is “dangerously straying into the territory of disregarding” constitutional arrangements. Answers to Written Parliamentary Questions from National’s Justice spokesperson Paul Goldsmith regarding the number of people who were sentenced to home detention and were identified to be gang-affiliated each financial year since 2017/18 reveal a 59 per cent increase, with 623 people with gang affiliations being sentenced to home detention in the 2022/23 financial year. The figures, provided to the Herald, do not include a breakdown of what offences each person was sentenced for. Home detention can only be granted by a judge and is used as an alternative to imprisonment. It is intended for offenders who would receive a jail term of two years or less. Corrections said home detention was “both a punitive and rehabilitation sentence”. “It requires an offender to remain at a suitable and approved residence at all times and be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “Offenders on home detention must also complete programmes designed to address the causes of their offending.” Between 2017 to 2022 the number of people being sentenced to home detention overall decreased by 15 per cent, according to Ministry of Justice figures. The increase in gang affiliates being sentenced to home detention coincides with a 61 per cent increase in the gang population in New Zealand since 2017.
National Party's justice spokesman Paul Goldsmith. Photo / Mark Mitchell. Goldsmith told the Herald the increase in gang-affiliated people being sentenced to home detention was “concerning”. He also cited a 33 per cent increase in violent crime during the same period. “Ultimately our concern is for public safety and as we’ve seen in recent cases home detention doesn’t necessarily mean being at home all the time, it can, well, mean going off to work, and for certain people that may well be appropriate ... there are certain circumstances, particularly for non-violent crimes or for ones that don’t involve serious violence that may make sense, but what we worry about is when it extends to those more serious crimes and gang activity. “Our particular concern around gang activity is for the overwhelmingly negative impact that they have on our communities.” He believed National’s policy of making gang membership an aggravating factor at sentencing, and limiting judges’ ability to reduce sentences, with a maximum discount of 40 per cent, would reduce the likelihood that sentences were downgraded from imprisonment to home detention for gang members. “There will be circumstances where [home detention] is appropriate but what I would point to is the significant increase in violent crime over the same period, a significant increase in gang membership over the same period, and at the same time we’re seeing more gang members on home detention and all those things don’t add up to me.”
Justice Minister Ginny Andersen. Photo / Mark Mitchell In response, Justice Minister Ginny Andersen said National’s policy on making gang membership automatically an aggravating factor at sentencing “just tinkers with the status quo”. “Which as it stands means being in a gang or an organised crime group is already an aggravated factor at sentencing.” She cited the sentencing of Mongrel Mob president Turanganui John Ormsby-Turner in March for murder as being an example of connections to organised crime being considered as an aggravating factor. “Their other policy around limiting judges’ ability to reduce...
Cooper Alan moved to Nashville, Tennessee for music in 2018 but it was 2020 during the pandemic when his career really took off. More than ten million followers and 200 million music streams later his career is going from strength to strength. He's currently on tour in the US but took some time out to have a chat - Cooper Alan joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
I cannot for the life of me work out why the Government is deciding to legislate to make all schools teach reading, writing and maths the same way. We have the best education system in the world turning out kids fully equipped to deal with...oh wait, no we don’t. That’s right; our standards in the aforementioned areas are slipping and have been slipping badly for years. Attendance in the first place is a major. Kids leaving without NCEA Level 2 is alarming and kids leaving with no qualifications at all is even more alarming. The teacher shortage is beyond a joke. The endless meddling with the curriculum around Te Reo is infuriating. All in all, one of a Government's key areas of performance is education and it's in a dire state. And yet, or maybe because of that, we get yet another announcement about the magic that will be created if only you give them another three years. In that is the trick here. Normally after two terms a Government has a record that speaks for itself. This one does too, but just not the sort of record you can talk about. So in order for you to be distracted from that record they are averting your attention with a big bag of shiny, new stuff they hope will suck you in. My rule of thumb is simple - first term you bag the previous lot and install your changes. In the second term the changes come to fruition and you get a third term simply by saying "look what we've done works". A Government is basically judged on three key things - the economy, the health system and the education system. On those measures, you can see why they are desperate because every one of them has, and is, going backwards. Not that they will find out, but trainspotters might remember the problem for a three term Government looking for a fourth, i.e the John Key government. You run the risk of looking like you’ve run out of ideas, complacency sets in. For this lot there is no such pressure. Their ideas are either not delivered (think Kiwibuild and light rail), bogged down (think Ten Waters and the RMA) or complete failures (crime levels, violence and recessions). Therefore, you've got a twofold issue on new promises. One is they are only announcing them to side-track you and the second is that given their record, why would you think they could deliver them anyway?
An interesting headline emerged that that former All Blacks coach Sir Steve Hansen has joined the Wallabies in a short term advisory role. So how concerned do we need to be about our All Blacks' trade secrets getting told to the Aussies? Sir Steve Hansen is the best man to answer that and he joined Mike Hosking to clear the are around what his role will be in the Wallabies' camp. LISTEN ABOVE
Numbers have been released around how expensive sick days are for businesses. On average, each worker is taking five and a half sick days a year, which all up is costing $2.86 billion per year for the total economy. This could increase in the coming years, considering the legislation change that all businesses need to offer a minimum of 10 days. And quiet quitting is real - 22 percent of surveyed businesses say their employees have signalled intentions to only work within defined work hours. Kirk Hope, CEO of BusinessNZ joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Unanswered questions on the reconstruction of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. The architect in charge, General Jean-Louis Georgelin, has died at 74. He was overseeing repairs from the fire of 2019. Paris Correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking it might not be ready by next year's Paris Olympics. She says the General was the man who knew how to get people working. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour is confident it can turn around low poll results once it gets into full campaign-mode. The latest 1 News Verian poll has seen the Hipkins-led Labour Party plummet to 29 percent support - far below National's 37. The left-bloc would be unable to govern, even with support from the Greens and Te Pati Māori. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking they'll be full time campaigning in a matter of weeks. LISTEN ABOVE
More frustration has come from Auckland businesses affected by construction of City Rail Link. It comes after the organisation admitted the disruption to businesses had been underestimated. City Rail Link Limited CEO Sean Sweeney says comparisons were made with road projects in the country side or through suburbs, not in the middle of a major city. Heart of the City chief executive Viv Beck told Mike Hosking it's been difficult for the businesses. She says there's been no independent dispute resolution - so they have nowhere to go with issues. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour wants to halve the number of vape stores around the country, restrict where they can be, and massively increase the penalties for selling or supplying them to under-18s. The party released its vaping policy a day after announcing the commencement date - from September 21 - for a series of new restrictions including weaker nicotine concentration in vaping products, a 300m proximity ban on new specialist vape shops being close to schools or marae, and a requirement for all flavours to have generic names. The proximity ban does not apply to diaries or supermarkets that might already be within 300m of a school or marae, but a new proposal for a licensing regime would enable a new mechanism controlling what stores can sell vaping products. It follows a recent study that found 10 per cent of students in Year 10, who are aged 13 to 14, were vaping daily, up from 9.6 per cent in 2021 and more than tripling since 2019. Another study found the number of New Zealanders aged 15 to 17 who vaped every day quadrupled in three years, from about 2 per cent in 2018-2019 to about 8 per cent in 2021-2022. And in January last year, the Herald reported Ministry of Health data that detailed how at least one in four New Zealand schools - 894 - were within 1km of a vape store, and at least 77 were within 250m. Action for Smokefree 2025 data looking at Year 10 students and daily smoking and daily vaping. Today Labour leader Chris Hipkins laid out the party’s further plans to tackle the youth vaping problem, including a cap of 600 vape stores nationally, more than halving the current number. A requirement for all retailers - including dairies and petrol stations - to hold a licence to sell vaping products would mean more control over where vaping products could be sold. And the penalties for adults supplying children with vapes would double from $5000 to $10,000, while the fine for a shop selling to an underage person would rise from $10,000 to $15,000. Labour says it would “re-prioritise baseline funding of up to $2 million extra per year” to support enforcement and compliance.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins wants much tougher controls on vaping if Labour is re-elected. Photo / Mark Mitchell “Those who produce and sell vapes are clearly targeting our kids, especially in low socio-economic areas,” Hipkins said. “The licensing regime will both be able to reduce the number of outlets that sell vapes and also ensure there aren’t clusters of vape stores targeting schools or low socio-economic communities. “We have already made it illegal to sell vapes to anyone under 18. But the ongoing uptake suggests the current penalties are not a strong enough deterrent.” Labour’s health spokeswoman, Ayesha Verrall, said the number of young people vaping daily more than tripled between 2019 and 2021. “We have seen the explosion of vape retailers in recent years. A licensing regime will stop any new stores opening and will allow us to spread the number of stores across the country.” Labour would also look at making vape products less visible from the storefront. National Party leader Christopher Luxon has said, if elected, he would look at following Australia’s ban on non-prescription vaping. Derek Cheng is a senior journalist who started at the Herald in 2004. He has worked several stints in the press gallery and is a former deputy political editor.
It's being suggested National's cancer drug funding promise has put Pharmac in a difficult position. If elected, the party will allocate $280 million over four years, to fund 13 treatments including for lung, bowel, melanoma and kidney cancers. It would be funded by restricting fee-free prescriptions to superannuitants and those on low incomes. Medical oncologist Chris Jackson told Mike Hosking this is the first time a political party has told Pharmac what to fund. He says they're asking for these chosen drugs to be funded first, leap frogging every other patient group. LISTEN ABOVE
Here's another of our theory vs reality lessons. This one is on gender diversity. Read Thomas Coughlan's piece in the NZ Herald yesterday. It is a textbook example of how you can get wound up in a never-ending spiral, or maybe even boondoggle, of do-gooding. Gender balance, allegedly, has been an issue for the National Party. "We need more women." The list came out Saturday and there are now more women than men. Not by much but in fact the sensible summation would be it's balanced. But Thomas tries to point out a few things. One is that National have had trouble getting to this point. Two is that a lot of the local electorate selections made by local committees in so-called winnable seats have favoured men. And thirdly, if things play out roughly as the polls would have them you will end up with more woman than previously, but barely, thus indicating perhaps the attempt has been a failure on the part of the leader, who is more bullish in these matters than others in the party. It is also pointed out that Labour are very good on gender. It's at this point I want to ask what I would argue is a slightly more important question than whether gender balance is important - would you rather have gender for gender's sake, or competence? Is a Government there to govern in a way that progresses the country, and therefore is broadly popular, or are they there to be able to meet markers like gender or race? Has Labour's excellence at gender provided us with a Government and a country we are proud of? It's important to point out, in case the angsty are getting a bit exercised, this Government's performance is not necessarily gender related. In other words, just because they are useless and where they are in the polls isn't because they promoted their fair share of women. But the point is, the more you focus on artificiality i.e needing to balance the ledger or the colour or the background or the social input, the less you are focusing on the real issue - who is the best to do the job? What we so desperately need in this country, now more than ever, is excellence. We need excellence and experience and performance. What shape, size, gender or height someone is, is a long way down the totem pole. Just give me some winners.
Spain may have won the FIFA Women's World Cup, but it looks like New Zealand has also done well out of it. The Spanish have had a fast rise to the top of women's football, beating England 1-nil in last night's final in Sydney. The tournament was shared by Australia and New Zealand. More than 340,000 fans packed through the gates of Eden Park to catch the Auckland games, and more than 85,000 went to the city's fan festival. Auckland Unlimited Arts, Entertainment, and Events Director, Richard Clarke, told Mike Hosking that all the fans have boosted the local economy. He says hotel occupancy was up 50% on last year, and more people equals more spending. Games were also played in Hamilton, Wellington, and Dunedin. LISTEN ABOVE
Encouraging news for dairy farmers with the head of Fonterra saying there's light at the end of the tunnel. Global dairy prices dropped 7.4% last week, with whole milk powder plunging 10.9%. Fonterra's twice recently cut its forecast Farmgate Milk Price. It's put the midpoint at $6.75 per-kilo of milk solids, down from $7. Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell told Mike Hosking that there'll be a bit of pain over the next few months but demand is picking up. He says he'd like to think by the end of this year into early next year there'll be signs of life. LISTEN ABOVE
The waiting list for young people needing dental surgeries has been stuck around four thousand for the past year. Te Whatu Ora data released to Newstalk ZB shows hardly any movement between April last year and the end of March this year on the waiting list for children aged 14 and under. Dental Association Chief Executive Mo Amso says there are three main issues at play: lack of prevention efforts, workforce shortages, and access to care challenges. He says some children are ending up needing more complex care in a hospital than they would if they'd been treated earlier. Amso says these numbers are increasing at such a rapid rate, it's becoming impossible to make a dent in them without any signifcant government or policy intervention. LISTEN ABOVE
A note of caution for political parties wanting to use pop culture references in their ads. The Green Party has wiped social media posts with screenshots of the Barbie movie after revelations they didn't seek permission from Warner Brothers to use them. Back in 2014 National was put in legal hot water for using the Eminem song Lose Yourself. Former Intellectual Property Society President, Clive Elliott KC, told Mike Hosking that parties need to be as cautious about photos as they now are with music. He says it's easier to download and use copyrighted images with the rise of social media, but the rules haven't changed. LISTEN ABOVE
All eyes in southern parts of the US are on the sky as Tropical Storm Hilary rolls in. It’s no longer a hurricane, but it's still set to bring significant rain and flooding risks to desert parts of the south-western United States and western Mexico. Forecasters are describing the potential flooding as catastrophic and life-threatening. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that residents have been laying down sandbags already. LISTEN ABOVE
It's all but certain financial literacy will be compulsory in schools after the election, no matter who wins. Labour's promising to bring it in from 2025 and National's planning to match it. Moneytime provides this kind of programme for schools already. CEO Neil Edmond told Mike Hosking that it indicates the Ministry of Education will make it clearer where it sits in the curriculum. He says it sounds like it'll provide some methodology on what outcomes should be achieved at each year level. LISTEN ABOVE
ACT says it would demand greater accountability from public service departments. If elected, the party would put public service chief executives on performance based pay. It also wants agencies to have outcome targets and public Key Performance Indicators. ACT leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking that it's important to have clear objectives. He says until those basic business practices are back in the public sector, there'll continue to be more spend and worse results. LISTEN ABOVE
Talk show great Sir Michael Parkinson has died at 88 after a short illness. He presented 'Parkinson' from 1971 to 2007 quizzing celebrities over more than 800 episodes. In a statement released to the BBC, his family said: “After a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family. 'Parky' joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast in September 2009, ahead of a visit to New Zealand for a speaking tour. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The economy: 2/10 What a week. Between the manufacturing sector, the services sector, the Reserve Bank and the dairy auction, reality came knocking on the ol' Kiwi front door. The Warriors: 8/10 The wins just keep piling up. Tomorrow it's the Sea Eagles, then two to go. Hello finals. This is our year. Sign up to our newsletter to get Mark the Week and more exclusive content direct to your inbox! GST off fruit and veges: 2/10 What a flagrant, blatant, shallow, superficial, befuddled, desperate, pile of vote-grabbing nonsense that was. NZ First candidate Kirsten Murfitt of the Bay of Plenty: 1/10 Look up the coverage on her and ask yourself; how does a person who says that stuff get to run for Parliament? Actually, how does a person who says that stuff get to leave the house? Immigration: 7/10 Solid numbers. We need more people. The brain drain is a worry but so far we have a net gain. Covid restrictions: 9/10 About six months too late. But then if you lived through the way they ran the thing, are you really surprised? But, they're gone at last and in the rear view mirror. Barbie: 7/10 It's entering the world of the remarkable. For what it appeared to be to what it has actually achieved is kind of astonishing. We laughed until it broke all the records and as for Margot Robbie and her $50 million, what's next? FIFA Women's World Cup: 7/10 Even for those of us who don’t follow football, far less woman's football, is there anyone who didn’t at some point get wrapped up in it? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined Mike Hosking to talk the big topics of the week, plus they play a game of Whose Laugh is the Funniest. LISTEN ABOVE
Stuart Nash is ditching Parliament with his head held high, once again hitting out at the legal system. The disgraced former Police Minister found himself in hot water, after revelations he'd phoned the Police Commissioner, urging him to advocate for a harsher sentence. In his valedictory speech last night, Nash defended the decision that got him ousted from Caucus. Nash told Mike Hosking he believes judges should front up about their decisions more. He says there needs to be a bit of transparency around how judges make their sentencing decisions. LISTEN ABOVE
This year's Swimming World Cup in Berlin will debut World Aquatics' new open category for transgender athletes. The open category will include 50 and 100 meter races across all strokes. Save Women's Sport spokesperson Ro Edge joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Mixed feedback for the Government's three-year transport budget. It's proposing a 12 cent fuel tax rise, to fund more than $20 billion of infrastructure, road maintenance, upgrades and public transport. National Road Carriers spokesperson, James Smith told Mike Hosking it's great to acknowledge infrastructure needs, but disappointing taxes are being used as the sole funding solution. He believes greater use of toll roads, and value capture has to be looked at. Value capture occurs when industries who receive direct benefits from new or improved infrastructure, help fund its construction. LISTEN ABOVE
It's full steam ahead for Auckland's Mayor in his attempt to take back control of the city's transport system. The Council's governing body has voted to accept Wayne Brown's recommendation for the council to support a change of governance. The proposed bill would establish two new transport committees for a more integrated approach with the Crown. Brown told Mike Hosking the council has to play a bigger role in central government's decisions, and they're working with the Transport Minister on a 10 year integrated Auckland plan. The bill will also give Auckland Council the lead role in creating the Regional Land Transport Plan. LISTEN ABOVE
Fresh polls show Donald Trump's latest indictment may have impacted his bid for presidency. Polling data from the Associated Press shows nearly two thirds of Americans say they don't support the former President At the same time, 74 percent of Republicans say they would back Trump Trump was indicted on 13 counts by a grand jury in Georgia earlier this week for allegedly conspiring to overturn the 2020 election - his fourth indictment of the year. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking the former president is now facing increasing headwinds. He says half of Americans believe Trump should suspend his presidential campaign. LISTEN ABOVE
There's a view from a retail boss that Countdown trialling cameras in the self checkout area is to catch thieves rather than people who make mistakes. The chain is trialling the method in five stores which records the customer and transaction, seeing what items are scanned as the wrong thing. Retail NZ Chief Executive, Carolyn Young, told Mike Hosking crime and theft is a massive issue, and retailers have seen an uptick on the back of Covid. LISTEN ABOVE
The transport industry is warning everyone will feel the pain if fuel tax increases. The Government is proposing a 12 cent rise over the next three years, to fund infrastructure, road maintenance, upgrades and public transport. More than a dozen routes will be prioritised - from State Highway 1 linking Warkworth to Whangarei, right down to a second bridge for Ashburton. Transporting NZ Interim CEO, Dom Kalasih told Kate Hawkesby trucking costs would rise by 13 percent. He says motorists will be hit twice by more expensive fuel and increases to goods. LISTEN ABOVE
Is a divisive issue still an issue if people don’t talk about it the way they once did? The Three Waters legislation was passed yesterday under urgency - at one point this was the biggest game in town. Many were aghast at what the Government was trying to do. They saw this as a massive overreach in terms of the Māori-fication of the New Zealand landscape. The Government got dreadfully bogged down in the explanation of it. Nanaia Mahuta was hopeless at putting the case forward and the more we learned, the more alarmed we became. Many councils were equally upset that assets that they had poured billions into were going to get ripped away from them. The Government bent and buckled, it handed out money, freebies, gifts promises and, eventually, handed it off to Keiran McAnulty who went away, we thought, to fix the co-governance aspect of it. Then he came back and said the four entities that would run the new scheme had morphed into ten. Since then it's been largely silence, apart from the revelation that we need ten bosses and the ones hired already are earning vastly more than the people in water currently earn, despite the fact that they are in charge of no more customers, because it’s now split ten ways, not four. One of the changes made is that this whole mess doesn’t actually start until 2026, which means, fingers crossed, it never starts at all. But it will take a change of Government for it to be killed, as National and ACT are repealing it. Even if this lot get back, they will almost certainly need the Māori Party in a coalition and the Māori Party voted against the legislation. So, it might well be that no matter who wins, Three Waters will never see the light of day. But if there is one policy that exemplifies this Government, it is Three Waters. Because it's a gargantuan shambles. It must be acknowledged that the idea was predicated on the accepted idea that our water is not what it should be. But then it was hi-jacked by the ideologues and force fed to us in the most arrogant and distasteful of ways. If Labour ever want to look back on their time in Government and learn some lessons on how not to govern, the beginning, middle and end of Three Waters would be a good starting point. So, back to the question - is it still contentious? Or are there just so many things now that come under the broad heading of dysfunction and mess, we have run out of time and energy to deal with them all?
It's been a while, but it's time we caught up with one of New Zealand's finest actors - Tem Morrison. In New Zealand we know him best for Once Were Warriors, but lately he's in all the big Hollywood hits, Aquaman, Moana and of course Star Wars where he plays Boba Fett. But it's in a more local setting where you can see his latest - he's on our screens telling the, mostly, true story of a husband and wife who thwarted a $500 million meth deal. The show is called Far North on TV3 with the first few episodes having dropped this week - Temuera Morrison joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Shane van Gisbergen has made the move to leave Supercars for Nascar. Red Bull Ampol Racing are finally agreeing to release van Gisbergen from his contract at the end of the season. Motorsport correspondent Brian Kelly joined Mike Hosking to discuss whether it is a good move for the Kiwi. LISTEN ABOVE
The Governor of the Reserve Bank is confident the country is on track to squeezing out inflation. Adrian Orr is keeping the Official Cash Rate at 5.5 percent, with the possibility of another hike later this year. Inflation is still running high on 6 percent. Orr told Mike Hosking we're sitting in a pretty strong position. He says the economy's outlook is one of subdued domestic spending, continued export earnings, and working through the inflation period. Adrian Orr says this is the story globally. LISTEN ABOVE
Concern the country's economic outlook isn't taking China seriously. The Official Cash Rate remains unchanged at 5.5 percent. There's a chance the OCR might need to go up soon, due to inflation woes. Meanwhile, the Chinese economy is struggling, with reports the publication of the youth employment rate is now banned. Jarden Investment Strategist John Carran told Mike Hosking interest rates and the high cost of living all weigh on the economy. He says it reflects the fact New Zealand exports are not doing that well in China. LISTEN ABOVE
When you think of the Blues, they largely go hand in hand with their home ground of Eden Park. Eden Park has mysteriously been left off of the Blues 2024 Super Rugby Auckland-based match schedule - are we witnessing a breakup? CEO of Eden Park Nick Sautner joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
It's not a question of whether Lauren Dickason will receive life imprisonment, but rather how long her non-eligibility period for parole will be. The 42-year-old has been found guilty of murdering her three daughters at their Timaru home in 2021. Dickason pleaded insanity, caused by postpartum depression. Massey University Law Professor, Chris Gallavin told Mike Hosking the base level non-parole period is a decade, but a number of aggravating factors can increase that. He says she could be facing up to 30 years. Dickason has been remanded to Hillmorton Hospital before sentencing. LISTEN ABOVE
It's thought the majority of farmers won't make a profit this year. The country’s biggest farm lender ANZ says some farmers are struggling to make their debt repayments. Total lending to agriculture rose by $564 million in June the highest rise since June 2018. ANZ Agricultural Economist Susan Kilsby says told Mike Hosking some customers are looking to defer debt repayments until the end of the season. She says banks will be working closely with farmers to find solutions to help them through this challenging period. LISTEN ABOVE
In watching the Prime Minister yesterday in the house, I once again wondered to myself whether he either has a clue economically, or whether he actually does but just assumes the people who may vote for him don't, so he can pull the wool over their eyes. This time it was about the wages. He was crowing about the wage stats, saying the wage stats are up, hourly earnings are up and the median wage is up. Everything is up! But - it's up above inflation. Despite what the Prime Minister is desperately trying to tell you, that is not good. By being above inflation the wages are inflationary. We do not want things that are inflationary because that means the Reserve Bank are going to punish us all further. Wages are of our doing and as such, make up part of what they call the non-tradable inflation figure. The figure that came out the other day is still at 6.6 percent, a lot higher than the overall inflation figure, which is also made up of stuff we can't control, like oil. If you have forgotten, or don't care, inflation should be about 2 percent. It is obviously nowhere close and until it is Adrian Orr and the Reserve Bank is going to be all over us and keep us in this parlous state of recession. At best, we will eke out anaemic levels of growth. On a personal level if you got a 7 percent wage increase, what do you care? The cost of everything is through the roof so you need the help. But here is the insidious part of it all - we are only here because the Government borrowed and printed money and ran the economy into the ground at a time when a lot of the economy wasn't open. Then when it was open it couldn't grow because we had no people, because they wouldn't let them in, hence you get inflation exploding. Now, it happened most places. But clearly it happened worse here, hence our recession and the possibility of a double dip recession. If you want an example, look at Australia. They haven't had the wage growth we have and therefore don't have a cash rate anything like ours, nor mortgage rates, and they aren't in recession. So the fact Chris Hipkins crows about this stuff is either because he is thick or deeply Machiavellian. Given his GST policy, I suspect it's the latter. Either way, next time you hear him spruiking high wage rises, remember, they aren't real. They aren't healthy, they come at a cost and that cost is a recession, or two recessions. So the big question is - just how long do you want to be stuck in this hole for?
The Matildas have definitely stolen the show this World Cup. The Aussie team have reached their first semi-final in team history but, there is still more to go. Tonight they will battle it out against England, and who ever wins tonight will be in the final with Spain, after they defeated Sweden in dramatic fashion at Eden Park. Sports Director at Australia Radio Network Jim Dolan joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast for a semi-final preview. LISTEN ABOVE
The opposition's crime spokesperson is putting his career on the line, if crime stats don't improve under a potential National government. The party is concerned at at increase in retail crime and police response times, proposing stronger sentences for criminals and restoring the three strikes law. Police Spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking public safety is one of the top issues. He says if he's Police Minister and there's no change in the first 12 months - he will stand down. Police Minister Ginny Andersen says it's a tricky area that continuously needs resourcing, but she's proud of her work to tackle gang crime. LISTEN ABOVE
Global dairy prices plunged by 7.4 percent overnight at the Global Dairy Trade auction. Whole Milk Powder, which has the biggest influence on Fonterra's milk price, dropped 10.9-percent. It comes less than two weeks after the dairy co-op drastically cut its forecast Farmgate Milk Price - with the midpoint falling from $8 to just $7. The result is unsurprising considering Fonterra was putting more product up for sale on the auction platform, their oversupply of milk in China and overall weak demand. Federated Farmers Dairy Chair Richard McIntyre joined Mike Hosking to discuss how Fonterra has affected the market. LISTEN ABOVE
A former Reserve Bank economist says the Official Cash Rate may not be able to be halted for long. The central bank will give its latest update today, with economists predicting it will stay at 5.5 percent. At its last review the bank expected it to remain at a restrictive level for some time. But Michael Reddell told Mike Hosking you could make a credible case for at least signalling the prospect of some more tightening now, or in the next two or three months. LISTEN ABOVE
Possums, rats and stoats beware - a new Artificial Intelligence trap is being added to New Zealand's predator-free campaign. Designed by Critter Solutions, the device only triggers when it identifies a pest to keep inquisitive native birds safe. They're being trialled in Auckland and Coromandel, supported by funding from the Government's Jobs for Nature Initiative. Project lead Doctor Helen Blackie says the user is notified when the trap triggers, what species was caught and when it resets. New Zealand has less than 10,000 days to reach its goal of eradicating pests by 2050. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls have come for a closer look at community retreat in the wake of climate change and severe weather. Climate Minister James Shaw's proposing a select committee inquiry into managed retreat. It'll also look at the potential for the Government to pay to support climate adaptation initiatives, taking lessons from cyclone Gabrielle. Tasman District Mayor Tim King told Mike Hosking it might be a tough pill to swallow for some. He says it's a tough conversation to have for communities, as some people feel quite happy remaining in the place they've been for generations. LISTEN ABOVE
Claims have come that businesses are struggling to keep up as wages continue to rise. Stats NZ has revealed median weekly earnings from wages and salaries leapt 7.1 percent annually in the June quarter. It's the second largest annual increase since records began in 1998 and ahead of inflation's 6 percent. Tauranga Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Matt Cowley told Mike Hosking it's a win for wage earners - but it's tough for employers. He says persistent wage increases feed the inflation spiral which impacts everyone. LISTEN ABOVE
Global dairy prices plunged by 7.4 percent overnight at the Global Dairy Trade auction. Whole Milk Powder, which has the biggest influence on Fonterra's milk price, dropped 10.9-percent. It comes less than two weeks after the dairy co-op drastically cut its forecast Farmgate Milk Price - with the midpoint falling from $8 to just $7. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking the drop was expected. He says the real issue is how long prices will stay this low for. LISTEN ABOVE
It had been a while since I'd watched a Post-Cabinet press conference, but there I was yesterday, watching the current Prime Minister end our Covid response. The seven days isolation and the masks that we are supposed to have been following, are now gone. The irony being, until a week or so back I had no idea they were still in place because I suspect, like most people, I haven't thought about Covid for ages. I haven't thought about it because I have personally disliked most of what this country has done and was more than happy to put it behind me. The sadness of yesterday's post-Cab was Chris Hipkins, the Minister of Covid and the man in charge of MIQ was busy thanking people for all their efforts and busy spruiking how wonderfully we had done and how many lives we had saved. How well we had done is open to a tremendous amount of interpretation. As for saving lives, that’s guess work. You can't put a number on things that never happened. The most important part of the whole Covid approach is not what happened in a condensed, intense period of time, but rather what the cost of that attitude was and is. What is the price we paid and are still paying? Is it the people who can't access health care because too much of it is a complete mess? Is it the people who died, or have had their lives curtailed? Are their stories offsetting the so-called lives we saved? The MIQ as a seed of an idea wasn’t the end of the world but the execution was exactly what this Government will be remembered for; a complete balls-up, highly political and dangerous in its largesse. The Wiggles were let in but relatives of the dying were locked out. "Be kind". If I never hear that again it won't be too soon. Remember the teddy bears in windows? It was pathetic. Neighbours dobbing neighbours in for standing too close together in fresh air on the street - it smacked of a control regime and that is the worst of this all. Because that’s exactly what it was . This Government used fear to control us. It was an overbearing arrogance, mixed with incompetence, with rules that were bewilderingly stupid and often pointless. All the while they were telling us how brilliant they were and how lucky we were. As I have said all along, each country and its Covid experience was as a result of sheer luck and who was running the place when the virus arrived. Some got relatively lucky. We didn’t. The reason this Government is about to lose the election is because, put simply, they don't have a clue. Not now and, tragically, not even close during Covid, when it really would have made a world of difference.
The Fifa Women's World Cup is coming to an end. Tonight the last New Zealand match will be played at Eden Park with Spain and Sweden battling it out to see who will compete in the final. Fifa Head of Global Women's Football Sarai Bareman joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Kiwis are leaving New Zealand at record highs - but net migration is still up. For June this year net migration rose to 86,000, the largest it has been in three years. The increase is down to a gain of 121,600 non-New Zealand citizens which was offset by a loss of 34,800 New Zealand citizens. Massey University Sociologist and Immigration specialist Paul Spoonley joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's economy has managed to gain momentum over the past three months, despite pressures. The Infometrics economic monitor says there was a 1.4 percent rise in economic activity in the June quarter, compared to the year before. That's despite a technical recession and tough interest rate increases. Principal Economist Brad Olsen says there are other numbers rolling in that look good. LISTEN ABOVE
Steven Joyce had one of the most colourful careers in politics and has now given an insight into that time with a new book.
On the Record reveals what it takes to win and keep office, and the secrets behind the strategy and campaigning that led to National being in power for almost a decade. The former Finance Minister joined Mike Hosking live in studio to talk the book, his political career and his successful stint in radio. WATCH ABOVE
Clarification has come as Labour's new policy to ditch GST from fruits and veggies could be causing a headache for consumers. It's vying to cut the 15 percent sales tax from fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, if it governs at the next election. Hipkins was asked to front up on the finer details of the plan; whether garlic or processed frozen veggie mixes would get a tax cut. The Prime Minister told Mike Hosking it's for unprocessed ingredients. Hipkins says the finer details will be sorted through but things that have clearly been processed will still have GST. The Prime Minister is also pushing back on criticism of the policy, saying many of those experts were against removing interest from student loans. He says there's still no interest on student loans because it made a practical difference to their lives. LISTEN ABOVE
The tourism sector is hoping it will be back to business as usual. The final Covid restrictions, including the seven day isolation period and mask wearing in health settings, were scrapped by the Government as of midnight last night. Tourism Export Council Chief Executive Lynda Keene told Mike Hosking they've been lobbying for this since last year. She says it's a huge relief to be able to get back to doing what they do best. Keene says claims these restrictions didn't make any difference to the sector are incorrect. LISTEN ABOVE
A fatherhood support group is backing Labour's commitment to bringing in four weeks of paid parental leave for partners. Plans would be phased in from July if Labour's re-elected - topping up already-existing leave entitlements. Kidz need Dadz Field Worker Allan Harvey told Mike Hosking it would make a difference to partners. He says it'll help people decide to support Mums and bond with their child. LISTEN ABOVE
Read the story about Kirsten Murfitt and ask yourself, is this how bad it's got? Obviously the story that got the headlines is the GST off fruit and veges scam. But as a combination of the weekend's political news, it leaves me with a sense of some despair and sadness. We could also toss in the business of the Green's and yet more money we don’t have on energy grants and interest free loans. But the upside of the Green's is they have no bottom lines and, as a rule, aren't taken that seriously, hence they have never really achieved a lot in and around Government. New Zealand First on the other hand has reached a point in a couple of polls where they can get some noise around their prospects. But when you read the Murfitt story you realise how low they have sunk and how desperate they have become. As for Labour, they too are desperate. Or, at least Chris Hipkins is. The announcement of a policy that makes no sense, isn't remotely workable in any economically literate way and benefits the wealthy the most shows you just how out of ideas he is. Oh, and his Finance Minister has spent no small amount of time rubbishing the plan. The reason this is all so depressing is because this is a country in desperate need of overhaul, it needs a massive reset. In some respects it needs to be blown up and started again. The economy is shocking, we have a recession, we have monumental debt and we have a Government happy to spend even more, making it worse. Our streets are littered with thugs and crime and the social discipline in so many areas is falling apart in front of our eyes. The schools pump out kids with minimal, if any, qualifications, and that’s if the kids turn up, and the standards for those who do graduate have been slipping year in, year out. The health system, in parts, is on the verge of collapse. What we need, and desperately, are some adults. Some adults with brains and life experience. We need discipline and professionalism and vision. We need help, and badly. Yet, New Zealand First have the Murfitt's and Hipkins has a con to use money we don’t have. It is shabby, it is loose and it is amateur hour. God help us.
The Finance Minister's now backing Labour's plan to slash GST from fresh and frozen fruit and veggies. Grant Robertson's previously cited concerns the cost savings wouldn't be passed onto consumers, calling it a boondoggle — meaning a wasteful spend. The party's now promising to slash GST from fruit and veg from April, saving the average household around $20 a month. Finance Minister Grant Robertson says that the policy would be regulated and would help ease inflation woes. He says it would reduce the cost of food, and is still a good policy despite it not being a huge discount. LISTEN ABOVE
Spongier cities are needed to cope with increasingly extreme weather. A report by the Helen Clark Foundation and environmental consultancy WSP New Zealand highlights a series of actions cities can take to help mitigate future flooding. Report author Kali Mercier told Mike Hosking that Auckland is making efforts, but there is plenty more the rest of New Zealand can do. She says that putting trees alongside streets, green roofs on high rise buildings, and bringing concreted over streams to the surface can have a huge impact on reducing flooding risk. LISTEN ABOVE
A grim picture is being painted in the wake of the deadly inferno in the Hawai’ian town of Lahaina. Ninety three people have been confirmed dead, with hundreds still missing as search teams with cadaver dogs continue sifting through the ruins. US Correspondent Richard Arnold says that one of the most surreal scenes is located at the waterfront. He says there is car after car, completely gutted, lined up along what was once the only possible escape route. Arnold says many people died in the cars or jumped the sea wall into the ocean to escape. LISTEN ABOVE
The Greens are hailing their new renewable energy plan as their way to tackle the cost of living crisis. The party's pledging up to $36,000 in grants and loans for homeowners to pay for improvements like insulation and heat pumps. It would also put solar panels on Kainga Ora homes, which the Greens claim will save people money on power. Greens Co-Leader James Shaw told Mike Hosking that most of the party's policy promises would be funded by the wealth tax it's backing. He says it wouldn't be fair to take money from the health or education budget. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour's latest election promise is being labelled as an example of politics winning out over policy. The party's promising to axe GST from fresh and frozen fruit and veggies from April, saving the average household roughly $20 a month. Dentons Kensington Swan tax expert, Bruce Bernacchi, told Mike Hosking that it will be of marginal benefit. He says most of the benefit will go towards higher income families who spend more on fresh produce. Labour's also promising to boost In-Work Tax Credits by $25 a week, and lift the Working for Families abatement threshold. LISTEN ABOVE
Frustration is building in Canterbury over election policies that "fail" to address regional issues. Environment Canterbury's chair Peter Scott has sent an open letter urging election candidates to think beyond Auckland and Wellington. The letter outlines four areas his council wants prioritised; including flood resilience and adaptation to climate change. Scott told Mike Hosking that he's becoming increasingly annoyed trying to influence decision makers in Wellington, despite Canterbury being the largest region in the country. He says if election policies continue to ignore Canterbury, the region could go bankrupt. LISTEN ABOVE
I've been thinking about the human condition and the way we prioritise things. Or don't. The Hawkes Bay buyout deal is sorted, sort of. It's August of course, and the others like Auckland, allegedly, are almost done. I assume the others will match the Hawkes Bay one, which has the Government paying half and the council paying the other half. In Napier they are not happy, but I can't work out why. They sight the Christchurch earthquake where the Government stepped in, which is not an unreasonable starting point. But the Christchurch earthquake, fingers crossed, was a one-off. The weather isn't. The weather isn't anyone's fault and if you believe the climate warmers, there is plenty more where that came from. So, the rules have changed. I would have thought a 50/50 split deal was not only fair, but obvious. You can't get any more even than an even split. Here is the next bit - lets not turn this into a scrap. In most deals in life the trick is that not everyone gets everything they want. But you need to work out how much energy you want to spend not accepting it and not getting on with your life, which brings us to the bit about the human condition. The vast majority of us have forgotten about Hawkes Bay, and the East Coast, and Northland, and bits of Auckland and bits of the top of the South Island. Why? Because that’s how life works. For many, the silt is still there, the home is still wrecked and the crops are still not going to be harvested. But once the cameras and the media hysteria that lasted a couple of weeks died away, that was that. It does seem an astonishing amount of time to get to where we are though, and I can fully understand the anger last week in Gisborne over that forestry slash meeting where Peeni Henare turned up with a few papers and thought bubbles and not a lot of action. Seven months for hot air? No wonder they walked out. If the climate drama is real then we need to get a lot better at this and a lot faster. We need insurance decisions, planning decisions and fall back positions from councils and Government. But what places like Hawkes Bay need is the desire to suck it up, accept it and get on with it. Stewing in disappointment and anger gets you nowhere.
With Alberta gone on the back of Victoria pulling out, why is it we are still committed to looking at hosting the Commonwealth Games? It strikes me that there are two arguments around events. One is whether you as a country benefit, as in you get to promote a sport, get the nation exercised and maybe do well in the contest, i.e the women's rugby. Or do you gain merely by being host, i.e the FIFA Women's World Cup we are seeing at the moment. There is no great expectation around the host's performance but you gain by having tourists, the money they spend and the pictures of your country beamed out to the world. The trouble with the Commonwealth Games, is it isn't the World Cup or anywhere close to it. We also know the cost to be several billion dollars, that's Alberta's figure. The figure for Victoria is shrouded in dodgy behaviour, as far as I can see. But when they pulled the pin, they claimed a figure north of $6 billion. Now, this isn't the right time to be asking this given the economic mess we are in, but it is fair to say we don’t have the money, or anywhere close to it. Obviously the idea is to make money. In other words you don’t actually need the money because you will profit from the event. But you have to seriously question whether that is now true, given no one seems to want to host the games. Which brings us to the biggest red flag of all - demand. Alberta and Victoria aren't the first instances of people not wanting to host the event. Birmingham got to be host last time because Durban pulled out. Just how many times do people have to pull out and how many times do organisers have to scramble, before a country like ours works out the numbers don’t add up? The competition itself clearly isn't of significant enough size and importance to take the risk. Even the Olympic Games has now reached a point where it is broadly accepted only a handful of cities around the planet have the size and facilities to sensibly host the thing without going bust. Yet, as we sit here this morning, we are still keen for a good old exploration of possibilities for 2034. Why? When virtually the entire Commonwealth is saying no, why are we the last one standing?
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined Mike Hosking to wrap the week that was. LISTEN ABOVE
Let's talk country music. With country artists Luke Combs and Morgan Wallen both bringing a bit of country to New Zealand, Kiwis are going crazy for it - with both of their Auckland shows selling out. Someone whose mission it is to bring country music worldwide, the Country Music Association's International Chief Milly Olykan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The Warriors: 8/10 It was yet another win but too many whingers complained about the quality of the win. Mind you, when all you have to moan about is how you are winning, it's not a bad problem to have. Guns: 1/10 Too many guns, too many shootings, too many bail breaches, too many thugs and too much crime. How sick of it are we? The phone ban: 6/10 Second best policy of the week. It's far from a magic bullet of course, but its value is in what it represents and what it represents is discipline, something in woefully short supply all over the place these days. Sign up for our newsletter and get Mark the Week and more direct to your inbox! ACT: 7/10 Their public service savings is the policy of the week. They're looking to save $1 billion on day one by stopping work and projects that mean nothing and go nowhere. More please. The Ministry of Pacific Peoples party: 0/10 As if ACT needed an example. Alberta: 7/10 Because they have worked out, like Victoria, the Commonwealth Games ain't worth it. But unlike Victoria they pulled out early and in reasonable circumstances. Victoria continues to look as dodgy as. The Māori Health Authority report: 7/10 Because it shines a light on racist policy and non-delivery of racist policy. Maybe if the Prime Minister read anything he'd get that. Barbie: 8/10 They say its FOMO that drives ticket sales and they say it’s a marketing triumph for an ordinary product. Either way, not many collect a billion and box office stats don’t lie. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Farmers are concerned about their land, as the Sites and Areas of Significance to Māori regulation is bought in. Timaru District Council has identified the first 4,000 property owners whose land fits into the five categories of the SASM regulations - including cultural landscapes, land-based places, sacred land, waterways, and sacred areas. Farmers are worried about the impact the regulations will have on what they can do with their land. Federated Farmers South Canterbury president Greg Andersen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Our banks are making some big profits - and they are the next organization in the Commerce Commission's headlights. With a new preliminary report from the Commerce Commission highlighting the high profit of New Zealand banks compared to those overseas, the watchdog is launching an investigation. Along with the high profit, it will look at how easy it is for people to change banks and how easy it is for new banks to enter the market Financial markets expert Andrew Body joined Mike Hosking to discuss the developments. LISTEN ABOVE
General Practice owners say they are being priced out of hiring doctors and nurses as they cannot compete with salaries within hospitals. General Practice are unable to increase revenue to match hospital nurse pay rates with their fees being capped by the Government - and any funding increases are being absorbed by rising costs and rising demands. GenPro chair Angus Chambers joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Winston Peters isn't giving up hope of being part of the next government.The latest Taxpayers' Union Curia poll has New Zealand First up a whopping 2.5 points to 5.8 percent, giving it the numbers to return to Parliament. But the poll also has National and Act on 61 seats, giving it the numbers to form a government without the party. Peters told Mike Hosking he believes New Zealand First actually has a much larger share of the votes, and will have far more influence. He says his own internal polling has New Zealand First on a level much higher than five percent. LISTEN ABOVE
The future of insurance seems to be a bit murky, with insurance costs only heading up, meaning more and more people are just not able to afford it. Australian insurer Suncorp's New Zealand full-year profit fell 30 percent as claims from the floods and cyclone added to rising reinsurance costs and inflation. Large reinsurance companies have changed their view of how risky New Zealand is, which inevitably means even higher prices for the cover and higher premiums for consumers. Financial Advice CEO Katrina Shanks joined Mike Hosking to discuss the future and where we may be heading. LISTEN ABOVE
One of Donald Trump's most high-profile critics says the developments in his latest indictment are hard to believe. A US court filing has revealed a search warrant into Trump's Twitter was launched in January, after it found probable cause for criminal offences in 2020. Twitter has since been fined $350,000 US-dollars for delays in complying with the warrant. CNN host Jake Tapper told Mike Hosking it's all hard to stomach. He says the idea that he was going to be the one to convince tens of millions of Americans not to believe the truth, including the election, is unbelievable. Jake Tapper has written his sixth book, called All the Demons Are Here, which transports readers to the 1970s underground world of cults, celebrities, tabloid journalism, serial killers, disco, and UFOs and is out now. LISTEN ABOVE
Am I changing my mind on banks? I have defended banks. I have defended them when Adrian Orr was wandering around talking about stress tests and making them put aside more money to cover a rainy day and catastrophe. This, you might remember, against a track record of plenty of profit and success. We have not seen the issues some have seen offshore. Banks in this part of the world have been wonderfully robust and performed well during the Global Financial Crisis and Covid. In fact ASB, as if to prove it, yesterday announced another record profit - $1.56b in profit. But, it's been done in a cost-of-living crisis where, apparently, there are thousands of people up against a mortgage cliff as money has gone from 2% to over 8%, and maybe even higher if the Reserve Bank isn't finished with its inflation-busting cash rate experiment. Anyway, here is my problem. Part of me argues you are not forced to do business with one particular bank, there is plenty of competition if you look at rates with both deposit and lending variety to choose from. For all those that run the tired, old line about hating the big Australia banks, there are local alternatives. Kiwibank was designed to be a disruptor but has never really taken off. They got a $225mil deposit the other day in order to boost their lending profile. So, we have choice. ASB's profit came from more lending for houses, which is good. We want house sales. The profit came from more business lending. Good, we want business borrowing to expand. The profit came from more deposits. Good, we want people saving and, currently, saving in a bank is moderately attractive. But, and this is the other hand, it came from increased margin. The net interest margin increased, again, by 22 basis points to 244 basis points. Now, this is where it gets tricky. Do we like a profit? Yes we do. Do we like feeling ripped off? No, we don’t. Where does a bank's social licence fit in here? When, as so many struggle, does it start to look a bit ordinary that one bank is pulling $1.5b off us in profit. And when all the banks roughly do the same, how much profit is that? Should they be doing more than extracting cash for shareholders, or have we enabled them to do it because we willingly do business with them? The Commerce Commission's current market study into banking, of all the studies they have done, will be by far the most interesting conclusion. The other results into building and supermarkets ave been a bit bland. I'm not sure this one will let the industry off as lightly. And I'm not sure they deserve to be let off lightly.
If you are looking for a reason to get up and get yourself to the gym today, here is one. Bernard Collins is set to be Australasia and Oceania's first 90-year-old participant in the World Powerlifting Championship. At the age of 90, Bernard is lifting a whopping 85kg and he puts it down to his no excuses attitude. Bernard Collins joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A suggestion has come of increased resources for watching people on electronic bail as more breaches keep happening. In the last financial year, there have been more than 2,000 breaches of home detention orders. Criminal lawyer Steve Cullen told Mike Hosking more money needs to be put into monitoring. LISTEN ABOVE
A new report into the rental market has found while people usually think interest rate changes, tax changes, and inflation get passed through into rents, there is very little evidence that shows this to be true. The findings show rental inflations is driven by wage inflation and supply and demand of houses. New Zealand Property Investors' Federation president Sue Harrison joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
The conversion of sheep and beef farms into carbon farms is still on the rise up. In 2011, 63,000ha of sheep and beef land was purchased for forestry, 11,000ha higher than first thought. In 2022, uncertainty over policy changes led to a decrease, but Beef and Lamb believe this figure is likely to increase this year due to the backlog of applications sitting with the overseas investment office. Beef and Lamb NZ chief executive Sam McIvor joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
McDonald's dynamic pricing on its app seems to show signs of a digital vs analogue conflict. Users have taken to social networking site Reddit, complaining regular users are being charged more than casual users. McDonald's says these price differences will encourage people to use the app more, bringing more long-term benefits.
This combo differed in price by $3 on the same day in the same location. Photo / u/BattleScones Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy told Mike Hosking the tailored pricing is due to the amount of users' data collected. He says instead of there being an agreed price on a hamburger, the digital world has seen that hamburger cost whatever they want on that particular day. LISTEN ABOVE
The secondary teachers union hopes students haven't paid the price for their industrial action. PPTA members have accepted the most recent collective agreement, meaning around 30,000 teachers will receive a 14.5-percent pay bump. PPTA Acting President Chris Abercrombie told Mike Hosking he hopes disruption hasn't been too much for students. He says they want to make sure they have teachers in front of kids, and this goes some way to help that. Abercrombie says there are still issues to address, such as more support for Māori teachers. LISTEN ABOVE
I will tell you what I like about today's phone ban deal in schools from National. It represents a return to discipline that has been so sadly lacking these past few years. New Zealand is too loose around the edges these days, we have a touch of the feral about us, and it is tragically exemplified daily in our schools. Our performance has plummeted in documented testing in areas like maths, reading, spelling and science. Our absenteeism rate is atrocious. The kids leaving school with less than NCEA Level 2 is a crime, which makes the kids leaving school with no qualifications at all even worse. Banning phones as National will do in Government is not a magic bullet, but it is a representation that things need to sharpen up. We need to get our act together. I assume the reason they are making the call is to save individual schools the hassle. That's the other problem with too many of us these days; we lack spine, we lack conviction, we are too happy to roll over. Too many principles would love to ban phones but don't want to deal with the grief from whining parents and students. So, the Government will do it for them. Ironically, the current Government, the one that lives to tell you how to run your life, says its not for them to decide. I watched the same people last week kill National's paid parental leave amendment, because you should not be allowed the flexibility to run your own life. Yet, they want to control your kids access to Mum and Dad, but not your kid's school performance. How ironic is that? By the way, the banning of phones isn't new. In fact, we are a mile behind many parts of the world, including Australia, who worked out ages ago that the scourge of the screen is holding kids back. In general when the announcement was made you had the one camp saying thank God and the screaming about their rights, an emergency etc. But, once implemented, it is seen as the right thing to do and they are glad someone made the call. There is much to do to repair the damage to our kids learning. But small steps work. And one of them is being taken today and not a moment too soon.
The Energy Minister is defending the Government's climate deal with a major global fund manager. It's partnered with BlackRock Capital on a fund for solar, wind and green hydrogen infrastructure, to fast-track New Zealand's transition to renewable energy. Megan Woods says the fund will facilitate up to $2 billion dollars in investment from around the world. But she's confirmed to the Mike Hosking Breakfast neither the Government nor BlackRock have actually committed any cash so far. She says BlackRock doesn't invest its own money, it invests other people's money. LISTEN ABOVE
To help achieve New Zealand's goal of 100 percent renewable electricity by 2030 - US investment company BlackRock and our Governemnt are launching a $2 billion support fund. The fund is to give businesses access to greater pools of capital to invest in green tech and energy options. Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
The Māori Health Authority report was released last Thursday. On the Mike Hosking Breakfast on Tuesday, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins couldn't answer if people in the Māori Health Authority were employed based on skills needed or race. Health Minister Ayesha Verrall and her team are reportedly not happy with what is being said about the report, but has declined to discuss the issue on the Mike Hosking Breakfast, so instead the man who released the report has fronted. Associate Health Minister Peeni Henare joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A potential ban on bottom trawling in the Hauraki Gulf is being described as a good start. Chris Hipkins is expected to announce the ban this morning. Hauraki Gulf Forum Chair Toby Adams told Mike Hosking it'll be interesting to see if bans eventually go further. He says if the Gulf ban goes well it could promote the idea of protecting other marine areas. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's climate deal with a major global fund manager is being described as 'perplexing'. BlackRock Capital has launched a $2 billion dollar climate fund to help New Zealand achieve 100 percent renewable electricity. It would invest in solar, wind and green hydrogen infrastructure. But JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking the reason for the announcement is puzzling, as the $2 billion doesn't exist yet. Kelleher says BlackRock is targeting that figure and he can't confirm if either they or the Government are putting any money into the fund. Kelleher says New Zealand fund managers are already making similar investments. LISTEN ABOVE
Waka Kotahi says evidence thousands of Auckland drivers are using handheld cellphones or not wearing seatbelts is just a small slice of the problem. It caught 242,000 potential offences using safety cameras at three locations in a six-month trial. Waka Kotahi's Tara Macmillan told Mike Hosking fines won't be issued, because punishment isn't under the Agency's mandate. She says the legislation doesn't let it issue fines. LISTEN ABOVE
The National Party says it's happy to play bad cop by eliminating cellphone use in schools. It would ban phones for all year groups - with exceptions for those needing the devices for health or learning purposes. How the policy is enforced will be left up to individual schools. Party Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking academic achievement is an issue that needs to be addressed. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the major downsides of MMP is the mad scramble as to who might do what with who. We are entering another period where the voter turns out to be, yet again, the loser. National need to rule New Zealand First out. That's my opinion, but even if you disagree with it, they need to say something that is definitive. Say they'll either work with them or they won't. It is materially important as to how people vote. Winston Peters has used it to great advantage, several times. His line is that we can't say anything until the voters have spoken. It is one of the bigger shams going, given an individual vote, i.e yours, makes absolutely no difference to what a Government looks like, or what a deal between parties looks like. Who would have thought that in 2017 the party that came a distant second would get to be Government? Did you vote for that? Now, National can't tell you if they do a deal with ACT for example, who will be Minister of the Environment or Foreign Affairs, but they can tell you that ACT is a party they want to negotiate with. They have managed to tell us the Māori Party are not part of the plan. And yet they can't quite drum up anything specific on New Zealand First. By taking that stance they raise questions and they make it needlessly complicated. The left have been sorted and New Zealand First has ruled Labour out. So we know what the prospects are. In theory, in an MMP environment, a so-called centre party like New Zealand First should be an ongoing prospect for both sides. But by behaving the way they have over several Governments they have wrecked the theory and now look more trouble than they are worth. That is of course if they make it, which if you are a regular, you will know I don’t think they will. But for a party like National who have now worked themselves into a position of being a Government in waiting, the last thing they want to do is muddy the waters, to offer a reason to a swing voter not to vote for them, because they are equivocal on such an important matter. I am actually surprised they have not worked this out. It's not hard. Rule him out. Job done.
It's been over a decade since he's performed live in New Zealand - but Tim Finn is back. Best known of course for Split Enz and Crowded House, he has formed a band after doing a one off show in Manly last year and loving it. The September tour is called The Lives and Times of Tim Finn and he'll perform songs from his 45 years in the game - Tim Finn joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Former All Black coach John Hart has hit out at current coach Ian Foster's critics as the team shows encouraging signs heading into the Rugby World Cup. Foster came in for intense scrutiny and criticism last year as the New Zealand side sometimes struggled to meet their high standards. The All Blacks have impressed in going four-from-four to start their 2023 campaign and Hart told Mike Hosking the critics have been proven wrong. "The All Blacks were supposedly in disarray, Foster was an idiot. He's done a brilliant job of bringing together his coaching team, his selection team." LISTEN ABOVE
Concerns have come from the Prime Minister about rising gang tensions on the streets of New Zealand. Investigations are continuing into two fatal shootings in Palmerston North and at Auckland's Point England over the weekend. Both appear to be related to gang rivalries. A manhunt is also continuing after Thursday's shootings in Auckland's downtown. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking the incidents are alarming and admits they're also becoming far too common. LISTEN ABOVE
Shareholders in New Zealand's main fast food company are having to swallow some tough financial news. Restaurant Brands, which owns KFC, Pizza Hut, Carl's Junior and Taco Bell is expecting to see just half the full year profit it achieved last year. It's due to inflation around both wages and the cost of ingredients. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking the company hasn't been able to claw back those expenses. LISTEN ABOVE
The wind energy sector is praising the Government's move to help fast track three new wind farms. The projects in Southland, at Waiuku south of Auckland, and near Palmerston North are set to generate as much power as the Clyde Dam. They'll also save 150 million kilograms of carbon emissions. Wind Energy Association Chief Executive Kevin Hart told Mike Hosking the move will help the industry. Hart says he's excited by the announcement as the projects are a positive step forward. He says with approval criteria remaining the same, and the Resource Management Act in place, peoples' rights and views are still protected. LISTEN ABOVE
A pay bump is on the way for Te Whatu Ora nurses and midwives - who've now accepted a collective offer. It means strikes planned for tomorrow will not be going ahead. The deal includes a pay increase, a lump sum payment and monetary recognition of the specialist nature of some roles. Nurses' Organisation CEO Paul Goulter told Mike Hosking the increase will attract nurses currently working in primary care into the hospitals, creating shortages in that space. He says there isn't enough funding to ensure balance between all the areas of nursing. LISTEN ABOVE
There's still a way to go to make Auckland a better city. A study by UK based firm The Business of Cities has criticised infrastructure planning, Covid-19 disruptions, productivity and high numbers of people leaving. Committee for Auckland Director Mark Thomas says the report should spark urgent action. He told Mike Hosking high scores in areas like liveable environments will be cold comfort. Thomas says those things are innate, while our own weaknesses are something we can control. LISTEN ABOVE
Prosecutors in Donald Trump’s trial are seeking limitations on what the former-president can say publicly about the case after he posted a threatening message social media. On Saturday afternoon, the day after he pleaded not guilty to election fraud, he posted “IF YOU COME AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!’ on the Truth social network. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that the Trump’s lawyers have until tomorrow to respond to the call for a protective order, the Judge denying the request for a delay. LISTEN ABOVE
Part of the fallout from Friday's attempt by the Health Minister to convince us centralisation is working and people on waiting lists are getting seen to was the excuse, yet again, that Covid had caused at least part of the back log. Many of us have grown tired of Covid as the excuse for everything. Although I have no doubt it did play a part, and perhaps in some cases it may still be, what we are not doing and I doubt the royal commission is going to give it the weight it deserves, is asking - did it have to be this way? If you can blame Covid for health backlogs it will be for the very simple reason that we locked the place down and had, at the peak, a couple of thousand beds lying empty, just in case. The Government and their apparatchiks have continued to trumpet the nonsense about lives saved. Whatever number of lives were saved have to be counter-balanced now against the ones that haven't been post the pandemic. The people who didn’t get seen, still aren't getting seen, and have either died or continued to suffer needless complications and diminished quality of life because of the desperation to save those who may, or may not, have got Covid when we were in a full panic. To even have a waiting list that lasts three years is clearly absurd, but there you have it. That’s before you get to what appears to be a blatant gerrymandering of numbers by the minister, by instructing hospitals to do cases at the back of the list, at what clinicians tell us is at the expense of those further up. Gaslighting an exhausted and overworked group of professionals like doctors and nurses might well prove to be the minister's undoing. We have a tendency to believe doctors and nurses when they say things aren't the way the politicians say it is. This of course is not the first time health and waiting lists have become political, far less election fodder. But Frank Frizelle, who we interviewed on Friday, happens to be the editor of the NZ Medical Journal. I saw his name as I read the latest edition over the weekend. He called the Verrall claims a fraud, a scam. Blokes like him don’t say that stuff because they are stirrers, they say it because it's true. The price we pay, and continue to pay, for Covid grows by the day. Blame it all you want but if you do, weigh it up against what we now face because of the way we reacted four years ago. The worse today looks shows we got it increasingly wrong back then.
The Greens say it's not psychological issues that are holding people back from the dentist. The party’s latest election promise is fee dental service, providing basic and eventually specialist care to everyone. It's received a mixed reaction. Green Party co-leader James Shaw told Mike Hosking that comparisons with other countries show cost is what's keeping people from the dentist's chair. Shaw says we have the highest levels of unmet care in the OECD, and the most expensive care. He says around 70% of adults put off going to the dentist because of the cost. LISTEN ABOVE
The Te Huia train service returns to central Auckland this morning after temporarily being banned. It's not been allowed on tracks in Auckland City after failing to stop for two red lights this year. To celebrate its return, free tickets will be available. Waikato Regional Council Deputy Chair Angela Strange says a system has now been installed which will stop the train if it passes a red light. She told Mike Hosking that a more comprehensive solution will take a while. LISTEN ABOVE
There are flow-on effects from the Covid-19 pandemic for health insurance companies. Southern Cross says it's currently seeing stronger growth than usual in its membership. Chief Sales Officer Kerry Boielle told Mike Hosking that they're seeing people really valuing their health. She says it's been made more stark to them through the pandemic that their health is important. LISTEN ABOVE
The Maori Health Authority is already tracking behind government commitments. The Hauora Maori Advisory Committee report shows Te Aka Whai Ora underspent by about $66 million in its first financial year. National's Health Spokesman Shane Reti told Mike Hosking that he's surprised how bad things are. He says only Maori staff were transferred over from the old DHBs, instead of picking people who had the skills needed. However, the Government says this isn't true. They say transfers from the old DHB's and Manatu Hauora included transfers of business units and functions like the Maori Health Directorate and some of the Commissioning functions. These business units have both Maori and non-Maori staff. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government says there are plenty of options for funding a second Waitemata Harbour Crossing. It's pitched two 3-lane road tunnels and another for light rail which will eventually connect Albany to the CBD. The cost is put at between $35 and $45 billion dollars. Transport Minister David Parker is ruling out using overseas capital, like China's Belt and Road Intiative. He told Mike Hosking that other ways of getting the money will be explored. Parker says it could be funded by tolls, as Auckland's Harbour Bridge partially was. LISTEN ABOVE
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week that was - with a chat about how cheap prescription glasses are over in Australia. LISTEN ABOVE
Former New South Wales minister Tim Crakanthorp was sacked from his ministry for allegations that he failed to declare “substantial private family holdings,” a breach of ministerial code. Premier Chris Minns said that the Crakanthorp had “failed to comply with his obligations as a minister,” causing potential conflicts of interest within his ministry. Australian Correspondent Murray Olds told Mike Hosking that Crakanthorp was lobbying for a redevelopment that would have benefited his family, his in-laws owning multiple properties within the region. He has now been referred to the state’s anti-corruption watchdog. LISTEN ABOVE
I think we can fairly safely say that it doesn’t matter how many times they indict Donald Trump, it's not going to hurt his support base. The fact is, most people in polling think he is a crook. Very few doubt he didn’t do a bunch of illegal stuff. Equally, a lot of people think despite the fact they believe he did a bunch of illegal stuff, the charges are politically motivated. Which means they think his opponents are out to get him for the wrong reasons, despite the fact they should be out to get him, given he's dodgy. That’s how weird it all is. Ron DeSantis, who has turned out to be nothing like the game changer he was touted as being, does however, when he speaks on the subject, make a good point. Trump can't beat Joe Biden. That doesn’t mean DeSantis can, because when you put either of them against the current president in polls they both lose. Or at very best in a Trump vs Biden race, it's a tie. So, the big question for Republicans is, what do they do if they select Trump but then lose the race next year? More importantly, what do they do if they select Trump knowing they will most likely lose next year? There is clearly a group of people that, no matter what, will support Trump. And that is why he is where he is in the Republican side of the polls. For the life of me, I can't see how a Nikki Haley or Mike Pence, or even a DeSantis, changes any of that. Even after they all drop out and leave just one of them, and assuming everyone coalesces around that one remaining person who isn't Trump, the numbers still don’t add up. Russia and China and all their mates have got to be loving this. America, which is fast fading as a great global leader, has two of the weirdest, unspectacular and troubling contenders for the most powerful job on Earth. Biden is streaks ahead because he is beyond worrying. Trump isn't streets ahead because he's a shyster. What a tragic set up for next year. Two spectacularly flawed, ineffective, old men representing what should be one of, if not the, greatest country on earth. I'm with the 14%. They're the ones that can't bring themselves to vote.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Oil and gas: 7/10 As Rishi Sunak handed out another 100 licences, he showed the world the cold, hard reality that for all the hand-wringing and hot air over-renewables, they just don’t cut it in supply or reliability. They might one day, but not yet. Donald Trump: 4/10 The indictment will mean nothing politically, which is part of the problem. It shows how mad and broken America is. Dairy: 5/10 The auction this week is a real red flag. Farming pays the bills for this increasingly indebted country and those numbers this week mean the cash cow has troubles. Sign up for Newstalk ZB's newsletter to get Mark the Week and more direct to your inbox! M. bovis: 8/10 An unlikely highlight of the week, I thought. It was a big call to choose to eradicate in the first place and I don’t think anyone has actually ever been successful. So look at us! Barbenheimer: 7/10 A rock solid, stone cold smash hit. Or hits. It's probably the most unlikely cinematic success story of the year, if not many a year. The All Blacks: 8/10 In a year we want to see them looking awesome, they could not look more awesome. The Warriors: 8/10 No, they haven't done anything this week, yet. But they will. Tonight will be another two points closer to this being our year. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The All Blacks will play their final test of the year on home soil this Saturday in Dunedin - where the New Zealand side will battle it out against Eddie Jones's win-less wallabies for a second time. Heading into the match Ian Foster has tweaked the All Blacks' line up with 12 changes to his starting team. Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Elliott Smith joined Mike Hosking to discuss the side. Catch LIVE commentary of the All Blacks v Wallabies in Dunedin this Saturday from 2.30pm on Newstalk ZB.
Lawyers are feeling overwhelmed by their workload pressures - and the law society has made a plea to judges asking for more time between cases. As a result, top judges have been meeting with lawyers around the country and are acknowledging their concerns - highlighting the fact that some lawyers are quitting under the workload which is putting even more pressure on those who remain. President of the Law Society Frazer Barton joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
New research has shown up shortcomings in the way cancer survivors are handled once they've got through their treatment. An Otago University study published in BMC Health Services Research interviewed 47 healthcare providers involved in care after treatment. Lead author Dr Jerram Bateman says there's no central port-of-call for people. He says there's a lack of coordination in care - leading to a lack of continuity in the cancer care pathway from treatment to the survivor phase. LISTEN ABOVE
Who doesn't love a bit of good wine news on a Friday - the bottle can already be heard opening. Invivo's Sarah Jessica Parker sauvignon blanc has just won tenders for American Airlines – to be served on international premier and business class and also Delta Airlines across the us. The Disney cruise line will also be arriving in New Zealand soon and Invivo have secured the wine onboard. Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions over whether real change is being made on surgery wait times. Health Minister Ayesha Verrall claims new data shows the Government's targeted approach to wait lists is making a real difference. She says the Anaesthetic Technician Tactical group, set up to reduce theatre cancellations through workforce shortages, has seen improvements. Professor of Surgery at Otago University Christchurch, Frank Frizelle told Mike Hosking the only thing that has changed is that capacity has been reduced. He says cancellations are down because the number of operations on Mondays and Fridays has been dropped. LISTEN ABOVE
It was only a matter of time until someone spotted missing Marokopa man Tom Phillips. He's been seen this week in Te Awamutu, Te Rapa and Kawhia in Waikato - 18 months after he disappeared with his three children Jayda, Maverick and Ember. Police are searching for a stolen bronze Toyota Hilux flat-deck ute Phillips was driving. Waikato Mayor Jacqui Church told Mike Hosking she isn't surprised Philips has now been seen. LISTEN ABOVE
It doesn’t really matter whether it's a $20 billion hole or not. It might be $19.6 billion. The fact is, the Government has a hole, a massive fiscal hole that will, before the election, be fully exposed in what they call the PREFU. The scandal here is several-fold. The Government can, to a degree, hide behind Treasury. We asked at the time and the likes of Grant Robertson said they had no choice but to accept Treasury's forecasts. The reality of Treasury is they couldn’t hit the side of a barn with a banjo. What we were asking about post the Budget, which you might remember was back in May, as in a couple of months ago, was just how was it that the Government were forecasting a return to surplus, when in all reality the prediction looked heroic to say the least. We have since found out that panic ensued before the Budget when it was discovered tax take was dropping. Robertson was committed to all the spending, thus was faced with pushing the return to surplus out yet another year or getting someone to shuffle some numbers, light a fire, create some smoke and hope for the best. They did the latter and on Budget Day the forecast surplus was an embarrassing handful of millions, which in Government terms is parking metre money and we all knew it. Anyway, since that charade it's gotten worse. As of yesterday the claim is they now face a $20 billion hole as a result of Treasury being super wrong and the corporate tax take tanking. And as off yesterday, we had the meetings of all the public sector bosses who were told to start saving. The economic irresponsibility of all this should not have to be spelt out. It was already bad enough. The debt explosion was already bad enough. The lack of care and return on expenditure was already bad enough. The stagflation environment we find ourselves in was bad enough. The recession was bad enough. The prospect of a double-dip recession was bad enough. Grant Robertson says the $20 billion isn't true. But we know enough about Grant Robertson to know the sort of pedantic games he plays. If it isn't $20 billion, it'll be close. It'll be huge and, yet again, they are caught with their fiscal pants around their ankles. The only upside is thank the good Lord is that an election is close. It's a chance to close the chapter, lick our wounds and put an astonishing era of ineptitude behind us.
The colourful players of professional darts are back in the country this weekend. It's the New Zealand leg of the World Series of Darts in Hamilton this weekend, part of a $29 million professional league across a number of tournament events. It has become massive in recent years, with TV ratings in Europe that are second only to football. All the big names are here, including current world champion Michael Smith, Gerwyn Price and 2022 world champ Peter 'Snakebite' Wright, who joined Mike Hosking ahead of the event. LISTEN ABOVE
According to our Health Minister - no one is waiting more than a year for Auckland hospital surgery. Although it is hard to tell if that is actually true without any up to date health data from Te Whatu Ora. Heading into the election the most recent data we have will be six-months-old the week of the election at the time the next quarterly instalment is due to drop. National Party Health Spokesperson Dr. Shane Reti joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
A former Labour MP who tried to increase paid parental leave says she'd have supported National's Bill - in theory. A member's Bill proposed by National's Nicola Willis would have allowed parents to take leave at the same time, one after the other, or in overlapping instalments. Currently, primary carers can't take parental leave together. Labour was the only party to vote against - using its majority in the House to block it. Community Law Centres Chief Executive Sue Moroney says it's an idea that's worth exploring. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown says his bold makeover plan for the waterfront will be made in one form or another. He wants a development with an open-air seawater pool, aquaculture, an exhibition centre and an amphitheatre on the water. There's no budget or suggestion for exactly how much it will cost. Brown told Mike Hosking he wants to get more money out of the port, a process he says was started under the previous mayor. He claims if the port operation became productive the development could be self-funding. LISTEN ABOVE
A dispute has risen between the Government and Opposition over the state of Crown finances. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has told Newstalk ZB he called in public service chiefs for a meeting about financial restraint, but he rejects claims of a large shortfall in tax revenue. He says specific numbers won't be available until Treasury releases its Pre-Election Financial Update. Act Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking Robertson called the meeting to quickly improve the books before the update. He says the Government is trying to persuade Treasury it'll be able to save money on current policy, so the update won't look as bad. LISTEN ABOVE
There's confidence secondary teachers will accept a new pay deal. The Government has agreed to offer a 14.5 percent increase, recommended by an Arbitration Panel. It now goes to a vote. Principal of Auckland's Sacred Heart College, Patrick Walsh told Mike Hosking he expects they'll approve it. He says it's a great result for secondary teachers - and the rest of the profession - as the deal will be passed on to the primary and early childhood sectors. LISTEN ABOVE
A senior cabinet minister is playing down the recent rise in retail crime. Latest Police figures show retail crime is on track to break records this year - with 45,000 retail crimes were reported in the first four months of this year. Only about 1,000 arrests were made. National Party police spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking he believes the numbers. But Labour's Megan Woods says the numbers may not tell the full story, as many of the crimes may have been minor. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the many mistakes made during the Covid days that I could never understand, is how it was that the wage subsidy was handed out with such astonishing abandon, with no real recourse should it not be needed. The Ministry of Social Development has released a list of the top ten companies that have voluntarily paid back the money they got. It totals about 25 percent of all the money handed out, around $200 million. The word 'voluntary' is an important one. No one has to pay it back and in that is the glaring hole in the planning, or lack of it. The Government, namely Grant Robertson, has always said that the first priority was to get the money out the door as fast as possible, which is true and fair. Jobs were at stake and no one knew how it was all going to unfold. But how is it that, at no point, did anyone ask the very simple question - what if they don't need it? What if it isn't as bad for some as we think? What if, in some cases, people actually do well? These aren't complex questions. Surely one of the basics anyone who knows anything about economics understands, is that in any given scenario someone is going to gain, as someone else falters. Given that was as likely during Covid as it was at any other time, it can't have been that hard to work out that along with those who may be about to be hit, someone was going to be a winner. If you are physically closed, online surely would carry on. These are simple ideas, are they not? So, why wasn’t there a rider with the money? Something like "yes, we will help you cover wages, but you will need to pay it back if you be profitable or if you pay a dividend". Those are basic rules that cover the person footing the bill i.e, us. Yet, they didn’t. It turned into quite a moral argument in many international jurisdictions. A lot of heat, especially across the Tasman, was created by people, quite rightly, furious at the free money that got trousered, never to be seen again. Here, the big recipients got tens of millions and it's good some of it is getting paid back. But, it doesn’t have to be and it doesn’t have to be because the Government, yet again, never planned, never thought it through and never covered its bases protecting our money.
An Australian former childcare worker has been charged with abusing 91 children over 15 years in what police described as one of the country’s “most horrific” child sex abuse cases. Australian correspondent Steve Price joined Mike Hosking to discuss the case. LISTEN ABOVE
After Australia’s 49-run loss to England in the Ashes final test, the tradition of post-series drinks didn't quite go ahead. Usually players of both sides gather for a post-series beer but the Aussies are claiming to have been snubbed by the English. 9News Australia correspondent Charles Croucher joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Today we will get the last unemployment figure before the election. Unemployment is currently sitting at 3.4 percent and most are only expecting a very slight shift to 3.5 percent. Chief Economist at ASB Nick Tuffley joined Mike Hosking to give his prediction. LISTEN ABOVE
The Education Minister is vowing to work hard in tackling issues Māori face in school. New data shows last year 75 percent of school leavers attained NCEA Level 2 or above– down from 81 percent in 2017. Māori school leavers fared worse with just 59 percent getting NCEA level two or above. Jan Tinetti told Mike Hosking helping Māori is a focus for them. LISTEN ABOVE
You may remember in 2021 National were initially against establishing a fiscal costing unit. But as soon as Nicola Willis stepped into her role of National's Finance spokesperson she contacted the Finance Minister to give National's support of the Independent Costing Authority. And despite claims of a fiscal hole in National's election policies, Grant Robertson has not acted on creating the unit. Nationals Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association is concerned about Police introducing a hiring freeze. An email seen by NZME reveals Police are preparing for cuts to contractors and consultants, as well as delays in recruiting non-constabulary roles. The move has been suggested so Police can focus on "efficiency and productivity." It comes amid concerns about rising crime. Police Association president Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking the cuts fail to recognise the increasing demands on police. LISTEN ABOVE
As retail crime continues to surge, most offenders appear to be getting away scot-free. Latest Police figures released to the Dairy and Business Owners Group show a record 125,000 retail crime offences were reported last year - a number likely to be surpassed this year. Only about 2.3 percent of those reports are resulting in arrests. Dairy and Business Owners Group Chair Sunny Kaushal told Mike Hosking that compares to about 50-percent of reports back in 2015. LISTEN ABOVE
In some respects, National's roading plan and its $24 billion price tag is not an election game changer because the state of the country is such that we have issues like crime and the cost of living that will determine votes. But what is uplifting about it is that at last we can see the end of the crazed ideology that has crippled our economy over the past six years. Yes, the weather has played into National's game plan. But the roading infrastructure, or lack of it, has been appallingly exposed this past year. Until it's gone, you don't realise just how important it was. Historically, infrastructure comes with a bit of a yawn because it's years away, it will almost certainly be delayed and voters tend to focus on the here and now. The Puhoi extension road just opened North of Auckland is also playing into National's hands. That is a game changer. It is a living, tangible example of how brilliant roads actually are. The Transmission Gully project has had a similar effect on people. You can't beat a faster, easier, more productive journey and only roads deliver that with the flexibility that people like. Also playing into National's hands is the Labour Government in a two-fold way. The first part is in their criticism of the cost and the second part is their record on spending. Labour are in no position to talk about infrastructure or spending. Ask them how much they have spent on light rail in Auckland and what they have to show for that. Ask them how much they have spent in Wellington on getting Wellington moving, which isn't moving at all. Billions have been wasted going exactly nowhere. It’s a joke. As for where National get the money; well the aforementioned examples double here as well. There's $7 billion+ for Wellington and hundreds of millions for light rail. This Government has spent more than any Government, it's taxed more than any Government and there is no shortage of billions to be redirected. This is the Government of the $300,000 speed hump. Three of those are a million bucks! It's a treasure trove of money just waiting to be used for productive reasons, on economy growing ideas. For National, campaigning on things like infrastructure has never been easier, for a party that has an opponent with the record as bad as it is.
Kiwi shotputter Tom Walsh has found his form at the perfect time. Only a couple of weeks out from the World Championships he put together his best throw since 2019. It put him in second behind Ryan Crouser, who's a freak at the moment, but bodes well for Budapest. Tom Walsh joined Mike Hosking out of London. LISTEN ABOVE
We are seeing a climb in business credit defaults across the board. Latest data from Centrix shows company liquidations are up 36 percent year-on-year, while consumer arrears have fallen slightly with the number of people behind on repayments now 414,000. Delinquencies in mortgage arrears also fell slightly in June with the proportion of loans in arrears at 1.29 percent, down from 1.32 percent in may. Managing Director of Centrix Keith McLaughlin joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Confidence New Zealanders will continue to get behind the Fifa Women's World Cup, despite the Football Ferns being out of the tournament. World Cup Chief Operating Officer Jane Patterson says they've seen evidence of international and domestic fans supporting teams no matter who is on the pitch. She told Mike Hosking the best example of that was Sunday night, when 42,000 packed into Eden Park to see Norway play Phillippines at the same time New Zealand were playing in Dunedin. LISTEN ABOVE
Not perfect, but a good start is the way teachers are describing a potential pay offer. An arbitration panel has recommended secondary teachers get a 14.5 percent increase over three instalments. President of the Deputy Principals' Association Lisa White says she'd like to see other problems like time and workload challenges. She says told Mike Hosking teachers are having to take on more and more work. White says they're learning the new NCEA curriculum, and there are changes to history teaching, Tikanga Māori and ICT innovations. LISTEN ABOVE
New research has uncovered how many university staff are working in non-academic roles. The New Zealand Initiative study found there are up to 50 percent more non-academics than academics. Compared to other countries, New Zealand has the highest ratio of non-academic to academic staff. Research fellow and Victoria University professor Dr James Kierstead says they're not recommending universities just cut those roles - but it is a major cost. He says New Zealand universities spend about 45 percent of their total wage expenses on non-academic salaries. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins admits he's juggling two very different hats as Labour Party Leader and Prime Minister. The Government is currently committed to the Let's Get Wellington Moving programme - a joint venture with councils in Greater Wellington. But National wants to scrap the programme, and Labour won't commit to keeping it after the election. Wearing his party leader hat, Hipkins told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking he isn't happy with progress. And the Prime Minister is refusing to say how long bullying allegations against former Minister Kiri Allan go back. He told Mike Hosking the matter is being taken seriously. LISTEN ABOVE
There was no shortage of irony on Friday as UN boss Antonio Guterres, who might just suffer from a dose of alarmism, was declaring global boiling. It was also announced by the International Energy Agency that the world this year is using more coal than ever, and there are no real signs of that changing. Guterres says a lot of alarmist stuff and my fear is that this sort of language turns people off. Yes, it is hot in the Northern Hemisphere and yes, records are being set. But the coverage is alarmist in and of itself. Not all of Europe is melting and not all of North America is melting. In places, it is hopelessly hot. But by declaring global boiling you are wandering into the world of hyperbole, not constructive dialogue. By the way, it was also announced last week that as far as emissions go New Zealand is actually doing quite well. We are, in fact, bending the curve, more so in fact than we ever have, bar the time when the country was locked down for Covid. So, here is the point - if we are seeing our emissions drop, are we seeing, or will we see, any real difference in the global temperature? No we won't. So, the old question arises - what's the point? Part of the point is to be seen to be doing our bit. But part of the debate is to at least look at why the world is using more coal, and the IEA gave us the answer, as if we didn’t know it. Coal is available, more available than gas and other alternatives. Speaking of gas, on Friday in Victoria, Australia they announced new homes won't be able to connect to gas anymore. Which is fine, as long as there are other reliable means. The word reliable is the key. Australia has resource issues outside of coal. They refuse to go nuclear, they don’t really have hydro and clearly they are off gas. So then what? Sun? Wind? Wave? None of it is reliable and South Australia has, and is, proving that. The usage stats don’t lie - the whole world has not replaced coal. We can talk all we want about alternatives but until they are a hell of a lot more plentiful and reliable than they currently are, guess what? Coal use will grow and people like Guterres will be combusting in inflammatory language, not to mention frustration.
Questions are being raised over whether interest for the Women's World Cup will remain high now the Football Ferns have been knocked out. The Ferns had a goalless draw with Switzerland in Dunedin last night but needed a win to get through to the last 16. The match was watched by nearly 26 thousand at Forsyth Barr stadium, the largest ever football crowd in the region. Newstalk ZB's Jason Pine told Mike Hosking that it'll be interesting to see how much interest is retained in the tournament now the Ferns are out. LISTEN ABOVE
Criteria for the Government's support schemes for homeowners is being tweaked. Changes to the Progressive Home Ownership programme will allow eligible people to buy existing homes, instead of just new builds. The income cap is also rising, from $130,000 to $150,000. Queenstown Lakes Community Housing Trust Executive Officer Julie Scott told Mike Hosking that they welcome the lifting of the cap. She says it brings it in line with other schemes the Government has for first home buyers, like the First Home Loan and the First Home Grant. LISTEN ABOVE
The tourism sector is focusing on the future a year after borders were fully opened following the pandemic. Tourism Industry Aotearoa Chief Executive Rebecca Ingram says last summer was a good start, producing two-thirds of the pre-Covid tourism numbers. Ingram says they knew it wouldn't be a quick switch and she expects it could take a couple of years to get back to normal. She told Mike Hosking that the sector is still looking to improve. Ingram says operators are on the hunt for talent and scaling up as summer approaches. LISTEN ABOVE
The National Party has announced that if it is elected to govern at the general election, four-lane highways from Whangārei to Tauranga will be built at a cost of $6 billion. However, critics have hit back, claiming the data used for the cost estimate is “laughable at best”. The four projects are:
Whangārei to Port Marsden - $1.3b and to start in the next one to three years. Warkworth to Wellsford - $2.2b and to start in the next four to 10 years. Cambridge to Piarere - $720 million and to start in the next one to three years. Tauriko West State Highway 29 - $1.9b and to start in the next four to 10 years.
National says it will not have to raise excise taxes and will fund it through the National Land Transport Fund and increased government investment. It claims the roads will be safer and easier to drive on and this investment is necessary to strengthen the economy. Transport Minister David Parker has responded by saying the plan was “breathtakingly misleading”. This morning National leader Christopher Luxon told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking he “wouldn’t be taking any lessons from David Parker”. “This is a man who wanted to spend $30 billion on light rail - we are going to scrap Auckland light rail. It’s a waste of time,” he said. “We want roads of significance and will join up Tauranga to Whangārei, better public transport, particularly in Auckland.” Luxon also said the party would prioritise a second tunnel in Wellington as part of the “Let’s Get Wellington Moving” campaign. “The Mt Vic tunnel is about $2.2 billion and we want to get onto that pretty quickly,” he said. Roads around the county would be “upgraded and properly maintained and sorted” under National he said. “We’ve got to have some vision in this country and part of that is making sure we have a very strong roading network,” he said. “Better roads would allow more houses to be built and give some reason for New Zealanders to stay here.” Parker said last night: “The costs are as woefully light, as is their explanation of how they will fund these roads – the cost will be many hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars more than they are admitting,” he told TVNZ. He described the data as old and “laughable at best”. Despite Luxon’s claims on prices for infrastructure, official figures obtained by 1News demonstrate that National’s expense estimates are far too low. For example, National estimates the cost of Warkworth to Wellsford at $2.2b, but officials suggest it might cost up to $4b. According to 1News, the Greens said this kind of money should be spent on public transportation. Luxon said even electric vehicles require adequate roads. Others, such as Transport New Zealand, told 1News they support the initiative, claiming more road investment makes them safer while also boosting the economy.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Kiri Allan: 2/10 "Not for her specifically, because we wish her the best. But for what it represents." What Kiri Allan Represents for Labour: 1/10 "It's now beyond a joke. It's Lange-esque. It's what you see when the wheels have completely come off." Labour's Wheels Coming Completely Off: 1/10 "When the caucus is leaking, especially a caucus that has never leaked, you sink. They are sunk." The Emissions Trading Scheme U-Turn: 7/10 "Because if you insist on making climate your nuclear moment, at least be honest about it. Big win for the Greens.” Our Debt Levels: 3/10 "Hope you read the Herald series this week. Debt will kill us, and debt will lead us to poverty. It's easily ignored, and we do. That’s at our peril and that’s what Grant Robertson is banking on." Auckland: 2/10 "Just this week, apart from the robberies, shootings, and general crime, we had sinkholes, bridges restrictions for 70 kilometre an hour winds, and ferries that cancelled because they had no fuel. Oh, and they spend $100,000 a day on lawyers and accountants. And they wonder why they have no money." Barbenheimer: 7/10 "Say whatever you want, especially about one of them, but a record opening is a record opening. And the movies badly needed the good news this year." The Warriors: 8/10 "Seems a while back given it was Friday, but ugly wins are good wins. You got to learn to win all the different ways if you want to win when it counts." The All Blacks: 8/10 "Two from two and done in style with every expectation that tomorrow is no different. How good must Ian Foster be feeling?" LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Surely, Grant Robertson has to quit. Although David Parker resigning from Revenue had a touch of the tantrum about it, it had also an element of principle as well. If you believe in something substantive like wealth tax, and the rug is pulled out from under you, you can do one of two things. One, be like Grant Robertson, ex express disappointment but say you are a team player, grit your teeth, and carry on. Or two, do a David Parker and walk. Arguing disappointment over something that didn't happen is easier than what Grant Robertson may now have to do. That is sell you on the idea that GST coming off fruit and veggies is a good idea, when we all know he doesn't believe that. You literally can't be on record time and time again dismissing an idea, for what ironically are perfectly sensible reasons, and then as Finance Minister pretend that everything you said doesn't matter. He is in, as David Parker would say, an untenable position. That's before you get to the naked and blatant pork barrelling of the idea. Two and half months out from the vote we get a move so desperate, it'll be a miracle if Chris Hipkins can announce it with a straight face and without blushing. There is also the fact that the idea has leaked, ending yet another shocking week for them, given the other leak from caucus and the Kiri Allan debacle which still isn't resolved to anyone's satisfaction. Especially given the story of the details of the night continue to haunt them afresh seemingly every day. Undermining their "there is nothing to see here" reaction is the fact National rumbled them on the wealth tax as well. There were denials all over town until that fateful announcement from Lithuania. So, we can assume, it is a policy, it is set to be announced, and they have once again been busted. It also gives weight to the argument that it's been teased and teased but not actually been revealed, why? We now know, it's the drama behind the scenes on it. There will be plenty of acrimony, anger, and carnage. As to the idea itself, give me a break. How do you know you are saving GST? What's a lettuce cost? 99 cents? $1.99? $2.99? $5 .99? $7.99? Is it the transport, the rain that's making it cost more? It's so variable you will never know. The insult for Labour is the wealthy get the most benefit, explain that away. And is it just tomatoes? Or is tomato sauce included? Is it just potatoes? Or do potato chips count? Just fresh? What about frozen? Deep fried? Reconstituted? Imported? Just local? They are insulting our intelligence. Grant Robertson is better than this, that's why he needs to get the hell out.
All Blacks coach Ian Foster spoke to Mike Hosking about tomorrow night's Bledisloe Cup test against the Wallabies. LISTEN ABOVE
How is your emotional quality of life now, with 100 being perfect and 0 being the worst imaginable? That single question could be all GPs need to differentiate if they should be treating patients for a health issue or a mood issue. A study has found when asked that question patients who rated their emotional quality of life as less than 60 indicated a mood issue was likely to exist. Study author and professor of general practice and primary health care at the University of Auckland Bruce Arroll talked to Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Social media giant META argues its platforms don't cause greater political polarization. Researchers have been given access to three months worth of data, during the 2020 US Presidential election. It shows Facebook and Instagram feed users more content which supports their political views. Victoria University AI lecturer Andrew Lensen says the platforms are designed to keep people engaged, and one way of doing that is to make them angry or send them down rabbit holes. LISTEN ABOVE
An economic expert says homeowners are disproportionately feeling the pain of the cost of living crisis. Latest figures from Stats NZ show the average household's cost of living increased 7.2%in the year to June. The official inflation rate for the period was six percent, but interest payments went up 28%. New Zealand Initiative Executive Director Oliver Hartwich told Mike Hosking there's been a difference in the cost rises on average between renters and homeowners. He says the interest rates increase means if someone is renting they will be facing lesser rises in costs. LISTEN ABOVE
While everyone that might hold any level of responsibility and accountability ducks for cover under the old "there is an inquiry going on, so let's see how that goes” line, here's what I have learned out of last Thursday's killings in Auckland. Firstly a week on, how quickly we move on. Once we hit the weekend I made a conscious note to keep checking each day on coverage. Who was saying what, how many questions were being asked, and how big a deal this was. The answer was not that big. Increasingly in this country big events vanish without much of a trace. It's a catastrophe on the day, it’s a record breaker at the time, it's unheard of for a moment them we seem to put it behind us. In this case, it was the classic political move of inquiries. The idea being you can hide behind them. The Criminal Bar Association had a bit of a crack on Monday, but they were on a hiding to nothing. Although the Sentencing Act says when you reach a point of two years jail, home detention must be considered. The key the word is considered. No one is forcing a judge to do anything. And as for this bollocks about knowing all the detail, all you need to know is and has been out there. The gunman had a record, had been on home detention, had committed a crime that most ordinary people would have seen as jail-able, and yet because of discounting through things like cultural reports, we get to the dreaded two years. So what I have learned, the cultural reports are a scam. In 2017 they cost $1530. By May this year they cost over $800,000. Why? Because they are a boom industry. Anyone can get one, plead depravation, race, and or poverty and you'll see more discounts than Briscoes. Secondly, the Sentencing Act is a joke. It's an excuse to take people, and because of discounting, get them at home instead of behind bars. What I know for a fact is a person behind bars doesn’t wander downtown with a gun and kill people. The answers or at least some of them are there for all to see. There is no report required. The danger here is if the criminality, lawlessness, thuggery, and chaos we have seen gets baked in, we are finished. It's vital what we saw last week still shocks us. It's vital it's fixed and there are simple ways to do it. But yet again, the excuses flew and the inquiries were started. And yet again, we postpone reality for another day. LISTEN ABOVE
Europe Correspondent Catherine Field talked to Mike Hosking about the latest with wildfires, the impact it will have on tourism, and the EU getting tough on mobile manufacturers. LISTEN ABOVE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in New Zealand for his first official visit. And it seems instead of Hipkins doing the honours of showing him around; our Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta is taking the reins of the bi-lateral meeting. International relations professor at Otago University Robert Patman told the visit will be short, but it is significant. LISTEN ABOVE
In the past few months we have seen a record amount of interest in small businesses from potential buyers, but actual sales of small businesses is down nearly 10% in that same period. It seems people like to look but they aren't actually willing to put their money where their mouth is. Managing director of ABC Business Sales Chris Small talked to Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
How many times have you had to prove you aren't a robot with those little puzzles that ask you to click on boxes with all the bikes in them? Well those annoying little riddles are called Captcha tests. And these tests don't do a great job of stopping the actual bots, but finally better technology could be coming. One suggestion is for our computers to solve a puzzle to prove you are human, without us having to do anything. Tech commentator Bill Bennett talked to Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government has done a U-turn on the settings of the Emissions Trading Scheme. The change is following an order from the High Court to Climate Change Minister James Shaw to reconsider the original settings, due to a collapse in carbon prices. Climate change minister and Green Party co-leader James Shaw talked to Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE.
More children are living in poverty than ever before. Ministry of Social development figures shows more than 200,000 children are living in benefit-dependent homes. The National Party says as the recession bites it's likely to get worse. Spokesperson for Child Poverty Louise Upston told Mike Hosking benefit dependency has spiralled out of control. She says there's no excuse when there are employers everywhere looking for staff. LISTEN ABOVE
There was a fascinating poll off the back of yesterday's comment on this show around DOC paying employees to learn Māori . To recap, you get $3500 if you speak Māori but it's not necessary for the job. No job is not done because of a language issue. It's merely part of the public services desire, driven by Government demand, that we introduce a level of Māoridom that, in theory, addresses past wrongs, balances the ledger and pays appropriate tribute and importance to the Treaty. But in reality it just drives a lot of us nuts. The poll asks the simple question - "do you believe race relations are getting better or worse?" 14 percent say it's getting better, 47 percent say it's getting worse and 35 percent think it hasn't changed. That's quite the gap. The number doesn’t surprise me and the sadness is that it didn’t have to be this way. As we have argued all along, there was never anything in anyone's way to embrace Māori culture or history and never anything stopping anyone learning the language. But through a combination of Government arrogance and ideological blindness, not to mention a tin ear, they went headlong into the world of indoctrination and tried to drag us all along for the ride. As a result we've got an angry, divided nation, part of which will play out on October the 14th. It’s the school curriculum, it’s the infiltration at universities, it’s the place names, the company names and the greetings on the phone these days from Government workers who don’t speak Māori any more than anyone else does, but they think by saying "morena" that somehow means they're a bona fide bandwagoner. The six o'clock news, a bulletin once produced in English, is now a faux multilingual experience with phrases, that stats and facts tell us very few people even understand. For example, weather forecasts, that in tough times actually need to be understood for safety reasons, using names for places many have never heard of. It all adds up. And before you know it, the frustration builds to a point where things like co-governance has become a lightening rod issue. An issue that, as we have seen in meetings, can lead to violence. Violence doesn’t make it right, and there is no excuse for it, but if you don’t take people with you, you end up with a poll where 47 percent say race relations has gotten worse. A result that is the exact opposite to what was intended.
Claim and counter-claim in the ongoing political debate over Kiri Allan. The Labour front-bencher has resigned from Cabinet and is leaving politics, after crashing her car on Sunday night while she was over the legal alcohol limit. This morning on the Mike Hosking Breakfast National's Mark Mitchell told Labour Party Campaign Chair Megan Woods her job of winning the election has just become harder. Wood is in turn accusing Mitchell and his party of politicising Allan's personal issues. LISTEN ABOVE
In a stressful encounter for Kiwis - the Football Ferns lost to the Philippines last night in Wellington, with a final score of 0 -1 to the Philippines. The Ferns fell behind to a 23rd minute goal and despite several chances they just couldn't seem to get on the scoreboard. Former All White Fred de Jong joined Mike Hosking to discuss what went wrong for the New Zealand side. LISTEN ABOVE
The New Plymouth District Council are creating a pothole poll asking people whether the Government should fund maintenance to reverse the decline in the average age and condition of our state highway network. If the poll gets signatures of 10 percent of the electorate nationwide, it will lead to a citizens initiated referenda on state highway maintenance. New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Disappointment vaping law changes won't stop new sales near schools and marae. A loophole in the law banning specialist vape stores from setting up within 300 metres of schools or marae from October, exempts dairies and supermarkets. The Health Ministry has confirmed general retailers which don't currently sell vapes can still set up after October 1. Cambridge Middle School Principal Daryl Gibbs told Mike Hosking they had hoped the ban would help. He says supermarkets and dairies are often closer to schools than specialist vape stores - and it's really disappointing they'll still be able to sell them. LISTEN ABOVE
Federated Farmers says some North Island maize growers are facing financial disaster after a poor season. It's expected there'll be a 13 percent decrease in the harvest, despite a four percent increase in the size of the planted crop. Vice President Jamie Blennerhassett says weather events have destroyed crops. He says this year has also seen record-high input costs and growers have had to replant many times without financial gain. LISTEN ABOVE
East Coast residents' direct line to the Prime Minister's office has been cut, following Kiri Allan's resignation. The former Justice Minister has thrown in the towel on both her Cabinet and MP roles after crashing a car while drink driving on Sunday night. Wairoa Mayor Craig Little told Mike Hosking there are no locally based central Government leaders at the moment. He says there's no one to run things past, and Kieran McAnulty is doing a great job but he's just too busy now. LISTEN ABOVE
An Auckland councillor is gobsmacked at the spend on lawyers and consultants. The council has paid out $190-million to the Big 4 global accountants and large law firms over the past five years. It's an average cost to ratepayers of more than $100,000 a day. Councillor Mike Lee told Mike Hosking it's deeply troubling and there's been a lack of transparency. He says the scale of spending was hidden from the council and Mayor and it's time to open up the books. LISTEN ABOVE
The joke story of the weekend was the revelation that DOC, as in the Department of Conservation, is handing out money it doesn’t have to reward people for learning to speak Māori . I say money it doesn’t have because DOC has a multi-million dollar operating shortfall. What makes the story a tragic tale of our times is that there is no actual requirement in any of the jobs they do for there to be Māori spoken. Tasks are not getting done because they are short of Māori speakers. This is the insidious Māori fication of the country that has so many upset. There is nothing wrong with the Māori language. Learn it all you want. But it is not up to the taxpayer, for no specific or particular reason outside of a bandwagon, to foot the bill to pursue a woke ideology. I note it's not known how many other Government departments are on the Māori train either. The department doesn’t know what it will cost and they will only have a look at it if asked through the Official Information Act, that well-worn excuse machine the Government has turned into a fine stalling art. Learning Māori in a job that doesn’t require any Māori at all is similar to this place paying me to learn to juggle. I might get something out of it, I might argue that the dexterity and coordination has such an effect on my wellbeing it wards off Alzheimer's. But that’s still not the employers job to entertain me, or dabble in my recreational pursuits. Māori and Māori fication has become an obsession. The incorporation of everything to do with the Treaty has become wasteful and energy sapping. People speaking a language that is of no use to them in their work is not a Treaty response. It’s a nice-to-have dabble. They have failed to see, or understand, that the forcing of anything onto a population is counterproductive. The trick to any change or mind shift is to argue the case, persuade people, encourage people, lead the way and build a support base. The moment you cajole, threaten, battle, enforce, ignore, override and generally become overbearing and obsessive, is when you lose the room. They have lost the room. And they are using our money to do it. It’s the swing voter who needs to be riled by this. Will they be though? Or will this just add to a long line up of shemozzles that get forgotten about come polling day?
After missing out on Lionel Messi, Saudi Arabian football team Al-Hilal made a record €300 million ($535m) bid for Kylian Mbappé overnight, an offer which could see the France striker join Cristiano Ronaldo in the oil-rich kingdom. Paris Saint-Germain confirmed the offer for its player and has given Al-Hilal permission to open negotiations directly with Mbappé. The 2018 World Cup winner is in a contract stand-off with PSG after his decision not to take up the option of a 12-month extension on his deal. Instead, he plans to walk away as a free agent at the end of the upcoming season when he is widely expected to join Real Madrid. PSG cut Mbappé from its preseason tour of Japan on Saturday, with the French club determined to sell him unless he can be convinced to sign a new contract. A new deal now looks highly unlikely with relations between the 24-year-old Mbappé and PSG becoming increasingly tense.
Saudi Arabia has sought in recent years to buy its way into international sports. Besides Ronaldo, whose contract reportedly earns him up to US$200m a year, Saudi-funded LIV Golf has shaken up professional golf. The moves are part of efforts by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to leverage the kingdom’s oil wealth to provide new jobs and opportunities for Saudi Arabia’s youth. However, critics have dismissed the efforts as “sportswashing”, attempting to leverage professional sports to clean up the kingdom’s image as it remains one of the world’s top executioners and waging a yearslong war in Yemen. US intelligence agencies also believe Prince Mohammed ordered the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. Earlier this year, Al-Hilal failed in an attempt to sign Messi, with the Argentinian choosing to join Inter Miami instead. The bid for Mbappé would make him the most expensive soccer player in history, overtaking the US$262m PSG paid for Neymar, who joined from Barcelona in 2017. The offer represents Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious move yet as part of a determined recruitment drive to lure the game’s biggest players to the country. After Ronaldo agreed to join Al-Nassr in December, Saudi teams have gone into overdrive by targeting leading names from Europe’s top leagues. Real Madrid great and current Ballon d’Or holder Karim Benzema signed for Saudi champions Al-Ittihad last month and has been joined by 2018 World Cup winner N’Golo Kante. Roberto Firmino, Kalidou Koulibaly and Marcelo Brozovic are among other big names to head to the lucrative Saudi league, which is making mega-money offers to players in a bid to raise the profile and quality of football in the country. While that was not enough to convince Messi to join Al-Hilal after leaving PSG, more stars are expected to follow in the footsteps of Ronaldo and co. Premier League players like Riyad Mahrez and Jordan Henderson have recently been linked with moves from Manchester City and Liverpool, respectively. The reported salaries and commercial deals for Ronaldo, Benzema and Kante could earn them a combined figure of nearly US$1 billion. Mbappé has said he plans to see out the final year of his contract, which would leave PSG powerless to prevent him from leaving for nothing next year. The French champions, who are owned by Qatar Sports Investments, have already seen Messi leave for nothing in return and are determined to earn a fee for a player who is widely considered one of the few capable of taking over from Messi and Ronaldo as football’s biggest star. His omission from PSG’s touring squad in Japan raises the possibility that he could be benched next season if he refuses to sign a contract or agree to leave during this transfer window. Al-Hilal are said to be among a host of clubs that have been alerted to his potential availability, but it is unlikely any could match the bid that has been put forward. There has been an expectation that he would join Madrid, who had a bid of US$190m rejected by PSG in 202...
Time now to catch up with one of our greatest ever All Blacks, Dan Carter. When he wasn't busy with his NFT company, charity, Chemist Warehouse or his new fragrance - he's been writing a new book. It's called The Art of Winning and is about the next generation of leaders. Dan Carter told Mike Hosking in studio that he doesn't want his rugby career to define him for the rest of his life as he embarks on the next chapter. WATCH ABOVE
After their historic win on Thursday, the Football Ferns are taking to the field again tonight in Wellington. The New Zealand side will be going against the Philippines, who lost to Switzerland in their first match on Friday. Former Football Fern Katie Duncan joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Former Cabinet Minister Peter Dunne says the next political poll will confirm a trend he's seen developing, over the past few months. Kiri Allan has resigned from the Justice portfolio after crashing a car on Sunday night - she's been charged with careless driving and refusing to accompany police. Police Minister Ginny Andersen is taking over the role. Peter Dunne was also forced to resign as minister and he told Mike Hosking the gap between the centre left and centre right has been slowly widening. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister admits it hasn't been a great couple of weeks - but he fully believes he can win the election. And Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking the last 48 hours with Kiri Allan's car crash and the fall-out from it have been very difficult. Hipkins won't say whether the Quay Street gunman should have been behind bars. Two people died and four people remain in hospital in stable conditions, after the gunman opened fire at a construction site in downtown Auckland on Thursday morning. The offender was working at the site, while on electronically monitored bail for domestic violence. He says there's still a lot of investigations underway, and he won't be making public comment while those are still ongoing. LISTEN ABOVE
A new kind of eye drops developed in the United States could save people from needing to wear reading glasses. A pharmaceutical company has been granted FDA approval for prescription-only use for the drops, to target blurry near vision. They work by constricting the pupil to increase the depth of focus. The product isn't yet available in New Zealand, but researchers here are set to take a closer look. Auckland University researcher Dr Alyssa Lee told Mike Hosking studies so far have only been done for a relatively short time. She says more research is needed into what the potential long-term side effects might be. LISTEN ABOVE
A survey has found more than half of doctors think working conditions have worsened, since Te Whatu Ora was established. NZ Women in Medicine surveyed 936 doctors. Only six percent working in primary care and 11 percent in secondary care say they've seen an improvement. Chair Dr Orna McGin told Mike Hosking very few expressed any hope things will improve in the coming year. She says the impression they got was of a workforce with low morale, and a huge level of fatigue. LISTEN ABOVE
The Twitter bird has flown the coop. The platform's logo has officially changed to a white "X" on a black background overnight, replacing the familiar blue bird symbol. It's the latest change by new owner Elon Musk. Greg Smith at Devon Funds Management told Mike Hosking everyone knew the change was coming. He says tweets will now be called 'Xs' - but Musk is still thinking of what to call re-tweets. LISTEN ABOVE
There is a debate brewing over housing. We all seem to agree that we have reached the bottom of the market and some places are seeing real life. Spring will help and so will interest rates, once we see that they aren't going up anymore and the Reserve Bank is done with the cash rate. That is still an open question. But the demand for houses is there and then, what if, the National Party come into Government and open the borders back up to foreign buyers? Statistics out last week show Australia is now the number one destination for homes for the Chinese. That will, in part, be because we are largely closed but it is also stoking fears that too many foreigners cut locals out and fuel price rises. We have been here before of course, and part of what drove the debate here last time was xenophobia. We saw Asian-looking people at auctions and didn’t like it. The fact they were New Zealand residents or citizens never seemed to occur to us Research work done by Tony Alexander the economist, among others, shows the number of true off-shore buyers i.e people who didn’t live here, but wanted property here, was minuscule. That was as a result of the then Labour opposition running out their famous Chinese names list, an act they had to eventually apologise for. But by the time they got to Government it was clear they didn’t like foreigners, hence they all got banned, bar the Australians and some from Singapore. And Singapore was only because of trade deals. And the immigration mess ever since has been a direct result of their desire not to have foreigners in any great numbers reside in the country. The latest figures hopefully signal an end to that nonsense. But what we need as part of the mix is the ability for people to come here and get a job, and buy a house, and feel like they are actually wanted and accepted here. You will not get people if they can't buy property. Then buying property stimulates demand and it encourages building, as well as the skills equation, plus the cultural one as well. The sadness is, I suspect, National want to open the market once again, but we have an angsty, old view around immigration these days. So instead of it being a common sense call, it becomes a risky one. I also have no doubt that if they do make the call, Labour will leap all over it with their full display of xenophobic scare tactics.
The Government's spent only a fraction of the amount it promised to spend on a meth programme. Last election, it said it'd spend $38-million this Parliamentary term to expand the Te Ara Oranga programme to four thousand more people. But figures released to RNZ show it’s spent less than a fifth of that. It has a 34% harm reduction rate. Methcon Managing Director Dale Kirk told Mike Hosking that the industry's unsure why the money hasn't been spent. LISTEN ABOVE
Director Christopher Nolan's new blockbuster Oppenheimer is opening old wounds. The film follows the story of its namesake, the father of the atomic bomb Julius Oppenheimer, as he's tasked with creating the deadly nuclear weapon. But Newstalk ZB's US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that the radiation from his work lingers, and local activists are fighting for recognition. He says activist Tina Cordova is currently calling for the government to be held accountable to testing a nuclear device in their backyard. Richard Arnold says the community remains uncompensated, with many of the indigenous locals still affected and living without health care. LISTEN ABOVE
ACT's new transport ideas are being applauded, but some say the devil is in the details. The party's latest policy announcement promises to replace fuel excise taxes with road tolls, and also includes foreign investment in infrastructure projects. Transporting NZ Interim Chief Executive Dom Kalasih told Mike Hosking that tolling can be a real barrier to use. He says when you look at the Penlink Road, the Ministry predicts usage will drop from 25,500 vehicles a day to just over 18,000, because of the toll. LISTEN ABOVE
The ACT Party's disputing the Police Minister's claims around prison numbers. In an interview on Newstalk ZB, Ginny Andersen claimed the reduction in prison numbers is primarily due to fewer people in prison on driving and low level drug offences like cannabis. However, Stats NZ figures show since 2017 the largest drop was offences against justice procedures, government security, and operations; followed by acts intended to cause injury; and unlawful entry with intent. David Seymour told Mike Hosking that he's not sure how Andersen got it wrong. He says they tried every year back to 1998, and there's just no way to get the result she got. LISTEN ABOVE
Winston Peters is refusing to claim any of his party's new policies are bottom lines. New Zealand First's planning to remove GST from fresh foods. It's also promising to adjust income tax brackets to inflation, as well as offering tax incentives. Winston Peters told Mike Hosking that they want to make sure they get to make as much of their policy a reality as possible. He says they've never campaigned in their 30 years on bottom lines. LISTEN ABOVE
As we end the week there's a question to be asked as to why, in this election campaign, people support who they support. There was much debate about a year back over the disappointment from some that the Labour Government hadn't been transformational the way Jacinda Ardern had suggested they would be. Things like child poverty and the climate were nuclear moments and crises. And yet, each year passed with a lot of word salads but not a lot of action and tangible results. Then we came to this week and a display as raw, venal and blatant as I have ever seen. We have been lectured for six years over law and order and how those of us who favour accountability and genuine punishment as a means of deterrent were wrong, and keeping people out of prison was right. The ideology turned into an avalanche of misery all over the country as behaviour deteriorated and consequences became farcical. As police minister after police minister came and went the mantra stayed the same - "be kind", give the bad ones an ankle bracelet and the rest an Oranga Tamariki telling off and if the really bad ones end up on a roof of a juvenile detention centre, give them some chicken. In return for this, we would change lives. The only lives we changed are the ones that were wrecked in attack after attack. The bills for security went into the millions and that was just for individual, large retailers. The police didn’t cope, the courts in their many actions, or non-actions, didn’t help. Now look where we are. It's an issue sinking the Government. Instead of saying "sorry, we're wrong", instead of even pleading for more time because they truly believed their approach would eventually work, the Prime Minister, showing he will do and say literally anything to save his job, gaslit us and told us as a nation we had failed. We haven't failed. He failed. He failed as Minister of Police and now Prime Minister. The previous Prime Minister failed by appointing Andrew Coster as commissioner and Poto Williams as minister in another of her vacuous kumbaya experiments. So, to save themselves they essentially lie and say they will change policy. A policy they argued for six years was the wrong thing to do. To add insult to injury, in presenting the policy, they don't even have the detail. And some of the detail they did have, they got wrong, indicating, or at least giving away, that the whole thing is a sham. A Government that believes nothing, or believes whatever is necessary to survive, is a Government of self-interest. Not of leaders.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The All Blacks: 8/10 For a side under a lot of scrutiny and a lot of angst around the coach, being two for two, and the way they did it, is the best start to a World Cup year you could ever ask for. The Warriors: 8/10 When you think one week they look amazing and then they go and look even more amazing the next week ..thats the makings of a champion side. The World Cup: 7/10 Always good to be a host of major events and something we need to milk for all its worth, given the lack of tourists. “In It For You”: 3/10 Slogans don't win elections and this one appears nicked from the New Democrats in Canada in 2019 anyway. The law and order triptych: 4/10 Yesterday's tragedy aside, this was a shocking, transparent attempt to look like you are something you are not on a subject you know is sinking you. Victoria: 1/10 Daniel Andrews and the Commonwealth Games might be the biggest reputational own goal in modern Australian political history. "The home of sport and major events", doesn’t want a major sporting event? Inflation: 6/10 Because it's down but, boy, is there a row to hoe there. Tory Whanau: 4/10 You can't beat a Wellington leader on a good day. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
It was historic win for the Football Ferns last night - as they won New Zealand's first ever match at a FIFA World Cup finals. With a 1-0 score against Norway, in front of a crowd of 42,137 - a record attendance for a football match in New Zealand. Former Football Fern Wendi Henderson joined Mike Hosking to discuss the result and what it means for for the tournament and football in New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVE
The Corrections Association says there are too many people out there, with ankle bracelets on, who should be in jail. President Floyd du Plessis told Mike Hosking electronically monitored bail is a great initiative - but for a limited number of people. “We’ve decided to drastically drop prisoner numbers without putting in decent amounts of rehabilitation and training and instead all we’ve done is pushed them into the community at a time when offending in the community has gone up.” LISTEN ABOVE
National wants to know why the 24-year-old Auckland CBD shooter wasn't in prison. Matu Tangi Matua Reid was on home detention for domestic violence, and had approval to work at the construction site. National Party leader Christopher Luxon says the issue of not sending our violent offenders to prison has filtered down through the judiciary system, and we've ended up with soft sentencing. Police Minister, Ginny Andersen, told Mike Hosking there's separation between government and judges for a good reason. She says the sentence is a decision for the judge and not the Government. LISTEN ABOVE
Last year's job boom hasn't followed into this year. New Seek data shows a three percent decline in job ad volumes over June, adding to a 21 percent annual drop. Auckland saw the biggest monthly drop in job ads by four percent, while Northland was the only region that saw an increase, while Manawatu recorded no change. New Zealand manager Rob Clark says it's a much different job market from 2022. LISTEN ABOVE
More details are emerging about the timeline of yesterday's construction site shooting in central Auckland. Armed police were on site in minutes after the shooting began about 7.30am yesterday. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has revealed to Mike Hosking members of the Armed Offenders Squad training nearby rushed to the scene, quickly joined by staff from further afield. “We had staff response from all over Auckland and we have now quite a good prescence of AOS trained staff on the front line. The staff who went into the building – and there was quite a number of them – came from many different working groups.”The death toll remains at three, including the gunman. Coster says the conditions of the 10 injured people is improving. LISTEN ABOVE
Liam Lawson is a motorsport sensation with the world at his feet - he caught up with Mike Hosking to talk his season so far and what his chances are of getting into a Formula 1 seat. LISTEN ABOVE
The FIFA Women's World Cup hasn’t even begun and the Matildas have managed to work in the politics already. They are not happy with pay. They want more prize money and they want more pay and so they've made a video. You might remember they also made a video about human rights in Qatar when they won the hosting rights. On their side is the fact their opening game is sold out. Also on their side is the fact that football, globally, is the biggest sport going and it's worth a fortune. Sadly, not on their side is their premise. Their premise is they should be paid what men are, simply because they are women. Gender is the mistake that fuels their debate. Gender is the complexity in the argument that has seen a disproportionate amount of attention paid to a broader debate around women in sport, or women in the workplace, or women in the boardroom. The sadness is that a lot of appointments made involving women are trumpeted as being a first for women, thus giving a greater emphasis on the gender than on the skill that got them there. Are they there because they are women or because they are the best person for the job? The new Reserve Bank Governor of Australia was hailed last week as the first woman to ever lead the bank. That's brilliant. But what about the skill, dedication and experience that got her that job in the first place? Why did gender trump everything else? Some jobs, and this is another complexity, do pay the same and gender has nothing to do with it. Being an MP pays the same no matter who it is. In fact it pays the same no matter what the experience or talent involved is, thus proving that not all mechanisms for reward are sensible. In professional sport the general criteria is demand. Demand is based on broadcasting rights, ticket sales and a measure of marketability. That’s why some sports are worth more than others, whether it be the value of a team or the value of a player. You can mix in individual circumstances occasionally, in a right place, right time sort-of punt on talent that may provide dividends at a later date. But generally the market is clear - people get what a sport, or a team, or a player is worth. And gender is far from the sole determinant and that is why it should not be used as a bargaining chip. Or indeed a political statement.
Women's World Cup Chief Executive David Beech admits Kiwis have been slow off the mark to buy their Women's Football World Cup tickets Tonight the FIFA Women's World Cup all kicks off at Eden Park where the Football Ferns are ready to face Norway in the tournament opener in front of a crowded stadium. Women's World Cup Chief Executive David Beech told Mike Hosking Kiwis traditionally wait to buy tickets, but FIFA has a no walk-up policy. He says typically about 40 percent of New Zealanders' sales happen once an event has kicked off. LISTEN ABOVE
There has been a 280 per cent surge in reports of abandoned vehicles on New Zealand roads. Most of the vehicles have no registration numbers, broken windows or are just altogether damaged. While other parking issues are rising too, with a 167 per cent increase in people parking in disabled spots, and illegal parking up 157 per cent. Snap Send Solve founder Danny Gorog joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
In the third instalment of labour's new focus on crime - Tthey are introducing a new ram raid criminal offence with a maximum sentence of ten years. Along with changes to allow ram raiding 12 and 13 year olds to be charged in Youth Court. Criminal lawyer Steve Cullen joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss what impact the policy may have. LISTEN ABOVE
The Finance Minister says several factors are continuing to keep inflation historically high. The Consumers Price Index rose six percent in the year to June. That's down on 7.3 percent in the year to June last year, but still well above the Reserve Bank's target range of one to three percent. Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking the price of imported building supplies continues to rise, and severe weather events like Cyclone Gabrielle have had a huge effect. He says weather damage has particularly affected food prices and transport costs. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is putting $90 million dollars towards Fonterra, to halve manufacturing emissions within the next seven years. Fonterra is investing $790 million dollars towards the goal. Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods told Mike Hosking there shouldn't be any economic concerns about climate-friendly policies. She says this is about future proofing the country and getting well paid jobs. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Here's a small insight into how these things work. The Government, now in full panic mode as they head towards election defeat, rounds up all the stuff they look weak on and then sets about making announcements about how what they have been doing for six years doesn’t count. That's what led to getting part two of the law and order reset. The trick is to spread the news so you get, in this case, three days worth of headlines. Plus, the best is first, which is why announcement number two was so sad. It unfortunately doesn’t bode well for thought bubble number three tomorrow. Anyway, thought bubble number two was to build some new youth justice centres. Two of them. They want to separate out 17-year-olds from younger kids. It's not really original and something they could have done anytime in the past six years. But guess what? They didn’t. So, when are these new facilities going to get built? Answer - there is no timeframe. So it's a sort-of KiwiBuild approach to youth justice. Then, enter Kelvin “let them out and give them ankle bracelets” Davis. He is changing a couple of things. One is that police can automatically refer a kid to a family group conference after a ram raid, as opposed, I suppose, to just letting them go. But I am wondering, given our experience of these conferences where nothing happens, whether that actually changes crime, or just produces a lot more conferences? And Kelvin's other big reveal was that young thugs can be searched. This was a surprise because, call me foolish and old fashioned, but I had assumed all thugs get searched automatically. But given they weren't and, as it turns out, the rules say basically no one could, guess what? A whole bunch of illegal stuff got smuggled in. Who would have thought? So, we got an announcement of some building with no deadline and more meetings. Watch the ram raids stop and the criminals quake. Or not.
Concerns about a postcode lottery on death. Burial costs, set by local councils, vary widely across the country - from just over $1,000 in Taupo, to $6,000 in Auckland, and more than $7,000 in New Plymouth. Funeral Directors Association Chief Executive Gillian Boyes says the latest annual price increase adds to the financial burden for those relying on a Work and Income Funeral Grant. She says that grant is around $2,400, which doesn't even cover the cost of a burial in the likes of Auckland or New Plymouth. LISTEN ABOVE
An immigration director is slamming the Government after revelations only one person has been approved for the specialist investor visa. The policy launched last September, hoping to bring investors to the country, to boost post-pandemic economic prosperity. Newshub reports the person already lived in New Zealand. Malcolm Pacific Immigration Director David Cooper told Mike Hosking the Government failed to fund proper research into the policy. He says investments were already being made outside of the visa, creating jobs, and getting money to flow into the country. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is being accused of focusing on the wrong issue following their youth justice facility revamp. Labour has announced plans to open two new units for higher-needs young people, alongside legislative changes to make residences more secure. But Child Matters Chief Executive Jane Searle told Mike Hosking they should be targeting the workforce. She says staff aren't trained enough and aren't up to taking care of the complex needs of these young people. Searle says the Government is nibbling on the issues of an extremely big problem. LISTEN ABOVE
Signs are pointing to a slight slowdown in inflation when Stats NZ releases its latest figures this morning. Economists expect inflation in the year to June to be about 5.9 to 6.1 percent. That's down from 6.7 percent in the year to March, and 7.2 percent in the year to December. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking most price rises are easing. But she says food costs are continuing to rise sharply, and construction costs and airfares remain hard to predict. LISTEN ABOVE
I have found one of the Prime Minister's real skills - announcing bollocks with a straight face. How is it humanly possible to stand there in front of the nation's media and tell us that when it comes to crime, when it comes to ram raids, we have had a gutsful. Have we Chris? When did you work that out, you insightful genius, you? Did you work that out when the National Party announced that those filming these sorts of events will get extra sentencing, because it's an aggravating event? And so you copied it? Or did you work it out when you saw yet another poll with your party tanking because, among the many other things you’ve cocked up, crime is a catastrophe and your hair-brained plan to let people out, or not put them away, or stick an ankle bracelet on and watch them abscond anyway, hasn’t really worked? Or have you actually suspected it all along, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to admit what an abject failure the whole mad, ideological balls-up has been? Anyway, there you were announcing tougher sentences. Here is the next problem, as we outlined yesterday. We had the 19-year-old facing two ram raid charges, both of which carried maximum ten-year sentences, in front of Judge Cassidy. She also said, like good, old “tough as nails, take no prisoners” Chris Hipkins, that people are sick of it, they are fed up. And then after telling the punk about the ten years of jail, she went on to discount the sentence to the point of 14 months jail. But because that’s below two years Government policy kicks in, spot the soft on crime Government policy, so they will now be spending a few months at home with name suppression. So when Chris tells you about jail, firstly you have to believe he believes it, which he clearly doesn’t, given he has had 6 years to sort it but is now in full panic mode. Then even if you can bring yourself to believe he believes it, you then have to have judges that have a backbone. Desperation in politics is an embarrassing and ugly thing. There is nothing more unedifying than someone heading up a Government about to lose, literally making stuff up in the hope that you are fool enough to believe what they have done for six years doesn't matter, and it's what they do now in panic, that does. If you're that naive or, dare I suggest, thick, you and Labour deserve each other.
The UK has relaxed their immigration restrictions for tradesmen such as bricklayers, carpenters, plasterers, and roofers, making it much easier for them to get work visas. UK Correspondent Rod Liddle cites this change as a failure of Brexit. He says that the many people who voted for Brexit signed up for the idea that UK natives would be taught the trades instead of importing labour, but the focus is still on sending people to university instead. LISTEN ABOVE
An unrelenting heatwave has swept Europe, with record temperatures expected in places like Italy, Greece, and Spain. France, however, seems to have been spared. France Correspondent Catherine Field says that a couple of areas in the south-east of France have been affected by the heat, but for the most part the country has avoided the 40 degree weather expected in other countries. 48 degree temperatures are expected in Sicily and Sardinia, while Rome is expected to hit around 44 degrees. LISTEN ABOVE
Gloriavale School is under review. The Ministry of Education has confirmed the Education Review Office is investigating the school after the Employment Court ruled six women to be employees, not volunteers, during their time in the community. The women's lawyer Brian Henry told Mike Hosking that the situation is tax funded female servitude, and the ERO needs to stand up. Henry says the women were being taught to be kept separate, and to cook, clean, wash, and sew. He says this is entirely unacceptable from any education system. LISTEN ABOVE
National's housing spokesman says his Party's tenancy KiwiSaver policy was inspired by lobbying from young Nats. Chris Bishop says if elected, National would let under-30s prematurely access KiwiSaver funds, to help pay for flat bond fees. He said that while it is “dead money” for that time period, at the end of the day people will get the money back and it will make a difference for those who need it. LISTEN ABOVE
A former treaty negotiations minister is pouring cold water on the Greens' new treaty policy. The party wants to allow the Crown to negotiate buying private land from prospective sellers, to return to Maori. It's also looking at establishing a Commission of Inquiry into stolen land. Former National Party Treaty Minister Chris Finlayson told Mike Hosking that politicians across the board have worked on this for years. He’s concerned that this would effectively reset the previous work. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins accepts he made a mistake when announcing the Government's latest crackdown on youth crime. The Prime Minister yesterday announced the Government was making "coercing a young person to commit a crime" a new criminal offence. He was later forced to clarify it wouldn't become a new offence, but rather an aggravating factor at sentencing. Hipkins told Mike Hosking that Cabinet considered both options, and he got mixed up about which option Cabinet has ultimately approved. He says in the preparation of the media conference the two options got conflated, and he accepts responsibility. LISTEN ABOVE
There are concerns over the Government's latest attempt to tackle youth crime. New measures have been announced including making posting criminal behaviour online an aggravating factor in sentencing. Coercing young people to commit crime will also be considered an aggravating factor, and the Family Court is getting stronger powers to dish out community service. Victims' Advocate, Ruth Money, told Mike Hosking that the changes lack detail and substance. She says there's a lot of words that look like there'll be action, but technically there's not much action at all. LISTEN ABOVE
If you missed the interview with Marc Ellis in the NZ Herald over the weekend, read it. One of the great sadnesses around Ellis is he got successful in business and, as a result, disappeared. I miss people like him in public life. What made him successful was that he was himself, no matter what he did, whether it was rugby, TV, or orange juice, he was himself. It's actually a skill. And that’s why too many people morph into what they perceive they should be. Anyway, he is part of what we saw last week in the immigration numbers, of which there are several concerns. One is that the surge of arrivals has petered out, which is a shame because we are still well short of the people and skills we need. Two is that the departure to Australia is now alarming. And three is the tourism part of the data, which indicates that the holiday maker is not coming back in the way we hoped, or need. Ellis is leaving the country as well. He is going to live in Italy and he is going because we have lost our mojo. That’s what I like about him. Others might suggest the same thing in a more PC way, that it's not the place it was, it's being torn apart. These are his words, by the way, not mine. Although, they are my thoughts as well. And from ongoing correspondence, it's the thoughts of a dangerously large number of New Zealanders. That’s the trouble with the migration numbers. It's all very well the people arriving, but who are they and what do they bring? The people leaving to Australia, tragically, will be the bright and adventurous. People like Ellis are needed here. But, to be blunt, who can blame him? That, in many respects, is what this election will be fought on. Do you like what we are? Do you revel in what we have become as a country? That’s why Labour will lose. Yes, they have buggered the economy and been inept in delivery of basically everything. But they have also divided us and made us angry and when the Marc Ellis' of this world leave for better places and better days, that division and despair has to be brought to an end.
A new angle of Alzheimer’s research is being investigated. Biomarkers are a molecule found in blood, other body fluids, and tissues that are an indicator of an abnormal process, condition, or disease, and could be a tell-tale sign of Alzheimer’s. Otago University Researcher Dr Ashleigh Barrett-Young says that while there are several biomarkers could indicate Alzheimer’s, it’s still unknown whether there is a single one —or several— that are good indications in the pre-clinical or undiagnosed population. She says that a majority of Alzheimer’s research has been done on those already showing symptoms, and while this is still useful information, if someone is already showing symptoms they don’t need a biomarker to tell them they have the disease. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins and Trade Minister Damien O'Connor are addressing the Chinese Ambassador and New Zealand business leaders, at the China Business Summit in Auckland. O'Connor told Mike Hosking their message to the ambassador will be simple. LISTEN ABOVE
ACT has added some fresh faces to the top of its party list for October's election. It's demoted MPs Chris Baillie and Toni Severin to make way for newcomers Andrew Hoggard and Todd Stephenson. Hoggard —a former Federated Farmers President— will be number five on the list. Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking that Stephenson —a founding Act Party member and former Act Party staffer with a background in the corporate sector— will be in number four. Seymour says Stephenson is the kind of person who could operate as a minister from day one, because he's previously been in a high-level corporate environment. LISTEN ABOVE
Universities say people care more about value than price in the wake of data showing New Zealand's among the most expensive for international students. Money Management Service, Wise, ranked Aotearoa the second most pricey country for tuition, costs, and transfer fees. The United States is the most expensive. Universities New Zealand Director Chris Whelan says that Kiwi universities are a good choice regardless of cost. He says people will choose internationally-ranked institutions, and will pay more for a world-class university that allows people to work while they study. LISTEN ABOVE
Sweltering heat and raging floods are sweeping across several parts of the globe. Almost a third of Americans are under extreme heat advisories, while at least four people have been killed by floods in Pennsylvania. US Correspondent, Richard Arnold, told Mike Hosking that Death Valley will likely hit over 54 degrees Celsius today. He says Phoenix just broke its daily high, with temperatures reaching nearly 48 degrees, and they've now had 16 days straight over 43 degrees. Southern Europe is bracing for a second heatwave in a week, with record temperatures expected to be broken in places like Italy, Greece, and Spain. In South Korea, at least 37 people are dead after severe flooding across much of the country. LISTEN ABOVE
Christopher Luxon is adamant the numbers stack up in National’s plan to redirect Government spending from road safety to road maintenance. The National Party leader is promising to re-prioritise if the party wins October's election. It would spend less on road safety measures like speed bumps, median barriers, speed limit reductions, and ad campaigns, so more could be spent on road renewals and pot hole repairs. Luxon told Mike Hosking that it's a better use of taxpayer dollars. He claims the average speed bump costs $330k, which is the average cost of rehabilitating a kilometre of road. LISTEN ABOVE
If owning your own business wasn't hard enough - new data shows us that nearly half of small business owners are not actually even paying themselves. That is on top of dipping into their savings and increasing prices just to keep afloat. BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Has the Government's desire to bail out their dire fortunes in the election, in fact, made them worse? The revelation that the Government was indeed considering a wealth tax this budget has been blown wide open by the release of budget papers - and the Prime Minister confirming that he killed it. For months now there has been a suspicion of this. I first got wind of it in a speech the Statistics Minister Deborah Russell made in Queenstown months back, on the work that David Parker had done around the so-called super rich. She seemed to indicate the Government, if we hadn't already been clued in by the Parker fishing expedition, was keen to explore tax fairness. I asked Megan Woods several times on the show about the idea. She vehemently denied it, saying not this term, giving away the possibility that an election win could deliver more tax. So, if not in the budget, then when? I was then convinced it would make up part of their election campaign, thus being introduced next year and not breaking a promise. What I couldn’t work out was why a Government so desperately in trouble electorally, would try and sell more tax. The argument was because they hate the successful, they were hoping New Zealanders operate out of the same level of envy and, given it wouldn't actually affect the vast majority, we would actually welcome it. Especially if it meant we got to pocket a bit. I argued that’s not how we work. We are aspirational. Or we were. We wanted the chance to work hard, to do well and to succeed. Yet, as it stands, these days the main benefit has gone up 48 per cent over five years for doing nothing, while if you earn over $48,000 a year, you're in the 30 per cent tax bracket. So, at last we find out the truth. They looked at a wealth tax, they looked at it for the Budget and they had a series of implementation plans worked out. If you follow Parliament and Question Time, all the questions Nicola Willis was asking Grant Robertson, who was squirming like a worm on a fishing rod, were for a reason. Having taxed the bejesus out of us, having spent like drunks, having run us into a recession, and possibly two of them, and having racked up debt the likes of which we have never seen - they still wanted more. And while they were planning, they were busy denying they were anti-success and not exactly embracing honesty either. Busted at last. They should hang their heads in shame.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Sam Cane: 6/10 Tricky call this. No, he shouldn’t have done it. But, then having done it I don’t think anyone would begrudge him sending a message to an idiot. But then the mistake was the apology and the All Blacks gear. When the All Blacks are out-woking the woke, the world is upside down. The Warriors: 8/10 That Parramatta Eels thrashing is as good as a turmeric shot and olive leaf extract in winter. Te Huia: 2/10 In all honesty, pull the pin. It loses money, it's slower than a car, no one uses it and it can't stop at red lights. The back up plane for the Prime Minister: 2/10 BS of the week part one. "Nothing to see here, we do it all the time." Oh, whoops, no we don’t. RATs: 2/10 BS of the week part two. We first don’t know where they are, oh wait, yes we do and a lot of them are no longer of any use. By the way, it cost half a billion dollars for nothing. Then they go and defend it! Wine: 8/10 $2.3 billion in income to the country. I'll drink to that. Shane van Gisbergen: 9/10 What he did in America will never be recognised by the likes of a Halberg. But it really was that good. Threads: 7/10 At 100 million members and growing you can't say it isn't a successful start-up. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Loneliness and social isolation is said to impact as many as one-third of the world population - and here we have new research into how AI-powered robots could provide some companionship to help combat this. But as AI develops further and gives companion robots better skills to build social connections, researchers are saying some guidelines are needed. Researcher from the faculty of Medical and Health Sciences at the University of Auckland professor Elizabeth Broadbent joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Grant Robertson admits he's disappointed Chris Hipkins has ruled out capital gains and wealth taxes. The Finance Minister told Mike Hosking he understands the reasoning for Hipkins' decision, even if he doesn't fully agree with it. “We’ve got a very volatile economic situation that we’re in, we’ve got to get through that.” LISTEN ABOVE
Concern that three quarters of new school principals feel unprepared when starting the job. Research from the Education Review Office also finds more than a third nationwide have been in the position for less than five years. Secondary Principals' Association President, Vaughan Couillault told Mike Hosking many of these new principals have only experienced 'crisis mode' while in the role. He's worried about the new principals who haven't had a meaningful leadership pathway and who may have had the job thrust upon them. LISTEN ABOVE
James Shaw says whether New Zealand gets a capital gains tax or wealth tax is ultimately a matter for voters. Chris Hipkins has ruled out either form of tax while he's prime minister. But Greens Co-Leader James Shaw says his party could demand those taxes, as part of any post-election negotiations on Coalition or Confidence and Supply arrangements. He told Mike Hosking the election outcome should determine the policies of the next government. Shaw says democracy should be allowed to do its job, with voters deciding on the make-up of the next government, before policy detail is finalised. LISTEN ABOVE
The Education Minister's defending a million dollar campaign that aimed to encourage kids to go to school Last August, Education Minister Jan Tinetti launched the Every School Day is a Big Day campaign. But documents released under the Official Information Act reveal it wasn't expected to have a direct, quantifiable impact on attendance rates in itself. Education Minister Jan Tinetti told Mike Hosking the campaign in combination with other work they've done has improved attendance this year. She says they know every single initiative and effort they've done is making a difference. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the unfortunate side stories of the FIFA Women's World Cup is it doesn’t look to be the bonanza they hoped it might be. Ticket sales have been an issue and the hoteliers claim to be bitterly disappointed. It might well be that football as a sport is big globally, but not here. And even if it is big, at the women's level it's not a massive spectator event. Anyway, it also hasn’t stopped the obligatory upset over a number of haka that have been attempted or performed by various overseas teams. We seem to specialise in upset these days. Sam Cane trips up a pitch invader and the next thing you know he is being investigated and he is on a zoom saying sorry and handing out All Black jerseys Then few foreigners arrive, have a crack at a haka - cue more upset. When people do things wrong, whether overtly or mistakenly, it is not the end of the world. It is not news and it doesn’t require a series of so-called experts to be rolled out with various lines of condemnation. It is one of the outworkings of the bandwagon that we have found ourselves on in the past six years. Once the Māorification of New Zealand got enhanced, endorsed and promoted by the Government, Māoridom and all its various facets have taken on a new importance. And, dare I suggest, a new level of condescension and arrogance. I think we can be charitable enough to accept that the haka, if it is known overseas, is of some level of fascination to foreigners. They talk of the war dance, of the Māori dance. We have seen it in commentary from Americans on All Black tours. I remember being on American radio trying to explain there are in fact different versions of haka and it is not just a one-stop shop haka. That blew their minds. So, given that, when someone has a crack, I'm not sure we need to invest the time and energy on all the upset we have seen this week. Would it be nice if everyone who touched the rich tapestry of Māori and culture were fully versed? Of course, but it's not realistic and we should know that. Sam Cane probably shouldn’t have tripped up a fence jumper, but then having done it, he certainly shouldn’t have handed out freebies. And we certainly shouldn’t have made more of any of this than it deserved. Which is basically nothing.
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
The Hamilton-Auckland Te Huia train service will no longer be travelling into Parnell. The temporary ban follows two incidents where the train driver has failed to obey a red signal and has entered a section of track where there is the potential for conflict with another rail service. These incidents were reported by Waka Kotahi leading to the issuing of a prohibition notice to KiwiRail, preventing Te Huia from entering the Auckland metro area. Waikato Regional Councillor Angela Strange joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
After all that, it turns out Chris Hipkins will actually be meeting with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But right now he is in attendance of the Nato leaders' summit in Lithuania focusing on what he says are 'matters of global importance'. While back in New Zealand we have this new report from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade highlighting the grim reality of the future of New Zealand, with a clear need to focus on foreign policy interests, and to tighten up our security. NZ First leader and former Minister of Foreign affairs Winston Peters joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
An Auckland barrister says there's no silver bullet to fix court system delays. The average number of days to resolve criminal cases in the District Court is 176 days - a jump of 62 days from five years ago. National says the system should make better use of technology to clear backlogs, such as remote access options. But Nick Chisnall KC says it would be a major step to conduct trials and sentencings remotely. He says it should be a last resort as it requires people to agree to it, and for the necessary resources to be available. LISTEN ABOVE
We have another OCR day, many are expecting the Reserve Bank to take a breather - with no change to the current 5.5 per cent. Westpac chief economist Kelly Eckhold joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
According to the latest polls from the Labour party's own pollster, Labour has well and truly fallen -sitting at 31 per cent - it's lowest point since 2019. National rose one point to 36 per cent, making it the first time National has been ahead of Labour by five points or more. It is also the first time the centre-right has been ahead of the centre-left by five points or more since the 2017 election. Political commentator Josie Pagani joined Mike Hosking to discuss the numbers. LISTEN ABOVE
An independent monitoring system and more rights for caregivers are part of the Act Party's plan to improve Oranga Tamariki. Leader David Seymour says the agency has failed our most vulnerable children. Act wants to split social worker duties between mentors and child protection officers to serve both a tough and a nurturing role. Also on their agenda is transferring youth justice functions from Oranga Tamariki to Corrections, and boosting accountability by giving the agency's boss KPIs. Seymour says caregiving must be made more appealing to address a national shortage. Act's spokesperson for Children, Karen Chhour, joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
A difficult decision for Nato over when Ukraine should be able to join the military alliance. Overnight, member states have agreed Ukraine will be allowed to join once allies agree and conditions are met including a halt in fighting. Newshub's Lysette Reymer says Nato doesn't want to be drawn into an active conflict. But she told Kate Hawkesby it doesn't want Russia to think it can stop Ukraine from joining Nato by continuing its invasion. Zelenskyy will speak at the summit tonight, and is due to meet with Chris Hipkins tomorrow night. LISTEN ABOVE
Are you reading about the economy and its performance, or lack of, with the alarm I am? More and more economists are now predicting a double dip recession. Grant Robertson is already working overtime trying to explain why we have had one already, while the vast majority of the rest of the world hasn’t. Now he may face the unedifying prospect of having to do it twice. Mind you, he will most likely be out of office by the time all the numbers are in. Then we get to the Government accounts published last week. They are billions worse than forecast in the Budget. You remember the Budget? It only came out in late May and it's only early July. It's a deterioration of epic proportions over an exceedingly short period of time. That, lest we forget, is why we don’t believe a word Treasury says. They are also forecasting growth this year. You can laugh that out of town as well. Then we get to the income side of the equation. How is the Government earning all the money it is so eager to spend? The Commodity Price Index fell over 2 percent in June, 2.3 percent to be precise. Meat is down almost 8 percent, lamb specifically fell over 10 percent, beef over 7 percent, forestry is down 3 percent and the Global Dairy Auction went backwards again. So the stuff that makes us money is struggling. The only thing helping is the value of the dollar, which is falling. That actually isn't a good thing. We want a strong currency, because a strong currency reflects a strong economy. But it, for now in an artificial sort of way, makes things looks slightly better than they really are. Don’t forget our ever-growing debt is costing more and more to service as well. So, we are spending more while earning less and pretending, if you listen to Grant, we are in a good position to do so. Which, of course, we are not. The only other good news, apart from our collapsing currency, might be the fact that the Reserve Bank looks at this mess and decides not to bump interest rates this week. All in all, it's ugly. The mismanagement is shocking and the report cards don’t lie. You simply can't run your household, far less an economy, this way. We are sinking and the tragedy is, once the clowns who got us in this mess are gone, we are the ones picking up the pieces and paying off the bills.
While Shane van Gisbergen has received all the headlines lately, and rightfully so, there's yet another Kiwi on one of the main stages of racing doing it at an elite level. Nick Cassidy competes in the Formula E championship - the competition for electric vehicles. There are only four races left in the season and after winning the last race in Portland, Nick is a single point off the championship. He's in Rome this weekend to race and Nick Cassidy joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Top restaurants are being spammed with fake reviews on Google. Overseas internet scammers have been known to start posting five-star reviews from fake accounts, where they then follow up by threatening to leave unfavourable reviews unless they receive payment from restaurants. CEO of the Restaurant Association Marisa Bidois joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
The Commerce Commission has appointed a new Grocery Commissioner to referee New Zealand's supermarkets. Former Sanitarium New Zealand boss Pierre van Heerden will take up the role this Thursday. Commission chair John Small says van Heerden brings more than 25 years of experience on the supply side of the grocery sector. The appointment is part of reforms brought in by the passing of the Grocery Industry Competition Bill late last month. It aims to improve fairness and efficiency in the industry, which is largely dominated by Foodstuffs and Woolworths. Pierre van Heerden joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
It's still unclear if Chris Hipkins will get a chance to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Acting Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni says told Mike Hosking he would like to, if he can. “Certainly if the logistics will allow then our Prime Minister does want to meet with him. But it’s up to the logistics and being able to make that work but there’s definitely no issue with our relationship.” LISTEN ABOVE
Big questions for Nato over who should be allowed to join the military alliance.Leaders of 31 Nato countries and 14 other countries are gathering for the start of the Leaders' Summit in Lithuania tonight - including Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Finland has been admitted to Nato in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. But Otago University international relations expert Robert Patman told Mike Hosking questions hang over adding other nations. Overnight, Turkey has agreed to support Sweden's bid to join Nato, if talks resume on Turkey joining the European Union.Hipkins, who has been meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Stockholm this morning says New Zealand is remaining neutral on the issue. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions are being raised on whether the Government will consider the recommendations of a review into dawn-raid style tactics. An independent probe into the practice is calling on the Government to consider banning it for residential addresses, while urging officials to only use out-of-hours visits as a last resort. Jacinda Ardern apologised two years ago to Pacific people for historic Dawn Raids in the 1970s. Immigration lawyer Aaron Martin told Mike Hosking there's been no further changes since then and it's left people scratching their heads. He questions the reason for the apology and spending tax-payer money on a review if no changes are going to be made. LISTEN ABOVE
We now have a Fair Trade Agreement with the European Union. And Australian farmers are rubbishing the deal - urging their Trade Minister to walk away from negotiations with the EU if they are offered a similar deal. Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
I guess you look at New Zealand in a slightly different light when you are offshore. The only news New Zealand got in Australia last week was the video of a pig that was wandering around Auckland. They thought that was funny. As I read about home I wondered what sort of parallel universe I was in. Ingrid Leary, a Labour MP from Dunedin, wanders into a gang meeting but it’s the wrong meeting. The Prime Minister says he would have left straight away. Chris Hipkins must be enjoying his final days in office on the international stage because, surely he has given up, given all that he has had to deal with since he got the job. Never in his wildest dreams, I am sure, did he envisage having to defend, sack or talk to such a gargantuan selection of idiots who have done nothing but undermine and damage him and their party. So, while old Ingrid is at gang headquarters, I also read of Tory Whanau in Wellington. Tory was fresh from her successful vote to basically destroy the downtown Golden Mile with their fanciful Let's Get Wellington Moving vote and then she heads out into said town. She's a bit tipsy and proceeds to make a fool of herself by asking "do you know who I am?" Or maybe she didn’t. Who knows, because there is claim and counter-claim. What seems in agreement is she had too much to drink and then walked out and didn’t pay. That is some high-quality leadership for you and adds to the ever-growing example, both locally and nationally, of people who are nowhere near close to being able to execute the job required of them. Then I read of Kiri Allan, who is yet again on leave, having turned up for about one day, before heading off home again, who has a series of allegations against her name. And although she denies it all, she says there hasn’t been a formal complaint, which is of course not the same thing. Anyway, Chris is going to have a word when he gets back, if he gets back. I personally wouldn’t come back. I'd spend the rest of the summer in Mykonos and cut my losses. But when you're in Australia and the big news is a pig in Auckland, and the place is littered with fools and buffoons behaving badly, Ii can tell you we really do look third world.
The Green Party has laid out its vision for the next government. It launched its election manifesto yesterday, including a plan to end poverty, guarantee a warm home for all, and take strong climate action. There's also a big focus on children, culture, inclusivity, and drug law reforms. Co-leader, James Shaw told Mike Hosking that the current Government hasn't always performed perfectly, but has handled crisis well. He says it's a tough job and every Government has moments of missteps and errors, and the circumstances are challenging right now. LISTEN ABOVE
Southland farmers are warning that an order to stop winter grazing comes at a massive cost. Environment Southland issued the abatement notice to several farmers after deeming that the rules under the national environmental standards for freshwater were being broken. This included red flags on critical source areas, or the breaking of slope rules. Federated Farmers Winter Grazing Spokesperson Jason Herrick told Mike Hosking that it's all inconvenience and coming at a massive cost. He says farmers have put mitigations and extra costs in place to meet expectations, and to be slapped with this as well is unfair and unjust. Environment Southland says their message has been consistently clear about working with farmers to ensure winter grazing complies with the rules. LISTEN ABOVE
A survey coming out of the tobacco industry reveals a nearly 30% decline in black market tobacco consumption since 2019. Otago University Professor Nick Wilson told Mike Hosking that there are a whole range of anti-smoking programs, but a lot of smokers are switching to vaping as it’s readily available. He says while the increase in vaping is concerning, it’s important that those wanting to quit tobacco have access to those products. LISTEN ABOVE
The EU trade deal has officially been signed as Chris Hipkins starts his week in Europe. Former Trade Minister Tim Groser says that overall there is useful aspects of the agreement, but it wasn’t realistic to expect a transformational deal in conscientious areas such as beef and dairy. He says it’s a subjective judgement as to whether the negotiators should’ve pushed harder, but he trusts in their judgement and believes they pushed as hard as they could. LISTEN ABOVE
The ACT Party is touting its new crime crackdown policy as a way to curb youth offending. It wants to see 17-year-olds charged as adults, and for youth justice facilities to be run by Corrections, not Oranga Tamariki. ACT Party Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking that their plans are about putting penalties on offenders. He says this policy is about putting personal responsibility on those that commit crime. LISTEN ABOVE
More details have been released about the latest pay offer from midwives this morning. The agreement lifts the base pay for Te Whatu Ora midwives by up to $12,000 a year. Graduate midwives will start work in a public hospital on almost $73,000 a year before overtime and allowances. It will be backdated to April last year Midwifery union, MERAS co-leader Caroline Conroy told Tim Dower this will hopefully keep midwives from heading overseas. She says there's an aggressive recruitment process happening from Australia. LISTEN ABOVE
Thirty-million users have signed up for Mark Zuckerberg's newly-launched Threads app on its first day. The owner of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp - Meta - has released its direct competitor to Elon Musk's Twitter, which offers a text-based version of Instagram. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Tim Dower this is a significant move from the Meta boss. He says Zuckerberg hopes to turn Threads into a 'mega app', something Zuckerberg says Musk has failed to do with Twitter. LISTEN ABOVE
Alarmed experts have sounded warning for the mental and physical wellbeing of Kiwi children after new research revealed our kids are spending about a third of after-school time on screens. The high rate of screen time is exposing youngsters to cyberbullying, harmful sexualised content and inappropriate advertising for sectors such as alcohol and gambling. YouTube and Netflix are the most popular websites, with one in three children under 14 using social media, most commonly TikTok, which is rated R13. Experts say the problem has worsened since the country was plunged into Covid-19 lockdowns as families’ activities and schooling were thrown into disarray. They say regulations are urgently needed to protect children from harm in the largely unregulated online world. An Auckland mother of five says her family try to limit screen time and use of devices during the school week and has banned TikTok in the house due to inappropriate content and swearing. “When I heard that it was always ‘get off it’. We can’t always control it, but none of them have social media.” In a University of Otago study, adolescents’ habits were tracked by body cameras between 3.30pm and bedtime, with screen time exceeding the recommended level - less than two hours a day outside school hours.
Kids were found to spend around 10 per cent of their time on two screens. Developing research says multiple screen use could be linked with poorer sleep (compared to single screen use). Photo / University of Otago The significant amount of time spent in front of screens raised health and wellbeing concerns, said senior researcher Dr Moira Smith, from the University of Otago’s Department of Public Health in Wellington. “It is associated with obesity, poor mental wellbeing, poor sleep and mental functioning and lack of physical activity,” she said. “It also affects children’s ability to concentrate and regulate their behaviour and emotions.” The findings, published in the New Zealand Medical Journal today, were likely to be an underestimate. The initial data collection was in 2014/15, and use of smartphones and online activity is believed to have increased since then - especially during the pandemic. It is not yet known whether habits formed during the Covid period have persisted, and this is the subject of further research. The Auckland mother said she and her husband were “pretty strict” about how much time the kids spent on electronic devices during the school week. “If they’ve got homework, or maybe a movie, then we’ll let them on. Otherwise, they’re pretty busy from Monday to Friday with school sport training. “In the weekend we’re a bit more lenient, but they have to do their chores first and maybe do a bit of reading and then they can spend a bit of time on their devices.” A lot of her friends had kids who were already on social media. “It’s scary, in case they’re watching something inappropriate and rude that we don’t know.” While screen time was reasonably easy to navigate at home as both parents were on the same page, she said it would be harder in a single-parent home where kids might get left on devices more often “so they can do housework or whatever”. The paper’s authors said the amount of time young people spent online also raised concerns around cyberbullying, exposure to sexism and racism, and exposure to advertising for vapes, alcohol, gambling and junk food. New Zealand legislation was outdated and failed to adequately deal with the online world children were being exposed to, Smith said. “While screen use has many benefits, children need to be protected from harm in this largely unregulated space,” she said. Last month, the Government began consulting on changes to how online content is regulated in New Zealand. That could eventually mean social media companies with a presence in New Zealand have to sign codes of practice requiring them to proactively manage harmful content. The researchers applauded this work, which is being led by the Depa...
Single sex secondary schools seem to be a better environment for boy's learning. A study commissioned by the Association of Boys' Schools of New Zealand has found boys in single sex schools are 20 percent more likely to get University Entrance than co-ed boys. It also finds boys at co-ed schools were twice as likely to leave school with no qualifications. The data was taken from boys who left school between 2017 and 2021. Headmaster at Auckland's Westlake Boys' David Ferguson told Tim Dower the data is very convincing. He says the findings apply no matter the background, decile level or ethnicity. LISTEN ABOVE
The All Blacks face Argentina on Sunday for their first Test of 2023. It's an early start for us, with kick off at 7.10am on Sunday. We had the unveiling of the squad earlier this morning - the main talking point is Damian McKenzie at first-five. The three Barrett brothers are all in the starting line-up and Shannon Frizzell has claimed the blindside flanker spot. Former All Black and commentator Justin Marshall joined Tim Dower to give his take on the side. LISTEN ABOVE
Fears over the wider social implications of a brazen daylight robbery at an Auckland dairy. An owner and a customer were injured in a hammer attack at Jyoti's Dairy in Mount Roskill on Wednesday afternoon. Both are now recovering at home, and police are appealing for any more witnesses. But Puketāpapa Local Board Chair, Ella Kumar said Thursday it won't be an easy fix emotionally and mentally. She says the trauma from the attack will affect the owners' livelihoods and the wider community will be feeling overwhelmed and scared. A Givealittle page has been set up to support the dairy owners. LISTEN ABOVE
ACT says $531 million spent on unused Covid tests is money down the drain. Our newsroom can reveal Te Whatu Ora has almost 60 million rapid antigen tests in stock around the country. About 30 percent of them have already expired or are due to expire by month's end. ACT's deputy leader Brooke van Velden says this shows total disregard for the good use of taxpayers' money. She says the half-a-billion dollars could have been spent on a 10,000 pay rise for every nurse. Te Whatu Ora says it's considering approaching the market to look at options for getting rid of unused tests. LISTEN ABOVE
Time now to talk with one of our best homegrown RNB artists. Alayna Powley, you'll know her best as just Alayna when she's performing, first appeared on the music scene in 2013 when a YouTube video of her singing Sam Smith's nirvana went viral. Her debut ep was in 2018 titled Sweet Soul followed by Tender in 2020. 60 million streams later - we are about to get her debut album. It's been three years in the making but will be released worldwide tomorrow - it's called Self Portrait of a Woman Unravelling and Alayna joined Tim Dower in studio. LISTEN ABOVE
The cricketing world is still not over the events of last week's Ashes test - but tonight is the third match in the series. England need to win at Headingly to keep the series alive. talkSPORT UK correspondent Jon Norman joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
The Education Ministry has opted for an American carpet supplier, rather than buy New Zealand wool for 600 small and rural schools, They've gone for nylon tiles instead. General Manager of Campaign for Wool NZ Tom O'Sullivan and Head of Property for the Ministry of Education Sam Fowler joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
A third medical school could be the pipe line if National gets into Government. Leader Chris Luxon has unveiled plans to set up the school at Waikato University if elected. As well as increasing the medical school placements at Auckland and Otago - the Party expects to have an additional 220 doctors graduating a year by 2030. Waikato University Vice-Chancellor Professor Neil Quigley said Wednesday the university is well placed to deliver this, starting 2027. He says a lot of investment needs to happen first. Professor Neil Quigley joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
New research from NIWA and Auckland University shows more than 400,000 homes are in flood prone areas. Put it another way; it's 12 percent of residential buildings. Around half are in Auckland and Canterbury - Wellington, Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions also have their share. Chair of the NZ Planning Institute Reg Proffit joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Heightened demand in a changing police environment is shifting response time targets for call-outs. Targets have been adjusted, giving officers twice as much time to get to emergencies in urban areas at 45-minutes. Rural targets are up to 60 minutes from 45 - and police can now respond to fewer burglaries in 48-hours. Deputy Police Commissioner Jevon McSkimming told Tim Dower they're seeing significant growth in call-outs. He says there's been almost a doubling in family harm and mental health call outs over the past ten years - and they've had to have an honest conversation about their performance goals. LISTEN ABOVE
Facebook owner Meta is set to unveil its new app to rival Twitter. 'Threads' is a text-based conversation app that will be linked to Instagram, which teased a Twitter-like micro-blogging experience. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Tim Dower this isn't the first time Meta has tried to replicate popular forms of social media. He says many have tried to dent Twitter in the past and failed, but Meta has copied other rivals in the past with stories aimed at Snapchat and reels rivalling TikTok. It's set to release as early as tomorrow. LISTEN ABOVE
Fresh questions this morning have come about how deep the problems run at Oranga Tamariki - and how long they've been going on for. The agency has stood down four staff for allowing an MMA-style fight between two young men and has also been dealing with another similar incident in a similar way. Its also dealing with incidents of youths escaping onto the roofs of youth justice facilities, and has stood down two staff over sexual misconduct allegations. Senior Cabinet Minister Grant Robertson told Tim Dower the issues aren't new, but a rapid review by independent chief executive Mike Bush should be flushed out. National's Police Spokesman Mark Mitchell insists the facilities were run better when National was in charge. LISTEN ABOVE
Two attempts by helicopter and 12 hours of effort have saved two climbers who got lost in a snow storm in The Remarkables. The Scotsman and Frenchman had no avalanche or safety gear when they set out - despite the forecast. Mountain Safety Council CEO Mike Daisley joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
An advocate for children in care says the latest incidents facing Oranga Tamariki point to wider issues within the agency. Children's Minister Kelvin Davis says four staff have been stood down for allowing an MMA-style fight between two young men, and the agency is also dealing with another similar incident in a similar way. It comes days after youths spent the night on the roof of youth justice facilities in Auckland and Christchurch, and comes weeks after two staff were stood down over sexual misconduct allegations. VOYCE Chief Executive Tracey Shipton told Tim Dower it may be the tip of an iceberg. Independent chief executive Mike Bush is carrying out a "rapid review" of the agency. LISTEN ABOVE
Last month was the biggest month ever for new vehicle sales as buyers tried to beat the Government's Clean Car policy changes. The Clean Car rebate introduced last year took a maximum of $8,500 off some electric vehicles that's been reduced to $1,600 less this month. Motor Industry Association data shows record vehicle registrations, nearly 24,000, up more than 2,000 from March last year, around the time the fees were introduced. Chief Executive Aimee Wiley says there were more than 8,000 electric vehicle sales. She says a range of hybrids will no longer attract a rebate and consumers pulled forward purchases before the changes were made. LISTEN ABOVE
Latest CoreLogic data shows the property market may have further to fall. The value of properties across the country weakened last month, down 1.2 percent compared to 0.7 percent the previous month. Most of the main centres saw larger declines with Auckland dropping three percent, but Wellington was a less extreme drop of 0.6 percent. Head of Research, Nick Goodall says it brings uncertainty to the market. He says it could lead to a bit of a slow down in activity, but there are parts of the market that are doing well. LISTEN ABOVE
Consent education across the board is being hailed as a way to keep people safe. People aged 16 to 24 are four times more likely to experience sexual violence than others - something campaign group Let's Talk Consent want to change. Co-Founder Genna Hawkins-Boulton told Tim Dower mandatory education on consent would lead to young people having healthy relationships. She says young people will learn about sex through social media and pornography if it's not taught well in schools. LISTEN ABOVE
Claims have come that the Government's new plan to fix vacancies in the health sector won't help primary and community care. Health Minister Ayesha Verrall has unveiled the workforce action plan - which aims to hire more than eight-thousand doctors, nurses and other health staff. It includes ramping up offshore recruitment, offering more training places and expanding "earn-as-you-learn" and rural programmes. Federation of Primary Health Aotearoa Chair, Steve Chadwick told Tim Dower there should've been more emphasis on primary and community workforces - who are still under immense pressure. LISTEN ABOVE
Since 1861, 44 New Zealand bred horses have won the Melbourne Cup. And since 2003, the cup has been going on a pre-race tour - this year it visits 41 destinations. In New Zealand - the first stop has to be the Newstalk ZB studio. Keeper of the Cup Joe McGrath joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
When you hear the name Nigel Latta, what comes to mind? He's taught us about criminals, raising kids, travelling and managing money. Now the Order of New Zealand recipient and clinical psychologist is back after five years away from our screens. He has a new four-part series, which debuted last night, called 'You've Been Scammed by Nigel Latta' which is aimed at teaching us all about how to see through and deal with a scam. Nigel Latta joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
A new report shows children in New Zealand need better food. The Healthy Food Environment report has found one fifth of preventable deaths are related to unhealthy diets and one in eight children live in households where there's not enough to eat. It's calling for government changes towards healthy, sustainable food systems. Auckland University lecturer Sally Mackay says kids are exposed to a lot of unhealthy marketing. She says government regulation could stop them being bombarded by ads. LISTEN ABOVE
Eligibility for cataract surgery is being expanded and the Government is aiming to get another 3500 operations done every year. This is another area where the old DHB regions and their various points systems distorted access by area. Member of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists Jesse Gale joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins says he still has confidence in Cabinet Minister Kiri Allan. The Prime Minister has confirmed he'll be having a "good chat" with Allan after he returns from Europe next week, following allegations about historic tensions in her office. Allan has been on mental health leave, and is now on leave for school holidays. Hipkins told Tim Dower everyone makes mistakes, and Allan is no exception. Meanwhile, Hipkins is still piecing together how Labour MP Ingrid Leary ended up in a Mongrel Mob election hui, mistaking it for an Electoral Commission meeting. He says if he was her, he would have left the meeting as soon as he'd discovered the mistake. LISTEN ABOVE
Rising interest rates are affecting some people more than others. Latest figures from credit bureau Centrix has found 426,000 New Zealanders are now behind on debt repayments, making up 11.7 percent of people with active credit. It's the first time arrears have surpassed the levels reached in 2019. Centrix managing director Keith McLaughlin told Tim Dower people who have recently reached the life stage of buying their first home are finding it tougher right now. He says people who have been longer-term owners of property have been affected less. LISTEN ABOVE
No clear end in sight to mass riots in France, protesting the death of a teenager who was fatally shot by Police. CNN reports more than 2,000 people have been detained and thousands of fires have been reported. Newstalk ZB's Catherine Field told Tim Dower the French Government has upped security to places that will be used for the 2024 Olympics. She says there are 45,000 Police and paramilitary on the streets each night and the Prime Minister has indicated this will stay. LISTEN ABOVE
The latest pay offer to nurses is being called a significant and positive outcome. The Government is stumping up an additional $1.5 billion towards an interim settlement. That would mean Te Whatu Ora nurses get a pay rise and a $15,000 dollar lump sum. College of Nurses Executive Director Kate Weston says it's an offer certainly worth considering. She told Tim Dower it's now time to turn their attention to other sectors. Weston says nurses in areas like aged care and Māori and iwi providers have had small pay increases which aren't enough. LISTEN ABOVE
Building consents are unlikely to see a return to last year's spike. Stats NZ says consents fell 11 percent in the year to May. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher says stand alone home consents have been falling for a while, but now we're seeing consents for multi-unit builds decreasing as well. He told Tim Dower that's unlikely to change anytime soon. Kelleher says consents could fall even further because of headwinds like increased costs and higher interest rates. LISTEN ABOVE
Gold struck at New Zealand's deepest mine could be worth two-billion dollars. The development —850 metres deep into the ground at The Snowy River Mine, near Ikamatua on the West Coast— is a bounty of quartz reef. Development West Coast chief executive Heath Milne says that it's not a new discovery, but re-establishing an old reef that was mined in the 1950s. Milne says it's been well known the resources were there, and after 70 million dollars spent getting to the old reef, the rewards are about to be reaped. LISTEN ABOVE
French authorities are hoping for a quieter night across the country after five nights of violence sparked by the death of a 17-year-old. Thousands have been arrested and 45 thousand Police Officers have been deployed across France since rioting started last week. The family of the French teenager killed by Police in a traffic stop are calling for the riots to stop. France Correspondent Catherine Field told Tim Downer that the French President Emmanuel Macron is holding another emergency cabinet meeting. She says he's meeting with the Prime Minister and the Interior, Justice, and Economy Ministers to try to figure out a way to end the violence. LISTEN ABOVE
Greater strides are being taken to ensure New Zealand-born healthcare professionals can serve their own communities. The Government's adding 830 clinical placements for nursing students, starting with 130 in this July and August intakes. It means more nursing students on waiting lists can start their nursing studies. Health Minister Ayesha Verrall says told Tim Dower that it's a proposal that has been around a long time, and she wants to bring it into fruition. She says until they had the health reforms, they weren't able to get the initiative underway. LISTEN ABOVE
Suspicions are growing that this weekend's standoff at an Oranga Tamariki youth justice facility was copycat behaviour. Five teens got onto the roof at South Auckland's Korowai Manaaki facility on Saturday evening, spending the night and most of yesterday up there. Former Lead Police Negotiator Lance Burdett says it's similar to an incident that happened the week before at a similar facility near Christchurch. He says more forceful approaches shouldn't be used because they can backfire, like the parliament protests. Burdett told Tim Dower that Oranga Tamariki could take this opportunity to improve for future incidents. LISTEN ABOVE
Oranga Tamariki will be looking at making rapid change following a second roof protest at one of its justice facilities. Five teens spent a night and most of yesterday on the roof of the Korowai Manaaki youth justice facility in South Auckland this weekend. Seven days earlier, a group of five broke into the roof of a facility near Christchurch. Deputy Chief Executive Tusha Penny says they are still investigating exactly why they decided to climb onto the roof. She told Tim Dower that while they are young, there'll be no tolerance for this type of behaviour. LISTEN ABOVE
The Greens are promising a raft of rental regulations this election. The party's newly-released housing policy includes a cap on rent increases of three percent a year and a national landlord register. Some property investors worry that this cracks down on landlords, with one going so far as to call it landlord-bashing. Others fear some may sell their properties if this comes in. But Green Party Co-Leader Marama Davidson told Tim Dower that renters deserve liveable conditions, and there's significant demand. She says housing has been hit hard by inflation, and it's something they want to combat. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. RATs: 3/10 Scandal of the week. The Government that stopped private enterprises importing them and if you had them, took them off you. Then they went and stored them, didn’t use them, waited until they were next to useless, can't tell you what they cost to store, apart from last year where the bill was $45million. Are you serious? Scott Robertson: 9/10 He ends in the best way you can - as a winner. Who can possibly deny him the next step, given the record? Kiri Allen: 4/10 It's unfortunate timing in the sense that even if she is a pain to work with, it's not the end of the world. Except her issues line up alongside all the other issues, and all those issues look like a complete, imploding shambles. Sign up to our newsletter to get the best of Newstalk ZB each week - direct to your inbox Three Waters: 3/10 Second worst scandal of the week. Another $1 billion and the damn thing hasn’t even started yet. Benefits: 4/10 3rd scandal of the week in the revelation that they are up 48% over the term of this Government. Who else got a 48% increase and for what? Universities: 7/10 Good news story of the week. They got bailed out but, also, they all rose in the global rankings. Planes: 4/10 Small tip on modern transport - when you need a back-up because the main one is too knackered, find another way. I'd suggest commercial airlines. There are quite a few of them. The climate hypocrisy: 2/10 4th scandal of the week. You can't call a climate crisis then take two planes on an overseas trip. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
It's about to be over. Tomorrow our petrol goes up 29c per litre. It's at that point you will realise, if you haven't already, what a madly, false world of cocked-up economics we have all been living in. Money the Government never had was spent to save us from the real world. As we pointed out at the time, once you tap into that world of the false economy, you can't easily extract yourself. At some point reality has to return and someone has to pay the bill. The oddity was that it came in when oil was at about $90 a barrel and eventually headed to over $130 a barrel. It hasn’t been that high for ages. In fact it's in the mid $70's, which is well below where it was when it started to become a problem in the first place. If the Government had been smart they could have said that when it returns to the $90 mark, where it was, we will cut the subsidy. In other words, say you'll offset the spike but when the spike is over you are back to normal. They didn’t do that of course. Instead they said they would end. It didn't end. Then they said they would end it again. And then it didn’t. Again. Finally, it got to be such an expensive joke they had no choice and this weekend it's all over. So the warnings are out - fill up before there are shortages. And petrol companies are writing op-ed pieces pleading with the public not to take our frustration out on poor petrol station workers. It’s a sad, mad and pathetic old world. Of course all this artificial expenditure comes at a price because it's inflationary. It adds to our debt which, because of interest rates, is becoming increasingly expensive. It will also, as of this weekend, eat into our already meagre and stretched disposable income. To add insult to injury, because the price is up the tax take is up. So a chunk of it heads to the Government anyway. Free stuff or subsidised stuff is good news for many. Who cares who pays if it isn't you, right? But like all things of this nature someone always pays. That's why the smart operators keep the bill real That’s why they understand there is no free lunch. We just pretend it's free until we can't afford to pretend any more. And that day is Saturday.
After over a year of decline, some house prices are on the road to recovery. The latest OneRoof report shows quarterly value growth in 107 metro suburbs - with growth stronger in Christchurch while Auckland, Dunedin and Wellington play catch-up. Almost half of those suburbs recorded a quarter on quarter increase, with 17 suburbs values growing more than 1 percent. OneRoof Editor Owen Vaughan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Good news if you are planning on settling in for a weekend of watching sport. TVNZ are launching their new free to air 'sports hub' on both TVNZ+ and their other TVNZ channels. They say it will be the biggest free to air live sports hub in nearly three decades. Head of Sport at TVNZ Melodie Robinson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Primary school principals have accepted a third collective agreement offer from the Education Ministry. It includes a six percent base salary increase in July and further rises next year. There's also lump sum payments and allowances for cultural leadership and professional coaching. NZEI lead negotiator Lynda Stuart says it goes some way to addressing issues, but there's more work to be done. She says there are still issues around management staffing and they'll be working with the Ministerial Advisory Group on that. LISTEN ABOVE
National's promising further action on ram-raiders, should it come to power in October. It wants to make filming and publishing a crime an aggravating factor in the Sentencing Act to crack down on the trend of sharing crimes online. It would also expand the serious offence criteria for its proposed Young Serious Offender category to include the same. National Party Justice Spokesperson, Paul Goldsmith, told Mike Hosking it's a simple and common-sense fix. LISTEN ABOVE
It's a game of wait and see for the Census target. Today's the final day for people to complete the compulsory survey for all New Zealanders. About 89 percent have filled it out so far. Statistics Minister Deborah Russell told Mike Hosking she doesn't know yet if it will reach their target of getting 90 percent of people to complete it. She says there's a whole lot of information to come in yet so she's leaving that determination to the professionals. LISTEN ABOVE
A 45-year legal precedent is being rolled back by the United States Supreme Court. It's ruled against universities considering a prospective student's race, when deciding admissions. It ends affirmative action, where colleges could take race into account in order to improve diversity. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking President Joe Biden and the Democrats are slamming the decision. Biden says money and power are factored in to decisions regarding prospective students, so diversity and the country's history of discrimination should be also. The Supreme Court has six conservative-leaning justices, and three appointed by Democratic presidents. LISTEN ABOVE
A raft of cost-of-living subsidies and temporary tax cuts are set to end tomorrow, with economists and budgeting services warning it will hurt those already struggling financially. Other changes made by the Government will begin tomorrow, including a total ban on plastic straws, parental leave payment increases and new rules on child support benefits. The biggest hit to New Zealanders’ back pockets is the end of the fuel tax discount, adding 25c a litre and almost 4c extra GST. The subsidy for road user charges for diesel vehicles will also end. Half-price public transport fares will stop for most, with only children under 13 riding for free, while half-price fares for community services card holders and people under 25 will remain. “Any additional increase in spending is going to make some people’s lives even worse,” said Mangere Budgeting Services Trust chief executive Lara Dolan. She told the Herald families who came to her for help, in particular, spend “about 10 to 15 per cent” of their weekly income on petrol and transportation. “You can’t not buy petrol, you have to go to work. Some people won’t have enough money to meet basic needs,” she said. “This increase is going to put people further into hardship.” The Government estimated the reduced fuel tax and road users charges will have cost it $2 billion in revenue. A spokesperson for Transport Minister David Parker’s office said the cost of the half-price fares from April 1, 2022 to May 31 this year is $142 million. In February, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said extending the subsidies was the right thing to do to help people with the cost-of-living crisis, despite the extension alone costing an estimated $718m in lost Government revenue. “I believe this is the right thing to do for New Zealand families. We can strike a balance between targeted ongoing support and careful management of the Government accounts. We are paying for the extension from savings identified in the most recent baseline update,” he said. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was also clear at the time that the suspension of the fuel excise duty would end tomorrow. But Infometrics economist Brad Olsen said the fuel tax cuts were not targeted and had been ineffectual. “The fuel tax subsidies were a dumb economic policy to start with,” he said. “It doesn’t make their removal, though, any easier for the average New Zealand who’s having to pay more for fuel from tomorrow. It wasn’t a good, targeted policy. We shouldn’t repeat it again, but it certainly is going to be a challenge for households when they have to readjust.” Olsen also said with only a few months to go before the general election, “this is the sort of thing that people are going to be looking at and wondering [about]”. He explained the return of the revenue for the Government would give it more options for spending, but money had already been allocated in Budget 2023. “All of that money [fuel taxes] goes directly into the land transport fund to fund transport projects and roads. While there has been a reduction in that revenue, the government has had to top up the transport fund from general taxes. “If anything, there might be less borrowing than the Government might have otherwise done if it had continued with the fuel tax cuts.” Westpac senior economist Satish Ranchhod echoed concerns for hardworking Kiwis, saying while petrol accounted for 4 per cent of the average household’s budget, it was a larger share for those on lower incomes. “It’s going to suck a lot of cash out of wallets. We are expecting households are going to go backwards in terms of their spending power,” Ranchhod said. “People are going to find they are not going to be able to purchase as much as they have been, especially since those cost increases are in areas they can’t avoid buying like food and fuel. “That means they’ll have to cut back in those discretionary areas like entertainment of some of those ‘nice to haves’. There is going to be a decent amount of belt-ti...
Do you reckon Chris Hipkins regrets the deal he did with Grant and Jacinda late last year? Do you think Jacinda had an inkling that things were spiralling out of control, both economically and internally, and thought "tell you what, a book deal, a King's Honour and wandering around a few universities waxing lyrical about kindness looks way more fun than this cluster"? Poor, old Hipkins can't even leave the country without yet another minister imploding. We must be careful, of course, in a world where our mental health has taken on new significance, personal tumult is not to be dismissed. But the Kiri Allen story appears to have two different chapters to it. Her personal leave is for personal issues, but there's also a group of people seconded to her office that clearly couldn't stand it and bailed early. There is a pattern here, given she is not the first minister to face staffing issues. Meka Whaitiri was accused of assaulting one of her staff, Anna Lorck had trouble and who can forget Gaurav Sharma. In the meantime, in China poor, old Chris, still frozen in fear from having to talk about foreign matters, was bailed up about errant behaviour back home. He said concern had been raised, although there was no official complaint, as though that somehow justifies or explains it. You have to wonder how many more fall between now and October 14th. Jan Tinetti still awaits her verdict from the Privileges Committee. What must her staff think of her, given they gave her the warning about correcting the mess she created in the house? Michael Wood, like Allen, is off on personal leave, having imploded under the weight of his hubris. Stuart Nash got warned and sacked and warned and quit - or whatever the order was. Now, Hipkins has to rumble his way back to the country via Manila and Darwin to face yet another ministerial crisis. Here is a thought - could part of it actually be on him? Wood was a busy minister portfolio-wise. Post sacking all his work got distributed to other already busy ministers. Why? Because Hipkins, having learned from Tinetti and the Ginny Andersen promotions, knew he had no talent left so he had no choice. Which brings us back to Ardern. Good leaders, actual bona fide leaders, leave with the place in better shape than they arrived. You don't bugger the place up and then bail leaving a trail of destruction. Yet, here we are. One question left - how much do you want to bet the carnage ain't over yet?
Kiwi-Nigerian UFC fighter Israel Adesanya is in the discussion for the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world right now. The current UFC Middleweight Champion reclaimed his belt in April against Alex Pereira and will fight again later this year. But in the meantime - he's been involved in a documentary about his life, called Stylebender. It's already debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival to rave reviews and will be out in theatres here late next month - Israel Adesanya joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Taylor Swift effect has well and truly taken off on Kiwi fans. After not announcing any New Zealand shows, fans are desperate to get their hands on tickets to one of the five Australian shows. The capacity for her three Sydney shows is around 250,000, while her two Melbourne shows will fit 200,000 fans. Head of Eccles Entertainment Brent Eccles joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Since 2013, drink driving deaths have doubled. Last year, deaths on our roads involving drunk drivers hit a 10-year peak, with 33 more fatalities than the year before. Police have a target to test 3 million drivers for alcohol yearly - yet that hasn't been reached since 2014. Assistant Commissioner of Deployment and Road Policing Naila Hassan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A seventh Super Rugby title for Scott Robertson is just the send off that was needed before he takes up his new role as All Blacks coach. This is Robertson's first interview since the final and all the festivities that followed. Crusaders coach Scott 'Razor' Robertson joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Councillors hoping to bring down Let's Get Wellington Moving will have their big vote today. This morning the Wellington City Council will decide on whether to declare no confidence in the $7.4 billion transport plan. At current count, the number of councillors who don't back the projeck are the minority. City Councillor Tim Brown told Mike Hosking the project won't get the capital moving. He says the plan is about taking cars off the roads which he states could reduce the number of pedestrians in the city. LISTEN ABOVE
With a new report highlighting the divided workplace culture and overall leadership issues within the Department of Corrections - it is hard to see how even a new ad campaign can make the job appealing. The report found senior leadership within Corrections are failing to address a risk-averse and reactive culture - while prisoner rights are not at the heart of decisions. Department of Corrections chief executive Jeremy Lightfoot joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The fossil fuel industry's move to keep expanding has been deemed as a recipe for huge financial loss. The oil and gas industry has said they're working towards net zero climate emissions, but a Mindful Money report reveals these promises are no more than greenwashing. Instead of investing in clean energy, it shows they're investing to expand their exploration and field development. Mindful Money CEO Barry Coates told Mike Hosking this will lead to these companies losing money in future. He says we already have far more oil and gas in reserve than what's needed to produce in future. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
If you want a good example of simple economics, we are living through a doozy. It's only Wednesday but already this week we have millions promised by people who have less than no money to solve the problems they created. $5 million for ski fields, piles of millions for universities, millions more for food banks. Then there's the welfare stats that show, on average, main beneficiaries have been getting, through a variety of mechanisms, a 9.6 percent rise in income each and every year for the term of this Government. Economic lesson number one is you shouldn’t be spending money you don’t have, because that is debt. Our debt levels are troublesome and getting worse as interest rates rise. The universities are short of students and they are short because of the border closures. Now they are open again we don’t appeal the way we used to and crime is part of that equation. The Government argue it's also because there is low unemployment so we don’t go to university. But we have low unemployment because the borders were closed, and now they're open we don’t have the same appeal. Are you seeing a trend here? The skiing should have been solved, because we have interested parties. But the process has been a mess and the Government has decided to step in twice, even though they said they wouldn't. A new party, a Māori party, has shown interest. This will most likely prove a game changer, hence the Government has bought time with more money. There is more demand for food banks because we have a cost-of-living crisis. We have a cost-of-living crisis because the Government fire hosed the economy with money it didn’t have. Too much money chased too few goods, so the price of everything went up. We then asked for pay rises to cover the price rises, we got them and then spent it, hence the prices went up some more because the cost of labour went up. The welfare recipients who get a pay rise based on inflation got stonking amounts, for no other reason than inflation was through the roof because we had buggered the economy. And round and round and round we go. And you wonder why we are in a recession. Well, you don’t wonder because we have already worked it out. The question is this - do those who have made this mess not get the basic economics? Or worse - do they get them and they just don’t care? And are literally happy to take the country down with them?
As we approach the July school holidays, Air New Zealand are expecting half a million Kiwis onboard this year. 45,000 seats have been added on domestic flights - and more than 1,300 international flights are scheduled - with Sydney being the most popular destination. Air NZ Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Evidence vapes may not be the smoking cessation tool they're cracked up to be. Latest research from Otago University has analysed data related to people's smoking and vaping habits through 2018 to 2020. Overall, vapers proved just as likely to move to cigarettes as smokers were to pick up vaping. Lead author Andre Mason says contrary to the desired result, vaping has emerged as just another smoking-related behaviour. He says it raises an important question to be considered when evaluating policies related to both vaping and smoking. LISTEN ABOVE
Health professionals are being left with no choice but to carry on in the face of a dire kidney healthcare situation. There's a push for urgent action, as new findings show all 15 of our kidney dialysis regions are being impacted by capacity constraints, too few dialysis treatment chairs and a lack of physical infrastructure. Most regions report their current staffing levels can't meet demand. Te Whatu Ora Southern DHB's Professor Rob Walker told Mike Hosking kidney disease is not a popular topic. He says it doesn't get the publicity other areas of healthcare do and under-funding of the sector is a long-standing problem. LISTEN ABOVE
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Covid response is entering its next phase. Work has been underway since February to collate lessons learned from the pandemic to improve future preparedness. Commissioners have so far been identifying, sourcing and reviewing publicly available information. Chair, epidemiologist Tony Blakely says they're now talking with those involved in influencing and delivering the policies. He says they're busy speaking to key policy institutions in Wellington and will soon get out around the country, starting with Auckland. The report is due next June. LISTEN ABOVE
There is concern the National Party is playing politics with the RMA. Parliament's Environmental Select Committee has suggested a range of amendments to the gargantuan piece of legislation. But National's Chris Bishop has promised to repeal the Government's RMA replacement bills by Christmas if elected in October. Environmental Select Committee Chair and Green Party MP Eugenie Sage told Mike Hosking it would be a massive waste just to scrap it. She says Minister David Parker has spent five years on it and National hasn't raised any constructive alternatives. LISTEN ABOVE
The Finance Minister is telling universities to take a look at how they deal with their finances and do better. Institutions will get a piece of the $128 million pie, over the next two years. Many have been struggling with declining enrolments and ongoing pandemic impacts. Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking institutions also need to take a serious look at their financial books. “I do think there’s some questions to answer at the moment about how some of the universities involved have got themselves in the position they have." LISTEN ABOVE
So the spin is flying, no pun intended, around the Prime Ministerial cavalcade to China. How do you possibly defend the use of two planes, when one of them is empty? How do you, in a climate crisis, a climate emergency, in a Government that has called this emergency our nuclear moment, possibly defend this amount of climatic carnage? The Prime Minister's office tells us there is a delegation of 45, in a way that seems to indicate that moving 45 people is somehow a bit new, or unusual, or complicated. It is cheaper than hiring a plane, thus indicating that cost is the deciding factor as opposed to the climate. Fortunately, it is not as bad as you might have imagined. The second plane isn't going to China. It's been to Manila, just in case Chris Hipkins' one broke down. The irony, of which there are many, is that when it came to cars in such a state i.e old and clapped out, the Government introduced a programme, called "cash-for-clunkers". They then went and cancelled it, but the thought was there. The point is simple - you are either a hypocrite, or you aren't. Part of the Prime Minister office's argument is this is a very important trip and with that large delegation you want to make sure they'll get there. But at no point do they address the carbon climate hypocrisy, and that’s largely because they can't. Here is the simple truth - if you don’t trust your own plane, ring Air New Zealand and buy a ticket. Buy 45 tickets! Do what most of the rest of the world does. Somehow, a trip to China by the Prime Minister of a small island nation with an old plane has been elevated to such an extent that all actions and behaviour around climate can be suspended. And all stops can be pulled out, no matter how bad it looks for the environment. Does it pass the pub test? No, it doesn’t. Here is the next thing - if we hadn't banged on about this yesterday, it would appear no one else would have. Certainly not the media on board the very planes in question. They were happy to wax lyrical about Chris Luxon and his wife's EV last week, but somehow two planes are not worth a word? A $8000 rebate, as prescribed by Government policy, is a story of rank hypocrisy. But two planes, one empty, to transport 45 people is somehow not news? I just can't work out how it is the media has ended up with such a questionable reputation. Go figure.
Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie has called revealing the truth behind Australia's most decorated soldier the toughest assignment of his 21 year journalism career. Ben Roberts-Smith lost his defamation case against three newspapers who reported he had murdered civilians in Afghanistan. McKenzie was the first to report the story - and has now released his new book Crossing the Line.
He told Mike Hosking no one - including himself - wanted to believe Roberts-Smith was a war criminal. But McKenzie says while it's weighed heavily upon him - his stress in exposing the story is nothing compared to what the S.A.S soldiers faced in standing up to Roberts-Smith. LISTEN ABOVE
A back up Defence Force 757 aircraft has been sent on Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ trip to China due to the aircraft’s unreliability and likely chances of breaking down. Both planes are about 30 years old and in less than a year $33 million has been spent on repairs, on top of the $70 million already spent in the last five years. They are both set to be replaced between 2028-2030. Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told Mike Hosking he's not surprised to hear figures like that. LISTEN ABOVE
A government announcement to help universities get over the line is coming this afternoon. Victoria, Otago, Massey, and Waikato universities are all struggling with financial deficits, due to declining student enrolments and pandemic impacts. Acting Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni told Mike Hosking more people are working rather than studying due to the cost of living. She says this is about making sure people have the right skills to lead our economy. LISTEN ABOVE
An average of around 16 percent of Kiwis' after-tax income is spent on infrastructure services - including drinking water, transport, broadband and home heating. And spending on those services is surprisingly comparable to Australian households. The New Zealand Infrastructure Commission General Manager of Strategy Geoff Cooper joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A lifeline comes as the Government offers a $5 million helping hand towards the liquidators of Ruapehu Alpine Lifts. The loan is being touted as the silver bullet to ensure the ski season can go ahead. Meanwhile, discussions continue behind closed doors. Bids are on the table for an iwi group to purchase the skifields against a separate bid to split operations between Pure Turoa and Whakapapa Holdings. Liquidator John Fisk told Mike Hosking the loan allows consultation with iwi to continue before a sale. He says this also gives them confidence to go into the winter season, meaning they don't have to rush. LISTEN ABOVE
It's expected Chris Hipkins will be walking a tight rope during his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping in Beijing today. Newstalk ZB Political Editor Jason Walls says the diplomatic proceedings will be highly choreographed, with every word chosen carefully. He told Mike Hosking it will be a balancing act. “Such as things like human rights, things like the treatment of the Uighur Muslims and things like that. But at the same time, we need to keep them onside – they’re a huge economic partner for New Zealand.” LISTEN ABOVE
If you haven't caught up, Three Waters is back. That surprises me to a degree, given the trouble the Government has had with Three Waters, the problems they have in the polls and the trouble they dug themselves into last week over race issues in health. Just to recap - when the Prime Minister became the Prime Minister he tossed a bunch of stuff out, or on the bonfire. But one of them wasn’t Three Waters. Three Waters was handed to Kieran McAnulty to wander off and rejig. Trouble with the rejig is it was limited to changing the number of water entities to ten from four. I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve, given the main problem was not the number of entities but rather the co-governance aspect. Maori got automatic access and too much influence. Maybe Kieran thought if he could smokescreen us we wouldn’t notice. What you might have noticed is it has vanished from the radar for the past couple of months. That is the beauty of the news cycle for the Government. We can't keep our attention on much more than one or two things these days, so serious issues can disappear. But, Three Waters is back. It has been announced that Northland and Auckland will lead off in terms of implementation. The trouble with this is two-fold; 1) It's an electoral disaster the Government doesn’t need, 2) It's not set to actually start until the middle of next year i.e when they are potentially out of office. So, the obvious question is, why? Given all the trouble you have got as a Government, would you take a turd of an idea and reheat it to make your life harder during the campaign, if you have no chance of having it actually up and working to be able to show off as a potential success story? Race has, and will, bog this Government down. The Maorification that has unfolded in the past six years has got up the nose of a lot of people in this country. And Three Waters, in many respects, is the crown jewel of all that is wrong with the philosophy. The mere fact the water authorities “may” give consideration to community concerns over water, but “must” react to Maori concerns is the very race problem so many don’t get, and don’t like. Yet, here we are, looking to re-enter the battle once again. Ask yourself this - if you are Labour, does promoting separatism, through a massive restructure of water, enhance your chances of gaining votes? Exactly. So good luck with that.
National's law and order policy is being applauded for putting focus back onto victims of crime. It’s vowing to stop funding cultural reports on offender's backgrounds, redirecting the money to victim support. If elected, a 40% cap will also be slapped on the amount judges can discount sentences. Independent victim advocate Ruth Money says survivors of crime feel the discounts are getting out of control. LISTEN ABOVE
There's trepidation over a controversial attempt to manipulate the weather to fight climate change. The European Commission is looking at interfering with weather patterns to cool the earth. It would involve multiple controversial techniques, including a vehicle flying around up to 25 kilometres above the earth's surface shooting out micron-sized particles that affect the sun. Victoria University climate change professor Dave Frame told Mike Hosking that it's a terrible idea, but needs to be experimented in a controlled setting. He likens it to studying viruses, where it's hoped they're never used but important to know about. LISTEN ABOVE
National's hitting out at the Government's plane double up for its China trip. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and his entourage, along with a business delegation and reporters landed in Beijing last night on the Defence Force Boeing 757. But a second 757 has tailed them as a contingency plan, given that breakdowns have become a somewhat regular occurrence. National Party Leader, Chris Luxon told Mike Hosking that it doesn't make sense to take two in a climate emergency. He says it also speaks to concerns around the reliability of those aircrafts. LISTEN ABOVE
An attempted armed mutiny in Russia suggests that things may be unravelling for Vladimir Putin. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner fighters has forced the Russian president into an amnesty agreement. The deal halted Wagner's march on Moscow, but only after two major cities had been seized. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that Putin must have seen this coming, as the Washington Post reported the Americans had a sense of this mutiny coming about two weeks ago. He says if it's factored in that Putin knew and was unable to do anything about it, it adds to the view he's very much weakened in his situation. LISTEN ABOVE
Alarm bells are ringing over surgeons' ability to use surgical mesh. Due to concerns about avoidable harm, the Health Ministry's set up a credential process for highly-specialised urogynecological operations. In the first round of assessments, 12 surgeons applied but only half met the requirements. Some are calling for the practice to be suspended. Wellington Hospital's Clinical Lead for Gynaecology, Nick Bedford told Mike Hosking that the use of products such as mesh implants have reduced over the past decade. He says there are still some that are used, and that there is a place for them, but they need to be used safely with patients' full consent and awareness. LISTEN ABOVE
A rare uprising in Russia is thought to be reflective of Vladimir Putin's splintering leadership. The US says the weekend mutiny by Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner fighters has forced the Russian president into an amnesty agreement. Two major cities had been seized before the deal halted Wagner's march on Moscow. Putin accused the group of treason but all charges have since been dropped. The Center for European Policy Analysis' Edward Lucas told Mike Hosking it shows that Putin is weak. He says the view of Putin as a 'strong man' who has all of Russia in his grip is out-of-date, because this coup wouldn't have happened if he was in charge. LISTEN ABOVE
I don’t think I am alone in thinking we have got about nowhere in this scandal around race based health prioritisation. Sadly it has, entirely predictably, descended into a race scrap where by those who quite rightly ask questions about a highly contentious issue are simply called racist. Being called racist is the laziest of responses sadly rolled out on queue to often these days by people who have run out of sensible arguments. If you support putting people higher up a ladder or queue based on race say so. We can disagree - but at least we know where we stand. All that the Government have done so far this week is dig themselves a monumental hole where by they end up looking like they can’t even explain what it is they are trying to explain. The doctor from Auckland Health on Monday started it on this show, a doctor …seemingly in support …in the middle of this so called dilemma on the hospital floor. Unable to articulate just what it was they were doing other than telling us to talk to others and it had something to do with an algorithm. The Health Minister was tying herself in knots over whether it was an Auckland thing or a national thing. It seemed confined to Northland and Auckland and yet in the house on Tuesday when asked how many hospitals were involved she said Auckland and Middlemore - neither of which are in Northland Then the Prime Minister decided that citing other criteria like rural living and poverty somehow made up for the fact race was part of it as well. The critical part he missed or doesn’t get is the simple fact living rurally is not race based. Being poor isn't race based, and they are separate categories So if you are poor and lingering or in the country and lingering, you are prioritised as you should be, you might be Māori, you might not be. Because that isn't the criteria. Race, as a separate criteria, then gives you the leg up so many are now upset about. You get another crack at the queue; you on race alone get one more chance to be advanced. A shot no one other than you gets and that is the bit that is wrong. Anyone can be chronic in their condition, anyone can be poor or rural or old or young or anyone of the other criteria in that we are all equal. But we are not equal on race - and there is your crime. It's either a scandal because even they don't get it and therefore can't explain it, or it’s a scandal because they do get it and they just can’t argue their way out of it.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Michael Wood: 1/10 "How to blow up a career with a dozen warnings and an indescribable amount of arrogance." Ruapehu: 4/10 "You can't help but conclude self-interest won the day at the expense of an entire region." "Upside, all is not lost - a deal will hopefully be done." Crusaders v Chiefs: 8/10 "That's a lip-smacking prospect, the two best teams." "The reality that either side could win, who doesn't love good sport?" All Blacks: 6/10 "Bit early to get too excited given the size of the squad, but All Black's rugby in a world cup year is the stuff we live for." ETS reset: 4/10 "This is what happens when you have thought bubbles you call plans." Harry and Meghan: 7/10 "Being called Grifters is the best bagging I've heard in ages." "Sums them up perfectly, self-absorbed time wasting go nowheres, even their workmates can't stand them." Sunny Kaushal: 8/10 "My hero of the week. Once again the dairy owners were in Wellington with their petitions and please to do something, I admire his passion and determination." Rents: 4/10 "Another month, another record for a government that banged on about affordable housing." "How's that going for them?" LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The final game of the Super Rugby season will kick off this Saturday in Hamilton. The Crusaders and Chiefs will battle it out for the Super Rugby title in front of a sold out FMG Stadium. Chiefs Head Coach Clayton McMillan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Oceangate says the five missing crew on the Titan submersible are believed to be dead. Debris was found 500 metres away from the titanic Oceanographer Dr Jules Jaffe helped discover the Titanic wreck - he joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast out of California. LISTEN ABOVE
National's finance spokesperson says she's shocked by Government's inability to confirm if the Provincial Growth Fund is getting bang for buck. Parliament has been told the paper trail tracking the Government's handling of the $640 million fund is so poor, auditors had to ask officials to recall what happened in their meetings. National's Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking she can't believe they didn't check the applications against the original criteria. She says it gives the impression the Government is spraying around a big money hose full of taxpayer cash. LISTEN ABOVE
With numbers of those employed in the public sector increasing by 28 percent, along with more top heavy well-paid managers and communication teams, and an increase in spending - a new report is questioning why the outcomes in government dominated sectors aren't performing better. An earlier study shows the best performing countries are capable of achieving the same public service outcomes as New Zealand for up to 49 percent fewer resources. NZ Initiative Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
It is about to become a lot tougher for criminals to get their hands on guns. That's the ultimate aim of a digital firearms registry that goes live tomorrow. It hopes to track nearly 240,000 licensed gun owners, who must sign up within five years. Police minister Ginny Andersen told Mike Hosking an issue right now is criminals stealing legal guns, and the new system will help determine where those firearms end up. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister has a tight rope to navigate as he prepares for his trip to China next week. Chris Hipkins is set to leave on Sunday with a large business delegation including exporters from the primary sector, tourism and education sectors. He will meet with Chinese leader Xi JinPing. Former Prime Minister Sir John Key says China's economy has enormous upsides and plenty of opportunities for New Zealand exporters. But he told Mike Hosking it's becoming more difficult as our allies put pressure on our country to be more vocal about concerns linked to China. Key says there are some people in the U.S who are against dealing with China at all - but he doesn't agree with that. LISTEN ABOVE
The whole Michael Wood story defies any logical explanation. It defied explanation when he got into trouble over the airport shares. It defied explanation when it was thought he got asked six times to get rid of them but didn’t. It defied explanation when it turned out to be 12 times The Prime Minister had the chance to lance the boil at the time but chose not to. Chris Hipkins has been let down in an astonishingly way by his own team members - I am almost starting to feel sorry for him. Given Woods finally fell on his sword yesterday after yet more share revelations; how is it possible they got themselves into that big a hole? Just what sort of mess, what sort of shambolic buffoon do you need to be to have dug yourself into the sort of chaos Wood seems to have? And why has it been allowed to stretch out for so long? The Wevers report into the airport business is presumably now pointless. But between Jan Tinetti and her misleading the house and her refusal to correct it as quickly as she could. Between Meka Whaitiri having such an issue with Hipkins she bolted from the party. Wood, versions 1 and 2, now gone as minister - that alone by the way is a nightmare Hipkins doesn’t need because he literally has an empty cupboard of talent - given the promotions of Ginny Andersen and Tinetti have proved problematic to say the least - hence he has spread the Wood portfolios to already busy ministers he can presumably trust. The one 'go to' guy - i.e. Hipkins now has no one new to go to. And let's not forget the Nash saga which has an eerily similar vibe to the Wood mess. You thought you had it contained; we had the warnings, then boom, another explosion. How many careers are going to end in tatters before the Government limps to the October 14 vote and presumably gets put out of its misery? No one will be sad to see Michael Wood go. Between the cycle bridge, the light rail, the obsession with buses all of which have turned out to be nothing but a nightmare and a lot of hot air his contribution in the end was way more negative than it was positive. He becomes a footnote of a government that imploded without even completing two terms. It's turning out to be quite the shambles.
What a season the Warriors are having. In the top eight, playing well, beating the teams they are meant to beat and competing for all 80 mins. The week's of State of Origin is considered the halfway point of the season so we thought it was a good time, with the Warriors coming off a bye, that we get coach Andrew Webster back as we get in to the business end of the NRL season. Andrew Webster told Mike Hosking thinking about finals football is too far down the track. "Our focus is, how do we win this week, how do we get better. Because we're not good enough yet to look too far ahead." LISTEN ABOVE
A politician is frustrated with a lack of change at Oranga Tamariki. The department has revealed two staff members have been stood down and are being investigated for alleged sexual misconduct with young people in the past year. About five young people were affected. Former Police Commissioner Mike Bush will conduct a review. Act Party children spokesperson Karen Chhour told Mike Hosking despite previous issues nothing ever seems to change. She's sick of report after report, with no implementation or delivery after them. LISTEN ABOVE
Don't throw out your broccoli stems if you want an an extra source of nutrition. More than 280 tonnes of stems are being thrown out every year - the equivalent of a blue whale. This is combined with the almost $3 billion worth of food tossed out each year - more than $1500 per household. LeaderBrand Chief Executive Richard Burke told Mike Hosking the stem is a good source of nutrition. He says it's the same in the stem as it is in the head, just a different texture. LISTEN ABOVE
Fletcher Building insists it's in good shape, despite lower profit. It's dropped its forecast to about $800 million down from its February prediction of up to $855 million. CEO Ross Taylor told Mike Hosking residential builds have been a bit patchy lately, but the commercial sector is doing just fine. He says in the bigger picture, less and less land is the pressing issue. The answer to that is building smaller properties, or those with at least three stories. LISTEN ABOVE
There has been little sign of hope for the missing Titanic submersible that's caught the attention of the world. The sub with five onboard went missing off the south-eastern coast of Canada four days ago It's expected to run out of oxygen supply about 10 this evening. Searchers are concentrating their efforts on a remote area of the North Atlantic after reports of "noises". Oceanographer Tim Taylor told Mike Hosking finding them is just the first step. He says in 24 hours they still have to get them up and out of the Atlantic and unbolt them. Taylor says that will take hours. LISTEN ABOVE
The Education Review Office is seriously concerned about the lasting impact Covid-19 disruptions are having on education. Its research has found the pandemic has had a lingering and significant impact - particularly on students' progress. Nearly half of principals say learning is worse than expected at this time of year and only one in five think their school has recovered from the disruption. Education Evaluation Centre head Ruth Shinoda told Mike Hosking getting attendance back up is important - then targeting the learners who have fallen the furthest behind. She says they're concerned those in poorer communities have been most impacted. LISTEN ABOVE
A former cabinet minister says he's baffled by Michael Wood's repeated failure to declare shares. Wood is resigning as a minister over failing to disclose shareholdings in the telecommunications and banking sectors. It follows his previous failure to disclose or dispose of shares in Auckland Airport, despite repeated requests. Peter Dunne - who resigned as a minister himself in 2013 after withholding information from an inquiry into a leak of a GCSB report - told Mike Hosking the Wood situation is truly bizarre. He says after the warnings Wood received over his airport shares, he should at least have gone back to check if he was in the clear. Chris Hipkins is now considering additional restrictions on ministers holding shares. LISTEN ABOVE
If you are really interested - and that in part is the problem - are we really interested? We all moan about banks. Banks are big and they are successful, but are they really the robber barons the critics make them out to be? Well, do we have a market study for you. A preliminary paper by August, that will give us a bit of a steer as to what we are looking at. Followed by the full report in August of next year. Most likely under a new government, that has to be fair to them offered up a similar series of criticisms as the current government. The exception being that they wanted a select committee probe, an idea by the way that was supported by every party in Parliament bar the Labour Party. Now as to whether you are interested, that's important because the Government has to a degree been here before, they made quite the noise you might remember around open banking. Open banking allows you to transfer details easily between banks, everyone has quick access to all the data so the age old issue of it being too hard to swap banks vanishes - in theory. Have a look at open banking in Australia. At best its been a lukewarm launch, most people will tell you its mediocre and is nothing like the game changer the spookers make it out to be. Which is not to say we shouldn’t do it, because we should. But it is to say, there aren't many magic bullets and that’s before you get to the general malaise around consumer behaviour. We moan because it's easy, doing things takes effort and that is more often than not where we give up. For my money - no pun intended - I would like to see what the Commerce Commission thinks of the margin the banks run on money in versus money out. I would like to see what they say about the speed at which the deposit rates rise, and the gap between those deposit rates and the lending rates. But as much as they are genuine questions, what I also know is that in the past 15 odd years banks in various parts of the world have been tested like never before and more than one of them haven't stood up. In New Zealand they have all stood up and stood up well. And now ironically the argument is, are they too successful? The report looks at the big 4: BNZ, Westpac, ANZ, ASB. But not Kiwibank. Why not? Why aren't we all at KiwiBank if we hate the Australians so much. Why weren't we at HSBC before they pulled the plug last week? Doesn’t seem a lack of competition to me; so what will they find? My bet is what they have found in petrol, building and supermarkets. It ain't perfect, but it ain't that broke either. So maybe ultimately we need a report into why we do so many reports.
National is welcoming possible arbitration between the secondary teachers' union and the Ministry of Education. Education Spokesperson Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking a resolution to the secondary teachers' pay dispute and an end to the industrial action is long overdue. “You have to feel for those kids who have missed so much school.” Associate Finance Minister Megan Woods told Mike Hosking arbitration is the best way forward. “One of the things we’re struggling with, is we’re with a group of people that haven’t had a payrise in the previous decade for a very long time.” LISTEN ABOVE
A strawberry shortage is looming. Due to damage from the extreme weather and continued labour shortages, it looks like there will be a lack of strawberry plants to sell when the season kicks of in July and August. Last year 13.5 million plants were sold, but this year we are looking at around 9 million. New Zealand Berryfruit Propagators chair and retired strawberry grower Peter McIntyre joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Banks are standing by their right to make a profit ahead of a new Commerce Commission inquiry. The Government has ordered the commission to conduct a "market study" into the banking sector's fees and profits, with a report due back in August next year. Further details of the scope and timeline of the investigation will be released this afternoon. Banking Association Chief Executive Roger Beaumont told Mike Hosking the banking sector welcomes the study and stands by its practises. He says banks are enormous businesses, and there is nothing wrong with them making large profits. LISTEN ABOVE
President Joe Biden’s son Hunter will plead guilty to federal tax offences but avoid prosecution on a separate gun charge in a deal with the Justice Department that likely spares him time behind bars. Hunter Biden, 52, will plead guilty to the misdemeanour tax offences as part of an agreement made public Tuesday. The agreement will also avoid prosecution on a felony charge of illegally possessing a firearm as a drug user, as long as he adheres to conditions set by prosecutors. It’s somewhat unusual to resolve a federal criminal case at the same time charges are filed in court but not unheard of. The deal ends a long-running Justice Department investigation into Biden’s second son, who has acknowledged struggling with addiction following the 2015 death of his brother Beau Biden. It also averts a trial that would have generated days or weeks of distracting headlines for a White House that has strenuously sought to keep its distance from the Justice Department. While it requires the younger Biden to admit guilt, the deal is narrowly focused on tax and weapons violations rather than anything broader or tied to the Democratic president. Nonetheless, former President Donald Trump and other Republicans are likely to continue to try to use the case to shine an unflattering spotlight on Joe Biden and his family business dealings and to raise questions about the independence of the Biden Justice Department. Trump, in a post on his social media platform, likened the Hunter Biden deal to a “mere traffic ticket”, adding, “Our system is BROKEN!”
President Joe Biden, Jill Biden and children Hunter Biden and Ashley Biden at the University of Pennsylvania on May 15, 2023. Photo / Patrick Semansky, AP, File The White House counsel’s office said in a statement that the President and first lady Jill Biden “love their son and support him as he continues to rebuild his life”. Two people familiar with the investigation said the Justice Department would recommend probation for the tax charges, meaning Hunter Biden will not face time behind bars. But the decision to go along with any deal is up to the judge. The people were not authorised to speak publicly by name and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. He is to plead guilty to failing to pay more than US$100,000 in taxes on over US$1.5 million in income in both 2017 and 2018. That charge carries a maximum possible penalty of a year behind bars. The gun charge states that Hunter Biden possessed a handgun, a Colt Cobra .38 Special, for 11 days in October 2018 despite knowing he was a drug user. The count carries a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, but the Justice Department said Hunter Biden had reached a pretrial agreement. This likely means as long as he adheres to the terms of the agreement, the case will be wiped from his record. Christopher Clark, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, said in a statement that it was his understanding that the five-year investigation had now been resolved. “I know Hunter believes it is important to take responsibility for these mistakes he made during a period of turmoil and addiction in his life,” Clark said. “He looks forward to continuing his recovery and moving forward.”
Hunter Biden has acknowledged struggling with addiction since the death of his brother in 2015. Photo / Patrick Semansky, AP, File The agreement comes as the Justice Department pursues perhaps the most consequential case in its history against Trump, the first former president to face federal criminal charges. The resolution of Hunter Biden’s case comes just days after a 37-count indictment against former President Trump in relation to accusations of mishandling classified documents on his Florida estate, a case with even more significant political implications. That indictment has brought an onslaught of Republican criticism of “politicisation” of the Justice Department and a renewed crescendo of questions about Hunter Biden’s business dealings. Meanwhile,...
A last minute saving-grace has come as the Ruapehu skifields are on thin ice. A government and council-backed option for Whakapapa Holdings and Pure Turoa to take ownership was not voted through yesterday. Whakapapa Holdings Chief Executive Dave Mazley told Mike Hosking he expects Ruapehu Alpine Lifts to be liquidated after court today. Pure Turoa says as liquidators, PWC will go forward with purchasing agreements. LISTEN ABOVE
A warning the country's local government system won't be able to withstand future challenges if major changes aren't made. The Future for Local Government Review has made more than a dozen suggestions on how to better deliver outcomes for local communities. Independent Panel chair Jim Palmer told Mike Hosking strong local government is important for building community resilience - and changes are needed. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is changing skilled migrant visa requirements, in an effort to help businesses attract workers and fill skill shortages. New settings include removing the cap on skilled migrants, and new simplified six-point criteria. It accounts for things like occupation, income, and time spent working in the country. The new system will begin early October. Immigration Minister, Michael Wood, told Mike Hosking simpler settings mean officials can process applications more quickly. The maximum stay of New Zealand's main temporary work visa will also increase from three to five years. LISTEN ABOVE
I suspect Dr Shane Reti is one of the many doctors up and down this country who sees the ethnicity ranking in our health system the same way we do. He would refuse to do it, he says. The upside for him is he gets to repeal it in a couple of months should the election go the way we think it will. What was interesting about yesterday's interview on the subject with the good doctor from Auckland Health was, as much as he might have liked to defend it, he couldn’t in a way that made a lot of sense. The simple truth is if you are of a certain ethnic persuasion you get a different track through the health system. Race plays a part in the way you are treated in a system where the only criteria should be health. I think David Seymour explained it particularly well as regards how we feel about it. Yes, if you can't afford the mortgage right now because of the cost of living crisis, then a race based health system isn't as high up the old priority list But when he said it ran deep he is right. This is a fair, decent and open country - or at least it was Race didn’t play anything like the role it has in the past six years. Have there been issues historically? Of course. But what this Government has done is hijack democracy and implement their own thinking around race. Where once if a council wanted to implement Māori seats, you at least got the chance to vote on it. They took that rule away. Māori in a number of areas of life are now allowed to bypass democracy to advance their cause. Māori have their own health provider. Historically they have their own seats in parliament despite the fact the current system we run has never been more representative or accessible. Māori get special treatment whether it be for Covid, sport or language. A lot of Māori-ness has been foisted upon us whether we like it or not and more importantly whether it makes a jot of difference or not. This has divided us, made us angry and at least part of that anger will be present come election day. The anger stems from the fact deep down the vast majority of us know this is wrong. Even if you argue it comes from a good place - it’s still wrong We are all equal, or the country is shot, as we sit here this morning I think it’s more shot than equal.
Carl Hayman was one of our great All Black props, considered one of the world's best tight-heads. He was the 1000th All Black when he made his debut against Samoa in 2001 and went on to play 45 tests. He turned down future All Blacks contracts to play overseas for the last eight years of his 17 year rugby career with the sole aim of setting him and his family up. But recently it's his off-field battle that we know Carl best for. He became the first All Black of his generation to be diagnosed with early onset dementia - it's all in his book Head On and Carl Hayman joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Four new adjustments to the Emissions Trading Scheme have been proposed for consultation - all of which aim to make it less attractive for businesses to offset their carbon emissions using forestry. The most drastic proposed change is to take forestry out of the scheme entirely by creating two separate markets to form different incentives for gross emissions reductions and emissions removals - meaning emitters wouldn’t be able to use forestry units to pay for their emissions. Climate Forestry Association CEO Andrew Cushen joined Mike Hosking to discuss the proposal. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government have backed down on their ECE announcement from Budget 2023. Early Childhood Education providers will no longer be required to offer 20 hours only enrolments. But, Early Childhood leaders are saying the change doesn't go far enough. Chief Executive of Early Childhood NZ Kathy Wolfe joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins is defending a move to factor ethnicity into health decisions in Auckland, but says there are no plans to do the same around the country. In Auckland, ethnicity is now on the list of criteria for medical waitlists, alongside clinical priority, time spent on the waitlist, location and deprivation level. The Prime Minister says it's a way of introducing equity to the health system. But he told Mike Hosking health officials don't currently plan similar measures outside Auckland and Northland. Hipkins says the initiative may work in Auckland, but not work in other regions. LISTEN ABOVE
Today the Government are set to announce a Commerce Commission inquiry into banks - with the focus expected to be on profits and fees. In 2022, retail banks made a $7.8 billion net profit, $1 billion higher than the year before. Associate professor at the Massey University Business school Claire Matthews joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Wellington City Council must temporarily hit the brakes on its proposed speed limit slash. In its proposal to drop many speed limits to 30 kilometres per hour, the council overstated - by $250-million - the cost-benefit analysis of reducing crashes in consultation papers. Councillor Tony Randle spotted the mistake and told Mike Hosking it was peer reviewed. He says more than one person made a mistake and it was one small error that multiplied. Submitters are being apologised to and council will be briefed in August. LISTEN ABOVE
I know if you are south of Auckland, you might not care. But yet again Friday and over the weekend we were reminded of the value of roads, new roads, good roads, and roads that add to the value of the country and economy. The Puhoi motorway extension was opened, ironically by the Prime Minister, who had the good grace to admit calling it the holiday highway had been a mistake. For years the Labour Party, well known road haters had stalled it, insulted it, cancelled it, and yet here they were cutting ribbons. There are questions around the future of infrastructure in this country. The New Zealand Initiative report last week very aptly pointed out, we have a massive backlog hundreds of billions of dollars worth of work and the summer storms haven't helped. It also said governments get too involved and the cost of the sticky beak ”start it, stop it” only adds to the cost. The light rail debacle in Auckland is all the proof you need. But every time a major bit of road is opened, whether it’s the Waikato Expressway extension or Transmission Gully there is a mainstream fascination with it all. People get, and I think this is unique to infrastructure generally, but people get genuinely excited by roads. And as far as roads go, the Puhoi extension is magnificent. It's a great looking bit of road. It took too long, it cost more than it should, and its hold up at the end must be dangerously close to criminal. But it’s open. And it will be used and used well, and that is the point, isn't it? It will materially improve the operation of this country. We will financially benefit from its presence. It will ultimately pay for itself, and more. Too much infrastructure is based on theory. Apparently, we need more buses, more bike lanes, and more trains. But the proof is people, rightly or wrongly, don't use them in a way that materially improves the country. But roads do. Having been on that road many hundreds of times, it was never a holiday highway. It was State Highway One and access to the north of the country. It was and is a vital link. And now it's gone from a second world goat track to a first world highway. That's what good infrastructure is. Tangible improvement on the way we conduct the business of the country. No one ever went to the opening of a bus lane. But roads we love, let's learn that lesson.
Tens of millions of dollars worth of medication is winding up in landfill every year, due to it being illegal to do anything other than throw it away. Medication is frequently returned due to things such as changes in a person's prescription, no longer requiring a treatment, or even the end of a person's life. Pharmacist Puneet Saini told Mike Hosking that a number of these returned medications are untouched, unused, and unexpired. He said that there's precedent from overseas, with companies in the United States and Greece reallocating unused medication. LISTEN ABOVE
The 36-man Rugby Championship squad has been named, All Blacks Coach Ian Foster deciding to bring six new faces into the fold. Crusaders midfielder Dallas McLeod, Crusaders prop Tamaiti Williams, Chiefs loose forward Samipeni Finau, Hurricanes halfback Cam Roigard, and Chiefs winger Emoni Narawa are the new official players, with Shaun Stevenson named as an injury cover for Mark Telea. Former All Black John Hart told Mike Hosking that it looks like a solid squad, but the real test will be what they do during the championship. LISTEN ABOVE
I am not sure why Meng Foon was going to resign last night. Because if you have cocked it up the way he has, you resign on a Friday and hope everyone forgets about it over the weekend. Anyway, he's gone, and his name is added to the ever-growing series of names that are sinking this government. Stuart Nash's report was out Friday as well over conflicts of interest. It wasn’t as bad as it could have been. In Nash's case the real crimes were aired a while back and thus led to the sacking. Ruth Dyson, remember her? She didn't have a clue about conflict given she had never read the rules. Jan Tinetti, we are still standing by for her verdict from the Privileges Committee. She didn’t have a clue about the rules either. But her other crime is arrogance given when she was told about the rules by her staff, she still didn’t do anything about it Michael Wood is the king of cock ups. 12 times he was told to sell his shares. It beggars belief he has survived, but I assume he’ll get sacked when the report is produced. If he isn't, that is then on Chris Hipkins as a spineless leader. What it is about these people I have no idea. They are not like us. Foon, or "Befoon" as he is now being called online, is another example of the inexplicable. How is it you can get millions from the government for emergency housing when you are conducting a report into emergency housing? Add to that, the person who looks into you, after you call the police racist isn't the Justice Minister because they have to recuse themselves because they got money from you for the election. So, the deputy does the job, gets the report and decides you need to be sacked. But they sit on the report for weeks until you quit, kicking and screaming. Andrew Little doesn’t escape either. The people who appoint the people have to be held to some level of accountability. Foon, at best, was controversial. At worst an apologist and stirrer. What the hell Little saw in him, I have no idea. Maybe Gisborne can answer that question. Anyway, the list of clowns grows seemingly daily. There's a stench of incompetence and arrogance, or of ineptitude and shambles. It seems around every corner these days there is another cock up just waiting to implode or explode. October 14th can't come soon enough.
The ongoing dispute over secondary teachers' pay could be settled through independent arbitration. The PPTA is considering recommendations from the Employment Relations Authority to suspend industrial action, and begin independent arbitration with the Ministry of Education. Secondary Principals Association's Vaughan Couillault told Mike Hosking that it's the next step. He said that especially in the public sector, where people will be disadvantaged by the continuation of strike action, there may need to be some kind of trigger for arbitration. LISTEN ABOVE
Act's slamming the move to consider ethnicity when prioritising people on medical waitlists. Ethnicity is now a factor in a new medical wait list tool Te Whatu Ora has rolled out in Auckland, alongside clinical priority, time already waiting, location, and deprivation level. Act leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking that the Government's actively promoting racial discrimination. He says surgeons have told him it's a major ethical failure, saying they swore an oath to be a good doctor to every patient, and it's wrong for them to do this. The tool was implemented in Auckland in February and is now being rolled out across other northern region districts. LISTEN ABOVE
Te Whatu Ora's defending its equity adjuster-waitlist tool. Ethnicity is a factor in new medical waitlist criteria rolled out in Auckland in February — alongside clinical priority, time already spent on the waitlist, location, and deprivation level. Te Whatu Ora's Dr Mike Shepherd told Mike Hosking that clinical prioritisation always takes precedent. The system’s being rolled out to other northern region areas. LISTEN ABOVE
National says prisoner numbers will rise as crime goes down if it wins power in October. The party's new crime policy would make being a gang member an aggravating factor during criminal sentencing. Leader Chris Luxon told Mike Hosking that there'll be more to come in its broader policy to be announced shortly – and more prisoners will be a consequence of chasing down crime. He says the Government has emptied out prisons by a quarter in the past six years, but crime is up 30 percent, and retail has jumped 40 percent. LISTEN ABOVE
As the economy sinks, the Government sinks with it. What a shocking week. We have officially been in recession. Don’t let them con you into the “technical recession" line. A recession is a recession and going backwards is going backwards. I have no reason to believe that in the past three months of April, May and now June things have changed. And I have no reason to believe the Reserve Bank is wrong when they forecast a recession, which, in this case, might prove to be a double dip recession in the latter part of this year. If that didn't smack you in the face with a dose of fiscal reality, about the Auditor General's report into the Covid reset of the Provincial Growth Fund, a programme devoid of any rigour and any checks as to where the money was going, what sort of jobs it was creating and whether or not it was a massive waste of money. Or you could look at the International Monetary Fund's advice to the Government over our current account deficit, which is in dangerous territory. "We are living beyond our means". That's their words, not mine. The expansionary budget, which is flash talk for spending money when you don’t have it, is to blame. Our dealings with the world are in shocking shape. We owe a fortune and, if they call it in, we can't pay it. That brings us to the ratings agencies, who are ringing the same alarm bells. Our debt is too high and the cost of the debt is growing. Banks are badly exposed to housing and, if things turn pear-shaped, our rating will be downgraded, which means we pay even more on our debt servicing. And we can't pay it now. These are all real, tangible, indisputable things that are a direct result of economic ineptitude. When the Finance Minister says we are well placed to deal with them, he is wrong and I suspect, deep down, he knows he is wrong. But in election year, what else can you say? When history shows you governments lose elections as a result of calamitous economic management, what else can you say? Some of us have been warning of what's unfolded this week for quite a while now. Some will just be becoming aware of how dangerous the territory is that we are now in. Some, the Government will pray, haven't quite joined the dots yet. But when the whole world, whether through the IMF or ratings agencies, are all yelling fire - it might just be time we all finally paid attention.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Recession: 3/10 Welcome to it. This is the tangible outworking of a Government that printed, and spent, and wasted money they never had. The Auditor General's report into the Provincial Growth Fund reset: 8/10 A valuable piece of work that laid bare the fundamental incompetence, mixed with dishonesty, that in it's own way explains why we are in recession. The Police: 4/10 Their display and their defence of their actions in Opotiki this week shows you all that is wrong with the social fabric and moral compass of this country. Josh Emmett: 6/10 Hanging out with and being spruiked by Gwyneth Paltrow and Goop is not a bad life. Housing: 6/10 The general consensus is we have reached the bottom and in some parts of the country we are on the way back up. Food: 2/10 It's over 12% more expensive. You've got to ask those who think inflation has peaked, just what is it they are seeing that we aren't. The Warriors: 8/10 Another superb win, if not the win of the season. Man this is enjoyable. It's so enjoyable, I reckon this could be our year. IAG: 3/10 20-30% increases in insurance will turn into one of the major social talking points going forward. You have to be able to afford to insure yourself, otherwise you look like America. 1800 frontline police: 2/10 What a con. "1800 front line, 1800 on the beat". Until, of course, it turned out not to be true LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The New Zealand Blood Service has warned that without more donors we will rely more heavily on imported plasma products. Questions have been asked as to whether it is time we start compensating plasma donors to increase donations. Professor Peter Jaworski has come out with a report highlighting how every country that permits plasma compensating has surplus plasma collections. Georgetown University Associate Teaching Professor Peter Jaworski joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins believes New Zealanders will recognise the domestic and global factors that have contributed to two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth, considered a technical recession, when it comes time to vote later this year. Statistics NZ data released yesterday confirmed market expectations by showing the economy had shrunk in the first three months of 2023. Revised data showed GDP contracted by 0.7 per cent in the final quarter of 2022, worse than the 0.6 per cent recorded earlier. Hipkins, asked whether he thought the country being in a recession would lose him the election, said Labour could enter the campaigning period with a “proud” economic track record. “We’ve managed New Zealand’s economy through a number of very challenging times in recent years, including a global pandemic, including an international spike in inflation and including the current economic turmoil that we see globally as well. “This is part of a global economic downturn, New Zealand’s not immune from those things.” In a statement yesterday, Finance Minister Grant Robertson said he believed the Auckland floods and Cyclone Gabrielle were the chief contributors to the recession. Robertson said he was not surprised and was quick to reference how the “second-largest natural disaster to hit New Zealand” - Cyclone Gabrielle - had tested the economy’s resilience. “[Today’s] result reflects the impact of the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle, with estimates of hundreds of millions of dollars of lost production and activity across agriculture, forestry, fishing, transport and manufacturing due to the extensive flooding,” he said. “We know 2023 is a challenging year as global growth slows, inflation has stayed higher for longer and the impacts of North Island weather events continue to disrupt households and businesses. “Looking ahead, export growth, the tourism rebound, returning international students, migration inflows and investment in the recovery mean the economy is well-positioned to handle challenging times. “Today’s outcome fits the definition of a technical recession by the barest of margins. But the resilience of the New Zealand economy, including historically low unemployment, means it will not have the impact that would normally be associated with this term.” Opposition parties claimed the blame sits with Robertson, saying Kiwis’ livelihoods are now under further threat amid “excessive inflation, high interest rates [and] a severe balance of payments deficit”. National finance spokesperson Nicola Willis said “red lights are flashing for the New Zealand economy”, which was now “incredibly fragile. “While the Government continues to make excuses, the data does not lie: New Zealand is now in worse shape than many of the countries we compare ourselves to including Australia, Canada and the United States, all of which have faced similar global challenges but none of which face the toxic economic predicament we now find ourselves in. “The simple fact is that Labour has mismanaged the economy and New Zealanders are paying the price. “This recession is a red-light warning: the time for cavalier big-spending, anti-business, anti-growth policies is over.”
National deputy leader and finance spokesperson Nicola Willis doesn't buy Robertson's claim the recession was caused by the impact of the severe weather events earlier this year. Photo / Mark Mitchell Act leader David Seymour dubbed Robertson’s approach to paying for cyclone and flooding costs as an “Afterpay economy. “Today’s GDP figures mean that even with Grant Robertson irresponsibly putting the economy on Afterpay with $7 billion borrowing this year, New Zealand has been unable to avoid a recession,” Seymour said. “It’s buy now, pay next generation, but the economy is shrinking anyway.” He believed economic growth was being constrained by “too much regulation and red tape” - something Act had vowed to target through a new Ministry of Regulation. “...
A former education boss has slammed a mega-polytech's move to cut 400 of its 10,000 workers as the latest chapter in the "trainsmash that is Te Pukenga". The Tertiary Education Union says staff have been told hundreds of jobs could go. Former Te Pukenga Deputy Chief Executive Merran Davis told Mike Hosking it was expected there'd be some sort of operating model to ensure better education outcomes when the country's 16 polytechs were centralised. She says they still have no operating model three years down the track and many millions of dollars later. Te Pukenga says no final decisions have been made.' LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand may not be in a recession, but it's certainly in a slowdown. On paper, the country has officially entered a "technical recession" after recording two consecutive quarters of negative growth. But in reality, the latest 0.1 percent drop in GDP could be revised up, meaning the recession never happened. Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce told Mike Hosking what is certain, is the economy is going through a rough patch that's going to take a while to turn around. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand continues to be targeted for meth distribution. Authorities have intercepted a shipment of maple syrup from Canada, concealing 713 kilograms of the drug, an estimated street value of $250 million. It's the largest ever drug bust at the border. Methcon Managing Director Dale Kirk told Mike Hosking this is all being done through gangs. LISTEN ABOVE
What I value about people like Mark Mitchell is they bring real world experience to a situation. Mark was a cop, he was a dog handler and he has been to Ōpōtiki. When he went to Ōpōtiki 20 years ago it was a different world. Yes, we had gangs. We've had gangs for decades and we've angsted about gangs for decades. Robert Muldoon tried to make friends with them. But all these years later it's through the Mitchell-type experiences that you realise how lost we are as a country. Megan Woods' defence of the police yesterday was pathetic. She said they’ve put more police in Ōpōtiki - so what? The kids aren't going to school. The police will keep the peace, we are told. So what? Buses aren't on the road. I bring experience too, and I can tell you it wasn’t that long ago that the closure of Ōpōtiki through gang fear would have been a lead story each and every day until it was resolved. The pressure on the Prime Minister down would have been unrelenting. This would have been the story of the week because the country would have been aghast and outraged. And the Government price to be paid by giving into gang intimidation is not something any Government could, would or should bear. Yet, here we are. Yes, it's news but the media are not a patch on what they once were. The policeman who appears to be leading the Ōpōtiki operation would have had a lot more than his bog-standard one-liner cut and pasted for a quick six o'clock news grab. A few follow up questions would have been asked; why are you so soft? Why are the gangs running this place? Why aren't the schools open? How come you are being held ransom for a week? Why are gangs able to dictate rules and outworking's in a way literally no one else could even dream of? Those sorts of questions aren't quite as common these days. Do the media represent the public's nonplussed attitude? Are we nonplussed, or are we punch drunk? The Prime Minister on this show Tuesday, in a move you almost thought might lead somewhere, said it's not acceptable that schools are closed. So, you'd think there would be a chain reaction from the Police Minister to bang some heads. But here we are Thursday and still, nothing. Nothing further from the Prime Minister, nothing from the minister, nothing from the police and nothing from the media. Believe me, it wasn’t always this pathetic. There have been very different and far, far better days.
Time to catch up with Kiwi actor Antonia Prebble. She's best known for her role as Loretta West in the hugely successful Outrageous Fortune, along with the prequel Westside. Prebble last spoke to the Mike Hosking Breakfast in 2018, since then she's appeared often in Shortland Street and now has a new show to hit our screens tonight called Double Parked - Antonia Prebble joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
It seems the Government are listening - from next year they will be funding medical schools to take 50 additional students. This will lift domestic enrolments to 589 places a year, across both Auckland and Dunedin medical schools coming with a $23 million cost over ten years. University of Auckland Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences deputy dean Warwick Bagg joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Our primary industry exports have reached $56 billion - his is 2.3 percent higher than expected and now worth 14 percent of New Zealand's total GDP. This growth has been down to the exports of dairy, seafood and processed food. By 2027, growth is predicted to reach $62 billion with new Fair Trade Agreements with the UK, EU and upgrades to our agreement with China opening doors for more products to be sold overseas. Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O'Connor joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
A new report into our infrastructure is highlighting New Zealand's over-reliance on public debt to fund our infrastructure deficit - which currently is at $210 billion. It warns of two issues - government being too involved in deciding what infrastructure should be built where, and borrowing excessively to fund new infrastructure. Research fellow and report author at the New Zealand Initiative Dr. Matthew Birchall joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Economists are split over whether today's GDP figures will rise or fall. The data for the March quarter will be released at 10.45am. A decrease would mean the country was in a technical recession that quarter. But Westpac senior economist Michael Gordon says when it comes to recession, you need to take the broader view of whether the economy is running below par. He says there's still a very low unemployment rate - only point two percent above its record low. LISTEN ABOVE
The Bay of Plenty towns of Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne were effectively shut down yesterday as a Mongrel Mob funeral procession caused massive disruption to the community - including a closed highway that created traffic chaos and fresh gunshots under investigation by police. Bay of Plenty District Police Commander Tim Anderson told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning they were not “out-manned” yesterday as a large procession of gang members flooded State Highway 2 prompting it’s hours-long closure. The town had a large influx of gang members come in for the tangi yesterday but were now leaving, he said. Back in the day police did not allow roads to be closed, Anderson said. “But now police work with gangs so everything is safe but we do not tolerate any unlawful behaviour.” Anderson said he did not see much of the unlawful behaviour yesterday.
Detective Inspector Tim Anderson says team work is what makes the difference in resolving cases. Photo / Christine Cornege “We saw a couple of burnouts, we have taken photographs and will be looking at them.” Speaking about gunshots, he said these events had started last Friday. “Our team have zero tolerance for act of violence and intimidation.” Overnight a number of gang members were arrested, Anderson said. “Our staff have been working extremely hard 24x7 arresting gang members, seizing weapons, and drugs since Friday night in Ōpōtiki and Whakatāne.” Speaking to National’s police spokesman Mark Mitchell’s comments from his days as a dog handler when gang members would hide at the sight of them, Anderson said they had dog handlers doing the same thing. “I guess the thing that has changed is there are more tools and tactics available for police now to handle such situations and keep staff safer.” PM: ‘Gang convoys suck’ Prime Minister Chris Hipkins last night condemned the activity, which was honouring the slain Mongrel Mob Barbarians president, saying “gangs contribute nothing to society”. Police vowed to impound vehicles, issue fines and charge drivers, while officers were also investigating multiple reports of shots being fired at cars in Whakatāne yesterday afternoon. Hundreds of motorbikes, cars, utes and vans descended on Whakatāne for Barbarians president Steven Taiatini’s tangi at Hillcrest Crematorium. Many barked and others yelled “seig heil” as they shot past. Taiatini was killed in what police called a “disorder-related incident” on St John St, Ōpōtiki, on Friday. Police have launched a homicide investigation.
The hearse and motorcycle procession for the tangi. Photo / Andrew Warner Hipkins told Newstalk ZB yesterday it was up to the police to make the “operational decisions” about how to handle to influx of mobsters to the area. “Well, we have changed the law recently to give police more powers around gang convoys because we have been concerned about convoys and the intimidating nature of them,” Hipkins said. “Gang convoys suck for everybody who is disrupted by them ... One of the reasons that we’ve changed the law to give police more powers to crack down on gangs is because I don’t have any time for that kind of behaviour.” Superintendent Tim Anderson, the Bay of Plenty District Commander, said police were yet to find those responsible for the reported gunshots and there were no reports of injuries. However, one vehicle believed to be involved has been found by police. Anderson confirmed the high police presence will continue through several days as they try to hold those behaving unlawfully accountable. “We have already identified a number of drivers and registered owners and they can expect to receive infringement notices, and in some cases, be charged for their actions for driving behaviour and face the court,” Anderson said. “Police have also today obtained a search warrant under the Criminal Activity Intervention Legislation Act 2023, which allows police to search vehicles of suspected gang members and seize their weapons during...
"New Zealand is a wet, whiny, negative, inward-looking country." It is almost certainly the quote of the week, unless the next couple of days are out of the box. I would suggest the Massey University people have, hopefully, lined it up as a contender for the quote of the year. In fact, this might well be some sort of turning point for Chris Luxon and his apparent battle with getting traction in the polls. Here is the thing - I don’t actually think he has a poll problem, mainly because the polls are not reflecting what's going on in the country. What makes his line so funny is its really only news because the media happened to be there when he said it. You don’t think he's said it before? You don’t think that every meeting he goes to, they aren't saying it to him and he's not saying it to them? I am bombarded with the sentiment literally every day and I am out and about nowhere near as much as he is. As we told you the other day, he is packing out halls up and down this country. In Taranaki the other day, their hall holds 100 people and they packed 200 in, with another 200 still waiting outside. This is the story of this campaign. Real New Zealand is out and interested and Luxon is out and meeting them. What you heard in Helensville is repeated, and applauded, almost daily up and down this land. The fact the media seemed to think this had "raised a few eyebrows" shows you just how out of touch the media is. This country is in rotten shape. It's in rotten shape by virtually any metric. Look at the economy, crime, health or education. Pick your problem because it's there and it’s a mess. What Luxon articulates, and the reason it has traction, is that it wasn’t so long ago we were actually not wet and not inward-looking. We were successful and aspirational. That’s been smashed to pieces in six short years. As I have said a number of times, since David Lange I have not seen a more disparate, desperate, sad and angsty country in my lifetime. The Government has taken a robust, independent country and, through a combination of fear-based policy, economic incompetence and ideological nonsense, wreaked havoc. Luxon uses the words wet, whiny and inward-looking. I could use many more. The point is, he's right. The bigger point is, a lot of people agree with him.
Ongoing insistence from the Government, that gang tensions in Ōpōtiki are a police issue, not a political one. Schools and public facilities in the eastern Bay of Plenty town remain closed today due to safety concerns, ahead of today's tangi for gang boss Steven Taiatini. Hundreds of gang members are already in the town, with more expected to arrive in a procession from Whakatāne this morning. Cabinet Minister Megan Woods told Mike Hosking on Politics Wednesday she feels sorry for everyone involved, but the Government has resourced Police to respond appropriately. Recounting his time as an officer stationed in Gisborne and often called to Ōpōtiki, National MP Mark Mitchell said when they pulled up with vans and dogs, gang members would go away at the sight of them. “We need to return that way. We need police out there,” he said. About 100 extra police have been stationed to the area to monitor the increased gang presence, as investigations continue into Taiatini's death. LISTEN ABOVE
AA Smartfuel and Countdown's reward partnership is coming to an end. After working together for seven years they have decided to not renew the agreement which is set to expire in 2024, instead they will be launching new loyalty programmes. AA Smartfuel General Manager Ian Sutcliffe joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
We're about to get a clearer picture of how the economy is tracking. GDP figures are out out tomorrow morning, revealing whether New Zealand has escaped a technical recession. Ahead of that, the latest figures on our current account deficit are due out this morning, effectively showing how much more we're importing than we're exporting. BusinessNZ Head of Advocacy Catherine Beard told Mike Hosking reducing the deficit is crucial. She says it's not sustainable for us to continue to have the deficit we currently have. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government says new tree planting laws tackle economic and climate issues. Labour is giving local councils the authority to determine where, and how much, carbon forestry can occur. The change limits trees used for carbon farming, being planted on productive land. When asked if it's a climate initiative or a farming initiative, Forestry Minister Peeni Henare told Mike Hosking it's both. "Farming and forestry have a strong place in our economy in this country and if I compare that to the Nats' policy, they're seeing freeze plantation for forests over the next three years and I don't think that's the way forward." LISTEN ABOVE
Donald Trump's Miami court hearing has ended, with the former President pleading not guilty to 37 charges. The charges relate to his handling of classified documents at his Florida resort, after he left office. Some documents contain extremely sensitive information like military and nuclear capabilities. There's no travel restrictions on Trump's bail, after the prosecutors deemed him not to be a flight risk. Trump's co-defendant and personal military aide, Walt Nauta has also pleaded not guilty. Former Republican Party communications director, Doug Heye told Mike Hosking it's a disastrous situation for Trump. LISTEN ABOVE
For the 55th year Fieldays is back - and this year is the first time since 2019 it is fully open to international attendees. Being the largest agricultural event in the Southern Hemisphere the event has a reputation for showing off cutting-edge farming technology and innovative agricultural practices. Fieldays CEO Peter Nation joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
As the Government celebrates its milestone of putting “1800 new police officers on the beat”, it can be revealed 270 of them don’t have arrest powers and work predominantly within stations. Police Association president Chris Cahill and National police spokesman Mark Mitchell allege the Government has been misleading. “They’re not what the public would call a police officer,” Cahill said. On June 1, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Police Minister Ginny Andersen travelled to Porirua’s police college to celebrate training 1800 new police officers since the Government came to power. The promise was made by the Labour and NZ First coalition in 2018 and has been repeatedly referred to as an investment in “frontline” staff. Former prime minister Jacinda Ardern previously told Parliament the 1800 officers would be “sworn”. But numbers provided to the Herald by police show 270 of the recruits are “authorised officers”, who legally do not have the power to arrest. Most of these 270 staff are known as “specialist crime investigators” and include those working in electronic crime or as forensic accountants. A November 2022 report from the Independent Police Conduct Authority said police were “failing to meet the challenges that the present fraud landscape poses”. Police said at the time that given the scale and nature of the fraud problem, prevention measures were of primary importance in reducing victimisation. According to the Policing Act, authorised officers are defined as police employees holding the roles of a station jailor, escort, guard, specialist investigator or transport enforcement officer. They wear black uniforms instead of blue. Training for authorised officers varies but typically is shorter and less intensive than the 16-week training course required for constabulary officers. There are just over 10,000 constabulary officers on the beat nationwide, supplemented by 525 authorised officers. More than half of the authorised officers - 270 - were established in the past five years under the 1800 new police plan. Fifty of them joined in May.
Police Association president Chris Cahill. Photo / Mark Mitchell Cahill said while authorised officers were always part of the plans Cabinet agreed to in 2018, to call all new officers “frontline” and “on the beat” was misleading. “They’re not frontline, they’re not sworn officers, and they don’t have the powers of arrest,” he said. “They’re not what the public would call a police officer. “Without clarification, it is misleading. [The Government is] not breaching their agreement, but they need to be clear to the public that 270 of those are not sworn police officers. They’re of great value - but they’re not sworn.” Mitchell said Andersen and former police ministers Poto Williams and Hipkins “intentionally deceived and misled New Zealanders”. “Two-hundred-and-seventy of those included in the 1800 are not police officers. They don’t have powers of arrest and are back-office workers with no presence or ability to respond to violent offending on our streets,” he said. “This is a deceptive and shabby way to treat New Zealanders, but consistent with this soft-on-crime Government’s approach to public safety.” Andersen said the Government committed to an increase of 1800 additional constabulary staff, and this was met on June 1. When asked directly by NZME if labelling all 1800 new officers as “frontline” was misleading, she replied: “The Government’s commitment has always included authorised officers. This was set out in the initial Cabinet paper in 2018, which has been released publicly.”
National MP Mark Mitchell said the government has deceived New Zealanders. Photo / Mark Mitchell “The authorised officer designation was established in 2008 under the Policing Act. They’ve been included in constabulary numbers since then, including during the National Government, who counted them as constabulary for the nine years it was in government,” Andersen said. She said the work these offi...
I think we can ask the question of how much is enough, given the numbers we have given you of late. Government expenditure is up 596 percent and income i.e tax take, is up 334 percent. As a result of that, the debt is up 482 percent. If all of that isn't enough, what is? The economy this week gets its Q1 read on GDP. In other words, what we did in January, February and March. The importance of it, is it needs to be a positive number. If it isn't a positive number that will mean we are officially in a recession, because the last quarter of last year went backwards by 0.6%. Now, there's a couple of things here; 1) The banks are split. Some say we have gone up a little bit, some say we have gone down a little bit. 2) No matter what they say, most agree that it doesn’t really matter, because even though we might avoid a recession in an official sense, the reality is things are pretty grungy right now. And it feels like a recession whether its officially ticked off as one, or not. 3) For what it's worth, my guess is we are in a recession, because if we went backwards in the last three months of last year then I can't quite see what radically changed after that. Over the summer months, did we do a bunch of stuff we didn’t do leading into Christmas? No. And if that theory holds true, ask yourself the next question - in April, May and now June, have things materially improved? No. So if we have no growth at the start of the year, why would we have growth now? And if you follow that logic, moving into the rest of the year, what changes? Well, maybe that budget money for infrastructure and maybe the immigration numbers lead to more people who spend a bit. But you could mount a pretty solid case that suggests we are in real trouble all year long. That then leads you to look at the budget forecast that has growth of 3.2%. It's a projection that came out of a dart and a board in the Treasury lunch room because no one I know has the slightest idea how they came up with that figure. Anyway, by the time the election rolls around we are in the economic doldrums. And the number one issue, as revealed yet again by the latest Curia poll out on Friday, is the cost of living crisis. And if that isn't it, it’s the economy more generally. So what have the Government got to offer us? Record taxing, record spending, massive debt and possibly a recession. Governments with records like that lose elections.
Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce says demand for travel is still running high but more airline capacity should push down air fares. Joyce, in Auckland for the launch of Qantas’ non-stop Auckland flight to New York, told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking that his airline had bounced back from Covid and was now making record profits. ‘‘We’re seeing a massive pent-up demand. Our research in Australia says (there is) twice the demand for international travel and domestic travel than there was before Covid.’' Asked if the surge in record profits dovetailed with high air fares and a poor travel experience, Joyce said: ‘‘I think it’s getting better though. We’re seeing that more and more capacity is being added all the time and as that capacity is being added, air fares are coming down and the service levels are getting better.’' But increased fees and charges were feeding into airfares. Australia will boost the Passenger Movement Charge (PMC) by $A10 to $70. Last week Aurckland Airport announced aeronautical fees for airlines would more than double for some aircraft within the next five years. While Joyce said he accepted other businesses and agencies faced inflation, there was a risk increased charges could slow the return to airfares at ‘’normal levels.’' But he said it was important to get air fares back to a normal level as demand comes back down. He warned that New Zealanders would be hit hardest by the PMC increase as it made up a higher proportion of transtasman fares that were lower than bigger international long-haul fares. The Qantas group, which includes Jetstar, would be back to its pre-Covid capacity early next year. Joyce finishes at Qantas later this year after 15 years at the top which he described as a ‘‘roller coaster ride.’' One of his biggest legacies would be Project Sunrise, where aircraft would fly non-stop from Sydney or Melbourne to London or New York using specially configured Airbus A350-1000 planes. Joyce said Project Sunrise flights would be up to 21 hours in duration and overcome ‘’the tyranny of distance”. Qantas is going to reveal more about the flights in New York later this week but Joyce told ZB that there was ‘‘overwhelming’' demand for ultra-long-haul non-stop travel. It also allowed the airline to compete harder with the big Middle Eastern carriers. The airline’s inaugural Sydney-Auckland-New York flight takes off tomorrow. On the 14,200km Auckland New York leg, Qantas will compete directly with Air New Zealand. Both airlines will fly three times a week until October when Qantas will turn up the pressure even further with a fourth weekly flight. Joyce said Qantas will with the New York service be flying three of the five longest routes in the world. It also flies between Dallas Fort-Worth and Melbourne and between Perth and London. The linking of Australia and Europe was very popular with travellers. Qantas has been planning the New York route for two years, closely monitoring the operational aspects of Air NZ on the service. It will use a 236-seat Dreamliner on the route, a plane specially configured for ultra-long-haul flying. Departure board Qantas QF3/QF4 (from June 14) - Operates Wednesday, Friday and Sunday and from October 29 on Monday - QF3 departs Sydney at 10am and arrives at Auckland at 3pm; takes off for New York 4.35pm. After a 16h15m flight it lands around 4.50pm - QF4 departs New York at 7.30pm, reaching Auckland at 5am two days later before flying on to Sydney Air New Zealand NZ1/NZ2 - Operates on Monday, Thursday and Saturday - NZ2 departs Auckland at 7.40pm landing in New York just before 8pm - NZ1 leaves New York around 10pm and lands in Auckland at 7.30am two days later - Grant Bradley, NZ Herald
National's plan to delay emissions pricing is being applauded in some quarters as a step in the right direction. Under the party's policy, the date farmers would need to start paying for emissions, would be pushed back from 2025 to 2030. From 2025, farmers would be able to claim credits for trees planted on farms. Dairy New Zealand Chair Jim van der Poel told Mike Hosking it's definitely better than what's currently proposed but there's still work to be done. He says trees are okay as long as they're planted in the right places. But van der Poel says when whole farms are planted into trees, that is not the right thing to do and will become a regret in time. LISTEN ABOVE
Alarm bells are ringing over the pressures New Zealand's social cohesion is facing. Auckland University think tank, Koi Tu: The Centre for Informed Futures, has released a discussion document highlighting strains within New Zealand society. It says factors such as political, economic and environmental issues alongside increased misinformation are having a negative impact. Co-author of the report, Paul Spoonley told Mike Hosking they've seen some big changes since they first started looking into the issue. He says since 2020, there's been a decline in trust relating to core institutions such as the Government and the media. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins says it's not his job, to decide how authorities should be dealing with rising gang tension in Ōpōtiki. Gang members have descended on the eastern Bay of Plenty town following the death of Mongrel Mob Barbarians President Steven Rota Taiatini last Friday. Schools have closed and bus services have been cancelled due to safety concerns, and two suspicious house fires have been reported. The Prime Minister told Mike Hosking he supports Police to deal with it as they see fit. He says the situation in Ōpōtiki is utterly unacceptable, but Police need the backing to do their job independently of politicians. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour is being accused of being too soft on untruly tenants living in Kāinga Ora properties. Three people have been evicted for bad behaviour in the past 18 months, despite 10,000 complaints since the housing agency rolled out tougher termination measures. Litigation lawyer Adina Thorn told Mike Hosking clearly the government has a no eviction policy. “People ring me all over the country; terrible, horrific, hair-raising stories about abuse by the people that live right next to them or across the road.” LISTEN ABOVE
An end seems to be in sight to the Ruapehu Alpine Lifts saga. The skifield is in voluntary administration with the Government backing two bidders to take the reins. It's understood it would be split into two skifields; one business running each. Creditors vote next week on whether to liquidate the company, and sell assets to bidders. Mayor Weston Kirton told Mike Hosking there's more to be done, but he's comfortable with the proposal. He says it's not perfect but the community are at odds with the situation, and are waiting for a resolution. LISTEN ABOVE
We enter another week, yet another week, of industrial action. Yes, it’s the teachers again. The upside is that the primary sector got themselves sorted last week. So one assumes that although they are separate claims, the broad aim is the same and one hopes a similar sort of outcome can't be far away. The primary deal seems a generous one with the one-off payments, the non-contact time and the large wage increases. Although it's well earned, I still struggle with the idea that everyone gets it, no matter how brilliant or appalling you are. It's not a world I have ever entertained entering. The union chased me at the age of 16, back in 1982 when I got my first job. They sort of assumed I would want to join and pay their fees. I didn’t, of course, and it was my first encounter with the union representative at work, who became very affronted that, somehow, I couldn’t see the world the way he did. This has always been the problem with unions. The moment they work out you aren't one of them, they get aggressive. There's no acceptance that there might be another way for it to work. It sort of told me, even at that age, all I needed to know about unions and their modus operandi. Anyway, as a parent I can tell you I am well and truly over it. School is important and we have a daughter who thinks school is important. I know it’s unfashionable these days to think that way, far less want to turn up regularly. But this generation have been shafted in the most appalling way. Between covid and lockdowns and illness and strikes, the amount of school that has been missed is criminal. You can't encourage success if you can't be bothered opening the gates. And this week, yet again, we stay at home. In my entire life, as a student and as a parent, teachers have not been happy. No one in unionised employment has been happy, so what does that say about the model? Mix in the fact that our education system, in terms of performance and results, is now criminally bad and it's not a great advertisement. Yet again they're expecting parents to find kid cover and, more importantly, yet again they expect kids to stay away while teachers prioritise their circumstances.
A biotech company say it's about time we reconsider gene modification's role in the country's scientific pursuits. National has promised to ease genetic modification regulations to help with solutions to environmental, agricultural, and health issues. BioTechNZ Executive Director Zahra Champion told Mike Hosking that past anti-GMO conversations caused industry to steer clear of the topic, out of fear of what consumers will say. But she says many people are buying GMO products in the supermarket and believes we have moved on from avoiding the discussion. LISTEN ABOVE
A survival expert says the four children who lasted 40 days in an unforgiving Colombian jungle is a testament to human endurance. The siblings aged thirteen, nine, four, and one were found alive after surviving a plane crash, spending weeks living in the Amazon jungle. The children have now been reunited with relatives after the tragedy that killed three adults, including their mother. Survival expert Ben Logan says that this is an incredible case study. He says as shown, humans are far more capable and robust than we think. LISTEN ABOVE
The Green Party has revised their tax policy, promising a 2.5% wealth tax, targeting assets worth two-million-dollars, or four-million for couples. The party would remove taxes for earners below 120-thousand-dollars, while lifting the top tax rate to 45%, and corporate taxes to 33%. Green Party co-leader James Shaw told Mike Hosking that the conditions are there for a greater level of support for this version of the policy. He said that people’s tolerance for children living in unsafe situations without access to food or a decent roof over their heads has come to an end. LISTEN ABOVE
The Green Party's eyeing sweeping changes to our tax system... but not all financial experts are onboard. It's promising a 2.5% wealth tax, targeting assets worth two-million-dollars, or four-million for couples. The party would remove taxes for earners below 120-thousand-dollars, while lifting the top tax rate to 45%, and corporate taxes to 33%. Oliver Shaw Tax Advisory Director, Mike Shaw told Mike Hosking that he's not a fan of the tax-free threshold. He says it results in steeper tax rates above the threshold, making people pay more and incentivising people not to work. LISTEN ABOVE
The Health Minister's unveiled a new plan to even out the playing field when accessing healthcare treatment around the country. Ayesha Verrall says the 'postcode lottery' —where patients face differences in treatment based on where they live— will be tackled by groups of expert clinicians. Taskforces —representing different specialties— will compare access to treatment in different regions, and make recommendations for change. Association of Salaried Medical Specialists' Sarah Dalton, told Mike Hosking that the sector still faces worker shortages. She says the problem is that the expert clinicians aren't a new group of people, so it's another stretch on their time. LISTEN ABOVE
Rory McIlroy is my hero of the week. Watch the Netflix doco-series Full Swing. Rory features in one episode and comes across very well. He said he feels like a sacrificial lamb, which he is. No one has spoken out more strongly for the PGA Tour. No one has been more passionate about defending the sport he loves, for the right reasons. He says in the series that he may well have let it go a bit far and said some stuff that might have been a shade aggressive. In that, I think he is right. I'm all about people charting their own course in life. If the Saudi's set up a tournament and offer you money and you want to go, then good luck to you. You're not letting anyone down, unless you decide you are letting yourself down. As a PGA Tour supporter you can be surprised, you can be disappointed and you can disagree. But that is about where it should end. We are not the arbiters of other's destinies and McIlroy, certainly, was never in any position to tell people what to do, or even overtly judge them for doing so. But, that said, you admire him for his passion. His argument was based on the love of the sport, the competition and all the good things it had given him. So you can fully appreciate how gutted he must have been this week to wake up to the news the Saudi's have, basically, bought the game. But even then, the PGA Tour poster boy could see, and this speaks volumes about who he is, that ultimately it was good for the game. A game that grows is good for everyone. We get far too exercised about the Saudi's. People visit Saudi Arabia every year, people play sport in Saudi Arabia every year. Lydia Ko was there a few months back. You don’t have to connect politics to sport, any more than you have to connect politics to tourism. If we did that, we would never have been to Fiji, China or any of a couple of dozen mainstream tourist destinations. If we interacted only with the politically, morally, socially and fiscally pure then we would interact with next to no one. If Rory of all people can forgive, get it and move on - then so can we.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Michael Wood: 1/10 An astonishing week, an astonishing revelation, astonishing behaviour and perhaps the poster boy for all that’s gone wrong with a tired Government. Jan Tinetti: 2/10 Would have been their headline act if she hadn't been usurped by even more spectacular incompetence. The Brain Drain: 3/10 This is a problem. Yes, immigration is increasing. But are they intellectual replacements for the ones we are losing to Australia? And in that, is your issue. LIV Golf and the PGA Tour: 7/10 Because its indisputably good for the game. Supermarket crime: 2/10 This was the cold, hard wake-up call of the week and yet another nail in the Government's crime coffin. A 40 percent increase and $8 million in security for one company alone and body cameras for staff. No wonder we are feeling so safe, aye Ginny? King's Honours: 7/10 Because in there were the usual array of selfless, hardworking, generous and giving Kiwi stories. But also a few that weren't quite so illustrious, and therefore, controversial. And in being so, tarnishing the good name of the King. The electoral recommendations: 6/10 A grab bag of stuff we could have come up with ourselves. And one that suspiciously smacked of a Government agenda. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Every player in the FIFA Women's World Cup has $49,000 coming their way and the 23 players in the title winning team will each get $447,000. The money comes as a result of FIFA's previous promise to financially reward the 732 players taking part in this years tournament, meaning more than half of FIFA's total prize money fund of $182 million must be paid to the players. Former Football Fern Wendi Henderson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Le Mans is all set to go ahead this weekend. And defending champion Brendon Hartley will be in attendance, looking to add a fourth championship to the list. Brendon Hartley joined the Mike Hosking BReakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
It may be too early to read too much into the Government's higher than expected deficit. Latest Treasury figures show the Government has recorded a $7 billion deficit for the ten months to April. While that's $2.4 billion lower than the deficit from the same period a year ago, it's $1.3 billion dollars higher than Budget forecasts. New Zealand Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton told Mike Hosking we need to see how indicators track in the months ahead before drawing any conclusions. He says the deficit could change a bit from month to month, due to fluctuations in tax revenue and expenditure. LISTEN ABOVE
Doctors are saying the Government's proposed five percent funding increase isn't enough. A number of general practice associations have written to Te Whatu Ora Health NZ calling for an increase of at least 14 percent. College of GPs President Samantha Murton told Mike Hosking the funding model was formulised two decades ago, but lots has changed since then. She says that formula doesn't cover the high cost of medical equipment. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland needs a deal. Councillors will be back around the table at 10 this morning - as its budget considerations stretch into a second day. Mayor Wayne Brown raised a proposal mid-way through yesterday's meeting. He suggested selling only a portion of the council's Auckland Airport shares, alongside higher rates rises and more cuts to Council Controlled Organisations and local boards. Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Simon Bridges told Mike Hosking not selling the full airport shares is second rate. But he says Auckland needs a balanced budget, even if it is sub-optimal, otherwise it's dysfunction junction. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland Airport's clapped back at airlines after their claims that increased landing fees could make travel less affordable. Qantas and Air New Zealand have teamed up to publicly oppose the airport's latest plans to double landing fees over the next four years. They say prices are being hiked to fund a largely unnecessary redevelopment. But Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui told Mike Hosking charges will make up less than five percent of airfares in 2024. She says the 57-year-old terminal is past it's use by date and they can't put off the investment. LISTEN ABOVE
You could have heard a pin drop at Question Time yesterday. How many times had Michael Wood been asked by the Cabinet Office to sell his Auckland Airport shares? We had thought six times was bad but it turned out to be 12. In a day of questions that saw the Government as decimated as any day I have seen watching these things, Paul Goldsmith of National asked Wood whether it was dishonesty or incompetence. Wood, who looked ghost-like, didn't really answer. He didn’t have to. ACT, in a series of questions designed to embarrass, gave examples of whether or not people entering various processes involving Governments and Government departments could be assured that the people they were dealing with didn’t have a conflict of interest. Especially if the Prime Minister couldn’t trust his own minister to not have a conflict of interest. Grant Robertson, as Labour's point man on rules around questions, tried valiantly to stop it, but couldn't. He also failed yesterday to get the speaker to rule against Mark Mitchell asking Ginny Andersen if we feel safe from crime, the way she has been claiming. What matters in Question Time is twofold. First, it occasionally elicits stuff the Government don’t want you to know, with yesterday being one of those days. Secondly, when it does do that, it provides the Opposition i.e National and ACT, with momentum. It's not always made public because the press gallery is such a shadow of its former self and the lack of experience means a lot of this stuff never gets recognised, far less covered. But it has been many a year, and I have seen a lot of years, since I have seen a Government as badly on the mat as this one was yesterday. Chris Hipkins has inherited the Wood scenario, providing proof, yet again, that his predecessor was barely interested in any detail at all, far less the sticky bits. You want to look at a picture of what a dead man walking looks like? You had your choice. Look at Hipkins at about 2:10pm yesterday. If Wood looked justifiably sick, Hipkins was punch drunk, barely conscious and desperate for the bell to end the round. I would have thought it goes without saying, but Wood can't survive this. Because this now goes to Hipkins' leadership. It's one thing for Ardern to be useless and hands off, but this is now on him. 12 times. Five-year-olds don't get asked 12 times to do something. No one ever, for anything, has been asked 12 times. Records in incompetence, or skulduggery, are being set here. Even though Hipkins has literally no one in his empty cupboard of ministerial talent left, he can't ignore this any longer.
If you want a sense of how the UK economy is fearing, and how to get into business, then James Caan is your man. The British-Pakistani entrepreneur went from no degree to starting a recruitment company to becoming one of the most respected and successful entrepreneurs in the UK and a government advisor. He was a former dragon on Dragons' Den and his latest recruitment company, Recruitment Entrepreneur has gone from strength to strength. So much so, that he's bringing it to New Zealand - and James Caan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Ōtautahi Christchurch is making progress in its earthquake and pandemic recovery. Thanks to five major summer sporting events, the local economy has received an injection of close to $3 million. ChristchurchNZ's General Manager of Destination and Attraction Loren Heaphy told Mike Hosking the city has matured from its post-quake status and is picking up momentum. She says they are focused on building vibrancy and making sure both visitors and residents alike, are having an amazing experience. LISTEN ABOVE
Out of the $30 million provided to the Hawke's Bay Chamber of Commerce to help businesses stay open after the cyclone, about $8.8 million of it has been left unspent and is set to be returned to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. There were 1491 grants accepted and paid out, but only about 130 businesses received the full amount of $40,000. Last time Greg Miller joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast, he had been waiting for his funding for seven weeks, owner of Esk Valley's Valley D'Vine restaurant Greg Miller spoke to Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland councillors will decide today whether to sell the council's shares in Auckland Airport. Newstalk ZB's Michael Sergel told Kate Hawkesby Mayor Wayne Brown will be seeing the numbers to sell the council's entire 18-percent stake in the airport. It's still unclear if two councillors, Chris Darby and Julie Fairey, who happens to be married to Michael Wood will be voting, after they had to correct the record on Auckland Airport shareholding. Auckland Council expenditure committee chair Maurice Williamson told Mike Hosking they probably won't be blocked from voting if they want to. LISTEN ABOVE
A group of businesses and organisations wants the Government to step in to stop postage price rises. From next month, New Zealand Post is hiking prices for bulk mail customers by 30 percent, a total increase of 100 percent in the last five years. Thirteen groups signed a letter to the Government including Grey Power, the Magazine Publishers Association and the Rural Advocacy Network. Spokesperson Maddison Burgess-Smith told Mike Hosking the increase is out of line with the rest of the world. She says in the same period, Australia is up 20 percent, Canada seven percent, and the UK 33 percent so the Government needs to have a transparent conversation. LISTEN ABOVE
A big question for Chris Hipkins over whether to remove Michael Wood from cabinet. Wood remains stood down as Transport Minister after it was revealed he was told to sell his Auckland Airport shares no fewer than 12 separate times. The opposition is calling for Wood to resign or be fired, but Wood says he has no plans to go. Former Cabinet Minister Peter Dunne, who was himself forced to resign from Cabinet in 2013 after he was found to have withheld information from an inquiry into a leak of a GCSB report, told Mike Hosking he agrees Wood needs to go. He says the recent controversies over Michael Wood, Jan Tinetti, Stuart Nash, Kiri Allan and Meka Whaitiri have detracted from Hipkins' leadership. Jan Tinetti will appear before the Privileges Committee today, accused of misleading the House over attendance figures. LISTEN ABOVE
Andrew Little and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins did to Michael Wood the least he could, without doing nothing. At least he did something, which is an improvement on Jacinda Ardern. Ardern never understood that doing nothing wasn’t actually leading. It applied to policy and discipline. It took astonishing amounts of poor behaviour, if not downright law breaking, for you to ever incur the wrath of a woman who hated controversy. At least Hipkins understands in election season, at a time when the Government looks increasingly checked out, pretending what Wood did was a non-event, is a non-starter. And so he gets stood down. That's it. He should, of course, have been sacked. His only defence is incompetence. There is no dispute over the actions, there is no dispute rules were broken and there is no dispute the rules were known. Essentially, he stands aside, not from Cabinet, but from relative portfolios until, presumably, he flicks his airports shares. At which point he's back as though nothing happened. That is one of the many problems besetting this Government. He is only stood down because there is literally no one to take his place, as Ginny Andersen and Jan Tinetti have so aptly demonstrated with their promotions. It also shows an ongoing laziness for process and respect for the institution. It's like they're either thick, or don’t care. Or both. What hasn’t been addressed by Wood, is upon his declaration of share ownership to the Cabinet Office, why did he not think that being a shareholder and the Minister of Auckland and the Minister of Transport/light rail that that wasn’t the most glaring of conflicts of interest? Why wasn’t he all over that? Why wasn’t he squeaky clean? Why didn’t he bend over backwards to make sure his credentials were sound? He had to be asked six times to sell his shares, for goodness sake. And now it’s the usual flannel about telling people he thought he did something, but didn’t, and then he didn’t sell his shares, but thought he did. If you can't run your own affairs properly, then how do you run your portfolio? Or the country? I think, in that, lies the real truth. The reason this lot are so hopeless is because that’s simply what they are. They're hopeless, in life, as in politics. The Government are a bewildered mess that can barely get through the day. They are shabby, hence the country is shabby. You lead - or fail from the top.
The International Air Transport Association are warning that the sweet spot of passengers blindly accepting high air fares may be coming to an end. Demand was through the roof post-Covid but with inflationary pressures persistent, they could be dampening the overall appetite for travel. Executive director at BARNZ Cath O'Brien joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Grocers are calling for solutions after recording an almost 40 percent increase in North Island retail crime. Data collected from New World, PAK'nSAVE and Four Square stores have found an average of 37 incidents of retail crime a day between February and April this year. Foodstuffs North Island chief executive Chris Quin told Mike Hosking local grocers have never seen retail crime at these levels. He says investment in security is around $8 million a year and that's just in North Island stores. LISTEN ABOVE
The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia’s golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour. As part of the deal, the sides immediately are dropping all lawsuits involving LIV Golf. From the golf side, still to be determined is how players like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson can rejoin the PGA Tour after defecting last year for signing bonuses reported to be in the $150 million range. From the commercial side, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund joins the PGA Tour board of directors and leads the new business venture as chairman, though the PGA Tour will have a majority stake. News of the deal came as a surprise to many watchers of the lawsuits and Saudi Arabia’s inroads into US politics, sports and culture. “This is a huge development and obviously upends a world of golf, which has been perhaps more tradition-bound in the past,” said Kristian Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at Houston’s Baker Institute. Under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund has made a point of seeking investments, like LIV, where it could shake up existing industries, Ulrichsen said. “That’s sort of one of their mantras, to try to be disruptive and to take on the status quo,” she said. “And in this case, they seem to have succeeded.” As for PGA Tour players, most were bewildered by the shocking turnaround. It didn’t help that a news outlet broke the embargoed announcement before PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan could send a memo to the players. Most learned of the development on social media. “I love finding out about morning news on Twitter,” two-time major champion Collin Morikawa tweeted. Many were not happy. Wesley Bryan tweeted, “I feel betrayed, and will not ... be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA Tour for a very long time.” Byeong Hun An added on Twitter: “I’m guessing the liv teams were struggling to get sponsors and pga tour couldn’t turn down the money. Win-win for both tours but it’s a big lose for who defended the tour for last two years.” The announcement comes a year after LIV Golf began. Monahan was at the Canadian Open that week and said pointedly about any player who joined LIV or was thinking about it: “Have you ever had to apologise for being a member of the PGA Tour?” Now they are partners, giving Saudi Arabia a commercial voice in golf’s premier organisation. “They were going down their path, we were going down ours, and after a lot of introspection you realise all this tension in the game is not a good thing,” Monahan said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. “We have a responsibility to our tour and to the game, and we felt like the time was right to have that conversation.” Monahan was headed to Toronto to meet players at the Canadian Open, though most top players are not there. And while this likely will only lead to greater riches in golf, there still was explaining to do on why the tour would merge with a group that tried to take away some of the PGA Tour’s best players and was seen as the latest example of “sportswashing”. “I understand the criticism,” Monahan said. “For me, you take the information you have at the time and make decisions in the best interests. Things have changed. This was the right time to have this conversation.” The deal was in the works for the past seven weeks, when Monahan met Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Public Investment Fund. Players typically approve changes to the schedule and other competition matters. On this one, they were left out. “No one had word of this,” Monahan said. “Our players expect us to operate in the best interests of the tour.”
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan. Photo / AP Instead, he cited guidance from corporate members of the PGA Tour board. Still, Monahan has his toughest work ahead of him. He sought loyalty from his player...
A claim New Zealand needs a more consistent approach to flood risk management. Researchers have found that there are different standards of risk in different communities. Waikato University Professor Iain White says there are also conflicting priorities such as building more houses and managing natural hazards. He told Mike Hosking different standards lead to confusion. White says when areas have different thresholds it means it's hard to tell how many houses are at risk. LISTEN ABOVE
A claim Chris Hipkins is starting to be known for decisive action on ministers behaving badly. Michael Wood has been stood down from his Transport portfolio after failing to properly declare Auckland Airport shares. He was asked to sell the shares six times. Former Labour Party senior staffer Clint Smith says Wood should be able to stay on top of his paper work. He told Mike Hosking Hipkins has been quick to act. Smith says he wants to avoid situations suffered by John Key and Helen Clark where matters like this dragged on for months. LISTEN ABOVE
An Auckland headmaster says the Government's new vaping regulations aren't good enough. New rules include banning new vape stores near schools and marae, disposable vapes and flavour-names that appeal to children. Auckland Grammar Headmaster Tim O'Connor told Mike Hosking students will still mange to get their hands on products. He says there are five vaping stores near his school alone. LISTEN ABOVE
Welcome to the shortened week, with a good, old electoral slap in the face. If the Government were aiming for major change to the way we elect Governments they have got it, which is how these things work, of course. You set up a panel of people, who you have an idea as to how things will fall. You then get them to recommend a whole bunch of mad ideas, have some public consultation, which isn't really public consultation, and then make the changes you wanted all along. All of this while arguing it has little to do with you, but a lot to do with the people. And what a laundry list it is. - Lower the voting age to 16-years-old - Lower the party threshold to 3.5per cent - Extend parliamentary terms to four years - Have a lot of Māori involvement and oversight - Reduce the ability to fundraise It's pretty much what a heavily left-leaning group would drum up. It looks a lot like something the Green Party would dream up. We already, by the way, have polling for the voting age lowering and we don't want it. Every poll done on the subject has a very, very large majority saying that 18-years-old is just fine. The lowering of the 5 per cent to 3.5 per cent is inviting more parties, more madness and more fringe operators who will hijack an already hijacked system. If Winston Peters handing Jacinda Ardern the PM's job, having come a distant second, doesn't tell you all you need to know about tails wagging dogs, then nothing will. As for raising money, there is no right and wrong, or black and white. But making donations smaller always favours the left, who struggle with the corporates. What makes this stuff also egregious is they claim it's to make the system fairer. What on earth does that mean and why have, yet again, the media swallowed it? Your fair is not my fair. You could equally argue it makes the system more shambolic, it makes the system more left-leaning, it's a sop with a ludicrous amount of racial overlay. The upside is none of this is going anywhere fast. And I suspect that by the time the Government is changed in October, it will never see the light of day. The system we currently have is far from perfect, as indeed are all democratic systems. But in totality, it's not bad. And it's nowhere near in need of the radical shake up that is proposed here.
Chris Hipkins will have some questions for Michael Wood over revelations he hadn't declared his shares in Auckland Airport. The Transport Minister didn't immediately declare the shares as soon as he became an MP, or as soon as he took up the transport portfolio, mistakenly believing they were held in a trust which he had declared. Wood then publicly declared them in January last year, after learning that wasn't the case. The Prime Minister told Mike Hosking he'll be seeking information, before determining what happens next. LISTEN ABOVE
A new study into Kiwis' meat-eating habits shows 9 in 10 of us are still meat eaters. New Zealanders seem to gravitate towards chicken over red meat, with chicken accounting for about a third of meals within an average week, compared with beef at 22 per cent - and taste and price are the top factors in purchasing decisions. AG Research senior scientist Cameron Craigie joined Mike Hosking to discuss the findings. LISTEN ABOVE
The Education Ministry has been warned about the prevalence of content from influencer Andrew Tate in schools. Documents show officials are looking into how to tackle the issue. Educators Newstalk ZB has spoken to have raised concerns with one saying there are 'fan clubs' where boys gather at lunch to watch his videos. Secondary Principals Association President Vaughan Couillault told Mike Hosking the issue dampened when Tate was incarcerated and there was a crackdown on his social media. But he says it's been an issue for some young men and will probably come back again. LISTEN ABOVE
Getting public support will be key for any changes to our voting system. The Independent Electoral Review Panel has recommended a variety of changes to how our elections work. It includes changes to donations and lowering the party threshold from 5 percent to 3.5 percent. The panel would also like to see voting rights extended to 16 year olds and prisoners. Chair Deborah Hart told Mike Hosking they talked to lots of people while making the suggestions, and are now opening them up for further consultation. She says they want to be able to test their ideas with the general public. LISTEN ABOVE
Senior minister Michael Wood could face harsh legal backlash for not declaring he owned shares in Auckland Airport. The Minister who holds the transport, immigration, and Auckland portfolios is in the process of selling the $13,000 worth of shares he's owned since his teens. He declared ownership in January last year, having believed they'd been owned inside a trust. Otago University Associate Law Professor, Edward Willis told Mike Hosking the Minister could have financially benefited from his own political decisions. He says with his transport responsibilities there's a higher chance of a conflict of interest. LISTEN ABOVE
Was it a hollow victory? Indeed, was it a victory at all? The Government made much yesterday of the latest police graduation. The Prime Minister was there and the Prime Minister isn't normally there. But when there's an election to be fought and some headlines to be gained Chris Hipkins couldn’t miss it. The 1,800 new police have become famous. Or infamous. Was it 1,800 new recruits? Was it a net 1,800 gain? Was it a promise made for three years, or the almost six it turned out to take? Most importantly of all, does it solve the issue? That, is an indisputable no. Trainspotters might remember it was in fact a New Zealand First idea as part of the 2017 coalition. And one could ask whether Labour, if in Government alone then and given their now disastrous approach to crime, would they have ever even entered into any sort of recruitment drive? Six years on and they find themselves between a rock and a hard place. Crime, and its rampant nature, is this election's number two issue. Even if they try and blame the world, and wars, and Covid for the cost-of-living crisis, which is our number one issue, they can't hide from the crime mess they have engineered. Mind you, it's not like they haven't tried. From the top down, crime has been their Achilles heel. Look at the way they have treated the portfolio - from Poto Williams and Andrew Coster, a hopelessly, idealistic dabble in kumbaya by our most famous handwringer Jacinda Ardern, to the Stuart Nash chaos, to Hipkins stepping in through lack of talent, to Ginny Andersen being promoted a mile beyond her skill set. All the while their great fall back, as the crime stats exploded, was 1,800 more police. It became a mantra; a desperate one-liner of hope that, just maybe, when this magic number was reached, things would be OK. Well, they are not. Or anywhere close. It is a classic example of a promise made, but delivered way too late. Indeed, when it was delivered, it turned out not to be what they thought it would be. Does it help? I'm sure it does because any increase helps. But is it a success? Has it addressed the issue they set out to address? Not even close.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Ron DeSantis: 6/10 He's “in” officially, but what difference will it, and has it, made? Wayne Brown: 7/10 It ain't like he isn't trying and it ain't like he hasn’t got a plan. Air New Zealand: 8/10 Airline of the year. Of course, it's subjective, but it’s a world away from where they have been and that’s no bad thing. Jan Tinetti: 2/10 She should be embarrassed and ashamed and she, sadly, is a tangible outworking of a party that has run out of talent. Arena Williams: 3/10 Not as bad as Tinetti. But the duplicitous nature of the way they communicate speaks to character and transparency. Beer: 4/10 Things are dire in a country like ours when half the price of a 12 pack is tax. And that’s if you can get the CO2 for the fizz in the first place. The National Party: 4/10 Between the housing, which actually makes sense, and the road signs they have got to stop back pedalling. Work out what you want, say it and stick to it. Succession: 9/10 One of those rare moments in a world of streaming where enough of us actually saw something collectively to talk about it the next morning. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Outdoor education programme Outward Bound are looking to expand into the North Island. They have narrowed their search down to the Coromandel Peninsula, where they want land no less than 3 hectares, easy walking into the bush, and access to sheltered seas, this will allow them to open the options for a range of activities to keep kids active. Outward Bound acting CEO Simon Graney joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls have come for support in Southland as the future of the Tiwai smelter remains unknown amid large profits. The smelter faces closure next year if its parent company, Rio Tinto, isn't able to strike a deal with power companies. Southland Chamber of Commerce President Neil McAra told Mike Hosking the region and the smelter need each other. Rio Tinto reported an underlying profit from the smelter of $122 million for the year to the end of December. LISTEN ABOVE
High demand for workers is giving more power to some at the negotiating table. A Frog Recruitment survey shows 79 per cent of managers have made more counter-offers to resigning workers in the 12 months to March, than previous years. Higher salaries are the main demand, with 45 per cent of workers saying a pay boost would stop them leaving. Managing Director, Shannon Barlow says counteroffers are becoming more commonplace. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for the public to get involved in the consultation on plans to tighten up rules for the media. Internal Affairs have released a discussion document that proposes regulations similar to the Broadcasting Act for all forms of media including social media and online platforms. It also includes developing new codes of practice and a new regulator to watch over them. Internet NZ Chief Executive Vivien Maidaborn told Mike Hosking she's comfortable with the plan but has some questions. She says it's important to have community discussion and debate; which is what the proposal opens up the space and time for. LISTEN ABOVE
The categorisation of cyclone affected properties could continue to shift, as the finer details are ironed out. The Government will help fund council buy-outs for about 700 category three homes where future severe weather risks can't be mitigated sufficiently. Associate Finance Minister Michael Wood told Mike Hosking the plan's $1 billion total is an evidence based indication, and could change. He says some properties could shift between categories. Wood says people will have an opportunity to respond to initial categorisations. LISTEN ABOVE
Another day, another strike. Yes, it's the teachers again. In an industry crippled by lack of performance, they have divided yet another day of not turning up at work is somehow going to help kids get ahead in the world. Our email came through yesterday morning saying that the strike that was on, was put off, until it was put back on again after the latest pay offer was rejected. Say whatever you want about ACT, but they are at least consistent in their general view of life; and that is, we need to be better. In too many aspects of life these days we are haphazard, if not lackadaisical, if not outright abysmal. Their argument is that the 439 schools that haven't bothered to report their attendance data to the ministry should lose their funding until they do. Attendance is a crisis. As I told you the other day, they are worried in NSW about attendance rates dropping below 80 per cent. We are at 49 per cent. And while we are at 49 per cent teachers think it’s a great idea to keep withdrawing their labour. So, by the time you get the industrial action, the holidays, the teachers only days, the paid union meeting days, half days, the absenteeism and the minister leading the way with her disgraceful performance in the house around attendance figures, you have yourself a pretty dire ol' set of circumstances. As I mentioned at the start of all this industrial action, most of us have sympathy with the teachers plight. Most of us get that the good ones are shockingly paid. But that starts to wear thin after a few too many days off and a bit too much inconvenience. I also mentioned the other day that there is a practical solution to the problem - performance pay. Unions don't want it and most teachers don't want it because, heaven forbid, you'd actually find out who was up to it and who was there merely making up the numbers. And so a large grouping expects more money, not for more performance, or better outcomes. But merely because the cost-of-living is a mess, and they inconvenience whoever they want, until they get what they want. Once again, the kids stay at home. History will show that this current crop of students was let down shockingly. Between Covid, the lockdowns, the piecemeal credit giveaways, the abysmal test results around numeracy, literacy etc, and the seemingly never-ending strikes, it doesn’t get a lot worse than what they are having to put up with. It’s a rare old day that a system that fails so badly, has the temerity to inconvenience so many for their own ends.
Ryan fox is having a "dream come true" season. In the last month and a half he's played two majors, The Masters and the the PGA Championship, earning Top 30 in both and over $500,000 for those two tournaments. But the icing on the cake was what happened after the PGA Championship, where he was awarded special temporary status for the PGA Tour, essentially meaning he has a PGA card for the rest of the year. Ryan Fox joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Tsunami sirens are still being stolen in Auckland. Auckland Council has revealed 21 siren units have been stolen from sites across the city since the last update in October. That brings the total number of thefts to 52 since May last year, with all newly reported thefts reported to Police. It's suspected the units are being used for 'siren battles'. Sirening is the subculture that sees music played through loudspeakers attached to bicycles and cars, however it comes out as loud treble. LISTEN ABOVE
It is more common to see kids with an iPad in their hands than without them nowadays. And according to new research higher levels of screen time in children has been linked to poorer developmental outcomes. With children aged between nine months to five years old that spend more time on screens scoring lower on measures of language and educational ability, but higher on parent-reported peer problems. Neuroscience educator and child development expert Nathan Wallis joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has made a last-minute bid to build support for a $2.3 billion sale of the council’s airport shares ahead of releasing his final budget proposal today. Councillors were called to two confidential meetings yesterday, one in the morning on the sale of the airport shares and one yesterday afternoon to discuss a draft of the mayor’s final budget proposal. Brown will release his final budget proposal in the board room at Auckland Transport at 8.30am this morning - a day later than planned. At yesterday morning’s meeting, staff from Flagstaff, the Australian firm engaged by the council to advise on the sale, addressed councillors via video link. The meetings come the day after Brown condemned “Labour MPs in waiting” for not getting behind his plan to offload the airport shares and an earlier report that Brown believes he only has nine votes to sell the shares with 12 votes against. However, a handful of councillors are believed to be wavering on both sides.
Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown is keen to sell the council's shares in Auckland Airport. Photo / Greg Bowker Ever since his first budget proposal before Christmas, Brown has made the sale of the council’s 18 per cent shareholding in Auckland Airport the centrepiece of a plan to address a budget hole, now standing at $375m, and in line with an election promise to “stop wasting money”. Brown’s preference is to sell the shares, keep rate rises as low as possible - hopefully around the inflation rate of 6.7 per cent - increase debt by no more than $100m, and moderate spending cuts, including reinstating a $2 million cut to Citizens Advice Bureau. If he cannot sell the shares, Brown has threatened to reinstate deep cuts to social services and the arts and said rates could rise up to 13.5 per cent. In an interview with the Herald yesterday, Brown zeroed in on “Labour MPs in waiting” who, he said, knew selling the shares was the right thing to do but were telling him they had been contacted by the unions and others, so they didn’t want to do it. “The council is not a waiting room for would-be MPs, they are here to do what I am here to do, which is to stop wasting ratepayers’ money,” said the mayor. Brown did not name the councillors with ambitions to be MPs, but several councillors have strong ties to the Labour Party and a potential future in national politics. One Labour councillor, Josephine Bartley, said she is not in the camp of being an MP in waiting. “What I look at is what is best for Auckland not because of any deals or future political prospects,” she said on social media. Brown reminded councillors that only 4 per cent of Aucklanders supported higher rates during public consultation on the proposed budget and most supported a full or partial sale of the airport shares. “There are a lot of people out there with mortgages in a spot of bother, and I feel sorry for them. I don’t want to make it any worse,” he said. - Bernard Orsman, NZ Herald
Increasing concern has come that the forestry sector isn't being run in a sustainable way, with businesses on the chopping block. A 23-year-old business is shutting up shop due to a raft of troubles, including rising costs, slim margins and export log prices continuing to fall. Stubbs Contracting owner Robert Stubbs told Mike Hosking it's been a slippery slope for the last three years, since Covid. He says fluctuation of market prices since then has increased debt to an unsustainable level. LISTEN ABOVE
Cost of Living pressures don't look like they are abating anytime soon but we may actually just be acclimatising to our new norms. The latest Centrix credit indicator shows that for the first time in eight months, there's been a reversal of the increase of arrears in home lending or mortgages. Arrears were sitting at 11.8 per cent in march but have now dropped to 11.3 per cent with a decline in the number of accounts behind on payments for nearly every product, except vehicle loans. Managing director of Centrix Keith McLaughlin joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
A victims' advocate says her experience is that there is more crime happening. The number of people charged with non-traffic offences has halved since 2009. The Herald analysis found between 2017 and 2022 the total number of people charged and convicted for all offences dropped by a quarter. That number fell the most under Sir John Key's National party governments - and rose the most under Helen Clark's. Victims' advocate Ruth Money told Mike Hosking recording practices keep changing. She says if you're not measuring cautions versus charges, if people are only charged with lead offences the data can be manipulated. LISTEN ABOVE
If you are a regular to this show, then you will know my interest in the Jan Tinetti scandal. There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind, or I suspect anyone who has followed this, that she misled Parliament. It has been going on for several weeks now and her conduct has, at last, caught up with her. You could argue this is a bit beltway - and it is. But it's important because it is representative of just how shabby our leadership is. Tinetti is a minister of the Crown and a woman who is in charge of an education system that is in crisis. An education system whose performance is embarrassing, whether it be in the basics of literacy and numeracy, or the basics of simply turning up on a regular basis. It's not all Tinetti. Her predecessor, a guy by the name of Chris Hipkins, has a lot to answer. But what Tinetti did was interfere with the ministry's release of attendance stats. They made her look bad, so she tried to delay them. And having interfered with their release, she then claimed she didn't. This little tail of skulduggery has been expertly executed by National's education spokesperson Erica Stanford who, sitting day after sitting day, has needled away and asked question after question. Now, the trouble with Question Time is a minister can, and often does, BS their way through an answer. So, you have to be clever in your question line - and Stanford has been. You can also tune in on any given day and be lost in a myriad of detail and wonder what on earth this is all about. And that is why moments like this are never really covered. The media will argue we don't care and we lack the attention span to deal with it. But Parliament is important and Question Time is important, if for no other reason than it is the Opposition's best attempt to get to the bottom of matters, away from the spin and press releases of the outside world. Most importantly, it puts the Government on notice and on record. You simply can't mislead the house, which is what Tinetti appears to have done. It ultimately goes to who you are, what your morals are, how good are you at your job and how much you hide behind noise and excuses. It's also a good example of a party that has long ago run out of talent. Hipkins did all the jobs previously because there was no one else and when he became Prime Minister we got Ginny Andersen in police and Tinetti in education. How's that going for them? Anyway, the Privileges Committee has extraordinary power. They won't use it because they are spineless and also dominated by Labour MP's, but the embarrassment should be enough. Very few ever get referred. Tinetti has the shame of being one of those few.
Some good news has come for the screen production industry with the Government proposing a tweak to the current Screen Production Grant, starting with a name change to the Screen Production Rebate. The say the rebate will be made simpler, more competitive and easier to access. This includes the post-production, digital and visual rebate returning to a flat rate of 20 per cent, and the qualifying expenditure threshold for the post-production, digital and visual effects rebate dropping from $500,000 to $250,000, enabling smaller productions to also benefit. NZ Screen Producers Guild President Irene Gardiner joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Air New Zealand's boss isn't taking its latest award for granted. The company has been crowned AirlineRatings.com's Airline of the Year, beating the last winner Qatar Airways. Air New Zealand Chief Executive, Greg Foran told Mike Hosking there's still more for them to work on. He says they'll reflect on the win, but he wouldn't say the airline is fully back to normal following the pandemic. LISTEN ABOVE
National's U-turn on housing density is one of many factors leading developers to put their projects on ice. The party has pulled out of its bi-partisan agreement with Labour, confirming it will allow councils to opt out of legislation allowing three-storey homes on most residential land. Subdivide Simplify Head of Strategy Troy Patchett says it will put developers off making decisions. But he told Mike Hosking it's just one of many factors creating uncertainty. "There's lending, there's immigration, there's the fact we've now ringfenced losses on development, building depreciation." LISTEN ABOVE
It has been hard to keep up with the National Party's ever-changing opinion on bilingual road signs. But after their clarification the party does in fact support the te reo Māori signs, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is now accusing them of dog whistling. National Party leader Christopher Luxon joined Mike Hosking to respond to the Prime Minister's comments. LISTEN ABOVE
Disappointment at the idea of hiking fuel taxes. Treasury warns rising costs in the transport sector and a large loan granted to Waka Kotahi may mean an increase in Fuel Excise Duty and Road User Charges is needed. It says they may need to go up from July 1 next year. National Road Carriers Chief Executive Justin Tighe-Umbers told Mike Hosking first we need to spend on what's essential - and then fix the funding model. LISTEN ABOVE
Surrogacy laws are set to be updated to move with the times. Currently, parents have to adopt their child using adoption laws, which are 70 years old. The changes remove the need for parents to adopt their child born by surrogacy, establish a register for babies and provide clarity over payments surrogates receive from parents. Wellington Fertility Associates Medical Director Simon McDowell told Mike Hosking it's taken a long time to get this process underway. "Like many of our laws, they were set up perhaps with good intentions but the system to get the law changed is quite onerous and it's been on the back burner." LISTEN ABOVE
What possible, sensible, and the key word here is 'sensible', reason can there be to introduce Māori road signs? The idea is out for consultation as we speak. I wonder how much of a rort that is. Is there really consultation? Is anyone actually listening? Or is it a smokescreen to pretend they asked a few people? The simple truth is the vast majority of us don’t speak Māori. So, in a sheer practical sense, it achieves nothing. The 5-8% percent who have some form of ability in Māori also speak English. English is spoken by everyone; therefore it makes the most practical sense to have signs in a language we all get. I fully realise we are on some sort of journey at the moment to embrace more Māori culture. I get that a lot of people are on a bandwagon to promote the idea. Some are determined to impose it upon us, hence the current pushback we are seeing. Sadly, the debate has been derailed by the crazies who are right, because the rest of us are wrong and racist and Neanderthals. Having road signs in another language outside English is pointless. The point of a sign is instruction and if you don't speak the language the point is missed and wasted. Signs also become confusing. Especially signs that need to be taken in at speed, in a car, on a road. We all know this is woke nonsense. It’s a waste of money from an agency that really needs to spend more time, energy and money on actual roads and the disgrace they currently are. If you like Māori language, are learning it, wanting to learn it, immersing yourself in the culture, feel you are a better person for it then all of that is good and all power to you. But good intent, or woke bandwagons or whatever you want to call it, must not trump practicality. A road sign is not a classroom. It is not up to a road agency to teach us something we may or may not want to learn.
The King of Christmas albums is coming back to our shores. Grammy award winning Michael Bublé is on the road and will be here this June as part of the Higher Tour. The songs will mostly be from his album Higher which was out last year, along with the classics mixed in. He's playing at Spark Arena in Auckland and Michael Bublé joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of last year Tauranga City Council re-introduced paid on-street parking. But it ended up meaning less people were coming into the City Centre and therefore reduced spending at local businesses, so to get business back, the free parking is returning during weekends and after 5pm on weekdays. General Manager of City Development and Partnerships at Tauranga City Council Gareth Wallis joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
In September, the UK's Metropolitan Police will officially stop attending emergency calls related to mental health incidents. Police are not trained to deliver mental health care but UK police officers are estimated to spend 20-40 per cent of their time dealing with such incidents. With rising police call outs to mental health related issues here, questions have been asked as to whether it time we draw the line too. Chief Executive of mental health platform Clearhead Dr Angela Lim joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says legislation currently before select committee will introduce tougher penalties for those who flee police. But he told Mike Hosking it may not be passed before the election. "We are running out of time in terms of the overall legislative programme, there's no question about that. There's a lot of legislation before Parliament at the moment. I'm sure this will be a priority, I'm sure MPs will give it priority, I can't guarantee it will be through before the election, though." LISTEN ABOVE
Beef and Lamb are forecasting a 30 per cent decrease in average farm profit. A new report shows on farm inflation is at 16.7 per cent, which the highest it has been in 40 years and is two and a half times the consumer price inflation rate. Beef and Lamb NZ Chief Executive Sam McIvor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association says changes to the fleeing drivers policy is bigger than just pursuits. The new Fleeing Driver Framework gives officers more scope to pursue offenders. Under current policy, numbers of people failing to stop for police rose 106 percent. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking the public wants more police out there on the streets full stop. He says they want more proactive policing and that's the message the commissioner must be getting. LISTEN ABOVE
Why wait until 3am to party on Auckland's Karangahape Road when you can smell like it 24-7? The limited edition perfume "Road by Karangahape" is being dubbed 'K Road in a bottle - with notes of dance floor sweat, nicotine, and wet concrete. Motion Sickness’ executive Creative Director Sam Stuchbury says that the scent's quite musky and has the atmosphere of the notorious road. The perfume will be sold at local businesses for six weeks from today - with all sales revenue going directly to housing support charity Lifewise. LISTEN ABOVE
A bit of good news for the National Party over the weekend. The attack came from Labour that we are going to be $100 worse off under National. The word poor is used. It's very deliberately emotive, the word poor. What is 'poor'? Who is poor? Who decides? Anyway, we will see a bit of this in the campaign, the rich vs poor divide. The idea is to create envy - if you don’t have it, you don't want others to have it. "The rich pricks, they need to be taught a lesson, and if you stick with Labour we'll give it to them good and proper." It’s the exact opposite, of course, to how most New Zealanders think and that's why it won't work. But the reason they are doing it is because they know they are in trouble. When you have run out of your own ideas, or when your own ideas have turned out to be shambolic with the economy, debt, crime etc, you go after the other guy. The second part of good news was an article about Chris Luxon and how people “inside” his party are having issues with his lack of performance. The media, sadly, are already declaring their hand. The "insiders", the people in the party of course aren't named, are a tactic that media use to introduce stuff they want talked about. And discussion of Luxon and his performance, or lack of it, is to the Government's advantage. The good part for National is they are forewarned and forearmed. There will be more where this comes from. There was the astonishingly bad story last week from TV3 over A.I in ads, which was not news. But it does give you a clue around agenda and how far some will go to help the Government. From my point of view, the Prime Minister numbers are overhyped. Neither bloke is setting the world on fire. Last week's 25% and 18% numbers for preferred Prime Minister reflect that neither is a rock star. But it doesn’t matter because this election is not fought on rockstars, it's fought on mood. What is the mood of the country and does it need changing? The other thing is the narrative that this is a close race. It isn't. And it won't be. Anyone who has been around a while has seen tides go out. Governments lose elections, oppositions don’t win them. Short of calamity, this is already over and it's just a matter of margins. But watch for the media, watch for the no-name articles, watch for the invented stories and watch out for the agendas. It will be interesting and ugly.
National says it'll give central government "reserve powers" if councils don't deal with housing intensification the way it wants. The party has confirmed it will allow councils to opt-out of legislation which allows for high density housing on all residential land. Last week, leader Chris Luxon said his party was wrong to join the Government for a bi-partisan commitment to greater housing intensification. Housing spokesman Chris Bishop says that they'll legislate to give central Government reserve powers. LISTEN ABOVE
A positive reaction in the trades followed the Government's promise to make its Apprenticeship Boost scheme permanent. The programme —which was introduced during the pandemic— was set to finish this year. It pays employers 500 dollars per month for the first two years of an apprenticeship to support training their employees. Registered Master Builders Federation Chief Executive David Kelly told Mike Hosking that it's been key to the sector's growth, with the number of apprentices in construction up by almost 40 percent in the first two years. Kelly says their own survey showed nearly 40-percent of members believed the scheme was critical to taking on new staff. LISTEN ABOVE
The Speaker of the Republican controlled US House of Representatives believes that changes to a deal to lift the debt ceiling will be transformational. Kevin McCarthy and US President Joe Biden have agreed in principle on a plan to raise debt in order to pay the country's bills. US correspondent Richard Arnold says that in reality the changes are small. He says there's a bit more Defense, less for the Tax Office, and reductions in regulation and age changes for food stamps. The US Congress now has to approve the deal. LISTEN ABOVE
The Employers and Manufacturers' Association says a new Indo-Pacific region supply chain agreement is a foot in the door for New Zealand. Trade and Export Growth Minister, Damien O’Connor, has signed a 14 country-strong agreement at the APEC Trade Ministers meeting in Detroit. O'Conner says COVID-19 shows how supply chain disruptions can impact the cost of living. Chief Executive Brett O'Riley told Mike Hosking that India's not historically a free-trader, so to have the country on board is beneficial for New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVE
Debts owed by current and former beneficiaries have ballooned to 2.4-billion-dollars. Ministry of Social Development data shows nearly 600-thousand-people have loans, averaging around four-thousand dollars each. They've been given the money for essentials like clothing, household appliances, and bills. Child Poverty Action Group Founder Janfrie Wakim told Mike Hosking that employment helps, but it's not everything. She says many people in paid work are accessing food banks to feed their families. LISTEN ABOVE
If you believe the Liberal media, papers like the Sydney Morning Herald, they will tell you that Parliament there has “erupted” over claims by Peter Dutton, the Opposition leader, that The Voice will radicalise Australia. What's interesting about The Voice is that, as it becomes more and more clear it's going to fail, those that back it are getting more and more alarmist. What Dutton points out is, in fact, reasonably accurate and we know that because all they have to do is look here to see where the experiment ends. Are we radicalised? That’s open to definition. But, are we a happy, peaceful, collaborative country when it comes to race relations? No. Further, I think we can fairly safely say that it's only gotten worse in the past handful of years. Like Australia, what we set out to do all those years ago, which was sort past wrongs and give Maori a seat at the table, was, and is, laudable. But it's not been easy. It's not resolved the issues and here we are a half century later and the debate has turned bitter, the resentment has grown and I'm not sure you would hold it up as a model for anyone. This is not to take a side; it's to state the obvious. The trouble, as Australia is finding, is the definition. What's a voice? How much does it translate into the real world? Of late here, co-governance has become inflammatory. Yes, Maori have a say, but it’s say-by-appointment, not the mechanism of democracy. We decided we didn’t like democracy for Maori because they didn’t get a fair go. So, because of race, they got treated differently, they got their own seats in Parliament and they got their own seats on the council. Seats based on race did, and does, create tensions. You might remember at council level you once could vote if a council changed seats for Maori to appointments. They took that rule away. Once again, that led to an inflammatory reaction. I don’t even need to mention Three Waters when it comes to race-based angst. So, Dutton is spot on. Even if you are the most ardent, passionate advocate for indigenous voices and representation, to suggest, as ironically The Voice architect Noel Pearson does, that it leads to plurality and not apartheid, and brings indigenous people in from the margins, is fanciful nonsense. The basic idea is solid. The execution, as we have seen and lived, is a rocky old road. And we are far from finished.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Ginny Andersen: 2/10 It would have been zero if it hadn't been for her appearance on the show, at last admitting crime was actually up and it's not all reporting. Adrian Orr: 6/10 Because if he's right, and that’s still up in the air, 5.5 percent and possibly no recession is not actually a bad result. Christopher Luxon: 6/10 Backing out of the housing density deal is the right thing to do. Politicians don’t like climb-downs, but climbing down is better than forging ahead with a dumb idea. Mānuka honey: 4/10 It's a lot of lawyers, a lot of time, a lot of money - and they keep losing. Maybe, just maybe, manuka honey isn't actually exclusively ours. Hawkes Bay: 7/10 When you are dancing with Bordeaux and Napa in terms of wine, it's a reminder than if you do it right, we are as good as anyone, anywhere. Te Huia: 3/10 It seems an odd thing to do to take an abject, transportation failure and then ask if it can be hopeless in Tauranga as well. Phillip Schofield: 6/10 Of all the people of late that have been cancelled, I feel sorry for him most of all. Falling out with a friend shouldn't lead to a shafting. And then you've got to ask what sort of friend does that anyway. Ratings: 8/10 Big numbers out yesterday for the radio industry and another record audience for this show. We are number one in every town and city now - bar Northland. Northland: 4/10 Come on Northland. Do you really want to be the odd one out? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week that was - and Mike had some financial news to share. LISTEN ABOVE
From today, kiwis can make electronic bank payments seven days a week. No more having to wait for payments to go through after public holidays or weekends - payments will go through 365 days a year. Chief Executive of Payments NZ Steve Wiggins joined Mike Hosking to discuss what this means for New Zealanders. LISTEN ABOVE
Employing only clinicians with a tertiary level degree, is a luxury our mental health system can no longer afford. That's the argument being made by three industry experts in an editorial in the latest New Zealand Medical Journal. Otago University Department of Psychological Medicine's Associate Professor James Foulds says 10 percent of funded positions in the sector are vacant. He says they're proposing an apprenticeship model - bringing people with the right attributes into the workforce and giving them on the paid job training. Foulds says they'd initially slot into roles such as healthcare assistants. LISTEN ABOVE
Police Minister Ginny Andersen isn’t taking legislative change off the table as the Government attempts to stem rising violent crime, particularly offences committed by young people. Both Andersen and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been clear in recent days that more could be done to address crime, which is fast becoming a key issue ahead of the general election in October amid reports of businesses closing and owners fearing death, while Opposition parties demand stronger penalties for offenders. This Government’s response to the increasing numbers of ram raids and aggravated burglaries last year largely consisted of two programmes providing security measures to small business owners and expanding multi-agency efforts to identify young offenders within 24 hours of the offence in areas like Auckland and Hamilton. Speaking to the Herald, Andersen indicated she may be considering tweaking the law to ensure it was meeting the need. “Look, it’s always important to look at if the laws are working properly and making sure that we’ve got those settings right,” she said. “Post-Covid, we have seen that hardcore group of repeat offenders that are quite young. “So I think it’s important that we make sure that we’ve got all those settings right to not only keep our community safe, but make sure that the laws [are] acting in the right way. “That’s as much as I’ll say, but I’m taking a really good look at the change in the landscape post-Covid and making sure we’ve got those settings right.”
A Sunnynook dairy was ram raided on May 10. Photo / Hayden Woodward The two programmes targeting young offenders included Kotahi te Whakaaro, which combined members from police, Oranga Tamariki, the health and education sectors, Kāinga Ora, the Ministry of Social Development, local non-government agencies and iwi to review cases of those aged between 14-17 caught in the preceding 24 hours. The other was an early intervention programme, dubbed the “circuit-breaker”, for children aged 10-13 and which operated in a similar way to Kotahi te Whakaaro. In Budget 2023, the circuit-breaker programme was expanded into Auckland City, Hamilton and Christchurch after being piloted in South Auckland. By the end of March, 82 per cent of the 147 children referred to Kotahi te Whakaaro had not reoffended. For the circuit-breaker programme, 67 of the 84 children referred had not been re-referred. Andersen said further expansion of the circuit-breaker programme would be “good”, but it was unlikely Kotahi te Whakaaro would be expanded as well. “I don’t have the budget for that now, but I’m always advocating for what more we can do. “I constantly have conversations with the Prime Minister and we’re always looking at new options.” To indicate the complexity of addressing youth crime, Andersen referenced a 13-year-old boy who was found with a broken leg after participating in a ram raid. According to Andersen, the house he was living in was infested with cockroaches, he and his siblings weren’t attending school, his mother was struggling with mental health issues and the children were largely going without clothes and food. Andersen said it took eight attempts by police, social workers and iwi representatives to make meaningful contact with the family, at which point the father broke down in tears. “[The father] was just in a state of absolute despair but through [those attempts], they got a door open.” She considered programmes intervening when children were young as essential, with evidence indicating older children often acted as the “ringleader” for others who would learn criminal behaviour if they weren’t set on a different path.
Police Minister Ginny Andersen and Northcote MP Shanan Halbert pay a visit to an Auckland dairy ram raided four times in recent months. It appeared likely that any further resources would be directed at diverting offenders away from crime as opposed to adding to the support for victims of retail crime, although Andersen did not r...
Apparently, the trickle down benefits from hosting large sporting events shows no evidence of greater participation levels. New research claims there is too much emphasis on elite sport spending, to the detriment of physical activity participation. Exercise NZ Chief Executive Richard Beddie joined Mike Hosking to discuss the findings. LISTEN ABOVE
Argument has broken out over how much the Government is investing in our roads. National claims the Government has reduced funding for State Highway maintenance by $164 million and local road maintenance by $314 million in this year's Budget. But Transport Minister Michael Wood says while the Budget document shows only $430 million being spent on local roads, it excludes other funding methods. He says $414 million of debt funding in 2023 will bring total local road funding to $844 million which is an increase compared to last year. Wood says Waka Kotahi is investing $2.8 billion dollars into State Highways between 2021 and 2024. LISTEN ABOVE
Opposition leader Chris Luxon says New Zealanders shouldn't lean too heavily on polling numbers. The two right wing parties would be able to govern alone according to last night's latest 1News Kantar poll. National would win 42 seats and Act 15 to put them in government with 62 seats. Chris Luxon told Mike Hosking these polls closely align with its internal polling. He says the only poll that matters is that on October the 14th. LISTEN ABOVE
What's the line about history repeating itself? What undid the Helen Clark Government was shower heads and water pressure. It wasn’t their only issue, by the time they had got to their third term they looked tired and, worse, they looked arrogant. Fast forward 20-something years and history repeats. For those who follow these things, or you're too young to remember, it was a nail-in-a-coffin moment. It was the moment it became clear they had lost touch with reality. They had lost touch with ordinary, everyday middle New Zealand. Their perceived superiority had killed them. So just what is it that has this current lot, a couple of decades later, talking to us about shower times? When a Government tells you about your time in a shower, when a Government invades your personal space and starts using yet more of your money to tell you how to conduct your daily routines, far less your daily, intimate personal routines, it is time to get them the hell out of your lives. Yes, it's helpful information and money saving tips, like turning the air conditioning off in the car, keeping the tyres inflated, recycling your waste, not throwing out old food or old clothes - it's always useful to offer personal tips to save money. That actually isn't the Government's job. The Government's job is to run the place properly. But because they have failed so astonishingly and spectacularly in that, they are now reduced to offering you condescending advice as to how you might make ends meet, given you can't because they have buggered the cost-of-living so badly you are going slowly broke. On an arrogance scale of 1 to 10, this is a 34. In an odd way, I am sort of surprised they haven't offered, along with their Winter Energy Payment, an "extended shower payment". "Why should you have a short shower? Let us pay for it and soak up for as long as you want." If you ever want an example of how bad things are economically, and how phenomenally out of touch the Government now is, take Megan Wood's advice and cut your shower time. Follow everything the Government says. But at some point, even the most gormless will wake up, the way they did in term three of the Clark Government, and realise it's become beyond a joke.
You may not be able to place the name, but you'll very likely have heard the voice. Teddy Swims, real name Jaten Dimsdale, is an American artist who first broke onto the scene singing covers and it was his cover of Shania Twain's You're Still The One that went viral. From there he was signed to Warner records, has released a couple of EPs and did a sold out tour of the States. He's coming to Auckland in august as part of his Sleep is Exhausting tour and Teddy Swims joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
In 2018, Queenstown Airport predicted it would need to double the number of flights to one every four minutes to accommodate an expected 5 million passengers by 2045. But after receiving backlash on that plan, they now have a new plan for a predicted 33 percent increase in the number of passengers over the next decade. But the number of flights in and out of Queenstown are staying much the same as they were before the pandemic. Queenstown Airport CEO Glen Sowry joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The freight and logistics sector urgently needs skilled workers - and they need them yesterday. Without any intervention, labour shortage in the sector is set to widen from 4,700 to 18,000 by 2028, according to a new report. Deputy chief executive of Hanga-Aro-Rau and report author Samantha McNaughton joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is confident inflation is finally being brought under control. The central bank has hiked the Official Cash Rate by a further 25-basis points to 5.5 percent, lower than the the 50-basis-point rise some had been expecting. It's also indicating the OCR won't be raised any further, despite many economists predicting it would be. Adrian Orr told Mike Hosking all indicators suggest that previous OCR hikes have now constrained spending and reduced inflationary pressure. LISTEN ABOVE
Early childhood education leaders are claiming the ECE Budget promised a Ferrari but delivered a lemon. They are calling on the Minister of Education to rethink the 20 hours fees free conditions for two year olds and the pay parity consultation. They claim the proposed 20 hours are funded at the highest possible ratio of children to teachers which is currently 1-10, but childcare centres operate at a much lower ratio than what the 20 hours is funded for. Kaiwhakahaere matua, Montessori New Zealand Cathy Wilson joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour is being ridiculed over a new advertising campaign about energy saving 'Find Money in Weird Places' promises to show New Zealanders how to save up to $500 on their annual power bills. The campaign will feature on television, social media, in print, on bus stops and malls throughout winter. Auckland University marketing expert Mike Lee told Mike Hosking the campaign is being condescending. He says instead of a marketing campaign, the Government would be better off developing new legislation capping how much power companies can profit. LISTEN ABOVE
Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr is in a difficult situation. The central bank has hiked the Official Cash Rate by a further 25 basis points to 5.5 percent. But it's also surprised many by indicating it's unlikely to hike the OCR any further, before it starts to cut the OCR towards the end of next year. Former Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash told Mike Hosking while he's as shocked as everyone else, he doesn't envy Orr's position. LISTEN ABOVE
Did we have a breakthrough of sorts on the programme with the Prime Minister, or was it more gaslighting? Ginny Andersen, who is so out of her depth it's embarrassing, has insisted for weeks now that crime isn't up and it's just being reported more. We all feel safer because of the 1800 police they have delivered. Chris Hipkins, who is clearly at the more retail end of the political spectrum, knows that that level of BS could not continue and so he acquiesced and said what we are seeing is unacceptable. No kidding, Chris. His problem is what to do about it. The magic bullet of 1800 more cops isn't magic, or a bullet. It's clearly not enough. Where it has all come unstuck for them is in their ideology that has driven six years of soft-on-crime theory By emptying the prisons, by appointing Poto Williams, by appointing Andrew Coster, by not arresting kids, by not getting people in court, by the courts not throwing books at them, you have emboldened the thugs. And the thugs are running rampant. For the first few years they could debate all of this. They could run that Ardern programme of kumbaya and keep telling us that being nice would lead to better people taking new pathways in life. It was, of course, all idealistic crap as Police Minister after Police Minister came and went. The only one left to stick their hand up was Ginny Andersen as no one else would touch the portfolio, because they knew they had blown it and the reputational damage was too great. By being soft on crime and by treating the police portfolio the way they have they have sown their own crisis. By believing that thugs are decent people who just need a hug, they have blown it. Crime now is the number two concern, only because the cost-of-living crisis is so astonishingly bad. If we weren't all so broke, crime would be the election issue. What Hipkins might just be starting to understand, is that when people close businesses because the thugs have won, that's not the New Zealand we want. When the beatings and the violence and the wanton criminality is affecting every single one of us, either through theft or aggression or fear, that is not the New Zealand we want. And to make it worse by gaslighting us the way Andersen does, treating us like idiots with falsity and lies, is the reason you lose elections.
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Joining the likes of Bordeaux, Napa Valley and Adelaide - Hawke's Bay has been recognised as a world class wine destination. The region has taken the crown as one of the 12 Great Wine Capitals of the world. President of the Adelaide South Australia Great Wine Capitals steering committee Jo Collins joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Greyhound racing is still on notice. The most recent report from the Racing Integrity Board, which is the fourth report into greyhound racing over the past decade, has found that injuries are still trending upwards, the industry has been slow to respond to track safety concerns, and there's an "urgent need" to improve data to understand outcomes for dogs that end up in rehoming programmes. Racing Minister Kieran McAnulty says the two options for greyhound racing are to continue under strict conditions or close completely. CEO of Greyhound Racing New Zealand Edward Rennell joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Minister concedes the increase in crime isn't just down to more reporting of crime. Reports of several categories of crime like serious assaults, acts intended to cause injury, robberies, burglaries and thefts have increased in the past five years. On Sunday, Ginny Andersen says that was partly due to it becoming easier to report crime, such as through a new app. But she told Mike Hosking she accepts incidents of crime are also increasing. LISTEN ABOVE
National is downplaying the cost of their tax cuts, amid calls for the party to front up. The Council of Trade Unions is picking the policy will cost up to $8.2 billion over four years. But National's finance spokesperson Nicola Willis says next year, the Government will collect $48 billion more in tax than it did in 2017. She told Mike Hosking that means the $8.2 billion number the CTU has used represents less than two percent of that overall increase in tax. She says the numbers sound big by themselves, but the policy is prudent. LISTEN ABOVE
Brace for another hike to interest rates, with the Reserve Bank reviewing the Official Cash Rate this afternoon. Westpac Chief Economist Kelly Eckhold and JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher are predicting a 25-basis point hike. However, ASB Chief Economist Nick Tuffley told Mike Hosking he's expecting a bigger hike. “A 50 and done.” LISTEN ABOVE
What first started out as a report into sexual misbehaviour in the law industry, has now become a proposal from the New Zealand Law Society to introduce a new statutory duty for lawyers - including discharging their duties in accordance with the principles of the Treaty. The meaning of the principles are uncertain, but if not followed could result in disciplinary action to be taken against lawyers. Criminal defence lawyer and medical doctor Roderick Mulgan joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
He's one of the Hollywood stars that started out his career just across the ditch. Guy Pearce got his start in Neighbours before he was destined for the bright lights - and is since recognised for roles in The Hurt Locker, The King's Speech and Momento. His latest show is called The Clearing - based on the very famous book In the Clearing by J. P. Pomare - and Guy Pearce joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There was a headline, my despair and a crime committed all in one story. So what was the headline? "Want free tickets to the Warriors in Napier? Fill out your uncompleted census forms." It's a nice ad for the Government's $150,000 giveaway to dead beats, the lazy, the unengaged and general freeloaders. The first crime is it's yet another sign of how the Government panders to people who can't be bothered, and use our money to do it. You know the story so far. The census is clearly a bust and Stats NZ are having to work overtime to get everyone ticked off. Like with the Covid jab, free stuff is apparently the weapon of choice. It is, of course, a legal requirement to fill in the census, but that appears to be irrelevant. Which does lead to the question - why have a law when freebies will do? And then we get to the second crime. It's yet another example of the media not distancing themselves enough from Government policy and essentially providing a free press release. The fact so much money is spent, essentially to cajole the recalcitrants, is an insult to each and every one of us that did our duty and have to pay to go see the Warriors. Salt in the wound is the fact the tickets in Napier are to the biggest game of the season. A game that is almost sold out because it’s the Broncos. And a game that the Napier paper very helpfully points out will be the biggest crowd since the All Blacks played Argentina in 2014. So, a hot ticket then, to a big game and a great night out at a critical stage of the season. And all you have to do, is do what the rest of us did because we wanted to do the right thing. Except, because you didn’t, because you can't be bothered, we bribe you with tickets that are hard to come by because clearly the Government's gone and bought them. Oh, and that’s not all. You can get your tickets by going to the open training of the Warriors, where there will be a signing session and a barbeque. So tickets, autographs and sausages. Never has being a no-hoper and non-participant paid off so handsomely. It’s the Labour way.
Privacy concerns are behind a €1.2 billion fine against Meta, the operators of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The European Union has slapped the fine on the social media giant, after an inquiry into transferring overseas data. Europe Correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking the EU believes this concerns millions of users. She says it's believed Meta hadn't done enough to protect data being passed to American intelligence agencies. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister is standing by government spending, despite the part it may be playing in driving up inflation and interest rates. Economists are now firmly divided on whether the Reserve Bank should keep the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 5.25 percent tomorrow, or raise it by a further 25 or 50 basis points. But most economists now expect the OCR to peak higher than expected, due to the inflationary pressure of last week's budget. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking much of that increased spending is unavoidable. "We have a cyclone recovery to pay for and it will have a significant impact on the Government. We've seen salary and wage pressure in the number of public sector workers dissatisfied with their pay cheques at the moment." LISTEN ABOVE
Between 12:30pm and 7:30pm on Saturday, the Auckland Harbour Bridge was closed five times. After the bridge was damaged by a truck in 2020, Waka Kotahi lowered their threshold for closing all lanes of the bridge. Devonport-Takapuna local board member George Wood says the continuous closures after the introduction of the new policy is causing mayhem and Waka Kotahi need to review their procedures for closing the bridge. Local board member George Wood joined Mike Hosking to discuss further. LISTEN ABOVE
Over two years, Labour's measles catch-up campaign has come with a $32 million price tag. And with only reaching 7 per cent of the targeted recipients, that works out to $1,300 per person, per injection. National Party Health Spokesperson Dr. Shane Reti joined Mike Hosking to discuss the figures. LISTEN ABOVE
Wage growth has meant some families are being pushed past the level they can receive Working For Families tax credits. The Government lifted the abatement threshold in 2017, from a little more than $36,000 to $42,700. Adjusted for wage inflation, the threshold would be just shy of $52,000. Child Poverty Action Group convenor Alan Johnson told Mike Hosking inflation has eroded settings around various policy - and the Government should be more adept at responding, than it has been. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland’s $5.5 billion City Rail Link (CRL) will not open until sometime in 2026 or later, the Herald can reveal. This is at least 18 months longer than what was forecasted only a few months ago when the cost of the project blew out by $1.1b to $5.5b and the completion date moved from late 2024 to November 2025. In an exclusive interview during a tour of the mega-project, City Rail Link chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney said the latest completion date is not when Aucklanders will get to ride the underground railway. He said November 2025 is when City Rail Link Ltd hands over the brand spanking new 3.4-kilometre track from Britomart to Mt Eden to Auckland Transport and KiwiRail, which then have to do extensive testing before it opens to passengers. Sweeney was reluctant to say how long that could be, but when pressed said: “As a ballpark guess, I’d say six months, but people need to understand that numbers could change a lot, based on what happens.” The big issue vexing the minds of Sweeney and the Alliance contractor is moving from the construction of the tunnels and stations to the complex and risky phase of installing bespoke software and signalling work, and plugging a state-of-the-art railway into the existing, fault-ridden network. Three years ago, Sweeney told the Herald there are going to be challenges at the “back end”, and the problem is made worse because a metro rail system has never been built in New Zealand. At the time, he was commenting on the Crossrail line under London that encountered massive and costly overruns after back-end problems just as everyone was doing victory laps - the chairman got a knighthood and later got sacked. Sweeney said Crossrail was a much more complex project and does not envisage similar problems with the CRL, but did acknowledge plugging new plants and equipment into the existing rail network could lead to “unintended consequences”. Full testing of the new systems is expected to begin in mid-2024 and will take about a year, said Sweeney, who is planning to finish the job before the November 2025 date. One of the biggest issues that needs testing, he said, is a fire on a train in the tunnel. After the handover, AT and KiwiRail have to go through another set of tests, which Sweeney said is not straightforward and involves a lot of operational and training exercises. “There are exhaustive tests that they will have to go through, and safety checks, before they are allowed to run passengers,” Sweeney said. For example, every one of the 240 drivers in Auckland will have to go through the tunnels for training. An AT spokeswoman could not say when trains will start running on the CRL, saying it is working with CRL Ltd and the Alliance contractor, Auckland One Rail, the rail safety regular Waka Kotahi New Zealand Transport Agency and other stakeholders on a plan to begin as early as possible. The plan involved critical testing of the new systems before trains can operate, including emergency and evacuation protocols, driver training, signalling and other important systems needed to operate the CRL safely. “We will be able to confirm the dates for CRL operations once this programme is complete,” she said.
Artist's impression of what the Karanga-a-Hape station will look like once it opens. Photo / Supplied Auckland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Bridges, who was Minister of Transport when work started on the CRL in 2016, said a 2026 opening date is far too long. “While most big infrastructure projects do take longer than is said when they start, a critical mistake here was not continuing during Covid lockdowns, when in hindsight we could have, if anything, picked up the pace in a safe and appropriate way. “That said, when it does open, my pick is that the vast majority of people will forget all the criticism, and Auckland will be in for a pretty golden period given the upgraded transport link, a new convention centre, and hopefully, an upward swing in cyclical economic activ...
Racer Ronan Murphy took his first win on Australian soil as part of the Porsche Michelin Sprint Challenge Series, climbing another rung on the ladder to the Carrera Cup Championships. Murphy said that the win meant a lot and was quite emotional for everyone involved, including his father: motorsport legend Greg Murphy. The track was fairly small —only 2.4km long— so there was a fight for space, but Murphy said that fortunately there wasn't too much carnage over the weekend. LISTEN ABOVE
Job ads have fallen for the first time this year. SEEK NZ's Employment Report for April shows the number of job ads have dropped one percent month on month, and are 16 percent lower than the previous year. The national decline was driven by Auckland and Canterbury. Country Manager Rob Clark says despite the drop there's plenty of demand for workers. He says comparisons to last year were bound to be stark as April 2022 was near the peak of the Great Job Boom. LISTEN ABOVE
Now, you can pick your word - but having done a lot of reading over the weekend around the banks and financial market's reviews of the Budget, the words I'd choose range from concern, to alarm. The bond rates jumped - that’s a bit dry for a lot of us, but believe me when I say it's bad. What it ultimately means is interest rates go up, and anyone with mortgage money pays more, and floating money is already well into the 8% figure. This week Adrian Orr gets his turn to tell us what he thinks. He thinks, or thought, the cash rate would end at 5.5%. In other words, this Wednesday he will put the rate up again by 25 points to 5.5% and then that would have been it. A couple of banks now see it going to either 5.75% or 6%. What does Adrian say about all the extra spending in the Budget? How can he ask us to cool our jets when the Government doesn’t? How can he possibly argue that the many billions more being borrowed and spent isn't inflationary? An inflation figure that, yes, dipped slightly last time, but since then we have no evidence that it's on a downward spiral. Treasury, in the Budget suggests it is. But I have yet to find a single person who can explain to me how you get to spend more borrowed money, while at the same time watching inflation fall. So if Adrian moves 25 points - and by the way, the case is building that he may surprise us yet again and move 50 points —but if he moves 25 or 50 points and says it aint over, and inflation is still an issue, and if he is bold enough and says that Government spending is the problem— then what? Has the Government borrowed us into a crisis? Is all that rhetoric from Chris Hipkins and Grant Robertson about it being fair and balanced and a document for the times actually blown out of the water, as Orr exposes it for what it is? An incendiary device that is going to send a lot of highly mortgaged home owners to the wall? If home values keep dropping and mortgage stress increases, then that hits every part of the economy. It hits mood and spending. If we can't afford to spend, if we don’t feel good and the only player left in town is the Government priming the pumps with printed money, we are in a monumental hole. The Treasury are either seeing something very few of us can, or they are incompetent. Adrian's view on that on Wednesday is going to be fascinating. I pray, along with most other observers, that I'm wrong, Treasury is right and Adrian agrees. Because if that’s not the case, the outcome doesn’t bare thinking about.
There are hopes that decarbonisation efforts at New Zealand Steel can be extended to other industries. The company will be given 140-million dollars to help them switch half of their coal to electricity at their Glenbrook site. Climate Change Minister James Shaw says there are talks with other firms for investment to get emissions down. He told Mike Hosking that the Government is committed to the effort. Shaw says 67 projects have been funded through the Government fund. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association says there's no doubt there's been an increase in crime. Reports of thefts and acts intended to cause injury have risen sharply and serious assaults have more than doubled in the past five years. Ginny Andersen told TVNZ that reports have significantly increased since it became easier to report through a new app. Vice President Paul Ormerod told Mike Hosking that crime has been reported more because there's actually more crime to report. He says crime wouldn't be the number two thing that New Zealanders are most concerned about if people felt safe. LISTEN ABOVE
A free trade agreement with India could be beneficial, but it wouldn't be enough to end our reliance on China. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is in Papua New Guinea for meetings with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as well as leaders from across the Pacific. National is calling on Hipkins to get talks restarted on an FTA with the world's most populous country. Auckland University international relations expert Stephen Hoadley told Mike Hosking that while that would be a good idea, we shouldn't overestimate its potential benefits. He says India can't be ignored as it will soon be the world's third largest economy, but India isn't interested in importing dairy products. LISTEN ABOVE
Government investment is being touted as a vital measure to encourage companies to decarbonise. New Zealand Steel will be given 140-million dollars to help replace half of the coal at its Glenbrook site with electricity. Chief Executive Robin Davies says there's no direct financial benefit for the company, only an investment in reducing carbon. He told Mike Hosking that without the Government's help the project wouldn't be able to be done now. Davies says reduction efforts would have been delayed several years. LISTEN ABOVE
The United States President and House Speaker are scrambling to come to an agreement on debt. The country has less than two weeks until it potentially runs out of money. President Joe Biden says he's willing to cut spending if necessary, and has cancelled overseas visits so he can discuss the issue. Devon Funds Management Head of Retail Greg Smith told Mike Hosking that the Democrats and Republicans are discussing raising the debt ceiling. He says this has caused anxious times in the past, going to the wire and even beyond it, but no politician wants to be seen as responsible. LISTEN ABOVE
The real value of the Budget for me is not the so-called lolly scramble people seem to expect each year. A bus trip here, a prescription there and a handful of EV chargers - that's rats and mice. The real value of a Budget is the big picture and the big picture is a disaster. For what it's worth, the gaming deal is not bad. But then again, it's classic Labour. Yes, we give rebates for film, but not for gaming. Why not? So they fix that. But do they? Our deal is still outdone by the Australians. So where are you going to go to make your games? Anyway, to the big stuff. There is more debt, much more debt, and the Government has to go to the bond market for billions more - in total $120 billion. Deficits are worse than forecast. We're $7 billion in the red this year, $7.6 billion next year. If they are lucky, they might see a surplus by 2026. Astonishingly, they see inflation still dropping to 3.3 per cent next year. We will have to be in one almighty recession by then to kill demand because, with the Government spending, I can't see how it doesn’t stoke inflation. They are forecasting lower tax takes for the next four years. So, more spending, less tax and more debt. What a combo. The prediction is GDP growth next year of 1 per cent and 2.1 per cent by 2025. I think we are guessing at anything beyond that point, aren't we? But for this year they, they being Treasury, see 3.2 per cent. I don't know how you come to that number, unless it's through spending, and if it's through spending and it leads to growth, it fuels inflation. Yes, tourism helps and there may be migration. But it's a heroic number. We've got Crown debt at 39 per cent this year and 43 per cent for the next. No, it's not like a lot of countries, as I am sure Grant Robertson will tell you. But we aren't like a lot of countries. We are tiny, with limited means of revenue generation, so 43 per cent is dangerously high for us. The tragedy here is, given all the spending that has been done and all the debt that has been incurred, where are we for all that? Are we feeling good? Are we growing well? You know the answer. Small credit to Robertson - I called it right and there was no rabbit. There was no election splash. For a spendthrift like Grant, he contained himself when the pressure must have been enormous to go for broke now, to try and save the election. In that sense, in the “hand out the lollies” sense, it was underwhelming. And that is actually good because when you see those big numbers, and the big picture, we are up “you know what” creek. And I don't see the paddle.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Our kid's ability to read: 2/10 This to me was the disappointment of the week. Not just because the score dropped again, but because no one seemed to care. And if we don’t care about our kids, what hope do we have? Violence: 2/10 We look more like South Africa every day and that, ironically, was a South African ex-pat who told me that. When you are shot randomly on the motorway for minding your own business, something is desperately wrong. Ginny Andersen: 3/10 She says in her capacity as Police Minister we feel safer. Do you feel safer? Ben Bell: 8/10 My hero of the week. He stood strong, didn’t take it, didn’t wilt, and when D-Day came he showed us all that bullies don’t need to win Bricks and mortar: 6/10 My other favourite story of the week. This omni-channel shopping we are seeing is back. Online shopping is easy but bricks and mortar, human contact, quality service and eyeballing the owner is the stuff that will never die. Donald Trump: 6/10 The Durham report reminds us that as mad as Trump is, he aint alone. America is riddled with crooks. Harry and Meghan: 2/10 Surely at some point they will realise that they are bordering on being a laughing stock. Manu Vatuvei: 6/10 I like the Warriors idea. No, you don’t excuse his criminality. But when does the punishment stop? And when does the rehab start? And if you can't get a break, how can we be surprised when you become recidivist? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The Budget came with a somewhat surprising investment into the gaming sector. Including a 20 percent rebate for video game developers and an allocation of $160 million. Along with $27 million for a digital skills package with apprenticeship like pilot programmes. Although it doesn't quite match what Australia has to offer it could help keep gaming in New Zealand. John O'Reilly, founder and creative director of Flightless Games studio in Mount Maunganui, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
What a start it's been to the British F4 season for 16-year-old Kiwi Louis Sharp. He sits atop the leaderboard after the first few races with a couple of wins, including a win at Donnington Park in a reverse grid race, starting from 20th. He's all geared up for Snetterton this weekend and Louis Sharp joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
The closure of Southland's retailer H&J Smith is raising questions over how local retailers can compete against international players. It comes as one of our biggest retailers 'Briscoe Group' has announced a record full year profit, with revenue up at $785.9 million. Briscoes Group Managing Director Rod Duke told Mike Hosking with the likes of Ikea heading to New Zealand, local companies will have to lift their game. He says local companies will have to offer a better product for a better price. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions for the Government this morning, over whether its Budget could make the Government's balance sheet even worse. The Budget includes removal of $5 prescription fees, the introduction of 20 hours free early childcare for two-year-olds, and public transport discounts for under 25s. Finance Minister Grant Robertson is branding it a "back to basics" budget. But JMI Wealth Director Andrew Keller told Mike Hosking the $4.8 billion of extra Government spending each year will put pressure on inflation and interest rates. LISTEN ABOVE
The Finance Minister says the Government is spending more than it planned to in the Budget, because of Cyclone Gabrielle.Under the so-called "back to basics" budget, the $5 prescription fees will be abolished from July, and two-year-olds will be eligible for 20 hours free early childcare from next March. Public transport will be made free for under 13s, and half price public transport will continue for those under 25. Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking while government consumption is trending down after Covid, the cyclone recovery is creating extra costs in the short-term. “That is the cause of the move from it being seen as more expansionary but I think most New Zealanders would want us to deal with the cyclone, we could be having a very different conversation this morning if we hadn’t done that.” LISTEN ABOVE
National is standing by its promise to re-introduce the $5 prescription fee that's being scrapped in the Budget. Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking the money being spent on the policy, $618 million over four years, would be better spent elsewhere. "We'd be able to use some of that money for other things, we've got some big priorities there and I think there are other priorities I would have focussed on before this." LISTEN ABOVE
Is it possible that our education standards are now so low, that when the reading report that got produced yesterday shows our score is the lowest ever, the reason you didn’t see that story anywhere apart from this show is because no one cares? And that’s why education is the way it is. To be fair, RNZ covered it. But there was no mention of the fact it was our lowest score. Over 400,000 kids in 57 countries and the headline was “Reading level of 10-year-olds tested against international counter parts”. It's not really a headline that suggests the lowest ever score. The article suggested the latest drop was statistically insignificant. It went on to explain that some countries did better than others, no kidding, that variation in reading standards happen for a variety of reasons, double no kidding, and that the ministry hadn't evaluated the data yet. So, sort of a republishing of a press release, which happens a lot these days. The Sydney Morning Herald, for a while, lead with these stats, thus indicating someone there is at least awake. Their headline was “Falling through the cracks”. They too had a score that suggested they shouldn’t be happy about, but ironically it was a score a lot higher than ours. Here is the tragedy - reading joins literacy and numeracy. The well-known PISA tests have seen us drop from being in the top 10 globally for maths and reading and science. In maths, we have gone from 4th to 27th, we are 11th in reading and 12th for science. This of course tends to involve kids who turn up at school, which is another of our problems. Most of them no longer do on a regular basis. The point is, there is clearly a crisis here. There's an indisputable, documental crisis and, yet, where is the concern? Where is the coverage? Where is the discussion that comes out of the coverage? Where are the alarm bells and red flags? Are we numb to failure? Is the media too biased to cover it because it makes the Government look bad? When did our kid's backwards trajectory become such a non-story, that a globally significant study, showing an ever-decreasing outcome, can barely draw a headline anywhere? It's easy to blame the media, of course. Maybe they merely reflect the lack of interest from readers and watchers, most of whom will be parents. Did no-one read all the other stories of educational decay, so they gave up writing them? What the hell is the matter with us?
New Zealand-based comedian Tim Batt is back with his new show. He's performed live all around the world and has just recently come back from Australia. In amongst it all he's had time to carry on with New Zealand's most successful comedy podcast and launch his own podcast network. His new show is called 'Is Climate Change Funny Yet?' and Tim Batt joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Being more than 300km offshore, on what was supposed to be a boat trip across to Fiji, things completely turned around when boatie Phil Dent's crewmate fell sick. Dent had to perform emergency surgery without any prior experience and only the help of a surgeon on the phone to guide him through it. Phil Dent joined Mike Hosking to explain the situation. LISTEN ABOVE
Concerns over early childhood education centre closures aren't going away. In just two years, 285 early learning centres across New Zealand have shut down. And between July 2022 until today, 91 centres have shut down, that is less than 10 months. Chief executive of Early Childhood NZ Kathy Wolfe joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
As much as shoppers enjoy shopping online, having a physical retail presence is becoming an advantage for many retailers - as omnichannel shopping makes a boom. Online stores play a key role in the decision making process which then leads to shoppers making a physical in store purchase. Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Building supply prices will now be monitored by the Government - along with land covenants across the country being reviewed. This all comes in response to the findings from the Commerce Commission's study into building supplies, which was undertaken in December. Chairperson of the Combined Building Supplies Co-operative Carl Taylor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Hopes the biggest needs won't be forgotten, in today's "bread and butter budget". Bailey Gair from Civil Contractors New Zealand says the budget needs to address the country's $210 billion infrastructure deficit. "We've also got flood and cyclone rebuild as well as a historical underinvestment in maintenance." LISTEN ABOVE
Poverty and the cost of living in New Zealand have been much discussed in recent times and there are hopes the Government will address these issues in today's Budget. Brooke Pao Stanley from Auckland Action Against Poverty says the budget meets the essential needs of every New Zealander. "Liveable incomes for people on benefits, student allowances and wages, fit for purpose state housing." LISTEN ABOVE
Hopes the biggest needs won't be forgotten, in today's "bread and butter budget". Dr Kate Allen from the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine told Mike Hosking the Government needs to be doing more to get people in and out of hospital sooner. "We want to see significant investment that leads to more staff, especially mental health and considerably more residential aged care beds across the country." LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins' travel plans are up in the air, after Joe Biden cancelled what was to be a history-making trip to the Pacific. Plans have been in the works for the US-Pacific summit, set down for Monday, in Papua New Guinea - with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins set to jet off to Port Moresby this weekend. But the US President has pulled out of the meeting, with debt ceiling negotiations continuing in Washington, and congressional leaders speaking to Biden overnight. Australia correspondent Steve Price told Mike Hosking the cancellation could be hugely significant. LISTEN ABOVE
People may be finally sick of taking meetings on Zoom as in-person meetings appear to be the leading reason for corporate travel. Travel demand in both business and leisure across the globe is expected to be at 85.5 per cent of 2019 levels and in the first quarter of this year and there was a 27 per cent rise in online adoption of domestic booking trends. Corporate traveller and FCM General Manager Keeley Alton joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Flee Police, and lose your ride. This from the Government as it introduces new legislation to crack down on fleeing drivers. Under the Bill, police could impound a vehicle for up to six months if it fails to stop, while judges could order it to be forfeited, if convicted. Repeat offenders' licences could be disqualified for up to two years, which is double the current limit. And drivers who don't provide information about a fleeing driver could have their vehicle impounded, if necessary to prevent safety threats. Justice Minister, Kiri Allan says dangerous and reckless drivers need to be held accountable. LISTEN ABOVE
Support for the country's youngest mayor from another mayor in the Deep South. Gore District Councillors shelved a vote of no confidence in 24-year-old mayor Ben Bell, during an extraordinary council meeting yesterday afternoon. They've instead opted for an independent review and mediation to address the broken relationship between Bell and council chief executive Stephen Parry. Southland District Mayor Rob Scott was in the meeting, and told Mike Hosking he's pleased with the outcome. LISTEN ABOVE
ACT has slammed the Government's gun laws, labelling them as a "major let down." Newstalk ZB can reveal only two Firearms Prohibition Orders have been issued since they were introduced last November. The FPOs were billed as a way to target violent criminals, banning those with a history of offending from being anywhere near a gun. Act Firearms Reforms Spokesperson Nicole McKee told Mike Hosking every firearms law passed by Labour has been "knee jerk." She says there needs to be a more practical approach that works alongside the firearms community. LISTEN ABOVE
Work continues to locate the 11 people still unaccounted for in the Loafers Lodge fire. At least six people are known have perished in the Wellington hostel blaze which started in the early hours of yesterday morning. Police say the cause is unexplained, while Fire and Emergency say it's being treated as suspicious. Officers expect to enter the building some time between mid-morning and midday. The lodge had a Building Warrant of Fitness issued this March; it didn't have sprinklers, and wasn't required to. Fire and Emergency Assistant National Commander, Bruce Stubbs told Mike Hosking there's no timeline for the investigation at this stage. LISTEN ABOVE
By RNZ The Timaru District Council today confirmed it bought a property long used as a gang pad, and immediately demolished the building. Yesterday police carried out a raid on the gang pad in Meadows Road, Washdyke, and four men were charged with unlawful possession of firearms. Police said there had been activity in recent weeks which suggested tensions between two gangs in Timaru. The council said the purchase of the Meadows Road property was confirmed today, and the building was demolished this afternoon. It said the purchase was made following community concern about the arrival of a new motorcycle gang in town, and a number of police call outs. Timaru District Mayor Nigel Bowen said the council was serious when it said gangs were not welcome in the district. “Members of the community had been expressing real concern about the possibility of an expansion of gang activity in Timaru, and I think it’s important to send a clear and unequivocal message that they are not welcome in our district.” The council would on-sell the land for industrial development to help meet the demand in the area, he said. “Doing this has enabled us to make a major investment in community safety, which won’t cost ratepayers anything, and that will supply more valuable industrial land back to our economy. “The council taking this step is only one way of tackling this issue, it’s important that the community continues to turn their back on gangs. Don’t sell to them and let them get a foothold in our towns, refuse their business, and don’t provide services to them or their businesses.” The council said the demolition of the Washdyke property was the second significant gang pad that ha been removed from Timaru, with the recent demolition of another property on High Street last week. “These were long standing gang properties and it’s great for our community to see the back of them, rather than offer any other gang the opportunity to move in and establish a foothold.”
I think National has made a mistake on tax receipts. Tax receipts are the sort of quirky idea people pick up on and run with. They're the sort of left-of-centre idea the media can have a bit of fun with. The trouble with that, is that we actually have some important stuff to deal with and for every minute you talk about what sort of receipt it would be, how it would be done, and what it would cost, you aren't talking about things like our debt or our spending or our crime or the number of kids who aren't going to school. If there was any value in the idea it would be if you could break it down to a net balance. In other words, how many of us pay more than we get back versus the other way around. That might, once and for all, shut all those up who forever see the so-called wealthy as an endless pot of free money. The stark truth would be revealed that a comparatively small number of taxpayers foot the bill for an awful lot of other taxpayers who take from the state a lot more than they ever put in. But then, that's the other problem with the whole idea. Do we not already know, roughly, what's what? Firstly, what we know is that the Government spends more than they take and that's why we have deficits. Then we can guess that large chunks go to health and welfare and education and lots go to the ever-growing public service. What's the value in all that? By receiving this information, and presumably growing angry over it because you see a pile of monumental wastage, then what? Are they changing it? Or are they doing nothing about it at all? And if that's the case, which it will be, what's the point? If National are to be taken seriously, they have to avoid these very easy traps they are falling into. This is a gimmick, and the media loves gimmicks. It makes their life easier. I don't need a receipt to know this Government's approach to money is ruinous. What I need is a group of people who get that the path we are on is dangerous, the social malaise in this country is even more dangerous and that this election is about righting the ship. Or, as David Seymour put it yesterday, turning us into a large Fiji.
You'll likely know the name of our next guest - and you'll almost definitely know the voice. Richard Flood got his mainstream start with roles in Crossing Lines and Shameless - but it was his three years starring Dr Cormac Hayes on Grey's Anatomy that catapulted his international fame. He's starring in a new Kiwi/Irish murder mystery as part of a first of its kind co-production between TVNZ and RTE in Ireland. It's called The Gone, was filmed here in New Zealand and Richard Flood joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
More hints have come about what we'll see in Thursday's Budget. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking since he became Prime Minister he's been working to reset the Government's work programme. His policy bonfire saw the axing or delaying of the TVNZ/RNZ media merger, the social insurance scheme, the biofuels mandate and hate speech legislation. But he says until now, people haven't seen the full picture of the plan ahead, and what they'll be doing instead. LISTEN ABOVE
Renters are still having to dig further into their pockets, except if they live in Southland. Rent in the region is now at an average of $430, a massive $100 less than the next most affordable region. But for everywhere else it is now the third month in a row for the record high $600 median rent. TradeMe Property sales director Gavin Lloyd joined Mike Hosking to discuss the figures. LISTEN ABOVE
To kick of the pre-budget talk, National have come up with a new 'taxpayers receipt' idea. Taxpayers would get an annual report from Inland Revenue on the money they paid and received and how their taxes were being spent - along with requiring Treasury to report annually on major spending programmes. Deloitte Tax Partner Robyn Walker joined Mike Hosking to explain the concept. LISTEN ABOVE
International students are returning to New Zealand at a faster rate than pre-pandemic, but polytechs and schools are still missing out. And despite previous long term plans to diversify the market, we seem to be more dependent on China for students . Out of 25 countries enrolling foreign students, New Zealand is in the bottom three for the diversity of its foreign student population. Universities NZ executive director Chris Whelan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
An incomplete picture remains of the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle on regional economies. Infometrics' latest Quarterly Economic Monitor shows a 2.7 percent per annum rise in provisional economic activity in the first quarter of the year. Principal Economist Brad Olsen says at the same time the likes of Hawke's Bay, Tairawhiti and Northland have seen their economic activity down between 0.7 and 0.8 percent. He says given what we've seen, that's remarkable level of economic activity that's been able to bounce back. LISTEN ABOVE
The iconic Wanaka Tree could soon feature on a Monopoly board, with the resort town set to get its own version of the popular board game. The Wanaka Business Chamber says the Wanaka version will feature well-known landmarks and beloved community destinations. Board Chair Jo Learmonth says local businesses can also apply to feature on the board, which should be ready by Christmas. LISTEN ABOVE
A new kiwi start up is aiming to help businesses tackle carbon emissions. Footprint automates data ingestion and measures scope 3 emissions, including those from financial institutions and insurance companies. Scope 3 emissions refers to emissions associated with a company's supply chain, which in the case of financial institutions was previously difficult to measure. Generate Zero Founder Carmen Vicelich says that the company itself is not responsible for offsetting emissions, but rather providing companies with information so that they can do so themselves. LISTEN ABOVE
We might have some good news, at last, around immigration. From the new stats on Friday, the numbers look good. People are actually arriving in a way that gives us hope around jobs and the labour crisis, around demand in the economy and for spending on things like housing. The downside is a lot of people who watch these things are a bit suspicious of the accuracy of the numbers. The statistics department guess a bit as to how long people are going to stay. Firstly, half of the net arrivals are from China, India and the Philippines. Do those countries provide the people we need to close the skills gap? There were a total of 133,500 arrivals of non-New Zealanders. Only 14% of them were on resident visas. So, are they staying, or not? Also of note were the numbers of New Zealanders that scarpered, which is 23,500. That is the largest number leaving for over a decade. That’s basically Taupo or Masterton up and leaving. And I suspect we all know why. Also, there were over 44,000 non-citizens who decided to leave as well. But, and here is the important bit, the net gain could be about 65,000 and that is gold. What we can all agree on is the migration settings of the past couple of years have been criminal and our economy has suffered because of it. The labour crisis has been entirely avoidable. So, the great hope is this 65,000 person gain is at least, in part, the end of a long and tortuous road. The tragedy, or irony if you like, is they arrive at about the time the country is hitting a recession. Or if we aren't in one, we are about to be. And the price and indication of that is in jobs and the large loss of them. If you look at it with a glass half full view though, what it does appear to at least partially answer is the business around whether we are still an attraction for people moving around the world looking for a new life. As we always say - the numbers don’t lie. So, lets hope the stats department have them right, the people who are here have the skills we need, they are not all tourists and they don't arrive thinking the country is one thing, only to find out that it has changed dramatically of late and it's turned into something they don't like. Fingers crossed.
A 20% increase in the number of small businesses adopting cloud based business tools could add billions to New Zealand's GDP, as found by Xero and NZEI. Xero Country Manager Bridget Snelling told Mike Hosking that although there are barriers to digitalising small businesses, the aim is to only have humans doing the things that require a person, and automate anything else. Some example being digital stock trackers or employee scheduling apps. LISTEN ABOVE
Thousands of public service roles and even entire departments could be abolished if Act is part of the next government. The party has released its Alternative Budget exclusively on this morning's Mike Hosking Breakfast. Leader David Seymour says Act would reduce the number of tax brackets from five to two -- with lower, flatter taxes. He says that the party wants more spent on defence and law enforcement, and less spent on bureaucracy. LISTEN ABOVE
Schools left in various states following Cyclone Gabrielle won't just be fixed up, they'll be upgraded. The Government's billion dollar support package focuses on rebuilding roads, rails, and schools, with 100 million set aside to improve resilience for future events. Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking that some schools need minor repairs, but others need to be relocated entirely. He says repairing a school to the way it was before the cyclone won't cut it, we need to improve its resilience as well. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The King's Coronation: 10/10 Its value was in its beauty, its history and the fact most of us had never seen one before. It was everything the royal family and Britain do well. Defence: 7/10 The Government's best moment of the week by a long way. A practical solution, handing out major pay rises to stop people leaving. Meka Whaitiri: 2/10 All that’s wrong with politics these days. Displays of contempt, the Māori Party lied to the speaker and the rules around desertion clearly don’t work. This is the part that was missed - if the numbers were different in the parliament, this could have been a constitutional crisis. Kiri Allan, Jan Tinetti, Meka Whaitiri and Willie Jackson: 2/10 Between their various scandals, misdeeds and sloppiness it simply reminds us what a low rent lot we have running the place. Wayne Smith: 6/10 I think he may have a point about rugby. And given what he did for the All Blacks and the Black Ferns, who can argue with him? Jason Paris: 6/10 His rant was driven by passion, which is no bad thing, but cheating is a deliberate act. And on that he has no evidence, hence, the trouble he has potentially found himself in. CO2: 2/10 Another fallout from the Marsden closure. A country that can't brew its beer is not a proper country, is it? The rich pay more tax open letter: 1/10 I despair. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Are our economic chickens coming home to roost? Overnight, the Bank of England has put their cash rate up another 25 points. But they've also made what they suggest is their biggest upgrade ever. Britain, they think, will not be going into recession. Australia this week, which is also not going into recession, are worried their growth is only going to be 1.25 percent. Ah, to be so pessimistic about growth and to even be able to talk about growth. As we heard in the budget, they also have a surplus. Figures this week out of America around inflation show material falls. The producer price index out this morning is the lowest since January of 2021. In the meantime, this week we have food inflation through the roof again, another record in the wrong direction . It is widely accepted we are either in recession, or headed for one. We have an ever-increasing deficit and no sign of any sort of surplus. In a nutshell - we are losing. Our cash rate is higher than most other countries and it still hasn't stopped rising. Another 25 points is most likely coming in a week or so and that will put it at 5.5 percent. Mortgages are running at floating rates of over 7 percent. Grant Robertson is busy saying all of this is predictable. Is it? Actually, it is. Because the mistakes that were made were so gargantuan, the fall out was always going to be dramatic. There is no evidence here that inflation is on a downward path. It might have peaked, but we still don't know for sure. We still don't know if the Reserve Bank is finished with the rate rises. Our export returns, with the exception of a couple of products like beef, are not what they were. The tourists are not coming back in the numbers they should have, and yet, we know in some parts of the world numbers are above pre-Covid levels. In other words, in the so-called recovery stage post-Covid we are being outperformed by most of our trading partners - certainly America, certainly Australia and now Britain as well. The trouble for the Government is the facts are increasingly alarming every day. The theory and the ideology, which is how they like to argue, is now dramatically undermined on a daily basis by the facts. We are being beaten economically, and badly, by most other countries. We are not, as Grant wants to mislead you, in a good position or anywhere close to it. Their only hope in this area is to pray most of us aren't alert to this. Most of us don't understand or don't care and the media aren't adept enough to cut through the spin of the press releases. They are hoping the sheep don't join the dots.
A claim has come that the current reforms to our supermarket sector won't bring proper competition. Statistics New Zealand data shows that as food costs jumped 12.5 percent in the year to April, fruit and vegetables shot up 22 percent. Westpac Industry Economist Paul Clark says methods like splitting up the duopoly would have a much more dramatic effect. He says alongside increased food prices for New Zealanders, there's another downside caused by the duopoly. Clark says it means a lack of choice for consumers. LISTEN ABOVE
By RNZ The Ruapehu mayor says a deal is close to being settled on who will be taking over Ruapehu ski fields. Ruapehu Alpine Lifts, which ran the Whakapapa and Turoa ski fields, went into voluntary administration in October, owing millions of dollars. Four bidders had been vying for the contracts to take over and Mayor Weston Kirton said government officials had picked the two they favoured to run each ski field separately. He understood they were Pure Turoa and a company linked to businessmen Dave Mazey and Tom Elworthy to manage Whakapapa. Kirton said the community were excited about the developments, but they did not want to celebrate too soon with negotiations still in progress. “There’s a few unknowns to be considered, but it certainly gives confidence that we’re going to see a ski operation this year in some shape or form. “It’s been delayed, and it’s been a worry some people have gone elsewhere for skiing. The main thing is from our perspective is that we see a ski season, it’s such a key part of our economy,” Kirton said. In a statement, the Government would not confirm who it had chosen and said negotiations were continuing. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has been approached for comment. - RNZ
Claims a NCEA Level 1 replacement will allow for six more weeks of teaching time. Auckland private school St Cuthbert's College is the latest in a growing list of schools removing the standard and replacing it with its own Year 11 diploma next year. Principal Justine Mahon told Mike Hosking the proposed Level 1 qualification won't teach young people key concepts. "The St Cuthbert's diploma in 2024 will ensure that there are no gaps in understanding in key areas and that students are offered a more conceptually coherent framework." LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for clearer rules around pet ownership in rentals. Tenants involved in two different decisions over recent months both signed agreements not to keep pets. But the adjudicators ruled the Residential Tenancies Act doesn't contain any law banning tenants from owning animals. Aspire Property Management Managing Director Mike Atkinson told Mike Hosking there's really no point in having the agreements if the tribunal rules against them. LISTEN ABOVE
Concerns remain around a lack of police station staff. Data released under the Official Information Act shows there's been a net increase of 1576 constabulary staff since 2017 - the 1800 officers promised is on track for June. There have also been staffing boosts in Auckland and Wellington stations, while other regions saw no change or even lost staff. National police spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking frontline officers outside main centres are feeling under-resourced. LISTEN ABOVE
Transport Minister Michael Wood has left the door open to delaying the delivery of some of New Zealand’s most high-profile roading projects. They include widening the southern motorway from Papakura to Drury south of Auckland and the Ōtaki to north of Levin expressway. The government is “rescoping” projects in the $8.7 billion NZ Upgrade programme, which includes 19 high-profile transport projects. The projects were announced back in 2020 but massive cost blowouts saw several of the most high-profile roads axed in 2021 despite a $1.9b cash injection. It comes after an appeal to the Ombudsman revealed many of the projects face “red” ratings for their potential to go over budget. Upgrade roads include Auckland’s Penlink, and Wellington’s Ōtaki to North of Levin (O2NL) and the Melling interchange, and Tauranga’s Takitimu North Link. Wood was keen to say there would be no cuts to the programme this time, but has not taken back some trimming of the projects and rephasing to deal with cost inflation. “The Government is committed to delivering the significant transport projects that are funded through NZUP,” Wood said. “There will be no cuts or significant paring back, but as is always the case there will be work to find efficiencies as projects go through detailed design and implementation.
Waka Kotahi warned projects are likely to go over budget. Photo / Waka Kotahi An announcement is expected on the future of the programme in the weeks following the Budget. No decisions have been made on whether the projects will need an additional cash injection. “Many NZUP projects are already in delivery. Confirmed arrangements for the final few large projects will be confirmed in the near future,” Wood said. National’s transport spokesman Simeon Brown said the Govenment needed to “come clean about the status of the NZ Upgrade programme” “These are roads they cancelled and then promised and now they look like they may be cancelled again. “Labour misled New Zealanders when they committed to this programme of works. They already cancelled Mill Road and Whangārei to Port Marsden,” Brown said. “Labour can’t be trusted with roads,” he said. In February, Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency chief executive Nicole Rosie confirmed in a select committee some of the projects were being “rescoped”. When asked by Brown whether more money was needed to deliver the entire NZUP, Rosie said that if Waka Kotahi did not know the “scope” of the projects it was impossible to know if they needed more funding. “If we don’t know the scope, we can’t tell you the answer to that,” Rosie said. “In reality the Government has been very clear that it wants to operate within the envelope that’s available to them, so the rescoping is around looking at how they can continue on those projects within the money that’s available,” she said. Waka Kotahi provides regular reporting on the health of the projects. Details from these reports were withheld from Official Information Act requests, but a successful appeal to the Ombudsman by Brown and the National Party has seen details released. The report, already nearly a year old, but released by the Ombudsman this year, gave each of the transport projects a health rating on a traffic light scale for their propensity to go over budget or over time. Roads like Penlink, were given a “green” rating for all criteria, but roads like Ōtaki to north of Levin or the Melling interchange were given “red” ratings for their likelihood to go over budget. - Thomas Coughlan, NZ Herald
The carbon market has come back to bite the Government in the bum. As part of their fiscal update this week we've seen that the last carbon auction produced nothing and cost the Government $1.2 billion, which simply adds to their ever-growing deficit. I asked at the time whether this was bad news. They told us it was the market working as markets do. The trouble with the answer was, although technically that is true, it was in fact a direct reaction, or reflection, of the lack of faith in the Government's climate change polices. I note the lawyers for Climate Action are taking James Shaw to court to seek a judicial review around the Government's decision not to follow the Climate Commission's recommendation that would allow the carbon price to rise. You have a number of competing factors here. On one hand the commission wants to send us all broke because they are obsessed with carbon emissions. You have a Government that can't live with their zealousness because they actually want to get re-elected. But, you also have a Government that has made climate their nuclear moment and are now being caught out as being fraudulent when it comes to delivery on the rhetoric. Somewhere in the middle is the carbon market, which is an invented rort, designed to raise money from polluters who are forced to offset their emissions by buying credits, with the money raised goes to climate positive projects. Trouble is when the auction is held. The question is asked - why would I spend money on something I don't believe is going to come to pass? So they don’t. Hence the auction fails, nothing is sold and all those credits get shifted to the next auction. So that means double supply, but how much demand? My guess is the court case will fail, based on the simple premise that Governments are the ultimate court and can do what they like. The carbon market is a mess because the Government are a mess. The Climate Commission look increasingly out of touch and radical, offering up theories no one is taking up And slowly but surely, the reality of crazy ideas invented to address issues that don’t have full buy in are exposed for all to see. A failed auction, a court case and over a billion dollar not realised. What a shambles.
One of the world's biggest selling authors is back for a chat on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. We last spoke with Jeffrey Archer on this show in 2017, but we got to chance to see him at his apartment while the team were in London. Former Conservative MP, member of the House of Lords, a stint in jail and more than 320 million books sold since writing his first in 1976. Jeffrey Archer joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Breast cancer is the most common cancer for Kiwi women and the third most common cancer overall and two new reports have discovered new information into breast cancer screening in New Zealand. In the past two years 50,000 women have missed out on breast cancer screening because of Covid disruptions. These delays may have harmed patients with their cancers being in a more advanced stage when they were discovered. Breast Cancer Foundation chief executive Ah-Leen Rayner joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
The All Blacks are set to appear in Japan a lot more over the next five years, thanks to New Zealand Rugby and the Japanese Rugby Football Union signing a memorandum of understanding. They will be exploring strategic and commercial opportunities until the end of 2027. New Zealand Rugby's General Manager of Professional Rugby and Performance Chris Lendrum joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
A series of problems are continuing to stack up in the Early Childhood sector. The latest Office of Early Childhood Education survey has found more than 70 percent of teachers believe the Government is taking the sector in the wrong direction. Office of Early Childhood Education Chief Adviser, Sarah Alexander told Mike Hosking they've had a tough set of challenges going back before the Covid-19 pandemic. She says they had issues of bullying, poor work conditions and a high level of workload which has increased phenomenally. LISTEN ABOVE
A somewhat surprising twist in the tax-debate, with some of New Zealand's wealthiest supporting tax hikes for the rich. A group of around 100 inspired by the initiative Millionaires for Humanity, have signed a pledge calling on the Government to increase their taxes. It believes the current tax system contributes towards the gap between poor and the wealthy. Signatory and Ecostore Founder, Malcolm Rands told Mike Hosking he's worried about our preparedness for the future and we have to start somewhere. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is under-fire from the opposition with claims our must vulnerable New Zealanders have been failed. Official figures show just $900,000 of the $100 million put aside in last year's Budget for mental healthcare over four years has been spent. But Te Whatu Ora says considerable development progress has been made, and the data doesn't count funding committed in agreements. National's Mental Health spokesperson, Matt Doocey told Mike Hosking the Government has failed its promise to transform the mental health system. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland Council’s soaring budget hole, storm costs and higher water bills could cost the average household another $560 a year during a painful cost-of-living crisis. But a ratepayer group is calling for the council to sell assets and make large-scale cuts to its costs “rather than reaching into ratepayers’ wallets”. Watercare has locked in a $116 rise in the average water bill from July and yesterday’s bad news that the council’s budget hole and storm-related costs have soared to a combined $375 million could lead to a rates rise of $446 for the average household. The annual water bill is rising by 9.5 per cent from $1224 to $1340 and rates could rise from $3306 to a maximum of about $3750 for the average home. The extra burden on household budgets begins on July 1 - the day after the 25-cents-a-litre fuel tax subsidy ends. It also comes as the looming recession is tipped to be deeper than previously thought, Kiwi families face the prospect of a hard-hitting interest rate crunch as mortgages come up for renewal, and the Reserve Bank forecasts rising unemployment.
Auckland households face even bigger rises in council costs than was first thought. Photo / Alex Burton The council’s budget hole rose from the $90m-$150m range estimated last year to $295m earlier this year and now to $325m. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown blamed a combination of council debt, higher interest rates and his predecessor Phil Goff using a one-off Three Waters payment of $127m to prop up last year’s budget. “Enough is enough. We must get serious about the council’s financial position. I did not create this hole, but I am determined that the council fix it, so it doesn’t just keep growing,” Brown said. “Unless we can set Auckland Council on a path of financial sustainability and reduce our debt, then this gaping hole will only get bigger in the years to come.” As well as the budget hole, group chief financial officer Peter Gudsell said storm-related costs in the budget had risen from $20m, for things such as higher insurance premiums, to $50m for repairs and maintenance to council assets and setting up a recovery co-ordination office. In theory, rates could rise by 22 per cent to plug the budget hole and pay for storm-related costs, but a rise is limited to 13.5 per cent because that was the highest level set during the budget consultation process. It is now up to councillors to decide on a mix of options to produce a balanced budget by the end of June.
The Auckland Council is having to trim costs at its headquarters and other businesses. Photo / Doug Sherring This year’s draft budget was already one of the most challenging in the 13 years of the Super City before yesterday’s bad news - containing many difficult and unpopular choices to plug a $295m shortfall. In his earlier draft budget, Brown proposed a mix of measures to produce a balanced budget, including cutting unnecessary and inefficient spending, demanding better performance from council organisations, reducing debt servicing costs by selling airport shares, increasing rates and potentially borrowing up to $75m. The council’s shares in Auckland Airport are currently valued at $2.2 billion. Among the most contentious proposals are plans to cut regional, community and social services by $20m and regional contestable grants by $3m in the areas of arts, culture and events. It was proposed to cut funding for things such as Music in Parks, CultureFest and Botanic Gardens events, while $2m would go from the Citizens Advice Bureau, and funding for homelessness initiatives would stop. Local boards are also in line for a $16m cut in funding activities. A mayoral spokesman said it was too early to consider what further cuts could be on the table. Brown still planned to keep rate rises as low as possible, “but we can’t say at this stage how low we can keep them”.
Events such as Sculpture in The Gardens at Auckland Botanic Gardens could have funding cut under budget proposals. Photo / Doug Sherring...
Here's a small observation from travel to major cities over the last few weeks - cops work. Visible police on the street, work. I never felt unsafe in London and I never felt unsafe in New York. New York has the most crazies, they have a lot of homeless and they make a lot of noise and come across as aggressive at times. But there is a cop on every corner. There is a patrol car, a series of patrol cars, seemingly permanently parked wherever you are. They wander the street, they arrive in minutes and their sirens are too loud and too permanent. But you can't argue they don't make you feel safe. It's the same in London. London has knife crime and the new trend is attacks from thugs on motorbikes in flash areas; they speed by and grab a watch or a hand bag. I never saw any of it. But the reputational damage is being done. But, once again, the cops are everywhere. They're wandering the streets, just like they used to do here. I can't remember the last time I saw a police officer on the streets of this country, plus their cars are hard enough to spot. Somewhere along the line someone decided walking the beat wasn’t good policing any more. They talk of community policing but I just don’t see it. Further, I am convinced of the power of imagery. Get a cop with a stab-proof vest and an arsenal of weaponry, whether it be a baton, handcuffs, pepper spray or a gun, and you send a message. As I've told you before, the flash shops in San Francisco have guards with guns and dogs. God forbid we ever end up there. But I'm still reading about the ram raids and the daylight attacks here. I didn’t read about them in New York or London and I didn’t, I suspect, because a cop was never far away. At some point, someone has to add up the cost of all the crime and insurance and repair work and fear we have these days, versus the cost of actually getting some more police on the street. The model is there to be seen. Visibility works. I wouldn’t have thought it was that hard. But we seem to be trying to make it as hard as possible.
Andrew Little and Mark Mitchell joined Mike Hosking to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Luxon is ruling out working with Te Pāti Māori following this year's general election. National's leader says the two parties have strongly different policies and visions for New Zealand. Luxon told Mike Hosking Te Pāti Māori wants a separate Parliament and voting rights and doesn't accept Treaty settlements as full and final. "We have strong beliefs around equal citizenship, one person, one vote and no co-governance of public services and those two sets of positions are just not workable or can be put together." LISTEN ABOVE
The Motor Trade Association have launched a pre-election call to action. Their big call includes phasing out the Clean Car Discount, Warrant of Fitness reset, mandate emissions testing and streamlining immigration processes. Chief Executive Lee Marshall told Mike Hosking the rebate is currently running at a huge loss. He says the scheme is currently sat in a $200 million hole and despite claims it's self funding, recently received a $400 million top-up. LISTEN ABOVE
Some big news for Air New Zealand has come this morning. Their domestic network has returned to pre-Covid capacity, while their international network is nearly back at 91 per cent, with 4.5 million seats set to be flown over the next six months. Their Skynest are also now confirmed on New York and Chicago routes from 2024. And a $3.5 billion investment is being made into new aircraft, while also retrofitting the existing fleet. Air New Zealand's chief executive officer Greg Foran joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Australian Government has announced their first budget surplus in 15 years. The annual Budget includes handouts for cost of living pressures, with extra money for electricity subsidies, renewable energy, anti-smoking measures, and pay rises for aged care workers. Business Editor at Sky News Australia Ross Greenwood joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Australia's Budget Day is today. The claim is they are going to present a surplus, which is little short of a miracle. I also read that trade with China is at record levels. This is Australia and China, the two that were at each other's throats after Scott Morrison wanted an inquiry into Covid origins. The Chinese, having none of that, started whacking tariffs on barley and wine and beef. What Australia did was go and find new buyers. Now, having learned their lesson, the old buyer is back and Australia is rolling in it. Further news as to why Australia is rolling in income - Rio Tinto's boss said he regretted being so bullish on his company's climate targets because - guess what - the world still wants natural resources. Which is ultimately why Jim Chalmers, the treasurer, will be able to present numbers in the black tonight. The world wants what Australia sells and, as a result, the Government tax take is through the roof. By way of comparison, our Government's tax take is now falling. We of course could be earning more than we do. But we have taken a climate course and have become bogged down pretending we want to save the world, while at the same time not really doing much about it. But yet another dodgy batch of aviation gas arrives in the country, because we no longer refine, and as the money from search and drilling licences dries up we can only sit here and hope dairy starts to pay a bit better and the Chinese get on a plane and get tourism back to where it needs to be. You can say whatever you like about the morality of selling coal and iron ore to the world but what you can't argue with are the cold, hard numbers. Australia still owes a fortune. Well, everyone still owes a fortune, but some countries are rebounding faster than others. Some countries get what makes the world tick right now and want to meet that demand. Then some countries are wrapped in ideological mumbo jumbo, which really only produces hot air, not cold, hard cash. We already lost a net 3100 people to Australia this year. Tonight's budget will be a further advert and incentive for many more.
This year New Zealand will feature at Eurovision. Kiwi wine company Invivo will be the official prosecco of the Eurovision song contest. All the VIPs and contestants backstage will have a bit of Kiwi bubbles in hand. Invivo co-founder Tim Lightbourne joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A criminal justice advocate believes bringing back juvenile detention centres is a great idea in theory, but not in practice. Act Party has unveiled a policy promise to invest in 200 new beds in juvenile detention as part of the Alternative Budget it's announcing next week. Sir Kim Workman told Mike Hosking history tells us what happens when youths are institutionalised. He says when he was a police officer young people would be released just to end up quickly back in institutions or prison. LISTEN ABOVE
Part of the joy of last week in London was meeting people like Graham Norton and Jeffrey Archer who we will have later this week. And also David Walliams, who is as kind and funny in person as you thought he might have been. He came into the BBC luxury suite for a chat. WATCH ABOVE
Developers are holding back from starting new developments as house prices continue to drop. The latest QV House Price Index shows values reduced by an average 4.5 percent in the first four months of the year. The national average home value is now around $902,000. QV national spokesperson Simon Petersen says it's a difficult time for both buyers and sellers - impacting developments. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins isn't too bothered, about Meka Whaitiri revealing she no longer trusts him. The Prime Minister told Mike Hosking it's a moot point. “People can make their own judgements about that, that’s kind of irrelevant anyway.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Defence Minister is confident the boost in pay for personnel in the force, will help ease the high numbers hanging up their boots. Nearly $420 million has been ring-fenced in the Budget to raise individual workers' earnings by up to $15,000. It means 90 percent of sailors, soldiers and aviators will be paid at, or close to, market rates for their skills from July. Andrew Little told Mike Hosking the one-off lump-sum payments dished out in March resulted in many tendered resignations being withdrawn. He says that indicated that what people are looking for most, is a lift in their pay. LISTEN ABOVE
At the beginning it all looked a bit ridiculous to me, I was waiting for one of the military bands to break into the Liberty Bell march. The over-the-top costumes, the silly horse-drawn carriage worth more than most British people will earn in a lifetime, thousands of military personnel rehearsing for days and weeks on end to walk not much than a kilometre. And all this to escort a man who enjoys a lavish privileged lifestyle and we're supposed to bow and scrape to, purely thanks to an accident of birth. Those thoughts lasted about five minutes. Then the magnificence kicked in pretty quickly, the whole spectacle took hold, and I was on board for the ride. The parade down to Westminster Abbey itself was pretty special, although I felt sorry for the guards having to march straight through fresh horse droppings on The Mall, just to keep in step. The service, very long, very formal, but a tradition —that’s the key word, tradition— going back a thousand years, and when they put the screens around the King for the anointing part it was kind of eerie. Charles himself looked terrified to begin with, even a bit faint. Maybe he too was thinking about that an accident of birth... I'll bet there've been times along the way when he'd rather have been just an ordinary Joe. Star of the show in the Abbey for me was the vicar, with his passionate declaration of 'God Save the King' — he really meant it, it came from the heart. Then that fantastic parade back to the Palace, the troops massed on the lawn around the back, three cheers for the King. It was all perfectly orchestrated, pulled off in a style only the British Royals can get away with. And Princess Anne's hat! Something tells me it was no accident Harry's face was obscured most of the time. End of the day, it was a spectacularly over-the-top ritual, but it's as big a deal to a lot of people here as it is to people across the Commonwealth, across the world. Do we feel better as a result of it? Probably! Even if it's only for a short time. Events like this boost the popularity of the monarchy, and they need it right now. It's still popular among people over 55, but only one in 8 of the 18 to 34 age group say the monarchy is “very important”. The challenge going forward will be relevance, and for the monarchy to appeal to a younger generation. That’s something the next King seems to be well aware of.
The Coronation ceremony is over but the celebrations are continuing as the day is dissected from every angle. Royal correspondent Sarah Hewson said that the festivities were incomparable to most recent royal events, more similar to the Platinum Jubilee than any of the weddings or the Queen's Funeral. She says that the kids absolutely stole the show, and the fact that so many people showed up to celebrate the new King and Queen despite their difficult history when it comes to their popularity and media presence would've been relieving. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's SailGP team is on track for the Grand Final in San Francisco. Ahead of today's race, NZ sailor Blair Tuke joined Tim Dower to chat about the how the competition has been going, what it's been like to sail, and the looming Grand Final. LISTEN ABOVE
The head of Cystic Fibrosis New Zealand is rejecting any suggestion that pharmaceutical companies have an influence on its campaigns to get drugs funded. Health Minister Ayesha Verrall says different groups campaign for various drugs to be funded. She says pharmaceutical companies can have influence, and we don't know what that influence is in terms of how those campaigns are run. Chief Executive Lisa Burns told Tim Dower that stakeholder management is critical in a campaign, as you're trying to get the right information to the right decision-makers. She says it would be unethical and inappropriate for a pharmaceutical company to have any influence over a campaign. LISTEN ABOVE
There are claims that Christchurch City Council is anti-car, following concerns over carpark access at Christchurch Hospital. Figures released to Newstalk ZB reveal that the biggest money-makers for parking fines are all around the hospital. The Hagley Oval carpark —one of the biggest earners— provided more than 108-thousand dollars in fines in the last financial year. Councillor Aaron Keown says that the council pushed back on an idea which would've seen 100 temporary parks added to Hagley Park. He says a hospital is needed by people in cars, that people don't give birth while riding the bus or bike. LISTEN ABOVE
Secondary teachers will be back on the picket line this week. Union members in different regions will be striking at different times between tomorrow and Thursday. It's their latest action, with teachers not attending meetings outside school hours since the start of term 2. PPTA Acting President, Chris Abercrombie told Tim Dower that there's one main reason why they're doing it. He says it's all about the recruitment and retention of teachers into the education sector. LISTEN ABOVE
OPINION It’s hard to know where to start. But I had no shortage of time to work it out given I was seated in Westminster Abbey by 7.30am. I wondered how badly time would drag given it didn’t start until 11am. By 9am, the choir and orchestra began to play, and that was your first treat of the day. The sound in the Abbey is astonishing. I was seated with members of the House of Lords and various judges who were wearing their wigs, which made me wonder whether that was the reason the King chose May for the coronation. Because despite the weather, which started out mild and fine but turned to a bit of rain, the Abbey is warm and I am assuming by mid-June it could well be hot. There was a lot of heavy cloaking, and that’s before we get to the crowns.
King Charles III kneels during the coronation ceremony at Westminster Abbey, London. The odd thing about the Abbey is for most people you can’t actually see a thing. Between the walls and pillars and various religious paraphernalia, it’s really a collection of nooks and crannies. I was lucky. I was seated directly next to where some of history’s greatest names are buried - Newton, Darwin, Dickens, Chaucer. My eyeline met the Royal Family on the other side. At its closest point the King and Queen were no more than 30 metres from me. Those like UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who had major parts walked directly in front of me (he is even smaller than you thought).
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his wife Ashkata Murthy. Photo / AP In a sense it seemed unfair, as I wandered off to the toilet after about three hours of waiting inside. I walked past the good and the great who had seats at the entrance to the Abbey. I couldn’t believe how close our little media group were and how small a contingent it was - just 27 of us. For those further back, once they’d watched the heavyweight arrivals walk past them, that would be the end of being able to see anything. That is until it was all over and those same people walked out. That was the overarching mood of the day. Everyone knew viewing in some way, shape or form would be restricted. But it was the “being there” that counted. You were a witness to history, and unlike so many events these days this one was rare.
Mike Hosking in his Savile Row suit on his way to the King's Coronation at Westminster Abbey. Photo / Supplied Virtually no one would have seen or been at the last one, so it had a character of uniqueness to it. We all felt privileged. There were so many famous people, spotting them ran the risk of being boring. There was a buzz when Prince Harry arrived. I thought he looked sort of lost. He was with other family but in that ‘we put him with the cousins’ sort of way. His seat was not as bad as some media had suggested, but even he spent a decent chunk of the ceremony looking at the screen given the viewing restrictions, not to mention Princess Anne’s hat in front of him.
Britain's Prince Harry, centre, arrives at Westminster Abbey for the coronation ceremony of Britain's King Charles III, in London, Saturday. Photo / AP Prince William is tall, way taller than the rest of them. If I were to pick a highlight, his oath on bended knee in front of his father was very touching. I am probably being unfair, but musically the Ascension Choir brought not just diversity but an amazing life to the Abbey. TV hosts Ant McPartlin and Dec Donnelly, who are known in New Zealand but amazingly popular in Britain, got a cheer and a lot of clapping when they arrived. They won the prize for the biggest reaction, although the Royal Family received applause as they left. We had seen Dec in Savile Row earlier in the week. He was going into the same place we were coming out of, having bought a pocket square. It’s a place called Drakes which is for the “edgier dresser”, I am told. At the Abbey we got given a ticket to enter and a copy of the order of service. Strict instructions came with that - one copy per person, no excuses. Apparently something...
News broke yesterday that veteran Newstalk ZB broadcaster Mike Hosking will be New Zealand’s sole media representative inside Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla this weekend. Now, Kate Hawkesby has teased what her husband will be wearing to the once-in-a-lifetime occasion. Taking to Instagram, the Newstalk ZB Early Edition host shared a series of images including the “inspo” for Hosking’s royal attire which appeared to be a gold embellished Dolce and Gabbana suit. The choice doesn’t seem too farfetched for Hosking who is no stranger to fun features on his clothes, however, Hawkesby quickly posted the photo again with a large “just jokes” plastered over the sketch.
Kate Hawkesby had a bit of fun with her followers when sharing the journey to find Mike Hosking's coronation suit. Photo / Instagram Still on the hunt for the perfect suit, the following images posted to her social media story included a stop at Dolce and Gabbana and Ralph Lauren, before she shared with fans that they were dead ends because Hosking had his heart set on something else. Saville Row. The iconic British suitmakers have long been known for traditional bespoke tailoring for men and fittingly – no pun intended – has been the location men of royal descent have been dressed for centuries. Built between 1731 and 1735, the development was home to the creator of the dinner jacket, Henry Poole in 1846 and later Henry Huntsman of H. Huntsman & Sons. Saville Row has seen many historic and royal names come through their doors including Winston Churchill, Napoleon III and the man of the moment, King Charles. The pull is their “bespoke” tailoring – a term meaning each suit is hand-made to perfectly fit the individual. Sharing an image from inside an elite Saville Row suit makers, Hawkesby teased Hosking getting fitted for his coronation outfit, telling fans it’s been “extremely last minute and stressful”. Covering up the look she wrote, “All will be revealed once it’s been tailored and finished tomorrow”, however, the couple appear to have changed their mind about sharing the suit with the world before King Charles’ coronation on May 6.
The couple are yet to share Mike Hosking's coronation suit. Photo / Instagram This morning the ZB host posted photos from the final suit fitting including a snap of Hosking walking out of what appears to be a fitting room. Looking dapper, he donned a crisp white shirt, black pants and a jacket – which may or may not include tails. She then shared a close-up image but covered the suit with a green squiggle and wrote “Full reveal on Coronation day!”. Based on the sneak peek Hawkesby posted, Hosking’s look keeps in line with the rumoured guidelines mentioned in the coronation invitation. The Herald reported last week that the Palace has requested male coronation attendees wear either a morning suit or business suit and for women, a “day dress” - a dress or suit intended to be worn during the day. It’s a rather different request from that made when his mother, Queen Elizabeth, was crowned 70 years ago as the Palace then asked attendees to dress in formal regalia. While the ZB powerhouse couple is yet to share a full image of Hosking’s royal outfit, Hawkesby did share one thing. His shoes. In a series of images she told fans that by a twist of fate, her husband will be wearing the exact same shoe as the King himself. Showing a close-up of the shoe, she said she spotted them at a “bespoke shoemaker” shop and couldn’t help but look at them in awe. “Salesman explains these are the shoes the King is wearing to the coronation,” she wrote on a picture of Hosking holding up the shoes, “This is a sample they made of them but there’s only one and only in one size.” “Mike (Cinderella)” she cheekily quipped, “asks what size are they? Salesman says let’s try them on and see if they fit you …”
Mike Hosking will wear the same shoes as King Charles thanks to a Cinderella moment....
So this is it. It's our final broadcast and, as always, at the end of a journey you long for more. The event itself tomorrow will be spectacular. As we have said many times on the various royal-type visits we have made, whether it’s the William and Kate wedding in 2011, the Harry and Meghan wedding in 2018 or this one, no one does it like the Brits. If you want to know how to show yourself off to the world with a mix of history, glamour, sparkle and majesty, the British and the British royal family are your gold standard. An uplifting aspect of that, is that the Brits love it. They are proud to be shown off, they like the world to see who they are, where they are and what they stand for. In a broader sense this is a wonderful part of the world and I am proud New Zealand has such a strong connection to it. You can have all the republic ”go it alone, this is a new world” talk, but I love Britain and I love the royal family. What they show, have shown and, indeed given the mess the world is right now, what they exemplify is history, consistency and stability. No, they are not perfect. But who is? Being born to rule isn't that normal but look at any number of countries, including our own, and the flaws in our various systems are so alarming. I would have thought time honoured consistency and professionalism would be welcome by everyone. And London is the greatest city in the world. What a joy it has been to be back in a big place. A place of population where choice is everywhere, where people flock to be part of something and where all things seem possible. London is proof you can have a population of nine million people like New York, but you can do it without the aggro and the sirens and the honking and the yelling. You can provide some good service and excellent manners and you can do it with decorum. Maybe it looks better because we've been changed by Covid, but getting out into the world has great value. Putting New Zealand and its size and issues into perspective has value. The royal family and all they contribute to Britain, the commonwealth and us, has value. I hope you’ve enjoyed the people we have met and some we will hear from next week, like David Walliams and Jeffrey Archer, and I hope you enjoy tomorrow. Being inside The Abbey, along with those 2000 others, will be the thrill of a lifetime.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Strikes: 2/10 I get the frustration. But whether you are here in Britain or home in NZ the teachers, the nurses, anything connected to a union, are never happy. Being happy counts - try it sometime. It's good for you. Bonding for nurses: 6/10 Another practical idea from National this week. I'm not 100% convinced it'll work but it's better than what we have. London: 8/10 The greatest city in the world. It’s a magnet, it's polite, it's old, it's beautiful and it’s a place that makes you feel good. The Coronation: 8/10 The excitement and anticipation is palpable. No one does the flash stuff like the Brits and the royals. Monica Galletti: 7/10 Good to meet and be reminded of the astonishing number of Kiwis who are out here in the world hitting it out of the park. Meka Whaitiri: 1/10 What a disgrace. The Māori Party: 6/10 What a coup. The feebate scandal: 3/10 Another lie. They said it would be fiscally neutral, which they could never claim, given they didn’t have a clue as to who would buy what. It's been the wealthy being subsidised by the not-so-wealthy to buy Teslas. How mad cap does it get? The Invite: 10/10 To be the only New Zealand representative from the media in The Abbey tomorrow is about as good as it gets. What an honour. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
As part of the coronation procession, our Defence Force, along with 35 other Commonwealth countries, will march alongside their British counterparts. It's from that group that two Kiwis have been selected to walk with the Gold State Coach, which will return King Charles and Queen Camilla to Buckingham Palace from the coronation. One of the lucky two is NZDF leading aircraftman Harris Thien who joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Along with Kazakhstan we are the only countries in the world to allow 100 per cent of our fossil fuel emissions to offset all our greenhouse gas by planting trees. Some suggest that this is placing us as an outlier to the rest of the world and damaging our agricultural sector and rural communities. Beef and Lamb chief executive Sam McIvor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
It might not have been very long since we last said hello - but it's never too soon to catch up with our friend Graham Norton. Amongst an always busy schedule, he travelled into London earlier today to have a chat with us in person. Graham Norton joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Te Whatu Ora rejects the suggestion the country's health system is in a parlous state, but there are workforce concerns. Its new winter preparedness plan is designed to maximise community care, and keep people out of hospital. The scheme is being expanded to provide care in homes through virtual monitoring, and for pharmacies to treat minor ailments. National Clinical Director Alan Moffitt told Mike Hosking there's a lot of demand out there. LISTEN ABOVE
Whenever we come to the UK, it's always good to catch up with Kiwi Lucy Hockings. She has her own show, Live with Lucy Hockings, and has gone from strength to strength since beginning with the BBC in 1999 as a producer. She got the nod to be a chief presenter in February this year and Lucy Hockings joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
What a sordid, sloppy mess, eh? Meka Whaitiri is off, we still don’t know why and, somehow, she escapes the party hopping laws, so gets to stay on as an MP. Does that, or does that not, sum up the malaise and general mess with which this country is currently run? Poor old Megan Woods yesterday on the show didn’t have a clue and, as it turns out, who can blame her? No one had a clue. How can you have a senior player in your party and have literally no idea they are bailing and, when they do bail, no idea why? It speaks very poorly of Whaitiri. Not telling anyone is the height of rudeness. The fact Kiri Allen was dispatched to try and get some details, and failed, tells you that must have been one spectacularly dysfunctional relationship. What does it say about Chris Hipkins leadership that he didn’t have a clue? What does it say about Whaitiri's mindset that she didn’t think it necessary to offer any explanation to anyone? She must have approached the Māori party because if you were the Māori Party, why would you think of ringing up an MP who has given no indication of being disgruntled? Or do the Māori Party just ring up all Māori MP's all the time, just in case they want to jump? To be fair to the Māori Party this is a coup, and a good one. It gives them some credit, it gives them headlines and it gives them renewed hope in the election. Then we have the so-called party hopping laws. I thought we had dealt with this? I thought Winston Peters had railed endlessly about the shabby way some MP's treat the system? And yet all these years after Turia and Alamein Kopu, here we are still watching them watch their back, feather their nests, protect their interests and collect the taxpayer's money. From a broader point of view this is a Government in its death throes. The economy is shot, the previous leader has run for the hills, the imagery around their promises and delivery is laughable and now another minister has up and scarpered. In a way, they must be secretly longing for October 14 to be put out of their misery.
There are few who have their finger on the current affairs pulse as Nick Ferrari does. The popular LBC radio breakfast host has been in his current role since 2004, with the show and Ferrari himself winning numerous awards over the years. So, naturally, Mike Hosking had to catch up with his counterpart in the UK. LISTEN ABOVE
British broadcaster Piers Morgan is no stranger to the phenomenon of cancel culture. Following criticism of the Oprah with Meghan and Harry interview, Morgan sensationally left Good Morning Britain with immediate effect in what the former Daily Mirror editor told Mike Hosking was him becoming a victim of cancel culture. “I think I was definitely a victim of this cancel culture which we have to endure. The reason I say that is I was put in a very strange position by a media company, who you would think understood what free speech means,” says Morgan. “Having been recruited to be opinionated on a morning show - and do that very successfully for five years and treble the ratings and make it the most talked about show in the country, I was then put in a position because Meghan Markle complained to my boss that I disbelieved her, I then had to apologise to Meghan Markle or leave.” The Piers Morgan Uncensored host says he was effectively told that he would have to lose his job because somebody had insisted he must believe everything they say. “Last time I checked, that’s not how democracies work. That’s how it works in Russia or North Korea or China.” Morgan says that despite being able to rebuild his career and public image, the intent of those that seek to destroy others for holding opposing views is something that must be fought. “They’re basically a form of modern-day fascists where ‘you shall do what we say, say what we say, think what we think, dress how we dress and so on, admire history in the way we want you to, respect statues of our choice and if you don’t we’re going to ruin you.” He tells Mike Hosking he believes the cornerstone of democracy to be free speech and that truly means to tolerate points of view one does not like, rather than tolerating opinions that agree with you. Following the release of podcasts, interviews and now Prince Harry’s autobiography, Spare, Piers Morgan says he warned Meghan and Harry would seek ‘weaponise’ victimhood, racism and mental health for financial gain, a warning he says has come to fruition. “How they look themselves in the mirror, let alone rock up at the coronation, as Harry is doing on Saturday, is breath-taking.” “There’s a guy whose been trashing his Dad, trashing the Royal family, trashing his brother, trashing his sister-in-law, trashing his step-mother, trashing the monarchy and then he has the brass neck to rock up to the coronation, because, if he doesn’t, they lose their currency back in America.” Morgan says in the case of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, responsibility for the amount of media attention the pair garners lies with them. “It’s not the media writing kiss and tell books trashing all the royals. It’s not the media doing six-part Netflix series or podcasts or going on open-top bus interviews with James Corden in Hollywood, it’s Harry and Megan doing this.”
The unemployment rate for March has remained steady at 3.4 percent, with 102,000 people still out of work. Under utilisation fell to 9 percent, while participation and employment rates increased to record highs. General Manager of Talent Solutions at Randstad Ian Scott joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Just days away from the King's coronation and the New Zealand delegation have all landed in the country. One of those is Order of New Zealand holder and former All Black captain Richie McCaw, selected as one of the ten extraordinary Kiwis to attend with the delegation. Richie McCaw joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A potential link between concussion and violent crime is becoming clearer. New research out of AUT shows even a mild traumatic brain injury can significantly increase the risk of violent criminal behaviour over the following decade. Researchers looked at a comparative group based on various socio-economic backgrounds. Sports injury research specialist Doug King told Mike Hosking it doesn't have to be a serious injury. He says he sees it come through as child abuse, domestic violence, from players who have had head injuries in all sorts of sports. LISTEN ABOVE
Former United Future Leader Peter Dunne says the Meka Whaitiri saga has exposed the failures of the waka-jumping ban. Dunne, who defected from Labour himself in 1994, told Mike Hosking the legislation clearly doesn't work and needs to be repealed. “What it shows is the complete nonsensical nature of the waka-jumping legislation, because it’s never been effectively triggered, even when there’s clear-cut cases.” LISTEN ABOVE
As one of our largest trading partners, our relationship with the UK is of huge importance. The two way goods and services trade was worth $6 billion pre-Covid - and that was before we signed the Free Trade Agreement in February of last year, which just got passed through the UK Parliament in late march this year. New Zealand Trade Commissioner to the UK, Joseph Nelson, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
I think Carmel Sepuloni gave us enough yesterday, didn’t she? Along with previous comments from Megan Woods and Chris Hipkins we can conclude that some sort of tax attack is coming from this Government as part of their re-election bid. My gut says their approach will go down in history as one of the most ill-conceived/mad hat ideas of the modern political era. A Government in a recession with a myriad of social and racial issues at play, adds to their burden by trying to convince New Zealanders that paying yet more tax is a good idea. Of course, what's coming is either a new top tax rate, my guess is a 45c figure on big incomes over $250,000, or, as OneRoof quite rightly punted, a mansion tax. The thinking is it's an envy tax, a bash the rich tax. Now, there are two critical flaws in that. One is that we are now dabbling around the edges. It will raise comparatively nothing so, in other words, it’s a socialist sort of window dressing. And two, it shockingly misreads the average outlook of regular New Zealanders. We are aspirational. We want to work hard and we want to do well. We want to think we can achieve and, if we do, we are rewarded for that. We want to see our kids set up in a better way than us, in a country we can be proud of. These days, nothing this Government is about has any connection to that mind set. That gas lighting nonsense from Sepuloni yesterday about Warriors tickets for poor people says it all. Because I can afford tickets and because I actually care about the country and fill out the census form, I'm different? It's insulting. Anyway, there's the mansion tax. Los Angeles has just implemented one at 5 percent over sales over $5 million and even more if it's over $10 million. How they roll that out here nationwide I have no idea, given the price variance between Auckland and Wellington. But it's capital gains, so their dream comes true, but only for rich pricks. But that is the part they don’t get. You don't mess with a Kiwi's house. It is our castle, our dream, and our statement of who we are and who we want to be. How they don’t get that, I don’t know. But if this is their plan then they are taking their already perilous chances of winning and setting fire to them. It's been many a year since I've seen a Government so out of touch. Ironically, last time was also Labour, under Helen Clark. Remember their third term? They started talking about regulating the pressure of your shower head. It did them in then. It'll do them in this time.
Around 2,000 guests will be in attendance of the formal ceremony of King Charles III's coronation, with political figures and leaders from all over the world present at Westminster Abbey. To talk through how to protect an event of this size, security and intelligence expert Anthony Glees joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Continuing the trend of bringing you Kiwis excelling in business on the other side of the world, Sarah Smart joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. Sarah is the general manager of The Collective UK and Europe, the gourmet dairy brand that was originally created to bring great tasting natural yoghurt to the New Zealand market. Their work as yoghurt pioneers in NZ quickly translated to the UK where their products are now available across all major supermarkets. Sarah is also one of the lucky ten extraordinary Kiwis to represent New Zealand at the coronation itself. LISTEN ABOVE
Air New Zealand is refreshing it's uniform for the first time in 12 years. The iconic colourful koru prints, designed by Trelise Cooper, are going and a new uniform will be in place by 2025. The national carrier has asked for designers to express interest in redesigning 5,000 new uniforms. Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty told Mike Hosking it's important they get it right. She says it's one of the first visual representations of New Zealand for people travelling here, so they need to capture the essence of the country. LISTEN ABOVE
Access to a dentist in New Zealand isn't anything to smile about. In Rotorua, the average wait time for children 15 or under who need surgery is just over four months, with some waiting up to nine months. The average wait time for urgent cases is 29 days Dental Association Chief Executive Mo Amso told Mike Hosking a number of people are unable to access basic care. He says lots of New Zealanders are ending up in ED and ICU across the country, with dental infections that could have easily been prevented. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Phil Goff joined ZB’s Mike Hosking ahead of an important week for the nation- King Charles III’s coronation and Chris Hipkins’ meeting with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak brought the pair together again following their complicated history during Phil Goff’s run as mayor of Auckland. Before taking on the role as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Phil Goff also held a number of portfolios; Minister of Justice, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister of Defence. When asked whether he preferred working in the local or international sphere, Phil Goff said he enjoyed both, and acknowledged their challenges. “This is more an extension of what I was doing internationally at the time I was a Minister. But I’m really enjoying just getting out and meeting the New Zealanders- we’ve got about 70,000 of them across the United Kingdom, some fantastic people. And working with the Brits, I don’t think there’s any country on Earth that’s closer to New Zealand.” The Friday evening before the coronation, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will meet with his UK equivalent at 10 Downing Street to discuss the New Zealand- UK free trade agreement. The FTA was officially agreed in principle in 2021 and signed a year later, but Hipkins’ meeting with Rishi Sunak will ideally nudge its start date forward. Phil Goff explained to Mike Hosking that the free trade agreement presents the chance to build on a market linked to a high-value economy. “This is a great deal for New Zealand with the United Kingdom, but it’s a great deal for the United Kingdom as well. We both benefit, we both gain advantage.” Phil Goff is no stranger to King Charles either, having met the new ruler back when he was Prince of Wales in 2014. In future audiences with the King ahead of the coronation, Phil Goff would be just as impressed with Charles’ skills as a diplomat and his high opinion of the King is still apparent. “I think he is the United Kingdom’s number one diplomat. People said thirty years ago[1]what’s this guy talking about with sustainability and environment? What he was talking about thirty years ago is now mainstream in the world. He was ahead of his time, he’s a person that wants to make a better world.” Meetings with royalty aside, Phil Goff’s week has been full of other obligations, including speaking engagements and advocating for New Zealand’s successful future in the eyes of the UK. “This job is about advocacy for your country, it’s about engaging with the Kiwis that are here, working with them, it’s about getting the best deals that we can for New Zealand.”
Meka Whaitiri is expected to resign and stand as a candidate for the Māori Party in the upcoming election. The Customs Minister is expected to make an announcement at Waipatu Marae in Hastings in a couple of hours. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says he's left a message with Whaitiri, and he'd expect her to return his call if she has something significant to say. Political Editor Jason Walls told Mike Hosking the Labour Party has been caught completely off guard. “It is rather unprecedented to see somebody that holds ministerial portfolios openly musing about going to another party.” LISTEN ABOVE
There have been two great cons of the Green Party. Years ago Rod Donald, the former Green Party leader as he was, was spruiking MMP and reassured us all that the tail would never wag the dog, despite most of us not believing a word he said. Enough people got sucked in, MMP arrived - and so did Winston Peters. The second great Green Party con was Julie Anne Genter telling us that the feebate scheme for cars would be fiscally neutral, despite the fact she could make no such claim. How could she possibly predict that the right number of people would purchase petrol cars to offset the right number of people who would purchase EV's or hybrids? She couldn't of course. But that didn’t stop her pedalling the myth. The madness should have stopped when she lost her job. But, sadly, Michael ”watch me build light rail in record time” Wood was in the wings ready to grab the reins and screw us over just a little bit more. And so, with all the middle class cashed-ups shelling out $80,000 for a Tesla, the rest of us now get to pick up an even bigger tab. Are they saving the planet in their new EV's? Well, sort of. There is another scandal in that. The actual emissions savings are not that great. That was another con exposed when the new Prime Ministers dropped the "cash for clunkers" program as part of the policy bonfire. When they launched it, the savings in emissions were enormous. By the time they dumped it, the policy was cumbersome and the savings were tiny. Ah, the anatomy of a con. And so here we are this morning, with the news that we will be paying even more for a petrol engine, to subsidise those that don't need to be subsidised, to buy something more eco-friendly. As I have said all along, if you love EV's and if you want to save the world then rip into it. But don’t expect the rest of us to foot the bill for your passion. And this is what the Government does. It's policy driven by ideology, not fact. An ever-shifting landscape, a series of promises never kept and the expectation that the bills will simply keep going up and up and up. Whether it's Donald, Genter or Wood it's always slippery logic and it's always us writing the cheques.
Monica Galleti is one of our great Kiwi exports. Living the dream, she set off from New Zealand in her 20s for London and landed work at the famed La Gavroche restaurant overseen by the famed Roux family. She opened her own restaurant, Mere Restaurant and Bar, and is tipped for a Michelin Star and has been involved with MasterChef UK. Monica Galleti joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
With the excitement of the coronation growing greater with each day, people want to get as close as they can to anything royal. This means more tourists are gathering to get a glimpse of any royal action they can. Amanda Bryett, the founder of Windsor Tourist Guides, knows about this better than most. Amanda joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
In the UK they are known for their food and booze - but are leading and expanding in tech and safety as well. In New Zealand we have more than 600 businesses known as SAAS - a software-as-a-service business. They bring in $20 billion to the New Zealand economy and employ 13,000 people. One of these companies, Safe365, is experiencing huge success and growth in the UK and now count Amazon, Heathrow Airport and the Royal Academy of Arts as their customers. The co-founder and director of Safe365 Nathan Hight joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Acting Prime Minister says it's still far too early to say whether Labour will introduce a Capital Gains Tax if it wins the next election. Carmel Sepuloni told Mike Hosking she can't discuss a tax policy that doesn't yet exist. “We haven’t had the conversations or discussions to explore what that might mean as a political party through our manifesto going into the next election.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's under fire, for not making enough use of proceeds from the Auckland fuel tax. Latest figures show only about half of the $700 million collected from the tax has been spent on transport projects. Money has gone towards the Eastern Busway and road safety improvements. Manurewa-Papakura Ward Councillor Daniel Newman told Mike Hosking there has been no money for other projects planned before the 2017 election. He says many of the projects like the Mill Road Corridor have been cancelled, while other projects have been deferred indefinitely. A decision on whether to replace the fuel tax with congestion pricing will be made before the end of the year. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government says it's tweaking the Clean Car Discount scheme because it's working as intended. It's announced it will have to lower the threshold for higher emitting vehicles and increase the fees on them and also change rebates for zero emissions imports. When asked how many times this will happen, Transport Minister Michael Wood told Mike Hosking they always knew they'd have to review it every one to two years. He says as more people buy clean vehicles, they will keep increasing the ambition of the scheme to clean up the fleet. LISTEN ABOVE
Simon Dale created the SoloTrak in an effort to save time, energy, and fencers' knees. Enquiries for the machine rose through the roof after Jeremy Clarkson used it in Series 2, Episode 1 of Clarkson's Farm. Dale said that while it took a while to get their name out there, he'd now consider Solo Fencing Systems to be one of the market leaders. LISTEN ABOVE
Wireless charging is being taken to a whole new level. Researchers at the University of Auckland are exploring the possible integration of wireless charging pads into our roads and car parks, negating the need to plug electric vehicles in to charge them. Leader of the project's research team, Professor Grant Covic says that it's definitely doable, and is already beginning to be commercialised. He says that the integration of the wireless charging technology not only mitigates the anxieties surrounding electric vehicles, but the more frequent charging is better for the battery itself. LISTEN ABOVE
King Charles' Coronation will differ from the Queen's Coronation 70 years ago. For the first time, members of the public will be asked to pledge their allegiance to the new monarch. There'll be hymns in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish Gaelic and leaders of different religions will be involved. The Times Royal Correspondent Valentine Low told Mike Hosking that the King's made an effort to modernise the event. She says there'll be a lot of tradition, but also plenty of ordinary people involved. LISTEN ABOVE
National's standing by their policy that aims to attract more nurses and midwives after claims they've warped the numbers. It's claimed 19-thousand nurses have left the public health system since 2017, but the Government says that's wrong. There are actually four-thousand more nurses since 2017, a 19 percent increase. National's numbers include nurses who have switched to a different part of health care, such as a new city or from a hospital to aged care. Opposition leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking that there's still a crisis. LISTEN ABOVE
Can I ask why Australia's migrant intake this year will be a record 400,000 when ours won't be? I mean, I know the answer. But it is worth asking, especially if you are interested in us as a country getting on with life and, in general, achieving any real level of success. I gave you the numbers last week in regards to Australia long term - by the end of the decade millions more will have arrived. Each year is looking to break records. Australia is hot. It's an astonishing story of success. We know more and more post covid every day, we know the world is short of labour, we know it’s a competition to get that talent into your country and we know our numbers are starting to rise, but to nowhere near the level they once were. Part of that is deliberate. The Government didn’t want people coming here. It was not just idiotic - it was a glaring mistake and a mistake they have lately had to be dragged kicking and screaming to try and rectify. But as the rules were changed, a new reality slapped us - why weren't the numbers booming? Was reputation now at play? I think the answer, if you look at Australia, might be yes. It is impossible to believe Australia has record numbers and we don’t, given we are in the same part of the world and offer, broadly, the same sort of lifestyle. The specifics are the key. The number of jobs, the sort of jobs, the pay, the rules of engagement and of course the state of the economy, considering their economy is starting to leave ours in the dust, all matter when choosing a country. Immigration drives growth and investment and jobs and diversity. Our hermit kingdom approach is now being shown to be costing us a fortune. The world is a smorgasbord for those who relish new chances, new jobs, new lives and new futures. It's possible we will get 40,000 through our doors this year. Australia gets 400,000. Who do you reckon wins that game?
The search continues for a man accused of killing five of his neighbours —including an eight-year-old— in Texas. The FBI, along with multiple state agencies are hunting for 38-year-old Francisco Oropeza in the town of Cleveland, near Houston. US correspondent Richard Arnold says that the incident occurred after neighbours asked him to stop shooting in his yard because they were trying to put a baby to sleep. He says three other children were found uninjured but covered in blood. LISTEN ABOVE
Big changes for the King's Coronation. It's the first crowning of a British monarch in 70 years — since that of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. For the first time there'll be hymns in Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, and Irish Gaelic; female bishops participating and other religions involved. Exeter University History Professor Jeremy Black told Mike Hosking that the mood is very different since the last coronation, and the King has sensed that. He says in 1953 it was the coronation for the monarch of a major world empire, but now it's a more modest family of nations. LISTEN ABOVE
There are claims that highly addictive pain medications are being over-prescribed post-surgery in New Zealand. Auckland University research, led by medical students, has found surgeons prescribe double the number of opioids a patient actually consumes. It's found patients will take more drugs if they have more. Middlemore Hospital Junior Doctor Chris Varghese told Mike Hosking that he hopes the study leads to a change. He says it offers healthcare workers practical guidelines, to prescribe based on need. LISTEN ABOVE
For 2022 New Zealand Rugby have had a financial loss of just over $47 million, a drastic difference from their 2021 net surplus of $5.54 million. They are saying it was deliberate, with the blame being placed on spending and the prioritisation of women's game. New Zealand Rugby CEO Mark Robinson told Mike Hosking they are exploring options that they hope will boost the financial success of women's rugby. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Joe Biden: 6/10 He get's a half decent mark for, basically, hanging in there. But look at the numbers - he's underwater, he's old and he may not even know he's running. Tucker Carlson: 2/10 He can put videos out until he's blue in the face. The facts are that he is a fraud. Authenticity is the key to everything in broadcasting. You can't say one thing while believing another, it will get you every time. Housing: 7/10 I see light. More lending, more first time buyers and a change to the Government's caps and rules. I think this is the year of the recovery. The Nats: 6/10 The RSE workers plan and the promises to the farmers equals good, basic, problem solving stuff that will serve them well. David Parker: 4/10 What a strange bloke. We had a report that allegedly is going nowhere so, once again, we ask - what on earth was the point? London: 8/10 What an amazing place. What a confident, world class city. Flags are up, barricades are out, the prepping and practice is on and this time next week it'll be fever pitch. But.... The weather in London: 3/10 As beautiful as London may be, British weather is crap. Wellington: 3/10 30km/h speed limit for 90 percent of the streets. Elect yourself a Green or two and that’s what you get. Our current account deficit: 2/10 The IMF has up alongside Greece and Cyprus. Greece and Cyprus, economically, are laughing stocks - so what's that make us? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Student associations say students are being forced into more work and turning to food banks, as rents rise. The student loan for living costs and student allowance rose by $20 from April 1. It follows a $25 weekly increase in Budget 2022. Union of Students' Associations President Ellen Dixon says there are landlords and property managers that monitor those financial changes. She says there's a difference between mum and dad landlords and those in property management companies who follow those trends. LISTEN ABOVE
Expectation that a funding boost for our wood processing sector will target New Zealand's slash problem. A new $57 million government fund aims to process logs onshore, move the industry from volume to value and create high wage jobs. It's estimated the fund will see up to $650 million more Gross Domestic Product over its lifetime. Federated Farmers Forestry Spokesperson Toby Williams told Mike Hosking there's opportunity in the domestic wood-processing sector. He says any investment needs to go into solving the slash problems they have. LISTEN ABOVE
National claims empowering landlords to evict tenants without cause will help renters. The party's housing spokesperson Chris Bishop says increased tenancy regulation has decreased supply, pushing up rent prices. He told Mike Hosking the policy has caused landlords to fear renting to vulnerable people, as there's no way to easily evict them if things don't work out. Under the current law, landlords can terminate a tenancy under a range of justifiable reasons, like anti-social behaviour or being three weeks behind on rent. LISTEN ABOVE
There has been plenty of discussion amongst tax experts around fairness within the system. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed no major tax overhaul will be made in this term of government, including on capital gains. But, KPMG Tax Partner Rebecca Armour told Mike Hosking there's an argument for one, where people in the same economic position pay the same amount of tax. She says people earning $50,000 in salary have an effective tax rate which is much higher than someone earning the same amount in the form of a capital gain. LISTEN ABOVE
There are signs of a changing landscape in the rental market. The latest monthly Tony Alexander Investor Insight survey has found a net 13 percent of investors are finding it easier to get good tenants. That result is the highest reading in the survey since March last year. Independent economist Tony Alexander told Mike Hosking it's partly driven by tourists and overseas students coming back into the rental market. He says the change is having an upward pressure on rents and making it easier for landlords to find great tenants. LISTEN ABOVE
A new New Zealand company is aiming to make green hydrogen a viable alternative energy source in this country and worldwide. Because green hydrogen can be created sustainably using renewable energy, the clean energy source is a transition away from oil and gas. BSPKL co-founder and CEO Christina Houlihan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Time now for a definitive look into one of sports global superstars. LeBron James. Born to a 16-year-old solo mother and moving around from family member to family member, he has since become an athlete bigger than the game and equal to only Michael Jordan. James is the first active NBA athlete to become a billionaire and the NBA's all time leading points scorer. So it was about time we got a biography about him - the first definitive biography, simply titled LeBron, has been written by Jeff Benedict. Jeff also wrote Tiger Woods, the hugely acclaimed biography considered the closest insight into Tiger's life, that was eventually made into a mini docuseries. Jeff Benedict joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The All Blacks coaching team for 2024 has been confirmed. Joining Scott Robertson as assistant coaches will be Jason Ryan, Leon MacDonald, Jason Holland and Scott Hansen. This leaves the Blues and Hurricanes looking for new coaches next season. Former All Blacks coach Alex 'Grizz' Wyllie joined Mike Hosking to discuss whether the coaching lineup is geared for success. LISTEN ABOVE
A push to get more children back into school. Newstalk ZB can reveal nearly 10,000 children aged between five and 13 are not enrolled in formal education, almost 4,000 more than in 2021. It's the highest number reported in the last five years. New Zealand Blue Light supports thousands of disengaged children who have become unenrolled. Chief Operating Officer Brendon Crompton told Mike Hosking parents should be held accountable. He says they know if a child isn't in school, they're more likely to get into crime or become a teen parent. LISTEN ABOVE
The Climate Change Commission says we're relying too much on planting trees to soak up greenhouse gas emissions. In draft advice to the Government, released yesterday, it says the Emissions Trading Scheme needs reform. Chairman Rod Carr told Mike Hosking we need to separate the incentive to reduce emissions, from the incentives to plant trees. He says that way it's clear as to why we need to reduce emissions and what we expect the outcome to be from planting trees. LISTEN ABOVE
The Reserve Bank is looking to make it easier for potential home buyers to get into the market. They're proposing changes to the loan to value restrictions, which currently mean banks can only give 10 percent of new loans to borrowers with deposits under 20 percent. They want to up that to 15 percent at the beginning of June. Bayleys Real Estate Agent, Karen Asquith told Mike Hosking anything that encourages market activity is positive. She says now is a good time for buyers to be looking, with changes easing first home buyers and investors into the market. LISTEN ABOVE
A tax expert says the current tax system is working. Inland Revenue's wealth report shows the top one percent of earners pay a median effective tax rate of 9.4 percent when including capital gains on investments. Meanwhile, Treasury estimates a comparable tax rate for a "middle wealth" Kiwi is roughly 20 percent. OliverShaw partner Robin Oliver told Mike Hosking the tax system, overall, isn't broken. He says it's relatively simple and efficiently raises a lot of money the Government can then spend. LISTEN ABOVE
We touched on authenticity before the school holidays. I said that one of the more damning aspects of the Dominion and Fox news scrap was not whether Fox was at fault over claims around the election, but rather the revelation in depositions that Tucker Carlson lied about Donald Trump. As we know, as of last week, a bit over a billion dollars is heading Dominion's was after the settlement. A lot of people who hate Fox wanted the thing to go to trial. The reason Fox didn’t is kind of exemplified by the Carlson sacking. Officially they say they parted ways. But they parted ways because Carlson is a fraud. And that is worse than saying stuff that isn't true You can defend yourself, especially in America, if you truly believe that what you say is the truth. The fact you are wrong can be penalised, but it's not nearly as bad as knowingly saying one thing, while thinking the other. Tucker Carlson, if you have missed all this, texted about his hatred of Donald Trump. This was a shock to many, given he appeared on the television saying something very different. Fox was willing to defend its position using the free speech argument. But they couldn’t defend a bloke who publicly said one thing but privately said something very different. It doesn’t work in law and it doesn’t work in broadcasting. And I said a couple of weeks back that I wasn’t sure how a revelation like this could surface and he survives. Turns out, he couldn’t. Ironically Don Lemon, who works for CNN, also got sacked yesterday. But that isn't nearly as important because Lemon is not in Carlson's league and CNN is a troubled network anyway with nowhere near Fox's audience. And he got fired for basically being an arrogant, sexist prat, which although not a trait to aspire to, is hardly the end of the world. Carlson's sacking isn't the end of the world either but it’s a major dent. The audience will suffer, the share price suffered and advertising will suffer. He was the biggest of big deals on a big deal network. They don’t sack people like him unless they have to. But that’s the point - they had to. All you have in this game is your reputation. You have to be authentic and the audience have to believe that what you say you are, you are. And Carlson wasn’t. Fraud, in broadcasting terms, is the greatest crime of all.
MPs Mark Mitchell and Megan Woods joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister says the Government is not releasing any new tax policy. An Inland Revenue report released early this afternoon will estimate the effective tax rate of the country's rich, taking into account their full economic income, rather than just taxable income. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking they were clear in 2020 about their tax policy. He says they're sticking to that and they'll let people know well in advance of the election what their tax policy for the next term is. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions are being raised about whether the country's transport agency is putting enough focus on road infrastructure. In 2020, 400 risks were identified on state highways by Waka Kotahi, including major and extreme threats, but the agency has only started work on ten of them Transporting New Zealand Acting Chief Executive, Dom Kalasih told Mike Hosking he understands the Government's planning to divert some roading revenue away from infrastructure improvements. He says rather than being spent on roads, that money's going to go to regulatory services. LISTEN ABOVE
More information is to be released on how much the rich are paying in tax. The Inland Revenue report will estimate the effective tax rate of the country's wealthiest - taking into account their full economic income, rather than just taxable income. PwC Partner Geof Nightingale says the tax system is collecting adequate revenue and there's no revenue crisis, even with cyclone expenses. He told Mike Hosking the report will spark a new tax. Nightingale says a new tax would be very complicated and take a long time - so he thinks it's highly unlikely. LISTEN ABOVE
A majority of Aucklanders appear to be on board with at least sell-offs and cutbacks at Auckland Council. Newstalk ZB can reveal more than half of submitters and survey participants believe there needs to be some spending cuts, but most support only some of the possible cutbacks. A majority also support selling off council shares in Auckland Airport, but opinion is divided on whether that should be all or just some of the shares. Mayor Wayne Brown told Mike Hosking the results show the public understands the council's predicament. “It is encouraging that people seem to understand that I’ve inherited a bit of a mess and that the mixture of things that we’ve offered does show a way out with giving a little bit of a haircut here and there.” LISTEN ABOVE
There appears to be almost no appetite in America for another Trump-Biden Presidential race. Joe Biden has announced he will stand for re-election in 2024. He would be 86 before the end of a second term. Trump is 76 and looks to be leaving his Republican rivals in his wake, despite recent legal action. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking just five percent of Americans want that rematch. He says Biden's age is a big concern with just a third of Americans saying it's not a problem, meanwhile 60 percent of Republicans don't want Trump to run again. LISTEN ABOVE
The Aussies, and come to that our own prime minister, have gone overboard telling us what a great deal they’ve done for New Zealanders living in Australia. And on the face of it, yes. It’s a great deal for our people already living across the ditch. Six, maybe seven-hundred thousand of them. Much, much easier now for them to achieve security of tenure, and access to the kinds of services and benefits we’ve carried on giving Australians living here, despite the unilateral and acts of the Howard regime back in 2001. But don’t for a minute think this is some great gesture of trans-Tasman mateship on the part of the Aussies. And don’t be sucked in by the fact it’s been announced over ANZAC weekend, when we acknowledge that long standing bond. This is an entirely economic move by Australia, designed to hold on to the hard-working New Zealanders it’s until now grudgingly tolerated. Australia knows our people are more likely than their own people to have a job —any job— maybe partly because for the past 20 years they haven’t been able to get welfare. The Australian government also knows its health system and so much else in its economy relies on ex-pat New Zealand workers. And now, in the midst of a global skills shortage, it’s reluctantly taking steps to keep those it’s already got and make itself more attractive to others it wants to poach from here. There’s a lot of numbers floating around but just in the case of nurses, reports suggest we could lose five thousand in pretty short order. So while chippy’s pitching this as a win, it’s anything but and it’s come at the worst possible time for us. We need to ask ourselves why, on a GDP per person basis, Australians are one-third wealthier than we are. And we need to fix that. Otherwise this deal will take new Zealand back 20 years to the days when we were a clearing house for people ultimately wanting to live across the ditch. And what about the elephant in the room: The 501s. Does this great new strengthening of our family say anything about that toxic issue? Nope. Not a word. The numbers are apparently down in the past few months, but the Aussies are keeping the character test in their citizenship process. That's what they use to chuck out New Zealanders they don't want and there's no change there. Australia will cherry pick the best and carry on sending back the riff-raff. Can't see one good thing in this for us.
Schools will still operate as normal, despite a work ban by principals starting this term. Those working in primary and area schools are pausing the work they do with the Education Ministry for the next two months over a recent pay offer. It includes all work outside 8am to 5pm weekdays, apart from board meetings. NZEI lead negotiator Lynda Stuart told Tim Dower that it has nothing to do with anything that goes on within school hours. She says anything that affects the day to day running of the schools will still go ahead, it's any extra work they're talking about. It comes as secondary teachers are set to take more industrial action in support of their collective agreement negotiations as well. LISTEN ABOVE
Disputes brew over New Zealand's most famous harness racer, as a carpark could be paved over his grave. The NZ Trotting Hall of Fame wants to exhume Cardigan Bay's remains from Auckland's Alexandra Park to Cambridge. The Auckland Trotting Club plans to pave over the grave site for a potential road or carpark. Auckland Trotting Club President Jamie Mackinnon says that they reached out to the sole trustee of the former owners of the horse. He says they approached the trustee, but they said they want the horse to stay there. LISTEN ABOVE
Fans of Barry Humphries say his comic legacy will always be remembered. The Australian comedian died in Sydney Saturday night, at the age of 89. He was best known for Dame Edna - a character with lilac coloured hair and cat eyed glasses. Auckland entertainment writer David Hartnell says Humphries was a comic genius, sometimes compared to Charlie Chaplin. LISTEN ABOVE
The family of the cinematographer who was fatally shot on the set of Rust is still planning to sue Alec Baldwin despite his criminal charges being dropped. Halyna Hutchins died after a live bullet fired from a prop gun by Baldwin during filming in 2021. The Emmy-award winning actor was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Tim Dower that the gun itself is still being investigated. He says there's a chance it may have been altered to allow it to fire without the trigger being pulled. LISTEN ABOVE
More New Zealanders look to be jetting off overseas. It comes as Australia announces a new direct pathway to citizenship for eligible New Zealanders who have lived across the Tasman for at least four years. Malcolm Pacific Immigration CEO David Cooper says that a lot of young people are planning international trips this year, with plans to be out of New Zealand for a while. He says we won't only lose Kiwis to Australia but to other countries as well. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Commissioner was a little slippery in his response to the report on the Parliament Grounds riots yesterday. Andrew Coster's statement was gushing in its praise of the frontline officers, as it should have been. They ended up facing a raw and violent confrontation which was completely avoidable if police top brass had done their job. There's a glaring contradiction in the Commissioner's statement. Coster says he wouldn't have done anything differently, but then a couple of lines later he says he's committed to implementing all the IPCA's recommendations. Recommendations which say, in summary, you balls'd it up, mate. I won't quote chapter and verse from the entire document as it's over 200 pages, but here's the common theme that emerges when you plough through the whole thing. Planning. A lack of planning and a lack of understanding in even how to go about planning the police response. There are a couple of stand outs; right at the start the report shows there was evidence on February 8th that the protesters were planning for a long stay. At that point it was a very small group, a landing party if you like, but even then there was information in the public domain suggesting protesters were planning for an extended stay - catering plans had been made for 500 people a week. Police were aware of it, but took no action. There's criticism of the first attempt to clear the grounds. The IPCA says this failed because of, you guessed it, poor planning and a lack of bodies and equipment. When it came time for the final push, a two-day workshop was held to work out how it would be done. The NZDF sent support staff to help. Their comment was that police had little understanding of how to plan a complex activity of this nature. They said the plan was superficial, lacked significant detail, and not much thought was given to the protesters’ reactions. On the day, officers themselves described the operation as 'shambolic' and some say they feared for their lives. 150 police were injured - some pretty badly. The Commissioner and his chiefs need to take responsibility for that and the string of cock-ups that lead to it.
A 33-year-old is making an attempt on the New Zealand ultra-distance open water swim record, hoping to bring attention to the poor health of Hauraki Gulf in the process. Jono Ridler will set off from Karaka Bay on Great Barrier. Island, aiming for Narrow Neck Beach in Auckland, roughly 100 kilometres away. Jono joined Tim Dower to discuss the mammoth task he's set for himself. LISTEN ABOVE
After a season with the Blues and All Blacks, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck is set to make a sensational return to league. Not only that, he has signed a three-year deal with the Warriors, starting from next season with the Penrose-based club. One NZ Warriors CEO Cameron George joined Tim Dower to talk through the coup for the club. George says he and the club remained in contact with Roger and his team and that conversations started to get more serious in recent weeks and months. LISTEN ABOVE
Brace for higher prices at the petrol pump. Finance Minister Grant Robertson has just confirmed to Newstalk ZB that the Government won't be extending the current fuel tax discount beyond the end of June. The Government extended the 25 cents per litre discount for a fourth time back in February, against Treasury advice. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has previously refused to rule out further extensions. But Grant Robertson has revealed to Tim Dower there will be no further extensions in next month's Budget. LISTEN ABOVE
The top cop says Police planned for the Parliament protests last year to the best of their ability. The Independent Police Conduct Authority review of how police handled the occupation is out. Overall, it found police served the public well, but the watchdog has made 14 recommendations for improvement. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Tim Dower it's a 'one in 40 year' incident. "How you maintain a high-level of readiness for the extreme event, when what you deal with day to day is a different set of circumstances and that will always be a challenge." LISTEN ABOVE
Otago University isn't alone in its mass redundancies. The university is looking at cutting hundreds of jobs to help reduce its annual operating budget by $60 million. Enrolments have fallen, with 670 domestic students down on last year. Universities New Zealand Executive Director Chris Whelan told Tim Dower this is happening at universities across the country. He says Otago is just the latest to be going through this. LISTEN ABOVE
Good news and sobering news has come from the latest inflation announcement. The inflation rate increased 6.7 percent in the 12 months to March. That's a slow down from the 7.2 percent jump recorded in the previous quarter. Devon Funds Management Head of Retail Greg Smith told Tim Dower the sobering news is that inflation has moved to domestic items and may not come down too quickly. He says the Reserve Bank is likely to keep the OCR high. LISTEN ABOVE
A boost to the retail crime prevention fund is being given the tick of approval from the retail sector. It's been given a $9 million top-up, to a total of $15 million. More than 500 ram-raided or robbed stores have had quotes approved, and over 1000 security interventions completed. That includes hundreds of fog cannons, CCTV systems, and roller doors. Retail NZ spokesperson, Aimie Hines told Tim Dower more funding is always a good thing. She says it means retailers most at risk can the have tools to help prevent crime. LISTEN ABOVE
NCEA; what a cluster. Changes to both the curriculum and the assessment process that is testing to you and me - are being slowed down. The Minister says this will help lift performance, and tackle those awful numbers showing about half our kids are leaving school barely capable of basic reading and writing. What I read into that is that the Minister knows if we moved into the new regime now, the results would be as bad, or even worse, than last time. Jan Tinetti desperately needs to be able to say ‘Hey, look what a great job we've done...students are getting better test results.’ But I don't think I'm the only one developing a suspicion that the way they'll do that is fiddle the system - make the tests a whole lot easier - you know, let's try something a monkey could pass, and see how that pans out. That, of course serves the Minister and Ministry, but it's not much use to anyone else. Worse, it's a downright disservice to the people who matter most in all of this - the students. As a parent, do you have confidence the education system is delivering? Do employers understand what all the different levels of NCEA mean and what the results tell us about a job candidate? Would it be better to maybe toss a real-work document in front of someone during the interview, and see if they understand it. If it really matters to the role that the person can read and write and do simple numerical reasoning, you might be better off paying for a private test. They're not expensive and certainly a lot less costly than hiring someone who you later realise hasn't got what's needed for the job. Are we at the point where NCEA has lost its credibility? Not that it's ever had much of that. Is it time to just give up on NCEA, and go back to using recognised qualifications like GCSE - the advantage of those being they're portable - and that matters in a global employment market. Bottom line, as the Herald recently found, New Zealand students have been going backward against their overseas peers for the past 20 years. NCEA was introduced in 2002. Point made?
You'll know the name and you'll know the voice. Moses MacKay, one third of the very well known and popular Sol3 Mio is our guest this morning. But Sol3 Mio isn't why Moses is with us; next week he is releasing his debut solo album. It's called Grace - and at the end of last month The Mike Hosking Breakfast got the chance to hear the first single from the album called 'Some Sorta sensation' and the show has a chance to exclusively play the lead single from the album. Moses MacKay joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
After three years, the Auckland home show is back. Starting today, about 40,000 visitors are expected over four days and it is the largest home event in Australasia. Show organiser Amanda Magnus joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
With food prices up 12.1 percent in a year, it's no surprise more people are seeking food support. The New Zealand Food Network is a not-for-profit that collects surplus and donated food for redistribution. It's now supporting almost half a million people a month. CEO Gavin Findlay joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Our current period of high inflation isn't over yet. Latest figures due out this morning are expected to show consumer prices rose between 6.9 percent and 7.2 percent in the year to March. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Tim Dower inflation isn't easing here as fast as it is in other countries. LISTEN ABOVE
The delay of some proposed changes to the NCEA system to make room for a fresh focus on literacy and numeracy skills is being well received by the education sector. New tests on the subjects will be introduced next year, along with the new NCEA Level One while the updated Level Two and Three have been delayed to 2026 and 2027. Secondary Principals' Association President, Vaughan Couillault says told Tim Dower it doesn't impact the credibility of the NCEA system. He says the qualification gets a refresh every seven to 10 years, as they look to ensure it remains relevant and current for learners' needs. LISTEN ABOVE
Universal Music Group — the music company representing superstars including Sting, The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj and Ariana Grande — has a new Goliath to contend with: artificial intelligence. The music group sent urgent letters in April to streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music, asking them to block artificial intelligence platforms from training on the melodies and lyrics of their copywritten songs. The company has "a moral and commercial responsibility to our artists to work to prevent the unauthorized use of their music and to stop platforms from ingesting content that violates the rights of artists and other creators," a spokesperson from Universal Music Group, or UMG, told CNN. "We expect our platform partners will want to prevent their services from being used in ways that harm artists." The move by UMG, first reported by the Financial Times, aims to stop artificial intelligence from creating an existential threat to the industry. Artificial intelligence, and specifically AI music, learns by either training on existing works on the internet or through a library of music given to the AI by humans. UMG says it is not against the technology itself, but rather AI that is so advanced it can recreate melodies and even musicians' voices in seconds. That could possibly threaten UMG's deep library of music and artists that generate billions of dollars in revenue. "UMG's success has been, in part, due to embracing new technology and putting it to work for our artists — as we have been doing with our own innovation around AI for some time already," UMG said in a statement Monday. "However, the training of generative AI using our artists' music ... begs the question as to which side of history all stakeholders in the music ecosystem want to be on." The company said AI that uses artists' music violates UMG's agreements and copyright law. UMG has been sending requests to streamers asking them to take down AI-generated songs. Difficult to control "I understand the intent behind the move, but I'm not sure how effective this will be as AI services will likely still be able to access the copyrighted material one way or another," said Karl Fowlkes, an entertainment and business attorney at The Fowlkes Firm. No regulations exist that dictate on what AI can and cannot train. But last month, in response to individuals looking to seek copyright for AI-generated works, the US Copyright Office released new guidance around how to register literary, musical, and artistic works made with AI. "In the case of works containing AI-generated material, the Office will consider whether the AI contributions are the result of 'mechanical reproduction' or instead of an author's 'own original mental conception, to which [the author] gave visible form,'" the new guidance says. The copyright will be determined on a case-by-case basis, the guidance continued, based on how the AI tool operates and how it was used to create the final piece or work. The US Copyright Office announced it will also be seeking public input on how the law should apply to copywritten works the AI trains on, and how the office should treat those works. "AI companies using copyrighted works to train their models to create similar works is exactly the type of behaviour the copyright office and courts should explicitly ban. Original art is meant to be protected by law, not works created by machines that used the original art to create new work," said Fowlkes. But according to AI experts, it's not that simple. "You can flag your site not to be searched. But that's a request — you can't prevent it. You can just request that someone not do it," said Shelly Palmer, Professor of Advanced Media at Syracuse University. For example, a website can apply a robots.txt file that works like a guardrail to control which URL's "search engine crawlers" can access a given site, according to Google. But it is not a full stop, keep-out option. Grammy-winning DJ and producer David Guetta prov...
When I first heard what the Transport Minister is doing in the driving licence area yesterday my heart soared. At last, something I can hand on heart say is a good thing - sensible policy - an incentive for everyone to get fully licensed. Surely, that has to be good, when you think we've got at least 40,000 unlicensed and untested drivers out there every day of the week. If they get caught they can get fined up to a grand, a further obstacle to getting driving lessons, passing a test and being a safer, legal driver. The research shows high-risk drivers - people without a licence - people who are drunk and people who speed cause one in three of the deaths on our roads. No licence means no insurance - bad luck and a pile of aggro for anyone who gets hit by someone who shouldn't be driving. I'd really applaud the idea of making it less difficult for people to get through the hurdles of getting a licence, provided we're actually putting competent, safer people on the roads. The devil, of course, is in the detail. And the detail of this particular package flipped my view of it on its head. Number one: it's a tax grab. Fees for legal drivers, fees charged to car dealers are obviously eventually passed on to car owners, they're all going up. Minister Michael Wood reckons it'll bring in another $66 million a year which is mostly out of the pockets of higher-earning households. And as far as making the roads safer goes, it doesn't pass the sniff test there either. The Driving Change Network’s take is there's no incentive to get proper lessons from an instructor. The Government hasn't been transparent about the changes and the fact is that fees are going up for people who prepare and pass their test first time. They'll be subsidising those who don't and there's no financial incentive for them to pass, because they'll be able to keep sitting it until they do. It'll do nothing to make our roads safer. So believe me when I say I really want to be able to say something good about new government policy, I thought my chance had come. Maybe next time.
MPs Mark Mitchell and Megan Woods joined Tim Dower to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
A Hamilton technology company has created a 'world first' by developing an automation system that can measure and cut plasterboard en masse. The development will cut down building times, decrease waste and enable more accurate cuts. Christopher Staal is the founder of EC8 and joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government has announced a raft of changes to road licensing fees. A learner licence will increase from $93.90 to $96.19 and the restricted rises $30 to almost $170. But the cost of re-sitting a test comes down substantially, so on average, because so many people need more than one go, people will pay less to get licensed. Wendy Robertson is with the Driving Change Network joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Concerns have been raised as to the cost of childcare for women wanting to go back to work. New Zealand mum Anna Cately recently had twins, giving her three kids under the age of three. Looking at returning to work, she calculated that after childcare costs she'd be working a full week for just $170 dollars. Other young mums say she's an example of the struggle they face. Member of the National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women, Melissa Ansell-Bridges told Tim Dower early childhood education should be free. She says ECE isn't just childcare, it's an important piece of education in a child's life. LISTEN ABOVE
There's a new initiative aimed at producing more of a homegrown health workforce. The Healthcare Academy is launching a new nursing college. It'll train up nurses to work across the sector, including aged care, mental health and addiction services. CEO of the academy Ana Maria Rivera joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for more specialist nurses at Auckland's Starship Hospital, with its new paediatric ICU running at just half capacity. The $40-million expansion opened in November and new beds were added last month to lift the capacity from 22 to 30 beds. Starship says the upgrade was to future proof demands over the next decade, contrasting with previous statements of critical bed shortages. Nurses' Organisation President Anne Daniels told Tim Dower the lack of nurses is the real concern here. She says the paediatric ICU doesn't have enough nurses with the experience and skills for those beds. LISTEN ABOVE
National leader Christopher Luxon has released the party’s policy for the farming sector, taking aim at red tape and proposing to restart live exports of cattle with strict animal welfare rules around it. Its proposals would also scrap the current median wage requirements to bring in migrant workers – but give those workers a path to residency. Luxon released the full policy in Whitford this morning, saying farmers had had enough of often unworkable and ill-defined rules from the Labour Government. It would give migrants brought into the rural sector under the Accredited Employers’ scheme a path to residency – and scrap the requirement to pay those workers the median wage of $30 an hour, saying the industry average which took into account skills and experience was preferred. It will also double the allocation under the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme (RSE) to 38,000 over the next five years. On the red tape front, it proposes requiring both local and central government to scrap two existing regulations if they intend to introduce a new one – and setting up a review body to advise on regulations. Its policy would also see the resumption of live exports of cattle, saying it could be done well with “gold standard rules set in regulation to protect animal welfare and safety. “National will require purpose-built ships and introduce a certification regime for the importers of destination countries to ensure animals live in conditions at the same standards required in New Zealand.” Luxon said Labour had introduced or changed more than 20 laws and regulations for farmers, adding extra costs on them often without any environmental gain. “I want world-class regulation for our world-class farmers. Regulation has a role to play, but rules should avoid prescription, target outcomes, minimise compliance, and be clear to provide certainty.” Its policy proposes banning foreign investors from buying farms to turn into carbon farming, saying that in 2021, foreign investors bought 20,000 hectares of farms to convert to forestry for carbon farming. Its ban would include foreign investment in existing farms which will be converted to forestry to earn ETS carbon credits. And it will overhaul rules on stock exclusion and defer the new winter grazing rules, tighten the definition of Significant Natural Areas to make the rules clearer, and change the National Policy Statement for highly productive land to allow a broader range of activities such as on-farm storage ponds and sheds and off-farm dairy factories and vegetable processing. The policy did not cover emissions pricing - that would come later. National has made it clear it supports some form of emissions trading, but not at the level proposed by the Government, saying that risked closing down too many sheep and beef farms. National’s environment spokesman Scott Simpson said National was committed to climate change goals, but New Zealand farmers were already among the most carbon efficient in the world. “Shutting down some of the world’s most carbon-efficient farmers only sends production to less efficient farms overseas and could raise global emissions. “We can protect the environment and allow farmers to get on with business by reining in the bureaucracy and using clear, well-targeted rules instead.” National has also stuck to its policy to keep agriculture out of the emissions trading scheme, saying a split gas approach was preferred for agricultural emissions. Other policies still to come include research and development, water, (including nutrient caps and storage).and a wider primary industries policy.
You might know the name Nick Davies already, he's a budding author with a book just out but also a Wellington-based actor. He's starred internationally in TV and film but felt the lure of the pen, so booked a flight to Colombia to research his debut novel. The result is El Flamingo and it's out now, and Nick Davies joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
A museum honouring New Zealand soldiers is due to open in France this year. The New Zealand Liberation Museum will open in mid-October. Weta Workshop has built part of the exhibit, which honours the Kiwi soldiers who freed the French town of Le Quesnoy in 1918. New Zealand Memorial Museum Trust chair Sir Don McKinnon told Tim Dower it's highly significant. “The special thing is, this will finally be a place on the Western Front where you can hear about and read about the New Zealand stories.” LISTEN ABOVE
A new tax report has found middle income renters, without children, are paying some of the highest tax rates. The report has been conducted by OliverShaw tax advisors and is investigating how fair the system is. Principal of OliverShaw Tax Advisors, Robin Oliver told Tim Dower wealthy people are paying higher effective tax rates than people on lower incomes. He says overall the system works but there are questions around households with incomes from $50-100,000 a year, who have relatively high tax rates. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister has confirmed the Government may have to intervene in the decisions of proposed new Three Waters entities. Under the Government's latest plan, 10 entities will be created to manage water services. Each entity will be managed by a board, with a representative body of council and iwi reps overseeing the selection of board members, and providing advice on how water catchments should be managed. Chris Hipkins told Tim Dower if those council and iwi reps are split down the middle on an issue, the Government will have the final say. He doesn't envisage there will ever be a situation where the council reps are all in complete disagreement with iwi reps. LISTEN ABOVE
All eyes are on the rate of burn out in the health sector. Massey University data analysis shows the risk for medical doctors is 22.7 percent, compared to 12.2 percent for other workforces. Researchers warn medical doctors need more psychological support in the workplace to avoid an exodus of doctors leaving the profession. Management expert Professor Jarrod Haar says told Tim Dower it's a complex issue. He says people not only feel exhausted but start to doubt the significance of their job and problems with their memory. LISTEN ABOVE
The looming recession could cut deeper than previously thought. ASB is now forecasting the economy will shrink by about two-percent by early next year, double the contraction it was forecasting three months ago. Former Reserve Bank economist Michael Reddell says its a plausible prediction. He told Tim Dower every time the Reserve Bank tries to significantly reduce inflation, it's a recipe for recession. Reddell says every time inflation has been brought down so quickly in the past, it's led to a recession, usually a severe one. LISTEN ABOVE
The Principal of New Zealand's largest primary school says the Government's announcement on class sizes is ludicrous. Years 4 to 8 students will have one less classmate, with the teacher student ratio dropping to one teacher to 28 students by 2025. Shirley Maihi of Manurewa's Finlayson Park School told Tim Dower it's not going to effect any change at all. She says it needed to be a bigger step, as bringing it down by one student in two years isn't going to help children's learning. LISTEN ABOVE
The number of people looking for emergency housing declined at the end of 2022 for the first time since 2015. In 2023, demand is rising once more. The number of households with more than two years in emergency housing has doubled since this time last year. Wellington City Mission's Murray Edridge says that despite there being rentals available, they are not necessarily affordable or appropriate. He said it's a combination of mismatch of stock and insufficient stock overall, which will change when the new developments have been completed. LISTEN ABOVE
As soon as two years from now zero emission flights may become a reality. So far only a few fully electric planes have crossed the Cook Straight, the next step being electric 19-seater planes, then domestic, before reaching zero emission international flights. Paihau-Robinson Research Professor Rod Badcock says that zero emission flights will have both an environmental impact, but also a major economic one. A large amount of New Zealand's GDP is spent purchasing oil from overseas, so switching to zero emission flights will give the economy a boost. LISTEN ABOVE
Can you tempt Air New Zealand's taste buds? That's the question the airline is asking, as it launches a nationwide search for the best Kiwi snack for its new in-flight menu. Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty says that they should surprise and delight customers across different dietary needs and time-of-day appetites. She says there are extra brownie points if the snacks are sustainably packaged, or from sustainably-sourced ingredients. Expressions of interest open next month. LISTEN ABOVE
National is raising red flags about a cabinet minister's comments about democracy. Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has told Q&A he accepts the Government's latest Three Waters plan doesn't reflect a "one person, one vote" model. He said there are provisions in New Zealand that wouldn't stand up to a purely academic democratic framework. National's Paul Goldsmith told Tim Dower that he finds that a concerning comment. LISTEN ABOVE
Reducing class sizes allows teachers to spend more one-on-one time with the students who need it. The Government is expected to make an announcement on that today, and in particular reducing class sizes for Years Four to Eight. Those year groups have the highest student to teacher ratio. Rotorua Intermediate Principal Garry de Thierry says that not all students are the same, and that teachers need more time to appropriately address their needs. LISTEN ABOVE
Despite some frontline police being told to consider the necessity of arrests as Rimutaka Prison is nearly full, Corrections says there isn't a capacity problem. A leaked email reveals our largest prison is nearing maximum occupancy. It warns repeat breach of bail and warrant offenders may be remanded in custody for longer than usual, which officers should consider. Department of Corrections Commissioner Leigh Marsh told Tim Dower that there are more than two-thousand beds free across the country. He says a reduced capacity is running due to staffing challenges, with a cap of about nine-thousand people. But Marsh says if someone needs to come to prison, there is space for them. LISTEN ABOVE
Tropical Cyclone Ilsa has made landfall in Western Australia with warnings it is the strongest storm seen in the state for almost 15 years. It powered up to a category 5 storm, the strongest possible category, as it neared land. Ilsa crossed land just after midnight (WA time) on Friday morning with winds speeds approaching 300kmh. It hit the Pilbara region near the Pardoo Roadhouse and De Grey, 150 km north of Port Hedland and 450km south of Broome. The storm is now officially record breaking, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), has confirmed. It set a new preliminary Australian 10-minute sustained wind speed record of 218km/h at Bedout Island, just off the WA coast. Cyclone George in 2007 hit 194km/h for 10 minutes at the same location. “The very destructive core of Ilsa, with extreme gusts up to 295 km/h is impacting areas near Pardoo Roadhouse and De Grey during the next few hours, before tracking inland,” the BOM said. Winds of around 150km/h could be felt inland in areas including Marble Bar and Telfer. While 90km/h winds may hit Port Hedland.
Cyclone Ilsa was expected to strike Western Australia by Friday. Photo / Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology From 150 to 300mm of rain is likely around coastal areas near Illsa’s eye during Friday. WA’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) issued a red alert just hours ahead of Tropical Cyclone Ilsa making landfall warning of fierce winds up which had already reached 285km/h. Extremely destructive winds of up to 315km/h are expected around the centre of Ilsa The red alert covers people between Bidyadanga and Port Hedland (not including Bidyadanga) and inland to Marble Bar and Nullagine. “Stay indoors now. It is too late to leave,” said the DFES. Those in the red alert zone need to seek shelter immediately, and hunker down until the danger has passed. “The forecast for tomorrow is that it will maintain tropical cyclone intensity as it tracks past Telfer and further inland. Telfer could experience destructive winds up to 170 kmh,” said DFES. The Bureau of Meteorology’s Todd Smith said Ilsa would cause a lot of damage to the landscape, and buildings that weren’t up to code. “We know that this system is really packing a punch,” he said. “Category five cyclones are incredibly dangerous, with wind gusts in excess of 250km/h,” he said. “That’s going to cause a heap of damage to trees, vegetation, if there were any caravans around they would be destroyed. “Any houses that aren’t built to code are going to suffer extensive damage from that kind of wind strength.” - Benedict Brook & Alex Blair, news.com.au
If Chris Hipkins thinks rebranding Three Waters by calling it "Affordable Water Reforms" is going to win us all over, then he obviously thinks we're stupid. At the end of the day, the only serious change I can see here is switching from four monstrous and unwieldy administrations to 10 monstrous and unwieldy administrations. We're told this means every council gets a seat at the table. But despite the Prime Minister's insistence co-governance is long gone from Three Waters, it's not. Māori will still have unelected representation on these 'regional representative groups', with their job being to exercise and offer "strategic oversight and direction". However, they try to spin it, these changes are still a theft of ratepayer assets. Millions down the drain already on a broken plan which still doesn't have proper buy-in, because it's still burdened by this unwelcome and undemocratic co-governance element. How many times Chippy? Read the room. No one's arguing with the basic facts that drinking water isn't up to scratch in some communities. Wastewater and stormwater are probably much bigger problems, especially given that they're getting mixed together all too often. We're told we need to spend $180 billion to bring things into the 21st century. That's around $35,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. Does the Government really think New Zealanders can't work out that if this money isn't coming from their rates, it's coming from somewhere else? That somewhere else is taxes. There is no magic money tap. If it's being funded by central Government, it's being funded by debt. Debt you and I will have to pay back. And what about rural people who manage their own water collection and pay to have the septic emptied every now and then? Well, there's a bonus for you - you get to subsidise the cities through your taxes. To be fair to Hipkins, he inherited a sow's ear in Three Waters. Fat chance of making a silk purse from that.
New Zealand's coffee capital has been left off the top ranking coffee destinations. Coffee company Tambia has released a list of the world's top 50 coffee spots which include cafés in Melbourne, New York and Toronto. But notably Wellington is nowhere to be seen on it. Wellington café owner Aydan Apiata told Tim Dower he's surprised by the news, given the other locations on the list. He says that's especially because lots of people have been to the places named like the US, which he claims mainly does coffee and cream. LISTEN ABOVE
Bad news for the economy and bad news for those holding out hope for lower interest rates. Economic consultancy Infometrics says while the economy has probably been in recession since late last year, there's very little evidence inflationary pressures are starting to ease. It's now forecasting the Reserve Bank will need to lift the Official Cash Rate to 5.75 percent. Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan told Tim Dower the inflation cycle will be much harder to beat than previously expected. LISTEN ABOVE
The minister responsible for water reforms says recent changes are more than just window dressing. The four mega entities have been changed for 10 local groups. Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty says the groups will be a combination of local Māori and Mayors. He told Tim Dower changing from four groups to ten is a significant change, enabling every mayor to sit on the regional representative group. LISTEN ABOVE
A tobacco researcher thinks New Zealand is lagging behind to help people quit smoking. The UK's NHS is giving away free vape kits in the hopes it will help people quit tobacco products. The policy is expected to affect up to one million smokers. New Zealand currently offers either subsidised or free nicotine gum and patches. Tobacco researcher Dr. Marewa Glover told Tim Dower the Government has moved towards a punitive approach to smoking. She says we used to provide personal support like what the UK is doing. LISTEN ABOVE
A new name isn't making water reforms easier to swallow for some officials. Three Waters has been renamed Affordable Water Reforms and the four mega entities have been changed into 10 regional groups. Waimakariri and Timaru District Councils are continuing legal action over the ownership of their assets. Timaru District Mayor Nigel Bowen told Tim Bower he thinks the changes are a bid to win votes. He says it's incoherent policy rolled out in an election year. LISTEN ABOVE
Hollywood actress Alexandra Daddario got her start in the Percy Jackson films in 2010. From there, she won more high profile projects including True Detective, the remake of costume drama Baywatch and lately the TV show White Lotus, which yielded an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress. Now she's starring in a new series Mayfair Witches, based on the Anne Rice novels. Alexandra Daddario joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Despite a few setbacks, the tiny apple brand Rockit is on track for its biggest season yet. The company was facing a difficult season even before the cyclone, thanks to record early season rain, but now it's anticipating record export volumes. CEO of Rockit Global Mark O'Donnell joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
The review of the Auckland Council's flood response makes for some uncomfortable reading. It says there was a system failure, communications failures and a lack of visible leadership. It gives 17 recommendations like a separate review of Auckland Emergency Management's prevention, a better IT communications system and better outreach to community groups. Maungakiekie-Tāmaki ward councillor Josephine Bartley told Tim Dower there were key communications issues. She says when addressing those, you need to start at the top with figures like the Mayor and council CEO. LISTEN ABOVE
Local body leaders are doing what they can to stop spats around the country's council tables. Local Government New Zealand is looking to establish a service to resolve disputes within councils. It comes after the latest series of problems at the Gore District Council between the Mayor and Chief Executive. Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry told Tim Dower each council will face issues from time to time. LISTEN ABOVE
There are fears the teacher shortage could worsen as relief teachers leave the profession. New Ministry of Education figures show around 3,000 relief teachers have left the profession in the last decade. The primary teachers' union, the NZEI, has called for a complete review of the sector. Auckland Primary Principals' Association vice-president Kyle Brewerton told Tim Dower due to salary caps, there is an assumption they work every day of the year, but it isn't the case. He says there are times in the year like the start of the term, where staffing is very light, and usually they have nothing to work with. LISTEN ABOVE
The country's councils are standing by to hear the Government's latest plan for Three Waters reforms. Newstalk ZB understands the plan will be revealed later this morning. Porirua Mayor Anita Baker told Tim Dower without the reforms, councils like hers face steep rates rises. Multiple sources have told BusinessDesk that the Government is now looking to amalgamate water services into ten regional entities, rather than the four originally proposed. LISTEN ABOVE
The repercussions of dairy farm intensification could be coming home to roost. A new report from the Ministry for the Environment and Stats NZ has found 45 percent of the rivers around the country are too polluted to swim in. Otago University Public Health Researcher Marine Prickett told Tim Dower farming has had a big impact. She says the intensification of agriculture has ramped up, which has put a lot of pressure on our waterways. LISTEN ABOVE
More questions than answers, for me, on the residency carrot finally being dangled in a desperate attempt to plug gaps in the health sector. Winter's looming, we're worried about another wave of Covid and all the other seasonal sniffles and the health system is already crying out for staff. So, from now, another 32 job roles go on the green list. If you've got a qualification, you're in. Have we left it too late? It looks like it. Have all the decent people looking to move already gone somewhere else? Probably. And by opening the gates so wide now, do we expose ourselves to the risk of charlatans and fraudsters sneaking through the system? Maybe. Can the Immigration Department cope? Will these people be checked out as thoroughly as we'd normally expect? Probably not. But most of all, when you look down the list of occupations we're trying to fill I want to know why our own people don't want these jobs. Obviously we don't do enough to encourage our own people to train up for these good, well-paying jobs. Roles like midwifery, nursing, lab scientist and, of course, doctors were already on the green list - why don't New Zealanders want jobs like that? Now we've added counsellors, dental technicians, dieticians, optometrists and even hospital play therapists to the list. Why don't New Zealanders want jobs like those? Immigration Minister Michael Wood has some questions to answer.
There is hope for a smoother sailing for passengers looking to cross Cook Strait over the coming months. Interislander's Kaitaki ferry is returning to service today after being out for more than a month due to a gearbox issue. Both the Bluebridge and Interislander companies have suffered mechanical breakdowns in recent months, leading to hundreds of passenger bookings being canned. Executive General Manager, Walter Rushbrook told Tim Dower it's great the ship is back on the Strait, and it's a perfect day for sailing. LISTEN ABOVE
99 days now until the FIFA Women's World Cup here and in Australia. Around 150,000 tickets have already been sold to 29 matches and at least 20,000 people will be at the opening ceremony and first fixture at Eden Park. Jane Patterson is New Zealand's Chief Operating Officer running the show and she joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
The country's Health and Disability Commissioner is keeping a close eye on cancer treatment delays in the Southern District. A critical report by Morag McDowell has looked into concerns at Southern District Health Board, now Te Whatu Ora Southern. It reveals significant delays in delivering non-surgical cancer care between 2016 and 2022, harmed patients and breached their rights. McDowell told Tim Dower she'll ensure the recommendations are complied with and will be watching to see if there is any deterioration in waiting times. Te Whatu Ora Southern says it's fully committed to implementing the recommendations. LISTEN ABOVE
Covid restrictions still feel like a handbrake for the hospitality industry. The Government is not changing the seven day isolation requirement for cases for at least two months. It's also asked for more work on whether testing to return to work for mild or asymptomatic cases, would be safe. Hospitality New Zealand Chief Executive Julie White told Tim Dower people need to be able to get back to work as soon as they can. She says employees need to be able to rest, but at some point New Zealand should move away from the Covid settings. LISTEN ABOVE
The Immigration Minister is expecting thousands of people to arrive on our shores as a result of immigration changes in the healthcare sector. 32 new health jobs have been added to the Straight to Residency pathway on the Green List. They include dentists, paramedics, optometrists and pharmacists. Michael Wood told Tim Dower in the past year more than 4,000 healthcare workers have been approved under current settings. He says they know the need is significant, and they would expect these new settings will make New Zealand a more attractive place for people to consider. LISTEN ABOVE
A law expert says it will look bad if New Zealand is a no show at the latest NATO meeting. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins says he's yet to make a decision on whether he will attend the summit in Lithuania in July. Waikato University's Al Gillespie says the location is significant as it shares a border with Russia and feels at risk. He told Tim Dower it's important to show up, and would deepen our relationship with the military alliance. LISTEN ABOVE
A 16-day swim, bike, run and kayak relay raising money for I Am Hope starts this morning, travelling the length of the North Island. Delayed by Cyclone Gabrielle a swag of legends from our sporting past are setting off from the very top of the country this morning. Former All Black Sir Ian Jones is one of them and he joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
There’s a good piece in BusinessDesk on where we're going now with Three Waters. For clarity, I've been against Three Waters from the start. Where I live, we saw it as a straight-out asset grab. It was good facilities built up and paid for by ratepayers over decades being subsumed into a massive body, effectively subsidising Auckland, and patching over decades of incompetent management there. Now, BusinessDesk is reporting the Government looks ready to dump the four "mega" water bodies plan so many people hated. Instead of that, they're looking at having 10 of them. Not four monstrous new unelected, expensive administration systems, but 10 of them. I ask you, can these people not read the room? It's also reported the other two most contentious elements of Three Waters, Māori co-governance and taking the assets off councils’ balance sheets, these will stay. I ask you again, can these people not read the room? Now what do governments - and come to that the private sector do - when an entity or a project or scheme has got itself such a bad name you dare not mention it? You give it a new name. Think about it, Telecom? Yuck. Spark? Mmmm, okay. So Three Waters as a term will go, we'll get 10 new administrations instead of four, it'll get a new name, but otherwise nothing changes. Where they went wrong with Three Waters was, as usual, issuing orders from Wellington. On top of that, the "my way or the highway" attitude of the former Minister didn't help. Do you know what might work? A bottom-up approach. Let the councils tell Wellington what they need, not the other way around.
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Tim Dower to wrap a hectic sporting weekend. LISTEN ABOVE
King Charles' coronation is getting closer, May 6th and the Mike Hosking Breakfast will be there in the week leading up to it. It's not as lavish as some previous events with only three crowns, two carriages and a shorter route to Westminster Abbey. There is also a bespoke emoji to reflect the first coronation of the social media era. Royal correspondent Dickie Arbiter joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Truck drivers say they are sick and tired of driving on dangerous roads. Newstalk ZB can reveal Waka Kotahi fixed 54,000 potholes on the state highway network during 2022. The National Road Carriers Association says members often complain about shoddy roads with poor maintenance. Chief Executive Justin Tighe-Umbers says roading repair efforts continue to be hampered. He says recent weather has meant most of the summer for building roads has been lost. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins says the Government will be making a "carefully balanced decision" on whether to continue to scrap the mandatory seven-day isolation period for people who test for Covid. Cabinet will review Covid rules today, with an announcement expected some time this week. Ministers will be basing their decision on the latest public health advice, and the state of the health system heading into winter. The Prime Minister told Tim Dower it's a careful balancing act between the impact of people being unable to go to work, and the impact of Covid spreading. LISTEN ABOVE
A cyber security firm is warning of an increasing risk of cyber attacks targeting healthcare. A CyberCX report shows it's in the top five most targeted sectors in Australia and New Zealand by cyber extortion groups. It ranks third alongside IT and wholesale and retail services. Chief Strategy Officer Alistair MacGibbon told Tim Dower it's the sensitive and important information that's attractive to cyber thefts. He says criminal groups take the information and use it as leverage to demand money. LISTEN ABOVE
How can more staff equal less work getting done? Since 2017 nearly 800 more full-time roles have being created at the Department of Conservation. Yet thousands fewer hectares of DOC land are being treated for possums, rats, goats and deer. Christine Rose from Greenpeace joined Tim Dower to explain. LISTEN ABOVE
So here's the first realisation that we face out of the Reserve Bank's 50 basis point rise - it was 50 points. It proves, yet again, no one seems to really have a handle on what's going on. Secondly, and most worryingly, is it was 50 points. While Australia sees no need to move at all, we are still in the large end of the spectrum. The Americans moved by 25 points, but we moved by 50 because of the size of our hole. And with the cash rate at 5.25% it is surely more than fair to suggest that the top out at 5.5% is real and the banks suggesting that 5.25% was it finished, are wrong. It's also fair to suggest that something north of 5.5% is surely not out of the question, which then leads to the question - when does it end? How bad does it have to get before we see some sort of light? Australia doesn’t move and those who do move, move 25 points at the max. Those economies see inflation dropping. Do you think we see inflation dropping? Yes, we see signs that things are tightening and spending is not what it was. But through a combination of things unique to us we have taken a bad scenario and completely cocked it up. My great hope is this is finally starting to sink in for those who have dismissed it all as just the cost of Covid. We printed more per head of the population than anyone outside America, the Government spent like there was no tomorrow and we are missing our debt targets because tax take is down, despite tax rates going up. Our debt is getting ever more expensive. The Government continues to hand out more and more money, 1.4 million of us got more just last Saturday. We are in recession yet wages are still going up, we don’t have enough people arriving so, as the Reserve Bank says, the labour market is beyond capacity, the immigration settings are insane and, even if they were loosened, there is now a real question as to how many actually want to come. We are in trouble. Yes, everyone was in trouble post Covid. But as the decisions are laid bare, as the consequences present themselves, as our Reserve Bank does what it does, it is increasingly obvious that we have cocked this up and are in way worse shape than most others. We have been economically upended by incompetents and incompetence. 50 basis points is an indisputable sign of abject failure.
The drama surrounding the husband of former Scottish National Party Leader Nicola Sturgeon has been labelled a gift for the UK Labour party. Peter Murrell has been arrested as part of an investigation into the party's finances, but was released today without charge. Sturgeon says she had "no prior knowledge" of Police Scotland's action or intentions, and Murrell denies any wrongdoing. UK Correspondent Enda Brady told Mike Hosking Labour needs to pick up seats in Scotland if the party is to win power. He says Keir Starmer will be looking to see whether the SNP will implode and which seats they can pick off. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Donald Trump: 6/10 On balance, given how mad the world is these days, his legal troubles have more upside than not. And what does that say about division? Jacinda Ardern: 6/10 It's one of the stranger periods of our political story. So popular, until she was so unpopular. She had a lot of promise that shone brightly, but only briefly, and that starkness says as much about us as it does about her. Sanna Marin: 4/10 Proof that being adored by the media and being lapped up internationally doesn’t actually count if the locals don’t like you. The Warriors: 8/10 This is a different side, Shaun Johnson is renewed, if not reborn, and Andrew Webster is the man. This is our year! The Reserve Bank: 4/10 Whoops. What 25?! Take that 50 point rise and learn your lesson. It is now abundantly clear we have cocked this up. The maniacal approach to borders and mandates and rules and dictatorial behaviour has a price, and it looks to be higher than others. Paris: 7/10 They're voting to ban e-scooters. Is that the most productive thing they’ve done all year? Asa Hutchinson: 6/10 Good on him for giving it a crack. But is that the first and last time you will hear the name Asa Hutchinson between now and the end of next year? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Yesterday's 50 basis point rise of the OCR by the Reserve Bank puts us at 5.25%. It is now the 11th successive hike and is the highest level since December 2008, so questions have been raised as to how will our economy fare. Former Minister of Finance Steven Joyce joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
A 10-year action plan has been launched by NZ Rugby to transform women's rugby. The plan is to improve access to participation while removing barriers for women, while also being able to capitalize on their success - especially following the craze from the Black Ferns at the World Cup. Almost $22 million will be poured into the programme this year, with the promise to grow investment over the next decade. NZR General Manager of Community Rugby Steve Lancaster joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Yesterday, Former head of Tourism Industry Aotearoa and current managing director of tourism research agency Angus and Associates Chris Roberts joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast for a discussion around public-private partnership within the tourism industry. Tourism NZ heard the discussion and they wanted to join the conversation around what we are already doing and what the sector has in it's future plans. Tourism New Zealand chief executive Dr René de Monchy joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Tough times are expected to follow the Official Cash rate hike, which caught many by surprise. The Reserve Bank increased the OCR by 50 basis points to 5.25 percent. Kiwibank Chief Executive Steve Jurkovich says it will be a knock to business confidence and will mean people tightening their belts. But he told Mike Hosking it's balancing out previous extreme trends. Jurkovich says we've had low interest rates for a long time. LISTEN ABOVE
Federated Farmers say some farmers feel like the Government has abandoned them two months after Cyclone Gabrielle. An additional $23-million has been approved by the Government to help those affected, bringing the total to $78 million. More than half of the 6,000 applications have already been approved, with $37 million so far paid out. But Federated Farmers Acting Gisborne-Wairoa President Charlie Reynolds told Mike Hosking they need a lot more money. He says every month that goes past without mass help, equates to another year of clean up. LISTEN ABOVE
Persistent inflation has failed to be dampened down by consistent Official Cash Rate increases. The Reserve Bank has hiked it by 50 basis points to 5.25 percent, defying many economists' expectations. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher says weather events are partially to blame for inflation. But he told Mike Hosking the Government needs to acknowledge its contribution. Kelleher says there should be no argument that its spending is a risk to inflation. LISTEN ABOVE
It's valedictory day for Jacinda Ardern. Plenty of people have been asking plenty of other people what they have made of her time as Prime Minister. I think it was Geoffrey Palmer who said she would be seen as one of the greats. He is wrong. The fact her support has collapsed post her resignation is proof that we have moved on, and fast. She does have a unique place in our political history, in the sense anyone who was leading a country as Covid hit will always be remembered for that. And at the start she will be remembered well for her compassion and empathy. They are natural traits she used well. The Christchurch terror attack added to the reputation and, as a result, it went global and she will almost certainly be remembered more fondly offshore than on. Because, offshore, the fine detail of the Government's actions and abilities are never really covered. The reality is, she quit. And she quit because she had become toxic and, as a result of the toxicity, her party were going to lose this year's election. She had the good grace to walk, as opposed to being knifed or holding out and hoping for a miracle. But her desire to walk was written all over her face before Christmas. She looked over it and that comes from the fact she never wanted, or expected, the job in the first place. She was the accidental Prime Minister. You can't forget that she came a distant second in 2017 and got the big job only because Winston Peters is bitter and hated Bill English. So, the Labour years began. If it wasn’t for Covid my guess would be they would have been a one term Government. My guess is if she had stayed, their vote would have gone from 50 percent in 2020 to perhaps 25 percent or 26 percent this October. Essentially, she was an emoter. She talked a lot and had a lot of chat, a lot of meetings, a lot of thoughts and a lot of thought bubbles. The record of non-delivery speaks for itself. Her nuclear moments on child poverty and climate are embarrassing. Her Government's overall record is shambolic. We are in recession, health is crippled, crime is rampant and we have blown out our debt handing out money for nothing. Most people say they like her. I like her - I always found her affable and pleasant. But to call her one of the greats is to insult the real greats and to be overtly polite. The reality was - she was OK at best and couldn't hack it, so she walked. She didn’t finish two terms and for greatness you have to crack three. She is a living example of how theory doesn’t equate to reality.
The New Zealand-filmed Netflix series Sweet Tooth generated $66 million for our GDP. And with Kiwi's making up 95 percent of crew and 80 percent of cast it also stimulated 1180 jobs. The series, granted $9.6m from the New Zealand Screen Production Grant for New Zealand productions as part of a government screen incentives scheme and generated $7 for every $1 invested. SPDA President Irene Gardiner joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Andrew Little says Jacinda Ardern has dealt with an extraordinary amount of challenges during her political career. The man who stood aside to make way for her to lead the Labour party told Mike Hosking her time as Prime Minister would have been challenging for anyone. National MP Mark Mitchell says Ardern has devoted herself to public service. LISTEN ABOVE
Economists are expecting another hike of the OCR by the Reserve Bank today. Most are picking a 25 basis point rise taking it to 5 percent, this would be the highest since December 2008. Westpac acting chief economist Michael Gordon joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Te Whatu Ora says it is concerned about its surgery wait times. Figures show more than 6,000 patients approved for surgery have been waiting more than a year for their operation, up from 2,487 the previous year. The agency has republished its performance data after admitting some of its earlier reporting was incorrect. Chief Executive Margie Apa told Mike Hosking they're working on bringing the timeframe down. “One of the big answers is we can help our aged and residential care and home and community based providers so that people can be discharged early with the support they need to be able to look after themselves at home.” LISTEN ABOVE
Former President Donald Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 charges of falsifying business records. Trump surrendered to authorities Tuesday at a Manhattan courthouse ahead of his arraignment on criminal charges stemming from a hush money payment to a porn actor during his 2016 campaign. A stone-faced Trump entered the courtroom this morning without saying anything. Trump, who was impeached twice by the US House but was never convicted in the US Senate, has become the first former president to face criminal charges. Washington Post Columnist Phillip Bump joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
No light at the end of the tunnel for low vaccination rates from an illness that puts infants at risk of death. Three babies under one year of age have died from whooping cough since February. Te Whatu Ora says it's important pregnant women in their second trimester are vaccinated against the disease to pass a level of immunity on to their baby. Auckland University vaccinologist Helen Petousis Harris told Mike Hosking the health system is under pressure. She says the health system has been eroding for years and there are some physical obstacles preventing people from being vaccinated. LISTEN ABOVE
Could a public-private partnership be the key to survival of tourism? Tourism experts are calling the sector to break away from the high-volume model of tourism seen in 2019 - and instead focus on a new public-private partnership model that reflects a inter-sector collaborative approach of the future of tourism. Former head of Tourism Industry Aotearoa and current managing director of tourism research agency Angus and Associates Chris Roberts joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Finland is set to join NATO on Tuesday, days after Turkey ratified the Nordic country's membership and set it on track to become the 31st member of the world's biggest military alliance. All NATO members must vote unanimously to admit a new country into the alliance. "This is an historic week," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels Monday, on the eve of a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers. The move, he said, will make "Finland safer and our alliance stronger." The addition of Finland, which shares a 1,340 kilometre (832 mile) border with Russia, will more than double the size of NATO's border with Russia. Only a few technical steps procedures remain before Finland can join NATO's ranks: ACCEPTANCE LETTERS Turkey will on Tuesday hand its acceptance letter for Finland's accession to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken at NATO headquarters in Brussels. The United States is the depositary, or safekeeper, of NATO under the alliance's 1949 founding treaty. SIGNATURES Stoltenberg will then invite Finland to present Blinken with its own acceptance document, signed by Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. Finnish President Sauli Niinistö authorized Haavisto to sign the document. FULL MEMBERSHIP Once Finland's membership acceptance document is handed over, the country will officially become a NATO member. A flag raising ceremony will be held at 1330 GMT (1530 CET) in Brussels on Tuesday. FINLAND-SWEDEN Finland and neighbouring Sweden jointly applied for NATO membership in May 2022. The countries, which have close cultural, economic and political ties, planned to enter the alliance simultaneously. Sweden's bid, however, has stalled due to opposition from Turkey, whose president has said his country won't ratify membership before its disputes with Stockholm are resolved. The Turkish government has accused Sweden of being too soft on groups that it deems to be terror organizations. Hungary's parliament also has yet to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO, and it remains unclear when it will do so. Stoltenberg said Monday that he hopes Sweden will join in coming months, before U.S. President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts meet in Lithuania in July. - AP
Sanna Marin - I said it at the time when she arrived in the country for a visit. I said it as the debate here raged, as to a woman's right to be herself. I'm talking, of course, about the argument that you could be a leader and still go dancing all night and the fact that she had gone out to a party that turned up on Instagram was fine because she didn’t have any meetings that weekend. Marin was the Goddess of Finland, the soul sister of our own dancing queen Jacinda Ardern, a couple of the planets most progressive, young and female rockstars. What right did we have to question her social life? My argument was being a leader of a country is 24/7, even if there wasn’t a war on and even if you didn’t share hundreds of kilometres of border with Russia. You might just want to be seen to be taking your job seriously and, as I pointed out at the time, not having meetings is not a sign of anything other than you may, or may not, have meetings. It is not a measure of leadership. Well, she's got all the time in the world now to dance her nights and life away. She lost. To be fair to her, she didn’t lose by much. But they have a system that throws up a couple of major players who, like us, link with smaller players and form Governments. But the country has moved to the right and her style of spendthrift policy is over, just as their debt has gotten uncomfortably high. Not unlike ours. Which is why we will be moving to the right in October. The only real difference between them and us is she hung around to test her credibility. Our version bailed knowing full well her time was up. But here's the point - the reason this is news is not because Finland had an election, as countries have elections all the time. The reason this one has been reported so widely is in the headlines, all of which essentially say the same thing - "Finland's Partying PM Concedes Defeat". And in that headline, and the many others, is how the world saw her, sees her and will remember her. When the social life makes the headlines over the substance, the fact she didn’t get it says it all.
It's been a few years since we last caught up with Graham Norton for a chat and a wine. The UK celebrity is best known for his talk show, into it's 30th season now, as well as his many books. But it's his relationship with wine and Invivo that is gaining him more and more headlines in New Zealand. 15 million bottles of wine have been produced worldwide and this year marks the ten year anniversary of partnering with Invivo and launching their number one offerings. Graham Norton joined Mike Hosking out of New York. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister says legitimate concerns have been raised about lobbyists' access to MPs. Private-sector and union reps are losing swipe-card access to Parliament, with the Cabinet Manual also being refreshed. Support is being offered to third-party lobbyists to establish a voluntary code of conduct. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking the perception our democracy is robust and operates without influence, is incredibly important. “I supported changes around lobbying or proposed changes to lobbying back in 2012 – at the end of the day it was vetoed by the then-Government.” LISTEN ABOVE
A belief the Government's moves to ensure transparency within the lobbying sector is perfunctory. The Prime Minister is giving support to third-party lobbyists to establish a voluntary code of conduct. Private-sector and union reps are losing swipe-card access to Parliament. The Cabinet Manual will be updated, to clarify expectations for Ministers' conduct when choosing future employment. Lobbyist Holly Bennett told Mike Hosking it's not particularly difficult to get access to a Minister. “And that goes to the heart of why we need to have a look at this and actually make sure this industry is working for our democracy.” LISTEN ABOVE
Since the news of Fonterra recording a 50 percent increase in record profits, it has now cut its season forecast milk payment to farmers. The forecasted payments have lowered to a range of $8.00 to $8.60 per kg of milk solids, reducing the midpoint of the range by 20 cents from $8.50 to $8.30 per kg. They are putting the blame on global demand from China weakening. Dairy NZ chief executive Tim Mackle joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There's more waiting after a Christchurch murder trial resulted in a hung jury. They failed to reach a verdict yesterday on whether or not David Benbow murdered his childhood friend Michael McGrath in 2017. His body has never been found. The jury deliberated for 23 hours over four days. Massey University law expert Chris Gallavin told Mike Hosking it's always interesting when there's a hung jury. He says it means at least some of the jury room believed he did it. LISTEN ABOVE
Stuart Nash could be a ticking time bomb. The former Cabinet Minister has announced he's quitting politics at the election, and will remain as Napier's MP until then. Nash was dumped from Cabinet last week after it was revealed he leaked private information to donors and criticised legal decisions. Newstalk ZB Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper told Mike Hosking Chris Hipkins is taking a risk investigating Nash, because more could come out. Hipkins has the Cabinet secretary looking back at Nash's correspondence since 2017. LISTEN ABOVE
Between February and October 2022 there were a total of 4906 retail burglaries, and 49% of those arrested were under the age of 18. Of those offenders, 51% of them did not face court action. Youth Development Worker Aaron Hendry says that this reflects a healthy, functioning system, that these youths are getting the support and services they need. He says that the reoffenders are those who don’t have support available to them, which is a failing within the system. LISTEN ABOVE
Despite the current tensions between Russia and Ukraine, Russia has assumed the Presidency of the UN Security Council. The role rotates between each of the fifteen members, each holding the position for a month at a time. The last time Russia held the position was in February of 2022, and they proceeded to launch a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. International Relations Professor at Otago University, Robert Patman, says this highlights the need for reforms within the UN. LISTEN ABOVE
Come on doubters, what part of this aren't you loving? Just which side in the NRL looks better, brighter, and more improved than the increasingly wonderful Warriors? Coach Andrew Webster said last week that this weekend would sort some clubs out, you would be getting a good read as to exactly where you were in the pecking order. The Cronulla Sharks are a solid side and they showed it in the first 20 minutes. And that, once again, will be the bit people like Webster will be a bit worried about. Slow starts have hurt us two weeks in a row. At 20-0 down after 19 minutes, in another year with another team one of a couple of things would have happened. We would have made what looked like some sort of valiant comeback but never quite caught up - or we would have given up and been canned. This year's side not only comes back but gets a penalty under pressure and converts. That's another trait we see so much improvement on this year - execution under pressure. And that bloke Shaun Johnson - is he a study in how to turn your career around, or what? If he was good last week, if he has been impressive all season, he was Dally M worthy last night. It's like he's just taken the game up and can't believe how much fun it is. Have a look at the table and see where we are. If you can't be bothered let me tell you. We're second. If we play like this, not only will we be in the top eight, we will be in the top four and we will be playing the serious stuff at home. Speaking of home, we have only been there once so far this season. I was talking to a mate of mine in Sydney over the weekend. He said the Australians still don't take the Warriors seriously and for last night, they had them at long-ish money. Not that we care what they think. But surely last night gave the doubters pause for thought. Peter "The Mad Butcher" Leitch texted me last week. I told him Webster is the man, he replied and said the same thing. In Webster I believe. And you can never second guess The Mad Butcher. So four wins and one loss, second on the table. Join now or look like a loser. This is our year.
Research claims that an increase to the living wage won't push up the cost of living. From September first, it will jump to $26 an hour, $3.30 above minimum wage. It's an almost 10-percent rise since last year. Living Wage Movement's Gina Lockyer told Mike Hosking their research shows that businesses make cost savings elsewhere, so they don't pass on the costs to consumers. LISTEN ABOVE
National's concerned about the number of people being bailed despite police opposition. Last year it sat at slightly over 5000, much higher than the just over 2000 recorded in 2018. The party's Police spokesperson Mark Mitchell claims the Government promising to reduce prison numbers and repealing three strikes has given judges the signal to grant bail more. He told Mike Hosking that the bail increase comes alongside other concerning statistics. Mitchell says there are increases in violent crime, victimisation, and ramraids. LISTEN ABOVE
Donald Trump is preparing for his arrest this week due to his indictment over a payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. The former US president will fly to New York tomorrow where he'll be finger printed and have a mug shot taken. US correspondent Richard Arnold says Trump's set to fly back to his Mar-a-Lago home for a campaign speech the very next day. He says that the arrest's done nothing to dampen his popularity amongst diehards. Arnold says Trump's support's surged, leaving Republican rival Ron DeSantis in the dust. LISTEN ABOVE
Hawke's Bay businesses are concerned that the Government's 50-million-dollar cyclone recovery fund's starting to run dry. The local Chamber of Commerce has received 1600 applications, but only 500 have been approved so far. Esk Valley's D'vine Restaurant is still closed. Owner Greg Miller told Mike Hosking that he hasn't heard back after applying for support through the fund. He says it's totally devastating and he needs the money for his staff, who he's been paying out-of-pocket for the past seven weeks. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Posie Parker: 6/10 She was actually the most dignified of the lot, out of a Saturday of utter chaos. Marama Davidson: 1/10 As a regular citizen you'd dismiss her as a nutter. As a Minister of the Crown it's beyond shameful. Stuart Nash: 3/10 He walks with a touch of sympathy from most of us. It was more hapless than crooked but, man, how many times do you need to be told? Andrew Webster: 9/10 Almost faultless as the new Warriors coach. We're top four and have win, after win, after win. And to all the fly-by-nighters already looking for finals tickets - this is our year. Luke Combs: 8/10 Dropped his album this week. If you haven't discovered him, make it a weekend task. Succession: 9/10 Honestly, it's TV at it's finest and literally everyone is saying so. This is the final season ever and could be peak TV. April 1st: 4/10 Well over a million of us get more money this weekend from the Government in what increasingly looks like straight up and down bribery. Canterbury: 8/10 Come on in you old success story you. All the data this week showing the region is either leading the way or optimistic and upbeat. New South Wales: 7/10 The election was a reminder that polls are irrelevant. Remember that next time you see one here. AI: 6/10 It's only a worry if you like to worry about things. I think the stuff around robots should have taught us that. And are there still jobs for humans? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The NZ Initiative are urging for the Severe Weather Emergency Recovery Legislation bill to be amended with an immediate post-implementation review of the legislation. In the consultation process the Government and administration committee left less than 24 hours for submitters to respond to the bill, therefore providing no opportunity for deliberation. NZ Initiative executive director Oliver Hartwich joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
I reached peak despair this week with the profile of the person who tossed the soup, or paint, or juice or whatever it was at Posie Parker. The Posie Parker debate was bad enough. We have big stuff going on right now that deserves a great deal more attention. But it’s a human trait to become preoccupied with high drama so we had the high-drama scrap about Posie and who ended up making a bigger dick of themselves. But we weren't satisfied with that. We then decided to make a celebrity of the offender, the juice thrower. Stuff, as in the website, did a profile on them. They also seemed to go to the trouble of a photo shoot. They sought her out, they interviewed her and they asked her for her thoughts. She played up to it all as so many of those sorts of people do. And by "those sorts of people", before you reach for your Twitter account to cancel me, I mean the attention seeker. The sort of halfwit that hasn’t got the intelligence to make a sensible point, but the sort of person who resorts to a form of violence to get their message across. In my world, there isn't a lot of difference between a physical punch or some soup or sauce. Yes, one hurts more than the other but the intent is the same. The only attention this person should have got is from the Police - and thank the good Lord that arrived yesterday and a court date is set - although I do note the bravado as espoused by the attention seeker has long since vanished and been replaced with a plea of fear as she scarpers from the country. But as regards the media stepping in with the spotlight - why? Are we honestly that devoid of anything to talk about, that anything will do and attention seeking thuggery is now headline worthy? I'm sad to report this radio station unfortunately fell for it. We interviewed her and that was a mistake. These things are often argued in newsrooms. The argument is that everyone deserves a say and you can get them on so you can have a scrap with them. I've never subscribed to it. It's too cheap and too easy and, as I say, more often than not it plays right into the attention seeker's modus operandi. In discourse, whether civil or not, groups like the media have an increasingly important role to play and that role does not involve a platform for literally anyone. I am a big believer in free speech - but not free speech for the sake of it and not for incitement or idiocy. The aim is to uplift the quality, not drag it through the mud. Money, time and energy went into giving the person attention and they revelled in it, as they so often do. A lot of people showed their true colours this past week. Next to no one covered themselves in any sort of glory. And those in the media who thought it made sense make that list.
According to a study in Japan of more than 66,000 children up to the age of 3, 22 percent of kids exposed to dogs were significantly less likely to have egg, milk and nut allergies. While kids with cats were less likely to have egg, wheat and soybean allergies. But for kids with hamsters they had significantly greater incidence of nut allergies. Allergy NZ CEO Mark Dixon joined Mike Hosking to discuss the study. LISTEN ABOVE
More scrutiny of disgraced former Cabinet Minister Stuart Nash. The damning email between Nash and one of his donors, which led to the Cabinet Minister's sacking, wasn't released under the Official Information Act as requested. Officials declined to release the email, on the basis Nash wrote it as a local Napier MP and not as a Cabinet Minister. National Deputy Leader Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the idea he wasn't acting in his ministerial capacity is "laughable". “Here’s the thing, the email was about what happened at cabinet and last time I checked, local MPs don’t get to go to cabinet.” LISTEN ABOVE
The cost of living crisis has hit many New Zealanders hard, but some help is on the way. From the beginning of April, increases to the pension, benefit, student allowance and childcare subsidies will benefit 1.4 million Kiwis. At the same time, the minimum wage will also increase by $1.50 to $22.70 per hour. Hospitality NZ CEO Julie White joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss how the increase will impact on businesses. LISTEN ABOVE
Researchers are shining a light on the lack of exercise young New Zealanders are getting. A Victoria University study has found less than 40 percent of Kiwis aged between 18 and 24 are meeting the World Health Organisation's recommendations for physical activity. Exercise New Zealand Chief Executive, Richard Beddie told Mike Hosking New Zealand has a problem with encouraging people to do physical activity. He says the research is pretty shocking given young adults have far more access to time. LISTEN ABOVE
A construction boss says the second Auckland Harbour crossing must be cost effective and a long-term solution. The Government has brought forward construction of a second Waitematā Harbour crossing to 2029. Its offered five options of bridges or tunnels all include cycling, roads, walking and light rail. Naylor Love Chief Executive Rick Herd told Mike Hosking he's delighted to see some action, but there's no doubt it's a political announcement and that the Prime Minister wanted good news to share. The Government is seeking feedback and will confirm the preferred option in June. LISTEN ABOVE
Here's a question for you - having brought himself down, could Stuart Nash bring the whole Government down? The revelations that his work via email with donors disclosing cabinet decisions was known by the previous Prime Minister's office is, without question, a scandal. Chris Hipkins, who must be by now regretting ever agreeing to step into the job in place of the hapless Jacinda Ardern in that gerrymandered deal late last year, claims that although the information on Nash was known by the Prime Minister's office, because of an official information process, somehow the Prime Minister or those close to her were never told. Really? A cabinet minister breaking rules, rules that Chris Hipkins very clearly stated was a reason and a reason all on its own for a sacking, was known by the office of Jacinda Ardern and no one who knew thought that telling someone else in that office was a good idea? Why would they not do that? Are they thick? Are they thick beyond words? Or are they so Machiavellian that they owned it all by themselves and thought if they said nothing and the Prime Minister remained untouched and unscathed, they could save her? Why would knowing something about Stuart Nash be of such importance to the people who knew about it that they would think that saving him was worthwhile? Is it plausible to ask that in fact the then Prime Minister did know, or her chief of staff did know, and they did nothing? Knowing what we know about Ardern and her policy around discipline, is it plausible to ask whether they could tuck the info away? Maybe tell Stuart he's an idiot and then hope that no one ever found out? What we know for a fact is that Nash's activities with donors via email; 1) Breached cabinet rules, 2) Was known by the office of the Prime Minister and, 3) Cost him his job, because the breach all by itself is a sackable offence. If it was sackable this week, why wasn’t it sackable then? You'll note the theme of this. There seem many questions but very few answers. Dare I raise the issue of the most honest, open and transparent Government at this stage? Or is the hole so deep they’ve dug for themselves that it's become such a farce that it's not even worth the reminder?
The Formula 1 season is already underway but we have another series with a Kiwi driver in it beginning next week. The Japanese Super Formula Championships gets underway and will feature Red Bull's reserve driver Liam Lawson. He was in F2 last year before Red Bull put him in Super Formula with Mugen Motorsports, with Austrian motorsport legend Helmut Marko saying it's the closest to F1 you can get. So just before he heads off, Liam Lawson joined Mike Hosking out of the UK. LISTEN ABOVE
Police officers confronting armed offenders and other dangerous situations will hopefully be better resourced and trained to de-escalate and prevent loss of life following the nationwide launch of a new police tactics model worth about $200 million. The model, prompted by the shooting of Constable Matthew Hunt during a vehicle stop in Auckland in 2020, enhances the tactical capability of officers through training, with a strong focus on tactical communication that can calm an offender and reduce the likelihood of incidents escalating toward violence. Police have been testing the model since November 2021 in the Northland, Counties Manukau, Waikato, and Central police districts and it will now be rolled out nationwide, adding almost 250 police staff to facilitate the shift. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster welcomed the model, saying it would better equip his officers for the “increasingly volatile” environment police were currently facing. “We’ve seen a greater willingness to use firearms against police, we’ve seen a greater range of incidents where firearms have been used by police and that is something we need our people to be equipped for.”
The death of Constable Matthew Hunt was the incident that prompted the new model. Photo / Supplied Coster fronted a demonstration of the new model, which was witnessed by Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Police Minister Ginny Andersen. In the past, tactical priorities centred around how to use items like handcuffs and Tasers, while the new model emphasised the importance of negotiation skills. The demonstration, conducted in Trentham, north of Wellington, involved two officers armed with Tasers negotiating with an ‘offender’ who had hit his partner and was threatening self-harm while refusing to exit his locked home. As per the model, the officers largely spoke in a non-threatening fashion and one used the fact he too was a father to build a rapport with the offender until he surrendered. Coster said the new model represented a “real stepchange” to police training. “It’s much needed and I’m delighted that we’ve got it and I think it does position us now to cope with an environment that’s increasingly volatile.”
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster (left) and Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (second left) chat with officers. Photo / Mark Mitchell Officers would be given four additional days of training on top of the 3.5 days they currently received. When attending vehicle stops, which Coster described as “one of the riskiest things we do”, officers would be encouraged to call in more support and dog handlers would be further resourced by a tactical operator that was a member of the Armed Offenders Squad. Andersen said in a statement the model had been developed in consultation with Māori, Pacific and ethnic community leaders. “It’s critical to give front-line Police a higher level of protection without changing New Zealand’s community policing approach – which we strongly believe is effective and appropriate for our country,” she said. “Policing the public will see under the new model will be the same as what they see now, but those causing the most harm in our communities will feel the difference because Police will have an increasingly comprehensive suite of tools to work with.” - Adam Pearse, NZ Herald
The Government is about to unveil five new options for a second Waitemata Harbour crossing. The Government has announced it's bringing forward construction of the crossing, likely a tunnel, to the 2020s. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins will also talk about how the ways they would link up with Auckland Light Rail. Auckland Business Chamber Chief Executive Simon Bridges told Mike Hosking they want to see more than a scenario launch. He says now is the time for action, not another talk fest. LISTEN ABOVE
A law expert says there's no indication Stuart Nash's mistakes amount to political corruption. Communications from Nash are going under the microscope, with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins ordering a formal review. It follows the discovery that he discussed a confidential Cabinet decision with two former political donors in 2020. Nash has been stripped off all Ministerial portfolios, but intends to stay on as Napier's MP. Otago University's Marcelo Rodriguez-Ferrere told Mike Hosking the standard for corrupt use of official information under the Crimes Act is very high. LISTEN ABOVE
Plans are in the works to cut back on the use of paper in the justice system. NZ Herald's Open Justice reports the Te Au Reka project will be progressively introduced this year, to create a fully digital document and case management system. It includes prisoners having devices in their cells to contact their lawyers and people being able to use online portals to interact with the justice system. Corrections Association President, Floyd du Plessis told Mike Hosking there's a lot of paper used in the sector. He says with every prisoner there are sometimes six or seven files of paper that need to be manually carried with them when they move around the country. LISTEN ABOVE
The pandemic may have played a part in what seems to be soaring labour productivity in New Zealand. Stats NZ data shows in the year ended March 2022, productivity rose 2.2 percent, the fastest rate in over a decade. This comes in a tight labour market with unemployment sitting at 3.4 percent. Iron Duke Partners Managing Director Phil O'Reilly told Mike Hosking the rise may be a flow-on effect of Covid - as the Auckland and Delta lockdown took place in March 2021. He says he would like to see the productivity gain held onto next year, but doubts that will happen. LISTEN ABOVE
There's a small sense of satisfaction for me as the second quarterly monitoring report from the Commerce Commission came out on the petrol industry. Do you remember the Commerce Commission and the petrol industry? We were being fleeced by them, so a market study was conducted and, for better or worse, nothing really came out of it. There was a little bit of loosening when it came to access at wholesale level and some signs to be put out advertising their high octane prices. But the famous claim from then-minister Kris Faafoi that we would save over 30 cents a litre was shown to be bollocks. It's sort of ironic if you think about it. Faafoi and his claim have now left the building and he's off doing consulting work. The Prime Minister who told us how fleeced we were getting is long gone as well, presumably about to resign next month with news of her new ventures elsewhere. They come, they go, they make their claims and then they're forgotten. Anyway, the second report. Hold the front pages - the Commission has worked out that if you shop around you can save money. What a revelation. In Auckland, prices on Unleaded 91 vary 22 cents, it's 29 cents for premium 95 and 98 and 31 cents for diesel. I seem to remember that’s what I said before the study ever started. There is no scandal, there is no fleecing, price, by and large, is dependent on where you are, what day, what brand, what type and how far you are prepared to drive. And that’s before you get to the apps telling you where the bargains are anyway. In other words, anyone with a brain already had it worked out and what the Government were calling for was never going to come to pass. By the way, one of the great upsets before the study was places like Wellington seemed to pay more on average than anyone else. This latest report tells us that Wellington pays more on average than anyone. So that hasn’t changed, has it? The report concludes that if you shop around you can save up to $348 a year. That, as they helpfully point out, all adds up. Sort of like the money required to conduct market studies that lead nowhere. We've had reports on petrol, building supplies and supermarkets. Are you seeing the change? Are you noticing the savings? Are you monitoring the upheaval post the Commission reports? Or is it business as usual? Sometimes the so called scam or fleecing is really only a politician looking for a bit of noise and a cheap headline.
Claims dismissing Stuart Nash was black and white. The Napier MP emailed donors about private cabinet information around a 2020 rent relief package. He's been stripped of his ministerial roles in Forestry, Economic Development and Oceans and Fisheries. Nash had already received two strikes for past transgressions, which led him to resign as Police Minister. Labour Party Cabinet Minister Megan Woods told Mike Hosking this isn't a cumulative decision. She says this incident on its own is enough to warrant a dismissal. LISTEN ABOVE
In 2022, Kiwis spent almost 20 million hours waiting for customer services. With 19.7 million people contacting customer services, that equates to an average of just under 8 hours per person, with many saying that in itself is something to complain about. ServiceNow NZ Country Manager Kate Tulp joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Since 2019, New Zealand's litter problem has only gotten worse. The 2022 National Litter Audit found a 72 percent increase in plastic since 2019. While construction waste, when totalled nationally, was the largest contributor to litter weight overall. However, there was a drop in the number of cigarette butts found. Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand appears to be edging closer to a recession, with some regions faster than others. BusinessNZ's latest Planning Forecast suggests the country's on track for a mild recession, with interest rates rising and retail sales falling. It says employers are still finding it difficult to fill roles due to the tight labour market. Chief Executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking while not all regions are being equally affected, the national trend is clear. He says regions like Canterbury are bucking the trend. LISTEN ABOVE
A view Stuart Nash has gained nothing from leaking government information. It's emerged the Napier MP emailed donors about private Cabinet information around a 2020 rent relief package. Nash had already received two strikes for past transgressions, which led him to resign as Police Minister. Peter Dunne, who's served in cabinets in both Labour and National governments, told Mike Hosking there's no suggestion the leak gained him any advantage. He says Nash has ruined his career because he likes to brag and skite.
A much-needed adjustment has come to a key piece of legislation for disrupting gang activity. The Government has tweaked the Criminal Proceeds Act, which means a gang associate now has to prove their assets were acquired legitimately, or face them being frozen. It's estimated to return an additional $25 million annually, which will help fund programmes that target organised crime. Justice Minister Kiri Allan told Mike Hosking the new amendments will improve the ability of Police to do their job. She says it also shows the Act has been successful so far because gangs have had to adapt their business models. LISTEN ABOVE
Public servants jumping roles may have melted the Government's pay freeze. The policy that was introduced for high-paid public servants during the Covid-19 pandemic has now ended. During the freeze, workers on high salaries could only receive pay rises under "exceptional circumstances". New Zealand Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton told Mike Hosking people have been moving to different ministries to get a pay increase. He says that leads to a denigration of expertise within any ministry. LISTEN ABOVE
It's hard to know where to start with Marama Davidson. It all came crashing down, as it was always going to, but with a number of strands as to how it played out. Firstly, what she said was unforgivable. It is everything the Green Party should not be. It is everything that keeps them stuck at five or six percent in the polls as it has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with mad social engineering. Secondly, Chris Luxon was played the clip yesterday. First, he wasn’t aware of the clip and what was said and, second, when he was played it he had no real response. There is a reason that there is a sense he is not quite on top of what he should be on top of. And one of the reasons is David Seymour, who was on top of it. He sent out the usual array of press releases, complete with facts, to show what a flake Marama is, her lack of engagement in the portfolio that, in the protest, she was so exercised about and yet the rest of the time you have never heard a peep. Then we get to the bit where Labour is attached to her. What part of her madness does Hipkins want to be associated with? Just what role do the Greens have in this Government? What use are they and how badly does their nuttiness reflect on the major party? Going forward, given all the polls, just how much more of this does Labour want if they be in a position to stitch together some sort of coalition post October 14th? Then you get to poor old James Shaw who, once again, has got to be wondering why the hell he hangs out with these nutters. So, all in all, not the best day at the office for the Greens. It's a reminder that Marama is really just a loud mouth activist, if not extremist, who is more into damage than she is effectiveness. So, we've got a Government that associates with the fringe and, seemingly, willingly so. An Opposition leader that doesn’t appear to read the room in a way a smaller opposition party leader does. And a day or two worth of drama and headlines that, yet again, steers our attention away from what really matters. The fact we are going backwards, our kids aren't at school, those who are aren't learning, crime is a crisis, the health care system on its knees, you can’t get labour - and here comes a recession. New Zealand 2023 - how about us?
Are you ready to have your mind blown? Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist who has been described as the "single best explainer of abstruse concepts in the world". The co-founder of the World Science Festival, his books have sold more than two million copies and spent 65 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He's coming to the country very soon as part of an Australasia tour and Brian Greene joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Over the next year or so around 60 percent of households will need to refinance their mortgages at higher rates. With 50 percent of the value of existing fixed rate loans due to be repriced, with another 10 percent on floating interest terms. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Students are calling for more education around the impact of student debt. Student loan living costs have increased by more than $100 a week over the past six years. On Saturday, April 1, that amount will rise by just over $20 to $302 a week. For students borrowing the maximum amount, that's more than $15,000 dollars a year. New Zealand Union of Students' Associations President Ellen Dixon says student debt isn't talked about enough. She says going from school to suddenly being pushed into independence is a big adjustment, so there needs to be more conversations around financial budgeting. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister says Marama Davidson's comments at the Auckland counter-protest for Posie Parker are regrettable. The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence said most violence is caused by white cis men, cis meaning the gender a person's born with. She's now clarified, removing white and cis, saying when she spoke, she was in shock after being hit by a motorbike. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking he accepts her clarification. "I think she gets a little bit of leeway for the fact that she'd just been hit by a motorbike, clearly I think the adrenaline was probably pumping at that point and you probably detected that in the tone of her comments, but they were wrong." LISTEN ABOVE
Three domestic terror attacks prevented by New Zealand's spy agencies have shown the complex scale of threats the country is facing. GCSB boss Andrew Hampton has revealed how its capabilities were used in three counter-terrorism operations They included a person making bomb threats last year and increasingly concerning behaviour online from a white extremist. Disinformation Project Director Kate Hannah told Mike Hosking it's difficult to tell if someone behaving in an anti-social way online will become a genuine threat. She says in the last two years they've seen an increase in people's preparedness to turn up and protest and this indicates if a person is more likely to take it to the next step. LISTEN ABOVE
France is preparing for further political unrest President Macron is not backing down following huge protests against a controversial pension law pushed through parliament without a vote last week. It will lift the retirement age from 62 to 64. Paris correspondent Catherine Field says the Minister of the Interior has just briefed the public on what to expect for upcoming demonstrations. She says there will be 15,000 Police on patrol across the country, with rallies expected in 50 cities. LISTEN ABOVE
David Seymour says if he were Prime Minister he would have sacked Marama Davidson after comments at the Auckland counter-protest to Posie Parker. The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence said most violence is caused by white cis men, cis meaning the gender a person's born with. She's now clarified, removing white and cis, saying when she spoke, she was in shock after being hit by a motorbike. The Act Leader told Mike Hosking Davidson's role has delivered nothing. But someone who works in the sector, Women's Refuge Chief Executive Ang Jury told Kate Hawkesby this morning that Davidson is passionate about trying to shift things in the sector, and is doing a good job. LISTEN ABOVE
Dare I suggest that of all the wins we have seen this season, and there have been no shortage of them, that yesterday at Mt Smart, the first home game of the season, was the best of the lot. Here's a fun stat: when the Warriors won three out of four in the early 2000's and then in 2018 we went to the final. It's way too early to say that this time. Or is it? But you would have to be a miserable old sod not to be encouraged and uplifted by what we have seen so far this season. By the way, in a note on sport in Auckland, as the Warriors played the Bulldogs and the Blues were playing the Force, the crowd size could not have been starker. The Warriors had thousands of spectators and the Blues had a handful. I know the Force aren't the Crusaders. But it is more than fair to suggest that the Warriors against anyone get a good crowd, while rugby has real issues of engagement. Anyway, back to the Warriors. We were behind for most of the game but even in saying that, we were there or thereabouts. If you haven't followed the season closely, at all stages we have looked markedly better than we have in years. The recruiting and Coach Webster's influence has made a material difference and what a joy it is to watch. I mentioned Shaun Johnson last week and I mention him again because he is the player of old. He is clearly the bloke who thrives in the right environment because what he did yesterday, and so far this season, is what we once saw on a regular basis before it all went a bit pear-shaped. Another positive - some of the mistakes we made earlier in the season, the simple stuff like dropping the ball, seemed to have been fixed. We were solid, reliable, consistent, good in defence and good when we had the ball. Ultimately, when you look at things like momentum we, at all times, looked like the side that was more likely to make some sort of breakthrough. Check the table because we are right up there. So far this season we are the real deal and there is very little to not be thrilled about. How about we call it? This is our year.
My working theory for this year's election was re-enforced Saturday night in New South Wales. My working theory for the October election here is that the damage for Labour is done. Chris Hipkins can burn as much policy as he wants and the media can write about him being more popular than the predecessor over and over. The key is, the damage is done and the rot has set in. You have a recession, you have crime touching each and every one of us, you have the myriad of problems we have discussed and debated over and over again. Essentially, the Government has been found out to be useless and time has killed them. Time kills all Governments eventually. It just depends how good you are as to how much time you get. In New South Wales on Saturday night Chris Minns won by a mile and yet, for the past few weeks, the polls had told us it was neck and neck. There was a general sense that the coalition was out of time, that they most likely would not win. But most pundits, based on polling, were predicting a close Labour win as a minority Government, with the help of the Greens or Teals or Independents needed. It didn’t come to pass and the polls were wrong, which goes to my theory, like here, the decision was made. Polls are irrelevant - what you might say is not what you might do. People subconsciously decide what's right and what isn't, what's working and what isn't. Gladys Berejiklian was run out of office on a trumped-up charge of some crooked behaviour, a verdict, by the way, that still hasn’t been returned. The replacement was OK, but he wasn’t Gladys. The state is beset with all sorts of mess including endless public transport issues and essentially people decided, and decided a long time ago, when they next got a chance to send a message, they would. And they did. On Saturday night Labour piled across the line with room to spare. The close race wasn’t close, the polls weren't right. The same thing, my gut says, has and is happening here. Read the polls if you want, fall for the headlines if you like. But here's my bet - come Saturday night October 14, the same story will unfold here. We have already decided and the poll on the night won't be anywhere near like the polls you see at the moment.
A free week away - but with a catch More than 50 people are being fed, watered, and housed in the small west coast community of Okarito this week, as part of this year’s GorseBusters working bee. Those who attend will get to work in helping remove rubbish and invasive weeds from the town's coastal wetlands. Organiser and local business owner Barry Hughes says that while the environment has greatly improved three years on, the communal and social value has become just as important. He says it's a social event with musicians, talks, quizzes, and even a marriage in 2022 for a couple who met there the previous year. LISTEN ABOVE
The US town of Rolling Fork has been utterly devastated by a deadly tornado. At least 26 people have died in Alabama and Mississippi, dozens are injured, and thousands of homes have been destroyed after the storms surged through the states. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that there were trailers flipped over, mangled cars, and buildings torn open with residents inside. LISTEN ABOVE
Nearly 15-million-dollars has been paid out in the three months since the Government hiked the dental grant. In December the annual amount jumped from 300 dollars to one-thousand. The number of people accessing the fund has doubled to nearly 20-thousand. Dental Association spokesperson Rob Beaglehole says that the high uptake highlights a huge amount of pain, suffering, and untapped need. LISTEN ABOVE
National says that the Posie Parker rally wasn't a good look for New Zealand. Thousands protested Parker's planned speaking tour over the weekend. Scuffles broke out at Saturday's Auckland rally in Albert Park, and Parker called it off after having tomato juice poured over her. Green MP Marama Davidson —who was in the crowd— was hit by a motorcycle and required medical attention. National Leader Chris Luxon told Mike Hosking that they believe in the right to protest, but also in the right to free speech. He says that from coverage he's seen, the vast majority of people were peaceful but throwing liquid on someone is intimidating behaviour. LISTEN ABOVE
Five weeks on from cyclone Gabrielle, a report from Auckland University researchers calls for a national risk assessment authority. Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures suggests that the recent weather events show that Kiwis' disaster risk understanding is inadequate. Co-author Sir Peter Gluckman says the independent authority would produce a register that openly tells the public what risks to prepare for. He told Mike Hosking that politicians have historically undermined risks presented by experts, which hinders our ability to prepare. He says governments have the right to deny things; they just need to explain why. In recent times politicians haven't been explaining when they choose to override expert opinion. LISTEN ABOVE
US lawmakers have grilled the CEO of TikTok over data security and harmful content, responding sceptically during a tense committee hearing to his assurances that the hugely popular video-sharing app prioritises user safety and should not be banned. Shou Zi Chew’s rare public appearance came at a crucial time for the company, which has 150 million American users but is under increasing pressure from US officials. TikTok and its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, have been swept up in a wider geopolitical battle between Beijing and Washington over trade and technology. In a bipartisan effort to reign in the power of a major social media platform, Republican and Democratic lawmakers pressed Chew on a host of topics, ranging from TikTok’s content moderation practices, how the company plans to secure American data from Beijing, and its spying on journalists. “Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to our national and personal security,” Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican, said in her opening statement. Chew, a 40-year-old Singapore native, told the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that TikTok prioritises the safety of its young users and denied it’s a national security risk. He reiterated the company’s plan to protect US user data by storing it on servers maintained and owned by the software giant Oracle. “Let me state this unequivocally: ByteDance is not an agent of China or any other country,” Chew said. TikTok has been dogged by claims that its Chinese ownership means user data could end up in the hands of the Chinese government or that it could be used to promote narratives favourable to the country’s Communist leaders.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testifies during a hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Photo / AP In 2019, the Guardian reported that TikTok was instructing its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square and images unfavourable to the Chinese government. The platform says it has since changed its moderation practices. ByteDance admitted in December that it fired four employees last summer who accessed data on two journalists and people connected to them while attempting to uncover the source of a leaked report about the company. For its part, TikTok has been trying to distance itself from its Chinese origins, saying 60 per cent of ByteDance is owned by global institutional investors such as Carlyle Group. “Ownership is not at the core of addressing these concerns,” Chew said. China has also said it would oppose any US attempts to force ByteDance to sell the app. In one of the most dramatic moments, Republican Representative Kat Cammack played a TikTok video that showed a shooting gun with a caption that included the House committee holding the hearing, with the exact date before it was formally announced. “You expect us to believe that you are capable of maintaining the data security, privacy and security of 150 million Americans where you can’t even protect the people in this room,” Cammack said. TikTok spokesperson Ben Rathe said the company removed the violent video aimed at the committee and banned the account that posted it. Chew also noted the failure of US social media companies to address the very concerns for which TikTok was being criticised. “American social companies don’t have a good track record with data privacy and user security,” he said. “Look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, just one example.” As the Energy and Commerce committee questioned Chew, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken was questioned about the threat TikTok poses at a separate committee hearing. Asked by Representative Ken Buck, a Republican of Colorado, if the platform is a security threat to the United States, Blinken said: “I believe it is.” “Shouldn’t a threat to United States security be banned?” Buck responded. “It should be ended one way or another. But there are different ways of doing that,” Blinken responded...
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Scott Robertson: 8/10 A shambles of a process but the best bloke got the job he deserved. Stuart Nash: 3/10 Not so much a repeat offender, more of a serial offender and unbelievably he is still in cabinet. But then that’s not on him. Chris Hipkins: 4/10 No, it's on him. Ardern was famous for doing nothing around discipline and I am astonished Hipkins wants to match her. Electric charging hubs: 7/10 And in this brain fart lies the trouble. Michael Wood spews forth a thought bubble, it has no cost or timeframe so therefore it isn't happening. Yet it's reported as news. Auckland Airport: 7/10 At least their idea has, 1) a cost, 2) a timeframe and, 3) a picture, so you can see what it's going to look like. The Warriors: 8/10 This lot look like the real deal. Andrew Webster might well be the magic. Hold on - could this be our year? New Zealand: 7/10 We're the 10th happiest place in the world, which either makes the world fairly miserable or us in a coma of disorientation. Posie Parker: 7/10 She got more publicity than she ever could have dreamed of. Pies: 2/10 Goodman Fielder are laying people off in Palmerston and Oamaru because they're exiting pies. When you don’t make pies in New Zealand you may as well turn the lights out. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
If everyone in this country watched Christopher Luxon yesterday outline where our education system is at, he would not have the issues he currently does around whether he is getting traction in polls. He talked about how the system got where it is, how it is measured and how the world sees us. Ultimately, it is why it will all come right later this year when the campaign properly starts and some decent attention is put on his performance. There is no question that the media are biased towards Labour. There is no question that any opposition, at the best of times, has trouble getting attention. But a campaign and its coverage rules, to some extent, fixes that. In the meantime you are required to sit, as I did, watching a live feed of a policy release and next to no one is doing that. And by the time the media get to it and hack it to pieces so we can have it delivered in our proffered bite sized chunks, virtually all of the substance and impact of what was said is lost. The tragedy is this - a lot of what he said wasn’t spin and it wasn’t political. It was just fact, stats, numbers, results of studies and research done by various experts, in various countries over a good number of years. In really simple terms this country and our education system is shocking. And we know it's shocking because it didn’t used to be that way. We have, and continue to, go backwards. Now, that shouldn’t be news to anyone, but when you book mark it the way he did it's an eye opener The teachers, largely, are not to blame. It is the way we teach, the work load they are expected to undertake, the lack of confidence they have in the first place and the expectation of a Government or ministry that has completely skewed what is important. Essentially what National are advocating in their policy is nothing exceptional. It's simply going back to what we once did, which is basic competency in basic subjects. When you have the basics you have confidence. When you have confidence you feel you can do more. There is no magic. Just, sadly, an appalling hijacking of a system by wonks in Wellington that for some reason have been allowed to run rampant. What we have by way of an education outcome for so many kids is inexcusable and indefensible. If you watched Luxon prosecute that yesterday you'd see a bloke who gets it and, more importantly, wants to do something about it. As more New Zealanders see more of that they will see why the election is nowhere near as close as the polls might suggest.
Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week that was - with much of the chat around houseplants and Kate's ability to keep them alive. LISTEN ABOVE
Amazon Group's Web Services have signed a deal with the Government to supposedly advance our digital transformation. This includes the public service's uptake of cloud services. The agreement formalises an earlier pledge from AWS to give computer cloud training to 100,000 people. Chief executive of NZTech Graeme Muller joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
For a while there house plants were the coolest home accessory to have - and the craze could be on it's way back. The Environmental Protection Authority has just approved 12 new house plants from rainforests across Central and South America, Southeast Asia and China. Three of the approved species are not currently known to be in New Zealand, so houseplant lovers have been told to get ready. NZ Gardener editor Jo McCarroll joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Local Government New Zealand says Auckland Council got its money's worth from belonging to the national lobby group for councils. Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has cast the deciding vote to remove the council from the organisation. He says the council doesn't get much from belonging to the organisation, which he says costs the council $640,000 dollars a year. But Local Government New Zealand President Stuart Crosby told Mike Hosking the membership fee is much lower, and the benefits are much greater than Brown claims. LISTEN ABOVE
The devil will be in the detail of how National's plan to overhaul the curriculum would be enacted. The party's policy includes requiring schools to do at least an hour a day of reading, writing and maths and standardised tests twice a year from years three to eight. Education Hub Founder Nina Hood told Mike Hosking while we need to make sure young people are literate and numerate, she's concerned about unintentional outcomes. She says an emphasis on those three areas could run the risk of narrowing the curriculum, and we need to make sure we have breadth. LISTEN ABOVE
Claims lifting children out of poverty should be an absolute priority. Stats NZ data shows one in 10 children are living in material hardship in the year to June, no better than the previous year. Children's Commissioner Judge Frances Eivers told Mike Hosking the situation is dire. She says almost three-and-a-half children are living in emergency housing right now. Eivers would like to see people work with communities and meet their specified needs in order to tackle the issue. LISTEN ABOVE
It doesn't get much bigger for an artist than a global tour. Kiwi pop star Mitch James has announced his, which culminates in a 13 date New Zealand tour as well. He released his new album patience last year and will be touring with new music. Mitch James joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast in studio and performed a version of his song japan. LISTEN ABOVE
"Based on their previous expression of opinion or ideas." That’s the key line from the immigration folks as they announced they are not stopping ol' Posie Parker from lobbing up and having a word about transgender issues. Section 16 of the Immigration Act is a high bar. High enough that a few "controversial" views and a lot of hand ringing control freaks here can't scupper someone getting into the country. Thank the good Lord. "You can't stop a person arriving here based on their previous expression of opinion or ideas." That's not just the key line, but a critically important one. Just to be clear, I know not of this woman any more than most of the rest of you will. I watched a bit of footage of the Melbourne rally and have read a bit. I note with interest, in Victoria one of the MP's who spoke at the rally is on the verge of getting booted out of her party. But they now have what looks like an increasing amount of support from her fellow MP's over the fact that turning up and speaking is not actually a crime, and within the bounds of law around inciting violence you are, in fact, allowed to say what you think. Where this has all gotten tricky is some of the people who follow these matters, and people who promote these matters, at least in some small part look to be fringe and/or troublemakers. They are dealing with such events in the U.S right now around the activities of January 6th. We have seen it here on the grounds of Parliament. The part you don’t want to squash, the free expression of thought, is not the problem. The problem is the extrapolation of those thoughts, twisted to an absurd degree and turned into, an often, violent outworking. But banning people, as those who wanted Parker banned, because of what “might" happen isn't good enough, or anywhere near good enough. We can't cancel people because of fear and we can't ban because of what hasn’t happened, but could. Once you are down that slope it's nothing but trouble. Michael Wood, the Immigration minister who, thank God, doesn’t have power over the specific laws in this case, doesn’t want Parker here. He's entitled to his opinion because that’s part of free speech. But people who would ban people because of their distaste are in fact more dangerous than the people they are trying to ban. And what makes them dangerous is the fact they don’t get that.
Living costs are expected to grow for everyone, but some may feel the pain more than others. Stats NZ will release its latest annual statistics on household incomes, housing costs and child poverty rates today. ASB Bank predicts high consumer prices and interest rates will push up household budgets about $150 per week this year. But senior economist Mark Smith says some families will fare far worse. LISTEN ABOVE
Zane Robertson's absence has not made Athletics New Zealand's heart grow fonder now he has been caught doping. The 33-year-old has copped a four-year ban for using EPO - plus an additional four years for providing false documents in his defence. He has been based in Kenya or Ethiopia since leaving New Zealand at the age of 17. Chief executive Pete Pfitzinger has told the Mike Hosking Breakfast distance has proven a problem both for scrutiny and communication. "We certainly have less day to day contact then we do with the athletes based in New Zealand, also then athletes who have New Zealand coaches. We have athletes in Kenya, yes probably that little bit more arms length." LISTEN ABOVE
National has revealed it will overhaul what's taught in primary and intermediate school, to prepare students for high school. The party is releasing its election-year education policy at 12pm. It's promising to "rewrite the school curriculum" if it wins the election, with a focus on basic skills in reading, writing, maths and science. Education Spokesperson Erica Stanford has revealed to Mike Hosking National will rewrite the Year 1 to 8 curriculum, rather than the high school curriculum. She wants to make sure that kids who enter high school are at curriculum, so they can unlock all of the opportunities of high school. LISTEN ABOVE
From RNZ The housing market has gone quiet, triggering the biggest sales slump in nearly 40 years. CoreLogic NZ’s new Housing Chart Pack indicated 60,859 properties were sold in the year to February, which was the lowest 12-month total since October 1983. There were about 4100 sales in February, which was the lowest number for that month since 1981, with 16 per cent more listings than the same time last year. CoreLogic NZ chief property economist Kelvin Davidson said the figures reflected recent interest rate hikes and tighter lending rules.
Kelvin Davidson. Photo / Peter Meecham, OneRoof, File “Few vendors are in a hurry to sell, given that unemployment remains low. And those buyers who have secured finance know that they can take their time too, with listings abundant and prices falling.” First time buyers pull back “This is a recipe for low levels of sales,” Davidson said, adding there were indications that first-home buyers were beginning to retreat from the market. “There may now just be signs of their interest rate limits being reached. Of course, it may also be that they’ve actively pulled back while they wait for prices to fall further. Either way, their share of purchases edged lower in February so it’s definitely something to watch.” First-home buyers accounted for 24 per cent of the market, with relocating owner-occupiers accounting for 27 per cent. Interestingly, about 15 per cent of last month’s purchases were made by cash buyers with multiple properties, which was a record share for this type of buyer. Prices still falling Property values fell 1 per cent in February on the month earlier, 1.5 per cent in the past three months, and 8.9 per cent over the year before. Davidson said the forecast recession suggested house prices could find a floor late in the year. “If mortgage rates start to edge lower, net migration continues to rise, and investors start to see value again, the case would be building for this house price downturn to find a floor in 2023,” he said. “A key part of that will be the labour market. If employment can stay high with unemployment only rising because of a larger labour force, this should insulate property values to some degree. But outright job losses would be a fresh headwind for the housing market.” Wellington continued to be the weakest of the main centres, with values down nearly 20 per cent from the peak, while Christchurch was down just 4.7 per cent since its peak. Rents were also down an annual 0.8 per cent in Auckland to $583 a week, while Wellington was down 3.7 per cent to $595 a week.
Claims the Immigration Minister had more of a say in a controversial decision than he's letting on. Anti-transgender speaker Posie Parker is being allowed in the country, and isn't deemed a threat. Michael Wood says he would prefer if she never set foot in New Zealand, and called her views repugnant. He says her case does not meet the threshold for ministerial intervention, but Malcolm Pacific Immigration Director David Cooper disagrees. He told Mike Hosking Michael Wood could've made that call. He says the Minister intervenes all the time and he's throwing immigration officials under the bus. LISTEN ABOVE
Security's being ramped up in major US cities - ahead of Donald Trump's potential arrest. The former US President expects to be arrested today, over his hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. Trump's used social media to call for protests ahead of his arrest, leading to fears of similar scenes to the Capitol Hill riot. But US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking there's a bit more hesitancy this time. He says the turnout of pro-Trump protestors outside the criminal court building in New York were outnumbered by journalists. LISTEN ABOVE
Claims the process to appoint Ginny Andersen as Police Minister makes a mockery of the crime situation. Andersen is into her second day of the job after replacing Stuart Nash. She says more frontline officers is one way to keep New Zealand safe. National's Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking the Prime Minister has appointed a junior minister, at a time when crime stats are up. He says there's a 35 percent increase in retail crime, 45 percent rise in victimisations and a more than 50 percent bump in gang numbers. LISTEN ABOVE
The problem with Michael Wood is his arrogance - and his arrogance prevents him from seeing the simple truth. None of his goals around getting us out of cars is going to get us out of cars. He talks of giving us choices but fails to understand that if you are not going to use those choices, they are not really choices. Or even if you would use those choices, but they don’t exist, then that’s not really a choice either. There is a war on cars and the war, as we found out yesterday, has a series of really dumb names. The Urban Vehicle Kilometres Travelled Reduction Programme. Are you serious? That’s the name of a plan. There are other plans. But all the plans, according to those who follow plans, are the same. The Auckland plan, the climate action plan, the transport emissions reduction polluting plan, regional land transport plan, the regional public transport plan - so many plans, so little time. But more importantly, so little success. Michael Wood says if we go absolutely gangbusters we can get 30 percent of cars as EV's by 2035. It won't happen. He ignores all the issues around EV's, but that’s because he is blind around transport and emissions from transport. The other major issue they seem to have failed to work out is they mix their national plans with their local Auckland plans. For the national emissions number to drop by 20 percent they need Auckland to drop by 29 percent. That isn't happening. They are trying though. They're killing us on the road, they're cutting lanes and parking, they're forcing us out of our cars and yet, because of a mix of necessity and sheer incompetence on their part, we aren't leaving them. We aren't leaving them because the trains and buses don’t work. And if they did, they don’t work the way they need to, which is to make our lives work. And we aren't getting out of cars because we actually like cars. They are useful, they are convenient and they suit us. And that last critical detail is what ol' Michael “number 47 to Mt Roskill” Wood doesn’t get. He isn't like us. He is a wonk. He loves plans, he loves theories and he isn't part of the real world. That’s why we are still in our cars - and he doesn’t get it.
Optimism the new Local Government Minister has a firm grasp of the issues surrounding the controversial Three Waters policy. Kieran McAnulty sat down with the mayors opposing the reform yesterday in Wellington. Central Hawke's Bay Mayor Alex Walker told Mike Hosking McAnulty is open-minded and pragmatic, but there are still questions over what his next steps will be. But she thinks that's because the minister is taking the task issued by the Prime Minister to come up with a fresh approach on the reform very seriously. LISTEN ABOVE
There's hope the Government will take note of a report warning a move from natural gas too early could be costly. A report by major energy and gas players says changing too quickly could cost households and businesses $7 billion. Chief executive of Energy Resources Aotearoa John Carnegie told Mike Hosking the independent report is about informing debate on the role of gas in a low carbon future. He says it will facilitate a more mature conversation on the issue. LISTEN ABOVE
The new Police Minister says there are complex factors at play when it comes to youth offending. The latest Ministry of Justice data shows 32 percent of charges laid against young people last year resulted in a sentence. Ginny Andersen says Police are doing a good job with repeat offenders, but it depends on the individual case. She told Mike Hosking she won't be drawn on what a good number is. Andersen says she wouldn't want to see young people unnecessarily locked up. She they need to be given the right support to make sure we're keeping the community safe, but also giving them the opportunity to get back on track. LISTEN ABOVE
A denial from New Zealand Rugby that Scott Robertson's appointment as All Blacks coach has come three years too late. Robertson lost out to Ian Foster for the role after the 2019 World Cup, and since then the team's lost nine and drawn two of its 34 matches. In those three years, Robertson led the Crusaders to another trio of Super Rugby titles, and will now take the reins of the national team from next year. NZ Rugby boss Mark Robinson's been asked whether it was a mistake not appointing Robertson back then. He says that has been much discussed by other people, but they are happy with their decision and the process. Mark Robinson declined to tell the Mike Hosking Breakfast which candidates, if any, applied for the job and said Scott Robertson had not been available to media as he has a big game this weekend in his current job as Crusaders coach. LISTEN ABOVE
A welfare commenter claims the government shouldn't be taking credit for declining Jobseeker levels. Data from Social Development, comparing June 2020 to June 2022, shows almost 25,000 fewer people are relying on Jobseeker. But researcher Lindsay Mitchell says benefit levels spiked during the pandemic, and the numbers reflect a move away from COVID restrictions. She told Mike Hosking other benefit numbers aren't declining. Mitchell says there's growth in the sole parent support benefit, which she claims is a problem as it drives intergenerational dependency. LISTEN ABOVE
You'll likely know the name – and you'll definitely know the voice and the iconic songs. The Grammy and Oscar-nominated rock band Counting Crows are back in New Zealand for the first time since 2015 as part of their Butter Miracle Tour - named after their latest album. It all started in 1991 and has turned into seven studio albums, 20 million in record sales and being named one of the world's most pre-eminent live touring rock bands. Their frontman is Adam Duritz who joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Wayne Brown has read the room right on this one. He now has Vector on board. They claim the road cone chaos costs them $30 million a year and, on top of that, their maintenance and restoration work is delayed and that affects everyone who wants to turn a light on. The support will grow. These are the very issues that make-or-break political careers. Too much of today's debate is about worthy and, ultimately, pointless exercises - far reaching never-never sort of discussions that, in theory, are interesting or important or transformational but will, in reality, go nowhere. The current Government bailing on the clunker car scheme is your classic example. When it was launched it was saving the planet and the importance could not be more profound. By the time it was dumped last week it was too complicated to put in place and really wouldn't have made much of a difference anyway. Political discourse, locally and nationally, is filled with this sort of time-wasting nonsense. In the meantime, on the ground, in the real world, all we want to do is get to work or to the mall or to school for the pick-up. It is hard to truly explain what a mess Auckland is because of traffic management. It is an onerous, rage inducing mess that must cost the city hundreds of millions in lost productivity. It is a classic example of an idea wildly out of control and the clever politician sees it and seizes on it. What makes Wayne Brown electable is this basic sort of, dare I suggest, good old-fashioned representation. While most councillors argue over their lunches or e-bikes or cycle lanes or public transport, Wayne sees cones. And we see cones. We see a sea of cones and we hate them. Not because you don’t need cones but because the power has gone to their heads. Because the obsession around traffic has gotten out of control. Because Auckland has been ground to a halt because of them. When you need a metre, they take ten. The closures, the detours, the hold ups, the aggro, the honking, the delays and the accidents. And then there's the cost - the cost of the cones and the cost of not doing business. This is street level politics, literally and figuratively. The luvvies in the media that hate Brown will hate this, because he's onto it. Second terms and popular support are built on this sort of bricks and mortar stuff. Make people's lives easier and you get their vote. It's never been hard. It's just that most of them can't see it.
Concerns among Credit Suisse shareholders in the wake of its purchase by main rival UBS. The $3.2-billion purchase has been driven by regulators, but normally shareholders would have a say in whether a takeover happens. Credit Suisse's largest shareholder, Saudi National Bank, has lost more than US$1 billion from the purchase. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking it raises an important question of what might happen in similar situations. He says shareholders may start to think of cutting and running earlier and wonders if this will accelerate or exacerbate other issues. LISTEN ABOVE
The world's first pay it forward Shopify app has just hit the market. The app connects with a business’ Shopify sites and at the point of checkout customers can make a donation that goes to the chosen charities. The app had been in the works since 2020 by the company GoGenerosity but has been launched three months earlier to help provide some relief to those impacted by the cyclones. So far more than $1800 worth of donations have been raised. GoGenerosity CEO Rohan McCloskey joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A nervous day for European share markets ahead of the first day of trading since the purchase of Credit Suisse. Markets started the day sharply lower, but have recovered slightly, with the London Stock Exchange closing on around 0.9 percent. In Switzerland, Credit Suisse's new owner UBS also closed on 1.5 percent higher. Europe correspondent Catherine Field told Mike Hosking the central banks are adamant it's not a repeat of 2008. She says the banks are saying it might look bad, and it's not good that UBS has had to take over Credit Suisse, but they're not in a recession. LISTEN ABOVE
Fresh questions for the Prime Minister over how much access lobbyists have to the halls of power. Official documents released to RNZ show Government departments are paying lobbyists hundreds of thousands of dollars for communications advice. Documents also show Chris Hipkins' Chief of Staff, Andrew Kirton, was previously working for liquor firms to lobby ministers to water down the now scrapped container return scheme. Hipkins told Mike Hosking anyone can seek a meeting with ministers, but admits some people, like Kirton, may have had an "in", because they know ministers personally. LISTEN ABOVE
Council advocates are warning public transport and cycleways can't come at the expense of New Zealand's roading network. Newstalk ZB has obtained exclusive Infometrics analysis revealing the share of transport funding going towards roads hit a decade-low of 70 percent in 2021. It comes as the distance travelled on roads jumped from 43 billion kilometres in 2017, to 49 billion four years later. Local Government New Zealand president Stuart Crosby, who commissioned the analysis, says we can't let assets get to breaking point. He says there are challenges with our roads, including wild weather and post-Covid capacity - but we shouldn't let critical routes deteriorate. LISTEN ABOVE
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has to hold the balance between trade and politics with her Chinese counterpart today. It'll be the country's first diplomatic visit to Beijing in more than three years. The visit comes at the same time Chinese President Xi Jinping is in Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin. New Zealand China Council Executive Director, Alistair Crozier, told Mike Hosking the issue of Ukraine will come up, but the visit is economically important. He says a visit by the minister to pursue foreign policy objectives is part of the trade relationship between New Zealand and China. LISTEN ABOVE
Ginny Andersen has already been in touch with the police union. The new Police Minister replaces Stuart Nash in the role, having only been sworn in as a Cabinet minister earlier this year. Andersen is a low ranking member of Cabinet, but has 10 years of experience working with Police. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking he's dealt with a lot of Police Ministers and the ones who are good, are the ones interested in listening. He says those ones want to hear if there are things they can change, but some, both National and Labour, aren't interested. Cahill says he's already spoken to Andersen. LISTEN ABOVE
The old, hi-vis honeymoon of Hawke’s Bay and disaster politics for the Prime Minister is long gone, isn't it? There he was, flailing away on Friday lining up the decision on Stuart Nash for the weekend, looking to draw a line under it so by Monday —as in today— we've all moved on. Sorry Chris, we haven't. Among the many weaknesses of the previous Prime Minister was her inability to instil any real discipline in her people. You could essentially rob a bank and she would find an excuse for you. In fact, ironically the original sin of Nash on this show in 2020 was under her watch. She knew the Solicitor-General was looking at prosecuting and she knew the Attorney General did the telling off. How come she didn't do anything at the time? Because she was incapable of discipline. Hipkins is, sadly, cut from the same cloth. As much as I like Stuart, and as much as I think most of us get the fact he did what he did out of frustration, he broke the rules - and broke them at least twice. You either have rules or you don’t. And in not sacking him Hipkins becomes as big a villain as Nash. Hipkins is soft and/or so short of proper talent he can't afford to lose anyone. The most extraordinary part of the Hipkins explanation came when he stated that Nash claims he couldn’t recall the Attorney General admonishing him for the original crime. That says either Stuart has brain fade, or David Parker's admonishments are so nondescript you might have thought you were having a beer and a game of darts. If it's brain fade then Hipkins' explanation that Stuart has assured him that there is nothing else hiding in the closet is meaningless, given who knows what he remembers or doesn’t. Anyway, the upshot is Stuart lives to operate another day and Chris Hipkins looks like a bloke who puts up with a lot, doesn’t have any talent back up and ends up looking like his predecessor. In the grand scheme of things this doesn’t shift votes. But it does build a case that has already got several worrying pieces to it. When it comes to leadership and being a saviour for the Government in election year, old 'Chippy from the Hutt' ain’t quite the rock star so many in the media fell over themselves trying to make him out to be.
The latest SEEK Employment Report for February shows job ads rose 1 percent month-on-month, and are 15 percent higher compared to February 2019. Job ads decreased in Hawke's Bay, Manawatu, and Southland, remained steady in Auckland, Wellington and Waikato, and increased in all other regions. Country manager Rob Clark says candidate activity fell for the first time in a year, with applications per job ad dropping 7 percent in January. He says the good news is that a bit of the heat has come out of the market since the vacancy peaks of last year. Clark says there are still plenty of opportunities open for candidates and businesses are increasingly seeing application levels rise. LISTEN ABOVE
Donald Trump may become the first former US President to be indicted. In a post to his own media platform, Truth Social, Trump claimed he'll be arrested later this week in relation to a hush-money investigation involving payments to two women of around 450-thousand New Zealand dollars. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that this would be historic. Arnold says if he's charged with authorising the payment on the eve of the 2016 election, he'll be the first former President to face criminal charges. LISTEN ABOVE
So, once again, in a Matt Hancock-type revelation we learn that during the Covid years the Government considered handing us all $5,000. $5,000 for everyone. It's like Oprah: "you get a car, you get a car, you get $5000". They considered cutting GST for a couple of weeks, like a GST sale. As we sit here in what almost certainly is a recession, given last week’s -0.6% number, what they were trying to do was stave off a recession. Whoops. They thought the way to stave off a recession was to close the borders, and in doing so, strangle the economy but flood it with cash. Cash they never had anyway. Another part of the plan was to do it Prezzy card style. The only thing that stopped them was they couldn't get the plastic in from China quick enough. Think about that. New Zealand, the eco-warriors in the middle of our nuclear moment, changing the world for the better through well thought-out climate policy, wanted to import tonnes of good old Chinese plastic to toss money we didn’t have at a country closed down. Is that comedy or tragedy? Or maybe a bit of both. The more we learn, the more Matt Hancock-ish it is. All this came about because despite what the Reserve Bank was doing, printing money to the tune of $100 billion and handing it to banks to throw at us anyway they wanted, the fear was that wouldn’t be enough. Once again, given the state of the economy we sit in this morning, can you imagine how much worse it would be today if these idiots had actually gone ahead with it? What was needed, and this is perhaps the most important lesson out of Covid and general crisis management, was experience and expertise and, above all, great leadership. And they didn’t have it. We have amateurs from unions and university and people who had barely any experience of Government. Sure, Jacinda was good with hugs and stuffed animals, but that was window dressing - literally. The intellectual muscle was never there. No, in the end it didn’t happen. But it clearly was a live option. The danger of buffoons running the place cannot be overstated. We were a bad idea away from catastrophe - and the other bad ideas landed us in the current mess. I suppose the ironic good news is it could have been worse. But what a gobsmackingly horrifying thought that is.
The Greens say they'll put climate change at the top of their priority list at the negotiating table. In their annual State of the Planet speech, the party's given its predictions for the political landscape after Election Day on October 14. It says major parties will need a coalition partner, but in order for the Greens to agree, they want a commitment to climate action. Co-Leader James Shaw told Mike Hosking that they're better off in government than sitting on the cross-bench. He says they won't get any more wins by walking away and giving up the fight, and says that when you're a minister, you can actually put policy into place. LISTEN ABOVE
The Early Childhood Council says the legal action against the Government over its Pay Parity policy is about taking a stand. Pay Parity aims to close the gap between teachers in education and care centres and those in kindergartens, but the council says it's making older, often female, teachers with more experience unaffordable, forcing providers to put up parent fees. The council claims it breaches the right to freedom from discrimination for those teachers. CEO Simon Laube told Mike Hosking that the ministry has an advisory group that it's been working with for about a year. But he says the claims they've been raising seem to have been ignored. LISTEN ABOVE
Uncertainty in Switzerland as the country's second largest bank hopes to secure its future. UBS —the country's largest— is offering to pay around 1.8-billion-New Zealand-dollars for full or partial control of Credit Suisse. Regulators have been racing to save the 167-year-old bank, hoping to secure a deal before the markets reopen tonight at 6pm NZ time. Devon Funds Management's Greg Smith told Mike Hosking that there are many scenarios that could play out. He says with a full or partial nationalisation of the bank as a backstop on the cards, there's a bit of a balancing act going on to secure a deal. LISTEN ABOVE
Wayne Brown is confident he can get Auckland Transport to change its approach to traffic management. The Auckland Mayor has been calling on council organisation Auckland Transport to reduce its 145-million dollar spend on road cones and traffic management to help fill the council's ballooning fiscal hole. He's describing the spending as unjustifiable, excessive, and unnecessary. Brown says that he's now spoken to Auckland Transport —and utility companies Chorus, Vector and Watercare— and they seem to be getting the message. He says he's had a couple of hissy fits, but he's now being listened to. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Gary Lineker: 7/10 For reminding us that speaking your mind isn't a crime and having an opinion doesn’t mean you can't talk about football. Stuart Nash: 6/10 A big price to pay for being honest. Of course he broke the rules and, no, you can't do what he did, but why did he do it? Frustration of course. Morgan Wallen: 8/10 He opened his world tour here and sold the place out. He's got five of ten top spots on the billboard charts this week. He's living the dream. Shane van Gisbergen: 4/10 Because as good as you may be, you've got to behave like a champion, not just drive like one. The RMA replacement law: 3/10 Watch this, it's Three Waters all over again in terms of co-governance. They are not learning their lesson, they're sneaky as. Ram raid stats: 3/10 Too many mistakes against a back drop of deep suspicion anyway. We all know what we see and feel on crime. The Breakers: 7/10 They fell at the final hurdle but flew the flag brilliantly all year. Australia: 8/10 Say what you want about nuclear submarines, but they are in the big league now. They are serious regional players and we should be grateful they have a vision we can tag along with. CRL: 2/10 It's too late to stop it but how high do you think the bill is? How late do you think the delivery is? And where the hell do you think the money is coming from? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Stuart Nash's future in Cabinet remains far from certain. Newstalk ZB has revealed that Nash was given a warning for breaching the Cabinet manual in 2020 over a Newstalk ZB interview in which he advocated for police officer Matthew Hunt's killer to be imprisoned for a long time. Nash has already lost his job as Police Minister, after boasting on Newstalk ZB this week that he'd asked the Police Commissioner two years ago to appeal a decision by the courts. Electoral law expert Graeme Edgeler says that Chris Hipkins has a clear case for removing his minister. LISTEN ABOVE
Tiktok could be soon be having its final dance in the US after accusations that it’s a risk to national security. The Biden administration has demanded the popular Chinese-owned video sharing app be sold or risk being banned. Over a third of Americans have downloaded the app, totalling more than one hundred million people. US Correspondent Richard Arnold says that Tiktok is disappointed. He says Tiktok has been working to increase the security of users data, and it's unclear how a sale could happen as it would require a green light from Chinese officials. LISTEN ABOVE
The international spotlight is on Lyttelton as competitors prepare for SailGP this weekend. Tickets have sold out for the New Zealand leg of the highly anticipated series, with thousands expected to descend on the port town. US skipper Jimmy Spithill told Mike Hosking that thanks to international TV audiences the competition has exceeded targets so far. He says that so far the streaming of the races on CBS in the United States has surpassed multiple major sporting events - including Formula 1. The Australian adds that it's a sign of the event's broader appeal, and an important milestone for the growing sport. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government says it's obvious the economy has started slowing. GDP declined 0.6 percent for the four months to December, following three months of positive growth for the September quarter. We are still waiting on data for the current quarter however if that too is negative, then it's a technical recession. Finance Minister Grant Robertson says that recent weather events haven't helped. He says economists have told him how hard it's been to predict anything since Covid so they have to wait and see, but there has clearly been some softening. LISTEN ABOVE
More money is likely to go down the drain as the Government ploughs ahead with the next stage of Otago's Lake Onslow project. It's confirmed it will develop a detailed business case for the hydro storage set-up, despite the estimated cost of the project leaping to 16-billion dollars - a huge jump from the initial four-billion. Manawa Energy Chairman Paul Ridley Smith says that there are so many smarter ways to decarbonise. He says about 20 geothermal power plants could be built for 16-billion dollars and completely solve the problem. LISTEN ABOVE
There are concerns about the moves the Reserve Bank might have to make to deal with economic pressures later in the year. GDP declined by 0.6 percent in the three months to December, following a two percent rise in the September quarter. The country will be in a technical recession should we see another quarter of negative growth. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking that he's worried about the second half of this year. He's concerned the Reserve Bank will have to change direction later in the year. LISTEN ABOVE
So, Tuesday afternoon I get a text about someone wanting coming on the show I get a lot of texts about coming on the show but this one was from Stuart Nash. He wonders why I haven't called to talk to him about his stats on arrests of gang members. It's a good news story, he says. I think that’s fair enough, we give the Government a good session of accountability each day. No one holds them to account more than us. To his credit, Nash is a regular listener and despite the fact he personally takes a fair bit of heat on this programme, he's never run for the hills like some did. I want to talk to him about the retail crime stats. That's how these things work - he wants on, I see an opportunity to get a few answers about other matters, we set it up. That, sadly, will be the last time he appears here as Minister of Police and if he could have his time again, would he text me wanting on the program? Part of his downfall is his desire to show he is doing the right thing. And that is the sad part about yesterday. His heart and intention are in the right place. The original reason we got him on this show years ago on a Wednesday was because we saw him as a centrist. In a party of crazed ideologues, he was comparatively normal. And on matters like police there is no doubt he is passionate about it and fully understood the trouble his Government is in with crime. All he could ever end up saying though was that we put 1400 more cops on the beat. Would he personally have liked to have done more and been tougher? No doubt. But in a Government like this with your Kelvin Davis' and Andrew Little's, you're hamstrung. So, by default he turns up here and wants to talk tough. He wants to be seen as, at least, defending his corner. I ask him about charges not leading to judicial consequences and whether the judiciary is the issue. I ask that for very deliberate, and fairly obvious, reasons. Often I can guess the answer but I hope for something a bit illuminating. Yesterday we got it. That, for all the consequences that came out of it, is the real world. Nash was being honest - of course he calls Andrew Coster. Wouldn't you? Aren't you frustrated at judges that are soft? Police oppose bail to no effect, sometimes they don’t oppose bail, and criminals walk and thumb their noses. Yes, to do what he did is, of course, against the rules. And yes, he should have engaged his brain before he spouted off here. But you saw the real frustration of a minister not getting what he needs to get in an election year where crime is out of control. Say what you want about Stuart, but of all the people they could have lost yesterday he was far from the worst of them.
There is a feeling around the country that our monetary policy is a mess. And a new report by the NZ Initiative is putting all the blame on the Government. The report highlights the Government’s role in distracting the RBNZ from maintaining price stability, with money remaining too loose for too long as a result of wrong inflation forecasts from banks. Along with the Governments prioritisations of achieving low employment over the risk of inflation breaking out. Senior fellow at the NZ Initiative and author of the report Dr Bryce Wilkinson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A Kiwi company is using exoskeleton technology to help businesses keep workers safer from workplace injuries. The wearable exosuit has built in sensors that support muscles by tracking body movements. AI technology then provides real-time data which highlights health risks due to impact of repeated movements or posture, while even flagging dehydration. The robotic technology has been proven to reduce downtime due to injury by 25 percent, injury-causing bends by 75 percent, and sprains and strains by 30 percent. Exxovantage founder and global CEO Aarnaud Daurat joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Paris Hilton has spoken of the empowerment she's feeling in telling her truth, detailing her experiences of childhood abuse. She's just released her auto-biography Paris: The Memoir. The 42-year-old addresses the alleged abuse she endured at boarding school, being raped at 15, having an abortion in her twenties and her infamous sex tape scandal. Hilton told Mike Hosking since sharing her experiences of alleged abuse at Provo Canyon School in Utah, tens of thousands of others have spoken out too. She'll go back to Washington D.C next month to push for federal legislation to introduce her new Bill regulating troubled teenage centres in the U.S. LISTEN ABOVE
The New Zealand economy is shrinking, the only question is by how much. GDP figures due out this morning are expected to show the economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year. Speaking to the Mike Hosking Breakfast ANZ Senior Economist Miles Workman is predicting a 0.3 percent contraction. LISTEN ABOVE
High inflation is hitting the back pockets of farmers. The Beef and Lamb New Zealand 2022 to 2023 Mid-Season Update says that farm profit is predicted to decrease by 31 percent from the update before it. Beef and Lamb Chief Executive Sam McIvor told Mike Hosking they're facing a lot of cost increases in things like fertiliser, which has been pushed up by the Ukraine War. LISTEN ABOVE
Thousands of teachers are striking today, demanding better pay and working conditions. One teacher says the pay increase offered, is a kick in the guts. Teacher Paul Stevens told Mike Hosking the pay offer is half the rate of inflation, which doesn't cut it. He says the offer is in line with the public sector pay adjustment of $6,000 over two years, which is averaged out to 3.5 percent over three years. Some schools are staying open today, while others are closed. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association says Police Minister Stuart Nash had to resign, but will be sorely missed. Nash is gone after revealing on The Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB that two years ago, he asked the Police Commissioner to appeal a judge's sentencing. Megan Woods will take over the police portfolio for the time being. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking having to see Nash go is disappointing. LISTEN ABOVE
Federated Farmers says the Government's Severe Weather Emergency Legislation Bill is very welcome. The Bill will remove red tape in cyclone Gabrielle recovery, including letting rural landowners in affected regions carry out emergency work without having to apply for resource consent. Federated Farmers Hawke's Bay President Jim Galloway told Mike Hosking farms have been severely hit. He says several have estimated their cost at $200,000 to $500,000 - and orchardists could have costs of $100,000 to $200,000 per hectare. LISTEN ABOVE
National has labelled the Police Minister's attempts at reassurance over the country's increasing crime as almost sounding "desperate". Stuart Nash has painted a brighter picture on the issue, saying since Operation Cobalt, 28-thousand charges have been made - including against more than seven-thousand gang members and associates. But National's spokesperson Mark Mitchell has hit back over the statements made by Nash on Newstalk ZB. He told Mike Hosking it's likely traffic infringement notices are captured in the data and the statistics aren't stacking up. LISTEN ABOVE
There was a big, and welcome, Covid win for the unvaccinated carers who took the Government to court, with the court deciding the Government erred. It's not the first time the Government has lost or has been found to err in court over Covid. But this one seemed particularly egregious to me. This, in a way, goes back to the Matt Hancock scandal in Britain where his astonishing series of WhatsApp messages, as well as email and text communications, during Covid showed just what a mess the whole Government approach was. I asked at the time what sort of picture would be painted if we had the local versions available to us. The court cases that have been taken, to a very small degree, give us an insight. The family carers had their funding stopped and they were threatened with fines. The judge has found that the mandate was invalid because it was not a decision that was available to the minister on the basis of the information that was before him at the time. They hadn't originally been included in the mandates but the minister was advised to amend the order. The key was no public advice was given in the briefing to the minister as to why the amendments should be made. There was not enough information before him to make the amendment - and yet he did. Oh, by the way, the minister we refer to? Chris Hipkins. It was clearly driven by the Government's one stop shop approach. They wanted a vaccinated work force and there was no room for exceptions or subtlety. So, with a stroke of a pen the carers were out, the money was stopped and they were alienated for a year. I'm not sure whether this victory puts it right for them. They want an apology, which I would have thought was a forgone conclusion, and the Government is looking to cough the money they stopped. But it is another insight into what clearly was a frantic mess behind the scenes, where anything was accepted and they took a “we will explain later approach”. There were two broad approaches that Governments could have taken to Covid. Either lead by example and clarity and take the people with you, or bludgeon them with fear and dictate. They chose the 'Pulpit of Truth', it cost a Prime Minister her job - and they ended up in court and, on this example, lost. With the benefit of hindsight, and SME legal action, it's becoming more and more clear they made the wrong choice.
Police are investigating at least two burglaries in Auckland overnight - including at a large supermarket in the suburb of Lynfield. Officers were called to Countdown Lynfield, on Hillsborough Rd, shortly before 1am after reports of a break-in. “A group of offenders have taken multiple items before fleeing from the scene in a vehicle,” a police spokeswoman said. “Police are following positive lines of inquiry to locate those responsible.” A staff member told the Herald they had looked at the security footage and said those involved were youth. There were up to nine people spotted on camera, the worker said.
Thieves smashed their way into the Countdown Lynfield supermarket, in Auckland, in the early hours of this morning. Photo / Hayden Woodward Early this morning, police officers could be seen assessing the damage inside the supermarket. Several windows - including at the entrance doors - had been smashed and glass littered the ground inside and outside. It is not yet known exactly what was taken. But cigarette roller packets were spotted on the ground at one of the counters. ‘I don’t want to do this job anymore’ Police are also looking into a ram raid incident at a liquor store in Wairau Valley. Authorities were called to the Harbour City Liquor Centre, on View Rd, about 2.30am after reports that a vehicle had been used to smash into the store.
Police were called to a reported ram-raid incident in Wairau Valley overnight. Photo Hayden Woodward The shocked owner said at the scene: “I honestly don’t want to do this job anymore. This is my second ram raid. “Auckland has gone very, very bad.” Police said at this stage, their inquiries are ongoing and are working to determine who is responsible. ‘It starts with shoplifting...and before you know it, you’re shipping meth’ - Police Minister Police Minister Stuart Nash spoke to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning about crime in New Zealand - and specifically about gang activity. He talked about retail crime as well, acknowledging that it was a big problem.
Police Minister Stuart Nash. Photo / NZME “It all starts somewhere - it starts with shoplifting, starts with theft and then you end up in a gang and before you know it, you’re shipping meth. “That’s not always the track...but it can be and so it’s the reason why we’re putting a whole lot of effort and resource into going after the gangs.” On gangs, Nash said: “We are going really, really hard against the gangs. “Every single tool we can use, every man and every woman is going hard against the gangs because we do not want these people doing their dastardly crimes in our community.” He said the gangs were, by and large, responsible for the meth distribution in New Zealand - the reason they were going so hard against them, he reiterated. Can you help? Anyone with information that can help Police with their investigations is urged to contact authorities immediately via 105 or CrimeStoppers Anonymous on 0800 555 111
A top building boss says there are two fundamental issues with the construction industry and things need to change. Bayside Designer Homes is the latest building business to fail, leaving nine Auckland housing sites unfinished, and homeowners in the lurch. Naylor Love Chief Executive Rick Herd says one issue is the boom and bust cycles. He told Mike Hosking the second is the fragmentation of the industry, with a lot of small operators which don't have strong balance sheets. Herd says as soon as the cash starts to dry up, that's when they get into trouble, so he expects we'll see a continuing collapse of smaller companies over the next few months if not years. LISTEN ABOVE
An expert says a probe into banking may not be the fix for issues in the sector. Latest figures from KPMG show bank profits reached a record high $7.15 billion in the year to September, up 17 percent on the year before. It comes after the Government voted against a select committee inquiry into banking, instead considering whether to order a Commerce Commission market study. Squirrel Mortgages' David Cunningham told Mike Hosking an inquiry probably wouldn't create much change. LISTEN ABOVE
Last minute talks around the primary teacher collective agreement haven't stopped tomorrow's nationwide strike. The NZEI primary teachers negotiation team met with the Education Ministry yesterday to discuss the issues teachers have raised, but no formal offer was tabled. NZEI has asked the ministry to return to the table next week. Union President Mark Potter told Mike Hosking the ministry asked for more information about some of the teachers' asks. He says they think they've been clear but the Education Ministry has to figure out what it can do to meet requests. LISTEN ABOVE
The BBC called a truce Monday in its showdown with sports commentator Gary Lineker, reversing its suspension of the former football great for a tweet that criticized the U.K. government's contentious new migration policy. The about-face followed a weekend of chaos and crisis for Britain's publicly funded national broadcaster, which faced a huge backlash after sidelining one of its best-known hosts because he expressed a political opinion. "Gary is a valued part of the BBC and I know how much the BBC means to Gary, and I look forward to him presenting our coverage this coming weekend," BBC Director-General Tim Davie said. Lineker, 62, said he was "glad that we have found a way forward." The furor stems from a plan announced last week by Britain's Conservative government to try to stop tens of thousands of migrants a year from reaching the country in small boats across the English Channel. A new bill will bar asylum claims by anyone who reaches the U.K. by unauthorized means and will compel the government to detain and deport them "to their home country or a safe third country." The legislation has been condemned by refugee groups and the U.N., and the government concedes it may breach international law. Lineker, one of England's most lauded players and the corporation's highest-paid television presenter, was suspended after he described the plan on Twitter as "immeasurably cruel" and called the government's language "not dissimilar to that used by Germany in the 30s." The Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail — two right-leaning newspapers long critical of the BBC — expressed outrage over what they described in headlines as Lineker's "Nazi" comment, although he hadn't used the word. The Conservative government called Lineker's comparison offensive and unacceptable, and some lawmakers said the BBC should sack him. The broadcaster announced Friday that Lineker would be "stepping back" until he agreed to keep his tweets within BBC impartiality rules. Critics accused the BBC of suppressing free speech, and it was forced to scrap much of its weekend sports programming after commentators, analysts and Premier League players refused to appear on air as a show of support for Lineker. The flagship "Match of the Day" program was reduced from the usual 90 minutes of highlights and analysis to a 20-minute compilation of clips from the day's games, without commentary or punditry. Other TV and radio football shows were pulled from the schedule on Saturday and Sunday as the boycott spread. Davie insisted Monday that the BBC "did the right thing" by suspending Lineker, but said there would now be an independent review of its social media rules to address "gray areas" in the guidelines. "Between now and when the review reports, Gary will abide by the editorial guidelines," he said. Davie said the BBC "has a commitment to impartiality in its Charter," as well as a commitment to freedom of expression. "That is a difficult balancing act to get right," he said. The furor reflects the distinctive nature of U.K. media, where newspapers are highly opinionated and news broadcasters are required to be balanced — especially the taxpayer-funded BBC, which has a duty to be impartial. The crisis dramatically illustrated the pressures long faced by the 100-year-old BBC in an increasingly polarized political and media world. Those on the right often sense a leftist slant in the broadcaster's news output, while some liberals accuse it of having a conservative bias. Opposition politicians have accused the government of meddling by pushing for Conservative-friendly bosses for the BBC. Davie is former Conservative local-government candidate. BBC chairman Richard Sharp is a Conservative Party donor who helped arrange a loan in 2021 for then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, weeks before Sharp was appointed to the BBC post on the government's recommendation. The Conservatives also periodically suggest changing the BBC's funding model. It gets much of its money fro...
Quick question around the cash bonanza yesterday - is it so blatant that it might actually work? An extra $300 million we don't have, just splashed all over the economy as part of a $2 billion package, made up of stuff that got cancelled. They are doing it because we have a cost-of-living crisis and we have a cost-of-living crisis because they overreacted to Covid. It's very likely that on Thursday when the official GDP number is published, that we are entering a recession. In fact, it is likely we are already in one. As a result, everyone feels the pinch and wants more money and Santa Hipkins is available to scratch that itch. Politically, you understand it. The same way depositors ran for the SVB bank over the weekend, the cold hard reality of human nature is it is every man for himself. People all over the country will quietly justify receiving the extra money. They'll say they deserve it, they've paid their taxes, tomatoes are too expensive - pick a reason. The fact we don't have the money can be dismissed as someone else's problem. The fact it's all going to the non-productive side of the economy will be justified because it will be spent. Yes, it will be spent, the same way all the money they handed out in Covid was spent. It's not hard to hand out fake money to spend. But it doesn't solve our problem and in that is the crime. But it's only a crime if we agree it's a crime. If we agree it's fun and a shopping expedition, then that potentially leads to votes, based on the idea that a sugar hit of free cash can be dealt to another day. National and ACT are stuck. Are they the parties to take the money back? To cut the poor beneficiaries wages? 1.4 million of us will get some of this largesse. And if most people don't truly get why we are in the hole we are, it all seems to make sense. Until, of course, it all comes home to roost, which it is starting to. But October may well be close enough to avoid the trick being blown. Or maybe the money is good enough for people to not even care.
She doesn't get home often, but when she does we love catching up with Gin Wigmore. Based out of Los Angeles these days, Gin is back in the country for her March tour around the North Island and Nelson. It was sold out, but due to popular demand and a cancelled Hawke's Bay concert, she has added two more shows. Gin Wigmore joined Mike Hosking. March regional tour dates Gisborne, Smash Palace Wed 8 and Thurs 9 March – SOLD OUT Hawkes Bay, Black Barn Sat 11 march - CANCELLED Nelson, Theatre Royal Thurs 16 and Fri 17 March – SOLD OUT Raglan, Raglan Club Thurs 23 March – SOLD OUT Mt Maunganui, Totara St. – Sat 25 March – NEW SHOW Auckland, Sweat Shop Brew Kitchen – Sun 26 March – NEW SHOW Leigh, Leigh Sawmill Fri 31 March & Sat 1 April – SOLD OUT
New Zealand have won a see-sawing first cricket test against Sri Lanka in Christchurch, chasing 285 with two wickets to spare. Kane Williamson was the architect of the victory with 121 not out, the highest fourth innings by a New Zealander in a successful chase. The triumph marked the second time, after England against South Africa at Durban in 1948, that a team has won off the last available ball. While Williamson's knock will grab the headlines, bowler Neil Wagner had a job to do himself as he headed out to the middle with three balls remaining and had to sprint home for the winning run despite a torn hamstring and a troublesome disc in his back. Neil Wagner joined Mike Hosking to run through the dramatic final scenes. LISTEN ABOVE
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has burned several more schemes on his policy bonfire and splashed more cash in a welfare boost as his popularity continues to increase in the latest poll. However, Hipkins’ second big policy reprioritisation, particularly in the transport sector, has ruffled the feathers of their political ally the Green Party, which claims it will only make the country’s future climate targets harder to achieve. Several policies have either been cut, refocused or delayed to help free up the capital for the Government’s aim to reduce the cost of living, and Hipkins isn’t ruling out more former priorities being torched. Hipkins told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking today that he was not trying to buy the election. “It is not at all what I have said.” As a Government, cost of living and recovering from the recent floods and cyclone was the top priority. Inflation had risen globally and New Zealand was not immune to this, Hipkins said. “I am not accepting Government spending is the primary driver of inflation.” However he conceded tax cuts and other decisions by the Government could have an impact on it. Hipkins said he did not want people on low income and superannuation “to go backwards” with the cost of living increase. “Government had to do something to bring inflation down. Interest rates will start to have an effect now.” A recent forecast from most bank economists showed inflation starting to come down from next year, Hipkins said. “Inflation is starting to trend down internationally.” Asked about retail crime, Hipkins said there needed to be more work to be done to combat it. He said the area of retail crime which had seen an increase was for shoplifting of amounts valued at under $500. “There has been a much higher level of reporting since 2017.” The fact that those businesses had reported more crime, gives police more tools to tackle it. “There was good progress made last year to tackle more serious retail offending such as aggravated robbery and ram raids. “We saw a spike last year. We made good progress, ram raiders were identified as repeat offenders, and we got them out of circulation. About 500 of those young people have been prosecuted.” Hipkins said Cabinet would receive more information on Three Waters in the next few weeks. Clean car scheme among several dumped policies Yesterday Hipkins tossed the $568 million clean car upgrade scheme that allowed people to scrap old cars to gain a grant for a more environmentally friendly vehicle, staggered the rollout of Auckland light rail, narrowed the speed reduction programme, stopped the social leasing car scheme and refocused public transport goals in Auckland, Hamilton, Tauranga, Wellington and Christchurch. Hipkins said today that the removal of a couple of policies the Government had previously been investigating - including the old vehicle scrappage scheme and the social leasing scheme - was due to the fact that they would have made a very small contribution to our overall emissions budgets. There were other things the Government was doing that were proving to be more successful and had the potential to reduce the emissions by a much greater amount. ”This is about looking across the work programme and saying: ‘Okay, what’s actually going to deliver the sort of change that we need? What’s actually going to help New Zealanders with the cost of living?’ And making sure that we’re investing in and focusing in those things,” he told TVNZ. Asked if investing in those now old policies had been a waste of time, Hipkins said looking at the vehicle scrappage scheme and the social leasing scheme, the advice that he had received that both were going to prove to be “quite difficult” to implement in the time frame concerned. Between both of them, they were looking at something like 7000 tonnes of emissions reduction period. Contrasting that with the clean car upgrade scheme and the industrial carbonisation programmes, they are talking about millions of tonnes of c...
The world's first virtual reality gaming facility is hitting Auckland CBD this week. The 3rd generation version of VR tech is the first of it's kind where gamers can move around a warehouse size space without carrying a backpack to virtually play. The location based experience is forecasted to boost our entertainment tourism sector, reaching us $1.575 billion by 2028. Zero Latency NZ manager Yoland Swasbrook joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A U-turn of sorts from the Government. About 1.4 million New Zealanders will be helped when increased main benefits, superannuation and student support payments increase in line with inflation. They'll rise from next month, alongside Childcare Assistance income threshold increasing. Former Reserve Bank Economist Michael Reddell told Mike Hosking a few years ago the Government changed from indexing benefits to inflation, to wages. He says this year, wages rose less than inflation, so they switched back. Reddell says permanently lifting the real level of welfare benefits is costing another $300 million. LISTEN ABOVE
Labour has edged ahead in the polls, but we're yet to see a lot of policy from the major parties. The latest 1 NEWS Kantar Public poll shows Labour attracting 36 percent of the party vote, and National 34 percent. Chris Hipkins has jumped to 27 percent support as preferred Prime Minister, while Christopher Luxon has slumped by five to 17. Newstalk ZB Political Correspondent Barry Soper told Mike Hosking Cyclone Gabrielle is playing into the pockets of Labour at the moment. LISTEN ABOVE
Gary Lineker is on the right side of history and I am immeasurably uplifted by the reaction we are seeing to his suspension from the BBC. In too many respects the BBC is everything that is wrong with public broadcasters. Once you involve taxpayers funding, and once you write something down about being impartial, that’s where the drama begins. For a start, Lineker isn't on staff, he is a contractor. He is like the electrician they hire to fix the wiring. He is his own man and his own business. Further, he is not part of news and current events, the areas traditionally that demand a level of neutrality. In a normal world he is allowed to say, within the law and boundaries of common decency, whatever he likes. And speaking out about a Government policy shouldn’t even raise eye brows at managerial level. What we have lost is the ability to separate out personal from personality, individualism from professionalism. He can host Match of the Day while still having opinions and, as we have learned locally, everyone has an opinion and we all know they do. It's absurd and you're kidding yourself if you think that by not saying things it makes you neutral. No one is neutral. Britain, probably more than any other Western country, has jumped aboard the cancel train by those who seek to close down any form of individualism, or at least individualism that doesn’t suit the mood or thinking of the day. It's been helped by social media, which has essentially morphed into a town hall for the indecisive and thick to give them a guide as to how they should be thinking. And armed with their new found group wisdom off they go, hunting out people who think differently so they can round on them and have them cancelled. This time, and there is no way of measuring, but this time the comments Lineker made are against the Government of the day, who are of course Tories. And Tories, as far as the group think luvvies are concerned, are to be hated. So, it is possible Lineker isn't getting lynched because he has attacked the right group. Let's hope not. Let's hope the support he has is for the right reason - and the right reason is free speech. The BBC might not get it but hopefully most of the rest of us do. Kill free speech - and you're done for.
Frustration continues to simmer over pay parity for aged care nurses. Aged Care Association Chief Executive Simon Wallace says a promise of parity was made at the end of November. He says aged care nurses are paid up to 20-thousand dollars less than their counterparts in public hospitals. But Wallace says that what has been delivered by Te Whatu Ora is less than half of what's needed. He says it's short-changing our nurses, and it's going to cause more service disruption and see more beds closed. LISTEN ABOVE
A union representing bus drivers wants to see more security measures introduced to protect staff. An Auckland bus driver is in hospital with serious injuries after being stabbed in Mount Roskill on Saturday night. Police have arrested a 62-year-old man and he’s due in Auckland District Court today. Tramways Union President Gary Froggatt told Mike Hosking that we could be looking to what's installed on buses overseas. He says London double-decker buses have an outside door which drivers can use to escape, but we don't have those here which is a bit of a problem. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins announced at Auckland's Big Gay Out yesterday that he has a new plan of attack for HIV prevention. Hipkins used the event to launch a new HIV Action Plan and an additional 18-million in extra funding to tackle HIV. Auckland Pride Executive Director Max Tweedie says that it's a step in the right direction. He says it helps with the problem of people not feeling they can come forward for testing or access treatment when they're diagnosed. Tweedie says it's therefore part of the broader goal to end HIV. LISTEN ABOVE
Mixed impacts felt across the globe from the collapse of a US bank. Regulators have seized the assets of Silicon Valley Bank and officials say there will be no federal bailout. Rocket Lab has about 62-million New Zealand dollars in the bank: about 7.9 percent of its total cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. Stockfox Founder David McEwen told Mike Hosking that stock prices will fall. He says we saw the major banks go down about three percent on Friday, and he thinks there'll be more of that today. But McEwan says in terms of the underlying strength of our local banks he has no real concerns. LISTEN ABOVE
National is pinning the blame for the state of our country's retail crime on the Government; deeming it a "disgrace". New figures show that in a single year retail crime has increased by 39 percent, with 292 incidents recorded every day, up from 140 per day back in 2018. The party's police spokesman Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking that there's no reason why New Zealand shouldn't be the safest country in the world. He says Labour wanted to reduce the prison muster by 30 percent, while at the same time they've had violent crime go up by 35 percent, and the numbers are linked. LISTEN ABOVE
Potential knock-on impacts here in New Zealand after the second biggest bank failure in US history. US regulators have seized the assets of Silicon Valley Bank after customers rushed to withdraw money. Rocket Lab has about 62-million New Zealand dollars in the bank -- about 7.9 percent of its total cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities. Devon Funds Management's Greg Smith told Mike Hosking that our Reserve Bank will be following things closely. He says the question is whether this situation —which seems to have crept up on regulators— see central banks dial back the pace of rate hikes. Smith says the US Federal Reserve is due to meet next week and he's sure our central bank Governor Adrian Orr will be watching. LISTEN ABOVE
Health, as it so often has over the years, is shaping up to be a nightmare for the Government come election time. Yesterday's Emergency Department numbers, that were so farcical no one believes them, ends a couple of weeks of absolute disaster for a Government that will go to the vote with nothing more than an ideological rejig of head office to show for hundreds of millions of dollars in upheaval. As far as actually seeing a doctor or a nurse is concerned, none of that has really seemed to matter. The immigration figures yesterday showed next to no one has turned up and is hardly surprising - except to maybe Michael Wood, who remains as defiant as ever over his genius around immigration settings. The ED figures that, sadly, the new minister Ayesha Verrall used to spruik the so-called improvement in waiting times, were nothing more than a counting, accounting, brain power, laziness - pick a word - error. The proper numbers speak for themselves. 71 percent get seen within six hours and that’s down from 76 percent and down from 95 percent under National. As we have said, even suggesting six hours is normal shows you just how messed up this whole thing has become. The four month waiting list, four months being the alleged acceptable time to wait for treatment, is out over 65,000 now - and growing. We've seen the nurses this week pleading for help and we've seen some hospitals at 195 percent capacity. We have heard the warnings about winter, the warnings that should never have had to be made because if we closed the border and all got ordered home for Covid we wouldn’t overwhelm the hospitals. Whoops. Unlike so much that dominates the political landscape, health is real. Health touches lives and thousands of them. Sack all the Rob Campbells you like - no one cares. But they care when they can't get help, can't see a doctor, or a nurse, or the waiting line gets so long it’s a joke. When it arrives on your doorstep that’s when the anger grows and the votes vanish. What Labour say about this campaign I have no idea. They’ve sacked the architect of the mess and poor old Ayesha gets to carry the can. The numbers don’t lie, well, actually they do in this case. But the numbers we know to be correct you can't hide from, spin out of or excuse. A lot will sink this Government come October but the abject, dangerous and astonishingly incompetent approach they’ve taken to health might well be the biggest crime of the lot.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. ED numbers: 2/10 Scandal of the week. Numbers so implausible that no one believes them and yet Minister Verrall used them to spruik progress in waiting times. The immigration scam: 2/10 When it came to nurses and midwives next to no one turned up. Proving, yet again, we missed the boat and Michael Wood is dangerous to the prosperity of this country. Harry Styles: 8/10 He came and they loved him. It was good for feather boa sellers and he's proof life in a boy band doesn’t have to be as good as it gets. Morgan Wallen: 9/10 If Harry ain’t your thing Morgan is. And he's proof that not winning The Voice means nothing when you're packing stadia. Ruth Dyson: 2/10 Of the three who made a mess of it she wins. Because to be so lazy you don’t even read what you're supposed to read and then having not read it, still be defiant about it, suggests you probably shouldn't have been given any level of responsibility in the first place. Tesla: 4/10 When they're looking to investigate your company because your steering wheel could fall off, is that a sign the car might not be made all that well? And is that why they dropped the price? Is the steering wheel now optional? The Kaitaki: 2/10 Is that one form of transport that’s even worse than a Tesla? Breakers: 8/10 One game apiece - the dream is alive. The Warriors: 8/10 We haven't lost this season - the dream is alive
Patients in New Zealand's emergency departments are labelling wait times 'agonising'. Data comparing 2017 to 2022 shows the severity of the situation; during that period patients to Palmerston North Hospital saw a 126 percent jump in wait times.
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Auckland City Hospital has seen a 98 percent rise. Meanwhile, Te Whatu Ora is working to correct a more recent set of "real time" emergency wait time data, which it admits was inaccurate. Chief Executive Margie Apa told Mike Hosking more accurate data will be uploaded to the agency's website today. LISTEN ABOVE
Next week's teacher strike comes in the wake of mass frustration in the profession. Both secondary and primary teachers will hit the streets next Thursday in one of our country's biggest ever strikes. It will affect 50,000 educators. NZEI President Mark Potter says conditions are a bigger factor in the strike than pay. He told Mike Hosking teaching is not an attractive profession anymore. LISTEN ABOVE
A New Zealand chemist is on the brink of history, with her breakthrough treatment for Rett Syndrome. Distinguished Professor Dame Margaret Brimble and her team has been working on the drug for 20 years. They expect to hear within days whether their treatment Trofinetide has been granted final approval by the US Food and Drug Administration. Brimble told Mike Hosking it'll be a life changer for babies born with the syndrome. The disorder impacts almost exclusively females, and stalls motor control and communications in infants. LISTEN ABOVE
A medical expert is blaming chronic under-funding for emergency care delays. Figures released under the Official Information Act show 32 out of 37 Te Whatu Ora emergency departments have faced a jump in patient waiting times. Spanning over five years to 2022, hospitals have faced a rise of up to 126 percent in the time people are spending in the waiting room. Northcare A&E Director Peter Boot told Mike Hosking staff shortages are continuing to worsen. He says primary care in New Zealand has been overlooked and underfunded and people are retiring with no one to replace them. LISTEN ABOVE
National says build to rent housing should be playing a larger part in the New Zealand housing market. The party has announced plans to fast-track legislation for build to rent housing. It would amend the Overseas Investment Act, making it easier for foreign developers to invest in the market Build-to-rent developments would also be eligible for depreciation deductions. Housing spokesperson Chris Bishop told Mike Hosking it's not a silver bullet, but it has a role to play. He says 25,000 new dwellings could be built over the next ten years if National wins the election and gets its settings correct. LISTEN ABOVE
Can we call the public service neutrality issue a shambles? I think we can. So, Rob Campbell gets sacked because Rob is a off-piste on social media. Steve Maharey doesn’t get sacked because he's off-piste in a column he writes. And Ruth Dyson may or may not get sacked because she's off-piste due to having never read the rules. Dyson is the funniest of the lot. Not only didn’t she read the rules but she didn’t read the rules because she didn’t think about it. Further, she didn’t read the rules because the day they have set aside where you all traipse to Wellington to learn how to be a 'straight down the middle, don’t scare the horses' public servant on a board apparently, according to Ruth, is really full on. And they don’t touch on the neutrality bit much at all. Given Ruth found it all a bit hard and complex, can we ask the question whether she's up to much and maybe was a bit out of her depth? Anyway, what we have left is a Government that seeks a lot of advice every time one of their appointments wanders off the ranch, but then makes different decisions depending on who it is. Can I be honest - I don’t give a monkey's about any of this. What else do you expect when you employ flunkies? That’s what they are - they're Labour party hacks, they're old mates. Campbell was spruiked by Andrew Little as they have union connections. Ruth retired and what you get when you head out to pasture, and you're not of High Commissioner material, is a board appointment or two. Maharey is of the same old Labour clique ilk. If you are going to appoint mates, we already know what they think. Ruth Dyson spent a lifetime in Parliament. She's not neutral and it's absurd to pretend she is. Maharey accepted work from a media outlet while pretending to be neutral. How the hell do you think that’s going to turn out? I'm not sure who the bigger fools are - those who broke the rules by not being bothered to read them, or those taking work that would inevitably land them in trouble. Or the Government who, for some reason, thought that by hiring apparatchiks and their old drinking buddies that that would somehow fool us. They are all as hopeless as each other.
A popular celebrity weight loss jab will be rolled out in the UK's NHS in a few weeks. It will be available for people who have a BMI of 35, meaning they are morbidly obese. The weekly jab Wegovy works by hijacking your brain to suppress appetite. Twitter owner Elon Musk uses the drug, while Kim Kardashian is rumoured to use it. Warwick University's Associate Clinical Professor Steven Lawrence told Mike Hosking celebrity endorsements create an idea of an easy solution. He says it's important to emphasise this drug is part of a wider lifestyle change. LISTEN ABOVE
Morgan Wallen’s journey to music stardom has been unlike so many others. The country music star joined Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking this morning and told him that he “never dreamed” his music career would take off the way it did. What started as a brief stint on reality television grew into a successful music career with multiple chart-topping singles and the only country album in the 64-year history of the Billboard 200 to spend its first ten weeks at the No.1 spot. Wallen’s journey in the music industry began in 2014, when he competed on the 6th season of The Voice- before getting booted after the playoffs. Morgan Wallen told Hosking he didn’t see this as a loss in the end. “I wanted to sing country, they wanted me to sing pop, I finally got to sing country, they kicked me off for singing country, which probably turned out to be the best thing that could happen to me. I didn’t know exactly who I was as an artist at that point anyway.” One year later, a move to Nashville set him up with the connections he needed to break into the country music scene and figure out the kind of sound he wanted to produce. “I moved here in 2015, we just started grinding and I ended up getting a record deal within a few months of moving here, a record promotion deal, and then I just started writing, I wrote songs for a year before I did anything else,” he told Newstalk ZB. Fame has been a mixed experience for Morgan Wallen, as he knows he has the power to do a lot of good for the world and positively affect the lives of his fans. He enjoyed making fan’s lives by sending a video but admits to missing going to the grocery store like a normal person. Cut to the present, where Morgan Wallen has released his third studio album One Thing At A Time. The album offers 33 tracks, but Morgan told Mike Hosking he was most proud of ‘98 Braves. Morgan Wallen has a personal connection to the baseball hook of the song, having played it in his youth. “Growing up, I was always the best kid on the team. I never really had to try, which was a blessing and a curse cause I got to the point where I was maybe 15 or 16, and a lot of my buddies who I thought I was better than had been grinding and working their tails off constantly.” Morgan Wallen managed to achieve great success in music following his baseball ambitions collapsing after an injury. He told Mike that “God works in crazy ways, but I’m trying to make the most of it”. One Thing At A Time was influenced by Wallen’s previous album Dangerous: The Double Album. Fans told Morgan Wallen that they would listen to the 32-track album as they played golf or drove or worked out. Morgan Wallen was encouraged by this feedback and the successful run Dangerous had on the charts to create another long album. “I got into the zone in the studio and just kept making songs. We actually cut 42 songs originally.” One Thing At A Time covers plenty of familiar ground for Wallen; trucks, whiskey, beer, sports and women. “It’s honest to who we are, what we do and how we were raised” he explained to the Newstalk ZB breakfast host. “We try to find unique perspectives on everyday things for people like us. That can be a challenge sometimes, Wallen explained, because he felt the need to write what he knew while offering a fresh perspective into familiar themes. How does he expect those themes to translate to Kiwi audiences? This tour will be his first time visiting New Zealand and bringing that unique country sound to New Zealand is “surreal”, Morgan Wallen told Mike Hosking. “It makes me happy to know I’m bringing a certain culture, a certain sound, a certain way of life to a different group of people who may have never heard it. There’s really not much of a better compliment that I can get.” “I still consider myself a pretty simple dude, it doesn’t take a whole lot to make me happy- give me a few hundred acres and a couple buddies and I’m good. Not much has changed and I think that’s the way it’s always gonna be, and I hope my mus...
Are people about to jump across the ditch? Dozens of Queensland Tourism representatives are taking a trade roadshow to New Zealand. The aim of the trip is to keep Queensland top of mind with trade partners in order to convert demand for travel into actual bookings. Tourism and Events Queensland Consumer PR and Marketing leader Shelley Winkel joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A former trade negotiator says companies shouldn't rely completely on China. New briefings seen by Newstalk ZB's newsroom reveal the Government is worried foreign powers may use economic issues to back us into a corner. It shows trade officials have been widening the country's portfolio to strengthen resilience against economic coercion. Charles Finny told Mike Hosking the Chinese economy isn't growing as fast as it used to. China took more than $21 billion of our exports in 2022, one of our largest trading partners. LISTEN ABOVE
Civil servants are being urged to remain neutral in the wake of politically-charged comments and public sackings. Deputy Chair of Fire and Emergency and the Earthquake Commission Ruth Dyson is the latest to face the heat. The former Port Hills MP admitted she hadn't read her code of conduct -- her Twitter bio reads she's 'still Labour.' Pharmac Chair Steve Maharey has retained his job despite offering his resignation, while Rob Campbell has been fired for sharing unbalanced views. Public Service Minister Andrew Little told Mike Hosking he hasn't lost faith public servants are neutral. He says the issues lie with three people, out of several thousand. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand is struggling to compete against Australia, when it comes to attracting midwives from other parts of the world. Newstalk ZB can reveal almost 200 nurses, midwives and specialist doctors have been approved for the straight-to-residence pathway since they became eligible in mid-December. But only three of them are midwives; one who was already here, and two who are yet to arrive. College of Midwives Chief Executive Alison Eddy told Mike Hosking New Zealand simply doesn't match Australia's pay and conditions. Immigration Minister Michael Wood says nurses arriving on visitor visas to complete a six-week registration course are considered onshore applications. LISTEN ABOVE
There is a key line in the latest ANZ Business Outlook survey that may well mean some of our predictions around inflation sadly come true. The line is "in New Zealand, services inflation had also continued to build even as the global inflation pulse starts to fade; domestically generated inflation and our super tight labour market will keep the pressure on the Reserve Bank to remain tough on inflation." Services inflation, by the way, is rents, housekeeping and servicing your car - all the stuff you pay for regularly and are watching go up every time a bill arrives. That is driven partly by the fact that we seem to have got ourselves stuck in this rut, whereby when we see the bills going up, we go ask someone for more money and, more often than not, they give it to us. And that is driven largely by the fact the Government won't let enough people into the country. When you are faced with paying more or losing workers, you pay. When you pay, you look to recoup it back from whatever you sell, and so it goes. Here is the great fear - unlike other countries that, at least in part, believe the worst of their inflation crisis is over, ours isn't. Even if it has peaked, and that’s still open to some debate, it is still going to be higher for longer. And the longer it is higher, the more we pay to live. It is a sign of a sick economy. We can't help the weather. Some of that will add to inflation, but we can help a lot of other stuff. Although it is in the rear vision mirror, the lending and printing this Government indulged in is now very clearly a massive part of the problem and we should not forget that. The fact the Government refuses to let labour into the country in the numbers we so desperately need is another part of the problem, and we should not forget that either. We should also be asking whether our image is, in some cases, hurting us as well. The minimum wage and migrant wage moves are a massive part of the problem. We are doing a lot of shooting ourselves in the foot here. It doesn’t have to be as big of a mess as it is. Then there is the question of recession - if inflation globally has peaked and easing and soft landings look increasingly possible, if not likely, ask yourself - how come we missed the boat? How come we are worse off than so many others? Grant Robertson likes to suggest it's not a contest. And yet he only suggests that when we look like we blew it.
Insistence from a senior cabinet minister that the Rob Campbell and Steve Maharey situations are completely different. The Government is taking advice on whether to accept the resignation of former Cabinet minister Maharey, now the Pharmac and ACC Chair, over his politically-charged opinion columns. He isn't expected to face the same fate as Campbell, who was fired as Te Whatu Ora's Board Chair over a social media post criticising the Opposition. Cabinet Minister Megan Woods told Mike Hosking on Pollies that Campbell doubled down on his comments in public, while Maharey did not. LISTEN ABOVE
Harry Styles took the stage last night for 40,000 fans at Mt Smart Stadium, with many dressed in feather boas. In amongst his favourites, the 29-year-old made sure to remind his fans to do their Census. Super-fan Mia Pickering waited for something like 14 hours for Styles to take the stage. She told Mike Hosking it was a night to remember. Harry Styles flew out of the country straight after the concert, his next gig is in Bangkok. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is confident it's on the right track to deliver, despite tough economic times ahead. Net debt is $3.5 billion less than expected, at $70.5 billion in the seven month period to January 31. Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking a large number of countries are expected to end up in recession. He believes if New Zealand does, it'll be shallow and the country will come out strong. Debt to GDP is slightly under 19 percent, less than other countries. LISTEN ABOVE
Game-changing drugs for people with lung cancer. Pharmac has announced its funding of Keytruda and Tecentriq. Those with locally advanced and metastatic non-small cell lung cancer are able to access it from next month. The disease is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths in New Zealand. Director of operations Lisa Williams told Mike Hosking there hasn't been treatment for lung cancer in New Zealand like this. She says they're a new kind of immune checkpoint inhibitors, which will benefit around 700 people each year. LISTEN ABOVE
A road safety campaigner has lambasted Waka Kotahi over its failure to meet median barrier targets. A Road to Zero target aims to have 1000km of median barriers by 2030, but is projected to fall short by half. But the agency has surpassed its target of assessing speeds on 10,000km of road. Motorsport champion and road safety advocate Greg Murphy told Mike Hosking all he's seen from Waka Kotahi is excuses for not meeting the target. As of December, Waka Kotahi spent $62 million on campaigns to support Road to Zero. LISTEN ABOVE
Rob Campbell says he has no confidence in Health Minister Ayesha Verrall to make the right decision about Steve Maharey's future. The Government is getting advice on whether to accept the resignation of the Pharmac and ACC Chair, after he wrote politically-charged opinion columns. Verrall fired Campbell as Te Whatu Ora Health NZ Board Chair last week, for criticising the Opposition on social media. Campbell told Mike Hosking what she's said about him in the past 24 hours suggests she isn't up to making the call about Maharey. LISTEN ABOVE
More technology hubs could help pave a way forward in addressing communication black-outs during large storms. Some New Zealanders were left in the lurch when critical communication links broke during Cyclone Gabrielle. Earlier, a technical glitch hit ANZ, holding up overnight payments and leaving customers without access to internet banking. Rush Digital chief customer officer Terry Williams-Willcock says having community hubs could make a difference, especially for those living in rural areas. He says it would mean they could come to central locations and gain access to technology. LISTEN ABOVE
There it was. At 7 o'clock yesterday morning Michael Wood, the lover of trains and cycleways, was on this programme waxing lyrical about the new spending priorities for our transport system. I asked him whether it was more important to get a cycleway up or give Coromandel Highway 25A back. He said they were doing both, which of course isn't remotely true. We were told just this time yesterday that climate change was top of the pile in terms of priorities when it came to handing out money for transport. I asked Michael whether he had read Bruce Cotterill's piece on cycling up and down the country and what he had discovered about our roads. He hadn't read it, of course. We needed, waxed Michael, to reduce our footprint. We needed, opined Michael, to give people choice. He had choice, because he had a bus around the corner from his place. But some people didn’t, so they needed that bus. I wondered if people at a time like this wouldn’t be needing transport links back. I wondered if Michael had an electoral death wish. I wondered if Michael had the tinniest of tin-ears. I wondered if he really was prepared to live through an election wipeout, but at least go down a hero in his own echo chamber as being the crusader for the ideas most people not only don’t want, but are now so angry about it will affect many thousands of votes come October. In all honesty, 24 hours ago I couldn’t work out how this lot could be so wildly out of touch. On one hand, the new Prime Minister wants to jettison dumb ideas that are holding them back, while at the same time Michael “number 47 to Mt Roskill” Wood is still babbling on about theoretical mumbo jumbo. But by the afternoon it was over, Michael's dream was dashed. Political reality had come knocking at his door and the pot hole money going for cycleways, the excise tax going up, the roads that weren't being built because we needed bus lanes - it had all gone pop. Just eight hours after being on air blurting out the greenie dream, the climate utopia, it was dead and replaced by what Michael is now calling an 'emergency response to the weather'. So they got there - dragged kicking and screaming back to reality. But here's the question - how is it you are such a mess you say one thing in the morning and another by mid-afternoon? What sort of panic does that represent? They believe in nothing, they plan nothing. They say whatever you want to hear and hope you're sucked in.
Everyone staying in New Zealand tonight, aside from those impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle, are legally required to complete their Census forms today. As of this morning, more than 1.4 million people have returned an Individual Form. The Census collection period for the affected areas has been extended until June first. Stats NZ Deputy Chief Executive Simon Mason told Mike Hosking they're working on a bespoke community focused response. He says they don't want those in the process of pulling their lives back together to have Census on their minds. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister says the country's transport plan has reacted to real world changes. The Government has announced rebuilding roads after Cyclone Gabrielle will be the priority. Hours earlier our newsroom revealed the Government had been working on a plan which would prioritise emission reductions, something Transport Minister Michael Wood discussed yesterday. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking while it's not a finalised plan, it's obvious Cyclone Gabrielle was a game changer. LISTEN ABOVE
Sir Rod Stewart has made another promise to Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking. When the British rock icon joined Hosking, the radio host reminded him of his last time in New Zealand, where he dedicated a song to him. "You said was I coming to the show and I said I'd come to the show if you played Handbags and Gladrags and I was joking. But you did, and you dedicated it to me and that meant the world. I thought it was one of the greatest nights of my life," Hosking said. Chuckling, Sir Rod asked if there is anything else Hosking would like to hear to which he replies People Get Ready, which is a song that is performed regularly, and the artist tells Hosking he will "see you there." The 78-year-old was last in New Zealand in 2015 and is back next month for the third, and possibly final, time with shows in Dunedin, Hawke’s Bay and Auckland. With a record of 250 million records sold and an entry into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Sir Rod says he and his team have their shows down to a science. "It does take a lot of planning," the London-born rocker told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking. "Not too much rehearsal, because we don't take years off. We played our last show only two weeks ago, so we don't need any rehearsals." Stewart prides himself on his performances and will be bringing his alter ego to New Zealand in order to give fans one last taste of his infectious live show, saying he brings as much of his personality as he can. "I'm old school, it's entertainment, people want to be entertained," he says. "I'm Mr. Razzle Dazzle, aren't I?" "I lived through the sixties and the seventies and the eighties were especially razzle dazzle, but I've always been a bit of a show off." After Australia and New Zealand, the United States and Britain are on the itinerary and while many at 78 would recoil at the thought of spending months on end at the other side of the world, Sir Rod Stewart relishes in the opportunity. "Love it! It wouldn't be doing it if I didn't love it. It's what the good Lord put me on this earth to do." The inevitable retirement rumours have swirled in recent years, with many predicting Sir Rod to hang up his microphone. He says he plans to work with a number of artists, including Jools Holland, and produce some music of some other genres and take up some new endeavours. "I just want to get away from what I'm doing, I've been doing it a hell of a long time and I love it, but I want a new challenge." In recent years he has become something of a philanthropist, having notoriously been called cheap in the past by Ronnie Wood, most recently housing a number of Ukrainian refugees who had fled the Russian invasion. "Lovely, lovely people. We've got to win this war, it'll be the end of man-kind as we know it if we don't." This is not the only example of the rock legend's generosity. In late February, he visited Essex Hospital and paid for a full day's worth of MRI scans following a phone call with Sky News, in a bid to reduce waiting times. He told Mike Hosking he had heard the effort had reduced times but 10 percent. If these are in fact Sir Rod Stewart's final shows in New Zealand they promise to be full of razzle dazzle, although fans will be hoping this is not the last time we see the famed performer on our shores. SHOW DATES: Wed 5 April - Forsyth Barr Stadium - DUNEDIN Sat 8 April - Mission Estate Winery - NAPIER Sun 9 April - Spark Arena - AUCKLAND TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM TICKETMASTER.
A new online company is calling itself New Zealand's answer to Amazon Launching today, Buy Kiwi will allow New Zealanders to buy from businesses between 80 and 100-percent locally owned Managing Director Jamie Farmer told Mike Hosking it gives shoppers protection under the Consumer Guarantees Act, something not always provided with online international shopping. He says sourcing products locally will also help keep money in local communities. LISTEN ABOVE
The trucking industry says roads need to be king in any transport plan. The Government has announced rebuilding roads following Cyclone Gabrielle damage is now top of its agenda. Earlier, Newstalk ZB's newsroom had revealed that officials were working on a transport plan with emissions reduction as the top priority. National Road Carriers Chief Operating Officer James Smith told Mike Hosking he's glad there's been a shift in thinking because that wouldn't have worked. He says we need a robust roading network to boost our economy. LISTEN ABOVE
According to a new report from Deloitte, $64 billion could be added to our economy by 2050 if decisive climate action is taken. The report states that a mindset shift from both the Government and private sectors is needed to transition the economy away from fossil fuels, reducing emissions and investing in technology. Deloitte access economics director Liza van der Merwe joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
What a joy it is to start the week as we have for a decent number of years, with a sense that something good might be brewing at the Warriors. It's easy to dismiss the Warriors and many have. But it's also easy to get excited about a new year when you have a start that looked like the effort we saw on Friday night in Wellington. I liked Andrew Webster when he came in to see us last week. Having interviewed all the coaches, and man have there been a lot of them, they all come to the job with the same intent. A lot of them say the same things but Webster seems a little bit different. He's awfully likeable, he seems authentic, he seems realistic, and he seems like a bloke that players can look up to and learn from. If Friday is a guide, we look good. We have recruited well. There are a lot of good, dynamic players that, if they are consistent, will serve the side well. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad scored on Friday and, if you don’t follow all this closely, has been with the side before. I can't remember why he left but I remember thinking he was a real talent and it was a shame he was off. So, it’s a thrill to have him back and looking as good, if not better, than he was. Even Shaun Johnson, who these days gets more scrutiny than he does accolades, looks like he might be up for a bit. Maybe he's a bloke who responds to atmosphere? When he likes what he sees he steps up and he looked excellent. Overall, the whole team looked good. They defended well and a number of tries for the Knights that might have been scored other years, weren't. If this is a taster, you'd be miserable if you weren't pretty stoked about round one. Like all the other years there is a good queue of so-called experts that have written the side off. But part of the joy of sport is loyalty, as the fly-by nighters ebb and flow with each week. Given this is a new-ish side with a new coach, surely it's fair to start with at least a partially clean slate? And if you do that then Friday was full of hope and satisfaction. It's early days, but, do you reckon this is our year?
New Zealand's hospitality industry is cooking up a storm for those impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. Eateries across Aotearoa will hold their biggest dinner party in a fortnight, with restaurants serving a two course meal. Dinners will cost 69 dollars with more than half the proceeds going directly to the Mayoral Relief Funds. Kiwi Celebrity Chef Al Brown says so far 60 restaurants have made an effort to participate. LISTEN ABOVE
Providers are welcoming National's childcare policy. Family Boost would give families earning up to 180-thousand dollars a year up to 75 dollars back on their childcare costs a week. Early Childhood Council CEO Simon Laube says in cities like Auckland, the number of people that are putting their kids in care are falling. He told Mike Hosking that this could make all the difference. Laube says the money will make some reconsider what options they have. LISTEN ABOVE
National is hitting back at criticism of its childcare policy. Family Boost would give a rebate of up to 75 dollars a week for families earning up to 180-thousand dollars a year. Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says if that was offered, more people would sign up to childcare which would cause a cost blowout. But National Party Leader Chris Luxon says that's been factored in. He told Mike Hosking that he'd welcome an increase in people signing up. Luxon says that would mean more people would be receiving the support they need. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is neither ruling in nor out an increase in fuel taxes as it works on a new transport strategy. The plan, which will go out for consultation this year, promises a pivot towards public transport and away from emissions-intensive investments like highways. It could mean swapping car parks for new bus lanes and cycleways. Transport Minister Michael Wood told Mike Hosking that they're yet to put out a draft document. He says governments in the past have put Road User Charges and Excise Duty taxes up, but they haven't decided that at this stage. LISTEN ABOVE
Pressure is mounting on Cook Strait ferry services after yet another problem. An engineering issue has forced the Interislander's Kaitaki out of action —again— only one day after it had the all-clear to sail again. The ferry hasn't been able to take passengers from the end of January when it lost power and had to make a mayday call. Jon Reeves from the Public Transport Users' Association told Mike Hosking that it's time for an independent inquiry into the state of the ferries. He says it jeopardises supply chains, tourism, and the average person when it doesn't work. LISTEN ABOVE
Given the week's events, here are my observations of our new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Firstly, he is a vast improvement on the old one but already the cracks are showing. He came in to see us this week for the first time, he wants to come in when the house isn't sitting, so good on him. He arrived early; we told him to arrive at least on time because the last one who barely ever came in, despite the fact she was from Auckland, didn’t arrive on time. She was often late and she was late because she was one of those people who was a shambles, invited shambles and had that air of 'I'm not quite ready” about her. Hipkins is organised and low key. I can report he is the same off mic as he is on mic. This has, and will, serve the party better than if the predecessor had stayed on. You might not rate Hipkins given his performance in education and the police, not to mention MIQ, but he isn't polarising the way the predecessor was. You either quite like him, or you're not fussed - he's no lightning rod. But being Prime Minister is hard and even with the optics of a disaster to help in his honeymoon period, he has already made two glaring mistakes. The first was the road workers he has now apologised to for the gun incident in Hawkes Bay post-Gabrielle. The incident he didn’t believe, the incident he dismissed, because the Police Commissioner, who is a wet blanket when it comes to guns and gangs and general criminal upheaval, gave him bad intel. Add to that the meeting in Hawkes Bay where the Government were generally eviscerated, I think we can say the honeymoon is over and old Labour and their tin ear and lack of delivery are back. The second was the question in the house from David Seymour. He completely butchered because, on his own admission, he didn’t prepare properly. Not prepping for question time, indeed the first question time as leader, is inexcusable. Especially for a bloke who claimed when the media were in that obsessive ”Ooh look we have a new Prime Minister", phase where they ran those mad stories headlined “Who is Chris Hipkins?” Well, Chris Hipkins claimed he liked hard work. You can't like hard work then not do it on day one in the house. Next trick is, does he learn? We all err but the good ones learn and don't repeat it. Being a leader, a good leader, is rare. Just getting appointed because there is no one else, which is sadly the Hipkins story, is not enough. Having been about the place for a while isn't enough, being a decent bloke and turning up on time isn't enough. So a couple of weeks in, the shine from the hi-vis disaster response is well and truly gone. Is it too soon to say different leader, same old crap?
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's hot topics as well as hear the fallout from last week's teenage driver curbing incident.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The New Zealand Rugby Union: 4/10 By all means, hire who you want, when you want - but try to look like you know what the hell you are doing in the process. After all, you are only the national game. Andrew Coster: 3/10 Yet again he looks hopelessly out of touch. The apology came way too late and I'm not sure a caravan solves it. Stuart Nash: 2/10 Because he's in charge of police and a local who dismissed other locals. And he's in charge of forestry and has pissed off the East Coasters as well. Chris Hipkins: 3/1 Because he is supposed to be in charge of the other two fools and has seen his leadership honeymoon come to a grinding halt this week, with a tin ear and a massive amount of condescension. Hence, leading to yet more apologies. The Warriors: 7:10 Tonight's the night full of hope and expectation. This. Is. Our. Year. Rob Campbell: 5/10 He was foolish to ever think he could get away with what he said. But, as a supporter of free speech he was defending his corner and I kind of get that. Grapes: 7/10 The harvest is underway, as is the kiwifruit, which reminds us that yes some have got whacked but a lot haven't. And may the sun shine during picking and may the returns be profitable. Doctors: 6/10 Because the idea to train more is a good and obvious one. So why then has the Government not even replied? King Charles: 8/10 For booting his reprobate son and his narcissistic Mrs out of Frogmore Cottage. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The Breakers are gearing up to play the first game of the NBL Finals against the Sydney Kings tonight. They've had their difficulties these past few seasons, but they finally have the advantage of playing in their home country. Former Breakers player Casey Frank joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A survey commissioned by the Government reveals that 26 percent of landlords upped the rent in the past six months. But it wasn't because they're greedy, according to the results. 57 percent said they did it because of the law stopping them from putting it up more than once a year, so they felt they had to. Former president of the NZ Property Investors' Federation and property commentator Sharon Cullwick joined Mike Hoksing. LISTEN ABOVE
The first Chinese tour group in three years, is about to touch down in Auckland. It will be the first to arrive since New Zealand was added to China's Approved Destination list. Marketing Minds Chief Executive Anne Casey told Mike Hosking tourists are now reprioritising after Covid. She says travellers from China want to have their freedom, and feel safe. Australia and the US are not on the approved destination list. LISTEN ABOVE
The Environment Ministry is facing criticism for spending little on public transport. Data released under the Official Information Act has revealed it spent more than $900,000 on flights from January 1 to November 29 last year. It spent just $251 on public transport fares in that time, but more than $97,000 on taxis, shuttles and Ubers. Act Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking it's hypocritical. He says it seems Climate Change is not a real thing to the people in the Ministry for the Environment - it's a bureaucratic process that allows them to lecture people. LISTEN ABOVE
National is pledging to reverse the Government's proposed "app tax", saying it's a major deviation from current tax rules. The Government says the rule change, which will require GST to be charged on rooms, rides and other services sold through online platforms like Uber and AirBnB, will create a level playing field. But National says under existing rules, sellers who bring in less than $60,000 are exempt from GST. Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the new "app tax" doesn't include any such exemption. LISTEN ABOVE
Two air pollutants are quietly contributing to thousands of premature deaths in New Zealand every year, shows a new analysis that’s prompted fresh calls for tougher regulations. While New Zealand’s air quality is generally considered good by international standards, Stats NZ’s newly updated indicator has linked pollution from vehicles and fireplaces to around nine times more early deaths than last year’s road toll. The indicator data was calculated using the latest Health and Air Pollution in New Zealand (HAPINZ) model, which was published in 2022 and used 2006 and 2016 as base years. It focused on two human-made pollutants associated with health risks: PM2.5 - or fine particulate matter measuring fewer than 2.5 micrometres in diameter - and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). While NO2 was mostly linked to traffic pollution, PM2.5 also stemmed from other sources of fossil fuel combustion, such as people burning wood and coal for home heating over winter. In 2016 – the most recent year for which suitable population, health, and air quality data was available – the pollutants were linked to an estimated 13,155 hospitalisations and 3,317 premature deaths. “Even though Aotearoa New Zealand has good overall air quality relative to other countries, we now know that exposure to air pollutants, even at low levels, is associated with significant health impacts,” Stats NZ’s environmental and agricultural statistics senior manager Michele Lloyd said. These ranged from childhood asthma to people needing hospital care for heart and respiratory problems.
Source / Stats NZ Of those hospitalisations in 2016, 71 per cent were linked to vehicle emissions, mainly through NO2 exposure, while around a quarter were linked with PM2.5, stemming from home heating. More than two thirds of the premature deaths were also linked to traffic pollution, with another 29 per cent associated with people lighting fires in homes. Across the board, the data showed how much of our population was living in areas with poor air quality, relative to recently-updated World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines. Between 2006 and 2016, the percentage of our population living in areas where those guidelines had been exceeded rose from 24 to 31 per cent for NO2, while falling from 85 to 81 per cent for PM2.5. People lighting fires is continuing to drive higher levels of air pollutant PM2.5 over winter in New Zealand. Photo / Warren Buckland Stats NZ insights analyst David Harris said a jump in estimated health impacts from pollution was likely driven by an increasing population, but also rising NO2 exposure – perhaps owing to higher numbers of diesel vehicles on our roads. The data also showed a markedly higher risk for Pacific peoples, likely due to location. The highest numbers of people harmed by the two pollutants could be found in our biggest centres, with some 939 premature deaths and 4633 hospitalisations reported in Auckland alone. Yet, relative to population size, areas in the lower South Island had out-sized impacts: notably the 219 pollution-linked premature deaths per 100,000 people older than 30 in Invercargill, versus Auckland’s rate of 104 per 100,000.
Source / Stats NZ Harris pointed out that air pollution itself was made up of a complex mix of gases and particles. But, because it wasn’t possible to individually capture the health impacts of each one, assessments like this were simplified by focusing on key contaminants like NO2. University of Auckland aerosol chemist Dr Joel Rindelaub said the findings were “very much in line with what we already know: air pollution is a major threat to human health. “Over 3,300 premature deaths per year are related to air pollution in Aotearoa New Zealand, that’s more than melanoma, diabetes, colon cancer, and road accidents combined. “Without a serious effort to address the causes of air pollution... these trends are likely to continue.” He saw an urgent need to set a national standard for PM2.5 pollution, something in...
Part of the answer to the Rob Campbell scrap is to employ people in the public service differently. David Seymour says those in the public service are sympathetic to the Government, Ashley Bloomfield says they aren't. Rob Campbell wants to say whatever he likes as a private person, but still allegedly be neutral when he's a public person. Maybe part of the problem with the public service is you have to be some sort of robot to simply carry out instruction. I find it hard to believe you can work for a Government if you genuinely believe what you are being asked to do seems wrong to you. How many people want to spend all day feeling like they are wasting their time because some minister told them to implement an idea that is either going nowhere or not going to work? Rob Campbell's appointment was clearly based on his passion for the co-governance type structure of the new health system. He likes it and he wants to see it widespread. So, surely you appoint an advocate of an idea, as opposed to merely a public servant? In Campbell's case, he came with form. He's an old unionist, he is of the left, he has a record - but that didn’t stop a bunch of companies sticking him on a board - so he clearly has talents elsewhere where political leanings mean little, if anything. It's fairly clear Adrian Orr would not be appointed by National, but is he considered a leftie? We never thought about that when he ran the Super Fund. But he is inextricably linked to Grant Robertson and a general view that an astonishing amount of printing was required to fund Covid and, as it turns out, land us in the economic crapper. Bloomfield you couldn’t pick as left or right, even though a lot of people, including myself, saw him as far too close to Labour and their Covid agenda. And that’s ultimately the point, isn't it? We will see what we want to see and within all of us is an agenda of sorts. Surely the large swathes of the media in these past five years are living proof that you can pretend to be neutral until the excitement over a late arrival from Mt Albert sees you swooning just a little bit embarrassingly. So, instead of a job for life, what about the best person for the job for a public service appointment? And as the job changes, as it always does with Governments, the same way it does as one chief executive leaves and a new one arrives, you appoint the people most aligned with the thinking, and therefore the greater desire to get it done. 'Yes Minister' and 'Yes Prime Minister' had the reality of the public service worked out - and that was 40 years ago.
The NRL season is upon us. The competition is back tonight and the mighty Warriors have their first game of the season tomorrow night against the Newcastle Knights in Wellington. There are nine new players in the main squad - and a couple of others in the development squad - and most importantly, a new coach. Andrew Webster previously worked under Andrew McFadden in 2015 and 2016 and was with the Penrith Panthers as an assistant before taking the head coach role at Mt Smart. So is it our year? Andrew Webster joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
The 2023 oyster season is upon us and boaties in Bluff couldn't be more excited. Last year the harvest levels weren't up to expectations, but this year is looking much better. Barnes Wild Bluff Oysters general manager, Graeme Wright, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Despite just one week ago telling us he'd like another go in the case of a World Cup win, Ian Foster has announced he won't be re-applying as All Blacks coach. It seems his mind was changed rather quickly, and now all eyes are on who the new head coach of our national team may be. Former chief executive of NZ Rugby, David Moffett, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Get the runway ready; New Zealand fashion week is back after three years of Covid disruptions and cancellations. It's set to take place during august at Auckland's Viaduct Events Centre. Kate Sylvester will also be celebrating 30 years in the business with a special fashion show. General manager of NZFW Yasmin Farry joined Kate Hawkesby. LISTEN ABOVE
Big opportunities for the beef sector as the reopening of China allows for more beef exports. Beef intake in China is expected to make a strong rebound in the coming year as we see a preference for imported meat, according to a Rabobank report. Agricultural analyst Genevieve Stevens joined the Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Rob Campbell's behaviour is being described as "a remarkable act of self-immolation". The former Te Whatu Ora chair has been fired for taking issue with National's Three Waters policy online and breaching the code of political neutrality for public servants. A decision to sack him from his role as chair of the Environmental Protection Authority is expected today. Former Cabinet Minister turned political commentator Peter Dunne told Mike Hosking for Campbell to argue he was speaking out as a private citizen, is either deliberately naïve or mischievous. Dunne says he's an experienced director who must have known he was playing with fire when he published those comments on social media. LISTEN ABOVE
More should be done to put people's minds at ease in cyclone-ravaged Hawke's Bay. Two mobile police bases have been set up in Hawke's Bay at Bay View and Puketapu and another will be added. Federated Farmers President Terry Copeland says while it's a good start, he still wants the army to come in. He told Mike Hosking that would give the community an extra confidence boost. LISTEN ABOVE
There are hopes the Government's new tourism action plan will help attract and retain a stable workforce. About 60 percent of tourism workers want to quit or are considering leaving in the next year. The plan aims to recognise quality employers, lift worker conditions, develop education and address the seasonal nature of the industry. Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram told Mike Hosking while Covid turned tourism on its head, it also gave a chance to evaluate the best ways to future proof the industry. LISTEN ABOVE
Can you tell me how the weather that has affected certain parts of the country has somehow become race-based? Does the rain fall differently on Māori? Does a flood affect you differently depending on your race? If your home is yellow-stickered or red-stickered, is that dependant on whether you identify as Māori? If your apples aren't getting picked, what role has race played in that? This is the absurdity we deal with, as yet again the Labour Māori caucus strikes with another of their inexplicable hand-outs based purely on race. There is $15 million for help - but only if you're Māori, for a Māori-led flood recovery. Do Māori recover differently to flooding than anyone else? Do they do it with different equipment? Just what is a Māori-led response? How is it Willie Jackson, yet again, tries to explain this isn't special treatment when it is indisputably special treatment? In aspects of life that are unique to Māori, it's understandable. For situations like past grievances, that’s why we have the tribunal - for wrongs that need to be put right that only Māori had to deal with. Everyone in various parts of the country had to deal with the storms. The storms didn’t strike Māori any differently to anyone else. It was communities that were hit. Some will have had different race make-ups, the same way some would have had different age make-ups and different rural urban profiles. But the response is the same - if you got hit, you got hit. If you need help, you need help. Given the Three Waters mess they are trying to unstitch as we speak, given the massive push back they have received in the Māorification of this country under this Government, you might have thought it would have sunk in, in election year. You don't win votes by being separatist. You don’t get support by pretending money delivered based on race isn't race-based money. That $15 million is only for one group of people. To get it, you not only have to be flood affected, you have to be Māori and flood affected. Willie can say it until he runs out of breath but it doesn’t make him right. Because he isn't.
All eyes are on whether the sacked Te Whatu Ora chair will also lose his job as chair of the Environmental Protection Agency. Rob Campbell has been fired by Health Minister Ayesha Verrall for breaking the Code of Conduct, by publicly criticising National's Three Water's Policy and Christopher Luxon. Senior Labour Cabinet Minister Megan Woods told Mike Hosking the question of Campbell's future needs to be asked of Environment Minister David Parker. She says it all comes down to whether Parker has confidence in Campbell. National's Mark Mitchell says if the Government is going to be consistent, he doesn't see how it's tenable to let Campbell go in one position and not the other. LISTEN ABOVE
Cloud databases are coming under increased pressure from hackers. Over the past year there's been high profile cyber attacks on companies such as Microsoft and Samsung. A new cyber security report reveals e-Crime as one of the biggest causes for concern over that same period. Cyber security consultant Michael Wallmannsberger told Mike Hosking cloud computing has vulnerabilities. He says as more people move to the cloud and those services are being attacked which is exposing weaknesses in cloud system. LISTEN ABOVE
Black Caps coach Gary Stead has called it. He thinks the one-run victory over England at the Basin Reserve yesterday will go down as New Zealand’s greatest test win. Stead coached the Black Caps to the first-ever World Test Championship when they beat India in 2021 but he told the Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB that yesterday’s win, and the fact they had to follow on, tops that victory in Southampton. The Black Caps became just the fourth team to win a test match after being forced to follow-on and the second team to win by the smallest possible margin in terms of runs. “It was pretty surreal really. It was an amazing test match. It was gripping it had everything in it. I think it was a great advertisement for test cricket,” he told Hosking. “Obviously winning the World Test Championship was obviously up there, because it was such a pinnacle event. But for that itself, that game being forced to follow on. I think it will go down as New Zealand’s greatest victory.” New Zealand were bowled out for 209 in their first innings, in response to England’s 435 for eight declared. Because the Black Caps were more than 200 runs behind, England were able to enforce the follow-on and make New Zealand begin their second innings. Kane Williamson (132), Tom Blundell (90) and Tom Latham (83) all played major roles as the home side set England 258 to win. England began the final day needing 210 to win with nine wickets in hand to complete a 2-0 series victory. “We thought we had a chance. I mean, we talked after day to where we were a long way behind the game and just keep trying to fight and put our ourselves into positions where we could apply pressure at different times and get ourselves into the last day when anything can happen. Day five is it’s traditionally a day that things can change quickly and look, I mean, I’m just so proud of the guys and the way they hang in there. Stead backed his side’s style of play as they handed Brendon McCullum’s England team just their second loss since the Black Caps great took over as coach and introduced a more aggressive gameplan. “Many different methods can win cricket matches,” Stead said. “To us we stuck true to what we believe in and I guess the personalities of our players as well. ”There’s been a lot of people around the country doing it a lot worse than us recently so to be able to put smiles on people’s faces, means a lot,” Stead added.
New Zealand is the middle of a healthcare worker shortage and our government is reportedly ignoring offers from medical schools. Otago Medical School has offered to train more students, but the offer has fallen flat. Auckland School of Medicine also made the same offer a year ago and they still haven't heard any update. Auckland University Medical Emeritus Professor Des Gorman joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Rob Campbell is adamant he hasn't crossed a line in his public criticism of National's Three Waters policy. The now former chair of Te Whatu Ora has been fired by Health Minister Ayesha Verrall, for breaking Public Service rules about political neutrality. He told Mike Hosking he doesn't regret what he's said, but does regret he will be losing direct contact with thousands of health workers and their families. Campbell contends it's perfectly legitimate under the Code of Conduct for someone not in their official capacity to make political remarks, as long as they don't undermine the public trust in their organisation. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand house prices have taken another heavy hit, down 11.5 per cent since February last year. The average property price is down $120,000 in the same time period to $971,000. A OneRoof report is out today and editor Owen Vaughan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
As the war in Ukraine passes the one year mark, there would be few in the world who has been as consistently outspoken against Putin and Russia as Bill Browder. You may or may not know the story of his history with the country - Browder was the largest foreign investor in Russia until 2005 when he was denied entry to the country and deemed a national security threat. A few years later, his Russian lawyer uncovered a massive fraud scheme committed by government officials that got him detained, tortured and eventually killed for revealing. Since then Browder has campaigned against corrupt officials and human rights abusers. He's uniquely placed to talk about the war from the Russian perspective and what comes next, Bill Browder joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
I pray that somewhere in the departments that waste so much of our money, someone, somewhere, has the spine to stand up and tell the rest of the plonkers that what they are doing doesn’t work. Julie Anne Genter, back in another Government when they gave her a portfolio, came up with the 'Road to Zero'. That alone was one of the stupidest ideas going, for the simple reason that it set you up for immediate failure. As much as she might have liked to have argued it was aspirational, more realistically it was unobtainable and everyone knew it. Because every year since, the road toll it of course hasn’t been zero and, more worryingly, nowhere close to it. In fact, it's getting worse. It's getting worse for a couple of, I would have thought, astonishingly obvious reasons. 1) We have more cars than ever, 2) Our roads are rubbish and the weather has surely exposed that. Look at where the carnage is. It's not on the Waikato Expressway or the multi-lane highways; it's on the goat tracks they insist on calling State Highway 1 outside of the main centres. And then, 3) The idiots. That combination is all you need to know as to why we are where we are. And as such, no amount of advertising and pleading changes anything, therefore you can quickly conclude the $60+ million spent so far is wasted. And it's wasted at a time when we can least afford it. Reminding people about speed and seatbelts and driving drunk is only applicable to the sort of idiot who isn't susceptible to being told what to do. Those who are, are already doing it. I am sure deep within the ad agencies they genuinely believe their latest piece of creative genius is the one to crack the code. And to be honest, if the Government were writing the sort of cheques they are, what fool turns that down? Which is why we need leadership. Someone at the highest level needs to break the ideology that spending other people's money for the sake of it makes some sort of difference, when it can be shown it doesn’t. Michael Wood clearly isn't that man. He defends this nonsense; he inherited a mad idea and ran with it. If you rounded up the hundreds of millions, if not billions, that has been spent these past five years on nonsense, we wouldn’t be talking about a tax for the clean-up. We are only short of money because we wasted it.
Goods are set to be move more freely between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, under a new agreement-in-principle reached between the EU and UK. Political commentator Rod Liddle told Mike Hosking the deal has received broad support. “By and large, it’s cheered up most of the Northern Irish, if not the Democratic Unionist Party and there hasn’t been an enormous angst from the right-wingers, the Conservative Party.” LISTEN ABOVE
For the first time in 15 years, the number of standard drinks people consume daily has declined. The 1 percent decline has dropped to 1.96 standard drinks a day. The figures have sparked discussion as to whether we may be starting to see a trend of decline in alcohol consumption. Senior lecturer in Public Health at the University of Otago Dr. Rose Crossin joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Westpac's economic overview shows we are still weathering the storm. With high levels of inflation and consumer prices rising by 7.2 percent, households are having to squeeze their spending. Borrowing costs are at their highest level in more than a decade, while sales are now at the lowest since the Global Financial Crisis. And the added heat of the cyclone is pushing even more pressure on the economy. Westpac acting chief economist Michael Gordon joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Prime Minister says Te Whatu Ora's chair has gone well outside the scope of his role. Rob Campbell has taken to social media to criticise National's latest plans to scrap Three Waters, and Christopher Luxon. His comments have drawn the ire of the Government, National and Act. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking his comments are inappropriate. He says ultimately it's going to be a matter for Campbell to discuss with relevant ministers, but his comments clearly step outside of what they'd expect from someone in that position. LISTEN ABOVE
A call for the local to be put back into local government. Local Government New Zealand President Stuart Crosby wants less centralisation in the allocation of public spending. He says New Zealand is the third most centralised country in the OECD. Crosby says locals need more control over how money is spent in their communities. It's part of the Future for Local Government Review panel. He told Mike Hosking he hopes recommendations from his group are taken seriously. LISTEN ABOVE
National's Simeon Brown has slammed comments made by Te Whatu Ora's board chair on social media, calling it "appalling." Rob Campbell has vented on social media over his disdain for National's Three Waters policy, and Christopher Luxon. Brown told Mike Hosking Campbell is a senior public servant and should be setting an example. He says public servants are meant to be politically neutral and he should be fixing waiting lists in our health system rather than providing commentary. LISTEN ABOVE
Half of the $50 million recovery package has now been allocated to businesses in need of immediate repairs in areas where the cyclone caused the most damage. The funding taps out at $40,000 for each business with more funding to come in the coming weeks. Local councils and business associations will be in charge of distributing the money. Finance Minister Grant Robertson said that they’re getting a better idea every day as to how much this will cost in total. LISTEN ABOVE
More than 70,000 kiwis are currently living with dementia and this number expected to triple in the coming years. After being diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s, Allister Robertson created an app to help others in the same boat. My Life's Journey encourages users to record things from their lives with words, photos, and videos. It then prompts discussions in a therapeutic format for recalling memory. Allister told Mike Hosking that it helps him personally and that once you start, it’s never ending. LISTEN ABOVE
There are concerns that pay parity funding in early childhood centres is being passed on to parents. The opt-in system to set pay rates for teachers based on qualifications and experience is resulting in some centres raising fees to retain staff. Some centres that opted out have closed or downsized, with some worried that government funding can't keep up with increasing wages. Council President Simon Laube says that the model is unsustainable as parents are making up centres' revenues. He says the smaller community providers are a much bigger worry as they don't have other revenue streams and are forced to either opt-in or close down. LISTEN ABOVE
March madness is already starting to grip Auckland roads. Waka Kotahi's traffic map is showing delays on multiple sections of State Highways 1, 16, 18, and 20. The State Highway 1 on-ramp at Drury southbound is closed. Auckland Transport is 393 drivers short, down from more than 500 short before Christmas. Auckland Transport's Richard Harrison told Mike Hosking that work starting up again is going to get more drivers on the roads. LISTEN ABOVE
Government grants may only go so far in helping keep cyclone-affected businesses afloat. The Government's allocating 25-million dollars to cover the immediate cashflow needs of affected businesses. Justine Wilson —who runs Kiwi Esque Luxury Lodge in Hawke's Bay's Esk Valley— is one of the businesses that would be eligible for the funding. But she says that right now she has far more immediate concerns. LISTEN ABOVE
National has pledged to ensure local councils are better set up under its new Three Waters policy. Its 'Local Water Done Well' plan would see the controversial reform scrapped and assets retained by local councils. Investment, quality, and infrastructure will be overseen by new regulators. National Party Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking that the most important thing is having water quality standards in place and investment going forward in the right way. LISTEN ABOVE
The good thing for David Seymour last week is he got a full house in Lincoln, just outside of Christchurch. My sense of this election year is that a lot more will be involved and keen to participate. The most dangerous thing about a democracy is when people can't be bothered. I think the results in some local body contests is teaching us that. Christopher Luxon in Christchurch the other day got a full hall as well. But what both also got were the nutters and the conspiracists. Come question time they came out. Had the leaders read the research on the vaccine? What about the Government's dependence on the W.H.O? What about the United Nations and their hidden agenda? In the ACT meeting they eventually left to applause. The applause was because they were leaving, not because of their questions. But how much of this year's campaign is going to be hijacked by this sort of behaviour? From the Government's point of view they already have expressed concerns over potential anger and violence. It's part of the reason Jacinda Ardern walked. Yes, the polling was bad but the prospect of the sort of reaction she faced weighed heavily. There has already been much thought around public appearances, indoors, outdoors, security and so on. It will have potentially dissipated with the arrival of Chris Hipkins, but he still represents a Government that has done a lot to upset a lot of people. He was in charge of covid and MIQ and there remains a lot of residual anger. And what about freedom of speech? If a hall is full and the questions around conspiracies and vaccines roll on, how much of it gets covered? How much censoring goes on by a media who already have a shocking reputation for not covering and airing things they don’t agree with? This has the potential to be one of the ugliest, loudest, angriest and, potentially, divisive campaign in years. Luxon and Seymour have had an early taste and its only February.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Ian Foster: 7/10 Good on him for speaking out. New Zealand Rugby: 3/10 They couldn’t have made a bigger disruptive mess if they set up a specialist disruptive mess committee. Maureen Pugh: 6/10 Because, although she is a bit out to lunch, she spoke her mind and guess what? She's allowed to without the luvvies hitting the cancel button. Adrian Orr: 6/10 Because in his own way, he sort of called the Government out on spending and sort of called the banks out on margins. Air NZ: 7/10 They are profitable again. Yes, we pay too much for a ticket, but they’ve gone through hell and back, they owe a fortune, it ain’t over yet - and it’s imperative we have a healthy national airline. Puffin: 2/10 When you think you can arbitrarily rewrite books for the sake of being woke, the world is in a bad place. Truancy: 6/10 Because it’s a crack at the problem, but it’s not new and it didn't work last time. Super Rugby: 6/10 Because the new rules around clocks and the TMO will improve the game. The Breakers: 8/10 Because they are on their way to the final. They are the sports turnaround story of the year and boy do we need all the uplifting examples of winners we can get right now.
Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week that was, with Kate hoping to get some family news out of the way early. LISTEN ABOVE
Calling all pilot gamers. Microsoft Flight Simulator has added New Zealand to the list of digitally reimagined countries. With geographic in-game scenery players can take on the role of pilot to fly across scenes from the Southern Alps, Marlborough Sounds, and Auckland’s Sky Tower. Proponent and trumpeter of the update Richie McCaw had his pilot hat on as he joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Kiwi pizza company Hell is expanding their 77 New Zealand franchises across the ditch. The company will launch in Brisbane this week, before looking to open more shops across Australia. But how will they fare the heat of the Aussie market? Hell CEO Ben Cumming joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
You would be hard pressed to find a more talked about person in New Zealand sport than Scott Robertson. Having coached the Crusaders to six Super Rugby championships, he’s been touted by many as a replacement to incumbent Ian Foster as All Blacks coach, whose position has come under threat following a turbulent season for the men in black. Rumours have swirled since the poor performances of the last All Blacks season and were fuelled in recent weeks by the Christchurch-based coach’s comments to media regarding New Zealand Rugby’s employment process and overseas offers he may have received. Robertson wouldn’t provide more detail around his comments when he joined Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking on Friday, saying there was more to the story that he was unable to explain. He told the breakfast host he had learned a lesson from the storm he had a hand in creating. “There’s going to be a headline whatever I say,” Robertson told Hosking. “I’ve got to play a straight bat, I’m going to play straight as you possibly can, that anything regarding All Blacks stuff has to go back to them [NZ Rugby]. I’ve learned my lesson. “It’s hard to explain, because there’s a different context to it. All these questions you get around it, that’ll be fully explained one day, but a lesson was learned.” Given he is one of the most discussed people in the country at the moment, Scott Robertson isn’t letting future employment get in the way of his final season at the helm of the Crusaders. He says the support of coaching staff and the leadership group is keeping him grounded. “You’ve just got to come in every day,” Robertson said. “I’ve got an amazing coaching group, so if anyone needs to give me a pep talk they will. “They’ve got to keep me on as well, just as much as I keep them on, potentially, if there was distraction. “You just make those things obvious, if you keep them tucked away they can rear their head.” Approaching the first game of the season is something Robertson is familiar with, but told Mike Hosking he and his team are up for it. “I love it. This is why you coach, for these big matches and getting your team ready. There’s always that part where you go ‘what’s going to happen?’ and that’s what keeps you excited.” On Wednesday, current All Blacks coach Ian Foster joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast and the incumbent shared his doubts as to whether he would be in the job come next year.
The Government is adopting a similar immigration pathway to one used after the Christchurch and Kaikoura earthquakes, to kick-start post-cyclone recovery. Opening today, the new scheme processes visas within a week, with fees wiped for successful applicants. Insurance assessors and debris removal specialists are top of the priority list. Immigration Minister, Michael Wood told Mike Hosking agencies are working now to figure out how many people are needed. He says it'll be in the hundreds or thousands, with more work needed to assess the widespread damage. LISTEN ABOVE
A security expert says the West has dropped the ball when it comes to supporting to Ukraine. The country is increasing security ahead of the one-year anniversary of the Russian invasion. So far the West has contributed over one hundred billion dollars worth of military and financial aid - including over $10 million from our government. However, Ukraine still wants long range missiles and fighter jets. Edward Lucas told Mike Hosking this is the worst thing to happen in Europe since 1945. He says the cost of Ukraine not losing the war is going to be astonishing. Our Government has announced another round of sanctions against 87 prominent Russians - the second largest group yet. LISTEN ABOVE
Air New Zealand boss Greg Foran admits the airline isn't popular with all of its customers. The national carrier has been under fire in recent months, with controversies about fare prices, flight cancellations and lost luggage. “The way that we think about it, we’ve got five stakeholders; customers, staff, suppliers, community and then we’ve got to reward our shareholders at some point.” LISTEN ABOVE
Astronomers have found six galaxies from the early universe, that are up to 100 billion times the mass of the sun. Auckland University Physics Professor Richard Easther told Mike Hosking they're far more massive than anyone previously thought possible. “I think we are certainly seeing the galaxies pretty much as they formed, we are filling in a chapter of the story we had been previously unable to see.” LISTEN ABOVE
He's one of the pre-eminent thinkers of our time and now Richard Dawkins is in our neck of the woods. You'll likely know the world-renowned evolutionary biologist and author, made most famous for The Selfish Gene and The God Delusion. A lot of his work is dedicated to removing religion from the science discussion and discussing the genetics behind evolution. He's here for the New Zealand leg of his tour and Richard Dawkins joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Signs inflation is starting to ease, despite the impact of Cyclone Gabrielle. The Reserve Bank has opted to raise the Official Cash Rate by 50 basis points, to 4.75 percent, as it continues to try to stem the high inflation rate. Governor Adrian Orr says the cyclone may lead to some price rises in affected regions. But he told Mike Hosking there's no reason it should cause widespread national inflation. “As long as they don’t feed into aggregate expectations, that everyone thinks ‘oh this is inflation continuing and I’d better raise ice cream prices in Invercargill because Hawke’s Bay is rebuilding’ that’s the concern we have.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's urgently passing a law to continue imposing parole-like conditions on 501 offenders after the High Court found the practice was unlawful. The Returning Offenders Amendment Bill will put criminals deported from Australia in roughly the same position they'd have been, if they'd offended in New Zealand. Massey University Adjunct Professor of Law, Chris Gallavin told Mike Hosking in hindsight, the original 2015 legislation should have been done differently. The Amendment Bill completed its second reading last night, and is expected to pass today. LISTEN ABOVE
Support has come from the forestry industry ahead of an upcoming inquiry into slash damage. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is expected to announce the probe today during a visit to Hawke's Bay. It's expected to last two months and come up with short-term recommendations to tackle the issue, and longer-term ideas for reforms. Forest Owners Association President Grant Dodson told Mike Hosking it should ease some of the flack the sector has copped since the cyclone. He says the industry wants a good science-based look at resilience on the coast, so it can learn to manage slash better. LISTEN ABOVE
There could be light at the end of the tunnel for those hoping for a reduction in interest rates. The Reserve Bank has raised the Official Cash Rate by 50 basis points, to 4.75 percent, as it continues to try to rein in inflation. Similar moves are also being made by central banks around the world. Independent economist Tony Alexander told Mike Hosking short-term interest rates should be able to ease next year. “Fixing one year, you can start to ride down the falls in interest rates over 2024, but of course two-year interests rates is probably equally as valid for the majority of people out there as well." LISTEN ABOVE
The ongoing economic pressure Kiwis are facing is reflected in Xero's latest Small Business Index. Sales were flat last month compared to January 2022 across multiple industries with agriculture baring the worst of it with a 7.2 percent decline in sales. Xero country manager, Bridget Snelling, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Is there a clue to attendance and schooling in the enjoyment you derive as a student? We got the letter from the school yesterday about them clamping down on turning up. You need notes and good reasons, which you have always officially needed, but it’s got lax over the years, as rules do. But they have clearly got the word from the Ministry so the emails get sent out. This year for one of ours it’s Year 12, which seems to be a golden year. It's a year of enthusiasm, of good teachers and a genuine desire to turn up. Why? Reason one is the teachers, as many are new and many seem to be good. Second is, in Year 12 you essentially get to pick the subjects you want. When you choose, you like what you choose and in life when what you do is entertaining or fun or fulfilling you tend to like turning up to do it. How much of truancy is about hating your teacher, hating your subject or hating the forced nature of it all? I'm living proof, as I never bunked. No one bunked then the way they bunk now, but they were different days. We also got the strap and the cane and that tended to sort the errant ones out. But I dreaded school because it wasn’t for me. Parents are part of the mix, no question. And I'm not sure truancy officers are going to cut through a malaise at home, if that’s the problem. As a parent, we've been lax at times; we've taken kids out of school for appointments. And I defend that. Our newest hurdle this year is driver licensing. There is no online booking system, you have to turn up in person with your paper work and register and then you do the same thing another day when you get your appointment. The helpful people are open each day between 9am and 3pm. Think about it. They service 16-year-olds and 16-year-olds have to be at school, so you open during school hours. That makes sense. We draw the line at holidays. We never pulled anyone out early for holidays because that seemed disrespectful. The Ministry measures attendance at 90 percent of the time and I'm not sure any of ours would have met that mark. Most of them would have come close but I’m not sure its 90 percent. So maybe we added to the problem. But here is the real world outworking - all our kids are well and healthy and educated, or, continuing to be educated or working or training or earning and all doing well So all truants are not created equal, school is not for everyone and that’s not actually a crime. When school has good teachers, more turn up. When you get to choose your path, freedom brings greater participation. Surely there are a few dots there we can join.
Politicians continue to clash over claims of widespread looting in Cyclone Gabrielle-hit areas. Several Hawke's Bay communities have set up checkpoints, to prevent looters gaining access to valuable equipment. Dozens have been arrested for stealing and dishonesty offences since the storm hit, with 145 extra police deployed to Eastern areas. The Prime Minister has urged the public not to panic, condemning opposition parties claims that areas have become lawless. National Party Police Spokesperson, Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking Chris Hipkins needs to understand those affected need reassurance and understanding. Cabinet Minister, Megan Woods says people are undoubtedly feeling unsafe, which she understands from the Christchurch earthquakes. LISTEN ABOVE
Top educators in New South Wales are set to receive pay rises of up to $40,000 in a bid to keep teachers in classrooms The election pledge of rewarding excellence to retain teachers is part of a larger long-term career structure reform. Is it time we start looking at ways of retaining teachers too? Auckland Grammar headmaster Tim O'Connor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
All Blacks coach Ian Foster has told Newstalk ZB he doubts he will be the All Blacks coach beyond this year. Foster has spoken out, pleading with New Zealand Rugby to delay the appointment process for 2024 until after the World Cup in France. NZR have told him they want to appoint a coaching group by April. He's expanded on his comments this morning on the Mike Hosking Breakfast and says he doesn't know if the appointment process being held now or after the World Cup will make any difference to his chances. LISTEN ABOVE
Applications for $25 million in grants to support farmers and growers affected by Cyclone Gabrielle open today. Growers will receive $2,000 per hectare, up to a maximum of $40,000. While $10,000 will go to pastoral and arable farmers to repair stock-water infrastructure. Any further support is also not off the cards as the extent of damage is further uncovered. Minister of Agriculture Damien O'Connor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Euthanasia is legal, but advance directives are not currently entrenched in our law That means a person can't request that they be euthanised when, for example, they suffer an irreversible loss of their mental capacity. That's what happened to Barbie Duffy, and she went on to suffer after her advance directive was ignored. Her daughter Louise Duffy is trying to change that and she joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Wellington City has overtaken Christchurch, as the country’s most affordable main centre to buy a house. But home ownership is still out of reach for many, with latest CoreLogic Report showing properties are now valued at 7.8 times the average household income. CoreLogic's Kelvin Davidson says price falls in Wellington City have been sharper than anywhere else, taking the crown from Christchurch as the most affordable. He says houses in the capital definitely aren't cheap by any means, but things have improved. LISTEN ABOVE
Opinion is divided over whether the Reserve Bank is likely to hike the Official Cash Rate this afternoon. ANZ's Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking the market is pricing in a 50-basis point rise. “There’s been a lot of debate about what the right thing to do is, but at the end of the day there’s a pretty clear path of least-resistance.” LISTEN ABOVE
It is widely accepted by those who follow such matters that the Waitangi Tribunal has become wildly activist. It is now, without question, a brilliant example of a decent idea gone horribly awry. As Anthony Albanese struggles to drum up support for his voice vote, which will almost certainly fail, he has looked here. In fact, many people have looked to New Zealand and our attempts over what now is many decades to rectify past wrongs. Ironically, history increasingly shows the Government's that have made the most progress have been National ones. Chris Finlayson of late and Doug Graham before him made major inroads into settlements, whereas the current Labour Government, like so much of what they do, amounts to little. Speaking of little - Andrew Little, who is in charge of treaty matters, admits as much. Anyway, the tribunal in their latest report tells the Crown off for not funding Māori adequately so they can make their claims. What makes the tribunal so activist is this sort of statement and the thinking behind it is par for the course. What is adequate? And given the system is invented, you have always needed a quid pro quo approach. What is a just settlement? Is it money, is it an apology, is it land or is it all three? Every case is individual. But somewhere along the way it's spiralled out of control. It's become an industry as individual lawyers have made millions. The tribunal seems intent on being here forever dealing with historic claims despite, if you remember, under Jim Bolger's Government there was an attempt to put a timeline on it all. That logic, by the way, still applies given its not far off 50-years-old. Surely at some point the historic claims should be registered and settled. Just how long do you need to want to rectify something you argue went wrong over 180 years ago? How many lawyers, how much research, how much funding? The path to ratification has been open since the mid 70's and we are still scrapping over funding for claims. Surely boundaries have to be drawn and timelines have to be put in place? Part of the reason the voice vote will fail in Australia is not because it's not the right thing to do, but because Albanese hasn’t explained properly what he is trying to do. But also, if you look over here at a model of how to do it, it would put the frighteners up you. Good intention is one thing. A runaway train is another.
It’s looking like a promising year for dairy exports. A2 Milk’s profits are up by 22.1% in the first half of the year, bringing them to a total of 68.5 million dollars. Rabobank Senior Agricultural Analyst Emma Higgins says that the re-opening of China’s markets will likely see a further increase for the second half of the year as well. LISTEN ABOVE
So far, there have been 59 arrests for looting and dishonesty charges in the wake of Cyclone Gabrielle. An extra 145 Police Officers have been brought into the Eastern District to support local law enforcement. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster says that the situation is under control, and that rumours are fuelling the fears of local communities. LISTEN ABOVE
Businesses in Hawkes Bay say the 50 million dollars allocated for post-cyclone support won't even touch the sides. The region's Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Karla Lee told Mike Hosking that it's a bit light. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's taking action on poor school attendance rates through a 74-million dollar package. More than 80 attendance officer positions are being created to work with around three-thousand students who are continually bunking class. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins confirms that it's a different approach than previous efforts, which had a range of contracted providers who could employ whoever they wanted. In the wake of Gabrielle, people are being urged to hand in any evidence of post-disaster crime. Hipkins told Mike Hosking that claims of looting and other crime are being investigated, but so far they're unsubstantiated or there was another explanation. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's injecting more than 70-million dollars in a bid to tackle truancy. 82 new attendance officer positions are being created to work with students skipping a lot of school. It's hoped more than three-thousand will show an improvement. Te Tai Tokerau Principals' Association President, Pat Newman told Mike Hosking that it's the right move, but needs to done differently than past attempts. LISTEN ABOVE
Crime is proving a major worry in cyclone affected Hawkes Bay and Tairawhiti. Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise told Mike Hosking that while dozens of people have been arrested, there aren't enough police on the ground. LISTEN ABOVE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that there'll be consequences if China provides weapons to Russia. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that China has already been supplying non-lethal support. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Minister says officers are taking a hard line against any criminal offending in cyclone-affected regions. 59 people have been arrested so far for various offences in Hawke's Bay and Tairawhiti. Minister Stuart Nash is calling on gang leaders to "pull their heads in," and stop members from taking advantage of their own communities during the disaster. He told Mike Hosking that there are extra cops on the beat, and they're taking a zero tolerance approach to crime and gang activity. LISTEN ABOVE
A new study has revealed just how high the levels of nitrate are in our water supply. Research published in the Journal of Hydrology shows nearly 60 percent of New Zealand’s freshwater sources could be tainted with nitrate. The report has cast fresh concerns over the health risks of nitrates, with researchers worrying over a link with bowel cancer. Massey University Professor of Agriculture Doctor Jacqueline Rowarth told Mike Hosking that she's not convinced about that. She says she doesn't believe current levels of nitrate are a major problem. LISTEN ABOVE
Cabinet is meeting today to decide on a support package for those impacted by Cyclone Gabrielle. Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce says that the big question will be where the money comes from. He told Mike Hosking that the Government has high levels of spending anyway, so they'll have to decide whether to re-prioritise or feed inflation -- or both. LISTEN ABOVE
JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher says Cyclone Gabrielle will have an impact on inflation, especially in regards to construction costs and rents. He told Mike Hosking that food prices will also go up. Kelleher says farming regions have been hit worst, and it'll be more expensive for farmers to get their produce to market. LISTEN ABOVE
With earthquakes, floods and cyclones causing mayhem this week, many Kiwis have found themselves on the phone, and therefore on hold, with insurance, power and phone companies a bit more than usual. Kate Hawkesby and Simon Wilson joined Mike Hosking to wrap the week's news and discuss whether they prefer Kiwi classics or some ambient tunes when they're on hold. LISTEN ABOVE
Quick question for you - do you laugh or cry? Newly-minted Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has had some sort of road, excuse the pun, to Damascus experience by announcing we need to "get real" about our roading He says some of them will need to be moved to be more resilient. No kidding Chris, you road-hater from the political party of road-hating. The political party that killed any number of significant roading projects that would see major state highway improvements. They jettisoned them so we could have bus lanes, cycleways and light rail that is $70 million deep on consultants without a millimetre of track laid two years after it was supposed to finish. Look at the Brynderwyn mess in the third world that is Northland because the so-called holiday highway, a vital link to a region smashed yet again, can't have a roading system that looks remotely like the 21st century. Or, actually, the 20th century. A motorway north of Auckland that hits the Johnstone Hills and turns into a goat track for 20km with the replacement years overdue and millions in the red because of bureaucracy, red tape and lawyers. I am praying at some point most New Zealanders wake up to this fraud, if you haven't already. This from Chris “I-have-a-truancy-announcement-to-make” Hipkins, despite the fact, as Education Minister, he ignored the issue for years. 'But I can't make that this week because I have an emergency to deal with as Prime Minister.' 'And as Prime Minister I have seen roading in a state that it shouldn’t be, despite the fact I sat in cabinet for the past five years promoting e-bikes and buses that don't turn up, because we have no drivers, because my Minister for Auckland, who is also Minister for Immigration, doesn’t let anyone into the country. You can't make this stuff up. This guy is the biggest, bewildered wonk we have seen out of Wellington in many a long year. The upside is at least he is present. Jacinda in emergencies relocated to Wellington and hid. Chris at least is about the place. But the problem with that is in an emergency you see the real “them” and the frightening part of the real Hipkins is it seems he's never left Wellington and when he did he couldn’t believe what he saw. The rest of us have lived it for five years and he didn’t quite get the message. So, Chris - the roads are an issue are they? Who do you think has overseen that particular disaster? Spend the weekend joining a few dots.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Balloons: 7/10 "For the sheer entertainment value. We didn't know what they were, we couldn't retrieve them, we miss when we shoot at them and there is a back and forward between countries. Turns out now they aren't Chinese and were likely owned by private companies. Whoops." The Australia Green Card for Immigration: 6/10 "Does this not have the seed of a good idea for us? The Americans have done it for years, the demand is higher than supply and our immigration is bollocks - why not give it a crack?" Nicola Sturgeon: 2/10 "An astonishing fall from grace and success. Like her or not she was, politically, wildly effective until she got trapped by the gender woke-ism of the day and couldn’t see the danger." Nikki Haley: 4/10 "I quite like her. She's young, articulate, female and was Trump's best hire by a mile. And yet - she doesn’t stand a chance. I hope I am wrong." Food: 4/10 "Yes the weather plays a part, but the price rises still above 10 percent are criminal. At some point most of us have to wake up to the fact that this economy is in real trouble and we aren't pulling the right levers." The economy: 6/10 "In saying that, what do I know? Manufacturing up, services sector up and spending is up. Go figure!" Chris Stapleton: 8/10 "At the Super Bowl, he performed the best national anthem ever." Our infrastructure: 2/10 "Yes it was a big storm, but having the power out for weeks, no phones and no Wi-Fi doesn't seem very modern. It feels like we skimped and hoped and it's coming back to bite us."
Researchers are warning we could be worried about the wrong biodiversity culprits. We know all about controlling rats and possums but we could be overlooking deer and goats. They say it could be the reason for a bigger disconnect in the management of biodiversity. Questions have been asked as to whether our focus needs to be broadened. Retired researcher and co-author of the research Dr. John Leathwick joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The bill to repair damage done to our roads from Cyclone Gabrielle is set to cost tens of billions of dollars. Prime Minister Hipkins is acknowledging it is time we re-think our roading infrastructure with urgency and resilience. National Road Carriers chief operating officer James Smith joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
As the university year begins, ideas on how to handle artificial intelligence programme ChatGPT is at the front of teachers' minds. Universities are having to rethink traditional methods of essay assessments and instead are focussing more on in person oral exams and presentations. Some are suggesting that this could be a good opportunity for teaching to evolve. Auckland University of Technology vice-chancellor Professor Damon Salesa joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There are now five people dead and 3544 still uncontactable, the majority of which are from Hawke's Bay and Tairāwhiti. With some areas still isolated, many families are yet to connect with loved ones. Police are continuing to search for the unlocated people and Superintendent Jeanette Park joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
NZ Breakers 78 Tasmania Jackjumpers 89 If the New Zealand Breakers are to secure their place in the NBL grand final, they will have to do it on their own court. After claiming first blood in their best-of-three semifinal series against the Tasmania Jackjumpers in Auckland on Sunday, they were unable to close out the series in Hobart on Thursday night, falling 89-78. After holding the Jackjumpers to fewer than 70 points four times this season - including Sunday’s win in game one – the Breakers couldn’t contain the Tasmanian scorers, with Milton Doyle and Jack McVeigh catching fire from three-point range to keep the hosts alive. While they couldn’t close the series out, the Breakers will be buoyed by the increased output of import guard Barry Brown Jr in the game. Nursing an injury to his left hand, the NBL’s sixth man of the year was limited in game one and put up just four shots. He had surpassed that mark in the first quarter in Tasmania. Brown Jr led the way for the Breakers with 19 points, with fellow imports Jarrell Brantley (17) and Dererk Pardon (15 points and 11 rebounds) also having an impact, but it wasn’t enough to see the side through to the grand final on this occasion. Back in their own building, Tasmania looked to have set the tone early with a three-pointer from Doyle, but it ended up being their only basket in the first four minutes of the game as the Breakers made things hard for the Jackjumpers offence despite the hosts securing several offensive rebounds. While their defence was locked in, the Breakers were having just as much trouble getting the ball in the hoop in what was quickly set up to be a gritty affair. Both sides shot the ball terribly in the opening 10 minutes. The Breakers were successful on just five of their 16 attempts in the first quarter, while Tasmania drained eight of 22. The Jackjumpers, however, ended the quarter with an 18-14 lead. It was a different story in the second quarter for both sides. The Breakers were showing patience on attack as the Jackjumpers swarmed to point guard Will McDowell-White as much as possible so he wasn’t able to control the game. Ball movement was key as the Breakers fought their way back into the lead. But just when it looked like they would take some momentum into the break with a three-point lead, a deep buzzer-beater from former Breaker Jarrad Weeks levelled the score at half-time. The third quarter followed a similar pattern. Neither side was able to build much of a lead until late in the third when the Breakers edged out to a five-point advantage. That advantage was subsequently dissolved in the next two possessions, and the Jackjumpers closed out the third on a 9-0 run. It was the beginning of the end of the Breakers. With Tasmania scoring the first points of the fourth quarter as well, the New Zealand side saw their five-point lead turn into a six-point deficit within three minutes. From there, it was all Tasmania. The hosts outscored the Breakers 25-18 in the final period to close out the win and force a deciding game. The sides will now turn their attention to trying to advance in game three of the series, which will be played in Auckland on Sunday. NZ Breakers 78 (Barry Brown Jr 19 points, Jarrell Brantley 17, Dererk Pardon 15) Tasmania Jackjumpers 89 (Milton Doyle 23, Jack McVeigh 16, Matt Kenyon 11) 1Q: 14-18. HT: 42-42. 3Q: 60-64 - Christopher Reive, NZH
One of Metlink's largest bus operators Tranzurban have set the goal to recruit 75 new bus drivers by the end of march. Right now, they are almost half way there, but questions have been asked as to whether this will make the change that is needed in the Wellington bus driver crisis. Greater Wellington Councillor and Transport Committee chair Thomas Nash joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Mike Hosking Breakfast technical producer, Glennzb, and Microsoft's artificial intelligence chat bot, New Bing, got into a heated discussion when Glenn questioned the bot about its true identity. LISTEN ABOVE
The British Government has a new policy around unemployment and it’s the old carrot and stick. There isn't anything new around employment thinking. It’s a combination of rules and incentives, the state of the market place in terms of jobs and the mix of attitude of those looking for work and the amount of assistance the state Government is prepared to offer. In Britain they are cracking down, so you need to meet your welfare officer or get penalised or apply for jobs or get penalised. If you don’t play ball you will lose your benefit. Here, it’s the opposite - if you don’t want to work no one seems to care. The numbers contained in this year's Salvation Army report are heartbreaking. Thousands upon thousands of young people are not only without work, they are not in training, not looking to improve themselves and aren't in education looking to add to their CV's. They are literally doing nothing and for that we support them financially in some cases for years on end. The great crime in that is, 1) they are young and therefore you are robbing them of a future that could be vastly different, and, 2) it comes at a time of extraordinary amounts of work. It would be nice to think you could sort yourself out, that you are self-motivated or someone around you is there to help you on your way. But for clearly too many, that simply isn't their reality. This all resonates with me because the age group we are dealing with are the 15-24-year-olds. That’s the age of all five of our kids. They are all doing their own thing but what we told them as parents was you could do whatever you want, as long as it wasn’t nothing. A couple have been on a specific path for a while and a couple have been working through various options. But at all times they have been busy and earning or studying or training. To not have them do so is an abdication of parental responsibility So why doesn’t the Government take the same view? 19 percent of young people in the Bay of Plenty do nothing, in Northland its 17 percent, Taranaki its 13 percent, Auckland its 11 percent. In total that's 67,000 people with no training, no education and no job. Although we vote for polices that affect us our sense of the economy, health waiting lists etc, tell me how you can vote for a Government that for five years has allowed that number to get where it is, at a time when answers have been so plentiful? If it's irresponsible as a parent, then surely it's as bad for a Government. What Government can justify writing off the next generation by literally doing nothing except handing out money with no expectation of social, moral or economic improvement? Yet, as we say, the numbers don’t lie.
Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon says that she plans to step down after more than eight years in office, amid criticism of her drive to expand transgender rights and her strategy for achieving independence from the United Kingdom. Sturgeon made the announcement during a news conference today at her official residence in Edinburgh, Bute House, saying the decision wasn’t a response to the “latest period of pressure.” But she added that part of serving well was knowing when to make way for someone else. “In my head and in my heart I know that time is now,” she said. “That it’s right for me, for my party and my country.” Sturgeon, 52, has led Scotland since 2014, when Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the United Kingdom. While the referendum was billed as a once-in-a-generation decision on independence, Sturgeon and her Scottish National Party have pushed for a new vote, arguing that Britain’s departure from the European Union had changed the ground rules. The UK government has refused to allow a second referendum. The first female leader of Scotland’s devolved government, Sturgeon said she planned to remain in office until the SNP elects a new leader. Scotland is part of the UK but, like Wales and Northern Ireland, has its own semi-autonomous government with broad powers over areas including health care. Sturgeon’s announcement caught political observers by surprise amid her staunch support for both independence and legislation that would make it easier for people in Scotland to legally change genders. “This is as sudden as Jacinda Ardern … Geez,” tweeted SNP lawmaker Angus MacNeil, referring to the resignation last month of New Zealand’s prime minister. Sturgeon has come under pressure in recent weeks after she pushed her gender recognition bill through the Scottish parliament over the objections of some members of her own party. That raised concerns that Sturgeon’s position on transgender rights could undermine support for independence, the SNP’s overarching goal. Joanna Cherry, an SNP member of Parliament, said the resignation provided an opportunity for the party. “We must restore the SNP’s tradition of internal party democracy, open respectful debate and intellectual rigour and we must also put the welfare of everyone living in Scotland back at the heart of our endeavours,” Cherry said on Twitter. Sturgeon said she had been “wrestling” with whether it was time step down for a number of weeks. She said she wasn’t resigning because of recent criticism, though she acknowledged that the “physical and mental impact” of the job had taken their toll. Sturgeon led Scotland through the coronavirus pandemic and guided her party during three UK-wide elections and two Scottish elections. “If the question is, can I battle on for another few months, then the answer is yes, of course I can,” she said. “But if the question is, can I give this job everything it demands and deserves for another year, let alone for the remainder of this parliamentary term, give it every ounce of energy that it needs in the way that I have strived to do every day for the last eight years, the answer honestly is different.” For the past few months, much of that energy has been focused on a renewed drive for independence and the gender recognition bill, which would allow people aged 16 or older in Scotland to change the gender designations on identity documents by self-declaration, removing the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria. Hailed as a landmark by transgender rights activists, the legislation faced opposition from some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centres. Criticism of the bill increased after reports that a convicted rapist was being held in a women’s prison in Scotland while transitioning. The inmate was transferred to a men’s prison after being assessed by prison authorities. While the Scottish parliament approved the legislati...
Dr Libby Weaver helps a lot of people with the key and magic to a great life in the form of energy, nutrition, stress and general wellbeing. Her latest programme is Shake off Sugar and Dr Libby Weaver joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
After the damage the cyclone has caused, it's clear something needs to be done about our infrastructure. But despite the incoming repair bill of cyclone damages, National are still set on tax cuts. Questions have been asked as to how will we repair and recover if the Government has less revenue coming in. National Party leader Christopher Luxon joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A Southland District Councillor is blaming central Government for the steep 13 percent rates rise being proposed by the council this year. Derek Chamberlain told Mike Hosking the council is being kept busy dealing with central Government problems. LISTEN ABOVE
Before insurance companies were able to get a grasp on the first crazy weather event of the year, we had another one knocking on the door. Cyclone Gabrielle has definitely left her mark and AA Insurance has received more than 2,140 storm related claims so far, with many more expected. AA Insurance spokesperson Simon Hobbs joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Warehouse's introduction of fresh fruit and vegetables to some stores from today is being described as a game-changer. Consumer NZ Chief Executive Jon Duffy told Mike Hosking it will allow the chain to compete against big players in the supermarket industry. “They’ve got stores with large enough capacity to really expand properly into grocery without having to secure sites and build buildings.” LISTEN ABOVE
Authorities are working to restore connections across Hawke's Bay today. The region is grappling with evacuations, widespread power outages, patchy cellphone coverage, numerous road closures and an ongoing water shortage. State Highway 51 between Napier and Hastings has reopened overnight. Emergency Management Group Controller Iain Maxwell told Mike Hosking a flight is on its way to Wairoa with technical communications equipment, and they'll also be sending flights into the rural hinterland. LISTEN ABOVE
Little did I know when I raised the Christopher Luxon issue the other day how quickly the critics would strike. I suggested that Luxon has a few months yet to sort things out in terms of his own personal numbers in the polls before the chatter would start. Because once the chatter starts, it becomes a conversation and once it becomes a conversation it may well become the narrative and once it becomes the narrative, the nervous start to panic. Could Bryce Edwards have been listening? Because, lo-and-behold, he hits the media yesterday with what will be an opening stanza of sorts The headline was that Luxon's leadership is under threat. Is it? From who? Bryce's argument is that National will be desperate to avoid the mess of 2020 where we had Simon Bridges followed by Todd Muller and others and in this statement, he is correct. But we aren't at that point or anywhere close to it. He argues National will currently be working out whether a move needs to be made against Luxon. Really? Are they? He doesn't say what he bases this on. He cites the success of the Andrew Little and Jacinda Ardern switch seven weeks out from polling in 2017, in other words you could put Nicola Willis in and still be in the race. What he forgets is it wasn’t successful. Labour came a distant second and they only got to power because of Winston hating Bill English so he gave Jacinda the nod by default. He says all recent polls have shown support for National declining - on that he is wrong. The Talbot Mills poll four days back, Labour's own pollsters had National on 36% and Labour 33%. So he's not just wrong but given National lead it's hardly reason for a leadership change. He says if by Easter things aren’t better they will need to move on. That’s subjective and he is entitled to his view. His view is also that Hipkins has made an "amazingly successful" start. I'm not sure, because he's made a good start but a lot of it involves weather so it's not really his doing. And in getting rid of policy he thought was brilliant a month back, my thinking is many voters with brains will see through that. But in saying that, this is the narrative Labour will have been praying for. My observation of Bryce over the years is he is like a lot of academics - closer to Labour than the other parties so you might dismiss what he has to say. But what I also know from observation over the years is it doesn’t take much to spark the conversation. And it appears to have started. My thinking is Luxon still has plenty of room to move and time to manoeuvre in. But where Bryce is right; is the clock is ticking. Given the mess that is Labour and the record being as bad as it is, Luxon should be doing better. The ball is in his court.
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
New research has found that a single dose temporary male contraceptive is showing success in mice. By temporarily immobilizing mice sperm it was found to be 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy after two hours and 91 percent affective after the first three. After 24 hours, the mice were returning to normal fertility levels without any negative effects. Study lead Dr. Melanie Balbach joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
An economist is warning that the repair of Cyclone Gabrielle could cost our economy tens of billions of dollars. The flow on effect of repairing damage, along with the country's loss of productivity and further supply chain issues will take it's toll on the economy, putting even more pressure on inflation. Massey University professor in Innovation and Economics Christoph Schumacher joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
By 2026 public cloud services could add $21 billion to the New Zealand economy, along with creating 134,000 jobs. Spending on public cloud services is expected to double in the next five years as businesses realise the technology can cut costs and support growth. Microsoft National Technology Officer Russell Craig joined Mike Hosking to discuss what public cloud services are and why they are expected to pick up so heavily in the next few years. LISTEN ABOVE
225,000 people are currently without power across New Zealand and the widespread damage looks as if it could take a few days to repair. Energy companies are warning people to prepare for significant time without power. Transpower Chief Executive Alison Andrews told Mike Hosking their national network has held up reasonably well, but local networks are more difficult to fix. LISTEN ABOVE
Cyclone Gabrielle is moving offshore, but the danger isn't over in many parts of the North Island. About 25,000 people have now been forced from their homes and about 225,000 are without power and communications. Two people have been confirmed dead in Hawke's Bay and a volunteer firefighter is still missing and another remains in a critical condition in Auckland. More than 200 military personnel are working to get supplies to many communities that have been cut off by the storm. A National State of Emergency is in effect for Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, and the Tararua District. Emergency Management Minister Kieran McAnulty told Mike Hosking he's worried about the situation in Hawke's Bay, particularly in Wairoa. The severe weather has now eased in most parts of the country, but heavy rain could continue in parts of the lower North Island and upper South Island. More large waves are possible in eastern regions. LISTEN ABOVE
Eagle-eared listeners might have picked up yesterday the non-answer from Chris Hipkins over truancy. Yes, an announcement is coming this week, maybe even today, and it’s the return of the truancy officer. Not that we want to call them that, they'll be called something woke. But what he wouldn’t answer was the very simple question - why now? He seems to have discovered since becoming our nation's leader that kids aren't going to school. Or is it that he has discovered since becoming Prime Minister that making an announcement about truancy officers might be smart politics? The point being, and the bit he wouldn’t answer, was none of this is new. He tried to offer Covid as an excuse and it sort of is, but only sort of. Kids haven't been going to school now for years because we have created an environment where it doesn’t matter. The good schools pull their hair out and spend far too much time and resource chasing kids. And for every minute they spend doing that they are distracted from teaching the kids who do turn up. There is a malaise in this country that permeates most aspects of life now and school is just one part. It's laziness, it’s a culture of excuse making be it Covid, cost of living crisis or the weather. If we can close it down, stay in bed or put it off we are in like a robber's dog. It’s a very sad state of affairs. Our education system, as measured by the testing around numeracy and literacy, is appalling. It's embarrassingly appalling and it's hard to learn if you aren't at school. The fact that crime has been allowed to grow under Hipkins' watch, is yet another reminder of the farcical charade the Government are trying to create around his arrival. Most of the crimes, whether economic or social, have been committed in the past five years by him being a senior member of the Jacinda Ardern clique or by him directly as minister. He was Minister of Education; the truancy crisis was overseen by him. It grew under him, he watched it and did nothing and now, magically, come election year an answer he had at his fingertips all along can somehow be produced. It's like the policy dumpster fire last week. It's decent politics and it steals another opposition idea. But the cynicism that drives it is sickening.
Lyttleton residents are complaining the amount of cruise ships coming in are overwhelming the area, with fears of a Starbucks or trinket shop opening in the future. Resident have taken their concerns to the Christchurch City Council’s Banks Peninsula Community Board. Banks Peninsula Community Board member Rueben Davidson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland businesses are wondering when they're going to get a break. Aucklanders are being advised to evacuate if necessary and to expect widespread power cuts today, with the city still expecting to be battered by wind and rain. It comes as the Government announces a $11.5 million funding package aimed at helping those affected by the summer floods. Auckland Business Chamber Chief Executive Simon Bridges says businesses want to get back on their feet, sooner and stronger. He says the Government can't stop the storm, but it can provide information, certainty and support. LISTEN ABOVE
Well it's a combination of the not so perfect storm for avocado growers. Between the fruit getting blown off trees in the wind and the fact that avocado trees do not hold up well in rain, it's not looking good for next years avocado crops. Some growers are saying they expect less than 40 percent of produce to be able to be exported this year. Director of Avos to Go Steve Badger joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Uncertainty about the future of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter looks likely to be resolved, with the owner ready to make a deal on its long-term contract. The smelter, near Bluff, is scheduled to close at the end of next year, after a review by the mining giant owner, Rio Tinto, decided its energy costs made it too expensive to run. Contact Energy CEO Mike Fuge told Mike Hosking discussions have been edging towards getting the owner to commit to staying for at least a decade. He says the goal is for discussions not to continue coming back to the same point. LISTEN ABOVE
Cyclone Gabrielle's impact in the Thames Coromandel region's being described as carnage. District Council Chief Executive, Aileen Lawrie told Mike Hosking there are widespread power outages to about a third of the district. She says there are also mass road closures, with unconfirmed slips on those still open. There are also wide-spread power outages in the Bay of Plenty, with Civil Defence warning it will take some time until repairs can be safely made. LISTEN ABOVE
Officials are considering declaring a national state of emergency -- as Cyclone Gabrielle continues to cause severe weather across the North Island and upper South. In Auckland, a volunteer firefighter is missing and another is in a critical condition in hospital, after an early morning emergency evacuation in Muriwai. In Northland, homes have been evacuated in low-lying parts of Dargaville, following evacuations in Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Gisborne and Hastings. Hawke's Bay is now in a state of emergency, alongside the entire Northland, Auckland, Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne regions. Director of Emergency Management Roger Ball told Mike Hosking the next step is deciding whether a national declaration is needed. There are widespread power outages and road closures across the North Island, with a number of communities cut off. People in affected regions are asked to stay home, avoid travelling, and only call 111 if life and safety is at risk. LISTEN ABOVE
I've been reading about Three Waters over the weekend. It’s a mess. We knew it was a mess but the headline grabbing aspect of the mess is around co-governance and how unpalatable that is to most of us. Willie Jackson said as much last week. The argument has been lost, David Seymour and Christopher Luxon have successfully driven the discussion to a point where the Government doesn’t stand a chance. So Kieran McAnulty is now in charge of, well, no one knows exactly what he is off doing, given he won't talk to us. I assume it's dropping the co-governance part and trying to resurrect the water part. But here's your next big hurdle, and it's what I think most of us haven't understood, who is liable? You know, for the bill. We haven't understood because the question hasn’t been answered until now. But also, I suspect even if it had most of us haven't wandered into the weeds of this thing and got our head around it. Some of the local bodies have, hence they’ve never liked it. And the answer around the liability issue is now to be found in the Water Services Legislation Bill, it was stuck into Parliament just before Christmas. Remember, this whole project is covered by several bits of legislation The answer around liability is another crime in a series of crimes. It'll cost, by Government estimates, up to $180 billion. To borrow that you need some sort of assurance. And this is the rub - the Government wants to stick it on the ratepayer. The Government covers none of it. Think about that. The four water bodies simply tell lenders if it all goes wrong, we will use a property rating mechanism - in other words, you and me. So the council have had their assets taken off them but are then put back on the hook for the debt. And you wonder why councils don’t want a bar of it. That’s before you get to the councils that have already invested in water and carry debt because of it, those councils that don’t actually have water issues at all. What fool unilaterally has their investment and assets removed from them, handed over to a new body, partially or not, we are yet to see, run by Māori and then the debt liability is handed back to you. On top of the fact that the pricing of the project you have no control over. And then you, as the council, are charged with collecting the money from the punter at a price agreed to with the water authority that may or may not suit you. Have you ever seen a more bewildering one-sided cock up of an idea? This alone is every reason you need to get rid of the Government. They're insane.
There are concerns that China could be trying to test America's military reflexes by sending surveillance balloons over North America. US fighter jets have taken down a cylindrical object that stopped over Canada. It follows the recent downing of two other objects off the coast of Alaska and the coast of South Carolina. Otago University international relations expert Robert Patman told Mike Hosking that China may be trying to see what America is capable of. LISTEN ABOVE
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins is urging people not to be complacent when it comes to Cyclone Gabrielle. He says we have to take the red weather warnings seriously. The Government is also preparing to make an announcement about how it plans to tackle a rise in school truancy. Attendance rates have trended down since 2015, but the trend has been accelerating during the pandemic. About 40-percent of parents don't think it's a problem if their children are missing a week of school each term. The Prime Minister says Cabinet is still to sign off a on the final details, but an announcement is definitely on the way. LISTEN ABOVE
The cyclone could have different effects on different regions. Auckland Emergency Management Duty Controller Rachel Kelleher told Mike Hosking that it's an evolving situation. LISTEN ABOVE
All domestic flights and most international flights through Auckland Airport are cancelled. Air New Zealand Chief Executive Greg Foran says that the decision isn't an over-reaction, and was based off official advice and forecasts. LISTEN ABOVE
It hasn’t been a good week for the planet has it? We have found out we are making more single use plastic than ever before. We have found out oil companies are making more money than ever before. If you are a realist, as opposed to an idealist, none of this will have come as a surprise. What drives most of us is convenience. It's why you should never trust polls on matters where the question involves any form of fanciful theory. What we say and what we do are two different things, not always, but generally. It's why the public transport fans have failed so miserably. On a whiteboard it sounds plausible but on any given busy day it's not real, it never has been real and it never will be. The reason the oil accompanies are making so much money is twofold. 1) We need more of it and, 2) the war has pushed the price up. The theory was we would use EV's and batteries and solar and wind and sunflower seeds. But the reality is none of those things are reliable enough or available enough. As they currently stand, they aren't actual answers. They are alternatives of a temporary nature and, given that, there is no point in getting all angsty about profits and wanting to put a windfall tax on them that is talked about. That gesture is driven by our own anger and frustration at being wrong about the future and wrong about our overall intent. It's not BP‘s fault the war started and it’s not BP's fault we all want to use more and more oil. They are only doing what they have always done, which is supply a demand. That is why the whole model hasn’t worked - we keep demanding more. We gave up plastic straws so we could use those new ones that disintegrate in 15 seconds in your glass, convincing ourselves it made a difference. It didn’t. The zealots are asking us to do something we won't do, which is go backwards. Farmers know this. The way to reduce emissions is reduce cows, make less money, eat less meat and do less farming. The oil zealots want us to catch buses that don’t go where we want to go, even if they turn up in the first place. We will not do it and we are not doing it. Our reality, and its smooth operation, will trump ideology every time.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. NZ Rugby: 4/10 There is something that isn't quite right about the way that place operates. There's too many leaks, too much speculation and too much indecision. Waitangi Poll: 8/10 A good reminder of the massive disconnect between the luvvies and the rest of us. 9 percent want the place called Aotearoa, 52 percent like New Zealand. No kidding. The bonfire, the reset, the Hipkins bread and butter circus: 6/10 In the sense it did them no harm and does remove some real potential damage to the economy. But... The politics of it: 4/10 Because it's done for the wrong reasons i.e panic and doesn’t distance them from the real crime of waste. Waste of time, waste of energy. The Breakers: 8/10 A sporting success story in the Australasian setting that has been too long coming. Netflix: 4/10 They've cocked this reset up and we should be insulted we are one of only four countries they are trialling it on. Joe Biden: 6/10 He looked better than he has for a while and it looks like he's running. Zelenskyy: 9/10 In a mess of a world he reminds us of what heroes look like. As one British headline put it from Westminster Hall - he was like a king in front of a bunch of pygmies. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
A technology innovation company are taking ram raid protection into their own hands by 3D printing concrete planter boxes, outdoor furniture and seating. The custom street furniture sits in front of retail stores presenting a hard and solid barrier to deter potential ram raiders. QOROX business development manager Nick Lane joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
It has been a huge turn around season for the Breakers. After being on the road for the last few years, the team have secured a home advantage for the semi-finals on Sunday at Spark Arena. One factor that this season’s success can be put down to is their new coach, who in his first season with the team has taken them from last place to second. Breakers coach Mody Maor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Some Ed Sheeran fans are up in arms, claiming their seats for this weekend's concerts at Auckland's Eden Park have been changed without their permission. Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy told Mike Hosking ticket companies are protected by their terms and conditions. He says if they argue the new seats are actually better, they might not need to compensate people. LISTEN ABOVE
Once again the farmers are saving us. In 2022, New Zealand exported $11.4 billion worth of red meat but the meat industry’s global markets started easing from the end of last year. The largest drop was in the Chinese market, with December exports down by 21 percent and UK exports dropped by 53 percent. Meat Industry Association chief executive Sirma Karapeeva joined Mike Hosking to discuss what we can expect this year. LISTEN ABOVE
Rotorua's Mayor is pushing back on suggestions she's sneaking policy through to give the council more powers. The Rotorua Lakes Council has voted to progress a policy to remove public submissions if they're deemed offensive, discriminatory or irrelevant. The Free Speech Union says it's a clear violation of speech rights, and a breach of the Bill of Rights Act. Mayor Tania Tapsell told Mike Hosking all submissions are still accepted and seen by council. LISTEN ABOVE
It's onwards and upwards for New Zealand's hotel sector. 2023 is off to a good start, with strong-forward bookings and high demand for the rest of the year. The Tourism Export Council forecasts international visitor levels rebounding to around 2.1 million by the end of May and could approach pre-Covid levels mid 2025. Colliers National Director Dean Humphries told Mike Hosking it's a welcome sign off the back of an already strong summer. LISTEN ABOVE
Make no mistake about it, the dumping of the TVNZ/RNZ merger is the dumping of a dumb idea. I told the then Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern that, as she sat in this very studio some years back. I said if you listen to nothing else I say, take it from a person who has been in this game for 40 years - it’s a dumb idea. It will achieve nothing, damage a lot more than it will address and is driven by a mad ideology that we want a BBC-type arrangement that we realistically can never have. The trouble with the announcement is it's not like they’ve realised it's mad, the only thing they have realised is they are going to lose an election. So in a desperate attempt to right the ship they are getting rid of stuff that they think will help their cause. They still think it’s a good idea. If the polls were different they would still be doing it. The part they can't hide from though is the waste. What a waste of time, of energy, of money. Millions spent, consultants galore and the upset and upheaval within the organisations as staff wonder what the hell is happening to their futures. This is the trouble with the state running stuff it really has no idea about. When I first joined Radio NZ in the late 80's and early 90's I was gobsmacked at what a mess the place was. You thought Gliding On was a comedy? It wasn’t, it was a documentary. I re-joined Radio NZ years later and it was a slightly more modern version but still in a world of its own. I have worked for TVNZ several times, under different Governments and different guises. Even the slickest of them doesn’t come close to the professionalism, focus and performance of the media as run by the private sector. So, a year's worth of meetings, debates, spending, inconvenience, wastage and theory - for what? Just to be told we aren't doing that now. And here is the other thing about the scrapping - although it avoids a needless mess, it doesn’t help the Government. The industry will be relieved, but the voter never gave a toss because why would you? This has always been beltway stuff. What we care about is the cost of the mortgage and the price of fruit and vegetables. And on that the Government has lost control. Who runs the six o'clock news has always been irrelevant.
Personally, the best bit of ‘Backdown Wednesday’ was the dumping of the egregious social insurance. It wasn't just another tax from a government that said no new taxes, but a compulsory tax that didn’t serve everyone. Most people didn’t want it and it would have sent all the wrong signals to the job market. If you want insurance to protect income you can get it and you always have been able to. If you don’t want it, making you have it is overreach. Forcing you to have it but then giving you no choice as to who you get it from is limousine left politics at its worst. And that’s before the inflationary impact in a cost-of-living mess, hence it’s gone and we say good riddance. Biofuels? Same thing. Although for the greenies this Government and their record on the environment is not flash. It's a lot of promises, not a lot of delivery. The TVNZ/RNZ merger? It was the dumping of a dumb idea. The hate speech nonsense is mad ideology, filed off to the Law Commission to be buried for years. I take some pride in Three Waters. I said any number of times last year, and indeed the year before, mark my words - Three Waters will not see the light of day and so it has proven to be. Pipes? Sure. Māori? No way. The treaty settlement masquerading as an infrastructure project was a disaster from the start. In totality you can't actually argue with any of it. Why? Because it was all fool hardy, badly thought out, had no buy in and as a result they found themselves entering election year heading for a pasting. The only thing you can worry about is the minimum wage increase. It's yet another boost to the already wildly inflationary environment, yet another cost on business in a market where you can't get labour anyway. I assume on that matter that a major announcement on immigration settings is still to come. Please let that be true. So in totality, this will have done the Government no damage. But what it shows you is an astonishing amount of waste in time and money. Years of productive decision making time wasted. All that effort for no return. It's almost as though they’ve taken these three years and thought that none of it was working, none of it made us popular so it's off. It's brazen, it's transparent, it's desperate. I still think the die is cast, but they will be praying I am wrong.
Christchurch residents could soon face a fine of up to $20,000 for posting junk mail or littering in charity donation boxes. Under the new waste management and minimisation bylaw, the offence of depositing junk mail in any letterbox marked no circulars, could result in the fine. Measures under the bylaw also include the non-collection of kerbside bins if the contents don't comply. Councillor Aaron Keown told Mike Hosking he isn't fully convinced the new rules are necessary. He doesn't see the offence as being a high priority. LISTEN ABOVE
Iconic actress, Pamela Anderson, told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking ahead of the release of her memoir Love, Pamela and her documentary Pamela, a Love Story that was a “relief” to be able to tell her side of a story that has been told by many others over the years. Anderson catapulted onto our screens with Baywatch and Home Improvement and her career has featured more than 25 movies, dozens of TV shows and relationships with the likes of Tommy Lee and Julian Assange. “I never felt like I was ever going to get the chance to do it because I always felt so different, kind of like an observer looking at somebody else’s life and the people that knew me always thought that one day I would tell it how it was. “It’s such a relief. I haven’t been this happy in a long, long time. I feel like the weight of the world is off my shoulders.” Anderson says that while the memoir has taken some time to be finished and released, the timing was fortuitous as her documentary was released at the same time as her book. “I said here’s the keys to the archives, I don’t know what I’ve saved, what’s up there, but I know there’s no dead bodies up there, just have at it and don’t tell me anything, I’ll see it at the premiere.” Anderson told Mike Hosking she wanted to bring the audience along with her and felt not wearing makeup would be the most authentic way to do so. “I just said film it, I don’t care. I’m going to take everything off and I want to go through this journey with people. “If you like me at my worst, you can like me at my best, maybe. I thought I’m just a human being and this is what I look like.”
Love, Pamela is out now. Photo / Supplied
While Pamela is a pop culture icon to many, there are clips in the documentary in which she suffers horrendous treatment at the hands of the likes of David Letterman, but says it was moments like that that have made her who she is today. “I wouldn’t be able to do what I’m doing now,” she says “I wouldn’t be able to write a book, I feel like everything happened for a reason and I don’t feel like a victim at all, I feel like I’ve had this really incredible opportunity now to be who I really am.” It’s this reflection that Anderson says she is grateful for. “I kind of look at myself and think, wow, you got through a lot, I got through a lot of things and to still have joy and love and forgiveness and all of that good stuff.” When Julian Assange, activist and founder of WikiLeaks, was introduced to her the pair struck up a relationship in which Anderson would bring him vegan meals during his time at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. She told Mike Hosking she is saddened by his experience and hopes for a resolution in the form of a pardon by US President Joe Biden. “This psychological torture that he’s going through, it’s a waste of a beautiful mind and I don’t know what’s going to happen, I hope Biden pardons him.” Being 55, single and not knowing what the future holds may be frightening for some, but Anderson says it is liberating. “This is the sexiest time of my life, the most romantic time in my life,’ says “the capacity to be alone is the capacity to love, you have to know how to be alone and how to love yourself.”
Lebron James has taken the crown of NBA’s all-time highest point scorer. With 38,388 total points he has now surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record of 38,387 that he held for nearly four decades. Once again, James has made basketball history. NBA insider and reporter Brett Siegel joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
"It's getting rid of dumb stuff." That's how National Leader Christopher Luxon has described the Government's policy bonfire. He told Mike Hosking it's stuff that shouldn't have happened in the first place. Luxon says it's a stupendous waste of money, time and resources, and he's questioning what the past six years have been about. LISTEN ABOVE
A sociologist says the Law Commission is better placed to work on hate speech legislation, than the Government. The legislation has been thrown on its policy bonfire and is punting the work to the commission instead. Massey University's Paul Spoonley told Mike Hosking some aspect of what was going to Parliament does need another look. But he says this has been on the books for about four years. "The Ministry of Justice had a look twice, the royal commission had some things to say, there were 19,000 submissions on the proposals so there's a lot of water under this bridge." LISTEN ABOVE
There are concerns the hike to minimum wage could be devastating for businesses. The Government has announced the minimum wage will rise by $1.50 to $22.70 from April. Business New Zealand CEO Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking the ability for businesses to pass this cost on is very low. He says if a business has no capital left effectively to pay this, and can't increase prices because then they'll face a decrease in demand, they're in a difficult position. LISTEN ABOVE
Authorities aren't going into detail about exactly how they managed to intercept half a billion dollars worth of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean. The 3.2 tonne discovery is New Zealand's largest ever find by some margin. It's expected to land a major financial blow to the international illicit drug market, with the drug likely being destined for Australia. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Mike Hosking authorities won't say how they were able to find the 81 bales of cocaine. He says they don't want to give too much away about their methods, but it was a multi-agency operation involving a number of countries. LISTEN ABOVE
If and when the new Prime Minister gets around to his bread and butter reset, the work he has to do on Three Waters is going to be something to behold. That’s a genuinely complex issue that either most of us don’t get, or don’t want to - or a combination of the two. And it’s the co-governance aspect of it that kills it. Co-governance is not the way forward in this country, or indeed any country. The line they are now using is the one where we apparently misunderstand what it is. So that’s the part I am most looking forward to - what part of us handing over a chunk of the running of our water, or an entity, or the country, don’t we understand? Earlier they tried the line where they said we already have it, which is true, but that didn’t make it right or any more popular. There are disciples of the idea, the latest of which is the Human Rights Commissioner Meng Foon, who argues we should be grabbing it with both hands and running with it. He was responding to a couple of reports that studied colonisation, racism and white supremacy and decided co-governance is the only way forward. In one of those sweeping statements only a Government operator could muster, Foon said the institutional and interpersonal racism occurring daily in our society represents a clear breach of human and indigenous rights. Really? And what's his answer? Constitutional reform and co-governance. The Waitangi Tribunal, well in excess of 45-years-old now, put out a report into Northland and suggested, among other things, that all crown land in the region be handed back. I am assuming that’s quite a bit of land. And that's why, for all the ground we have made, we have still gone backwards. Because in trying to address past wrongs we have opened ourselves up to the inevitable mission creep. The tribunal is now so activist it's absurd. The only upside is we never gave them actual power outside of recommendation. And the likes of the Human Rights Commissioner have drunk so much Kool Aid they’ve ended up blurting out a volume of extremism we can only laugh or sigh at in dismay. We either move forward or we don’t and Hipkins now has the task of explaining why this level of extremism is; 1) remotely acceptable and, 2) more importantly for him, electorally viable.
After not going ahead last year, the Burt Munro Challenge is set to commence today. Running for 16 years, the annual motorcycle challenge sees bikers compete in a range of racing challenges across Southland. This year they are expecting large crowds of supporters and entrants, along with a higher police presence to monitor gang members at the events. Burt Munro Challenge chair, Craig Hyde joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There has been Opposition outrage at the Government's response to surging retail crime. Police received a record 10,000 incident reports in October last year, while the average in the year to November has almost doubled compared to 2018. National claims the Government's solutions aren't working, suggesting the crime prevention fund has had low business uptake. The party's Police Spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking on Pollies business owners are having to take matters into their own hands. He says people are having to put cages around themselves in order to feel safe in their own shops. LISTEN ABOVE
David Seymour is promising he can form a working Government with National, despite doubting it is much different from Labour. The Act Leader delivered a 'Road to real change' speech in Auckland on Tuesday, claiming there are few differences between the two Chrises vying to be Prime Minister. National is Act's likely coalition partner to form a Government and Seymour says a contingent of Act MPs are needed to keep National honest. He says National's promised certain values, and Act will make sure they live them. LISTEN ABOVE
Relief is on the way to Turkey and Syria after two devastating 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes. More than 6,300 people have died, with the World Health Organisation fearing the death toll could reach 20,000. The US is one of the 70 countries supplying aid, with President Joe Biden promising an immediate response. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking a specialist team from Los Angeles is among their relief being sent in. He says the team have experience with post-quake relief in Mexico and Haiti, and will be on the ground in a few hours. LISTEN ABOVE
Something concrete is on its way about the Government's policy shake-up. It comes after a newly reshuffled Cabinet was asked to take another look at its priorities, in a bid to get back to political basics. The Prime Minister promised a government that’s focused on bread and butter issues. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking there will be some specifics later today. He says they'll be having conversations at Cabinet today about re-prioritisation, and he hopes to share some detail on that afterwards. LISTEN ABOVE
Japanese rugby is set to reap the benefits from this year's All Blacks World Cup exodus. 114-capped Aaron Smith and 112-capped Beauden Barrett will head for the Toyota Verblitz club at the end of the season, where Sir Steve Hansen is the director of rugby. Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains has explained who gains most on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. “They’re both very talented, very knowledgeable, they will help their coaches, they will help their teammates. Look how much stronger Japan is compared to what they were 20 years ago.” NZR and 31-year-old Barrett remain in discussions about a possible return beyond 2024. LISTEN ABOVE
Police are standing by their approach to retail crime in the wake of surging incident reports. They received a record 10,000 reports of retail crime in the month of October last year, and the average in the year to November has almost doubled compared to 2018. But Police say numbers are probably up because they've made it easier for businesses to report incidents. Police Assistant Commissioner Jevon McSkimming told Mike Hosking they're tackling serious incidents well, like ram raids. He says there were more than 900 reported offences last year, and they resolved and prosecuted more than 540 of them. LISTEN ABOVE
New research has found people who have to pay prescription fees are more likely to end up in hospital. A year-long study involving more than 1,000 people shows for every 100 receiving free prescriptions, 33 were admitted to hospital and stayed 208 days. But for every 100 people still paying the charge, 41 were admitted to hospital and stayed 326 days. Pharmacist Din Redzepagic told Mike Hosking if pharmacies waive the $5 prescription payment, they'll see better engagements with patients. He says if patients can't afford the medicine, they won't even start taking it. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the things that may be revealed out of the weather mess is the fact we are woefully underinsured as a country. It's these sorts of things that mark you as first world, or otherwise. One of the most insightful comments made over the summer was from David Seymour who expressed his profound concern that we are dangerously close to losing our first world status. He is right, but sadly it won't be a discussion we have this election year, despite the fact we should. Auckland Airport is a second world mess. Singapore airport, a country that gets monumental amounts of rain every year, climate change or not, does not check bags in by hand because nothing works. Singapore doesn’t have our issues, despite being a small island nation of five million. Singapore has its act together, it’s a sponge city well-built, well thought through, well prepared and very disciplined, people are wealthy, they have savings and lead first world lives. That’s why our news was littered with stories of despair and food help and calls for high trust hand-out programmes. It's why we build on the side of cliffs and on flood zones. We aren't alone - Australia has had similar issues and America is riddled with people with no coverage. But that’s the point, that’s where we are headed. We don’t want to be America where the Government is the insurer of last resort, where your entire future is in the hands of an administration that may or may not help you. That’s why we plan, and yet clearly it turns out in too many areas, we don’t. It is overdue for us to make some big calls around building and location. Hell, up until now we can't even build a half decent house. We are still paying for the seemingly never-ending leaky home debacle. I refuse to believe a lot of the infill nonsense that’s currently being constructed isn't going to end up as a series of slums in a decade. We live next to rivers and hear the tale of despair on the news of the person who hired a rug doctor for the sixth time. Why live there? If we can't get the basics right, and clearly we can't, what hope do we have in making big, bold, futuristic calls on things like build quality, location, planning and insurance. Maybe we will focus a bit more clearly when the insurance premiums arrive and we are shelling out for our lack of foresight. Mind you, you can only focus on that if you get a bill. And that, as we have seen and will see, is a major part of the problem.
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the weekend's sporting news. LISTEN ABOVE
Latest data shows the tourism sector could be short 80,000 staff, an increase of 13,000 more than last year, with some concerned we may be going backwards. National have their own ideas of how we could fix the sector including scrapping the median wage and replacing it with an industry average, making sure key tourism roles have a pathway to residence, and processing work visas faster. But what does the industry think we need to do? Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief executive Rebecca Ingram joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Despite government efforts to reduce single use plastics, we are producing record amounts of plastic waste worldwide. In 2021, we produced 139 million metric tons, 6 million metric tons more than 2019. You may find it hard to get a plastic straw and we all use reusable bags at the supermarket, but some are suggesting efforts are futile without everyone getting on board. Plastics NZ CEO Rachel Barker joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for New Zealand to join in Australia in a major shakeup for local film and television production. From mid-2024, streaming services like Netflix, Disney and Amazon will be forced to reinvest 20 percent of their revenue back into the local market. This in turn could also see the companies produce a certain quota of domestic content. Directors and Editors Guild executive director Tui Ruwhiu told Mike Hosking it's been raised in various meetings at different levels. He says it'll be difficult to implement here because of general agreement of trade and tariffs in the World Trade Organisation we're signed up to. LISTEN ABOVE
National is concerned rising court delays aren't being taken seriously by the Government. Data from October shows family court applications older than two years, have more-than doubled since 2017. Opposition Courts spokesperson Chris Penk told Mike Hosking it hasn't been a priority, according to the ministerial diary of former Courts Minister Aupito William Sio. He says in three months, he spent less than ten hours on the issue. The Justice Ministry says they're trying to work through the backlog which Covid has been responsible for. LISTEN ABOVE
501 deportees will be a hot topic when Chris Hipkins visits Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Today's one day trip to Canberra will be his first trip overseas as Prime Minister, the two have already spoken over the phone. There have been notable changes to 501s under Albanese, with time spent living in Australia now a big factor when cancelling a visa. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls told Mike Hosking Australia hasn't publicised the issue, even under Scott Morrison. He says Australia has dealt with it in a quiet and roundabout way, because it's not very palatable on a political level. LISTEN ABOVE
So Wayne Brown took some heat this week. Wayne is Auckland's mayor and Wayne wasn’t up to much, apparently, when he should have been last Friday. He has since apologised, called a review and rung the Herald to tell them not to “f “ him over. My observation of the week is a lot of people didn’t really perform the way they should have. But as I have said several times this week, I wasn’t expecting them to. This country has been littered over the years with various disasters that weren't dealt to properly because the people who frequent the emergency and civil defence offices are fairly mediocre. You can add the Ministry of Education in this time around. Blame Wayne all you want but their performance was spectacular in its level of incompetence. The trouble with Wayne, like most stories, is blame can be shared about a bit. Wayne is a cantankerous old sod who doesn’t suffer fools. But here's the thing - we knew that. I think I might have had the advantage over many who got all agitated, given I wasn’t expecting much from anyone, I wasn’t disappointed. You see, you can't have it both ways. You can't ignore local body politics the way most people do and then get grumpy when they don’t perform, it's a two-way street. Wayne won an election and he won it by a lot. He has a mandate and to this point he is operating to form. Which brings us to the media. He doesn’t like the media and the media don’t like him. Add also the fact the media in general take themselves too seriously. So when he calls them drongos, 1) he is right but, 2) they shouldn’t get so tetchy about it. Wayne isn't setting the world on fire but equally there is no doubt in my mind the media are out to get Wayne because they wanted Efeso Collins to win and they can't believe the rest of the world doesn’t think like they do. And on that point, Wayne is in fact right. He won, he has a mandate and he's got three years. He doesn’t have to resign and he doesn’t have to give interviews. The ultimate test of that approach will come in 2025 and it's called democracy. Which brings us back to the start of this - if we all actually participated in democracy a bit better this whole week might have been a lot different.
Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined Mike Hosking to wrap the week that was. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Auckland Transport: 2/10 In a week in which a lot of people looked exceedingly ordinary Auckland Transport was as good as it got with its "Drive to Elton" campaign. Wayne "Drongo" Brown: 4/10 I don’t think anyone, not even Wayne, thinks it went well this week. The media's obsession with Wayne: 4/10 It’s a bit obvious that they hate him because he beat their mate Efeso Collins and he won’t kowtow to their every whim. Inflation: 4/10 7.2 percent isn’t the answer. Not going down at all isn't the answer - a lot of the world is now dropping so why aren't we? Chris Hipkins: 7/10 One week in he's basically done nothing wrong. Got a poll bounce and handed out more free money. The Women's FIFA World Cup: 3/10 If the Saudi's are confirmed, this is a mess. We can't on one hand be all high and mighty over human rights, while at the same time turning a blind eye as host, while pocketing the cash and pretending it’s got nothing to do with us. Polls: 8/10 We love polls and we've had a couple this week, including the media merger one that has hardly anyone supporting the idea. And thus exposing the other poll from the public media wonks who insisted there was a pile of support. Not all polls are created equal. Penny Wong: 1/10 Goes to Britain to tell them to address their colonial past. There is nothing worse than a condescending, limousine lefty from the colonies telling you how to run your country. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Queen Elizabeth’s face will no longer appear on Australia’s $5 note and will not be replaced by King Charles'. The new bill will feature an Indigenous Australian design and was the last note that had any sign of monarchy. Head of the Australian Republican Movement Peter Fitzsimons joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Light rail may be set to join the list of incomplete Labour party projects. Right next to the abandoned Harbour Bridge cycle way, the axed four lane highways and Kiwibuild. $72 million has already been spent on light rail, but as part of the Government's refocus, the project is under review. National Party spokesperson for Transport Simeon Brown joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Greens' co-leader James Shaw is planning to put his time into New Zealand's climate change response, not the Wellington Central electorate seat. He's decided not to contest the seat that he's run in since 2011. Instead he's nominated Wellington City Councillor Tamatha Paul for the role. Shaw told Mike Hosking he still wants to continue as climate change minister. He says the flooding in Auckland suggests that job should continue to scale up, so that's what he wants to focus on. LISTEN ABOVE
An unclear picture is being painted of the level of need in our health system. An editorial in the latest Medical Journal raises questions about why we're not appropriately measuring Unmet Secondary Elective Healthcare Need, otherwise known as non-urgent hospital treatment. Otago Business School Dean, Professor Robin Gauld told Mike Hosking they've done some work towards what officials would find if they did measure it. He says based on a small study they did of GPs, probably at least ten percent of the population would have some kind of unmet need. LISTEN ABOVE
An economic consultancy group says a recession is inevitable. That's despite Finance Minister Grant Robertson saying it isn't a foregone conclusion. Infometrics says while recent GDP growth was higher than expected, it probably won't continue as sectors like construction slow down. Chief Forecaster Gareth Kiernan says it will also lead to job losses. He expects the unemployment rate to hit 4.3 percent by the end of the year. LISTEN ABOVE
A new report from Westpac shows tough times ahead for the building industry. The figures show construction demand will fall due to cheaper house prices and rising interest rates. The slowdown has already started in the North Island, where new stats show a decline in building consents being issued Naylor Love Chief Executive Rick Herd told Mike Hosking Westpac might have even been a little optimistic. He says there's a drop back in supply requirements from the residential sector, as well as tradespeople from the sector looking for work. LISTEN ABOVE
Let me pose this one for Labour party fans. So far this week we have a poll bounce, let's assume it's real. Let's assume it sticks, which means the race is on and it's tight. Also this week we have the IMF who have increased the global forecast. So the end times are not coming. In fact, a recession will be avoided. Europe won't go into recession as a bloc and Germany says they individually are not going into recession. The only country that is, is Britain and it's their link to us that makes this scenario either real or a disaster for Labour here. Globally there is a sense the worst of the inflation is behind us. Not here yet at 7.2 percent, it stalled at what might be a peak but it’s not dropping like it is elsewhere. But unemployment was up a bit yesterday and spending was down in December. The message has been received, the brakes are on, the lesson is being learned and there is hope that better days might be ahead. What if we don’t go into recession? Recessions kill governments and they especially kill them in election year. What if Labour avoids that? Yesterday the new Prime Minister hands out more largesse, more cheap subsidised petrol. No, it’s not sensible or fiscally prudent and, yes, it adds to inflation. But look at the polls. Labour has support. Why? Because increasing numbers of us are beholden to them paying us to like them. And it works. So that means more money, no recession and a bounce in the polls. Is this the escape route for Labour, is this the turnaround they had hoped for, the electoral miracle they had prayed for? And if so, what do National do to counter it? Their main weapon, saying that ”things are disastrous” no longer rings as true. But, and here is the link to Britain, countries that borrowed most during the pandemic hurt the most now. Yes they all have their individual stories but no one borrowed more than us per head apart from America. And Britain joins us in the top three for printers, borrowers and spenders. So - what if the world comes out the other side but we are left in recession with the likes of Britain? Just us, the mad money printers. Well then the deal is off. But - for now in early February, with the polls, the cheap petrol and a bit of global hope - well that’s a race that’s getting more interesting by the day, isn't it.
British trade unions have come out in force for the country's biggest strike since 2011. An estimated half a million workers including teachers, university staff and train drivers went on pay strike yesterday as the UK battles a cost of living crisis. Union bosses argue proposed Government pay rise offers don't keep up with inflation, which is at its highest in 40 years. UK correspondent Rod Liddle suggested to Mike Hosking there's more than one motivation for the strikes. He says people are feeling the pressure, but a lot of this is down to people hating the Conservative-led government. LISTEN ABOVE
The proof in the pudding that if you hand out free stuff people become addicted, is to be found in the already alarming concerns being expressed as to how life will continue at the end of this month, and then again, at the end of March when the fuel subsidies come off. The warning is already out from the transport people over the price of everything that’s transported, which is, well, basically everything. Costs will have to be passed on - it's the phrase of the age. It was always going to be that way even though petrol is cheaper now than it has been - oil is at $85 or so a barrel. Just before the war in Ukraine started, it was about $96 and it got up to about $139. Just before that peak, in a show of political opportunism, the Government took yet more money it didn’t have and pretended it was a free lunch. It wasn’t. It couldn’t last, it didn’t last, and it is almost over. But, like crack, we are hooked and can't see how it is possible to pay the real world price despite the real world price now being lower than the real world price was before the war. In fact, if the Government had been honest they would have charted the reason for the subsidy and suggested when oil dropped, which it was always going to, they would bail. But they didn’t, so they had to make it up. That’s why they extended it, but even they worked out finally it was unsustainable. Of course they've also set a precedent. Do we now get cheap petrol every time oil spikes? And if not, why not? We do of course still have a cost of living crisis, which the subsidy was supposed to offset. But as the figures have shown at 7.2 percent, it is clear we don’t have the slightest idea how to reduce inflation and giving out subsidised stuff so that costs can be passed on only leads to more and more inflation. Which leads to us asking for pay rises, which leads to more inflation and so it goes. The only way out of inflation is to bite the bullet and soak up some pain. But Governments aren't into that, especially in election year, and we aren't into it any year. Especially if we can simply cry that we are poor and we'll pass the cost on anyway. False economics aren't hard to understand, but they are dangerous to dabble in and almost impossible to get out of.
Time now for a song and a chat with one of our favourite musicians in the country. When we last spoke to country pop singer Kaylee Bell she was about to release her new album Silver Linings. She's been the most streamed female country artist in Australasia for the last four years, she was on The Voice Australia where she performed her song Keith to Keith Urban and she's performing award-winning songs with artists across the ditch.
Ed Sheeran's opening act for his NZ tour, Kaylee Bell says the pop superstar is one of the greatest human's she's met. Bell told Mike Hosking Sheeran has been a big help to her while on tour. She says he's spent a lot of time with her and her band mates, which goes a long way. LISTEN ABOVE
This year’s Women's FIFA Football World Cup has reports of a Saudi Arabian sponsorship. Saudi Arabia has a well publicised history of oppression of woman, so the desire to sponsor a women's football competition has come as a bit of a shock to some. University of Auckland senior lecturer of Sports Marketing Marilyn Giroux joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Unemployment remains at a record low of 3.4 percent and wages are continuing to rise. In the December quarter all salary and wage rates increased 4.1 percent, and in the private sector wages rose 4.3 percent. The labour market seems to remain tight, with low employment and high wages adding to cost pressures. Investment strategist and economist at Jarden, John Carran, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is defending the decision to extend the fuel tax subsidy. Chris Hipkins has announced the 25 cent fuel tax cuts, and half-price public transport will now run until the end of June. Robertson said in December running it past the original March date wasn't sustainable, but that changed with Hipkins' succession. He told Mike Hosking Hipkins wanting the cost of living at the top of the agenda was one of those factors. Robertson says the policy has worked and therefore that was the policy they chose to extend to keep their cost of living focus front and centre. LISTEN ABOVE
Wellington's local economy looks to be the big winners from Ed Sheeran's concert tonight. The pop superstar is playing to a crowd of 48,000 at Sky Stadium, the largest single day event for the venue. He's also playing two shows at Auckland's Eden Park next week. Wellington NZ General Manager Warrick Dent told Mike Hosking 35 percent of the people coming to the show are from outside of the capital. He says they're coming into the region which includes eating, drinking and shopping, giving businesses a real boost. LISTEN ABOVE
The fuel tax subsidy extension has alleviated fears from the trucking sector. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins yesterday announced the fuel price subsidy, and half-priced public transport fares will be extended until the end of June. The extension, originally due to end in March, is estimated to cost $718 million. Prior to the extension, trucking groups said that had it ended in March, consumers would eventually end up having to pay more for freight costs. Gull general manager Dave Bodger told Mike Hosking those fears are unfortunately realistic. He says fuel is a major component of heavy transport, and they do need to pass fuel prices on. LISTEN ABOVE
New figures are laying bare the failings of Oranga Tamariki. The Independent Children's Monitor has found the agency is placing a third of children into care, before completing caregiver assessments. Social workers are only making 29 percent of their planned visits to children in care. Executive Director Arran Jones told Mike Hosking these children come into care because their home life is unstable. He says they've been removed from their family to keep them safe, so important these standards are met, so they can have a better quality of life. LISTEN ABOVE
If you are looking for work, there is still one job left at the highest level of the Three Waters structure. They have announced they have appointed three of the four chief executives to lead what they have gloriously called Entity A, Entity B and you can guess the rest. Here are several questions for you: Who in their right mind would want to work for Three Waters? In signing on now, do you even know you will ever actually start your job, given there is officially, as we sit here today, no Three Waters? What happens if Three Waters never starts and what happens when the Government lose the election and Three Waters is unwound? The answer, I suspect, is a pay out. In the mean time, if you're one of the four you get to join the transition authority. How fun does that sound? Does this announcement of new CEOs indicate that the much hyped, vaunted and touted Chris Hipkins' "bread and butter reset" is not going to include Three Waters as has been suggested by many, if not most. And if it doesn’t, does that not mean that the so called reset to try and get Labour into some sort of competitive form for the election is largely pointless, because one of the most contentious and radically, if not racially driven, ideas in many a long year will carry on as per normal? It does lead to the very important overarching question around needless spending, not to mention time and energy. If you aren't doing something, how much of the aforementioned do you waste before you wake up? The media merger, which we all agree appears dead in the water, must have run up hundreds of millions by now in groups and committees and explorations and consultants. Some consultants for it are on $9000 a day. For what? Something that isn't happening? In the Three Waters case we have offices rented out and kitted out, we have staff on boards and the bills are being paid for God knows what. I haven't even got to the $44 million in fees so far for the Auckland light rail that has yet to lay a single centimetre of track, despite the promise to have the whole thing finished two years ago. In a cost of living crisis, does none of this not concern us? Are there not better uses for the money? Is it not a lesson in working out what you want to do, how you want to do it and how determined you are to actually deliver, before you open the wallet filled with money you don’t actually have anyway? I just don’t see how a bloke, and they are all blokes, can take a job that doesn’t exist, in an entity that may never exist, accepting tax payers dollars - to twiddle your thumbs in a transition group going potentially nowhere.
Simon Bridges is calling on the new Minister of Auckland, to listen to the concerns of businesses in our largest city. Mount Roskill MP Michael Wood is taking on the new portfolio. The senior minister was previously an Auckland Council local board member, and is the husband of an Auckland councillor. Auckland Business Chamber Chief Executive and former National Leader Simon Bridges told Mike Hosking Wood needs to consult with business leaders. He says the role involves being serious about issues like crime and getting people around, and if he's pragmatic about those issues, he'll succeed. LISTEN ABOVE
Principals are welcoming the appointment of one of their own, to the role of Minister of Education. Jan Tinnetti is replacing Chris Hipkins in the portfolio. The former Associate Education Minister has decades of experience as a teacher and principal in Tauranga. Principals' Federation President Leanne Otene told Mike Hosking she's a great appointment. She says Tinetti has a deep understanding of special education, and is aware that support systems need to be strengthened. LISTEN ABOVE
Airlines will working to clear the backlog at Auckland Airport as quickly as possible. Air New Zealand Chief Customer and Sales Officer Leanne Geraghty told Mike Hosking the national carrier is making good progress. “What we have moved to now is actually the second layer of the response which is to bring people forward onto new flights.” LISTEN ABOVE
Aucklanders are being warned to remain alert for ongoing dangers, as this morning's heavy rain starts to ease. Red and Orange Heavy Rain Warnings remain in effect for Auckland, Great Barrier Island, the Coromandel Peninsula, the Bay of Plenty, and the northern Gisborne District. Auckland and Northland remain in a state of emergency, with emergency services receiving dozens of calls for assistance. The Northern Motorway between Esmonde and Northcote has reopened following flooding, but Western train lines won't be running until further notice. Auckland Emergency Management Duty Controller Rachel Kelleher says the situation has ramped up in the past few hours. She says there is surface flooding, downed trees and road closures across the city, and people should avoid driving if they can. LISTEN ABOVE
The new Minister of Health is keen to reduce hospital waiting lists. Ayesha Verrall is taking over the portfolio previously held by Andrew Little. Latest figures from the national health agency, Te Whatu Ora, show about 30,000 people were overdue elective surgery at the end of October. Verrall told Mike Hosking she'll be going back to the taskforce Little set up to investigate the issue. She says the taskforce made 100 recommendations, and she'll be holding Te Whatu Ora to task to see progress. LISTEN ABOVE
Brace for turn-around in the labour market. Stats NZ is due reveal announce the latest official unemployment rate later this morning. Some economists expect it remain unchanged, while some expect to it drop to a new record low. But ANZ Economist Finn Robinson told Mike Hosking it won't necessarily reflect what will happen over the coming year. He says there will likely be a softening of the labour market this year, with today's data reflecting the market's strength in the last year. LISTEN ABOVE
To be honest, there are a lot of other things I want to be talking about, and we will try and get to them all later. But the Auckland mess, which may or may not be a bigger mess as of today or tomorrow, depending on the forecast, and its accuracy is starting to take on a life of its own. Schools are closed until next week - is that an overreaction? We have any number of inquiries and apologies from a slew of people and agencies - is that an overreaction? I got a screaming alarm on my phone Sunday night warning me about weather that, as it turned out, didn’t happen - was that an overreaction? Just for the record, especially for those of you outside of the Auckland region, Friday night was a big event, a lot of people got affected, a lot of claims will be lodged, a lot of money will be paid out. A lot of hours have, and will go into, cleaning up. It wasn’t just Auckland of course, it was Northland and also Coromandel, evens parts of the central North Island. But in that small detail is part of the issue. Because too much of the media is based in Auckland it gets disproportionate coverage. Yes it was bad but most of it got sorted a couple of days ago. The local mall yesterday was flat out like it is on any long weekend day with shoppers, browsers, lunchers - life was normal. Life for the vast, vast majority of people is normal. It's not to dismiss the carnage. But given the political turn of events, someone has to provide a bit of perspective. Agencies didn’t do their jobs but were they ever going to? Government and local agencies tend to be useless. Auckland Transport told you to drive to Elton John for God sake. They're useless! Waka Kotahi went home mid crisis, until a minister stepped in. The Auckland mayor may or may not have been M.I.A, the MetService didn’t call the water volumes and emergency management were God knows where. But that’s what you get from the mediocrity that passes for leadership these days. This isn't the first time a weather or natural emergency has been badly handled and it won't be the last. You get two reactions from them; either it's nothing, and when you get nothing you get the second reaction; anger. Anger bubbles up, then panic, which is what we are now witnessing, schools closed, city shut down. Arse covering all over the place. The second reaction isn't justified but is offered up to make up for the first reaction. One of the bigger mistakes those who are upset made was expecting more from a bunch of middle managers and clipboarders.
It's fair to say it's been a tumultuous first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency. What started with approval ratings in the 50s with an economy on the rise turned into record high fuel prices and inflation, withdrawal from Afghanistan, a Republican power grab in the midterms that semi-worked and the majority of his party's independents not wanting him to go for a second term. No one may have more of an insight into it all than Chris Whipple, a journalist of more than 40 years and a NY Times bestselling author. He's just written his new book, The Fight of his Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House on the transition from Trump and the presidency so far. Chris Whipple joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There would have been a sigh of relief last night. Not just from the Labour Party, but in the two newsrooms who put the polls out. It's rare two polls come out on the same day, and last time it happened they didn’t match, and therefore you had no idea who was accurate or not. The two this week show pretty much the same thing - Labour get the predictable bump from a leadership change, which although it was more likely than not it wasn't a forgone conclusion, so they will be happy. But it does give an insight into just how toxic Jacinda Ardern had become. In one poll, it's a sort of tie, a hung parliament. In the other, it’s also a tie with the balance held potentially by the Māori Party. Overall it shows you can safely say it's tight. You can bring history in if you want - no Government in the modern era has changed leaders and gone on to win an election. And I don’t think by the time we get to October that’s going to change. But polls are life and Labour have got a hit of oxygen that they so desperately needed. There is another crack today with the cabinet reshuffle, not that that will change anything. The media will wander through the entrails but cabinets and their make-ups are belt way affairs. No one in the real world cares who the Minister of Internal Affairs is or what number in the pecking order they are. And here is the really important thing once the flood waters get mopped up and we all get back to work for the year - the economy. It's in real trouble and that's what makes or breaks Governments. You might not like a media merger and the Government will scuttle that, but that was never swinging a vote. A new leader is window dressing but we get over that quickly and given Hipkins has been as involved with every Govt decision as anyone, a small bump in the opening poll reflects the change as good as a holiday vibe. It's not a profound shift from the stuff that’s got his party in the mess it has, and our country in the quagmire it is. For National it's far from a foregone conclusion and Luxon has a lot of credibility work to do. But this Government stunk pre-Christmas and even last night shows they still have poll trouble. This is a Government on its way out and a leader who is caretaker, at best.
How does a glass of wine with a side of altitude sound? Kiwi wine company Invivo are offering a chartered wine flight from Auckland to Queenstown. While in the air, guests will enjoy a tasting onboard before the decent into Queenstown where they will go on a vineyard tour, setting passengers back $1,149 per person. Invivo founder Tim Lightbourne joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Schools and tertiary institutions across Auckland have been told not hold in-person classes this week. Auckland Primary Principals' Association Vice President Kyle Brewerton says told Mike Hosking while the directive was last minute, it makes sense. “You’ve still got a huge number of roads and infrastructure that is needing sorting, then we need to give time and space for that to happen without any sort of hindrance.” LISTEN ABOVE
Christopher Luxon isn't too worried about Labour's latest uptick in the polls. Two new polls, released last night, show support for Labour has surged since Chris Hipkins took over from Jacinda Ardern as leader. In both polls, Labour is up about five points to 38 percent, and National is trailing by about one point. The National leader told Mike Hosking the scale of the poll change is a bit unexpected, but nothing has changed fundamentally in their approach. LISTEN ABOVE
Just as building supply demand was heading back towards normal, more than 9000 insurance claims have now been made following the Auckland flooding, a large proportion of which will be for building repairs. The building sector is already stretched and there are concerns as to whether we have capacity to handle more. Chairperson of the Combined Building Supplies co-op Carl Taylor joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Some MPs will be getting a promotion when Chris Hipkins unveils his Cabinet reshuffle this afternoon. Senior Political Correspondent Barry Soper says Hipkins will keep Grant Robertson in Finance, and Andrew Little is determined to keep Health. But he told Mike Hosking some new faces will also pick up portfolios, like Chief Whip Duncan Webb. He says Webb could be given the Conservation role, and Deborah Russell is also in the mix for a new role. LISTEN ABOVE
Aucklanders are being warned to remain cautious and prepared, ahead of another onslaught of heavy rain. Red Heavy Rain Warnings are now in effect, for dangerous heavy rain in Northland and northern Auckland from this morning, and the Coromandel Peninsula from this evening. Orange Heavy Rain Warnings have been issued for the rest of Auckland and Bay of Plenty. Auckland is still under a state of emergency, with 77 homes red-stickered and about 5,000 others yet to be assessed. National Emergency Management Agency Director Roger Ball told Mike Hosking the rain is likely to impact people who are already badly affected. LISTEN ABOVE
The ashes of five New Zealanders —and 42 others— are about to be blasted off into space. New Zealand start-up Stardust Me has sold spaces on one of Elon Musk's Space-X rockets for families who want to send their loved one's ashes into the stratosphere. The rocket was due to take-off this morning, but it's now been delayed until tonight. Co-founder Stu Potter says that the ashes are being put into space-engineered tokens that orbit Earth for the life-cycle of a satellite. LISTEN ABOVE
Time now for Chris Hipkins to show us what he's made of. He's done what was required of him and showed up in Auckland over the weekend, now his role is to butt out and leave the rest of the job to the people who know what they're doing. What the Prime Minister has to get stuck into now is the more serious business of getting the country back on track. Or as he'll see it, getting Labour back on track to give it a fighting chance at the election in October. And how does he do that? Well, one thing his predecessor just couldn't accept was how deeply unpopular Three Waters is. Not just for the stealing of local assets, not even for the creation of four massive new bureaucracies and the crap that'll come with them. But mostly with co-governance. Unelected people calling the shots, accountable to no-one. It's just not the way you do things in a democracy. I think people now know that putting Three Waters on the back burner doesn't go anywhere near far enough. He needs to draw a definitive line under what's already been done. No more until the whole thing can be taken back and rewritten. Maybe just scrapping it all would be a better idea. The media merger. People see that as an effort to gag state media and use funding tools to whip it into compliance. Drop it. Something else you don't do in the middle of a cost of living crisis is slap an extra tax on people and businesses. So the unemployment insurance scheme has to go. And much as it'll stick in the throat of a lot of Labour's current caucus, he has to demonstrate he's heard what he was told by business leaders. They need workers and if our own people don't want the jobs? Let business get people who do want them in from overseas. Oh and one more thing: Sack the Health Minister please.
Auckland's Mayor was on a hiding to nothing with Friday's freak weather event. He's copped criticism from a lot of quarters over the timing of the emergency declaration, but Wayne Brown insists it wouldn't have been appropriate for him to do anything sooner than he did. “This is a formal process," he said. "It's not to be taken lightly, I've listened to the professionals in the field." And then he went on to say that as soon as he was given the go-ahead, he did so. That was never going to be good enough for the pack of growling hounds at the media conference on Saturday. They were feral, baying for blood, shouting over each other to get the same dig in... There was a whiff of pack mentality to it all. Brown looked like a possum in the headlights and the reporters mowed him down with a truck and trailer unit. No sign of his media team. He could perhaps have helped himself if he'd learned the names of the FENZ commander and the Civil Defence controller. The rushing out with buckets comment was a bit off, and the Wellington earthquake remark? Dumb. Thing is: Mister Brown might not have been able to foresee Auckland's worst weather on record, but his BS, sorry PR experts could have foreseen the ugliness of a hungry team of reporters, grumpy at having to work on a holiday weekend. He hasn't endeared himself to the media by turning down so many interview requests. And he comes across a little taciturn in front of a camera. Even a touch grumpy. But the way I see it, he's been made a scapegoat. And if other departments and organisations dropped the ball? Have a crack at them. Disclaimer: I've never met the Mayor. I have no skin in this game, and I'm definitely not looking for a job at the Council. But were the emergency responders hampered in any way? No. And would the rain have stopped, just because the Mayor signed a bit of paper? Of course not.
The weather danger certainly isn't over yet in Auckland. Our largest city remains in a state of emergency this morning after another night of heavy rain and more on the way. Four homes in the west Auckland suburb of Titirangi have been evacuated due to further slips, and fire crews have been been busy with about 30 rescues and call-outs overnight. About 45 arterial routes and local roads are closed, and at least 30 homes have been red-stickered. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins —who has been in Auckland surveying the damage— says that the severe weather has created unexpected and unforeseen challenges, but people have come together to support one another. Much of Northland, Auckland, Waikato, the Coromandel Peninsula, and Bay of Plenty are also affected by flooding and ongoing heavy rain. A state of emergency remains in place for the Waitomo District. LISTEN ABOVE
Metereologists say the severe weather is being caused by an "atmospheric river". NIWA Principal Scientist Chris Brandolino told Tim Dower that that "river" is actually a high mass of moisture in the air, stretching all the way to New Caledonia. LISTEN ABOVE
The evacuations are continuing in Auckland after another night of heavy rain. Auckland remains in a state of emergency, with an Orange Heavy Rain Warning and Heavy Thunderstorm Warning still in effect. Fire crews have been been busy with about 30 rescues and call-outs overnight, and four homes in the west Auckland suburb of Titirangi have been evacuated due to further slips. At least 30 homes have been red-stickered, and about 45 arterial routes and local roads are closed across the region. Auckland Deputy Mayor Desley Simpson says that it's not getting any better. Heavy rain is also battering Northland this morning. Northland Civil Defence is urging people to remain alert for flooding. LISTEN ABOVE
The Waihou River has burst its banks north of Te Aroha, blocking State Highway 26. And in the Coromandel Peninsula, people are being urged to stay off the roads until further notice, with extensive road closures in effect. State Highway 25 is closed between Coromandel Town and Whitianga. And Thames Coromandel Mayor Len Salt told Tim Dower that State Highway 25A between Kopu to Hikuai is likely to be closed for months, after being effectively destroyed by a significant slip. LISTEN ABOVE
Rising crime may be prompting more people to pack up and leave Auckland. Latest Trade Me rental stats suggest the exodus from Auckland is continuing, with rents in other regions rising at a much faster rate. Keeley Anderson from Queenstown's Tall Poppy Real Estate says she's dealing with people who want to move to small communities, where crime is less common and is dealt with faster. LISTEN ABOVE
Sir Elton John wowed a sell-out crowd in Christchurch this week and tonight and tomorrow will be his last ever Auckland shows. Mt Smart Stadium is the venue for the two Farewell Yellow Brick Road shows. Auckland Transport is urging people drive to the concerts tonight and tomorrow, due to the shortage of public transport services. Wet and windy weather is also forecast for both nights. Sir Elton's tour manager DC Parmet told Tim Dower no matter what happens, the Rocket Man is determined to put on a show. LISTEN ABOVE
Controversial plans to build a new airport in Central Otago is coming under further scrutiny. Eleven academics have penned an open latter against Christchurch Airport's plans to build an international airport on 750 hectares in Tarras. They've joined the growing opposition from local residents. Otago University tourism expert James Higham who brought the academics together told Tim Dower the airport would also completely change the face of Central Otago. He says it also contradicts all sorts of other regional, national and global imperatives to decarbonise. LISTEN ABOVE
Divided opinion, over whether the Government should be increasing the minimum wage. The number of people seeking help for financial hardship has been surging, as inflation remains at historic highs. First Union's Edward Millar told Tim Dower now is the time to raise the minimum wage up to the level of the living wage. LISTEN ABOVE
Divided opinion, over whether the Government should be increasing the minimum wage. The number of people seeking help for financial hardship has been surging, as inflation remains at historic highs. First Union's Edward Millar told Tim Dower now is the time to raise the minimum wage up to the level of the living wage. However, National says increasing the minimum wage would add to inflationary pressure. And Act Leader David Seymour told Tim Dower those on the minimum wage often aren't those most in need. LISTEN ABOVE
High praise for our new Prime Minister from the head of largest our bank. Chris Hipkins has been meeting with business leaders in Auckland, on his first full day on the job. The leaders have outlined their concerns about economic uncertainty, worker shortages, and controversial Government projects. ANZ Chief Executive Antonia Watson told Tim Dower there was a detailed discussion about immigration - including how the countries we're competing with have clearer residence pathways. She says they also talked about how to get more people in education, employment and training, and make the most of the domestic workforce. Hipkins meets with ministers today, ahead of an expected Cabinet reshuffle on Monday. LISTEN ABOVE
A week after Jacinda Ardern shocked the nation with her announcement she would be resigning her post as Prime Minister, her former deputy Grant Robertson has said he is pleased he did not have to put his name forward. Robertson was initially tipped by many as an obvious replacement for Ardern, having contested the leadership twice previously and serving as her deputy and Finance Minister. "I have been up close to the job of prime minister over the last five years and I know it's a step up," he told Tim Dower on Newstalk ZB. "Actually, I reckon it would have been a bit dishonest of me if I'd gone for it because it's a job you have to have one hundred percent desire to do," Robertson said. Chris Hipkins eventually took on the role without opposition, and Robertson said his job was now to support his new leader. "The good news is, I didn't have to put myself forward for a job that I didn't have that one hundred percent desire for, because we have Chris Hipkins who wants it and who is going to be very good at it and I'm here to support him." LISTEN ABOVE
You know the voice and you likely know the lyrics too. Beloved children's entertainer Suzy Cato has been up and down the country all summer singing to children, and adults, alike. She's often the special guest at events. This weekend is no exception, Suzy will be attending and headlining the four day Auckland Folk Festival, which is back for its 50th anniversary. Suzy Cato joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Now, here's an idea to encourage a bit of entrepreneurial spark among young New Zealanders. Ōtaki Market is looking to encourage children to set up their own stalls. Second hand toys, personalized t-shirts, bookmarks and whatever else they can come up with. Market organiser Claire Roper joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Corrections has a serious staffing problem, with officers now sticking it out for just two years on average compared to 15 in the past. You may have seen the recruiting ads on TV. They're now being criticised by existing staff, saying they don't paint an accurate picture of the job. National Treasurer of the Corrections Association Cliff Hughes joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's red meat industry has released a policy change wish-list with the goal to tackle labour shortages and grow export revenues. They have gone to every Member of Parliament, and various others. Beef and Lamb NZ Chair Andrew Morrison joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Finance Minister Grant Robertson believes inflation is now past its peak. Stats NZ figures show consumer prices have risen 7.2 percent in the year to December, the same increase recorded in the year to September. The price of housing, household utilities and food are driving the historically high inflation rate. But Robertson told Tim Dower with prices increasing 1.4 percent in the December quarter, compared to 2.2 percent in the previous quarter, things are trending in the right direction. LISTEN ABOVE
It's going to get a little bit cheaper to put fruit and vegetables on the table. The price of fruit and vegetables rose 23 percent last year, one of the main contributors to the 7.2 percent rise in overall consumer prices. Growers expect seasonal produce prices to start dropping, as supplies pick up in the coming weeks. Foodstuffs North Island’s Brigit Corson told Tim Dower how much you save at the checkout will depend on what you put in your trolley. She says lettuces and salad ingredients are good value, alongside melons and beans. LISTEN ABOVE
New Prime Minister Chris Hipkins heads to Auckland today to woo business leaders after spending his first full day in the top job responding to the cost of living crisis. Hipkins is due to attend a roundtable event hosted by the Auckland Business Chamber. “I’ll be there to ask questions of them and to listen to them, in order to accelerate the important relationship that’s needed between business and government, in order to benefit all New Zealanders and to continue to grow our economy,” Hipkins said. His Auckland charm offensive will bring him into contact with former National leader Simon Bridges. Bridges, the Auckland Business Chamber CEO, said today’s meeting was good news. “That in itself gives business some confidence. It’s a sense that this is where his priorities lie,” he told RNZ. “I think he’s off to a good start, inasmuch as what he’s saying is he’s going to come back to the bread and butter issues.” Bridges said the issues confronting Auckland businesses were around plans to curb inflation, getting more workers into the country - and concerns around law and order. “I think it’s incredibly refreshing to see from a new PM that he gets it, that he gets it’s businesses that make an economy and actually allow governments to do the things that we all want them to do like fund better health, education, and law and order.” Cost of living front of new PM’s mind The cost of living crisis dominated Hipkins’ first press conference just hours after taking over the role from friend and longtime Labour colleague Jacinda Ardern. Exactly what Hipkins has in store to tackle the rising cost of living remains to be seen, something National leader Christopher Luxon latched on to, saying that simply changing the leader was not going to make a difference. Indeed Hipkins’ first appearance since being sworn in by Governor General Dame Cindy Kiro as the country’s 41st Prime Minister came hot off the latest consumer price index showing inflation remained at 7.2 per cent - the same as the previous quarter - reflecting further pressure on household budgets across the country. Kiro had earlier received the resignation of Ardern, officially handing over what Hipkins called the “baton of responsibility”. The day started with emotional scenes as Ardern left the Beehive as Prime Minister for the last time, walking out to a crowd of her ministers, MPs and staff, sharing hugs and tears - Ardern, accompanied by fiance Clarke Gayford, even struggled to find her way to the car through the throng of people.
Jacinda Ardern and then-incoming Prime Minister Chris Hipkins at Rātana Pa Marae on Tuesday. Photo / Mark Mitchell And like that after nearly six years of leadership marked through tragedy and crisis, with the mosque shootings, Whakaari and the Covid-19 pandemic, her tenure was over, making way for “my friend Chippy”, how Hipkins is affectionately known. Hipkins too was emotional at Government House as he was sworn in, surrounded by family and colleagues, saying it was the “biggest responsibility of my life”.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins arriving for his first post-Cabinet press conference. Photo / Mark Mitchell He also quipped afterwards “it feels pretty real now” - acknowledging just how rapidly he’d moved into the role after Ardern announced her resignation only a week ago. The moment was clearly hugely significant also for Carmel Sepuloni, earlier shedding tears as Ardern departed before beaming as she became the first Deputy Prime Minister of Pacific heritage, with Samoan, Tongan and Pākehā roots.
Jacinda Ardern waves to the crowd one last time as Prime Minister of New Zealand. Photo / NZ Labour Party In his first speech in the role Hipkins said “reprioritisation” of the Government’s work was the “absolute priority”, allowing the Government to focus on the “cost of living”. “Today’s unchanged inflation figure confirms this is the right immediate focus,” he said, reflecting a shift in priorities over the past year as the health pande...
Much has been made of the personal criticism—no, that doesn't go far enough, the vicious personal attacks outgoing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern endured, and how much they may have played into her decision to give it away. We could debate whether she invited some of that —albeit unwittingly— by allowing her leadership to become so much about herself, personally. Was Jacindamania Ardern's fault? And should the media take some of the blame for getting on the merry-go-round right at the beginning? We had something of an extended honeymoon, and as a nation we were quite happy to bask in her reflected glory on the international stage. We went along with the pregnant young leader, a PM giving birth in office, womens' magazine covers here, global celebrity elsewhere. We got sucked in to her personal life. I want to acknowledge Jacinda Ardern's outstanding gift for communication, and the fact she did exactly the right job when we needed it: the start of the pandemic. But after trading on celebrity for a while… it is eventually necessary to start delivering on policy. And when delivery on every metric starts to look weak, even the finest communicator can't sell that. You can't polish a turd and Ardern knows that. Is that why she quit? Look, I applaud anyone who puts their hand up for public office at whatever level. School board, local body, Parliament, it takes courage and commitment. So, sincerely, good on ya. And for selfish reasons I wish Chris Hipkins success in his effort to turn the country around. Perhaps we'll be a bit more focussed on his performance than his sartorial elegance, or lack of it. And perhaps his own comment about keeping his private life private is a hint as to what he thought about his predecessor's style.
Primary healthcare is back in the news this morning, with a report putting us fifth from bottom in the OECD for GP waiting times. Fifth from last, out of 38 OECD nations. Could there be any more of a fence at the top of the cliff scenario. Look at it this way: if your car starts making funny noises you lift the hood, look for something obvious, and if that doesn't fix it you take it to someone who can. Leaving it just makes things worse. Same with your body, surely. If it starts making funny noises you have a poke around, and if that doesn't fix it, you take yourself off to someone who can. Leaving it just makes things worse. Looking under the hood of these GP waiting times reveals we have a deep systemic issue. GPs say that quality healthcare is all about access. But it's the first thing that goes when a system is failing. Worse than that, in health terms poor access translates to worse morbidity and mortality figures. On the ground, when people can't access a GP they get sicker. Then they're off to A&E, clogging up those emergency departments for people who need immediate care. There's a few other factors at play, but the bottom line is pretty plain. We just don't train enough doctors and we don't have enough GPs. Rather than set up another medical school, or maybe a couple more, we depend instead on importing doctors from overseas. Politicians baulk at this. “Ohhh... it's so expensive... and we can't afford to make GP visits free.” I'd argue the other side. This is about the most blatant example of ambulance at the bottom of the cliff mentality. Prevention is better than a cure. Next to that? Early intervention is what we need.
New data shows almost half of patients are waiting more than a month for specialist treatment and New Zealand now has one of the longest wait times in the OECD. General Practice Owners Association Chair Tim Malloy says the wait for medical care is affecting people's wellbeing. LISTEN ABOVE
Universities are having to book out plane seats to ensure international students can get here before the start of the academic year. Many students haven't been able to make it to New Zealand due to airline capacity constraints. Universities New Zealand has stepped in, booking 400 seats on an Air New Zealand flight from China. Executive Director Chris Whelan says that international students are an important part of our education system. He says when they go back home they continue to do research with us, trade with us, and recommend us. LISTEN ABOVE
The devil could be in the details when it comes to the latest inflation figures. Annual Consumer Price Index data —due out later this morning— will show how much prices increased for the average household in the past 12 months. New Zealand's inflation rate for the year to October was 7.2 percent. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Tim Dower that she's expecting the same inflation rate this time around. LISTEN ABOVE
It's the first day on the job for our new Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Hipkins will be officially sworn in this morning, before holding his first Cabinet meeting this afternoon. But Senior Political Correspondent, Barry Soper says that Hipkins won't be making any major decisions today. He says Hipkins has shown he's prepared to listen — a point of difference to Jacinda Ardern. LISTEN ABOVE
Tim Dower was joined by British comedian Jimmy Carr to have a chat about his New Zealand tour, and the addition of a few more dates. Please note that in the interview Jimmy mentioned an additional Wellington date by mistake, instead meaning an additional show in Auckland. LISTEN ABOVE
The Transport Minister is defending the ballooning cost of three Auckland train stations. When funding for two new train stations between Papakura and Pukekohe was announced in 2020, it was expected to cost 247 million dollars. But another station has since been added to the project, and it's now expected to cost about 495 million dollars. Michael Wood says the third station was added after a 2021 review found it was neccessary to support the area's growing population. He says they made the call to ensure the area had sufficient infrastructure to keep up with the growth, with the new cost funded at the time. LISTEN ABOVE
You know, what we've seen over the past couple of days reinforces what we've all known for a long time about politicians. They will say anything, anything, to get into power. And once they're there, it gets even more desperate: they'll say and do anything, anything, to stay there. We're about to see in raw detail just how desperate Labour is to cling on for a third term. Heads, which should have rolled two years ago, will roll. Policies which should never have seen the light of day will be quietly shelved. Please don't be fooled. The ideology hasn't changed. The desire to do those things hasn't changed. But the priority has. The priority now is to win the election, by whatever means necessary, and by no matter how small a margin, anything to get back to business. So rule nothing out. No deal is too grubby, no rat is too dead to swallow. Just get back in. That's the job Chippy's taken on. Bear this in mind though, as John Key wrote in his book about being Prime Minister: “You can refresh your team and revitalise its performance, but the same issues can return and become bigger problems." You can also —and this isn't John Key here, this is my view— you can also drop anything you know isn't a vote winner, and focus on telling people what they want to hear. So. We've already heard it, over and over. “We're focussed on the things that matter to New Zealand families". Behind closed doors? Sure Nanaia. Keep working away, but keep a low profile until we sneak back in. And if you're asked? “We're working on the things that matter to New Zealand families".
Love this idea of a 50-year plan for the roads. It's come out of Road Carriers Association. The incoming Prime Minister has said he wants to focus on the big issues confronting business, and the trucking industry says this is one of them. And they're right. We always seem to be playing catch-up on our roading projects, and right now we need some catch-up on repairs too. Ask anyone who comes here to visit from any first world country. They'll either say they love driving here because it's like being on a rally circuit, or they'll scoff at the idea we call a metalled goat-track a State Highway, and that it's taken nearly eight years of construction to add 18 kilometres to the Northern Motorway. That's the construction phase, coming after years planning, years of consultation and resource consent work, years of acquiring the land. And now, after years of painfully slow construction work: a massive bill. And of course, a dispute with the contractors who've got their hands out for another couple of hundred million. By the time it opens —maybe the new PM will last long enough to cut the tape, maybe not— it will have cost over 60 thousand dollars a metre. Steven Joyce, bless him, had a crack at long-term planning with the "Roads of National Significance" project. It was launched in 2009, and the petrol tax and road user charges went up to pay for it. Labour mocked it, and started putting the brakes on the minute they got a chance. Luckily some jobs were already in the pipeline, and as we begin 2023...we're about half finished. In the grand scheme of things, that's not actually so bad for roading projects. But it demonstrates how poorly the stop-go approach we've got is serving us.
A new artificial intelligence programme that produces essays on demand is sparking concerns at Otago University. Chatbot software ChatGPT can churn out writing requests —including university assessments— using information available on the internet, including academic texts. Any type of plagiarism, including the use of chatbots, is forbidden under university policy. Otago Business School Dean Robin Gauld told Tim Dower that there's a real risk students will use it and submit it as their own work. He says the technology could already be too smart for plagiarism-detecting software. LISTEN ABOVE
The downturn in the housing market isn't over yet. Latest analysis from Core Logic shows the most recent quarterly dip in home values was the smallest decline since May last year. But the pending recession and OCR hikes are continuing to create uncertainty. Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson says that it's not the best time for homeowners, but it's good time for first-home buyers. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins is under pressure to find the right person to replace him as Police Minister. The incoming Prime Minister has begun preparing for a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of being formally sworn in as Prime Minister tomorrow. He'll need to find other ministers to take on his Police, Education, and Public service portfolios. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Tim Dower that Hipkins needs to find a Police Minister who's as good as he was. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins is obviously not a man who's afraid of a challenge, and taking on the role of Prime Minister will be his biggest one yet. Quick refresher here: the last OneNews Kantar poll put Labour 5 points behind National, and still sinking with 33 points. The Nats clawed their way another point higher in the December result to 38, add in Act's 11 and you have 49: enough for a secure majority in the House. The left coalition, Labour and the Greens? 42. But a lot can change over a Christmas holiday, and a lot has. It's going to take more than that though to turn the tide. The advantage Hipkins has is that his party is in office, so it can take direct action and he can do it quickly. But what can he actually do to reduce the impact of inflation? And those crippling mortgage payments more people will be feeling the closer we get to the election? It's all very well to say this is the focus of our attention, it’s something else to actually steer things in a different direction. Especially when so many workers say they need a pay rise. He could cut taxes for low income families, but the fact is half the population effectively pays no income tax right now. He could cut GST on food, but that's unaffordable. He could raise benefits again, but that won't fly with those of us who do pay tax. If Hipkins wants to appeal to the hearts and minds of mainstream New Zealand he'd need to unwind Three, Four, Five Waters, dump the Maori Health Authority, income insurance, fix immigration, and come down hard on crime. It's no small ask.
It couldn't have worked out better for Labour... and by the same token, it couldn't have worked out worse for National. Jacinda Ardern's timing in stepping down gives her replacement a full nine months run at the job. And the replacement process —concluded quickly and cleanly— saves Labour the painful process of a leadership contest, a membership vote, and having to win over the unions. There wasn't really an alternative to Chippy, with Grant Robertson ruling himself out right from the get-go. I've seen him described as the fix-it Minister, but to be honest, what has he fixed? Education... not that flash right now, truancy rates have never been higher, the polytechnic merger is a dog's breakfast. And two-thirds of students can't write properly, according to the NCEA pilot. But we all know how to fix that; just lower the pass rate. Hipkins is also the so-called fix-it Minister of Police, called in to take over from Poto Williams. You see any improvement there? No? Me neither. As Minister for the Public Service he's presided over a massive blowout in the number of officials, bureaucrats, and spin doctors. So, we get a new face as Prime Minister but does anything really change? Hipkins may be the front man, but who holds the real power within Labour right now? We'll see over the next weeks and months just how much of a difference he can make. So far I've not heard many people suggesting he's got enough in the tank to reverse Labour's fortunes. But I'm not so sure of that. New Zealanders have fallen in love with a show-pony before, who's to say it won't happen again?
The stars in our night sky are vanishing at an alarming rate. New data published in the journal Science —collected by citizen scientists around the world over more than a decade— shows the night sky is continuing to become less starry. That's largely due to light pollution from urban settlements, street lighting, and cars. Astrobiologist Hari Mogosanu says that a clear sky isn't just a nice-to-have thing. She says too much light and satellites means that we can't see objects travelling towards the Earth. LISTEN ABOVE
Businesses are hoping that the new Prime Minister will change the Government's agenda. Former Business NZ Chief Executive Phil O'Reilly told Tim Dower that he wants to see the new PM focus on the policy changes businesses have been asking for. On the other hand, the Council of Trade Unions is hoping for a smooth transition of power. President Richard Wagstaff says that he wants the Government to continue building on its momentum it has when it comes to reforming New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand has bid farewell to the Rugby Sevens World Series. The sporting tournament returned to Hamilton over the weekend after a two-year Covid hiatus, featuring it's usual party atmosphere. But it was the final time the event will have a New Zealand leg. Hamilton Sevens Organiser Dallas Fisher says that turnout was good —with about 21-thousand people turning out— but it wasn't a sell-out. LISTEN ABOVE
National Leader Christopher Luxon says the change of leadership won't solve the Government's underlying shortcomings. He says the Government has failed to address the underlying causes driving inflation, while National has a five-point plan. Luxon believes he still has the clear upper hand heading into the election. LISTEN ABOVE
The incoming Prime Minister says his Government will focus on issues most essential to New Zealanders. Chris Hipkins has been unanimously elected to the Labour leadership by the party's caucus. He'll be officially sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday. In one of his first interviews since being selected, Hipkins told Tim Dower he'll be running the ruler over the Government's work programme. Hipkins says economics will be his big focus, with inflation being a major challenge right now. LISTEN ABOVE
Ross Taylor is one of New Zealand’s cricketing greats. He ended his career earlier this year as the all-time best run scorer across all formats - including Test, ODIs and T20s. That included the most centuries in international cricket with 40 and the most appearances for the Black Caps. Now he's told his story in his biography Black and White. And it includes his side of the captaincy saga of 2012. Ross Taylor joined Mike Hosking.
Elvis Presley’s legacy is one that continues to live on. The king of rock and roll took over the music world from the 1950s to the 70s before his untimely death in 1977 at the age of 42. But thanks to his ex-wife, Priscilla Presley, his legacy has continued - with the Graceland complex and continued growth in his estate. Now, we have a new biopic simply titled Elvis - starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks. And a major part of the film is Priscilla – who is played by Olivia DeJonge. The woman herself Priscilla Presley joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There's no doubt Robbie Williams is one of the biggest music stars on the planet. Of course, he first made his name with Take That between 1990 and 1995. He then went on to a massive solo career which got underway in 1997 and he's gone on to sell more than 75 million albums worldwide. In 2022, he released a new album called xxv - which is a celebration of his 25 year long solo career. We've got new music and the "re-imagined classics. Plus - he's coming to New Zealand this year - with a show at the Mission Estate in March. Robbie Williams joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Zach Braff is comfortably one of America's most successful comedic acts. He, of course, became a household name around the world for his lead role in Scrubs. Since he's gone on to star in plenty of movies - and has also made his mark as a film director. He stars in the latest remake of Cheaper by the Dozen - which out on Disney+ now. Zach Braff joined Mike Hosking from California. LISTEN ABOVE
Nigel Beach is a Kiwi revolutionising the sport science space. He's been into the Wim Hof Method for a number of years - which focuses on hot/cold therapy, bio-hacking and breathing techniques. And another big focus is our physiological response to stress on our body. And he's become so successful that he's become the go-to guy for elite sportspeople here and around the world. Nigel Beach joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Celebrity chef Rick Stein’s latest show is in Cornwall, which is where he is from and a part of the country he has made famous with his restaurant in Padstow. Between the TV, the books and the restaurants in many respects he is the original celebrity chef, going back to his first appearance with Keith Floyd in the 1990s. Rick Stein joined Mike Hosking to talk Cornwall, fish and fame from Sydney. LISTEN ABOVE
Hugh Bonneville has become one of Britain’s, and the world's, most loved actors. Of course, we know him for his starring role in Downton Abbey - but of course he's also known for the Paddington films, Notting Hill and The Monument's Men. Hugh Bonneville joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast from Britain. LISTEN ABOVE
The extraordinary story of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s life, 70-year reign, and the many world events she was on the throne for has been honoured in a special Christmas Day broadcast on Newstalk ZB. In a documentary feature voiced by ZB Breakfast host Mike Hosking, the monarch was remembered through the lens of her much-loved Christmas messages, which inspired hope across seven decades. Queen Elizabeth, who died in September at the age of 96, delivered a Christmas Day message from the beginning of her reign in 1952, right up until her final Christmas last year. The first of her Christmas speeches came as a 26-year-old, as she nervously broadcast live over the radio from her residence in Sandringham. Shifting away from the modus operandi of her father, King George VI, she eschewed the assistance of a ghostwriter and penned the message to the Commonwealth herself – something she’d continue to do in every Christmas speech until her death. In 1953, the Queen and Prince Philip found themselves on a Royal Tour of New Zealand over the Christmas period. It was a time of great excitement for Kiwis, with as many as three in four coming out to see the royals as they visited 46 towns and cities across the motu. But her speech this year was tinged with sadness, as she reflected on many tragic deaths – not just in her homeland but in Aotearoa too, with 151 people dying in the unspeakably awful Tangiwai train disaster on Christmas Eve. Over the ensuing seven decades of Christmases, the Queen would again and again use her broadcasts to respond to countless global events – spanning the Vietnam War in the ‘60s and ‘70s to the arrival of Princess Diana in the ‘80s, to 9/11 in 2001, the nuptials of Will and Kate in 2011, and numerous conflicts and famines over the intervening years. Despite the subject matter often being of a sombre nature, the Queen had an uncanny ability to offer those listening a poignant message of hope heading into the New Year. This was a reflection of her own deep faith, from which she derived hope and which she spoke candidly about in many of her Christmas speeches, particularly after the turn of the millennium. “Billions of people now follow [Christ’s] teaching and find in him the guiding light for their lives,” she said in her 2016 speech. “I am one of them, because Christ’s example helps me see the value of doing small things with great love, whoever does them and whatever they themselves believe.” In her years on the throne, the Queen swapped the microphone for a camera, and the words she spoke were no longer on a piece of paper but on a screen in front of her – but they were no less her own, and no less from her heart. However, on the day of her final Christmas message in 2021, her heart was heavy as she marked the first time she’d celebrate the holiday without her dear husband by her side. In this speech, she paid tribute to Philip, offered sympathy to those for whom Christmas would be a difficult time, and spoke frankly about the true Christmas message. Then, she signed off for one final time, wishing her people “a very Merry Christmas”. LISTEN ABOVE
There are few many bigger names in music than Billy Joel. Since the 1970s - the Piano Man, We Didn't Start the Fire and Movin' Out singer has sold more than 160 million records worldwide. Billy Joel joined Mike Hosking ahead of his concert at Eden Park in December. LISTEN ABOVE
Job ads have seen a slight fall from record highs in the first half of the year. But SEEK's annual job market report shows demand is still strong across all sectors...and employers are trying new ways to attract applicants. Sign-on bonuses and highlighting their work from home flexibility, are among the treats being handed out. SEEK Country Manager Rob Clark told Tim Dower there's a tight labour market compared to pre-Covid times. He says the flow of talent in and out of the country is not at the same levels as pre-covid - and it's a great time for candidates to be looking for jobs. LISTEN ABOVE
Mere hours after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dropped part two of their bombshell Netflix docuseries, the royal family have presented a united front. Appearing at Westminster Abbey for an annual carol series, the family appeared unfazed by the attacks launched at them by their Californian-based family. The Daily Mail has reported the Princess of Wales was the first to arrive for her Together at Christmas concert early in the afternoon, however, it wasn’t long before her immediate family – bar Prince Louis – joined her. The King and Queen Consort Camila joined shortly after, with the King appearing completely unbothered by events that took place earlier in the day. Harry alleged in the docuseries that during a crisis meeting called by the Queen in January 2020, William “screamed and shouted” at him and Charles said things that were not true. But it appears the docuseries was the last thing on the King’s mind as he smiled and talked with clergymen at Westminster Abbey.
The Wales family were all smiles as they arrived at the service. Photo / Getty Images Other members of the royal family who arrived to support the Princess of Wales included Sophie, the Countess of Wessex and William’s cousins, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their partners. Eugenie remains close with the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and even appeared in the sixth episode of the docuseries when she visited the family of four at their Montecito home in California. Throughout the episode, she was seen spending time with Harry and Meghan’s eldest child, Archie, at a beach and later going on a bike ride with Harry. Following the service at the Abbey, Kensington Palace released a statement where they said this is the second carol service Kate has held and is dedicated to the late Queen – who died in September. Charles and Camilla appeared in good spirits as they arrived at the service. Photo / Getty Images The service was a reflection of the values the Queen practised throughout her life including “duty, empathy, faith, service, kindness, compassion and support for others.” The Daily Mail reported the Palace said those who were invited to the service share those same values and principles. Adding that the service was a recognition “of their tireless work to help and care for those around them”. It comes after Harry and Meghan released the final three episodes of their six-part bombshell docuseries where they continued to wage war against the Palace and UK media. During the episodes, Harry alleged his brother “screamed and shouted” at him during a crisis meeting to discuss his and Meghan’s future.
The family presented a united front at the carol service. Photo / Getty Images He also claimed he brought several different plans for his future with Meghan to his father Charles’ attention - but Charles insisted that those plans be put in writing. Harry claimed that it led to their potential plans for their future being leaked to the media. The duke also claimed he was “blocked from seeing the Queen " by other members of the royal household and blamed the institution for the leaks. Both the royal family and the Palace have declined to comment on the claims.
The Finance Minister says he's tried to create an environment where businesses can flourish. The quarter three GDP figure exceeded many economists' predictions by rising two percent. New Zealand's growth trumped that of the UK, US, EU and Australia. Grant Robertson singled out construction as something he was particularly proud of. He told Tim Dower he feels while the Government can't control exactly how the economy runs, they can help out. Robertson says they have trained thousands through their apprenticeship schemes. LISTEN ABOVE
Kane Williamson has stepped down as the Black Caps test captain, but will stay on for ODIs and T20s. Tim Southee replaces him, starting with the two-test tour of Pakistan later this month. Black Caps Coach Gary Stead joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland councillors have voted to send mayor budget proposals out to public consultation. But not without a flurry, after Wayne Brown said Auckland Airport would be seeking cash for a new domestic terminal. That caused a temporary halt in Airport share trading. Auckland Councillor Alf Filipaina joined Tim Dower to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Fears a positive economic result could yield a negative one down the track. Our GDP grew two percent in the three months to September, blowing most economist predictions out of the water. But former Reserve Bank economist Michael Reddell says he's suspicious of the result and wonders if it will be revised to a lower rate. He told Tim Dower it could be a problem next year. Reddell says it will increase the chances of a recession next year, because the Reserve Bank will have to act more strongly to tackle inflation. LISTEN ABOVE
Fiji has taken the title as top destination for New Zealand holidaymakers. Flight Centre has released its travel wrap for the year, showing there's been a comeback for international travel for the country. It's seen an explosion in Kiwis jetting overseas, with Fiji making the strongest recovery post Covid. Flight Centre General Manager of Leisure Heidi Walker told Roman Travers in a three hour flight you can be in paradise. She says it's a peaceful place, the people are welcoming and it's a great destination for everyone. LISTEN ABOVE
One of our most famous Kiwi bands is using its own record label to help give another band a leg-up. Six60's Massive Records is designed to foster and bring in up and coming Kiwi talent and groups - with Six60 acting as mentors with the promotional power. One of the first acts they've signed is coterie, four brothers who grew up here, now based in Perth. Their debut album has just been released, the first to come out on Massive Records. Six60's Matiu Walters and Coterie's Tyler Fisher joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
There's a pretty clear message from the opening of the Government's books. The Crown right now isn't doing too badly at all. Debt looks to be on a downward track and somehow, despite the spending, the Government could be back in surplus by 2025. You might find it hard to get your head around but Treasury even says the Government’s management of the economy is not contributing to inflation. Not only that but Treasury says current fiscal policy is such that the Reserve Bank will be under less pressure to hike interest rates going forward. How so? Well, it's all about tax and the amount the Crown is raking in. Not just in what it takes from our wages, but from GST. Inflation means higher prices, higher prices means more GST take. High fuel prices on their own are just fine and dandy if you're skimming that 15 percent off the top. The irony of the situation is that while the public accounts look OK, household budgets, or the accounts of the public if you like, are buggered really. Real household wealth is picked to fall this year by around percent. We're running as fast as we can, but thanks to inflation and house prices falling, we're going backwards. And that's before the deliberately engineered recession kicks in, probably early next year. Treasury sees unemployment at 5.5 percent in 2024. The period of high house prices and low interest rates made us all feel pretty good - confident and willing to spend. The correction is coming and it'll be a sharp one. Confidence is already a long way down and still falling. So what's the message? My take is that we ain't seen nothing yet. The worst is yet to come. Batten down the hatches.
Is Stonehenge on your bucket list? Here's your chance to get a little more familiar with one of the most famous landmarks on the planet. International exhibition Secrets of Stonehenge is opening at Auckland Museum today. Featuring more than 300 ancient artefacts from more than 4,000 years ago, it shares the breakthrough scientific evidence that's unravelling the story behind the monument. The exhibition is curated by Professor Mike Parker Pearson from London's Institute of Archaeology, who's been directing research on Stonehenge since 2003. Mike Parker Pearson joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Big numbers are expected at Auckland Airport this Christmas season. 50,000 people will be flying in and out of the country across December 23 and Christmas Eve. It's a far different picture than last year, when fewer than 3,000 people came and went over those two days. CEO Carrie Hurihanganui told Tim Dower a lot of work has been done to make sure everything goes smoothly. LISTEN ABOVE
Delight over the funding of EpiPens. Pharmac will fund the adrenaline auto-injectors for people who've experienced anaphylaxis, or are at significant risk of doing so, from February next year. Around 12,000 people are expected to qualify in the first year. Allergy New Zealand Chief Executive Mark Dixon says it's the best news allergy sufferers have had in the more than 40 years the organisation's been representing them. He says the affected patient group is going to be over the moon and he's so happy for them. LISTEN ABOVE
Kiwis are set for more pain at the pump next year. The Government is extending its 25 cent a litre petrol tax cuts to February 28, before then phasing them out entirely by the end of March. Gull NZ General Manager Dave Bodger told Tim Dower once you add GST it's actually 29 cents a litre, which impacts the back wallet. LISTEN ABOVE
Today's GDP figure is expected to show small growth, but some economists are more optimistic than the Reserve Bank. It predicted 0.8 percent growth, but ANZ Senior Economist Miles Workman is picking a 1.1 percent growth. He told Tim Dower other data released prior to today's announcement is why he's changed his tune. Workman says things like retail spending data and manufacturing surveys are more positive than expected. New Zealand saw a 1.7 percent growth in the June quarter. LISTEN ABOVE
The future of greyhound racing is uncertain after a new report on the industry is before Cabinet. Racing Minister Kieran McAnulty has read through the report from the Racing Integrity Board, but won't be able to present it until February. He says they could put the industry under strict monitoring, or shut it down entirely. Greyhound Racing New Zealand CEO Edward Rennell told Tim Dower they've made significant improvements since the report was commissioned in September last year. He's confident they can demonstrate they've made appropriate changes, and that animal welfare is paramount. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined Tim Dower to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Jacinda Ardern’s off-mic, but not quite far enough off-mic, comment in the House yesterday betrays just how rattled the Government’s front bench has become. I doubt it was anything to do with the Curia poll, which put Labour off by another two points and National up another one. It was possibly more to do with having to give in after holding out, inexplicably, for so long on green-listing the nurses for residency. Maybe it was something to do with the Nanaia Mahuta contracts report? Maybe some simmering irritation over the Three Waters entrenchment? By the way, that's Nanaia again. Probably there’s a growing realisation that there’s no more Covid money to use to patch up other holes in Government policy, or anything left to sweeten the pot ahead of the next election. Maybe it was Barry Soper’s cheeky sinking ship question over the MP's not standing for re-election? Or perhaps it was being pressed on what happens to the fuel excise relief after January 31st? So perhaps David Seymour’s swipe in the debate was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. And it’s obvious the Prime Minister is under a great deal of pressure right now. You could barely hear it, but barely was enough, calling Seymour such an arrogant... well, you know the word, as she sat down. A moment’s frustration that, who knows, might be said often about Seymour or maybe others behind closed doors. I’m sure Mr Seymour will be, quietly, fairly pleased with the result. He got under the Prime Minister’s skin. And frankly, for the Prime Minister to be calling anyone arrogant right now, is a bit pot-kettle.
An opportunity to raise awareness of New Zealand's rarest species, no matter their shape or size. The Endangered Species Foundation has launched the We Love You, Even If You're Ugly campaign, which allows people to adopt animals such as a Hamilton Frog or a Chatham Shag. After adopting the animal they will receive a certificate and a link to learn more about it. The Foundation's General Manager Natalie Jessup told Tim Dower they've some goals for the project. She says their hope is that people engage with them and become a voice for all creatures. LISTEN ABOVE
House prices are down sharply and questions remain as to whether they will stay down. ASB Bank predicts prices will eventually be lower by 40 percent once we adjust for inflation and 25 percent in cold cash terms. They're now 14 percent below the peak last year and there are signs the rate of decline may be increasing. ASB's Nick Tuffley joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
The Treasury will be opening its book for the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update today. Westpac Acting Chief Economist Michael Gordon says it will show us the state of the Government's finances. He says it's likely to predict flat growth or even a recession like the Reserve Bank has. Gordon told Tim Dower it will most likely be grim reading for the Government. He says they will probably be looking at the prospect of a weaker economy than they expected in the Budget. LISTEN ABOVE
There's hope families will have better emergency housing options put in front of them. The Government is making changes, including quality standards for suppliers and improved grants to help get people into private rentals. It follows a Human Rights Commission review that warns it's failing to meet basic human rights standards or help people in their journey out of homelessness. Solomon Group housing manager Bernie Smith told Tim Dower hopes they'll soon see improvements. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions over the immediate effect of a landmark smokefree legislation. The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products Amendment Bill has passed its third reading, banning the sale of tobacco to anyone born after the 1st of January 2009. It will also see the amount of nicotine in smoked tobacco products reduced, and the number of tobacco selling retailers decreased. ASH chair Professor Robert Beaglehole told Tim Dower the Smokefree 2025 goal is attainable, but only in the long run. He sees these changes are all complex, untried and experimental, and delays in implementation will only see the bill come into effect after 2025. LISTEN ABOVE
We are at the business end of the biggest sporting event in the world, the 2022 FIFA World Cup semi-finals. The trophy is now just two wins away. Today we will see Argentina vs Croatia, and tomorrow it will be France vs Morocco. Former All White and football commentator David Chote joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
The Chief Ombudsman has delivered a pretty critical report on the MIQ lottery. Peter Boshier's report says officials didn't really think hard enough about the “very real impact” that the lobby system was going to have on people's lives. Now, you'll remember it didn't come in right at the start. It was set up in September 2021, supposedly to improve on the chaos we had. Tens of thousands trying to book a place in MIQ and match it with getting a flight home, them stuck over there, empty rooms over here. The lottery was ostensibly intended to create a level playing field for everyone. But it was only level really if you had internet access and could drop everything and log on at exactly the right moment, as each batch of rooms was released. We replaced chaos, with random chaos. New Zealanders overseas who'd missed out have talked about injustice, and the inhumanity and heartache of it all. They want an apology. I've admitted before that I did a complete 180 in my view on people who got stuck overseas as the whole farrago dragged on. In the beginning my feeling was the writing was on the wall and it was obvious borders were going to close so if you want to move, now's the time. And people who opted not to move, well, you made your bed. As it dragged on though, and we set up MIQ, and it became clear just how inadequate and sloppy the whole thing was, I developed a real empathy for people locked out who couldn't see friends and family who were sick or dying, unable to come back to their rightful home. So rather than a whole lot of recrimination and name calling, let's look on this time as an opportunity. Let's really think about how we could do it better. And most obviously I think, do it bigger. Much, much bigger. What we need to work on now is a better plan for next time. We now have a pretty good idea of how many people we'll need to handle if we get another one of these and we've definitely learned what not to do. We'll need something we can stand up quickly, operate much more cheaply and have away from the main centres. The time to work on that is now, while the mistakes of the pandemic are still fresh in our minds.
A tobacco giant is threatening the Government with legal action over its vaping review. Newstalk ZB has seen documents that reveal British American Tobacco is calling in the lawyers over a review of the country's vaping substances, including high nicotine levels. Our newsroom understands questions remain over the compliance of almost 1700 products in New Zealand - with 466 already removed. Massey University adjunct professor of law, Chris Gallavin, told Tim Dower the Government should be doing what it can to avoid litigation. He says officials should be seeing whether they can work it out, without needing to go through the courts. LISTEN ABOVE
In a year where the Royal Family has never been more in focus, we have another insight from one closest to them. We first talked to Lady Anne Glenconner back in 2019 when she released her memoir Lady In Waiting. She, of course, was the Lady in Waiting to Princess Margaret and was the Maid of Honour at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. Now - she's telling more of her story with Whatever Next - which serves as a follow up to her original memoir. Lady Anne Glenconner joined Tim Dower from Britain. LISTEN ABOVE
2022 was a fantastic year for McArthur Ridge wine; its Southern Tor Pinot Noir 2020 has been awarded trophy after trophy, including gold at the New Zealand International Wine Show. McArthur Ridge now has our most-awarded Pinot Noir and Winemaker of the Year Matt Connell joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
Nurses have been added to the Immigration Green List, putting them on a straight-to-residence pathway. The decision comes after months of the health sector crying out for help. Kerri Nuku of the Nurses Organisation joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE
National believes there's another reason for Minister Nanaia Mahuta to be sacked. It's been revealed the minister was advised against the controversial Three Waters entrenchment clause on October 25th - a month before she took it to caucus. National's Chris Bishop says caucus decided against the clause in May. He told Tim Dower the Prime Minister needs to show some leadership and sack Mahuta. A spokesperson for Mahuta says officials weren't working on entrenchment policy in October, and instead were providing advice on a wide range of changes requested by Green MP Eugenie Sage. LISTEN ABOVE
So much for the cost of living crisis, people appear to be gambling like never before. New data from the Department of Internal affairs shows gaming machine profits increased from $193 million dollars in the first quarter of this year to $276 million by the third. Problem Gambling Foundation spokesperson Andree Froude told Tim Dower it causes significant harm. She says they're rapidly approaching nearly a billion dollars being lost from gambling, which is often coming from the country's poorest communities. LISTEN ABOVE
A potential step forward in addressing equity issues in the health sector. Te Whatu Ora is asking the Employment Relations Authority for interim orders - to fix pay equity rates for nurses. It would increase pay for most by more than 14 percent, putting Kiwi workers on a par-or better, with Australian nurses. Te Whatu Ora Board Chair Rob Campbell told Tim Dower it will make a difference. He says it settles the long standing aspect of a pay equity dispute in the workforce. LISTEN ABOVE
So National won the by-election in Hamilton West...I don't think anyone's too surprised about that. New MP Tama Potaka is with us after half past and he looks like a decent bloke from what I've seen...family man...and still young enough to give us a decent decade or so. Question is what do we read from the by-election itself? If the country really is raging against the current administration, would you maybe have expected a stampede to the polls to send that message? Well, maybe...but by-elections don't spin people's wheels, and my read is that we're actually more sick and tired, than we are steaming mad right now. Hence...less than 15 thousand bothered to vote...30-odd percent...against nearly 40 thousand in Hamilton West at the last general election. The message...if there was a message was to the man who caused this million-dollar ferago...Dr Sharma. 1100 votes against the 20 thousand he had wearing a red rosette...pretty sad...and likely the last we'll hear from him on the political stage...good night and thank you. And Act can afford to be pretty chuffed with their result...Act's share of the vote was triple what they got at the General Election. It's less than a year to the next election and Labour looks to be gone...one commentator a few days ago was saying they know that, so they're engaged now in scorched earth tactics as they retreat. So, while the Nats will tell us it's a serious spanking for the government, and a resounding endorsement of their plan for change...I'm not convinced. And I'm not convinced yet that Christopher Luxon has what it takes...pleasant and reasonable is one thing...but he needs to crank it up. Overall, reflecting on Hamilton West, change can't come soon enough.
An international relations expert says New Zealand can be a world leader in action against Iran. A travel ban has been placed on 22 members of the Iranian security forces. It's over the death of a 22 year old Iranian woman in custody in September and the regime's violent response to protest more generally. Otago University's Robert Patman says we shouldn't underestimate Jacinda Ardern and her raised international profile. He says we have the ability to take strong measures despite many here thinking we aren't big enough. LISTEN ABOVE
Rotorua’s police numbers have risen by just four despite an influx in police callouts. The small rise has been described by Mayor Tania Tapsell as woefully short of keeping pace with significant demand. Police Minister Chris Hipkins told the Rotorua Daily Post in November that the city had been given 20 extra staff in the past five years. Restore Rotorua chairman Trevor Newbrook says it's not good enough. He says there's a lack of Police to deal with the issues being caused by people living in emergency housing. LISTEN ABOVE
Team New Zealand has blown past the wind-powered land speed record. Horunuku —which means to glide swiftly across the land— has shot across South Australia's Lake Gairdner at 222.4 kilometres an hour. The previous record stood at 202.9 kilometres an hour. Pilot Glenn Ashby says says it was the ultimate thrill. LISTEN ABOVE
Fears some of our roads are just not safe enough, after reports a section of State Highway 1 north of Auckland has been peeling off and sticking to cars. Police say there were more than 40 complaints from motorists with tar stuck to their vehicles from the highway in Dome Valley on Saturday. It will be closed overnight for repair work. Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Tim Dower that there's a couple of different issues at play for drivers. He says it adds costs for all motorists and also compromises safety, making it important that our roads are smooth and well-maintained. LISTEN ABOVE
An alarming increase in grocery prices won't be going away any time soon. It comes as the latest Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index data, showing a rise in cost increases from suppliers by more than 10 percent in November. Around seven-thousand-800 items increased in cost, nearly three times as many items as in November 2019. Infometrics chief economist Brad Olsen says inflation is making this increase a lot more uncomfortable, despite the seasonal effects. He says the wider spread increase in general grocery goods suggests there is a much broader effect coming into play here. LISTEN ABOVE
Delight for National's latest MP as he paints Hamilton West blue. Tama Potaka came out on top in the by-election triggered by Guarav Sharma's resignation. Potaka won 46 percent of the vote, beating Labour's Georgie Dansey by 16 percent. Sharma came a distant fourth with less than ten percent of the vote. He told Tim Dower that his win represents the frustration the electorate has around crime. Potaka says many are scared for their businesses and in their own homes. LISTEN ABOVE
Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week that was. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Entrenchment : 1/10 Probably the scandal and cock up of the year. Machiavellian, dishonest, underhand and, not just that, but bungled with an astonishing level of incompetence. The Ford Ranger: 8/10 Most popular new car in the country, despite the Government's best attempts to derail petrol. The Royal Commission: 6/10 Because at least it’s a Royal Commission but the terms of reference are about as ropey as you would expect. The OIA scandal: 6/10 Because the ombudsman is opening another investigation into it. But the fact he has to do this, having already reported his concerns, shows you what a ropey old lot this Government are. Gangs: 7:10 Mark Mitchell's line about there being more gangs members in Waikato than police is the line of the week. The byelection: 3/10 The lack of interest is demoralising. Jet fuel: 2/10 That is what happens when you contract stuff out. $6 million: 6/10 The one thing the Government did this week that made sense. Ruapehu deserves a decent shot at survival, 1) because of the local economy reliance but, also 2) because covid killed it and that wasn’t their doing. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Prediction time for tomorrow in Hamilton-West. The biggest loser will be Gaurav Sharma who will barely register, thus telling him a couple of things. The first is that the noise he made about Labour amounts and counts for nothing. He was a nobody, he is a nobody, he will go back to being a nobody and a Government that wins with the numbers Labour did in 2020 brings in a lot of nobodies, who essentially hang out for three years making no impression whatsoever and basically wait for the tide to sweep them back out three years later. The idea that people would latch onto his narrative and make him some sort of hero was always delusional, although I am sure at least part of what he said was true. But essentially no one cares, it was classic belt way. The same way Sam Uffindell was belt way. It's a few days’ worth of headlines for the Wellington wonks but beyond that it barely registered. The second biggest loser will be Labour, given they hold the seat. It is true to say by elections don’t favour the incumbent. A Labour loss though is a double blow, given it’s the last decisive democratic act before Christmas, which is before election year. Secondly, it comes on top of all the other problems this Government has. It’s a sort of a nail in an annus horribilis coffin. The opposite applies of course, should Labour win. Should Labour win, it would be an astonishing gift heading into next year. It would be all the oxygen and hope you would ever have needed to go to Christmas, stop, breathe, reset and start afresh in January. If that unfolds all predictions for next year are off. As for National, they are sort of stuck. They have to win and they should win. They should win because they deserve to win. They have formed themselves into a proper opposition, the bitching is gone, the leaking is gone, they are winning in the house, they have their act together and they look credible. Put them up against a haphazard Government and you have no excuse not to win. Which is why they have to win. If you can't beat this lot in a bell weather seat - well, that is a nightmare they don’t want to even begin to comprehend. What about ACT? ACT need to turn out a vote that broadly represents their national number, somewhere between 10-12 percent. They need to carry on looking credible. Although the poll we saw was only 400 people, and other small polls in things like mayoral races have proven ropey, the numbers we saw this week feel about right - National winning by a comfortable margin. Add their vote and ACT's vote and look how close to 50 percent you get. And that is why they call Hamilton West bellwether. Where it goes, the country goes. Saturday's result is most likely next year's result.
The Government has reached a Housing Accord with Rotorua Lakes Council and Rotorua iwi, to address the emergency housing crisis in Rotorua. It aims to reduce some of the anti-social activity linked to the city's 13 highly controversial emergency housing motels. Details of the accord will be revealed at 10am. Mayor Tania Tapsell told Mike Hosking most people will be happy with the accord that's been achieved. She says there will be reduction in the reliance on emergency housing motels in the city. LISTEN ABOVE
Described as a game-changer for breast cancer sufferers, research shows a widely-available heartburn drug can prevent some serious side-effects associated with chemotherapy. Two specialist cancer doctors from Palmerston North have found taking the heartburn medicine pantoprazole successfully targeted serious nausea and vomiting, which often happens two to five days after chemo. Palmerston North Hospital oncologist Richard Isaacs told Mike Hosking this could change lives. He says it reduces the intensity of nausea in people who have it, making life easier. LISTEN ABOVE
A royal correspondent has labelled Harry and Meghan's new series as underwhelming, and a little innocuous. The first three episodes were released on Netflix last night. Royal Correspondent Victoria Arbiter says there were parts of it that were wonderful - such as hearing their love story from them. She told Mike Hosking they're clearly very giddy about each other. Arbiter says there was a huge number of personal photographs, their video diary and footage of their children. She says some might argue they invaded their own privacy, but Harry says it's about consent. LISTEN ABOVE
The debate over the Three Waters changes and other Government reforms have dominated the political agenda this year. Political Editor Barry Soper told Mike Hosking the Government will be keen to shift attention next year to pre-election sweeteners in the May budget. "Don't be surprised if at the eleventh hour, this Government comes out with something significant before the election campaign." LISTEN ABOVE
New data shows that regional accommodation is already at full capacity for New Year’s. Baches filling up fast may not be new for this time of year, but it has been a few years since we have seen it happen. Is this a flash in the pan, or will we see it continue throughout the summer period? Head of Revenue for Bachcare Nick Pierce joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Councils aren't planning on backing down against the Three Waters reforms. The first of three bills passed its final reading in Parliament yesterday, allowing for the amalgamation of council water assets into four water entities. Councils will own these entities through a shareholding and will co-govern them with mana whenua. Waimakariri mayor Dan Gordon told Mike Hosking it's frustrating the Government has pushed forward with the reform. He says this doesn't mean they will give up, as the matter is too important to the community. LISTEN ABOVE
Russia freed WNBA star Brittney Griner early today in a dramatic prisoner exchange, as the US released notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout but failed to win freedom for another American, Paul Whelan, who has been jailed for nearly four years. The swap, at a time of heightened tensions over Ukraine, achieved a top goal for President Joe Biden but carried a heavy price. “She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her way home,” Biden said from the White House, where he was accompanied by Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and administration officials. The deal, the second such exchange in eight months with Russia, procured the release of the most prominent American detained abroad. Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist whose months-long imprisonment on drug charges brought unprecedented attention to the population of wrongful detainees. Biden’s authorisation to release a Russian felon once nicknamed “the Merchant of Death” underscored the escalating pressure that his administration faced to get Griner home, particularly after the recent resolution of her criminal case and her subsequent transfer to a penal colony. The Russian Foreign Ministry also confirmed the swap, saying in a statement carried by Russian news agencies the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and that Bout had been flown home. Russian and US officials had conveyed cautious optimism in recent weeks after months of strained negotiations, with Biden saying in November he was hopeful that Russia would engage in a deal now the midterm elections were completed. A top Russian official said last week a deal was possible before year’s end. Even so, the fact the deal was a one-for-one swap was a surprise given US officials had for months expressed their determination to bring home both Griner and Paul Whelan, a Michigan corporate security executive jailed in Russia since December 2018 on espionage charges that his family and the US government has said are baseless. “We’ve not forgotten about Paul Whelan,” Biden said. “We will keep negotiating in good faith for Paul’s release.” Whelan’s brother David said in a statement he was “so glad” for Griner’s release but also disappointed for his family. He credited the White House with giving the Whelan family advance notice and said he did not fault officials for making the deal. “The Biden Administration made the right decision to bring Ms Griner home, and to make the deal that was possible, rather than waiting for one that wasn’t going to happen,” he said. In releasing Bout, the US freed a former Soviet Army lieutenant colonel whom the Justice Department once described as one of the world’s most prolific arms dealers. Bout, whose exploits inspired a Hollywood movie, was serving a 25-year sentence on charges that he conspired to sell tens of millions of dollars in weapons that US officials said were to be used against Americans. The Biden administration was ultimately willing to exchange Bout if it meant Griner’s freedom. The detention of one of the greatest players in WNBA history contributed to a swirl of unprecedented public attention for an individual detainee case — not to mention intense pressure on the White House. Griner’s arrest in February made her the most high-profile American jailed abroad. Her status as an openly gay black woman, locked up in a country where authorities have been hostile to the LBGTQ community, infused racial, gender and social dynamics into her legal saga and made each development a matter of international importance. Her case not only brought unprecedented publicity to the dozens of Americans wrongfully detained by foreign governments, but it also emerged as a major inflection point in US-Russia diplomacy at a time of deteriorating relations prompted by Moscow’s war against Ukraine. The exchange was carried out despite deteriorating relations between the powers. But the imprisonment of Americans produced a rare diplomatic opening, yielding the highest-level known contact between Washington and...
I am told the concern over aviation fuel isn't going to ruin your holiday. In other words, the planes won’t run out of gas. But the inevitable issue of getting a bit of dodgy fuel was always going to unfold, wasn’t it? Those of us that questioned the closure of Marsden Point are being proven right already, not that that is any great victory. I know nothing about fuel, apart from the fact that if you make the stuff locally it stands to reason that you have more control over its production and supply and quality. The moment you shut up shop and contract the business out, you are at the mercy of those who may or may not be interested in serving you well. How they didn’t work that out, I don’t know. Well I do know. It's all about the bottom line and they thought they could get away with it. It is why the Government announced the other day the forced increase in the amount of fuel that has to be held in reserve. One of the oil companies wanted it to include fuel on the water, not just physically here. Fortunately, they were outvoted. They reassured us at the time Marsden Point got closed that it was a massive non-event, there was plenty of oil and plenty of ships and us doing any of this ourselves was us essentially wasting our own time. Until, of course, that turned out to be bollocks. Once a bad shipment arrives, then what? Well, the “then” is what is playing out right now. You rely on reserves and the reserves will probably be fine. So Christmas isn't off. But it reminds me of that mad pipe puncture leading into the 2017 election. Remember that? Everyone got shocked that there was this single pipe pumping all the fuel to Auckland Airport and some digger driver could cripple aviation. Jacinda Ardern promised to build a second pipe, which you'll be well aware has gone as well as her promise on light rail being finished by last year in Auckland. The more you do yourself, the more you control, the more flexibility you have. It's a buffer, it’s a safe guard, it's common sense. It seems these days we ration that. A bit like jet fuel.
Eric Bogosian is a name synonymous with the American stage and screen. He first made his name in the 1980s with his stage show, Talk Radio which was adapted into a film by Oliver Stone in 1988. Since then he's been in many of the biggest shows - including Billions, Succession and Law and Order. Add to that - he starred in Adam Sandler’s comeback Uncut Gems back in 2019. Now he's starring in a TV adaptation of Interview with a Vampire - which is now on the new streaming service AMC+. Eric Bogosian joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Fletcher Living are looking at a new retirement village model. Retirees who buy into Fletcher Building’s new Vivid Living on Auckland’s North Shore will enjoy 50 percent of any capital gains made on the property, lower management fees, and the 'weekly fees' will be removed when the resident vacates. Head of Retirement Vivid Living Gemma Gloyne joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The number of drivers detected breaking the law has continued to climb. A trial using more invasive road safety cameras snapped 200,000 drivers using their phones, along with 42,000 seatbelt offences. But no one is being ticketed because to do that would require a law change, which would likely be next year. AA Road Safety spokesperson Dylan Thomsen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Tourism Minister has hopes of a long-term future for Ruapehu Alpine Lifts. The Government has expanded its loan to the company by another $6 million, to give it more time to explore options, and open the ski fields next winter. The company went into voluntary administration in October, with Covid exacerbating long-standing issues including bad snow years. Stuart Nash told Mike Hosking people are keen to see the business continue to run. He says after speaking to a number of key stakeholders yesterday, there's a willingness among them to make it work. LISTEN ABOVE
Thousands of police carried out a series of raids across much of Germany today against suspected far-right extremists who allegedly sought to overthrow the state by force. Federal prosecutors said some 3,000 officers conducted searches at 130 sites in 11 of Germany’s 16 states against adherents of the so-called Reich Citizens movement. Some members of the grouping reject Germany’s postwar constitution and have called for the overthrow of the government. Justice Minister Marco Buschmann described the raids as an “anti-terrorism operation,” adding that the suspects may have planned an armed attack on institutions of the state. Prosecutors said 22 German citizens were detained on suspicion of “membership in a terrorist organisation.” Three other people, including a Russian citizen, are suspected of supporting the organisation, they said. Weekly Der Spiegel reported that locations searched include the barracks of Germany’s special forces unit KSK in the southwestern town of Calw. The unit has in the past been scrutinised over alleged far-right involvement by some soldiers. Federal prosecutors declined to confirm or deny that the barracks were searched. Along with detentions in Germany, prosecutors said that one person was detained in the Austrian town of Kitzbuehel and another in the Italian city of Perugia. Prosecutors said those detained are alleged to last year have formed a “terrorist organisation with the goal of overturning the existing state order in Germany and replace it with their own form of state, which was already in the course of being founded.” The suspects were aware that their aim could only be achieved by military means and with force, prosecutors said. They are alleged to have believed in a “conglomerate of conspiracy theories consisting of narratives from the so-called Reich Citizens as well as QAnon ideology,” according to a statement by prosecutors. They added that members of the group also believe Germany is ruled by a so-called ‘deep state;’ similar baseless claims about the United States were made by former President Donald Trump. Prosecutors identified the suspected ringleaders as Heinrich XIII P. R. and Ruediger v. P., in line with German privacy rules. Der Spiegel reported that the former was a well-known 71-year-old member of a minor German noble family, while the latter was a 69-year-old former paratrooper. Federal prosecutors said Heinrich XIII P. R., whom the group planned to install as Germany’s new leader, had contacted Russian officials with the aim of negotiating a new order in the country once the German government was overthrown. He was allegedly assisted in this by a Russian woman, Vitalia B. “According to current investigations there is no indication however that the persons contacted responded positively to his request,” prosecutors said. A further person detained by police Wednesday was identified by prosecutors as Birgit M.-W. Der Spiegel reported that the woman is a judge and former lawmaker with the far-right Alternative for Germany party. The party, known by its German acronym AfD, has increasingly come under scrutiny by German security services due to its ties with extremists.
A law professor says a High Court ruling over the guardianship of a six month old was unlikely to have gone any other way. The judge has given doctors at Starship Hospital medical responsibility of the six-month-old, until he's recovered from an urgent heart operation. His parents won't let doctors use donations from the Blood Service for the surgery - over claims it's all tainted by the Covid vaccine. Auckland University's Mark Henaghan told Mike Hosking the evidence is pretty strong the usual blood products aren't going to cause harm. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is looking to break the cycle for New Zealand’s youngest recidivist offenders through a new fast-track intervention approach aimed at 10 to 13-year-olds as part of a new youth crime package, the Herald can reveal. It will include $2 million spread across four regions - Auckland, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty - to fund locally-led solutions to reduce youth crime. It will also feature an age expansion of a joint agency approach to youth offenders in Auckland, which originally focused on children under 14 years old but now would include offenders aged up to 17. Recent spikes in violent crime in areas including Auckland and Waikato had prompted several developments in the Government’s approach to crime, including new police powers to target fleeing drivers and a multi-million dollar suite of changes to address retail crime after the death of 34-year-old Auckland dairy worker Janak Patel. The new approach to offenders aged 10-13 applied to children involved in serious or persistent offending, such as ram raids, aggravated robberies and fleeing from police. Within 24 hours of an offender being identified, several agencies would become involved as required, including Oranga Tamariki and police, alongside education, health and social development representatives. Local iwi and community organisations would be engaged at the earliest opportunity, with the aim to develop a plan for the child and their whānau. Within 48 hours, it was expected officials would agree on a plan to provide the necessary support, while focus was placed on building a relationship with the whānau to address future offending. “At the moment it can take weeks for a family group conference or court proceedings to take place,” Minister for Children Kelvin Davis said. “This change will mean an urgent plan is agreed to ensure a child is dealt with and getting any support they need immediately to help stop them offending again.” Police Minister Chris Hipkins said: “By taking this approach, fast-tracking it and applying it to a small group of 10 to 13-year-olds who are serious and persistent offenders, we can help address the recent spike in offending and continue to see the number of ram raids come down.”
Police Minister Chris Hipkins. Photo / Mark Mitchell The package also expanded the Kotahi te Whakaaro joint agency response to young offenders, which was initially developed in South Auckland for children under 14. As part of its $53 million Better Pathways youth crime package announced earlier this year, the Government funded Kotahi te Whakaaro to be carried out in West Auckland. The approach, created by the South Auckland Social Wellbeing Board, brought together members of police, Oranga Tamariki, Counties Manukau Health, education, Kāinga Ora, the Ministry of Social Development, local non-government agencies and Te Iwi o Ngāti Kahu to review cases of youth offenders caught in the preceding 24 hours. Now, Kotahi te Whakaaro would also address offenders aged between 14-17. Board programme director Ann Wilkie, also an inspector with Counties Manukau police, said having a timely, joined-up response to children who presented signs of offending was proving successful. “It’s the ones that sit outside of that space that often it’s more of a siloed approach so definitely for those kids who are starting to go down the wrong path, the way that Kotahi te Whakaaro works is definitely the way to go.” In four months of operation, the approach had led to only 13 of 52 children reoffending and just four new reports of concern from Oranga Tamariki. Six had been supported back into education. Only 19 were in education to start with.
Minister for Children Kelvin Davis. Photo / NZME The focus on local solutions was at the heart of the package, with $2m devoted to funding providers in Auckland, Waikato, Northland and Bay of Plenty to either boost existing measures to target young offenders, or initiate new ones. On Monday last week, Prime Minister Jacinda...
International airlines are now in doubt about their ability to fill up their planes with fuel in New Zealand. Airlines are having to limit fuel consumption, after a bad batch of refined fuel was imported into Northland's Marsden Point. No flights have so far been cancelled, and a new shipment is due in the country on Monday. But Board of Air Line Representatives Executive Director Cath O'Brien told Mike Hosking overseas airlines are now raising questions about New Zealand's fuel resilience. She says long-haul carriers cannot tanker as they're already too heavy flying into New Zealand, so they're having to make back-up plans to pick up fuel along the way. Marsden stopped refining fuel itself, this year. LISTEN ABOVE
In yet another sign that the people that are supposed to know what they are doing, don’t, the Funding for Lending programme came to an end yesterday. It was cheap money from the Reserve Bank to the retail banks to get cash out into the economy. And in another of those "whoops, with the benefit of hindsight we would have done it differently" comments, they now say that they should have put more flexibility into the programme. Why? Because the need for banks to access discounted money has long been over, and we are now in the middle of an inflation crisis because of cheap money, lavish spending and no labour and closed borders. In other words - whatever it is you do, do it for the period it needs to be done and no longer. So why did it go longer than needed? Because, 1) The Reserve Bank didn’t put any flexibility in. And, 2) Once they realised that, they argued it is better to keep to your word if you said you would do something. It reminds me of the wage subsidy programme by the Government. They swore black and blue that all that mattered was to get money out there to save jobs. And as a headline, as a broad concept, it wasn't a bad idea. But what about the detail? What about the flexibility? How hard would it have been for the Reserve Bank to say "this is the deal for now but given none of us has a clue how this all unfolds, we retain the right to change things if matters require us to". Honestly, is that hard? Surely someone at some point thought about that? Equally, the Government's wage subsidy - should you in future not actually need the help, should over the next financial year you turn out to be profitable, you will need to pay back some, or all, of the money. Not every business was going to suffer. Some businesses were going to do well. Once again, how hard would it have been to hand the money out with a rider? How many meetings were held where a bit of basic common sense was clearly completely absent? And as a result, how many billions have been funnelled out for no good reason for the next generations to have to try and pay back, because the people with the power and the responsibility never took the job seriously enough? Or if they did, never had the skills to execute it properly?
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Strawberries could be available all year-round. Backed through a government pilot project based in Foxton, strawberries will be grown using a controlled environment growing system. The Government are partnering with 26 Seasons to find cost-effective methods for growing strawberries out of season, costing more than $920,000 over two years. 26 Seasons CEO Grant Leach joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Sport New Zealand have changed the rules for transgender athletes. Trans athletes will now be able to participate in sport in the gender they identify with. The changes will apply only to community level sport. Former professional rower, endurance athlete and co-spokesperson for Save Women's Sport Candice Riley joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A new member’s bill will be lodged in the ballot that would make obstructing state highways, major roads, tunnels and bridges a crime. The bill proposes up to two years in prison, a $20,000 fine, or both. After disruptive rail protests on Wellington state highways, National are taking a stand against further obstructions. National party spokesperson for Transport Simeon Brown joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
International visitors have been spending up large in New Zealand. The latest International Visitor Survey shows in the three months to the end of September, overseas visitors spent more than $1 billion. The survey shows holidaymakers spent $479 million, while visitors here to see friends or relatives spent nearly $300 million. The regions benefited as well, with the Tourism Electronic Card Transactions spend, higher in eight regions than October 2019 levels pre-Covid. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash says the injection into the economy is likely to increase, as more international visitors travel over summer. LISTEN ABOVE
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner is investigating the ransomware attack on information technology company Mercury IT. It's potentially compromising sensitive data for clients including Business NZ, the Nurses Organisation and the Ministry of Justice. AUT computer expert Kenneth Johnson told Mike Hosking data is being compiled throughout the world about the motivation of these attacks, who is doing them and why. He says they hope this provides more information about how these attackers behave, which will aid people in defending against them. LISTEN ABOVE
There's no prizes for going harder than we need to on interest rates. KiwiBank says the Reserve Bank is at risk of going too far. The central bank lifted the Official Cash Rate by 75 basis points last month, while Australia's Reserve Bank lifted theirs by 25 basis points yesterday. Kiwibank CEO Steve Jurkovich told Mike Hosking the Reserve Bank should watch and see the impact coming through of the tightening so far. He doesn't see a downside to that as it's an approach being taken by other central banks around the world. Jurkovich doesn't see why we need to be such a dramatic outlier. LISTEN ABOVE
I am glad the RNZ/TVNZ merger is getting the noise it deserves. The trouble with mass reform under ideological Governments is certain things attract headlines and a lot of stuff doesn’t. The Fair Pay Agreements, I think, deserved more noise than they got, given the chaos they are going to cause around the economy. And the merger is another such matter than was always going to struggle against scandals like Covid and lockdowns and Three Waters and charging farmers for being farmers. But as the spotlight gets shone on the merger ideology it's become increasingly obvious there is actually nothing that drives it. The Prime Minister, who seems to have settled on an approach of literally making it up as she goes, yesterday suggested that if they didn’t merge it Radio New Zealand might collapse. That of course is errant nonsense given the Government writes the cheques. But part of her argument was that they had lost audience, which is correct. Their main programme in the morning has lost a lot of audience. I know, because most of its turned up here. And the reason it's turned up here is we aren't boring. But a merger in and of itself won't change that for them. It's a lot like Ardern's claim that if you don’t back Three Waters your rates will increase, which isn't true either. Rates increase all over the place, all the time and none of it has to do with water or central Government because it's not their business. She also rolled out that tired old line that we need more trust in the media, which is true. But it's not directly related to a merger, or indeed the Government having anything to do with media. When pressed, what we have learned is there is not a single solid idea behind any of this. Not a single light bulb moment where you go "ah that’s why, that makes sense". Along with their mad polytech idea, the centralisation of health, their obsession with Maorifying everything - the merger just seems to be part of a crazed grab bag of ideological thought bubbles they dreamed up in opposition years ago that they would have a crack at next time they turned up in Government. If I was them I would read the poll which has the majority of us against it, and kill it. If they honestly believe a combination of Willie Jackson and Tracey Martin is broadcasting's future, then it's time they handed the place over to some adults.
It's the impossible inquiry isn't it? Do we want a Royal Commission into Covid? Of course we do. Are there aspects we found to be wanting, if not completely cocked up? Of course there were. But are they going to look at them in the sort of detail we want or need? Is the Government really going to learn anything? Remember it won’t be 'this Government' and in that is the crux of all of this. Would a different Government have handled the same thing differently? Yes they would. How much of what we got out of this pandemic was specific to the Labour Government and its inability to deliver anything, far less a major health response? MIQ is widely seen as being needlessly cruel, the lockdowns, although not unique, were at the extreme end of the spectrum and the vaccine roll out was abysmal. Others would have done it differently. Can a commission ever come up with a blueprint that involves any form of specifics? How do they deal with the dishonesty? In my mind there is not a shadow of a doubt that we were, at times, misled and at other times straight up and down lied to. How does a commission tackle that, if they tackle it at all? The pulpit of truth, the political sermons that went on for 20 minutes before we got a shred of actual detail, are they in the commissions purview? Do we see the paperwork on the Pfizer deal and why it was so slow? Ashley Bloomfield is long gone but does the boss of health play a critical role? Yes they do. So how dependent are we on who that person just happens to be next time a pandemic arrives? In other words, how much of it is luck? How is it possible that the Reserve bank is not included in this? Covid and its fallout goes on, businesses are still falling over to this day, mental health is still an issue, access to health is still an issue and the job market is a mess because of all this. That surely is as much Covid as the case numbers and percentage of people that got jabbed. This looks to me like an exercise, if not in futility, certainly in disappointment. The thing I will remember about the Covid response here was the maniacal and dictatorial approach from a Government that revelled in the fear and power, mixed with their ineptitude. There is not a shadow of a doubt in my mind that we could have done a hell of a lot better, and I don't need a Royal Commission to tell me that. And if you are as bereft of talent as this Government is, no Royal Commission is going to be able to fix that.
A new Kiwi startup wants employers to put their parental leave policies on its new register. Crayon is creating a database of verified parental leave policies for parents to easily access. Employees traditionally have to be at the same employer for 12 months or more to be eligible for full parental leave benefits Founder Stephanie Pow says the goal is to create transparency. She says it's not about naming and shaming, but making the information available for everyone to find. LISTEN ABOVE
The man tasked with heading the Royal Commission of Inquiry into our Covid response says they'll be doing their best to deliver an independent report. It kicks off February and will look at vaccine mandates, border closures, quarantine and community care - among other matters. A report is due mid-2024. Australian-based epidemiologist Tony Blakely will chair it, alongside former National party minister Hekia Parata and former Treasury secretary John Whitehead. Blakely says he's happy with the terms of reference - particularly the forward looking nature of it. He says their job isn't to find blame about individual past decisions, but project forward. LISTEN ABOVE
National is on track to form a coalition government with ACT at next year’s election. A 1News Kantar poll shows National's support up one percent to 38 percent - and Act up two points to 11 percent. Meanwhile, Labour has slid a point to 33 percent - while the Green Party is holding steady on nine percent. Act Leader David Seymour says he believes Labour is out of touch with what the public want. He says the Government isn't listening or delivering on what the country needs. LISTEN ABOVE
A business leader doubts the Royal Commission of Inquiry into our Covid response has the right scope. It kicks off February and will look at vaccine mandates, border closures, quarantine and community care. A report is due mid-2024. Australian-based epidemiologist Tony Blakely will chair it, alongside former National party minister Hekia Parata and former Treasury secretary John Whitehead. Business NZ Chief Executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking no one from business was talked to about the scope. He says the exclusion of operations into the private sector from the scope of inquiry is disappointing. LISTEN ABOVE
When James Michael Grimes fell overboard from a Carnival cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico, he said the sheer will to live, along with strength from God, kept him alive as he miraculously swam for what he believes was more than 15 hours. Grimes, 28, who described himself as an "average guy" who likes hunting, fishing and being outdoors, was rescued late on Thanksgiving Day and told CNN he is "blessed to be here." The Alabama native was onboard the Carnival Valor with 18 members of his family for the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the night before Thanksgiving when Grimes, who was at an onboard bar with his sister, went to use a restroom around 11 p.m., his sister recalled, according to a Carnival statement to CNN. The last thing he remembers before regaining consciousness in the water was going to listen to live music aboard the ship with family, he said, and he doesn't remember where, or how, he fell off the ship. He'd had drinks on the Valor, but says he was not inebriated, Grimes told ABC earlier. "I was trying to stay as positive as I could from the moment I came to, and regain consciousness, I can just remember right then thinking, 'wow, it's a miracle that I'm not already dead,' " Grimes said. Grimes said he is not capable of floating, and credited his survival to his faith and positive attitude, adding he even created songs to keep his spirits up. He swam through two schools of jellyfish and watched the sun rise during his time in the water, and said he lost almost 20 pounds during the experience. "The lord gave me the will to live. It's a miracle," he told CNN. "I wasn't going to give up at any point in time just say, this is it, this is the end. It never came to that. I was determined to swim until my arms and legs could not hold my body up anymore." "It was like a 20-hour baptism," he added. He also battled confusion, fatigue, and some sort of creature below. "It came up on me really quick. And I went under, and I could see it. And it wasn't a shark, I don't believe. But it had more like a flat mouth, and it came up and bumped one of my legs, and I kicked it with the other leg. It scared me, not knowing what it was ... all I could see was a fin," he told ABC earlier. At another point, Grimes grabbed a floating stick, which he said "looked like bamboo," and started chewing it. "It gave some type of flavor in my mouth other than saltwater," he told ABC. Grimes also said he had conversations with God during his time in the Gulf. "'Lord, my worst fear is drowning. I don't know why you put me out here in this trial, but I know you're going to get me through it,' " he recalled saying. "It wasn't a matter of if I get saved or if they find me, it was just a matter of when, and I just got to keep swimming until they do." Grimes' family had reported him missing at noon on Thanksgiving. He eventually saw lights from a tanker ship, and swam toward it, he had told ABC. The ship's crew spotted him around 8:25 p.m. and alerted the Coast Guard, which sent a helicopter crew to hoist him out of the water, the service said. The Coast Guard member who rescued him looked like a guardian angel coming down from the helicopter, Grimes told CNN. Lt. Seth Gross, a search and rescue coordinator for the USCG told CNN if Grimes was in the water for 15 hours, it's "the absolute longest that I've heard about, and just one of those Thanksgiving miracles." "The fact that he was able to keep himself afloat and above the surface of the water for such an extended period of time, it's just something you can't take for granted and certainly something that'll stick with me forever," Gross said, adding the case showed how much "the will to live is something that you need to account for in every search-and-rescue case." Grimes is now planning a trip to New Orleans to meet the Coast Guard crew who rescued him and added he wouldn't rule out another cruise in the future. "If that's the worst thing I ever have to go through again, I think I'll...
Former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds has confirmed that she was advised on Friday that her former staffer Brittany Higgins intends to file a compensation claim — that could climb as high as $3 million. News.com.au revealed over the weekend that Ms Higgins’ legal team had entered negotiations over a bombshell multimillion-dollar personal injury claim. It’s believed the claim includes $2.5 million for future economic loss, past economic loss, general damages of future assistance with at-home care and past and future out-of-pocket expenses of a further $150,000. Lawyers acting for Ms Higgins indicated they were pressing ahead with the claim on Friday, the same day that it was announced the charge against Bruce Lehrmann would be dropped and the criminal trial would not proceed based on a risk to the life of the complainant, who remains hospitalised in Queensland. “I confirm that I was advised in March this year by Blumers, who act for Brittany Higgins, of a civil claim by Ms Higgins against me and other parties,” Senator Reynolds said. “However, proceedings are yet to be filed. Blumers advised me yesterday that their client intends to progress the civil claim this month.” Ms Higgins also took to Instagram on Sunday, posting a text version of the speech she gave outside the ACT court when the first trial ended over juror misconduct. The speech angered defence lawyers because among other issues it claimed that Mr Lehrmann, who has always maintained his innocence, was never asked to hand over his phone to police. In fact, he was required to surrender his phone to police, with calls he made raised by prosecutors and the defence during the trial. Mr Lehrmann, who was originally charged over her alleged rape, is also considering civil remedies for a cash payout, with his legal team considering a Comcare claim, defamation action against media outlets and unfair dismissal from the jobs he lost after the allegations emerged. Mr Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence and was never convicted of any crime. Sources who have seen the legal documentation supporting Ms Higgins’ claim say that it includes compensation for lost earnings, future earnings and at-home support for Ms Higgins, who has not worked full-time since she went public with her account of an alleged incident at Parliament House. The three respondents named in the legal correspondence are Senator Reynolds, who was Ms Higgins’ direct employer at the time she was found in the ministerial suite by a security guard in 2019, Liberal frontbencher Michaelia Cash, and the Commonwealth. But an official claim has not been filed while parties prepare to enter into mediation talks. Ms Higgins’ personal lawyer Leon Zwier, who was a regular fixture at her criminal case in Canberra, is aware of the claim. However, Ms Higgins is being represented in the personal injury matter by Noor Blumer, a founding partner of Blumers Lawyers who has practised as a personal injury lawyer since 1992. Ms Blumer has been quietly negotiating the claim since February. It follows former Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s apology to Ms Higgins in parliament for the “many terrible experiences Ms Higgins has detailed during her time working at Parliament House and the treatment that she has described receiving whilst working here”. But he insisted that apology was “by no means a reflection on the matters before a court”. Ms Blumer declined to comment on the matter or any mediation talks when contacted. A leading Canberra lawyer, Ms Blumer previously went public with her own complaint that former High Court judge Dyson Heydon tried to touch her leg under a table and kiss her at University of Canberra Law ball several years ago. Mr Heydon issued a statement at the time through his lawyers denying “emphatically any allegation of sexual harassment or any offence”. News of the compensation claim follows shock revelations over the weekend that police “unlawfully” sent Ms Higgins private counselling notes to Mr...
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to discuss the latest action from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Shane van Gisbergen's coronation, James McDonald becoming top jockey in the world, and Tyson Fury's victory over Deontay Wilder. LISTEN ABOVE
Making it big in the US market is what every Kiwi company dreams of — but for Monday Hair Care it has become their reality. The Kiwi company has just renewed its contract to sell its hair care products in Costco USA. After an initial three-month trial from its start in January, Monday became the number one hair care brand in Costco USA. Monday Hair Care co-founder Jaimee Lupton joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
What is it we are supposed to make of the revelation that the Prime Minister, having told us she didn’t know about her party's attempt to entrench aspects of the Three Waters law, turned out to be in the very meeting where it was discussed? A couple of simple questions. Firstly, where is the media on this? The story had scant coverage - why is that? Is it not a story? Can the media who ignored it, which is most of them, seriously argue it doesn’t deserve a lot more coverage than it got? Why did the Prime Minister tell us she didn’t know about it? Not only does that appear not to be true, but also made her look like she didn’t know what was going on in her own party. A party that went to Parliament and tried to entrench a bit of law that was so outside the norm it alarmed every constitutional expert in the country Why would you want to look out of touch? They seem by the way to have settled on the term “novel”. It was a novel approach. "We knew it was a novel thing to look at". Novel is used to try and replace other words like scandal and dishonest. And then if she knew about it, which it appears she did, given Nanaia Mahuta said it was discussed and Jacinda Ardern confirmed she was there, is it possible she was asleep. I jest. But if she knew about it, but said she didn’t until it gets exposed, what does that say about her integrity? And once you get to the Prime Minister's integrity, I go back to the original question about the media and their lack of coverage of this. A Government is trying to up end the way we conduct Parliament, the law and elections. And what do we get? Little, if anything. And if we question the Prime Minister's integrity, that also then brings in their promise to be the most open, honest and transparent Government ever — a line surely now so farcical, it will go down in political history. One last question; is it the sort of thing being thought about this week in Hamilton as we wait for the result Saturday? Crime seems to be the top topic, which by the way is an astonishing thing all by itself given the cost of living crisis. Historically the economy, the economy, it’s the economy stupid - is your driving force. So how bad must crime be perceived to top the economy? But what about our leader? If you can't trust the person running the country, what does that do to your vote?
Belief a shortage of capacity across the entire bus and coach sector will impact tourism. The Bus and Coach Association says there are shortages of coaches, operators, and drivers. Association Chief Executive Ben McFadgen says tourism operators are struggling to keep up with such high demand from the return of overseas travel. He told Mike Hosking it's time for the Government to intervene. “Despite the fact we keep saying to the Minister we’ve got a serious problem here and we need to address it, we keep getting overlooked. We can’t even get a meeting with the man.” LISTEN ABOVE
Tech giants could be forced to the bargaining table to pay for local news content. The Government is drawing up legislation to make companies like Google and Meta pay local news producers for their content. They're encouraged to strike their own voluntary deals, as NZME - owner of Newstalk ZB and the Herald - already has. If no agreement is found, the Government will set bargaining terms. Technology commentator Bill Bennett told Mike Hosking the legislation won't cause online platforms to stop using local content. “It hurts their business if they’re not that prominent in a country. They need our news.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is backing its decision to fund 46 councils with $350 million in public transport upgrades. The package covers almost 400 new or upgraded bus stops, nearly 250 kilometres of cycleways and some 120 school improvements. Transport Minister Michael Wood says the projects will help meet future needs caused by population growth and climate change. He told Mike Hosking the upgrades are essential for getting people off the road. “To the extent that the public transport system isn’t as good as it could be and not as good as it should be, we’ve got to make these improvements.” LISTEN ABOVE
House prices have fallen by an average of $90,000 in parts of New Zealand after a turbulent year in the property market. That meant homeowners who bought at the height of the property boom in late 2021 could find themselves with mortgages larger than the value of their home, especially in Auckland and Wellington. But there were also some positives: the fall in prices was allowing more first-home buyers onto the property ladder. The OneRoof Property Report for 2022, published today, captured the huge market shift during the year and highlighted some risks on the horizon for homeowners. The housing market went from “fear of missing out” to “fear of overpaying”, Oneroof editor Owen Vaughan said, as a boom which started during Covid gave way to falling prices, tighter lending and uncertainty about the year ahead. Nationwide, the average property value fell by 8.15 per cent, or nearly $90,000, since a high of $1.1m at the end of February. Values fell in every region except the West Coast. Homeowners in Wellington and Auckland were worst affected. The average property value fell 17.7 per cent ($201,818) in the Greater Wellington region since prices peaked in March, with some central suburbs taking a price hit of more than $400,000. This was largely because of the withdrawal of Auckland investors who had driven much of the inflation since the Covid-19 pandemic. In Auckland, average property values fell 12 per cent (more than $180,000) since the peak. James Wilson, head of valuations at Valocity, said the fall in prices in 2022 was the largest since 2010, but had to be seen in context: the boom since Covid was one of the strongest New Zealand had ever experienced, with average growth of 33 per cent nationwide between early 2020 and early 2022. While the fall in prices may make the market more affordable for some, it raises concerns about negative equity for those who bought at the market’s peak. “The data shows that the homeowners who purchased in late 2021 and early 2022 are more likely to be in negative equity position now,” Wilson said. “Investors, those with more than two properties, are likely to be less exposed as a result of the 40 per cent deposit requirements for investment properties.” Nicki Cruickshank, the principal of Tommy’s real estate in Wellington, said prices went higher than expected in 2021 so the drop this year was to be expected - but she had not expected the turnaround to be so sudden. “But in the big picture most people own houses for 10 years-plus so overall they’ve still done well.” Sanjeev Jangra, a Loan Market mortgage adviser who works in Auckland’s south, said interest rate hikes took people by surprise, especially last year’s borrowers who were not expecting them to go so high so fast. There had been some positives for those wanting to get into the market. Jangra noted a switch in his client base from 40-50 per cent investors to around 80 per cent first-home buyers. Investors did not have enough equity after prices fell 15-20 per cent, he said. Looking ahead to 2023, Wilson said he expected property values were likely to keep falling but at a slower rate. A range of factors would have an impact on the market, including reduced sales activity, the election, and the Reserve Bank’s inflation battle. “Inflation is the elephant in the room and won’t disappear overnight. But while cost of living pressures are reaching across nearly all parts of our daily lives, we’re actually not seeing a significant drop in spending and that’s probably because a lot of people still haven’t had to fix their mortgage at a higher rate,” Wilson said. “When that happens and those mortgage rates begin to really bite, then spending is likely to dry up. Obviously, that has bigger economic impacts but the key question is: will inflation be tamed by traditional policy or will a hard, economic landing do the job? At this point, a lot of signs point to a harder landing than would be ideal.” Highs and lows
Steepest fall from mark...
Pharmac says it's pleased to be ready to consult on a drug the cystic fibrosis community's been after for a long time.A provisional agreement's been made between Pharmac and Vertex to fund the drug Trikafta for those with the condition aged six and over.The drug buying agency estimated it could give those people up to 27 more years of full health when compared with supportive care.Pharmac Operations Director Lisa Williams told Mike Hosking more funding for Pharmac was announced in this year's budget.She says that has made a difference and they've been able to fund a lot more medicines this year.LISTEN ABOVE
The Reserve Bank's Governor of Australia Philip Lowe reminded me of Eugenie Sage this week.Or maybe it was the other way round? Either way, it’s about power and influence.The Sage defence of the cluster that has been this astonishing attempt to upend democracy in this country with the entrenchment debacle is all the evidence you need to know that not all people in power, should be.Her rationale and I use that word extremely loosely, was so devoid of any common sense it was frightening.Essentially, it boiled down to 'we don’t like the idea of privatisation so we want to stop it'.All Governments don’t like the idea of a bunch of stuff the next Government might have a crack at. But part of the democratic deal is you have a thing called an election, you state your case and the best person wins.In the meantime, Philip Lowe, who is in about as much reputational trouble as Adrian Orr, apologised. Like Adrian did.He apologised for the fact a lot of people went and borrowed a lot of money when money was cheap and have now been caught out because the Reserve Bank Governor changed his mind about inflation."I'm sorry if people listened to what we said and acted on it".Those were his exact words - "I am sorry if people listened to what we said and acted on it".Have you ever heard such an abdication of responsibility?As opposed to what Philip? Us listening to what you say and dismissing it? Thus meaning what?That what you have to say means nothing? Hence the next obvious question - why do we have a Governor of the Reserve Bank?What positions do we listen to? What advice do we act on?If we are ignore bank governors, what about hare-brained politicians or indeed Prime Ministers?Just who does, and does not, have any level of tangible responsibility to speak and have their words and intentions followed or acted upon?It's all care, no responsibility.Sage loves sitting in Parliament making all sorts of rules and regulations until its shown she’s a mile out of her depth.Phillip loves running an economy until, ‘whoops I’m not sure I know what I’m doing so just ignore me please.’The asylum really is run by the inmates.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The Police: 7/10The adjustment to pursuits is a reminder that under Andrew Coster they’ve got it wrong and they’ve got it wrong because of Government direction. Fog cannons: 2/10An astonishingly blatant failure to address real harm. They're not even here until next year. It looked like bungled panic. Entrenchment: 0/10Probably the worst thing this Government has tried so far. When you literally look to gerrymander the system you are in the realm of the Third World, the despots and the crooks. Ben Bell: 6/10Small bit of advice; never give in to the whiners and those who hate change, especially when you’ve got a mandate. The red meat study: 7/10It won't kill you after all. Yet another reminder of how so much of what we have been lectured about simply isn't true. Lydia Ko: 8/10Star of the week. Being No.1 is great but dropping off and getting back is the real story. Persistence is an awesome attribute. Car prices: 3/10You interfere in the market with fees and rebates and rules and ideology and what happens? Prices to go up, sales to go down. What an awesome business model. The gaming industry: 7/10Bright spot of the week as the growth rages on. Agriculture: 8/10The other bright spot of the week as sales of anything red and edible bring in the heavyweight money, along with the milk to wash it all down. Immigration: 1/10Low light of the week as yet again, this time with the partners open visa, we are reminded that we have a policy that is breaking us and a minister overseeing it who is an idiot. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The Government has a challenge in front of it over what to do about the plight of the Ruapehu ski fields.Ruapehu Alpine Lifts is in voluntary administration, carrying debt of $45 million. The Government isn't throwing anymore lifelines, leaving the business that runs the Turoa and Whakapapa ski fields staring down the barrel of liquidation.The company's demise would cost taxpayers up to $100 million because all infrastructure would have to be removed from the mountain.Ruapehu district mayor Weston Kirton told Mike Hosking the Government doesn't appear to realise these costly implications.He's asking the Government to consider whether they would rather spend $20 million now to save the ski field or another $80 million to demolish the infrastructure.LISTEN ABOVE
Our country's Kiwifruit pickers may soon have a robotic friend to help them out.Waikato University engineers have developed an e-bin which rolls alongside workers.They can drop the fruit into the bin, where it will be safely caught and stored in a net, instead of having to lug heavy bags on their backs.Waikato University Engineering Lecturer Nick Pickering says it will make the job more accessible.He says it shows the utility of robots in the workforce.Pickering says it shows we don't have to fully automate jobs away.LISTEN ABOVE
The Children's Minister says the system needs to do better so more children aren't killed.A damning investigation into the murder of five-year-old Malachi Subecz has identified five critical gaps in the system.The Tauranga boy was murdered by his carer last November, after a history of abuse.The review makes 14 recommendations - aimed at ensuring there are interlocking safety nets in place.Children's Minister Kelvin Davis told Mike Hosking Oranga Tamariki had the first vital opportunity to intervene, and when they missed that other agencies also failed.He says the Government has accepted nine of the 14 recommendations and are looking at the other five.LISTEN ABOVE
Sir Murray Halberg is being remembered as a man who was incredibly tough on the running track.The athletics legend and philanthropist has died aged 89.He excelled as a world-class athlete on the international stage for a decade, with his greatest achievement winning the five thousand metre gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics.Sir Murray Halberg's best friend Bill Roger told Mike Hosking he was a very hard man to beat at the finish.LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association says new policy around police pursuits could be useful as the vast majority of fleeing offenders are in their own vehicles.New government measures give police the ability to permanently remove a fleeing offender's car, with harsher licence disqualifications also coming into force.Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking while there's a perception most people who don't stop for police are in stolen cars, that's not the case.He says only about 25 percent are in that category, so many people will be putting their vehicles at risk.Cahill says ram raiders however are the exception and are generally always using a stolen car.LISTEN ABOVE
Child Matters says politicians need to be bold in making policies to address child abuse.A damning report into the murder of five-year-old Malachi Subecz by his carer has found five critical gaps in the system.It makes 14 recommendations aimed at ensuring there are interlocking safety nets in place, so another child doesn't endure the same thing.Child Matters CEO Jane Searle told Mike Hosking the Government should accept all 14 recommendations, not just nine.She says the recommendations are all important, including the one around mandatory reporting.Searle says that's where New Zealand is lagging behind other countries.LISTEN ABOVE
Time to catch up with one of the Mike Hosking Breakfast’s absolute favourites. We all know William Shatner’s CV - including the smash hits Star Trek and Boston Legal.
William Shatner talks Mike Hosking through his experience going into space with Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin. You might remember last year he was back in the global headlines when went into space with Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin.
Shatner talks his nerves during the launch process. Now he's reflecting on that experience and his life with a new book, Boldly Go. That will be in bookstores in a few days.
Shatner talks the inspiration for his book Boldly Go and his love of learning new things.
With the news that the Government are yet again messing with immigration settings and partners are now no longer allowed an open visa unless you are on the famed, but hopelessly inadequate, green list - let me ask you this question. Who is doing the most damage to the economy? Is it Grant Robertson with the printing, spending, cost of living crisis and upcoming recession? Or is it Michael Wood with his refusal to supply the country with an amount of labour to actually meet demand? One sort of leads into another but I'd argue Wood is your number one danger based on the fact that Robertson has a pile of balls in the air. As badly as they have cocked up the economy there are a tremendous number of variables at play Whereas in immigration it's clean and clear cut - you choose what sort of visas you offer and you choose the number of people you allow in on those visas. The only possible issue beyond your control is demand. If no one wants to take you up on your offer, short of going out and spruiking your credentials, you kind of have what you have. That would not appear to be our issue. Our issue appears to be an astonishing refusal to offer a solution, when a solution is so easily and readily available. Is it pig headedness that prevents him moving? He throws $60 million at bus drivers and yet doesn’t let more bus drivers in. He argues as to whether we have a nursing shortage, given he thinks nurses are coming into the country in the numbers we need, when they are not. What makes it really maddening is he says he is listening, when he isn't. I still don’t see a single sector that says "thank god for that, our labour issue is solved". Even the RSE part, which they have moved on, isn't solved. The processing is an issue, the accreditation is an issue, the fees are an issue, the wage levels are an issue and the criteria is an issue. I have yet to find a single person who argues any aspect of this is working. What I pray for is a David Clark type revelation. Remember Clark and his CCCFA lending debacle? To his credit, he eventually backed down and said 'I got it wrong, we'll do it again'. And he did. It's still not sorted properly but at least he tried. Wood isn't even trying. So surely in the end of year prize for the minister who did his worst and provided the most damage to New Zealand Inc, no one has beaten Michael Phillip Wood of Mt Roskill.
The company started by the Government to build Auckland's Light Rail had zero employees a month after it was founded. Written parliamentary questions show it now has at least one; chief executive Tommy Parker. Auckland Light Rail Limited was established on October 6, and as of November 9, it engages 54 contractors and consultants. National's transport spokesperson Simeon Brown says all Labour has done is hire consultants for the project, rather than deliver a business case. But the Transport Minister says employment arrangements in the transport system are often project-by-project. Michael Wood says they often rely on a large number of consultants and contractors. Simeon Brown joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Canterbury businesses are making sure they're not forgotten as retailers grapple with crime across the country. 80 of the city's business owners have signed a letter asking the Government to hold offenders to account. They're concerned the recent crime support announcements don't go far enough. Canterbury Employers' Chamber Chief Executive Leeann Watson told Mike Hosking it's not unique to Christchurch, but they want to stop what they're seeing. She says the current rules, regulations and consequences need to be reviewed to break the cycle. LISTEN ABOVE
New data shows an experimental drug could help some people with early stage Alzheimer's. The medicine, lecanemab, attacks the protein amyloid that builds up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's, slowing progression of the disease. There are side effects for some such as brain swelling and researchers are clear more work is needed. Alzheimer's New Zealand Chief Executive Catherine Hall told Mike Hosking it's early days. She says it's an intravenous injection once a fortnight for 18 months and there's a long way to go to see if it's worthwhile. LISTEN ABOVE
Fair pay negotiations could end up being a long, drawn out process. Unions say they already have enough signatures to demand a Fair Pay Agreement for hospitality workers. It means any negotiated pay and working conditions will apply to all employers in the industry. But Employers and Manufacturers' Association Head of Advocacy Alan McDonald told Mike Hosking there are some very complex things around this. He says there are all sorts of technical arguments around wage bargaining that need to be very precise. McDonald suggests the way the legislation is written, things are very imprecise. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's primary producers could be our saving grace as an economic storm brews. Our food and fibre export revenue is on track to reach record heights, in what's hoped will help protect New Zealanders from the global downturn. The Situation and Outlook for Primary Industries report released today, shows food and fibre exports are tracking to grow to $55 billion in the coming year - up almost $3 billion from forecasts made earlier in the year. Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor told Mike Hosking it's a brilliant outcome. He says they usually undershoot in their predictions, and may reap even more than the $55 billion dollars they've forecast. LISTEN ABOVE
The number of people behind on debt repayments has increased by five percent in the year to October. Data by credit bureau Centrix shows the number of missed home loan repayments has risen for the third month in a row. Meanwhile, demand for consumer credit has risen, with personal loan demand up around 18 percent and vehicle loan demand up 17.3 percent year on year. Centrix Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking there had been a downward trend in arrears over the past five years, so it's quite a reversal. He says it's a signal of what may happen in the future. LISTEN ABOVE
Our National Party got themselves some coverage in Australia yesterday because three of their senior players are over there campaigning. The group is led by Chris Bishop and it shows a couple of things: 1) There are a lot of Kiwis in that part of the world so the pickings are particularly rich. 2) National are clearly organised given the election is a year away. 3) It’s a fascinating experiment, where mood, actions and reactions lead to votes. The main reason they are over there is MIQ and the inability of tens of thousands of expats to access this country for such a long period of time during Covid. The question I suppose is - is that anger, all those threats, that dismay, that outpouring of grief going to convert to votes for the opposition? If you bottled the mood at the time, the Government would have been toast. The MIQ system was shockingly designed, fundamentally flawed and ended up in court with a loss for the Government. It was a foray into repression and fury that was never really needed and a very good example of what this Government has become famous for - dreaming up a plan then cocking it up. The famous got access to The Wiggles and Jacinda Ardern's favourite DJs while people were locked out and forced to watch loved ones die, loved ones get married via zoom and that mad lottery of getting up at all hours and watching as you yet again got a number that would not get you anywhere close to getting a room and into the country. Charlotte Bellis, remember her? The pregnant journalist who bullied her way in by embarrassing Chris Hipkins into submission - the whole thing was a grotesque mess. So, are they still angry you reckon? Or have they moved on? Is there still payback for an opposition to be mined or do we see it in a new light? Dan Andrews in Victoria locked his people down as badly as us, if not longer, and he got re elected over the weekend. Did people forget, or forgive, or were they not that bothered to start with? Our Government will be praying time heals all ills - and retribution isn't a driving force.
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
For many of us, the thought of supermarket queues are draining. But for others, they are seen as an entrepreneurial opportunity. Entrepreneur Jo Castasus has stepped into the game with her bulk shopping business 'Aunty Jo's'. By paying a $20 fee, Aunty Jo will do a Costco shop and ship it to you, whether you are near or far. The name behind Aunty Jo, Jo Castasus joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Fieldays is back after a 17-month hiatus. The gates to Mystery Creek are open today with 1,000 exhibitors set to cover the site. This year the event has taken on the theme of 'same, same, but different' including the same old crowd favourites as well as new attractions like a tractor racing experience that will put visitors into the driver’s seat. New Zealand National Fieldays Society president James Allen joined Mike Hosking.
A lack of labour is putting mounting pressure on mental health and addiction services. The Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission has reviewed the progress of the Access and Choice programme, three years into its roll-out. The report finds capacity has improved in under-supported areas, but, it also shows nearly 800 more full time staff are needed by the end of June 2024. Mental Health and Wellbeing Commission Chair Hayden Wano told Mike Hosking there needs to be a focus on labour meeting the demand. He says they're going to need a focused workforce plan with sustained leadership from the Government and the system itself. LISTEN ABOVE
Scary times for some home-owners, with ANZ the first to react following last week's record OCR rise. It's increasing its home loan and deposit rates, after the OCR was lifted to 4.25 percent last week. ANZ expects house prices to continue dropping until mid to late next year, falling 22-percent from their peak last year. But the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research is forecasting a lower interest rate track of 5 per cent. Principal economist Christina Leung told Mike Hosking many households are rolling off fixed term mortgage rates of about a 2 per cent rate to something significantly higher. She says it's expected as they face higher mortgage repayments, they'll start to rein in spending, slowing the broader economy. LISTEN ABOVE
An immigration consultant says changes to the partners of migrants' right to work, will make it harder to attract migrants. A change going ahead next month will only allow partners of green list workers to get an open work visa. Couples will instead have to find accredited employers to sponsor applications for each of them, or have a partner who can visit, but not work. Into NZ Immigration Principal Consultant Katy Armstrong told Mike Hosking she doesn't know why the Government would change it. She says it's reached a tipping point where interest in coming to New Zealand, will be almost non-existent. LISTEN ABOVE
A court will today consider the fate of a four-month-old baby boy who needs life-saving heart surgery. The child's parents are refusing blood donations from vaccinated people - wishing instead to use their own donors. Health New Zealand will go to the High Court at Auckland today, seeking guardianship over the baby to allow the surgery to proceed. Barrister Simon Judd told Mike Hosking while it's a rare situation, the law does cover situations like these. He says the judge can appoint the court the guardian just for the purpose of the surgery, leaving the parents as guardians in every other respect. LISTEN ABOVE
Some fog cannons and a council initiative. That’s your cabinet response to a death at a Sandringham dairy. The suggestion from the Prime Minister was that Cabinet had been speaking for some weeks about the so-called business crime package. It is an odd clam to make, given when Chris Hipkins, the architect of the package, was peppered about it in the house last week he never mentioned it was being discussed. My suspicion is, because it wasn’t. It was discussed yesterday because the Government, through their approach on crime and abject failure to roll out a package that was tiny to start with and barely executed in the ensuing months, has seen the rampant escalation reach the point of a needless death. And that at least, in part, sits on their doorstep. So the spin was on. They defended their approach to crime; they said they are not soft. Sadly for them, we have reached the point where the carnage speaks otherwise. While they were in Cabinet drumming up ways to deflect and defend, dairy owners were outside the Prime Minister's electorate office and in front of their shops around the country with a general message that says "enough is enough". My bet is, if I asked any one of them whether the Government is soft on crime, I could tell you their answer accurately 100% of the time. We also got the line that fog cannons and people to install them is hard work and it will be the second quarter of next year before it's all done - thus, it won't be. What does a council initiative even mean? When did a council initiate change anything? So it's piecemeal, noise and nonsense, a bit of pocket change dragged out from behind the sofa and a faux defence of their complete abdication around business and community safety. That's the problem when your credibility is shot. To turn that tide you have to surprise, you have to change gear, you have to up the ant and you have to pull something major, if not spectacular, out of the bag. Their bag clearly got nicked.
It's been an incredible year for Kiwi golfer Ryan Fox. After a couple of years hampered by the pandemic - Fox took the European tour by storm and ended up coming second overall in the DP World Tour Rankings. The season saw him take two victories and get eight other top ten finishes. He's now the 27th on the official World Golf rankings. So how does he reflect on the season? And what does he have in store for 2023? Ryan Fox joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Calling all art lovers. Works by Banksy and Charles Frederick Goldie will be up for sale tonight at the International Art Centre. The three Banksy limited edition prints could bring up to $325,000 while the three works by Charles Frederick Goldie could sell for up to $2.2million. International Art Center Director Richard Thomson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's video game industry is booming. Revenue has almost doubled from last year’s $267 million to $407 million in the past year - heading to be a billion dollar industry by 2026. Not to mention digital games are New Zealand’s single fastest growing export and one of our most productive sectors. Chairperson of New Zealand Game Developers Association Chelsea Rapp joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A “significant increase” in fleeing drivers along with a decrease in the number of offenders identified has led to the police’s fleeing driver policy being changed again. Police commissioner Andrew Coster announced that the police pursuit policy would be reviewed next year and a Fleeing Driver Framework would be introduced. Police’s pursuit policy changed in 2020 following a series of high-profile deaths. Coster said since the changes were introduced they had seen a significant increase in fleeing driver events and a significant decrease in the proportion of offenders identified. Data also shows a decrease in the number of fatalities during fleeing driver events. “We know there is a desire for change and a perception that offenders are more brazen and more willing to take risks with their driving behaviour,” said Coster. ”The revisions will bring us back to a more balanced position, while still prioritising the safety of officers and the public.” Coster says the Fleeing Driver Framework will provide clarity for staff on when a pursuit may be justified, including the weight given to the threat of further harm if the offenders are not apprehended immediately. Feedback on the revisions has been sought from Police staff as well as key partners including the Police Association, Independent Police Conduct Authority, and Children’s Commissioner. “I believe the coming revisions will achieve more balance, accepting that there is no perfect solution,” he said. After the change to the policy in 2020, staff were told a pursuit was only justified when the threat posed by the vehicle prior to failing to stop, and the necessity to immediately apprehend the driver and or passengers, outweighed the risk of harm created by the pursuit. Investigations were preferred over the commencement or continuation of a pursuit. Police staff were informed of the further revisions to the policy on Monday in an email, seen by the Herald, from Coster. ”Since the change in December 2020, I know there has been feedback from staff and our communities that they would like to see a different balance. This is linked to the perception that offenders are more brazen and are taking more risks in their driving behaviour.” Data showed there had been a “significant increase” in fleeing driver events and a “significant decrease” in the proportion of offenders identified.
Police Commissioner Andrew Coster. Photo / George Heard ”There was also a decrease in people being killed during fleeing driver events. The revisions will bring us back to a more balanced position, while still prioritising the safety of officers and the public.” Coster said police had engaged with front-line staff, communications centre commanders, district commanders as well as other agencies such as the IPCA, Children’s Commissioner and Police Association. ”The policy changes will introduce a Fleeing Driver Framework which will provide clarity for staff on when a pursuit may be justified, including the weight given to the threat of further harm if the offenders are not apprehended immediately.” Implementation details were still being worked through, and further information would be released next year, he said. This would include new training. The policy would be introduced before the middle of next year, Coster anticipated. ”Fleeing driver events are volatile, unpredictable and high risk to everyone involved. This operational environment continues to be challenging for us to navigate.” Coster acknowledged there was “no perfect solution”. ”Drivers who choose not to pull over for Police when instructed put themselves, our staff and the public at risk. “The one thing that will always remain at the forefront of this policy is an acknowledgement of that risk and that safety must always come first.”
Retailers are struggling to see how yesterday's crime announcement will change anything. $4 million will be made available to local councils to assist with crime prevention measures. Funding will also be available for all small shops and dairies to install fog cannons and the Crime Prevention Fund will be extended. Glengarry Wines General Manager Liz Wheadon told Mike Hosking it's not much different to what's already in place. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for a crackdown on big money political donors. A new Victoria University study suggests no individual should be allowed to give more than $15,000 - with donors giving more than $1,500 having to disclose their identities. It also proposes using a voucher system to fund political parties. Researcher Max Rashbrooke told Mike Hosking donations shouldn't be banned outright, but change is needed. He says people should still be able to make donations, but there should be more transparency around it. LISTEN ABOVE
Pressure is mounting on the Government to fully scrap a provision entrenching parts of its Three Waters legislation. Constitutional experts say the provision, requiring 60-percent of MPs to change part of the law, would pave the way for governments to entrench other laws. Cabinet has agreed to refer the matter back to Parliament's cross-party Business Committee. But National's Michael Woodhouse told Mike Hosking that doesn't actually fix the situation. “It can’t be fixed by the Business Committee, Labour have to agree to a motion to have that Bill sent back to that part of the Bill process, take those clauses out.” The Government was advised a year ago not to entrench the policy. LISTEN ABOVE
So the cabinet will today discuss the criteria for the business support package and by this afternoon the list of excuses will be well honed and some adjustments to the abject failure of a policy will be rolled out. The simple question is this - why are they discussing and changing it? The answer is because a person is dead. Making it catastrophically worse is that any number of people have been warning the Government this is where the lawlessness we are seeing was heading. This wasn’t regular crime, such as the bashings and killings you see between gangs and general lowlifes where carnage is inevitable. This crime involves innocent people trying to go about their business. But because of the overarching approach to criminal behaviour i.e fewer going to prison, more get home detention, more on home detention cut their bracelets off, there's a sense that because the consequences aren't all that great the criminal operates with a level of impunity. This has been the year of crime, of lawlessness, of wanton destruction, of businesses who have been raided and robbed over and over and over again. And the policy to try address some of it, the bollards and fog cannons and cages, turned out to be a classic example of all this Government is famous for - ineptitude. The police minister has been asked numerous times why the policy has the grand total of seven shops fitted out. People like Sunny Kaushal have written to any number of ministers asking for meetings and help and mainly these letters go unanswered. The Government doesn’t care until they have to, until it gets so embarrassing they have no other choice. And a death is such a turning point. Whether a fog cannon or the like would have saved any of this, we can't know. What we do know is not everything that should have been done, was. And as a result of that, yet again, the Government traipses into a meeting room to try and formulate a plan as to how they talk themselves out of the political trouble that has, yet again, arrived at their door step. Because 1) their policy on crime is dangerously wrong and, 2) their arrogance when things are obviously not working prevents them from addressing it. Until of course, it's too late.
The nurses union says a Government announcement around pay parity is a step in the right direction. The Government's agreed to ongoing funding of 200-million dollars a year for frontline community health workers. It'll apply to those in private and non-Government organisations - to level pay with those in the public sector. But the Health Minister says it won't mean an immediate change for those in GP practices. Nurses' Organisation Chief Executive Paul Goulter told Mike Hosking they have a different view. He says the Minster says based on evidence he has in front of him, there isn't a pay parity issue for nurses in General Practice- but they disagree. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government appears to be ready to back-track on a move to entrench part of its Three Waters reforms. Under a last minute change to the Government's Three Waters reforms, 60-percent of MPs would have to agree to overturn part of the bill protecting water assets from privatisation. A group of public law experts has written to the Government raising concerns about the entrenchment of non-electoral law and the precedent it could set. Jacinda Ardern says the concerns are legitimate, and she'll be discussing the matter with Cabinet today. ACT Leader David Seymour says the change shouldn't have been rushed through Parliament under urgency without public debate in the first place. He says the backbench MPs who were on duty at the time didn't seem to realise the significance of what was being debated. LISTEN ABOVE
Emotions are running high ahead of today's protests following the death of Sandringham shopkeeper Janak Patel. Hundreds of dairy and small business owners will be shutting their doors for two hours this afternoon. There's also going to be a silent vigil outside the Prime Ministers electoral office in Mount Albert at the same time - 12.30pm. Dairy and business owners' group chairman Sunny Kaushal says the whole community is mourning. He told Mike Hosking that the Government needs to start listening, and start doing something to stop other lives from being lost. LISTEN ABOVE
A suggestion the Government isn't doing its homework over proposed changes to speed limits across the country. No cost-benefit analysis is planned as part of the major shake-up to speed limits. Dropping speed limits by as much as 40 kilometres per hour in some places will slow freight movements and add extra costs. Transporting New Zealand Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Mike Hosking that sadly it isn't a surprise evidence hasn't been produced for these serious transport decisions. He says policy and funding decisions need to be justified in transport- and this is another example of where that hasn't happened. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The recession: 2/10 It's the final nail in the Government coffin. They printed, they spent, they ran the place into the ground - no one gets three more years on that record. Adrian Orr: 6/10 Although he did about as much damage, given he and Grant Robertson are interchangeable, he can't help the migration settings and he can't help the wastage in Government spending. Winston Peters: 6/10 For ruling out Labour. It's a new move from an old dog but it does beg the question - why would you vote for him when the 'could go either way' Trump card has been played. Hate speech: 7/10 Best move of the week by the Government, watering it down to next to nothing is a good read of the room. Exams for councillors: 7/10 The idea of the week! Making people better informed and holding them to account, wouldn't you like to think it will catch on as an idea generally? Ben Bell: 4/10 A reminder that things can still be spicy in Gore. Five waters: 2/10 It's the scam of the week exposed with the Prime Minister feigning confusion. Has a population in general ever been treated as a bigger set of idiots that we currently are by this lot? Peeni Henare: 6/10 For speaking out, to a degree, on our need to play a greater role in the war. He went where the Prime Minister should have gone and that's why she thinks sending old helmets is plenty. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
The death at the dairy in Sandringham in Auckland on Wednesday was always going to be the tipping point in some way shape or form. It was a death that was always coming. It's not the first crime that has led to a death by any stretch of the imagination of course, but it is the first death in a specific crime pattern that has been building in this country all year. It's the death in the crime wave for small businesses; it is part of the ram raid epidemic. It's part of the larger story where mindless crime has gone unanswered to the point it was always going to escalate into tragedy. Not that all of the ram raids and violent attacks aren't tragedies, but they have to this point not been tragedies that have led to death, just a lot of anger and despair and frustration. Parliament was worth watching yesterday as yet again Mark Mitchell and Melissa Lee of National and Chris Baillie of ACT peppered a hapless Chris Hipkins with questions he couldn’t answer. And more importantly, and revealingly - chose not to answer. There were questions around the Prime Minister and her role as a local MP and questions around accessibility to this farcical crime fund set up all those months ago to protect these sort of shops with next to no rollout. I know no one watches Question Time but I can assure you this Government is as useless there as they are out here in the real world. The ultimate insult was when they, as the NZ Herald headline put it, asked for a "please explain" as to why the business with the death hadn't got the security protection it deserved. If they were honest, which of course they are not, the answer is easily collected because they would be asking themselves. The "please explain" is because the criteria they set is hopeless, the delivery is virtually non-existent and the overarching aspect is because they are soft on crime and apologists for criminals. Because none of them have ever run a small business, they don’t have a clue about the role they play in the community, about the graft and risk involved and therefore the unconscionable position they have been placed in by a Government. We have a Government that still inexplicably defends all of this as either a complex issue or something that isn't their fault, and refuses to defend their citizens from the ever-growing tide of lawlessness that they have directly created.
There are fears young people will come out worse off from any upcoming recession. Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr has confirmed the bank is deliberately engineering a recession, with plans to hike the Official Cash Rate as high as 5.5 percent. That recession is expected to hit around the middle of next year. Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce told Mike Hosking it will be felt particularly by young people, especially young home owners who have recently hopped on the property ladder. He says in a wage price spiral, consumption needs to be slowed, and that usually means pushing the economy backwards. LISTEN ABOVE
The first ODI Black Caps vs India is on today at Eden Park. It will be the first of three matches, following India’s win in the T20 series. Black Caps coach Gary Stead joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Investors are keeping calm, after this week's stark warnings from the Reserve Bank. Governor Adrian Orr has left many mortgage holders reassessing their options, after lifting the OCR to 4.25 percent and warning it could peak at 5.5 percent. He's also confirmed the bank is deliberately engineering a recession, that's likely to hit about the middle of next year. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking while short term interest rates are rising, markets certainly haven't been caught by surprise. He says foreign exchange, interest rates and sharemarkets have all been relatively calm about the central bank's hawkish stance. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government are determined to pin Three, or Five, Waters confusion on the farmers. Megan Woods on the Mike Hosking Breakfast on Wednesday said the whole "Five Waters" discourse was because the farmers wanted geothermal and coastal waters to be covered by Three Waters. Federated Farmers said that wasn't the case, but Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta doubled down in the house yesterday when asked by National's Simon Watts. Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's pay boost to community social workers has been labelled a "game changer". Almost 4,600 community social workers will now receive pay that is on par with Oranga Tamariki social workers. Association of Social Workers Chief Executive, Braden Clark, says their pay is going to increase between $20-30,000. He told Mike Hosking it'll make a huge difference in keeping social workers from switching to Oranga Tamariki. LISTEN ABOVE
Growing calls to allow GPs to prescribe ADHD medication. Currently the drugs can only be given following an appointment with a psychiatrist or paediatrician. That causes issues due to a lack of access to psychiatrists across the country and seeing them sometimes costing hundreds of dollars. Royal College of GPs Medical Director Bryan Betty told Mike Hosking the current situation isn't good enough. He says there's just not enough access to psychiatrists so the rules need to change. LISTEN ABOVE
The death of an Auckland dairy worker has led to calls the retail sector has been let down by the Government. Police say the 37-year-old was fatally stabbed on Wednesday night, after he confronted an offender who stole the cash register from Sandringham's Rose Cottage Superette. Ravi Singh owns a liquor store and dairy in Pukekohe, and says police are working hard but offenders don't fear the consequences. He wants tougher penalties. Singh told Mike Hosking many dairy owners and workers are having doubts about the future. He says they're wondering if they're in the right business and even the right country. LISTEN ABOVE
The British Supreme Court has ruled out a second independence referendum for Scotland. It says it can't be held because the UK government needs to grant formal consent, which it has refused to do. A first referendum was held in 2014, where Scotland voted to remain with the rest of the UK. UK correspondent Rod Liddle told Mike Hosking there's no great appetite for another referendum or independence itself. He says opinion polls show it's either too close to call, or a slim majority for remaining part of the UK. LISTEN ABOVE
Hard to believe, but in Waka Kotahi's annual report, the famed Julie Anne Genter piece of genius, Road to Zero has failed. It's failed before, of course. This is just the update confirming it's failed again this year as well. Only one of six measures was met for the year. We're three years into the thought bubble, and when it comes to road deaths we have gone basically nowhere. Breath testing is well short, probably because the police have been busy with ram raids and gangs. Highway upgrades are short, mainly because they haven't built any. Mobile camera hours are short, because they broke down. It's comedic. Remember this is Waka Kotahi, the agency of a thousand spin doctors in the PR department all earning well into six figures. That appears the only thing that does work, hiring a lot of people to pedal crap. The road toll story is not new. We all know why we kill each other. It's a combination of poor roads and idiots. The stuff that would physically work, like the median barriers, the stuff that stops one car hitting another hasn’t been done. It wasn’t done last year, and isn't being done this year. You can breath test people all you want. They have. Breath testing was around well before Waka Kotahi. But the idiots don't learn. The advertising doesn’t work. Last time we talked about this, just last week, we got down to lowering the speed all over the country. That is really the only thing you can do when your entire programme is failing. 80 kilometres an hour won't work any more than 75, 63, or 39. Because if it's not booze, drugs, or idiocy, it's speed. And speed is generally a result of ignoring the law. This is the crux of the issue. The regular Joe, like you and me, is massively inconvenienced for the fool who is paying no attention anyway. So, another year, another failure. The road safety strategy, so profusely trumpeted by Julie Anne Genter in a previous government, picked up and run with by this current lot, like so much of the rest of what they babble on about, is all talk and no result. The headline reads "Government road strategy fails." What a surprise.
Wasim Akram is simply one of the greatest cricketers of all time. He was known as the Sultan of Swing and one of the pioneers of reverse swing bowling, which bamboozled batting orders for years. Akram took 414 test wickets and more than 500 ODI wickets - and is regarded by many as the greatest left-arm bowler. But, as there often is with sub-continent cricketers, there was plenty of drama surrounding his career and post career actions. Now he's got his memoir Sultan - which is out now. Wasim Akram joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Supercars will not be coming to New Zealand next year. The 2023 Supercars calendar was announced Wednesday, with the season beginning in Newcastle from March 10 and ending in Adelaide on November 26, but a New Zealand leg was missing from the schedule. Pukekohe Park Raceway had previously been the New Zealand home of Supercars, but the venue will close to motorsport activity from April next year after a change in ownership in 2021, leaving organisers scrambling to find a replacement. Hampton Downs was initially considered as the favourite for the new Kiwi leg of the V8 circuit, but acquiring funding to upgrade the facilities in time for the 2023 season became an issue. Supercars CEO Shane Howard said he is hopeful the championship will return to New Zealand in the future. “We are still in progressive talks with our counterparts there for an event in the future, however as they continue it is in the best interest of all parties involved to focus on 2024 and beyond. “We have every intention to return to New Zealand and we are confident of an announcement in the new year regarding a partnership with a new venue.” The Herald reported earlier this month that the 2023 Supercars calendar release was delayed whilst details were finalised around Pukekohe Park’s replacement, with Quinn motorsport Group appealing to the New Zealand Government for financial help. The announcement suggests funding remains an issue. MBIE’s manager of New Zealand Major Events Kylie Hawker-Green said the Government will continue discussions with Supercars organisers around financial support for the future. “Major international events generate significant economic, social and cultural benefits for Aotearoa New Zealand,” Hawker-Green said. “The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment has previously supported the V8 Supercar events over five years from the former Major Events Development Fund and will continue to liaise with event organisers to consider how the government could support the event returning to Aotearoa New Zealand in future.” The date on the 2023 calendar that was set aside for New Zealand has now been given to Sandown, which will see the return of the traditional 500km, pre-Bathurst endurance race.
The seal on almost a third of New Zealand's roads is said to be past its lifespan, which may be causing woes for New Zealand drivers. Transporting New Zealand claims long haul trucks are seeing an increase in maintenance costs, which they've put down to poor road conditions. Chief Executive Nick Leggett told Mike Hosking there's a lot of work to be done. He claims over 15 years, both the previous government and this government have not given the attention to roading maintenance that he says they should. LISTEN ABOVE
Adrian Orr believes he's struck the right approach with the latest unprecedented hike to interest rates. The Reserve Bank Governor has lifted the Official Cash Rate by 75 basis points, to a 14 year high of 4.25 percent. Orr is warning the country could be in recession by the middle of next year, and the OCR may have to peak at 5.5 percent to get inflation under control. While some have accused him of overcooking things, and others will accuse him of not being aggressive enough, Orr told Mike Hosking the decision has been carefully thought out. He says the central bank considered a 50, 75 and 100 basis point rise, favouring a higher rise over a lower one. LISTEN ABOVE
Foodstuffs is clearing the air over concerns it's been collecting sensitive information from shoppers without their knowledge. Our newsroom has confirmed 29 of its supermarkets in the North Island are already using facial recognition technology. It comes as supermarket crime has skyrocketed, with a 246 per cent increase in serious incidents. And just last night in Auckland's Sandringham, a dairy worker was fatally stabbed. Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin told Mike Hosking the facial recognition data is deleted every five days unless it's someone trespassed or has committed a criminal act in a store. He says they're trying to protect their customers and staff, as it was only a few weeks ago a customer was stabbed in a Four Square store in St Heliers. LISTEN ABOVE
Is the Reserve Bank raising the Official Cash Rate too far, too fast? The central bank has lifted the OCR by an unprecedented 75 basis-points to 4.25 percent and is forecasting the country could be in recession by the middle of next year. It's also warning the OCR may have to peak as high as 5.5 percent to bring inflation under control. But Jarden Investment Strategist and Economist John Carran told Mike Hosking international inflation pressures appear to be starting to ease. He says there are real signs global inflation pressures are starting to ease, with shipping costs coming off and oil prices coming down. LISTEN ABOVE
National is adjusting its tax plans, heading into next year's election. The party is reviewing its policies following the Reserve Bank's unprecedented OCR hike yesterday and its warning of a pending recession. Finance Spokesperson Nicola Willis says plans to cut the top tax rate may no longer be affordable. But she told Mike Hosking National still wants to index tax thresholds to inflation, and other parts of the tax policy remain on the table. Willis says National will continue to focus on tax reduction for the squeezed middle class. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is insisting there's no change in reach on the Three Waters reform. A Select Committee report recommended the Bill's application of Te Mana o te Wai be expanded to cover when sewerage is pumped into harbours. The legislation's going through its committee stage under urgency today - and expected to pass third reading next month. Critics have dubbed it "Five Waters" but Labour's Megan Woods has clarified. She says there's no increase in scope in what comes under Three Waters, and it's incorrect to call it Five Waters. But National's Mark Mitchell says he's none the wiser over the definition of Te Mana o te Wai questioning the detail and application, and calling the bill a total disaster. LISTEN ABOVE
I suspect part of the reaction we have seen of late to Chris Luxon and his stance on crime and the general depravation that passes for acceptable life in this country these days is it's coming from one of the two mainstream parties. Smaller parties are the domain of the more radical thinking. The Māori Party and their desire to run the country under their interpretation of what was signed off a couple of hundred years ago. Or the Greens and their desire to destroy farming to save the world. The nutty stuff is at the fringes. And in comes good old Chris Luxon with some straight up and down criticism of parents and, god forbid, principals. He is actually in a blameless country looking to lay a bit of blame and point out a few old fashioned rules around responsibility. And dear lord, we can't cope with it. Apart from anything it’s a living experiment, which is what this country is these days, of just how easily peoples' attitudes and outlooks can shift. It wasn’t so long ago that responsibility, whether it be that of a parent or any sort of community leader, teachers included, was something that was expected and aspired to. It was when we were a rock star economy. We were so proud of it, we kept repeating it. We expected to do well, being successful was a habit, but in five short years, we have let ourselves go. We have dropped the diet, we have have given up on the exercise, we have become flabby, we are now fat and lazy, and we are now finding excuses as to why it is acceptable. And Luxon has rolled in and pointed out what a mess we look. And dear oh dear, some of us aren't having it. The simple truth is the statistics don't lie. Look at the statistics around crime or ram raids, imprisonment, violence, truancy, welfare. They are all there, they are all getting worse, and they are all embarrassing. And the fact those who are most upset are the architects of the mess. And yet in being outraged at people like Luxon they fail to see that what they offer is no alternative. You can't shout him down, having created the problem he's pointing out. Being a parent does actually involve you having work, getting your kids to school, and participating in the real world. This isn't a shock, it isn't news, it isn't new, and it's not anything radical. Unless you’ve joined the opt out brigade, as promoted and paid for by this current government, it suits them to have you beholden, it suits them to do the thinking and instructing for you. It speaks volumes as to how far we have sunk that a simple message of responsibility and demanding better has been met by so much outcry.
Porirua Mayor Anita Baker has suggested competency tests for councillors. Baker says exams would serve as a performance review to keep councillors up to date in a forever evolving role. Porirua Mayor Anita Baker joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A word of caution as cyber scammers continue to lift their game to target unsuspecting victims. The Government’s cyber security agency has recorded a “massive” jump in online fraud. Data obtained by the Herald from CERT NZ shows scammers have drained nearly $9 million from unsuspecting victims in just three months. CERT New Zealand Threat and Incident Response Manager Jordan Heerspring told Mike Hosking it's easy to blame people who fall for these scams, but a lot of fake websites are set up well. He says the people doing this are professional criminals who know what they're doing when copying real websites. LISTEN ABOVE
Andrew Little insists new figures on the number of mental health beds don't tell the full story. Data released to National shows there are 608 beds in acute mental health services, the same number as there were in 2017. That's despite investing $1.9 billion in the mental health sector over that period. The Health Minister told Mike Hosking much of the money has been spent on increasing the mental health workforce, to provide more support to more people when mental health issues first emerge. "Addressing people's mild issues means they don't get acute," he says. LISTEN ABOVE
The jobs market is remaining buoyant, despite a small decrease in listings. The latest Seek Employment Report shows job ads fell one percent between September and October. But they're up 16 percent compared to October last year. Hospitality and Tourism, Trades and Services and Retail and Consumer Products have had the largest monthly falls. Seek Country Manager Rob Clark says the number of applications per job has increased. He says that's good new for employers, but overall it's still a job seeker's market. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association insists new figures on gang numbers line up with people's experiences. Newstalk ZB can reveal the national gang list has more than 8,300 people on it, who are patched or prospects. Police Minister Chris Hipkins says the gang list is not a reliable count of membership. But Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking it's a sign of what most people are seeing, in most parts of the country. He says in Auckland, rural and provincial New Zealand are seeing more gang patches out there. LISTEN ABOVE
Today's Reserve Bank decision on the Official Cash Rate is almost certain to be historic. The central bank is expected to raise the OCR by 75 basis points today, the highest rates hike ever. That would bring the rate to 4.25 percent, it's highest point in 14 years. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking there's a small chance they will go even further, and raise the OCR by truly unprecedented one-percent, to 4.5 percent. The OCR is now expected to peak above five-percent. LISTEN ABOVE
Time to meet another household comedic name out of Britain. Alan Carr has been at the forefront of comedy since he had his breakout year back in 2001. Since then he's sold out worldwide standup tours, hosted his own chat show which ran for 16 seasons, and been a part of a raft of other TV shows. He's in the country as part of his comedy tour - Regional Trinket - with shows in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Alan Carr joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast in studio. TOUR DATES Christchurch on Wednesday November 23 at Issac Theatre Royal - final few tickets from Ticketek. Auckland on Thursday November 24 at Dame Kiri Te Kanawa theatre - final few tickets from Ticketmaster. Wellington on Saturday November 26 at Michael Fowler Centre - final few tickets from Ticketek.
The good news about Defence Minister Peeni Henare going to Ukraine is that he claims he is coming back to talk about more funding for weapons. He needs to. The funding we have put forward for weapons is shocking. We are an international embarrassment when it comes to that aspect of our role in the war. Australia is handing over Bushmasters by the dozen, but we like to give blankets and old helmets. Early in the piece, the main claim was we didn’t have a lot of weapons, which was never the point. We always had money and money goes to buy the weaponry needed. But we have always been reluctant to give it. I get this lot are anti-war, we are all anti-war in our own way, but surely even this Government, perhaps especially this Government, given its passion for the United Nations and international responsibility, would understand in a conflict such as this, we all have our part to play. So, if Henare can loosen the attitude, as well as the purse strings, then the trip will have been worth it. What was weird about the trip was he was our first representative. Why? As a result, he was met by an underling, when really the person you wanted to meet was Zelenskyy. Why has our Prime Minister not met Zelenskyy? Why has our Prime Minister been in Europe and on the doorstep of Ukraine and not met Zelenskyy? Last time it was logistics, as though somehow the Ardern logistics are so much more complicated than the logistics of Macron, Schultz, Draghi, Johnson, Trudeau. Or even more complicated than the leaders of Poland, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, or Lithuania. How long do you want the list to be? Oh, but they are European countries. Yes, they are. But Australian isn't and Albanese has been there. In fact, he went there when he was in Europe at the same time Ardern was. So, once again, what is so complicated about the Ardern logistics? It is imperative, as it has been from day one, to be on the right side of history. We barely are and our contribution is timid, small, and reluctant. Hopefully what Henare saw changes a few minds and adjusts a few attitudes.
It's been a big year for our Kiwi golfers. After finishing third in the final event of the PGA Tour Champions, Steve Alker is one of the best feel-good sporting stories of the year. Kiwi World no. 3 Lydia Ko closed out a two-shot victory collecting a US$2 million prize in the season-ending LPGA Tour tournament. And Ryan Fox finished second at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, ending the year inside the World’s top 50 and earning himself an invite to Augusta National for next year’s masters, ticking off another long-term goal. NZ Golf CEO Dean Murphy joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The move to lower the voting age already appears to be dead in the water, despite a landmark decision from the country's highest court. The Supreme Court has ruled stopping 16 and 17-year-olds from voting, is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. Cabinet is now set to draft legislation to lower the voting age which will be put to a conscience vote, and will require 75-percent support to pass. Justice Minister Kiri Allan says it will give the public the chance to debate the issue and have their say. However, the legislation is extremely unlikely to pass, with National Leader Christopher Luxon and Act Leader David Seymour telling Mike Hosking they oppose any change. LISTEN ABOVE
A reduction in the voting age is unlikely to get over the line. The Supreme Court has decided stopping 16 and 17-year-olds from voting, is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. Cabinet will now draft legislation to lower the voting age, which will go to an all-of-House conscience vote with a 75 percent majority required to change the law. Justice Minister Kiri Allan told Mike Hosking MPs will consider the issue carefully. National and Act MPs are expected to vote down any change. National Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking while his MPs won't be required to vote a certain way, all MPs agree they want to keep the voting age the same. LISTEN ABOVE
The move to lower the voting age already appears to be dead in the water, despite a landmark decision from the country's highest court. The Supreme Court has ruled stopping 16 and 17-year-olds from voting is inconsistent with the Bill of Rights. Cabinet is now set to draft legislation to lower the voting age which will be put to a conscience vote, and will require 75 percent support to pass. Justice Minister Kiri Allan told Mike Hosking it will give the public the chance to debate the issue and have their say. However, the legislation is extremely unlikely to pass, with National Leader Christopher Luxon and Act Leader David Seymour saying they oppose any change. LISTEN ABOVE
The Women's Rugby World Cup stars can't wait to meet supporters and celebrate the win publicly. An event to mark the Black Ferns' win is planned for Parliament on December 13. Just-retired Black Fern Kendra Cocksedge told Mike Hosking the support over the past few months has been incredible, and she can't wait to celebrate the win with everyone. She says it gives them time to reflect on what they've done for women's sport - and sport in general. LSITEN ABOVE
A warning that new housing densification rules could mean homes will be built on areas most at risk of natural hazards. It's believed under legislation like the National Policy Statement on Urban Development, a building boom will be triggered forcing councils to allow more dense development. EQC Chief Resilience and Research Officer Jo Horrocks told Mike Hosking there could be unintended consequences for natural hazard risk management, as restrictions are loosened. She wants to see a stronger emphasis on our natural hazard science and data to inform where we build. LISTEN ABOVE
Trump's reinstatement on Twitter may not drive as many people off the platform as first thought. Elon Musk has reinstated the Former US President's account. It's just the latest controversial decision from the new Twitter owner, that have angered many of the website's users. But Gorilla Technology Chief Executive Paul Spain told Mike Hosking many important Twitters users can't afford to lose the following they have built up. Trump says he doesn't plan to use his reinstated account. LISTEN ABOVE
So what advantage does Winston Peters give himself by ruling out Labour after the election? His famous trick, if that’s what you want to call it, was to play guessing games. He always said the voters would decide, which of course they never did. The voters voted and then Peters decided based on what he wanted to do. By ruling out Labour this time is he playing a new trick? He ruled "this lot" out. Who are "this lot?” Labour? Or just a few of the Labour leadership? In other words, is there wriggle room here? Or are we supposed to take him at his word? He will not be doing a deal with Labour. He is also not doing a deal with the Maori Party. That doesn't really matter because the Maori Party and the Labour Party for the sake of deals are the same party. He's also had trouble with ACT in the past. Or was it that ACT had trouble with New Zealand First? So if ACT rules out New Zealand First, where does that leave National? National have previously ruled out New Zealand First but that was another day, different leadership. Although you would have to think that if they ruled him out now, that's him stuck. That is why he might have made an error ruling out Labour. Why are you voting for a party that, famously, keeps them honest, if neither major party wants to touch you? You have no deals and therefore you are a minor player that makes no difference at all. In a crapshoot type of result, it is possible that New Zealand First is needed, by either party, and they play the cross bench game. In other words it's a minority government, needing the Winston tick on individual bits of law. The odds of that happening are slim to say the least, and certainly not something you would want to campaign and bank on if you were Peters. And that's before you get to the age old issue of New Zealand First. Having seen them run around the mulberry bush with all and sundry many a time, just what is it that’s left that excites you? Why are you looking at that tired old mess yet again? Don’t get me wrong in ruling out Labour he's made a sensible call, who would work with them again? But, talk about limiting your options.
Winston Peters is adamant he's willing to relinquish the role of king-maker. The New Zealand First Leader told Mike Hosking he's standing by his commitment to go back into government with Labour - claiming the party lied to him about its plans for co-governance arrangements. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealanders have a long way to go when it comes to road safety. Seven people have died following multiple crashes this weekend, in what police say were avoidable. Police say one of the biggest challenges they face is that messages are not getting through to motorists on how to prevent crashes. Assistant Police Commissioner Bruce O'Brien told Mike Hosking they would see a significant reduction in death and serious injuries if alcohol, drugs and stupidity was removed from the roads. But he says it's unfortunately not getting through to people, and as a result we're seeing significant trauma. LISTEN ABOVE
Several people are in critical condition, after a mass-shooting in a US gay night club. Five people are dead, and another 18 injured, after a gunman opened fire at Club Q in Colorado Springs. The suspect -22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich- is being treated for injuries while in custody. US correspondent, Richard Arnold says it echoes 2016's Orlando gay night club shooting massacre. He says it appears an AR-15 semi-automatic weapon was used as well as another weapon, with the gunman wearing a bullet-proof vest. LISTEN ABOVE
Our emergency motel housing is being described as a sad situation, as the longest stay now stretches more than three years. Figures show more than a thousand people have stayed in them for longer than a year. In 2018, just three people had been in emergency motels for more than a year... but that number now sits at 12-hundred. Social housing advocate Bernie Smith says when National introduced emergency motels in 2017, it was intended as a temporary solution. LISTEN ABOVE
GPs say the sector is on the verge of a crisis with fears the New Zealand system will end up being severely understaffed. The General Practice Owners Association claims many doctors are leaving New Zealand, as other countries pay medical professions more. The group's launching a campaign asking for higher pay and more resources to support the sector. Association Deputy Chair Angus Chambers told Mike Hosking that other careers have more appeal than general practice. He says people would rather specialise in skincare and cosmetics, as the pay is better and the stress is much less. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The Black Ferns: 9/10 "It all came together in that magical way only sport can deliver. Home crowd, underdog, tight finish, and high drama. It was sensational." Three Waters: 3/10 "The changes from select committee were dumped this time last week in that usual Machiavellian way they do on a Friday. Put as much lipstick as you want on it, it's still oinking." The RMA Changes: 800/10 "800 as in pages. Can something that has gone from 900 to 800 pages really be an answer?" Waka Kotahi Reducing Speed Limits: 1/10 "The award for completely missing the memo in the simple truth that when it comes to road speed nothing they have done works. And this latest mad cap venture needs buy in and it doesn’t have any." Westpac's Prediction for the Economy: 6/10 "Their call that the soft landing is off is spot on. When you print so much money and then back it up with wage rises to make the eyes water, .where else are you heading other than an ugly 2023?" Tourism: 7/10 "Bright spot of the week. There is proper money. You know money the way we used to make it? Long may it continue and grow." Donald Trump: 6/10 "Because say whatever you like about him, he is full of energy and aspiration. And just how much shock would permeate through American life if he actually pulled it off again." COP27: 1/10 "It doesn’t even look like they are pretending there is a deal." Elon Musk: 2/10 "What an idiot. The blue tick, the rehiring of all the people who knew how to actually run the place, and yesterday's mad you'll have to work hard or quit message. He is a symbol of the times where madness masquerades as acumen." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Well blow me down if we don’t have a confession from the Commerce Commission. We could, they tell us in a revelation that was plain for all to see well before Megan Woods ever came along, get a better deal on petrol if only, we went to the petrol station across the road. That's right; this is from the Commerce Commission, the group who have under this Government snooped their way through supermarkets, petrol stations, and building supplies and come up with the same report each time. I.e, it's not perfect, we can fiddle a bit, but basically it isn't the end of the world. Not that the Government has seen it that way. They are of the firm belief that the Commission is the answer to all ills in the marketplace and a good combination of jaw boning and regulation will bring us free market nirvana. But as the Commission pointed out this week, the price advertised is not always the best price you can get. But do you know what you have to do? Shop around. What a revelation. It sounds remarkably similar to the advice we've been giving all year. You might have noticed The Warehouse the other day in their results talked of the boost in sales they have seen in groceries. Now, why would that be? Because they provided competition and people shopped around. You never needed the Commerce Commission and one of their sticky beak reports. The same way you never needed them to get Costco here. There has always been competition in petrol, banks, telcos, and supermarkets. You just, as the Commission says, need to do a bit of leg work yourself. There are apps and there is no shortage of information that tells you on any given day that the price of a litre varies wildly between stations, brands, streets, neighbourhoods, and towns. Essentially, we are lazy and we like convenience. There is nothing wrong with that, as long as you are prepared to pay for it. It’s sort of ironic that the Commerce Commission, having done all that work, spent all that time, and all that money had the answer all along. And it was never to be found in a report.
The Canterbury Jockey Club are calling on their patrons to have a moral conscious. After heavy flooding on Saturday lead to the postponing of Cup Day, Riccarton racegoers have been offered a full refund on their tickets, but it seems to a bit of an empty gesture after Canterbury Jockey Club asked attendees to consider not claiming their share. Staff spent close to half a million dollars setting up for the event and the club claims racegoers could still make the choice to support the club while it endures a 'challenging financial situation'. CEO of Riccarton Park Racecourse Tim Mills joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Few are surprised that many Kiwis want the fuel tax cut to be extended. A new poll states that more than two-thirds of respondents want the current fuel tax cut extended until annual inflation is below 3 per cent. In the 12 months to September 2022 inflation was at 7.2 per cent. On current forecasts that would mean extending the cut until the middle of 2024, costing more than $2 billion. Gull NZ general manager Dave Bodger joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
All Blacks coach Ian Foster's lauding Brodie Retallick as the veteran lock brings up his 100th test cap. Retallick returns from suspension to start in the second row for the year-ending test against England at Twickenham on Sunday morning. It'll also be a record 64th test start alongside captain Sam Whitelock. Foster says Retallick is a workhorse. LISTEN ABOVE
A $1.2 billion overhaul of the Special Education system was promised by the Government yesterday. Instead of a bit of buffing around the edges it is said to be a whole new system of doing things, requiring significant ongoing new investment. The overhaul would include teachers getting more specialised training for working with disabled children, along with families, teachers and ministry staff being able to decide what support each child individually needs, instead of leaving it up to a panel. The Ministry of Education had been charged with developing a business case by June next year. Post Primary Teachers' Association president Melanie Webber joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
An employers group says it's been forced to play a part in the Government's new Fair Pay Agreements system. The Government had offered the lobby group funding to act on behalf of employers that need representation and play a supporting role in the system more generally. But BusinessNZ says it wanted nothing to do with the scheme, partly due to its compulsory nature. Advocacy Director Catherine Beard told Mike Hosking the organisation has now accepted it will represent some members in some negotiations, on a case-by-base basis. She says the Fair Pay Agreement system is the law, and businesses and industry groups will have to follow it. The system comes into effect next month. LISTEN ABOVE
The National Party says their new policy to deal with youth crime is a result of listening to the victims. It's promising to set up Young Offender Military Academies for 15 to 17-year-olds, if it's elected next year. The party also wants to put electric monitoring devices on children as young as 10-years-old. Police spokesperson, Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking one shop owner he's spoken to has resorted to building his own bollards and sleeping inside his store, to deter ram-raiders. He says too many people are suffering from ram-raids, and it's coming at a huge human cost. LISTEN ABOVE
You would be a fool to rule Donald Trump out. Part of the reason Ron DeSantis got so many headlines last week was because he won well on a day the Republicans didn’t do what they thought they would do - and because a lot of people from all over the political spectrum wanted to rub Trump's face in it. DeSantis on any other day for a lot of people would be as big a problem becoming president as Trump would. Is he a better version of Trump? Possibly, but the part most failed to point out or even see was that DeSantis did well in one state, the state he was running in. A President has to be at least partially popular all over America. And don't forget when Trump announced in 2015 he joined a decent list of others. For many he was instantly dismissed the way he is again now. It was full field back then. We had Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Jim Gilmore. You even remember him? Add to that, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum, Rand Paul, and Mike Huckerbee. And those were the ones that made it to the primaries. The ones that worked out they didn’t stand a chance and bailed were George Pataki, Lindsey Graham, Scott Walker, and Rick Perry. So a full field of vast experience. And if you remember and followed the race a lot of them were more than acceptable in terms of brainpower, experience, and ideas. And yet, look who won. Working against him his time is his record and the pile of lawsuits. And although there are many who still see him as the answer and untouchable, a decent chunk will have wandered off to other pastures. And given he never won by much in the first place, he has a lot of work to do to convince others to make up the numbers. Ironically, for all the mess, there are things he did that still ring true. He warned us about China. He was right. He told Angela Merkel she was mad to trust Vladimir Putin. He was right. He told NATO members outside America they had to start footing the bill. He was right. This is not to endorse him in any way. He's a mad man who hangs around with crazies and says an astonishing array of insane things. But that didn’t stop him once and it didn’t stop the Democrats being unable to find anyone that wasn’t geriatric and deeply confused on a daily basis to run against him. The American system is broken. But it's that system that will once again choose a person to run in 2024. And there is no reason to believe, for now anyway, that Trump isn't it.
Time to catch up with one of our favourite medical minds. Dr. Michael Mosley has become a household name for his television show Trust Me, I’m a Doctor and his many other specials. He's is a trained doctor, science journalist, television presenter, best-selling author of many health and wellbeing books, gut specialist and the brains behind the hugely popular ‘5:2 Diet’. And he's coming back to the country next year with his speaking tour - A Life Changing Experience. Dr. Michael Mosley joined Mike Hosking. Dr. Michael Mosley’s shows are at the Opera House in Wellington on March 14, 2023 and at Auckland’s Civic Theatre March 15th. General public ticket sales go on sale at 11am Thursday 17 November from Ticketmaster. LISTEN ABOVE
After two years of stunted growth our local economies could be doing better than we realise. With international tourism boosting activity over the winter season, the South Island and Auckland saw some of the strongest economic gains over the last year, specifically in the September 2022 quarter. However, questions remain over how New Zealand will find the resources to support a strong summer of tourism with our current workforce and capacity challenges remains. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Research is set to be conducted on sharks following a fatal attack last year at Waihi Beach. Kaelah Marlow died after the 19-year-old was attacked by a great white shark. The just-released Coroner's report notes more information on sharks could be important. Now, a project has been launched to track sharks in an app after receiving more than $30,000 in donations. Research lead Dr Riley Elliott told Mike Hosking it can keep people safe and informed. He says it communicates information about distribution, habitats, and behaviour of sharks and how they overlap with humans. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for both sides to take Donald Trump's 2024 Presidential bid very seriously. The former President announced yesterday afternoon his bid for a second stab at the White House. In his speech, he claimed the war in Ukraine wouldn't have happened if he'd been President, and also continued to deny his loss in 2020. Former Republican Party Communications Director Doug Heye told Mike Hosking it's a very similar situation to his first run in 2015. LISTEN ABOVE
A glimmer of hope is in sight for split migrant families. It's believed the Government is creating a priority pathway for family members stuck overseas. The issue was meant to be fixed by the Covid R21 visa, which replaced the family reunification border exemption, but instead left many waiting months in limbo. Immigration adviser David Cooper told Mike Hosking most of the holdup has been down to police checks and national security checks, both out of the hands of immigration. He says the best way forward is to identify those affected and issue their families with temporary visas, with residency occurring later. LISTEN ABOVE
Nato member Poland and the head of the military alliance both say a missile strike in Polish farmland that killed two people on Tuesday (yesterday NZ time) did not appear to be an intentional attack, and that air defences in neighbouring Ukraine likely launched the Soviet-era projectile against a Russian bombardment that savaged the Ukrainian power grid. “Ukraine’s defence was launching their missiles in various directions and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,” said Polish President Andrzej Duda. “There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.” Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, at a meeting of the 30-nation military alliance in Brussels, echoed the preliminary Polish findings, saying: “We have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack.” The initial assessments of the deadly missile landing appeared to dial back the likelihood of the strike triggering another major escalation in the nearly nine-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine. If Russia had deliberately targeted Poland, that could have risked drawing Nato into the conflict. Still, Stoltenberg and others laid overall but not specific blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. “This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility,” Stoltenberg said. Before the Polish and Nato assessments, US President Joe Biden had said it was “unlikely” that Russia fired the missile but added: “I’m going to make sure we find out exactly what happened.” Three US officials said preliminary assessments suggested it was fired by Ukrainian forces at an incoming Russian one. That assessment and Biden’s comments at the Group of 20 summit in Indonesia contradicted earlier information from a senior US intelligence official who told The Associated Press that Russian missiles crossed into Poland. Ukraine, once part of the Soviet Union, fields Soviet- and Russian-made weaponry, including air-defence missiles, and has also seized many more Russian weapons while beating back the Kremlin’s invasion forces. Ukrainian air defences worked furiously against the Russian assault on Tuesday on power generation and transmission facilities, including in Ukraine’s western region that borders Poland. Ukraine’s military said 77 of the more than 90 missiles fired were brought down, along with 11 drones. Russia said it didn’t launch the missile that landed in Poland. A Defence Ministry spokesman said no Russian strike on Tuesday was closer than 35km from the Ukraine-Poland border. The Kremlin denounced Poland’s and other countries’ initial response and, in rare praise for a US leader, hailed Biden’s “restrained, much more professional reaction”.
US President Joe Biden, left, and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak attend an emergency meeting of leaders at the G20 summit in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, after a missile landed in Poland near the Ukrainian border yesterday. Photo / AP “We have witnessed another hysterical, frenzied, Russo-phobic reaction that was not based on any real data,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. Still, Ukraine was under countrywide Russian bombardment on Tuesday by barrages of cruise missiles and exploding drones, which clouded the initial picture of what exactly happened in Poland and why. The Polish president said the projectile was “most probably” a Russian-made S-300 missile dating from the Soviet era. “It was a huge blast, the sound was terrifying,” said Ewa Byra, the primary school director in the eastern village of Przewodow, where the missile struck. She said she knew both men who were killed — one was the husband of a school employee, the other the father of a former pupil. Another resident, 24-year-old Kinga Kancir, said the men worked at a grain-drying facility, one as a guard, the other driving tractors. “It is very hard to accept,” she said. “Nothing was going on and, all of a sudden, there is a world sensation.” Ukraine said it...
A couple of things made one of the latest robberies a little different. Firstly, one of the witnesses called it a ram raid. I'm not sure it was. It looked more like good old fashioned daylight robbery, but it shows you how quickly language is adopted and adapted. The Ellerslie jeweller in Auckland was turned over by a bunch of thugs. They were rounded up and five of them and appeared in court yesterday. The jeweller is also an engraver. We have used them over the years. We used to hand out small trophies as a sort of Christmas gimmick. You would win a trophy for a different act or attribute. That engraving was done at the jewellery shop that made headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. They think they will be closed for a couple of months. That's a long time for any one, far less a jeweller in the Christmas season - and a lot of shocked staff. The other aspect of the story if you haven't read it, were the couple of bystanders who gave chase and took the thugs on, and that is why they got rounded up so quickly. That sort of activity makes them heroes. The police, of course, would argue you shouldn’t do something like that. But that is what you get when things get as out of control as they have. You get anger. And you get people determined to send a message, to do the right thing, or just help the best way they know how given the circumstances. Another thing that stood out was the commentary from the victim. He commended the frontline police, the off duty officers who came from the gym. But he holds the ivory tower responsible for this. That's the Government. He says these families don’t need to be robbing stores and the Government has more than enough resources to help educate, feed, clothe and house them. Is he wrong? Of course, he isn't. What gives a thug or five thugs the sense that a robbery in broad daylight in the middle of a shopping strip is in any way acceptable, far less something you are going to get away with? The answer is attitude. The attitude is driven from the top down approach that crime isn't punishable, not this sort of crime anyway. They are emboldened? How do they get emboldened? Because although they're thugs, they're not thick, they see what happens, and what doesn’t happen. They can work the odds out, so they go for it. What happened this time is a tight knit community of fed up constituents that expect better did something about it. But the anger, frustration, and commentary that followed tells you just how offside the real New Zealand is with the Government that runs it.
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
If you've been in and around Auckland this past week you've probably seen the huge amount of Samoan flags being paraded about. It comes as Samoa are set to take on Australia in the Rugby League World Cup final this weekend. Because of that, a fan zone is being set up in south Auckland as part of a last minute festival to create what they call a family-friendly event for fans. Auckland councillor Alf Filipaina is heavily involved and he joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Hopes changes to New Zealand's resource management system will cut red tape for building homes. The Government will today unveil what it describes as simplified, modernised legislation to replace the 1991 Resource Management Act. A construction management expert wants to see the process for issuing consents, standardised. Auckland University of Technology's John Tookey says it would allow for prefabricated buildings to make a dent in the demand for housing. He says different authorities around the country have different interpretations of the rules, meaning engineering drawings have to be re-certified for different councils. LISTEN ABOVE
A sociologist says migration loss is a concern. Stats NZ data shows in September there was an estimated migration gain of 2,176 people. But for the year ending September, there's still a provisional net migration loss of 8,400. Sociologist Paul Spoonley says there's been an uptick in immigrants, but it's a long way to reach pre-Covid levels. He says we've tended to operate a brain exchange where the loss is made up by skilled migrants coming here - but at the moment there's not quite that balance. LISTEN ABOVE
The Act Party is claiming the Government is putting its head in the sand, when it comes to health worker shortages. A leaked document from the Ministry of Health to Andrew Little shows it sent a list of 30 professions it thinks should be on the immigration green list. Nurses, paramedics, physios and dentists were all included. Act Party Deputy Leader, Brooke van Velden told Mike Hosking the Health Minister needs to be taking the advice to the Cabinet immediately. LISTEN ABOVE
Up to a quarter of homes could soon be selling for a loss, if mortgages rates keep on rising. New figures from Core Logic show almost three-percent of homes sold at a loss in the three months to September. That's up from less than one percent in the three months of December. Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson told Mike Hosking we could reach the point where up to 25 percent of home sales aren't profitable, and more people are being forced to sell their homes. LISTEN ABOVE
Mat Rogers is simply an Australian sporting legend. The dual code international played more than 200 NRL matches for Cronulla and Gold Ccoast - but also represented the Wallabies in 45 tests. It was a career that spanned nearly 20 years - from 1994 to 2011. Now he's telling his story - including his battle with addiction and losing his father, Steve Rogers, to suicide back in 2006. The book is called A Father's Son and Mat Rogers joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
I wonder as James Shaw sits in Egypt watching yet another COP gabfest go nowhere, whether he has worked out the $20 million our country has offered for loss and damage is essentially the same mistake they have made with the farmers in their He Waka Eke Noa response. We are one of just three countries, as I understand it, which has offered any money at all. Loss and damage is this year's pet theme. It's around the broad idea that poor countries cop the worst of climate change damage, so the rich countries should pay for that. The sad fact is, even if they did, what would it achieve in terms of climate change? If you accept that Tuvalu is going under water because of us burning coal, does handing them money stop them going underwater? No, it does not. Does it make them feel better about going underwater? Who knows? So loss and damage is yet another invention that doesn’t address, or go anywhere close, to addressing the actual reason they have had COPs 1 through 27. But the main point is this. Three countries have pledged money. Only three, out of a couple of hundred. What does that tell you? The world doesn’t give a monkey’s. And that is critical to the farmers. The Prime Minister's argument around He Waka Eke Noa was that although it penalises the farmers, although it's not what the farmers signed up to, although it reduces our output of the very product that makes us so much foreign income, although the gap will merely be filled by producers from other less productive countries, we, she declared in her nuclear moment, would be leading the world. And when we lead the world, she claimed the world will stop, look, and then act. Except, they won't. As the $20 million for loss and damage shows. If they don't stop for $20 million do you think they’ll stop when they see us cripple our farming industry? In that is the tragedy of ideology that isn't remotely connected to the real world. Nothing wrong with highfalutin ideals, just don’t run yourself bankrupt in the process. And don't delude yourself that the actions of a minuscule little island at the bottom of the world makes one jot of difference to anyone.
Wellington's leaders are backing a parade to mark the Black Ferns' Rugby World Cup win - saying the capital is the perfect location. Tory Whanau, Mayor of Wellington City, says she's liaising with Parliament to see what can be done in the coming weeks. Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy supports such an event as the win was extremely significant. And Lower Hutt Mayor Campbell Barry agrees, saying an event would celebrate their success and believes it has unanimous support. Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson says discussions are underway about a celebration at Parliament. He says a parade is more a council issue and that comes back to logistics. LISTEN ABOVE
High praise for New Zealand's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Our Government is sending more Defence Force personnel to train Ukrainian troops, as well as extending the deployment of others in intelligence and liaison roles. It's also providing more funding for equipment and supplies and to help global food security. Commander of Joint Forces Rear Admiral James Gilmour told Mike Hosking he visited the team in the UK a month ago, and got to witness first-hand the training they're providing. He says they're turning Ukrainian citizens into soldiers in just five weeks. Gilmour says it was humbling to see the professionalism and competence of our team. LISTEN ABOVE
Supply chain issues should start to ease as we head into 2023. Freedom Furniture and Farmers have told customers they may have to wait up to five months for their purchases to be delivered due to production backlogs, staff shortages and shipping challenges. Cargo Owners Council executive member Simon Beale says some companies are bringing more containers into New Zealand, ready for the peak export season. He told Mike Hosking that shows there's space on vessels. Beale says products should start to move freely into New Zealand, but they still face a big issue of vessels being delayed when they come through the ports. LISTEN ABOVE
There's no easy way down for New Zealand's economy, as high inflation poses a persistent problem. Westpac's latest economic overview predicts the Official Cash Rate will rise further and peak at five percent next year. Its acting chief economist says despite hikes this year, monetary policy takes time to have a full effect on the economy. Michael Gordon says many borrowers will be rolling on to higher interest rates in the next six to 12 months. He says some rates might be three percent higher - which will have an impact on household budgets and spending. Gordon says it’s more likely the bank would be forecasting an outright recession, were it not for the recovery in international tourism. LISTEN ABOVE
The resource management and consenting system is in for a shake-up. The Government will today unveil what it says will be simplified, modernised legislation to replace the Resource Management Act. Acting Prime Minister Grant Robertson says the changes will deliver a faster, cheaper, better framework. But Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Allan Pollard told Mike Hosking the cost reductions expected from the reforms don't go far enough. LISTEN ABOVE
Waka Kotahi's defending its proposal for sweeping speed limit decreases on state highways across the country. It says key areas include those where there are unprecedented road deaths and injuries, as well as a focus around schools and marae. Road to Zero Portfolio Manager, Tara Macmillan told Mike Hosking setting safe and appropriate speeds is recognised globally as essential for all users. She says it isn't the only improvement that needs to be made, and other changes could include more median barriers and rumble strips. Consultation on these latest changes closes on December 12. LISTEN ABOVE
According to the Sporting Shooters Association, Police spend a million dollars a week regulating licenses and ownership. President of the Sporting Shooters Association Neville Dodd says that it’s “total overkill.” LISTEN ABOVE
The fact Saturday was the highlight of Wayne Smith's coaching career tells you something. It's not like Smith hasn't been around a while and done a bunch of cool stuff. I do worry for the side given Smith and Sir Graham Henry are off to retirement and that’s a lot of brilliance leaving the building. And you cannot deny that what they did transformed the team. The performance in the northern hemisphere and the performance through this World Cup have been your classic example of what coaching and strategy can achieve. The thing I enjoyed most about it all, was the joy the women play with, there is a lesson for everyone in it. You don't have to be tense and inward looking, the world doesn’t have to sit on your shoulders, and the pressure doesn’t have to get to you. You can in fact, as they have shown and Smith told us about several times on the programme, be mentally free. When you are mentally free all things are possible. You can truly express yourself. And if you are doing that and you happen to be blessed with the appropriate talent, the combination of the two is unstoppable. The lesson is applicable in all walks and forms of life, not just the sports field. In fact, it looked like it was a lesson the Brits hadn't quite learned. They were the favourites and by some margin and that last lineout was theirs. The maul they ran would have won them the game, and yet when it counted, they didn’t cope. They weren't mentally free. The fact all this was played at home made it what it was, it's not like we haven't won it before. But we are in an age of promoting and recognising women's sport, plus we were doing it at our place, so all the ingredients were there. The sport has a way to go. The variation in talent is far too great. But if you are going to play host, it behoves you to come out victorious. And if you can arrange it by beating the previously best side in the world in a thriller, that's what makes sport magic.
New Zealand Rugby is celebrating for multiple reasons. The Black Ferns have drummed up huge support during their World Cup campaign, which ended in victory at a sold out Eden Park on Saturday night. New Zealand Rugby Chief Executive Mark Robinson says they haven't seen a game with this much public support and interest, since the pandemic. He says it's time they made the most of increased support and invest in the next generation of women's rugby. Robinson adds there are lots of opportunities ahead, and they want to keep up the momentum and work hard. LISTEN ABOVE
The Democrats in the US could be creeping towards a victory in the House of Representatives. They've retained control of the Senate after the crucial race in Nevada was announced in their favour. The results amount to the best midterm performance for a sitting party in 20 years. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that the House is still up for grabs, and things are not going the way the Republicans thought they would. He says in the 10 seats that could go either way; enough could break for the Democrats. LISTEN ABOVE
The latest idea to help solve the nursing crisis is paying students for their placements while they're training. The Health Minister says it was put on the table earlier this year, with officials actively considering significant reforms. Students currently have to complete 11-hundred hours of unpaid placements in ‘real’ clinical settings, but not all of that is in hospitals specifically. Health Minister Andrew Little told Mike Hosking there's a bit more work to be done on it. He says the attrition rate for nurses in their final nine weeks of placement is high and he wants to stop that happening. LISTEN ABOVE
It's time to get on with Auckland's next Waitemata Harbour crossing. The Government plans to decide by mid next year what kind of bridge or tunnel will be built, and break ground on the project by 2030. Waka Kotahi's holding community engagement events to hear the public's thoughts, with consultation closing at the end of January. Auckland Business Chamber Chief Executive Simon Bridges says a tunnel is the most likely outcome. He says while he isn't against a bridge, they are harder to gain consent for. LISTEN ABOVE
Sarah and Rob, you might have seen their story. They are a couple of specialists, as in doctors. They came here during Covid under a critical work visa, now they are thinking of heading back to the UK because of, you guessed it, immigration delays. They don't get to be on the green list. Ah, the magic green list. The list that gets you residency. It's called fast track residency. But fast track being over a year, so not really that fast. The problem, of course, is if you are not a resident, you don’t get to buy a house, you don’t settle down, you don’t sort your kids, and you are in the waiting place. And as Dr Seuss so eloquently said, “you don’t want to be in the waiting place”. By the way, when I say 12 months, that changed and it got pushed out. I wonder why that happened? Anyway, they think at this stage it's more like 2024. Part of the reason is, of course, the processing rate. For a while there, things looked on the up. They were ticking off 570-ish a day, but now it's back to 235. So not exactly gearing up, more gearing down. These two, Sarah and Rob, are just two of a myriad stuck in this mad battle between us and the Government. Us being regular New Zealanders who every day, in a huge variety of ways, see the cold hard reality of not having enough people. And we're up against the Government who tell us it's all good, things are ticking along, and applications are being sorted by the million. The two things we seem to agree on are that we are short of people and the people that might come to help have a lot of choice as in other countries. Where it becomes an issue is the bit where the Government do anything urgent about it. Grant Robertson on this show last week said they monitor these things all the time. I had raised the lack of bus drivers and the $61 million that was being handed out to boost the pay of the bus drivers that weren't here. Robertson said they're monitoring. I said, well if you are, why aren't you letting more in? He said well that’s Michael Wood's job. Which it is. So where is Michael Wood? Where is the monitoring? Where is the announcement? Where are the bus drivers? That's the problem, they are mouth no trousers. Here is your rule of thumb. Do we need you? If the answer is yes, you're in. Under that system, Sarah and Rob would be buying a house in Tauranga they would be new New Zealanders and we would be grateful for their arrival. Under this Government? Not even close.
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Labour's Poll Result: 2/10 "These numbers are getting uglier and uglier. At some point, they either have to pivot in terms of some policy or prepare their CVs after November next year." National and ACT's Polls Result: 7/10 "Not home yet, and probably wise to keep saying it'll be close." The Midterms: 7/10 "This is why they should keep saying its close, because it just might be. Ask the Democrats. Donald Trump: 3/10 "It ain't over, but it's not what it was, and he ain't what he was. And Ron DeSantis might be a better version." The Banks: 6/10 "Because we might like to just remind ourselves that profits are good, profits are a result of growth, and growth is success. Once upon a time, not so long ago in this country we kind of liked success." Jacinda Ardern and the Banks: 3/10 "When you play politics with profits for personal points, it's beneath the office." Commerce Commission and the Banks: 3/10 "It's not their fault, they are under instruction. But if you think they are the answer to the price of oil, you have about the same level of economic prowess as the government." Meta: 3/10 "A classic example of when you grow so large and get so influential you start to dabble in weird stuff." Twitter: 3/10 "Same thing. Yesterday's headline said it all, Elon Musk took over a struggling business and has quickly made it worse." NCEA Exams: 7/10 "The nerves are high, especially at our house. But at least it’s back to normal." The Black Ferns: 8/10 "The audience numbers don’t lie. A lot of people have a lot of interest in the World Cup and that can be no bad thing." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Retailers are less than keen on the idea of extending gift card expiry dates. The minimum expiry date could be extended to three years under Melissa Lee's Fair Trading Amendment Bill. The National MP says the legislation gives the recipient a more reasonable period to redeem the card’s full value. But Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford says it could have negative impacts on business owners. He says it will create accounting challenges as they will have to keep revenue on their books for longer. National MP Melissa Lee joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A rise in the number of couples opting for friends to officiate their wedding, is leaving professional independent celebrants out in the cold. Numbers have spiked, with more than 4,500 independent marriage and civil union celebrants in New Zealand. Prior to 2013, there were only around 2,000, but there's been a steady influx since the registration process was relaxed in 2013. The Celebrant School Director, Kathrine Fraser says with no training required, couples are paying for a friend's registration, as it’s cheaper than hiring a professional. She says couples don't realise what they're missing out on, as well as the position they're putting their friend in, to do something they may not have the skills for. LISTEN ABOVE
Sir Graham Henry is hailing the dramatic rise of the Black Ferns who have captivated sports fans up and down the country ahead of a sold out World Cup final against England at Eden Park. The 2011 World Cup winning All Blacks coach has been acting as a mentor for Wayne Smith's side during the tournament and he joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Praise for better connectivity between our emergency services. The Government's announced $1.4 billion will be pumped into a single secure radio network and improved mobile broadband over 10 years. St John Business Change Manager Chris Laufale says while there was some connection before, it will be a significant improvement. He told Mike Hosking it's the result of two years of research. Laufale says they tested solutions from around the world and delivered what is right for New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVE
The Reserve Bank's self-review pokes a few holes in its response to Covid-19. But it also says the Covid response was consistent with data available at the time - and worst case economic scenarios were avoided. The regular five year review found tightening monetary policy earlier could have lessened inflation at the margins. Infometrics principal economist, Brad Olsen, told Mike Hosking it means the central bank wasn't quick enough in raising interest rates. He says the Reserve Bank saying it could have done more, quicker, is the closest to an admission that it should have changed tack. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is confident an innovation programme will go a long way towards helping the tourism industry. People can now apply for the $54 million programme, which aims to support low-carbon projects, or those that have a positive environmental impact. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash told Mike Hosking it's important they help the sector. He says they're protectors of our national brand and turn tourists into storytellers. LISTEN ABOVE
The US midterms may be tight, but they're being labelled a failure for former US President Donald Trump. CNN is reporting the Republicans have 49 senate seats while the Democrats have 48 seats. Arizona, Nevada and Georgia are yet to be called. The House of Representatives is looking as though it will be controlled by the Republicans. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking Trump has not been pleased by the results. LISTEN ABOVE
Yes, the upset yesterday at the revelation of the Three Waters office space is understandable. Millions spent on leases and hundreds of workers. For what? The thing doesn’t even exist. It's like the central health authority's first action being a report with 101 ideas as to what to do about fixing the place. Not a single one of them was original and none of them enacted because they had barely unpacked their lunch boxes. That's this Government in a nutshell, though. Some headlines, bit of noise, some advertising, a bit of hiring and some "transition” work. But the reality and the grunt work, where is it? In the Three Waters case, tomorrow, allegedly, we are to receive the select committees report back on the Water Services Entities Bill. In other words, the legislation hasn’t been passed. Currently, there is no Three Waters. So how can there be a bunch of people working madly away? What are they working away on? Oh yes, the transition. To what? What's it look like? What's in? What isn't? What's getting changed? What's getting thrown out? No one knows, or do they? The process of the select committee is to take the intention and hear from the public. Boy, have they heard from the public. Then, they maybe do something about it. The rejection rate for this project has been monumental Most councils don’t want a bar of the idea They have made some changes, the council have rejected the changes and very few are even close to being on board. So what are they saying is that it doesn’t matter what you think, it’s happening anyway and that’s why all these people are sitting at head office working away, because what you say, what you have objected to, is irrelevant. Not even this Government are that arrogant, I don’t think. So somewhere between ignoring us and throwing the whole thing in the bin lies what will actually happen, and given that, just what is it you do all day when you are employed on something that doesn’t have a shape yet? Also, if you are one of those people, what did you sign up to? And as what? How does that work, how much energy do you want to put into something that may never happen, how unfulfilling must that be? If my bet is right and Three Waters never comes to pass, what do you put on your CV?
L.A.B once again reign supreme at the NZ Music Awards. This year the NZ Music Awards are doing things a bit differently, announcing the winners this morning to allow them to go to the awards tonight at a private event, knowing what they've won. And L.A.B have won the same four awards they won last year - Album of the Year, Single of the Year, Best Group and Best Roots Artist. Frontman Joel Shadbolt joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A possibility that Donald Trump might not be as popular as first thought. The final vote counts are coming in for the US midterm elections, and the red wave that was being predicted by the Republicans, never happened. While Trump-backed Ron DeSantis retained his Florida Governor role, Mehmet Oz, better known as Dr Oz, lost his Pennsylvania Senate race. Former Newstalk ZB US correspondent Nick Bryant told Mike Hosking the great Republican triumph Trump predicted, just hasn't happened. He says there will be Republicans wondering if DeSantis is the better pick, and they won't have to defend Trump the way they plan to, if he's indicted. LISTEN ABOVE
The US midterms have thrown the market into some uncertainty. The Republicans appear to be heading towards taking control of the House of Representatives. But things are less certain in the Senate. The state of Georgia is going to a runoff vote, which is only adding to the uncertainty. But CNN's Richard Quest told Mike Hosking that the gridlock is actually a good thing. He says markets like the idea of clashing economic polices, as seen through having one party in the Presidency and the other in both chambers of Congress. LISTEN ABOVE
There are concerns exporters could be run out of business in this country. The 2022 Export NZ DHL Barometer shows exporters are worried about a number of barriers in the sector. There are the obvious ones like the cost and availability of transport but the high cost of doing business in NZ is also seen as a hurdle. There is some good news, with two thirds of exporters expecting international orders to increase next year. DHL Express NZ Vice President of Commercial Selina Deadman joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The chair of Whānau Ora says a court decision to keep a young Māori girl in the care of the Pakeha couple who adopted her, is a tricky one. Oranga Tamariki placed her with the couple, but later decided it wanted to place her with a Māori woman, to provide for her cultural needs. Stuff reports an appeal made by the girl's mother, supported by Oranga Tamariki, has been dismissed by the High Court. Merepeka Ruakawa-Tait told Mike Hosking the fact the girl has found love and kindness is a priority, but she does also have cultural needs. She says that's been part of the problem over the years of children in state or foster care, that cultural needs aren't taken into consideration. Raukawa-Tait says she's in two minds. Oranga Tamariki says it respects the decision of the court and has nothing further to add. LISTEN ABOVE
Concern education is becoming less of a priority, as New Zealand's school attendance falls behind other parts of the world. A report by the Education Review Office's evaluation centre has found only 58 per cent of students go to school regularly. It's further found four in 10 parents are comfortable with their child missing more than a week of school a term. ERO’s Ruth Shinoda told Mike Hosking it's a key problem, as parents don't appear to be prioritising school enough. She says it's a lot of lost learning, and primary school in particular sets the foundation for later education. LISTEN ABOVE
MPs Chris Hipkins and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to discuss the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
The trouble the Government have got themselves into with the petrol subsidy is that although we love it, we hate it. Are we grateful? No, we aren't. Is petrol too high? Yes it is. Is the grocery bill too high? Yes it is. Is the cost of living too high? Yes it is. So we'll take it, but we won't thank you for it. But if you take it away, just wait for the moaning. To be fair to the Government, an ongoing petrol cut is better than that cost of living shambles they handed out over three months that got them nothing but grief. Mainly because it's material, more material than the $116 payments appeared to be. You buy petrol often and in your subconscious you know it’s a bit cheaper than it might have been, that’s good. You get a cheque for $116, what's that buy? And the $116 only goes to a certain few, but the petrol cut goes to anyone who buys petrol. But the classic economic and political lesson is once you create artificiality, you can never take it back. Or not at least without a fight and disappointment. Because something that is free isn't free, it's paid for somewhere, and one day that bill comes due. And also once it's free, its value diminishes almost instantly. It's like giving your kids money for their birthday. You give them $20 and they can't believe their luck. Next year you give them $10 and they wonder why it isn't $20. Or if you give them $25 the year after they can't believe it isn't $30. It's a hiding to nowhere. Sadly, the Government never thought any of that through. Ironically, not long after the money was announced oil fell anyway and the price has never been as high as it was, hence the subsidy was never really needed. But by that that time it was too late. It's still too late. Michael Wood said it's over in January, and then he says it might not be and now the Prime Minister muses aloud about conditions, timings, and situations. Let me tell you about the timing and situation. Because they never laid the groundwork, set the rules, or created the expectations, they are stuck. They are trapped and they can't take it back. Not because they don’t want to or shouldn't, but because they never thought through the consequences. It's Economics and Politics 101.
A big match for the Black Caps tonight in the T20 World Cup. They face Pakistan in the semifinals, an opponent that has tripped us up many a time on the big stage. The winner gets the chance to face either India or England in the final on Sunday. Black Caps bowler Trent Boult joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government is taking aim at bank's massive profits by allegedly looking into open banking, with an announcement potentially coming this week. Open banking is when you can move all your bank details, your debits, your mortgages etc between banks very quickly, creating high amounts of competition, as seen overseas. The evidence shows that it brings banks profits down about 10 percent. Associate professor at the Massey University Business School Claire Matthews joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The winner of the US midterms is being tipped to have a great chance for the presidency in 2024. Voters across the country are casting their picks for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 35 seats in the Senate. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is expected to make a big announcement next week - likely to be another stab at the White House. But Washington Post columnist Henry Olsen told Mike Hosking Republicans need to look at someone else to run. LISTEN ABOVE
A former Reserve Bank economist has laid into Adrian Orr's reappointment as Reserve Bank Governor. He'll spend another five years in the role, after the unanimous recommendation from the central bank's board. Michael Reddell told Mike Hosking he wouldn't have given him the job. He suggests he's fundamentally unfit for the job, from his personality and style, to the way his focus has been distracted onto other things, and the inflation figures. LISTEN ABOVE
There is a desire to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to supply chain disruptions. The Productivity Commission will look into our economy's resilience to such shocks and look to identify possible policy response and interventions. Council of Cargo Owners chair Ant Boyles told Mike Hosking over the past couple of years we've seen some reactive actions to disruptions. He says to put some framework around policy settings so when disruptions hit, we have a plan and a proactive set of buttons to push. LISTEN ABOVE
Just confirming the Prime Minister has lost her so called communications touch. Yesterday's response to the Newshub poll shows us a dose of the old panic might have set in. The Grant Robertson burst over the weekend gave us the first clue. When you're the Government, when you are in charge, you don't waste your time on the small players or the other guys, they waste their time on you. The fact he referenced National 19 times and Chris Luxon a whole bunch is a very good sign for National. I'd be flattered. Back to the Prime Minister, she will take the poll, apparently, with a grain of salt. No, she won't, and we all know she won't. Hence the stupidity of the comment. If this was the first poll that had the Government behind the others, then maybe. If you're arguing a rogue poll, maybe. But this has been a consistent trend for over a year now. Chart it on a graph and it is clear as day. Labour leads by a mile, Labour leads by a bit less and a bit less, Labour needs the Greens to govern, Labour needs the Greens and Māori Party to govern, then Labour no matter what combination they use, can't govern. The gap was minor and now the gap is getting larger and larger. It's all there. Multiple polls from multiple outlets all telling the same story. No one takes that with a grain of salt. What might have helped, by the way I think they are terminal, but what would have helped is an acknowledgement that not all is good. An acknowledgement that they get it, they are listening, they are hearing, and maybe it is time to think about some of the things that are upsetting so many people. They tried the "it's a tough time, "it's a cost-of-living crisis," "it's been a tough winter" lines. They didn't work. Humility might be their next shot. They know, rightly or wrongly, there is stuff they can do that will at least give them a chance. The fact they are hopeless at delivery is irreparable. But policy can be changed, but do they want to? Or are they too arrogant to swallow that pride? Taking it with a grain of salt is more the latter. And if that’s the best she's got, it's her funeral.
Don McLean is one of the great examples of a single song changing a life. Back in 1972, American Pie launched him into stardom - and became a defining song of the 20th century. That launched a multi decade career which included hits like Vincent, Castles in the Air and I Love You So. And of course, we have the recent collaboration with Tyson Fury. Now - he's coming our way for a tour in May next year. Don McLean joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. Ticket details Tuesday 2 May - Trafalgar Centre, Nelson Thursday 4 May - Civic Theatre, Invercargill Friday 5 May - Town Hall, Christchurch Sunday 7 May - Regent Theatre, Palmerston Nnorth Tuesday 9 May - Town Hall, Auckland Tickets on sale Friday 11 November from 9.00am from oneworldentertainment.co.nz
It's the beginning of the silly month when it comes to retail special days - but will we get out there and spend this time around? Today marks the beginning of 'Click Frenzy' while Friday is another big shopping day we've adopted from China called ‘Singles Day’. Then at the back end of the month you have Black Friday and Cyber Monday. First Retail Group managing director Chris Wilkinson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Has the Government got an issue with their 'shovel ready' project programme. Back in July 2020 they announced their $2.6 billion plan to pump money into construction projects to kickstart them into life. It faced plenty of criticism at the time with the shovel ready projects not in fact 'shovel ready' - but new data has been released around it. The latest report shows 229 projects were approved for funding, 218 have begun construction and 58 have been completed. National's Infrastructure spokesperson Chris Bishop joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There's a post-pandemic boom of people studying to work in the tourism industry. Exclusive data revealed to Newstalk ZB shows enrolments at the New Zealand School of Tourism are up 25 percent for 2023. The school claims more students feel supported to go back into the tourism sector, as parents recognise better employment opportunities. School CEO Ana Maria Rivera says there's a range of people entering the sector, which will help the economy bounce back. She says it's exciting and encouraging to see such high uptake. LISTEN ABOVE
Dairy companies want market access Canada committed to, upheld. Trade Minister Damien O'Connor has asked for an international panel to hear a dispute between the countries - which has seen Kiwi products locked out of the Canadian market. He says Canada isn't living up to commitments under the CPTPP agreement, by implementing broader dairy import taxes. Dairy Companies' Association Executive Director Kimberly Crewther told Mike Hosking from their perspective, it's a clear cut issue. She says Canada committed to quota access under the agreement - then wrapped that access in red tape. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealanders are preparing to tighten their purse strings. Economist Tony Alexander has surveyed more than 1000 people on their spending expectations. He's found people expect to increase what they're spending on groceries, gardening equipment and domestic travel, as prices continue to rise across the board. But he told Mike Hosking a net 28 percent of respondents actually plan to decrease what they're spending overall. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's red meat industry is booming, yet there are fears export growth may slow following a busy month. Export values have risen, with beef up 25 percent from the previous year, and sheepmeat up 15 percent. However, external factors are slowing growth as inflationary challenges present themselves - a drop in value of the Japanese Yen has meant beef exports are down 23 percent. Meat Industry Association Chief Executive Sirma Karapeeva told Mike Hosking the industry remains positive. She says New Zealand's in a sweet spot, due to strong demand and limited supply. LISTEN ABOVE
It does, on the surface, seem odd that Jacinda "nuclear moment” Ardern is not front and centre in Egypt saving the world at COP27. And yet if you think about it, it isn't. What Ardern is, and more and more have realised it, is all talk. As we discovered last week, with the court victim programmes that were announced by her with great fanfare, but when they turned out to be duds, she was taking no accountability for them whatsoever. That is who she is and how she operates. Taking about the climate is the modern cool thing to do, but doing things about it? Not so much. Do not forget she has never been to a COP, not one. Her office, by way of excuse, suggested it's not normal for leaders to attend regularly. That, of course, is simply not true. But fortunately the government operates in a media environment where most of the more outrageous things they say aren't actually checked or called out. You also have this issue, Anthony Albanese isn't going either. Why? Because he is called "Airbus Albo." He, like Ardern, has spent too much of his time out of the country. Ardern's trip to Antarctic got more opprobrium than it did coverage. The hypocrisy of the carbon miles to go down, turn back, go down again ,stand looking at Shackleton's shed, for many of us was yet another example of a Prime Minister who is really interested in photo opportunities and not a lot more. The cynicism that has grown around her travel schedule has now reached a point where clearly they have worked out any more air miles is simply not palatable and the closer it gets to election time the worse it will become. Although I have never had a problem with a leader travelling, what we have seen from Ardern, as usual, is more noise than delivery. Telling the world we are open is fine, but it's clearly led to very little. The arrival numbers are a fraction of what they were and I suspect what they were hoping for. So the climate, for now, will have to wait because a cost of living crisis and votes, trumps another soiree where little, if anything, gets done.
An internationally renowned circus company is pulling out all the stops, bringing its first acrobatic production on ice to New Zealand shores. Cirque du Soleil's show Crystal will combine all the heart-stopping circus disciplines they're known for, with traditional and extreme figure skating. They've now announced shows in Christchurch and Auckland next June. Cirque du Soleil Artistic Director Robert Tannion told Mike Hosking that it's their 42nd production but their first ever on ice. He says there's always a desire to push the boundaries. LISTEN ABOVE
The Climate Change Minister is tempering expectations about this year's UN Climate Change Conference. James Shaw will head to Egypt alongside delegates from 200 other countries. He says it will mostly be about following through on previous promises rather than creating new ones. Shaw says while we may not be feeling climate change other countries aren't so lucky. LISTEN ABOVE
The Social Development and Employment Minister says their extension to childcare funding will be appreciated by many families. The Government's announced the income threshold to access the childcare subsidy scheme will be raised from April. More than half of New Zealand families will be eligible. The Working for Families tax credit will also increase by nine dollars a week for the oldest child, and seven dollars for subsequent children. Minister Carmel Sepuloni told Mike Hosking that it's a smart policy. LISTEN ABOVE
A school principal says they're doing what they can to support students after three disrupted years. Tens of thousands of secondary school students will begin NCEA exams today. Some exams are offered digitally while most are sat in-person, on paper. Avonside Girls' High School Principal Catherine Law told Mike Hosking that it's been the strangest year of the pandemic for students. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. The Government's Week: 1/10 "It really does have a death rattle about it. Covid money for Three Waters, tourism money announced but not delivered, the sound of screaming and desperation from everyone wanting someone to do a job for them, and their own candidate for Hamilton West turning up in a protest against her own party's polices. You can't write this stuff." The Reserve Bank: 3/10 "The irony of all the bad news they delivered in their fiscal report is that about 85% of it is their fault." Starship Foundation and the Donations: 2/10 "Cock up of the week. You made a mistake. Admit it and say sorry. Don’t run, hide, and hire PR agents." The Union's Attack on National's Tax Cuts: 3/10 "Would have been cock up of the week if it hadn't been for Starship. The politics of envy and success will get you no where. Attacking hard working productive people that, God forbid, have done well for themselves is not productive or smart." Alcohol Law Changes: 6/10 "I think most of us agree having a lot of lawyers to drag stuff out and appeal endlessly isn't productive. And it was delivered by Kiri Allan, who I increasingly see as one of the last decent performers in the government." Paper Towels: 7/10 "Rejoice, the shortage is over." Diesel: 2/10 "Don’t rejoice. It's now officially more expensive than regular petrol." The Parking Experiment: 9/10 "The most useful piece of journalism all week. 37 weeks the person didn’t feed a meter, saved $1500, and never paid for parking. In other words, the odds are on your side. That's news you can use." The All Blacks: 6/10 "Too much moaning, yet again. The world is getting better and that is to be celebrated because that is what makes good sport." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
One of life's lessons is that the more things swing one way, the greater the eventual correction. McLeod Transport in the Bay of Plenty are looking at becoming landlords because they can't get workers. The broadest of questions once again has to be asked of the Government. Just how badly do they want to cripple business and constrain the economy with their mad immigration policy? How many examples of extreme madness do they need before they work out they’ve got it horribly wrong? But back to the here and now. McLeod is arguing housing and labour are the biggest business killers. They can't get people, and if they can, they can't afford a house. So, the employer is now looking at being a landlord. Sleepyhead in Waikato is sort of doing the same sort of thing with their mass development, some groups like Police and Defence have done it for years, you will find it a bit in rural New Zealand on far-flung properties and businesses. But the overall picture here is that these past few years have seen an astonishing swing towards the employee and their so-called rights, and more worryingly, their expectations. We have four-day weeks, endless nods to the new age, office "activations,” work from home, more money, more leave, more inducements, sign on bonuses, and now apparently housing. Heads up, it won't last. When I started work, too many employers were bastards. The power was in the other camp, and you were lucky to have work. Restructure was ongoing, jobs and layoffs were regular events, and there was an air of fear and trepidation. They always told you there was no pay rise and to be grateful you had a pay cheque. Quite rightly, we resented that. In theory, the trick is to strike a balance. A quid pro-quo. Good people are looked after and rewarded, .and good people work hard for their bosses. And in more recent times, we have roughly headed in that direction. Things have been, in my experience anyway, vastly more cordial and professional. But Covid has tipped it and workers are taking the mickey. They are milking it. And it won't, and can't, last. The shame of it is, when it stops, how many of those that have enjoyed the largesse of the past few years will get a shock? How many have become entitled by default and will not know what's hit them? How many milked it and in doing so ruined it, ultimately, for everyone else?
It's time for the business end of the Women's Rugby World Cup. The Black Ferns face their toughest challenge of the tournament so far with France in the semi-final this Saturday night. France have won the last four games against the Black Ferns and coach Wayne Smith has made just the one change to the starting line up from their quarter-final. Wayne Smith joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Jordie Barrett has been given another chance to lay claim to the All Blacks' No 12 jersey after earning a starting spot in the team to face Wales in Cardiff. Barrett, who along with brothers Beauden and Scott was a late arrival on the northern tour following the death of his grandmother, will again link with Rieko Ioane in midfield on Sunday morning (NZT). The 25-year-old has been preferred at fullback by coach Ian Foster but started and excelled at second five-eighth in the All Blacks' Rugby Championship win over the Wallabies at Eden Park in September. All Blacks coach Ian Foster joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Some advice has come for Starship Hospital on how to handle problematic donations. The children's hospital has been in hot water this week after rejecting a donation of more than $500,000 from a horse racing win. Another man's now come forward to say his $10,000 offer from selling a horse was also turned down due to the money's origins. Their communication has been described as confusing, with a contradictory statement released yesterday saying time constraints were to blame. Public Relations CEO Deborah Pead told Mike Hosking every cent is vital. She says Starship should've said yes immediately, subject to due diligence. LISTEN ABOVE
Data obtained by the National party shows rent owed to Kāinga Ora has increased from $9 million to $16 million in the past year - an 81 percent jump More than 9,000 Kāinga Ora tenants are in arrears. Solomon Group Housing Manager, Bernie Smith, told Mike Hosking increased inflation, pain at the pump and the supermarket squeeze is putting financial pressure on our more vulnerable. He says when you have children, and are deciding between groceries and rent -- you have to put food in their bellies. LISTEN ABOVE
The Waimakariri mayor wants a national ban on private fireworks. It comes as more than 200 hectares of coastland between Pegasus Beach, Woodend and Pines Beach was set alight with investigators finding fireworks were to blame. Two young people have been spoken to by Police, one of them has been referred to Youth Aid. Fire crews and an aerial team are still at the scene, tackling spot fires and dampening down hotspots. Waimakariri mayor, Dan Gordon told Mike Hosking wants Parliament to consider a ban on private sales, restricting fireworks to public displays. LISTEN ABOVE
A mixed approach is being touted as the best way to decrease meth use. The high price and demand for the drug here is making New Zealand an increasingly attractive place for international manufacturers. Drug Detection Agency Chief Operating Officer Glenn Dobson says we have a softening attitude towards drugs. He told Mike Hosking it won't just be about things like rehabilitation and prevention. Dobson says users and dealers need to face consequences. LISTEN ABOVE
Part two of Laurel and Hardy of the New Zealand economy. This time it's Grant Robertson and the Government's immigration policy. The wage numbers were the worst thing that could possibly have happened. They increased at a rate not seen since records began. It's not the sort of record you want to break. Wages are going up at the rate they are because there are no people left to hire. As long as this continues, the Reserve Bank will keep putting interest rates up, we will be in a longer and longer stagflation environment, and when it ends, as it always does, it will be more and more ugly. Everyone is short of labour, everyone. There are, according to our immigration expert who wrote to us yesterday, 150,000 people missing from the economy. We all agree that there are no locals left, certainly not anyone you would want. The Government seems happy to fund them on a never-ending supply of welfare and apologies. So the answer is immigration. Trouble is the Government doesn't like that either, and yet can't see the damage it does. The settings are now patently absurd. The demand to come here, tragically, is obviously diminished as our reputation has been trashed by a government obsessed with lockdowns. Plus, the processing system is a shambles as those who do want to be here are held up by ineptitude. Whether it's nurses who don’t have a decent path way to residency, the rich folk who have formed a queue of one, the thousands who have chosen Canada and Australia because they get treated better, the answer is fast evaporating in front of our eyes. You can't have 7 percent plus wage increases in an economy that isn't growing at the same rate, the government can't pretend their polices work, and we can't keep defying gravity and pretending none of this is a crisis. It's one thing to have a mess. It's a crime to have a solution, which is immigration, that you refuse to utilise to its fullest extent. Especially given the results if you don’t, and those results are about to hit us smack between the eyes.
Al Murray is one of Britain’s most successful comedians and writers. He's been on the scene for more than 30 years and came up with iconic persona - The Pub Landlord. And that character has delighted audiences worldwide. But Murray is also a bit of a history buff - and has released a book on world war two, Command: How the Allies Learned to Win the Second World War. Al Murray joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Looks like we are likely to have an Anzac test against the lions. Rugby Australia are in talks with NZR to put together an Anzac XV as part of the Lions tour of Australia in 2025, with both parties splitting the profits. The last time we did such a game was in 1989 when the Anzac xv lost 19-15 - Alex Wyllie aka ‘Grizz’ was the All Blacks coach at the time and joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's defending dipping into the Covid response fund to financially support Three Waters reforms. It diverted more than $70 million from the pandemic Response and Recovery Fund towards Three Waters reforms including consulting and helping councils adapt. National party Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis is labelling the Government sneaky and dishonest and says the fund should've only been used to support Covid efforts. But Finance Minister Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking water reforms are important to our economic recovery. He says they'll bring economic growth and will provide jobs to the regions. LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for urgent financial support for the struggling tourism sector. The Government has drawn criticism for their lack of action towards a $54 million innovation fund to help with post-Covid recovery. The scheme was announced in May's Budget, but none of the fund has been spent because the eligibility criteria is still yet to be written. Tourism Export Council chief executive Lynda Keene told Mike Hosking there are plans in place, but it's six months too late. She says just because the border is open again doesn't mean these businesses are out of the woods. LISTEN ABOVE
Tough times ahead for mortgage holders but they won't have to go it alone. The Reserve Bank has issued a warning about negative equity where people owe more than the value of their house. Kiwibank has around 30 to 40 customers a week asking to make changes to their mortgages, CEO Steve Jurkovich says that's not a huge proportion of their customers overall. He told Mike Hosking the housing market has been through a radical shift. Jurkovich says it went from 35 percent growth to a 15 percent drop. LISTEN ABOVE
A warm welcome for regulation of the buy now, pay later sector. The Government has announced compulsory affordability checks for loans more than $600, to ensure the borrower doesn't end up in a debt trap. Providers will also need to have hardship processes in place, especially as the Christmas season looms near. LayBuy managing director Gary Rohloff told Mike Hosking as long as the regulation is appropriate for their utility of the product, it's spot on. He says it ensures those bad actors are quickly weeded out and those companies that have been operating for a while embrace it. LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's being slammed as dishonest after redirecting $70 million of the pandemic response fund, to Three Waters reforms. Official documents show the cash was diverted to Three Waters in April, despite Grant Robertson promising to only use the fund for the government's Covid response. National party Finance spokesperson Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the Government hasn't been truthful. LISTEN ABOVE
What are the Government going to do when this year turns out to be one of the deadliest on the roads in years? That is the way we are tracking, this past weekend it stood at 307 deaths. Leaked material from Waka Kotahi suggested they had mapped the country for problem roads and turns out just about every road is a problem road. So they are suggesting they drop the speed limit to 80 kilometres per hour. This is what happens when you reach a point where all the ideas you have tried don’t work. If 80 doesn't solve it, it will be 60. They're already at 30 at many downtown areas of urban New Zealand. It does follow that if the speed limit was 5 kilometres an hour, the road death toll would drop. How could it not? But the economic damage not to mention psychological impact would far outweigh any road toll gains. I am assuming that somewhere between where we are now and that particular absurdity is where they might look to head towards. The answer is, of course, the quality of the roads. We have shocking roads, but we don’t want to spend the money. It's not helped by a government that doesn’t like roads. They would far rather spend money on trains and buses that people don’t use. And they are in a bind, because Julie Anne Genter launched her Road to Zero campaign which as the numbers sit, is an abject failure. But then again, who is surprised? What do you reckon has been spent over the years on ads? They've been warning us, cajoling us, and threatening us. But, to what end? My view is that bad accidents are the result of a couple of things. Exceedingly bad luck, in other words you are in the wrong place at the wrong time. It isn't your fault and no amount of advertising and road rules would have stopped it. And idiots. Whether by madness, booze, drugs, criminal activity, poor cars, or insane behaviour. It's the stuff that is preventable, but only if the fool behind the wheel was behaving differently. Those sort of people are not reached by ads on telly and cops that aren't on the road. So, back to the question; when we get to the end of the year in a month or so and the toll is up yet again, one of the worst yet again, what then? Another ad agency ?
Politicians are divided on the argument over the rejection of a donation to Starship Hospital. Horse breeder Mark Chittick says he was told the children's hospital couldn't accept his offer of more than half a million dollars, because it was associated with horse racing. National MP Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking the money could've made a world of difference, and can't understand why Starship turned down the offer. But Labour's Chris Hipkins says making the decision whether to accept the donation is complicated, and ultimately one politicians should stay out of. LISTEN ABOVE
The music industry is crying out for gig crew as concerts and festivals are set to be bigger than ever this summer. Industry experts say they're facing a staffing crisis with a serious lack of set-up and pack-down staff for all shows, ranging from small gigs to huge concerts. Production and Stage Manager Gavin Downie has been in the industry for 20 years and told Mike Hosking it's never been more stressful. He says once the pandemic hit, people used their industry skills for other jobs and haven't returned. LISTEN ABOVE
Buildings consents continue to rise and rise. Almost 51,000 homes were consented in the year ended September 2022, a seven percent jump from last year. 55 percent of these are for multi unit homes. Master Builders Association National Vice President Johnny Calley told Mike Hosking there is likely to be follow through on them to. He says while there are pressures, most of these consents are underway or coming down the pipe. LISTEN ABOVE
Confidence that the four-day working week is just as beneficial for businesses as it is for their workers. Unilever New Zealand has run a voluntary trial for 18 months, with encouraging results. The trial saw stress drop by 33 percent, feelings of strength and vigour at work increase by 15 percent and work/life conflict fall by 67 percent. Managing director Cameron Heath told Mike Hosking the four-day week gives them a bit of skin in the game with their productivity. He says it creates more value for the business, and creates a reward by thinking creatively to remove things that don't bring value to anyone. LISTEN ABOVE
A stark warning that inflation will continue to spark unemployment and wage growth problems for a long time to come. Economists are predicting our unemployment rate to come in as low as 3.1 percent today. But economists are also predicting wage growth to increase, which will put pressure on the Reserve Bank to drop interest rates. Economist Tony Alexander told Mike Hosking we're going to be in a situation where inflation will take some time to come down. He says we're not going to see interest rates fall at the same rate as 2008/2009, when unemployment went to 6.5 percent and stayed there for three years. LISTEN ABOVE
National’s tax plan will give $10 in tax cuts to the top 5 per cent of income earners and landlords for every dollar of tax it cuts for the bottom half of earners, according to new calculations from the Council of Trade Unions. If you take a fairly costly interpretation of National's policy, the changes would give people earning the Prime Minister's salary about $54,000 over the three years of the next Parliament, while people on the minimum wage would get a bit less than $350 over the same period. National's finance spokeswoman Nicola Willis said she completely rejected the figures. The centrepiece of National's election promise is a tax plan that will bin a raft of Labour's taxes, including the new 39 per cent bracket, the extension of the bright line test and the removal of landlords' ability to deduct interest costs from their tax bills. At the heart of the plan is a policy to adjust tax brackets to take account of inflation that occurred between the end of 2017 and the end of 2021 - National says it will adjust those brackets further if it can. The party costed the bracket policy at $1.7 billion earlier this year. CTU economist Craig Renney, a former adviser to Finance Minister Grant Robertson, said it would in fact cost $200m more in its first year ($1.9b) because inflation has pushed more people into higher tax brackets, adding to the initial cost. "It's hard to understand why in a cost-of-living crisis that disproportionately harms the poorest, you would design a package that is so heavily skewed to those who need it the least. More than half of taxpayers would receive either $2 a week or nothing at all," said Renney.
Council of Trade Unions (CTU) economist Craig Renney made the calculations. Photo / Mark Mitchell "If Christopher Luxon was prime minister he would gain around $54,000 over three years, or $349 a week, quite apart from the gains from the properties he owns. A minimum wage worker would gain $2.15 a week - not enough for a loaf of Tip Top White," he said. National Party leader Christopher Luxon said today that the party’s tax policies were a more effective way of addressing the country’s cost-of-living crisis. It wasn’t about changing taxes all together, but increasing the current thresholds in line with inflation. ”Most people say when you’ve got high inflation it’s unfair that people get caught in what we call ‘bracket creep’,” he told AM. ”We’re not changing the principles of that system, [but let’s] a least take the current system and be fair to everyone.” Willis said National rejected the CTU’s claims. “We completely reject these numbers as they are based on a number of false assumptions including about aspects which are not in our tax plan and that the entire plan will be rolled out immediately.” "We question the motivations of the analyst, given his immediate previous role as a political adviser to the Finance Minister," she said. If all of the package was implemented in the first year National took office, the CTO reckons it would come to about $3.4b in lost revenue - and more than $11b over the course of the next Parliament. This lost revenue would make it difficult to fund National's spending commitments, which include increasing education and health spending by at least the rate of inflation, without additional borrowing. National has said that the policy would in fact be staggered, this means the final annual cost of the plan would still be high, but the initial cost would depend on what National chose to cut first. "This is a question of priorities. If the Government is going to spend $11 billion, it should be focusing that money on public services like health, education and housing or on boosting incomes for families who need it, not a tax package focused on the well-off," Renney said. At the heart of Renney's calculations is updating National's figures for what they will cost in 2024, 2025, and 2026 - the years the party will have to implement the policy if they win the 2023 electio...
Shock from a horse breeder after Starship Children's Hospital's rejected a donation of more than half a million dollars. After a high-profile race win, Mark Chittick attempted to donate $570,000 dollars to the hospital. The Starship Foundation says while Starship is grateful for contributions, it's unable to accept all donations due to existing partnership obligations. But Mark Chittick told Mike Hosking the donation could've made a huge difference. He'd have thought the children's hospital would've been a worthy recipient, as it would've helped children and families in compromised positions. The Starship Foundation's calling for urgent donations, with an ambitious target to reach $20 million dollars donated every year by 2023. LISTEN ABOVE
Which bit are we surprised about? Air New Zealand tells people to book early because fares are going up. Headlines scream how unhappy we are because fares are going up. Be as unhappy as you want, things ain't changing. We have a bit of experience around airfares at the moment. We have a family member looking to get home from Europe. The ability to get a seat, far less wince at the price, has been a problem for weeks. We have another family member looking to get a partner here for Christmas. Unless they have $9000, it isn't happening. That, by the way, is America to New Zealand at Christmas. What is happening is very simple and complaining about it solves nothing. Christmas has always been a pricey time of year. Why we thought post -Covid might be different, I have no idea. As regards Europe, we have sat on websites waiting for tickets to come up from cancellations. They do but they cost anywhere from $4000 to $12,000 and they are gone within minutes. We booked a trip next year to the east coast of the United States. I won't tell you what it cost, but it's amazing. But in that purchase is the key to all of this, very few people are forced to travel; most do it because they want to. All we are dealing with here is a desire to do something and the psychological or emotional hurdle as to whether they can bear the cost. Look up Alan Joyce's speech he gave last week about what is required to get a plane out of the desert. It's a lot of people, a lot of old equipment put on a scrap heap, with a lot of new equipment to replace it and a lot of hours of testing. God knows what it costs, but it's months’ worth of work for one plane. It's Economics 101, demand is outstripping supply. It's outstripping it by quite a lot. And if you believe Heathrow it will be several years before it's sorted. Not a lot of people are actually flying. It's a year today since the borders opened for Australia. They are still 70 percent down on the number of trips they took pre-pandemic. So, to be blunt, what you are hearing is complaining from people who have enough money to fly, but don’t like the fact it's no longer cheap. Welcome to the new world order.
Liam Lawson is currently 7th in the F2 standings with 123 points -with one round to go in the UAE between 18th and 20th november. Lawson is in a five-way shootout for 3rd spot and joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Netball Australia has signed a $15 million sponsorship deal with Visit Victoria just over a week after Hancock Prospecting pulled its contract with the sport. Under the deal, which will run from 2023 to 2027, the Australian Diamonds will wear Visit Victoria branding on the uniform and players and coaches will appear in tourism campaigns to promote Victoria as a travel destination. Victoria will effectively become the home of the Diamonds and will host at least one international Test match for the next five years. The Diamonds will also hold their high performance training camps in the state. On top of that, the new deal means the 2023 Super Netball Grand Final will be held in Victoria. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said he was “thrilled” to announce the deal, declaring it a major “coup” for the state. “This is just a really fantastic day for us to be able to secure this sponsorship deal,” he said. “Victoria is a proud sporting state, and we are delighted to announce a new partnership with Visit Victoria. The partnership will guarantee Victorians the opportunity to experience more netball across the next four and a half years,” Netball Australia CEO Kelly Ryan said. Diamonds captain Liz Watson added: “This is a significant partnership for the Origin Australian Diamonds as we prepare to defend our Commonwealth Games gold medal in Victoria in 2026. “Visit Victoria is a proud supporter of netball, and this investment will benefit all levels of our game.” The deal with Visit Victoria, the state’s tourism agency, will only enhance Melbourne’s status as the so-called sporting capital of the Australia — adding to a calendar already boasting the Australian Open, AFL Grand Final, Melbourne Cup, cricket’s Boxing Day Test match and the Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park. The contract with Visit Victoria is a major boost to Netball Australia, which was desperately searching for a new sponsor after Gina Rinehart’s Hancock Prospecting pulled its $15 million deal. Now the sport’s governing has found a replacement, with Visit Victoria’s deal exactly the same amount Hancock Prospecting withdrew. Indigenous player Donnell Wallam had expressed concern about wearing the Hancock Prospecting logo because of comments made by Rinehart’s father and Hancock Prospecting founder Lang Hancock.
Donnell Wallam of the Australia Diamonds. Photo / Getty In an interview in the 1980s, Hancock proposed parts of the Indigenous community should be sterilised so they would “breed themselves out”. The breakdown of the deal with Hancock sparked heated responses from Australian sporting legends including Andrew Gaze, Anthony Mundine and Dawn Fraser, politicians, as well as media personalities such as Lisa Wilkinson and Tony Armstrong. There had been calls for Australian billionaire companies including software firm Atlassian to intervene but Netball Australia has found an alternative. Netball Australia’s other major sponsors including Suncorp, Origin Energy and Nissan have stated they are standing by the Diamonds and will continue their funding of netball in Australia. The sport’s governing body is reportedly $7 million in debt due to costs associated with running the Super Netball competition during the pandemic. Just four months ago, in June, Netball Australia was issued a “going concern” notice from auditors after losing a whopping $7.2 million in just two years. The deal with Visit Victoria will go a long way to recouping those losses. On the court, Wallam made a fairytale Diamonds debut last week in the series opener against England, coming off the bench in the last quarter and scored the matchwinning buzzer beat goal in the one-goal victory. The Diamonds took an unassailable 2-0 series lead against the Roses with a dominant 56-48 victory in game two on Sunday night. The result wrapped up a perfect 2022 for the Diamonds — who won the Quad Series in January, the Commonwealth Games gold medal, reclaimed the Constellation Cup from New Zealand and have no...
Regardless of if you're a regular punter, or a partaker of a once a year flutter, the Melbourne Cup captures our imagination every year. The Kiwis have a rich history in the race, we won't get into the Phar Lap debate - we know he was a Kiwi, and Kiwi jockey James MacDonald was successful last year. The weather hasn't been great in Melbourne, so wet track form will likely be the key for horses and racegoers alike. Bjorn Baker is a Kiwi trainer now based in Australia, and trains Arapaho in today's cup. He joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Air fares are expected to remain high for a number of months, as Air New Zealand says there aren't enough seats to meet demand. Consumers are complaining of sky high prices as demand for both domestic and international travel rises with the approaching holiday season. Domestic capacity in New Zealand's close to a hundred percent, with international flight capacity at 65 percent. That's expected to rise with more planes coming back in circulation. Airline CEO Greg Foran told Mike Hosking it's not a unique issue to New Zealand, as he claims all airlines are battling with increased demand amidst reduced capacity and fuel prices. He expects things to look up in the near future, as he says Air New Zealand is on track to have a better 2023. LISTEN ABOVE
More signs of the cost of living crisis are beginning to show. People are taking out more personal loans to maintain their household budgets rather than splashing on luxury items. The number of people missing mortgage payments has also tipped over one percent. Centrix Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking there has also been more hospitality and construction businesses defaulting. He says the construction industry is dealing with supply and increased cost issues. LISTEN ABOVE
An alternative plan to the Three Waters legislation is expected to garner widespread support from councils. The Government has confirmed it will look at the latest proposals from the mayors of Auckland, Christchurch and Waimakariri. Wayne Brown, Phil Mauger, and Dan Gordon say their version keeps the idea of having a water regulator, but leaves ownership, control and accountability in local hands. Timaru mayor Nigel Bowen says it's important to have two big cities backing an alternative, and he's expecting a lot of councils will get on board. The Government has already said it's listening and is open to making refinements. Waimakariri District Mayor Dan Gordon joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Over in Australia, public schools in Victoria will be getting access to a free lunch program created by the Liberal Party. Local cafes will be providing the food for the school aged kids as a means of addressing the current cost of living crisis ahead of the upcoming election. Australian correspondent Steve Price explained further here today. LISTEN ABOVE
More people are finding it too difficult to care for pets amidst the cost of living crisis. Three Auckland animal shelters are chokka and unable to take on any more dogs, due to the influx of people not being able to meet the needs of their pet. Auckland Animal Management Leader Shaun Murray says while one dog door closes, another opens. LISTEN ABOVE
The Justice Minister says community groups up and down the country have been calling for changes to alcohol law. The Government's looking to give communities more power to oppose more liquor stores. Kiri Allen says for a long time they've felt they didn't have a show against the liquor barons. She says if they try to oppose new stores they face huge barriers. LISTEN ABOVE
Concerns about how a windfall tax would be calculated. The Green Party wants a one-off tax on large companies making record profits due to high inflation, caused by the pandemic. PwC Tax Partner Geof Nightingale says if you take banks for example - the question is are they windfall profits, or just well run banks? LISTEN ABOVE
If it's not broken, don't fix it: that's the message an immigration lawyer has for the Government after only one person's applied for the Government's new investor visa. The initiative was set up to bring high-value businesspeople to Aotearoa to increase economic gain and opened in September. When the policy was launched, Immigration Minister Michael Wood said the visa category would help attract investors that will remain in New Zealand for a long time. But Immigration lawyer Aaron Martin says the new scheme should never have been introduced, as in his opinion, the old policies were more practical. LISTEN ABOVE
A red line is being drawn through the idea of a 40-year-mortgage. With interest rates up and property prices still high, some buyers are asking why banks can't offer a longer mortgage term to make payments more affordable. Currently, all lenders are maxed out at 30 years. Mortgage Lab's Rupert Gough says interest becomes very expensive over 40 years. LISTEN ABOVE
Nancy Pelosi, the current US House of Representatives is speaking out on the recent attack on her home. An intruder broke into the Pelosi family home and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, while demanding to see Nancy. Nancy Pelosi released a public statement condemning the attacker while explaining that her husband was recovering from his injuries. US correspondent Richard Arnold explained that the attacker's demands to confront Nancy Pelosi echoed the sentiments shared at the 2021 January capital riots and stated that the attacker likely had similar motivations. LISTEN ABOVE
Bus drivers are beginning to pick up speed in their campaign for better pay. After multiple strikes and calls for more pay, the Government has announced it will inject $61 million dollars into urban bus driver wages over the next four years. But questions remain over whether this will sort out staff shortages, with 800 drivers needed to fill gaps. First Union assistance general secretary Louisa Jones says this boost is significant for many drivers. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Fair Pay Agreements: 3/10 "The unions look like they are winning." The Health System: 3/10 "It's an example of one of those crises the Prime Minister should be attending to, rather than being in Antarctica, given the ED mess these past few weeks. I don't know how long Andrew Little can keep saying it's not the full-blown meltdown it so obviously is." EV Feebate Scheme: 4/10 "There is no, can be no, and has never been a defence for subsidising people who have $75,000 for a car." Rishi Sunak: 8/10 "Looks the goods and got there in the end." Joe Biden: 4/10 "He said to judge him on his vigour. I think that’s actually the problem. Because they are." Netball Australia's Sponsorship Saga: 1/10 "A sad, but classic, example of all that is wrong with the modern world. It's a world where your job is less important than the virtue you're currently signalling and where selfishness beats team work. It's a disease that, as they found out, is very material." Cruises: 7/10 "Back for the summer after far too long. And with it a sense of some normality and cash." Adrian Rurawhe as Speaker: 7/10 "No, watching Parliament isn't for everyone. But what a sparkling improvement he is over Trevor Mallard." Report into Kid's Physical Activity: 6/10 "A good example of how the media only goes for headlines these days. The bit about dropping kids wasn’t actually the full story. The full story was, in fact, a good story. We are 9th in the world in terms of health and activity. But to know that you had to actually read the full story." Rugby: 6/10 "Mixed week, the Black Ferns/All Blacks clash is not a good look in a world falling over itself trying to promote equality. But the First XV broadcasting call might be a bit over the top." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
One of our more unfortunate traits has been on display this week with the arrival of Rishi Sunak. It turns out he's rich. And when it turns out someone is rich we need to make a thing of it. We made a thing of it when Sir John Key got the top job as well. Chris Luxon got a bit of a left-wing going over because he was, God forbid, successful too, and with more than one house. Sunak it has been proclaimed, about 100 times over, is richer than King Charles, as though that’s any sort of comparison to make. The King is mainly rich because he was born into a family that had money. Sunak made his money by talent and graft. To be fair to the King at least some of his wealth comes from the Duchy, which until he took it over had never run a profit ever, and it had been running for 1000 years. So Charles deserves credit for taking something that wasn’t working and actually turning it around. They made a documentary about it on his 70th birthday. It’s a fascinating insight into him and his view of British life, work ethic, and business practice. It's well worth looking up. Anyway, Sunak grew up delivering prescriptions on his bike for his mum who ran the chemist. The fact he's gone on to make his own money should be a matter of some pride, I would have thought. He did marry into money in the sense his wife is from an Indian tech fortune. But he is a self made man. Self made men or women are to be admired and in this particular case you would hope, bring with them a level of reassurance that they actually know what they are doing when it comes to finances. But none of that has really been covered. He has been treated like an oddity and someone not like us. The problem with people like us is most of us couldn’t run a country, nor would we want to. So why are we so obsessed about the neighbour, the vicar, or the postman being the Prime Minister? They'd be a disaster. Surely his credentials by way of fiscal success indicate he might have a clue. And while money isn't the be-all and end-all, is does sort of pay the bills. That's what we want, isn't it? Money is an outworking of endeavour. Rishi Sunak's endeavour was clearly successful. Don’t we want successful people running the place or running anything? He's got a lot of money. That's good.
Bank profits are up, with the country's biggest bank taking home serious returns this financial year. The net profit of ANZ's New Zealand arm has risen 20 percent for the year to September, to almost 2.3 billion dollars. ANZ speculates that's due to post-pandemic economic activity. Economist Cameron Bagrie says more record-high profit margins could be on their way. He says across 27 banks, there's a real chance for an eye-watering ten-million dollar profit to hit this year. LISTEN ABOVE
Summer tourism has arrived in Queenstown. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash is in the resort town to officially launch the season today. Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers says he's optimistic about the months ahead, after a strong winter. He says forward bookings are looking good. LISTEN ABOVE
The number of businesses going under is still below pre-pandemic figures, but the rate is increasing. A BWA Insolvency report has found there's been a 48 percent increase in formal insolvencies in the third quarter, compared to the second. BWA Insolvency founder, Bryan Williams, says that pre-Covid 25-hundred businesses went under a year... it's currently about 15-hundred. He told Mike Hosking that there's about to be a slew filing for insolvency, after Covid handouts propped up struggling businesses. LISTEN ABOVE
Pushes for systemic change, as high suicide rates among doctors are highlighted. Today's New Zealand Medical Journal editorial discusses burnout, depression and anxiety being extremely common in the profession. It suggests a reduction in workload and improved teamwork, appear to be most effective at improving doctors' mental health. Psychiatrist and co-author, Roger Mulder, says the creation of Te Whatu Ora is an ideal time to address this kind of culture. He says there's still a stigma around mental health - and sometimes people prefer to pretend everything's fine until they suddenly fall over. LISTEN ABOVE
More and more farm land is being turned into forestry. An independent report commissioned by Beef + Lamb New Zealand has found more than 52-thousand hectares was bought by forestry interests in 2021. That's a 36 percent increase on the previous two years. Beef + Lamb Chief Executive, Sam McIvor, says over the past six years the country has lost 775-million dollars worth of export income. He says that the Government needs to introduce limits and incentivise native planting. LISTEN ABOVE
The fair pay law is another of those ideas that has come to fruition that in and of itself won't swing a vote. It's sort of like the media merger. You might not think much of it but you are not going to protest or swap your vote because of it. It's no Three Waters. And to be fair to the government, it is the sort of thing you would expect them to do. They're promoting unions and unionisation is a very Labour pastime. It also comes, ironically, at a time when it's never been less needed. The labour market is a complete shambles and anyone who wants work has a vast array of choice. And wages have gone up ludicrous amounts. So much so, that inflation is still way higher than anyone expected, and the downstream consequences are going to be ugly. That perhaps is the ultimate irony. Even Grant Robertson, one of the biggest fans of things like Fair Pay Agreements and the jobs tax, is already warning about the economic mess next year. And the economic mess is a direct result of wage rises that have come about for no other reason than the cost of living having gone skywards. The part Labour have never quite got their head around is that each job has a value, and when you pay more for that job than its value, the way we are at the moment, a couple of things happen, you pass the price on to the punter, who either pays it, which leads to inflation. Or they don’t pay it which means you then layoff the workers because you can't afford them anymore. That's essentially what unionism is. It's an annual "we are ripped off, it's not fair, we are on strike" sort of fiesta for more money for the sake of more money. Under this latest guise of Fair Pay Agreements, if 10% want an industry wide deal, they get it. Who cares about the 90%? You can't afford the rise at your particular factory, warehouse, or office? Stiff cheese. You can't agree on the deal they’ve forced upon you? Stiff cheese again. You're off to compulsory mediation and they’ll tell you what you're doing with your money and your business. The greatest sadness of all is we used to do it this way. We did this decades back and it didn't work. And when the Employment Contracts Act came along and people got choice, they chose what we've had ever since, until now. For many, that choice has once again been taken away from them. In essence, we are revisiting past mistakes because those driven by ideology, don’t understand economics, and they never learn.
Christopher Luxon is taking a break from serving up policies today, to serve up burgers. He's going back to his first ever job, working a shift at Merivale McDonalds in response to the current low employment figures and worker shortages. New Zealand's unemployment rate is at 3.2 percent, with 50-thousand people on work benefits. The National party leader told Mike Hosking that the importance of a job is that it provides a sense of dignity. Luxon says National will cut benefits to those who are capable, but aren't actively seeking work. LISTEN ABOVE
Ian Callum is one of the most famous and successful names in car design. He grew up wanting to be a car engineer - after falling in love with a Jaguar E-Type. Since the 1980’s he has worked for Jaguar, Ford, and Aston Martin. He designed the Jaguar XK, XJ, plus the famed Aston Martin DB 7, 9, and Vanquish. He's in New Zealand to celebrate 100 years of Jaguar, joining Mike Hosking in the studio today. LISTEN ABOVE
The voice of college rugby says the decision to stop live broadcasting of school rugby is incomprehensible. Principals of schools competing in Auckland's 1A First XV competition, have made the decision to block live broadcasting of games from next year. The decision was made with an emphasis on player wellbeing, saying the boys are subject to unhealthy scrutiny on and off the pitch. Commentator Ken Laban says families are going to have a hard time watching kids play if they can't get to the ground. He says that if one of the family members has a phone to record the game, security will throw them out. LISTEN ABOVE
The pressure is coming on home owners.A new forecast from the country's largest bank, ANZ, suggests house prices will fall to 18-percent of the peaks reached last year. When recent wage inflation is taken into account, the fall will be about 27-percent. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking that at the same time, interest rates are likely to keep rising -- with the Official Cash Rate likely to be raised to five-percent by February. She says the OCR has been hiked spectacularly quickly, and the hikes may continue through next year. Zollner says the OCR is likely to fall once there's a global sideswipe. LISTEN ABOVE
The Police Association isn't surprised by a gang leader's conviction on drugs charges. The second-in-charge of a Waikato gang chapter that had been taking a tough stance against meth, has admitted importing and selling "commercial quantities" of the drug. Stuff reports Mark Anthony Griffiths from the Waikato Mongrel Mob Kingdom has pleaded guilty to charges of importing, possessing and supplying meth. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking that gangs are almost always linked to the drug trade. He says the money they can make out of drugs is how the gangs in this country make their money. LISTEN ABOVE
More than four-thousand primary care nurses will strike today, seeking pay parity. Nurses Organisation members claim primary health care and Plunket nurses earn around 20 percent less than their Health New Zealand counterparts, despite doing the same work. They will walk off the job for four hours today in hopes to bring attention to the value primary health care nurses bring. GP Owners Association Chair Tim Malloy told Mike Hosking that the Government needs to increase funding, with employers supporting the idea that nurses need higher pay. LISTEN ABOVE
I assume you saw the story of the poor old 80-year-old woman in New Plymouth who has been put into hotels by her family to give her a break from her Kainga Ora neighbours. The claim is she has been terrorised. These stories aren't new. Earlier this year we got the revelation that the agency had not evicted anyone despite behaviour no normal person would even come close to tolerating. If this Government has one major issue next year in the election, beyond the policy specific issues they already face like lack of delivery, Three Waters, co-governance, and an economy in recession, it is their inexplicable acceptance, if not encouragement, of people who refuse to conform, behave, to be normal, or just be decent human beings. This is fresh off our encounter with Carmel Sepuloni on Friday where she yet again defended the tens of thousands who are on jobseeker benefits, allegedly ready for work. But they're somehow inexplicably not able to find any, despite a labour market with holes in it the likes of which I have not seen in my lifetime. We have an inexplicable defence of people who are not only work ready, but somehow remaining jobless for up to 10 years. We have people work ready, and yet falling drug tests in jobs that require drug tests. And yet the Government is still defending the fact that they are officially job ready when clearly, they aren't. Rotorua is, of course, a category all of its own. They were stories over the weekend about the city's reputation trashed because of the needles, drugs fights, lawlessness, and the tourism spend that is missing because people are too afraid to stay. And now a poor old 80-year-old with thugs for neighbours and the fallout is what? Nothing. Once again, nothing. So, they will have to go to the electorate in Hamilton West shortly, plus the country next year, and explain just what it is about these reprobates, layabouts, and no hopers that makes them so different from the rest of us in terms of accountability. I can't terrorise my neighbours without consequences. I can't abuse the system year in, year out, without consequences. What is it the Labour government see in these tens of thousands of people that makes them exempt from the rules, laws, and societal expectations placed on the rest of us. And why should we put up with it? Why should we pay for it? Sepuloni tells us its complex. Is it? Or is it soft and lazy government? Is it the layabouts taking the Mickey? Is this a government for the lowest common denominator? What I know is Labour is more interested in a drug addled thug than they are an 80-year-old taxpayer. Explain that to anyone normal.
MPs Michael Wood and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
An expert says low immigration numbers have contributed to a population decline in most regions. StatsNZ figures show populations declined in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, West Coast, and Southland in the year to June. Internal migration, people moving around the country, is the main driver of population change in 12 of the 16 regions. Massey University sociology professor, Paul Spoonley says more people are beginning to leave New Zealand, rather than arrive. He says if you look back at our population, the number of births have declined and we've increasingly relied on migrants. LISTEN ABOVE
Business New Zealand is poking holes in the proposed Fair Pay Agreements legalisation. The rules mean if a thousand employees, or 10 percent of a workforce, agree to start the collective bargaining process, that process is automatically triggered. The Fair Pay Agreements legislation is expected to pass its third reading in Parliament later today. Business New Zealand Chief Executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking driving wage rates up to boost productivity up won't work. He says the threshold to trigger the agreement is too low. LISTEN ABOVE
The decision by Adidas to cut ties with Kanye West is expected to cost them both. The German clothing giant has dropped the rapper after he made anti-Semitic comments on social media, which saw his Twitter and Instagram suspended. Ye is no longer a billionaire and Adidas is expected to lose around 430-million dollars, and their shares have fallen by 8 percent. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking it joins a growing list of companies that have cut ties with Ye. He says West has also been dropped by his music company, his touring agency, Gap, Vogue, and a documentary on him has been shelved. LISTEN ABOVE
The decision yesterday to grant four Uber drivers workplace protection as employees may have been greeted with celebrations by some, but it was short lived. Uber will appeal the decision, but the wider conversation now turns to the gig economy companies and contractors and what this will mean for them. Max Whitehead is an employment relations expert and he joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
So Te Whatu Ora, or Health New Zealand, has completed its first big taskforce review and has found a solution to help cut surgery wait times. 101 recommendations have been made, some of these recommendations are already in place, but some, Health NZ says, could take years to implement. National director of the Nurses’ Society, David Wills, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Preliminary data shows students are failing to meet minimum writing standards. Data from trials of the NCEA literacy and numeracy tests prove students from lower-decile schools are falling behind, as only two percent of decile 1 students passed the exam's writing section. Some say income inequality's to blame, as well over half of learners from higher-decile schools passed the writing standards. These will be fully rolled out in 2024, and the Opposition's already calling on the Government to take action on education. National party Education spokesperson Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking students from low-income backgrounds are being left behind. LISTEN ABOVE
A 100-year-old grandstand at Christchurch’s Riccarton Racecourse is set to be demolished. Canterbury Jockey Club has been granted permission to bowl over the historic grandstand, despite opposition from heritage campaigners. The club sought approval to knock down the stand because repairing it would send the club into financial ruin. Chief executive Tim Mills told Mike Hosking the stand has seen some of New Zealand's finest moments in racing history, but keeping it isn't an option. Mills says the evolution of the sport coupled with the earthquake damage made saving it unachievable. LISTEN ABOVE
I like people who put it simply. Hancock Prospecting said it is unnecessary for sports organisations to be used as the vehicle for social and political purposes. Hancock Prospecting was, the emphasis on was, the sponsor of Netball Australia. It was a $15 million deal that got pulled by the head of the company, Gina Rinehart. As we explained last week, sport these days is less about sport and more about virtue signalling. That is exactly the term Rinehart used over the mess some of the players have created for their sport. They were fretting about comments Rinehart's father made 40 years ago. One player wanted an exemption not to wear the sponsor on the team uniform. And so, it has led to this. A sport that was in financial trouble, now $15 million out of pocket and lord knows who would touch them. The irony being that's what the virtue signallers never quite seem to get. The simple fact that so much of this modern-day whinging actually has outworkings for more than just themselves. If, for example, those who so vehemently opposed the Rinehart money were happy to lose their place in the side and therefore their income as professional athletes, that doesn’t mean the rest of the team were. But that doesn't seem to matter to those who make the most noise. And the most noise for what? Does the Rinehart business top? Does Australia stop producing fossil fuels? Does the world stop demanding fossil fuels? Do the Europeans decide not to heat their homes this winter? Nothing changes except for the sport, the players in the sport, and the reputation of the sport. Like all relationships in life, there is a balance to be struck. The balance for netball was an income stream at a very difficult time. In this particular circumstance, netball needed Hancock more than Hancock needed netball. But netball abused the balance, hopped on board a horse a mile too high, and are paying the price because of it. Like so many themes that evolve, virtue signalling being one of the latest, the proponents almost always take it too far. That's before the pushback begins and the pushback has most certainly begun, with this example clocking in at $15 million.
In the end, all of Boris Johnson’s bluster couldn’t hide the facts: He didn’t have the votes to win the Conservative Party leadership contest and stage a political comeback just weeks after being forced out as prime minister. The former Tory leader raced back from his Caribbean holiday to test the waters and try to garner the support of enough MPs to proceed to the next round. But as British media counted the number of declared supporters for Johnson, it cast doubt on whether he could cross the 100-vote threshold. “Essentially, the Boris Johnson bandwagon blew up,” said Tim Bale, a professor of politics at Queen Mary, University of London. “He really doesn’t seem to have attracted anything like as much support as he hoped he would.”
Sajid Javid, Rishi Sunak and Prime Minister Boris Johnson arrive at No 9 Downing Street in 2021. Photo / AP, File The 58-year-old Johnson is one of the most recognised — and divisive — figures in British politics. The self-deprecating court jester of a figure led the Conservative party to a thumping election victory in 2019 with his bombastic speeches and populist policies. But critics were repulsed by what they saw as a penchant for bending the rules and embroiling the party in a series of scandals that torpedoed its standing with voters. Johnson’s three tumultuous years in Downing St featured allegations that he gave lucrative government contracts to wealthy supporters, allowed a senior Cabinet minister to bully subordinates and improperly used political donations to redecorate his official residence. He was finally brought down by suggestions that he mishandled sexual misconduct charges against a party official, which forced him to step aside after more than 50 Cabinet secretaries and lower-level officials resigned from his government. But Johnson’s downslide was encapsulated in the long-running controversy over Downing St parties in 2020 and 2021 that violated Covid-19 lockdown rules. With an investigation into whether Johnson intentionally misled Parliament about those parties to get underway in coming weeks, the scandal hung over Johnson’s bid to return to power like a guillotine. If the inquiry by a committee of MPs finds Johnson in contempt of Parliament, he could be suspended from Parliament and face a recall election. That’s not something Conservative MPs want as they try to unite the party, and the nation, behind the spending cuts and tax increases likely needed to restore the nation’s financial credibility after outgoing Prime Minister Liz Truss’ failed experiment with trickle-down economics. “This all started because Boris Johnson was unable to run the government in the right way to keep it together … and to uphold the high standards of conduct that are necessary in the highest offices in the land,” former party leader William Hague told Times Radio on Friday. “So the idea that him returning is the solution — that ... could become a death spiral of the Conservative Party.” Johnson’s supporters tried to shrug off such criticism. Instead, they focused on the idea that their man made the right decisions when it mattered — leading Britain out of the European Union, rapidly rolling out vaccines to combat the coronavirus pandemic, and being among the first to send arms to Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. Just hours before Johnson bowed out, one of his most vocal supporters went on BBC television’s influential Sunday morning political interview show and claimed he already had the support of more than 100 members of Parliament.
Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson. Photo / Getty Images “I have been speaking to Boris Johnson and, clearly, he is going to stand,” said Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was a member of Johnson’s Cabinet. “There is a great deal of support for him.” But media vote counts never supported the bluster. As the leading candidate, Rishi Sunak raced past with 150 backers, Johnson’s support stalled at 76, according to the Guido Fawkes w...
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the long weekend's sport. LISTEN ABOVE
Since the clean car rebate came into effect of April this year, $35 million has been paid out to buyers of Teslas - which have a starting price of about $70,000. And while subsidising Teslas, the Government has taxed farmers and tradies who currently have no alternative vehicle option to do their job. National spokesperson for Transport, Simeon Brown, joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Doctors are delaying their retirement due to the current workforce shortages. Medical Council data shows the average age of doctors is 52 for 2022 - up from 48 in 2005. At least 50 percent of GPs plan on retiring in the next decade according to the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners. Medical Director Dr. Bryan Betty says there's concern from doctors about who will replace them when they retire. He says as a result they've been forced to stay on longer than they would otherwise want to. LISTEN ABOVE
A barrister says Covid-19 isn't a suitable excuse to allow people to skip serving criminal penalties. Newstalk ZB can reveal in the year to August, about 82,000 hours have been cancelled under the now-expired Epidemic Preparedness Notice. That notice was used to clear the hours, with Covid restrictions making it difficult for sentences to be completed. Criminal barrister Steve Cullen told Mike Hosking it was probably just done for logistical reasons. He says the Government just made it up and the rule usually is if a penalty isn't served in a certain time, the person's brought back before the court and subject to a further sanction. They're generally misdemeanours like unpaid fines and traffic offences. LISTEN ABOVE
A report puts New Zealand among the worst for physical activity, with declining levels of school-children opting for walking and cycling. Out of 57 countries, New Zealand's scored a D for what's known as active transport, with school-aged children receiving a C+, with data getting worse as kids grow older. The data shows 55 percent of trips to school are car trips, which account for our overall lack of exercise Auckland University Nursing Professor Melody Smith told Mike Hosking changing our activity is a team effort. She says activity levels are low amongst teens due to the stress they face with school. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Groundswell: 6/10 "Part of a growing chorus of New Zealanders who are fed up." Gaurav Sharma: 6/10 "One of the growing number of New Zealanders who are fed up." Hamilton West By-Election: 8/10 "I actually like voting, races and contests. This is a particularly juicy one, given the stakes." Wayne Brown: 7/10 "Because he's out of the blocks and he's saying what those who voted for him want him to say. He looks like he might actually bring about a bit of change." Ian Hustwick Resignation as Westland Councillor: 3/10 "I like the fact that, in quitting, he was being true to himself. I'm just a bit dismayed he hadn't quite worked out what that meant before he stood and wasted everyone's time." Winston Peters: 5/10 "Because he's fun, likes a bet even though he doesn’t pay, and he adds spice to a race." Inflation: 7.2/10 "As far as fiscal cock ups go, this is a prize winner. It's going to get ugly. And it's going to get ugly in election year." Liz Truss: 1/10 "Of all the haphazard, hopelessly inadequate, meandering shambles you’ve seen this week, ain't no one touches her. Hope you enjoyed her while she lasted." Shakespeare: 7/10 "Because ultimately he was entrenched, respected, and understood enough for people to realise that actually Maori and Pacific virtue signalling isn't a better way to spend our money when it comes to the arts." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
Back to the Pfizer "scandal" and the "revelation" that Pfizer admitted it never tested its vaccine to work out whether it stopped transmission of Covid. Like virtually all of these sorts of breathless revelations, the real story is not as simple as it seems. But in simple teams, what is claimed didn't happen. It is not the scandal those who think it is, want it to be. In that is the key to this, like it is the key to so much of what swirls around our heads these days. Because of the astonishing level of disinformation, you can find a narrative that says pretty much anything you want it to say. The trouble with that, if you don’t reference and cross reference it, you can end up down a rabbit hole. And the problem with rabbit holes is a lot of people like being down them. In other words, it's no longer about the facts or the truth, it's about you being able to say "look, look I was right, I told you so." I tell you what; I have not seen anything like the vaccine reaction in my lifetime. Of all the things we have been exercised about, those that took the jab to heart lost their minds. Making it more complicated or murky were the Government's propaganda attempts, and at times straight up and down lies when it came to roll out, approach, delivery, accessibility, and mandates. The whole Covid cluster. It was at times a mess. Couple that with an angry mob mood and it was always going to be explosive. But, at no point was it a conspiracy. Not that the conspiracy theorists will accept that. They will take their anger, fury, and newsfeeds to the grave with them. That is the saddest thing of all. For some they have allowed this period to define them. Of all the things you could have fought for, lost your job for, and send a thousand emails to media outlets for, a jab seemed an odd choice. There is no doubt the emotional and fear campaign promoted by this, and most governments, to get jabbed, to be a part of the team of five million, was designed solely to save their butts around a health system they didn’t get sorted in time. There is no doubt in my mind the darkest of days with lockdowns, chasing women in Northland, and dobbing neighbours in that stood to close to each other was literally the definition of madness. Most of us lost the plot and it was government driven from a so-called pulpit of truth. But Clarke didn't have an ankle bracelet, the nanny isn't in Malaysia, Agenda 21 isn't what you think it is, BlackRock doesn’t own the whole world's media, and Pfizer hasn’t been busted. If you don’t believe that, that’s cool you don’t have to. But the rest of us have moved on, and we are the better for it.
The Education Minister has a message for international students: we're open for business. Chris Hipkins will travel to Asia to encourage people from overseas to study in New Zealand. He'll speak at the largest student expo in Korea to promote New Zealand's tertiary institutions, before making similar calls in Singapore and Indonesia. Preliminary data already shows uptake in enrolments, but Hipkins says New Zealand can do more to help promote the country as a top tertiary destination. Universities NZ executive director Chris Whelan joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Rotorua's new mayor wants the Government help to change negative perceptions people have of the city, due to emergency housing. A report's found visitors are being put off due to safety concerns, causing the city's visitor economy to under-perform compared to the rest of New Zealand. It's cost Rotorua $17 million dollars over three months and if it continues, the city could lose $92 million in visitor spending over 12 months. Mayor Tania Tapsell met with Housing Minister Megan Woods yesterday and says they're committed to working together. She says there's no doubt they're in agreement about the challenges Rotorua is facing, and that they need solving immediately. LISTEN ABOVE
Imagine your fixed term mortgage rate being upwards of seven percent over the next few years. Well according to ASB we don't have to imagine - it will be a reality. Their latest home loan report says they predict the peak interest rate for fixed term will be between 7-7.5 percent while floating rates could peak at 9 percent - all based on the OCR peaking at 5.25 percent. Chief economist at ASB Nick Tuffley joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The aviation sector is rebounding a lot better than expected. Auckland Airport has revised its 2023 financial year profit to between $100-130 million, up from $50-100 million. It's due to the high aircraft load factors, meaning how many seats are filled, and the extra flights coming in from early next month. Auckland Airport CEO Carrie Hurihanganui joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
The number of people on a main benefit is going down. There are more than 13,000 fewer people on a main benefit compared to this time last year. Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni says the Government's been working hard to get people into employment and off the benefit early. She told Mike Hosking the results are promising. LISTEN ABOVE
Creative New Zealand having been stung badly for their behaviour this week. Having been embarrassed by an embarrassed Prime Minister who went and usurped them for easy political points, they have "spoken out." This is Shakespeare and the funding they rejected because of the "cannon of imperialism." First point, who speaks like that? The "cannon of imperialism?" What condescending tosh. So the application is in and it gets rejected for the first time in over a decade. It's not Māori or Polynesian, it's some white pom we are no longer interested in. It doesn’t fit the agenda of the day. Ah, the agenda of the day. As dictated by the Government in increasing areas of our lives whether we like it or not. From Māori names for everything from agencies, to reports, to news bulletin phraseology, to appointments, to rules, to democracy itself. As Willie Jackson keeps telling us "democracy has changed." But despite the fact they have engineered this new New Zealand, as we draw ever closer to the election, they sniff the wind and read the polls, the politician in the Prime Minister takes over. Sensing an easy victory, she abandons her agenda to get a few dollars out of another department to fix the problem. Now, to be fair to Creative New Zealand, I don’t know whether they embraced this new agenda, and hence their issues with Shakespeare, or if they were dragged kicking and screaming, but they are the ones with egg on their faces. They bleat now that they don’t hate Shakespeare in victim mode. It's just they don’t have enough money to fund everything. Everyone wants money and they have to make decisions. Yes they do, but that is, in fact, the model they have always followed. And their general dilemma of too many applications not enough money is not new and the plight of virtually everyone that hands out money. But, as well as pleading poor, they also had a crack at the commentary and feedback they got. In that, they sadly fell into that other new fad we have going these days, saying everything is racist. If you bagged them you are racist, they didn’t like it. I don’t blame them, but in arguing that what they did was wrong does not make you a racist. Taking them to task as yet another agency becomes immersed in the new obsession does not make you a racist. Too many debates are shut down these days with the old racism call. You haven't swallowed this hook, line, and sinker? What a racist. No, we are not racist. In this case we simply called out stupidity and a blind version of it. What they did was woke, pompous nonsense. Good news is, for once, the pushback worked.
Dame Valerie Adams is one of our sporting greats. Her record is incredible; a four-time World Champion, two Olympic golds and three-time Commonwealth Games gold medal winner. She was Sportswoman of the Year at the Hallberg’s for seven consecutive years - and took out three Supreme Awards. Dame Valerie retired earlier this year and is now telling her story with a new documentary More than Gold, which is out tomorrow. Dame Valerie Adams joined Mike Hosking. WATCH ABOVE
A New Zealand researcher says the pandemic has contributed to obesity. Auckland University Professor of Population Nutrition Boyd Swinburn is speaking at the International Congress on Obesity in Melbourne. The average annual weight gain by a New Zealander increased tenfold to 1.4 kilograms during the 2020 and 2021 lockdowns. Swinburn says staying at home, exercising less and eating more while fast food companies ramped up advertising and home delivery, all contributed. He says we didn't have Covid in the early days so it must be due to lockdowns, rather than Covid itself. LISTEN ABOVE
One of the biggest water parks in the country will be able to stay open after "bureaucratic red tape" threatened to close it. Kiwi Water Park in Cromwell was looking at closure because of a traffic issue - the turn off for it was on a 100 km/h road and there was no right hand turning bay which did not please Land Information NZ or Waka Kotahi. So they threatened to close the place because safety wasn't a guarantee on the road - until a contractor has come to the rescue and said he will construct the right turn bay before it opens this summer. Kiwi Water Park co-owner Emily Rutherford joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland's new mayor is confident the city's Council Controlled Organisations will do what he tells them to. Wayne Brown has written to the Eke Pānuku development agency, water company Watercare, Auckland Transport, and Ports of Auckland, asking for major changes in priorities. The letters are largely symbolic, as the mayor doesn't have direct power over the organisations' day-to-day operations. Brown told Mike Hosking he hopes they respect the mandate he's been given by the people of Auckland. Brown says if the organisations don't do what he tells them, he has the numbers around the council table to effect change. The mayor will have his first meeting with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern this morning. LISTEN ABOVE
The dismissal of an appeal seeking to change the nine month home detention sentence for a teen rapist, is being described as nuanced and complex. Jayden Meyer was convicted of raping four 15-year-old girls and sexually violating a fifth when he was 16. Massey University adjunct professor of law, Chris Gallavin, says the judgement is 128 paragraphs long. He told Mike Hosking the Crown's appeal was filed late. Gallavin says the Crown did a complete 180, having never asked for Meyer to receive imprisonment during initial proceedings. LISTEN ABOVE
A new report suggests New Zealand is missing out on billions of dollars as a result of delayed decision-making over infrastructure. The report commissioned by Infrastructure New Zealand suggests it currently takes on average 15 years to deliver major transport links across the country. Meanwhile traffic congestion is costing Aucklanders up to $1.3 billion annually, more than $1,000 a year per adult living in the city. Infrastructure New Zealand Policy Director Michelle McCormick told Mike Hosking delays have been down to an array of reasons. LISTEN ABOVE
A property development company is taking Kāinga Ora to court, over its refusal to fast track a $4 billion housing development in Papakura. Winton Land is accusing the state housing agency of engaging in anti-competitive behaviour, by refusing private developers fair access to fast-track powers and paying well above market rate for land.Chief Executive Chris Meehan won't say how much money is being sought, but says the money is significant. He told Mike Hosking they don't actually want money, they just want Kāinga Ora to process their application. LISTEN ABOVE
Another sign the Prime Minister has lost any political acumen she may once have had. Her reaction to the Gaurav Sharma resignation was to whine about the cost of a by-election. The vote costs around $1 million. Why she would worry about $1 million is beyond me. She wasn’t worried about the $50 million for consultants on the cycle bridge in Auckland that went nowhere. Just this week, she didn't seem remotely bothered by the $44 million to consultants so far, and counting, on the light rail that has yet to see a millimetre of track laid, despite the fact she personally promised it would be finished last year. I could go on, but you get the point. I suspect the reason she reacted the way she did is because she is panicked. Having cocked the Sharma mess up from day one, having been exposed as the leader of a party of potential bullies, she now faces the very uncomfortable prospect of losing a seat she holds in a by-election. She gave the Tauranga race away before it even started because she knew her party didn’t stand a chance and didn’t, of course, hold the seat. But Hamilton West is different. Hamilton West, indeed, the two Hamilton seats, are famous for being bellwether type seats. Where the country goes, they go, or vice versa. That's why the West has been held by Labour and National multiple different times over the years. The real issue is this is going to be a proper test for the Government's support. If they could dismiss the local body results around the country, and they tried pretty hard, they can't dismiss this race. It is their seat, they are the Government, they have a record to talk about, promote, and defend. The democratic process will be the judge of that. What the Prime Minister fears, of course, is what is most likely to happen. And that is they get spanked. Sharma, bless his heart, is starting a party of his own. Yet another indication of the growing discontent all over the nation. He will get nowhere and will never be heard from again. But that’s not the highlight. That is a National-Labour head-to-head in a bellwether seat that reflects the mood of the nation. Bets, anyone?
MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE
Reassurance for the travel industry as the final pandemic travel requirement will be scrapped. The New Zealand Traveller Declaration will no longer be needed to enter the country after the Government announced its winding down most of its Covid-19 powers - including rolling out lockdowns, MIQ and vaccine mandates. Tourism Holdings Chief Executive Grant Webster told Mike Hosking dropping the deceleration is healthy momentum for the travel industry. He says overseas shareholders have expressed travellers concerns about the declaration, so he's glad its gone. LISTEN ABOVE
Grant Robertson has no regrets about his economic decisions during the Covid pandemic. The inflation rate has dropped only slightly in the September quarter, from the 32-year high recorded in the year to June.The Reserve Bank may now have to hike the Official Cash Rate by 75 basis points next month. The Finance Minister told Mike Hosking while hindsight is a wonderful thing, the Government has made the right decision at the right times. He says there were no costless decisions and nobody in March 2020 was predicting interest rates at the levels we have now. But Robertson says they kept New Zealanders alive and kept them in work. LISTEN ABOVE
Simon Upton is the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, and he wants the Government to now clearly monitor the money it is spending on the environment and what that actually achieves. He even stated the money they're throwing at the environment is 'short termism', and is lacking in transparency. Dave Frame is a professor of Climate Change with Victoria University of Wellington and he joined Mike Hosking.
The Dairy and Business Owners Group is meeting with Chris Hipkins today, as ram raids and thefts continue to plague businesses. Several more Auckland businesses were struck on Monday night, with youths smashing their way into eateries and leaving a trail of damage behind. Group Chair Sunny Kaushal says with the Government’s inaction and failure to stop the crimes, he believes the meeting with the Police Minister is crucial. In late August, Chris Hipkins told Police to move faster on allocating funding from the crime prevention fund, to help shops install security measures, but only two businesses have received it since then. Kaushal wants hard questions to be asked this morning. LISTEN ABOVE
Doctors say the Government is trying to put a gloss on a dire situation. A damning review into Middlemore Hospital has found its ED is dysfunctional and overcrowded, with senior doctors calling for a trainee teaching programme to be scrapped due to unsafe conditions. Health Minister Andrew Little says it's been a difficult winter and immigration settings will help solve it. But Resident Doctors' Association National President Deborah Powell told Mike Hosking immigration won't fix things. LISTEN ABOVE
Gaurav Sharma believes there is plenty of support for his new political party. The former Labour MP has announced he is quitting Parliament, sparking a by-election in his Hamilton West seat, in which he'll be standing. Sharma told Mike Hosking he'll be announcing the formation of a new centrist party and its name and policies in due course. He's talking to people who want a party that isn't too right or too left. Sharma will need 500 members to register that party. LISTEN ABOVE
Time to catch up with a household favourite. Mike first met Graham Norton when he cycled into the BBC when we were in London for the Royal Wedding in 2018. Of course, his talk show has simply gone from strength to strength. And now he has new addition to his bibliography with his latest novel, Forever Home.
Graham Norton explains the magic of his talk show
Graham Norton talks how his writing process works Listen to the full interview with Mike Hosking above
Liz Truss' tax cut U-turn might just end up ending her time as Prime Minister prematurely. New Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has reversed almost all of her plans to stabilise the economy slightly, but the political damage is starting to take hold. Latest polling shows the Conservatives are trailing Labour by 36 points - the biggest margin in history. UK correspondent Rod Liddle told Mike Hosking she only has herself to blame for the disastrous plan rather than Hunt's predecessor. He says you wouldn't become party leader, and hand control of the economy to a Chancellor - without knowing what the plan was. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealand's largest insurance company has revealed the rising cost of climate change. IAG, the parent company of AMI, State and NZI, ran a Wild Weather Tracker, showing there were more than 13,000 weather-related claims in the past six months - rising 34 percent from last year. It shows 71 percent of New Zealanders agree climate change is a key contributor to wild weather - but only 40 percent have taken action to prepare in the past six months. CEO of AMI, State and NZI, Amanda Whiting told Mike Hosking they have outlined a three step plan to the Government to help mitigate climate risks. She says the focus should be working with high risk communities to reduce the effects of climate change. LISTEN ABOVE
The race for Gore's next Mayor may not be over just yet. Tracy Hicks has filed for a re-count, after losing to 23-year-old Ben Bell, who became the youngest mayor in New Zealand's history, with an eight vote margin. Hicks says he's not desperate for mayoralty, and life could be a bit quieter. But he says he's passionate about his community and wants the transition to whatever happens to happen in an orderly way. Further north, Christchurch's Ali Jones is also seeking a recount, after missing out on a council seat at Innes by 16 votes. LISTEN ABOVE
Hopes our new knowledge of vaccines will help to cure cancer - within the next decade. The founders of BioNTech, who collaborated with Pfizer to create New Zealand's most effective Covid vaccine, are working on an injection to target different types of cancer. It should be available before 2030. The jab uses the same mRNA technology as found in the Covid jab, to assist the immune system to fight off cancer cells. New Zealand cancer researcher Dr Chris Jackson told Mike Hosking the development has potential. LISTEN ABOVE
The Health Minister says the health system can't be completely blamed for a patient death at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital. An independent inquiry was launched after the death of a patient who had left Middlemore's ED after being told it would take hours to be seen. The five-page document released to the Local Democracy Reporting Service describes the hospital as dysfunctional, overcrowded and unsafe. But Andrew Little told Mike Hosking the report found the woman probably would have died, no matter how the hospital responded. “That particular case was unpredictable and unavoidable.” LISTEN ABOVE
New inflation figures due out this morning won't show the full picture of rising consumer prices. Stats NZ will release its latest quarterly CPI data shortly before 11am. It's expected to show inflation has eased off slightly, from its once-in-a-generation high of 7.3-percent in the year to June. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking that's mostly due to a fall in petrol prices, rather than a fall in the price of anything else. She says falling petrol prices are helpful, but the Reserve Bank needs to see a much more broad-based fall in inflation. LISTEN ABOVE
National says the Government does not need powers to deal with Covid anymore. Documents leaked to Newshub show it's now proposing retaining existing powers - due to expire in May - to 2025. Latest official figures show case numbers are continuing to rise week-on-week. But, National Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking it's time to move on. “Why do we actually need it? Is the big question.” LISTEN ABOVE
More than 7000 homes and businesses in Victoria’s north could soon be flooded as the state’s historic emergency event continues. Shepparton residents are continuing to be bombarded with flood water, while other areas start the clean up process following last week’s monster deluge. The Goulburn River may peak near 12.1m later on Monday morning, potentially putting 7300 homes and businesses in Shepparton, Mooroopna and Kialla in danger of being surrounded or filled with flood water. Victorian Emergency management commissioner Andrew Crisp said they received 56 requests for rescues in those areas overnight on Sunday, with some yet to be undertaken. Bureau of Metrology meteorologist Dean Narramore said several river catchments are expected to peaked on Monday. “On the Avoca River around the Charlton area, it looks like will peak around 8m today with major floods that will cause some issues there today,” he told the ABC. “Moving further eastwards, we’re looking at major flooding continuing and it will for a number of days on the Campaspe and the Goulburn River. “We’ll see the floodwaters peak in Echuca and Moama, similar to the 1993 levels. “Shepparton as well looking to peak sometime later today or into tonight. Similar to the levels of 1974, so it’s going a long way back. “There’s a massive amount of water on the Goulburn right now and that all feeds into the Murray River, so we’re concerned for Echuca and Moama in the coming days.” But he warned more heavy rainfall has been “unfortunately” forecast for later in the week, with up to 25mm potentially hitting already flood-affected areas like Echuca and Shepparton. “Not good news for our flood-affected areas ... looking at widespread 25-50mm falls over much of inland New South Wales, northern Victoria and Queensland,” Mr Narramore said. “This is a lot less than what we saw, but with everything now so wet and saturated, this is going to lead to renewed river level rises on many of our already flooded rivers. “Particularly as we get in towards that Thursday and Friday time frame … we could see quite a few severe thunderstorms through inland areas across multiple days later this week and into the weekend.” Mr Narramore also said “it could be a while” until the rain lets up for residents in Australia’s east. “It looks like we will get a brief break over the weekend Sunday and Monday, but there is another system hot on its heels as we move into early parts of next week,” he told The Today Show. “ This wet pattern continues to bring widespread flooding across eastern Australia.” Federal Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt said Victoria was facing a “a very serious situation”. “The reports I‘m getting, we could be looking at up to 9000 homes inundated in northern Victoria and potentially close to about 34,000 homes in Victoria either inundated or isolated,” he told the ABC. Mr Crisp said around 300 to 400 homes have inundated with flood water in Echuca, while about 800 to 900 have been affected in Rochester. “I had the opportunity to fly over Rochester yesterday. To be frank, it‘s depressing, there’s water everywhere,” he told the ABC. “We’ll work with, stand with, and support the community of Rochester and we’ll be doing everything we can to help them get back on their feet.” On Saturday morning, a respected member of the Rochester community sadly lost his life in his backyard during the relentless weather event. Kevin Wills, 71, who was born in the Victorian town lived with his wife on High Street for years, with the community heartbroken at the loss. Mr Wills’ wife was also found by emergency services trapped at the property but was rescued safely. Victoria SES has issued more than 60 flood warnings across the state, more than 100 Australian Defence Force personnel have been deployed, while around 120 schools and 100 early learning centres are closed on Monday. The state and federal governments have prepared the Centre for National Resilience in Mickleham to provide crisi...
NATO and Russia are set to separately hold long planned exercises of their nuclear forces at a time of huge tension as Russia continues its war on Ukraine. The Pentagon and the US intelligence community are watching for any unexpected or unusual movements of Moscow's nuclear weapons during Russia's exercise, which is expected to take place before the end of the month, according to several US officials. "We believe that that Russian nuclear rhetoric and its decision to proceed with this exercise while at war with Ukraine is irresponsible. Brandishing nuclear weapons to coerce the United States and its allies is irresponsible," a senior defense official told CNN. The Russian exercise called Grom, which roughly translates into thunder, is conducted every year, according to the US. "We anticipate the exercise will span several days. It'll include actions within the normal bounds of what Russia has done in the past. It'll include live missile launches and a deployment of strategic assets," said John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council. Though the Russian exercise is routine it comes after President Joe Biden issued a stark warning earlier this month about the danger of President Vladimir Putin's nuclear threats as Moscow continues to face military setbacks in Ukraine. "First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going," Biden warned during remarks at a Democratic fundraiser in New York. He added: "I don't think there's any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon." After Biden's remarks, administration officials stressed that the US still has seen no evidence that Putin is moving toward using Russia's nuclear capability, nor is there any intelligence showing he's decided to do so. The tensions over Ukraine means there will be even more scrutiny on the Russian exercise. The US constantly monitors Russian nuclear assets, but the Pentagon will be watching the exercise for any sign Russian strategic forces or nuclear weapons movements are anything other than routine and expected, officials told CNN. The exercise is expected to focus on strategic weapons, meaning tests of ballistic missile systems that Russia would be required to provide advance notice of under treaty obligations. NATO and US officials have said they are confident they will be able to accurately monitor any Russian nuclear activity during the exercise. "We will monitor that, as we always do. And of course, we will remain vigilant not least in light of the veiled nuclear threats and the dangerous nuclear rhetoric we have seen from the Russian side," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday. On Monday, NATO will begin its annual nuclear exercise known as Steadfast Noon, with the US among the 14 nations participating. It's been conducted annually for over a decade, according to the Pentagon. The exercise includes fighter jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads but there will be no live weapons aboard. The US will provide B-52 bombers flying from Minot Air Base in North Dakota. The major exercise area will be more than 625 miles from Russia. The goal is to ensure NATO's nuclear deterrent remains "credible, effective, safe and secure" the defense official said. According to NATO there will be up to 60 aircraft involved including advanced fighter jets, surveillance and tanker aircraft. Flights will take place over Belgium, the UK and the North Sea. - by Barbara Starr, CNN
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to talk the latest weekend of Rugby World Cup pool games, rugby's financial situation after Worcester and Wasps, the All Whites coaching situation, the MLB Playoffs, and the NFL. LISTEN ABOVE
People are avoiding taking holidays from work due to increasing pressure both at home and in the workplace itself. Research by ELMO Software has found 20 percent of workers have accrued more than their annual leave entitlement, but most won't be taking it. About half say they need money due to the cost of living, and a quarter say they have too much work to take time off. Employment specialist Jennifer Mills told Mike Hosking it's unusual for an employee to be the one putting off leave. “It’s usually the employer saying to an employee no we don’t agree with your request for leave at this time because it would unreasonably interrupt business.” LISTEN ABOVE
A lot of people who are eligible for live-saving medication don't know enough about it. Research shows the antiviral tablet Paxlovid reduces the risk of severe Covid infection by over 80 percent. But research commissioned by Pfizer has found people with a higher risk of Covid hospitalisation or death are relatively unaware of the benefits of antivirals. College of GPs Medical Director Bryan Betty told Mike Hosking he wants to see the medicine used more. “They are being used in a widespread way, but not quite as much we’d like probably due to lack of awareness about antivirals.” LISTEN ABOVE
National says the Government is throwing Police under the bus to deal with ram raids amid a slow rollout of prevention measures. Chris Hipkins told Police in August to move faster on using the $6 million Crime Prevention Fund, so shops can install security measures. At the time only five retailers were taken care of, and a month on just two more have been helped. National Police Spokesperson Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking Police don't have the resources to do it. “You’ve got $171,000 that’s been committed out of a $6 million fund committed — not even spent — so it is a complete and abject failure on just about every level.” LISTEN ABOVE
Winston Peters continues to take swings at the Government, with claims co-governance was never a discussion at the coalition table in 2017. The NZ First Leader says scrapping co-governance will be a deal-breaker if he's king-maker after next year's election. He told Mike Hosking Labour Party ministers left him in the dark about co-governance discussions when he was Deputy PM. “He Puapua was ordered and came to the Minister Mahuta and the Prime Minister said she didn't know about it, and I said post-election ‘well if you didn't know about it, and Mahuta heard it from you she should be sacked, and you’re not sacking her then you did know.’” Jacinda Ardern is accusing Peters of making extreme and wrong statements, but won't rule out working with him again. LISTEN ABOVE
All eyes are on China as the Communist Party's Congress kicks off. President Xi Jinping is widely expected to receive a third term. He's already called for an acceleration in building a world-class military while defending the country's zero-Covid policy. Otago University's Professor Robert Patman told Mike Hosking there's no doubt the Western World is increasingly worried at China's assertiveness on the world stage. He says there's also great concern for its position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. LISTEN ABOVE
Sky-high food prices are being felt in classrooms, with one charity saying it is feeding 10,000 more hungry students compared to the beginning of the year. As children return to school for Term 4 today, children's charity Kidscan said it had fielded calls from principals who were in tears about the hunger and poverty they were seeing among students. "It's the worst we have ever seen it," said chief executive Julie Chapman, who founded the charity in 2005. "Parents are living in deficit every week. For the first time in 17 years, we are having teachers and principals break down on the phone to us because they are seeing the level of deprivation, particularly in that food space." In the 1000 schools and daycares which Kidscan supported, the number of children needing food support had risen from 44,000 in Term 1 and 2 to 54,500 in Term 4. Food prices are at a 13-year high, with data from Stats NZ last week showing prices rose 8.3 per cent in the year to September, including a 16 per cent increase for fruit and vegetables. This is being driven by a combination of pandemic supply problems, the war in Ukraine, labour shortages and tough local growing conditions. The latest official data on child poverty last week showed material deprivation rates were falling, but those gains were uneven and the data did not cover the full impact of Covid-19, the cost of living crisis, the Government's response to it, or children in temporary homes like emergency housing. Edmund Hillary School in Papakura is one of 39 schools on the wait-list for Kidscan support. "The kids are tired about 20 minutes into class time," principal Kataraina Nock said. "They are literally lying on the floor and I am thinking 'What on earth is the matter?'. They can't concentrate because they haven't got anything in their tummy." In the newly-introduced equity index for schools, the lowest possible score is 569. Edmund Hillary School is rated as 539. It is one of 950 schools around New Zealand which qualifies for the Government's food in school's programme. But that was not a complete solution, Nock said. "The kids are arriving at school hungry and we can't wait until the delivery of the lunches. We had to start making them toast in the classroom." The school has reintroduced a breakfast club and is feeding between 50 and 80 students each morning with temporary funding from the Ted Manson Foundation. That funding will run out at the end of the year. As the high cost of living had worsened the impact of Covid, some schools have played an increasing role in supporting families. Te Puke Primary School principal Andrea Dance said the last two years had been difficult for families in their region. Fuel, food, and housing costs had all risen, and some had struggled to get back into work.
Children are tired about 20 minutes into class time, says Edmund Hillary School principal Kataraina Nock. Photo / Supplied For some students, her school was now providing breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in a handful of cases, a hot shower and a lift to school. "The kids are really happy and they want to be at school. But we have families that are really struggling, so we try to eliminate all those barriers so that school is one thing these kids can count on." Dance said there had been a silver lining to Covid-19, because schools had to become more connected with families while they were at home. "What I've noticed in the last couple of years is parents are actually asking for help when they need it - with food packages and other things. It is actually okay to ask when they are struggling, which is great." Shelley Cook, a special education needs coordinator at Coastal Taranaki School, said between 40 and 50 children ate breakfast at the school each morning. Students were initially ashamed about asking for help with meals, she said. The school had to work hard to remove the stigma of food assistance. "People on the outside of the communities might comment that surely it's the whanau's job...
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. He Waka Eke Noa: 2/10 "How to kill business in one easy lesson. How to suck in a whole sector in in one easy lesson. And how to not sell your vision in one easy lesson." ACT: 7/10 "Idea of the week with their referendum on co-governance. It keeps the issue alive, keeps National on its toes, appeals to a good number of voters, and puts pressure on the Government to explain themselves." Government's Immigration Moves: 6/10 "Because the general intent seems reasonable. Execution is another matter. But the crux of this is we need more people and this, at least in theory, heads that way." Ruapehu Alpine Lifts Going into Administration: 2/10 "You can't be a tourist destination with a whole island with no ski field. And you can't have a whole country with millions of locals having to go to the South Island. Surely there is money and a model that works?" The Brain Drain: 3/10 "An insight into how bad our plight is. We are still going backwards. And this year it's New Zealanders leading the way." Hong Kong: 4/10 "Half a million free tickets to get you there. It's a decent idea. But the trouble is the Chinese have wrecked the place, hence you need half a million free tickets. Before the Chinese wrecked the place, we actually went there voluntarily and happily paid. There is a lesson there." King Charles' Coronation: 7/10 "It will be a spectacle. But on a Saturday? Come on." The Week of the Big Reveal: 8/10 "We had Meta, Microsoft, and Dyson. From goggles, to screens, to vacuums, it's a wondrous world full of new stuff to separate you from your money." Bathurst: 8/10 "A perfect Sunday afternoon and a New Zealander beats them all, again." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
We have the headline "A beauty buffs guide to Sydney. Where to stay, shop and spoil yourself." There are a lot of those headlines about these days. That's despite the fact Auckland Airport refuses to look like it's open and despite the fact international travel is only at 50 percent of pre pandemic levels. The travel industry is working hard to get us on a plane and off somewhere. But I can only imagine what Ralph Sims made of the headline. He is a sustainable energy professor, and he hates this stuff. By the way, when do you think sustainable energy professors became a thing? When did sustainable energy get taken seriously enough to have a job at a university named after it? And what was it you did before that? Was it just plain energy? Anyway, Sims is part of an equally busy group these days trying to convince us not to use things like fuel frivolously and travelling to Sydney to pamper oneself is about as frivolous as you get. He said the other day in the way only sustainable energy professors and their ilk can, "I know people that have been to Melbourne for the weekend just to go shopping." Eeeewwww, can you imagine? Lord only knows if he talks to these people he knows or just looks down his nose at them from a distance. But I think we all know people like that. In fact, I suspect a lot of us are people like that, and we are perfectly happy being that sort of people. In that is the rub. Is flying to Melbourne a waste of fuel? Or is it living life and enjoying ourselves? Or post Covid, aren't we allowed to enjoy ourselves? Or is enjoying ourselves limited to non-fuel activity? It is true if we never travelled again, we'd save fuel and possibly help the atmosphere, like Ralph Sims would like us to. But the Prime Minister is off to the United Nations shortly. That's a lot of fuel and I can tell you for nothing that little, if anything will come out of it. So, do we stop flying? Do we stop connecting? Does Air New Zealand not open that direct to New York route? What if the Prime Minister went to the UN and went shopping? Is that a double crime? Two lots of frivolously activity? The problem with the climate activists is they have no sense of humour and certainly no sense of fun. And because of that they lose us, and in losing us, they lose their argument.
Gilbert Mata woke up excited Tuesday for the first day of school since a gunman's bullet tore through his leg three months ago in a fourth grade classroom in Uvalde. The 10-year-old has healed from his physical wounds, but burning smells still remind him of gunfire and the sight of many police officers recalls the day in May that an assailant killed 19 of his classmates and two teachers. On a morning that many Uvalde families had dreaded, a new school year began in the small South Texas town with big hugs on sidewalks, patrol cars parked at every corner and mothers wiping away tears while pulling away from the curb in the drop-off line. Mata was ready to return, this time with his own cellphone. His mother, Corina Comacho, had a tougher time letting her child go back to class. "There's a certain time he can get his phone out and text us he's OK," she said after walking him into a new school, Flores Elementary, and dropping him off behind doors with new locks. "That's like, 'OK, that's good. Now I feel better.'" Outside Uvalde Elementary, teachers in matching turquoise shirts emblazoned with "Together We Rise & Together We Are Better" gently led students through a newly installed 8-foot (2.4-meter) fence and past a state trooper standing outside the front entrance. "Good morning, sunshine!" greeted one teacher. "You ready to have a good school year?" Robb Elementary, where the attack unfolded on May 24, is permanently closed and will eventually be demolished. A large memorial of stuffed animals, victims' photographs and crosses remains outside the scene of one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. Outside the other schools in Uvalde — which are only a short drive away — some added safety measures that the district rushed to implement after the attack were incomplete. Security cameras are still in the works. New metal fencing surrounds some campuses, partially encloses others and isn't up at all at Flores Elementary, where many Robb students are enrolled this year. The attack lasted more than 70 minutes before police finally confronted the gunman and killed him. The delay infuriated parents and led to a damning report by state lawmakers. Now more police are on patrol, but distrust is rampant. "There's a big ol' gap right here. Anyone can walk through," said Celeste Ibarra, 30, pointing to the new barrier around Uvalde Elementary while standing in her front yard across the street. Ibarra's older daughter, 9-year-old Aubriella Melchor, was in Robb Elementary during the shooting and seemed to drag out Tuesday morning as long as possible, taking longer than usual to get dressed and poking at her breakfast. When back-to-school shopping rolled around, she didn't want to go to Walmart, and the glittery pencils Ibarra bought to get her daughter excited didn't work. "She kind of just played with her cereal," Ibarra said after dropping her off. "She was thinking. I know she was scared." Uvalde is off to a late start for school: Classes resumed weeks ago in many parts of Texas, where other districts encouraged students and teachers Tuesday to show support by wearing Uvalde's maroon colors. "We are all standing with you," First Lady Jill Biden tweeted. Uvalde pushed back the first day of class after a summer of heartache, anger and revelations that nearly 400 officers who rushed to the scene waited so long to go inside the classroom. Steve McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, called the response an "abject failure," and the district fired school Police Chief Pete Arredondo last month. Over the summer, more than 100 students in Uvalde signed up for virtual learning. Others transferred to private schools. Elsa Avila, a fourth grade teacher who was shot in the abdomen and survived, missed the first day of school Tuesday for the first time in 30 years. For Mata's family, virtual school wasn't really in the conversation: Gilbert didn't do well with online classes during the pandemic. And besides, he w...
National is calling on the Government to apologise over the 11-day Covid lockdown last October. The Government blamed the lockdown on the two women using false travel documents to cross the Northland border and there had been suggestions the women were doing sex work for the gang scene. But documents obtained by our newsroom reveal the women weren't sex workers, had no gang links, and had correct documentation which officials had issued in error. National Whangaparāoa MP Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking what's happened is outrageous. “They went up there quite legally, they were allowed to go up there.” The Housing Minister says the Government is working hard to solve issues with Rotorua's emergency motel system. Clients in the system have accused housing charity Visions of a Helping Hand of intimidation and abuse of power, and there are reports of violence and poor conditions within the motels. Megan Woods says Rotorua has been rapidly growing and putting people in motels, is better than leaving people on the street. She told Mike Hosking they haven't been lazy in trying to provide an alternative. “We have been on a massive building programme for having state houses there, we have delivered 209, there’s another 300-odd under construction at the moment.”
The White Lady is a food truck in Auckland that has been operating for 74 years. Back in June/July they were battling with Auckland Council who told them to get their license renewed they must make changes so that there was less litter, less drunk people around the truck and that their cooking fumes didn't drift to other businesses. They believed they complied with all that and now the complaint has evolved - to the point where their license is due to expire at the end of the month and no word on when an extension might be offered. Head of Operations for the White Lady Max Washer joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A claim Rotorua's emergency motel system is sapping the Government's credibility. A TVNZ report has revealed poor conditions for tenants and allegations of intimidation and abuse of power from charity Visions of a Helping Hand. Victoria University political analyst Bryce Edwards says it's an issue the Government hasn't addressed and the Mayor hasn't been vocal enough about. He told Mike Hosking the system is drawing criticism from all angles, with people on the left and the right against it. LISTEN ABOVE
The first of New Zealand Rugby’s Silver Lake money is about to be dished out. Yesterday applications opened for clubs all around the country to get a slice of $7.5 million. It will see more than 450 clubs get between $10-40,000, with an expected focus on upgrading club facilities to make them community hubs again. North Harbour Rugby chairman Gerard van Ttilborg joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions have been asked as to whether the Government's package will make a difference when it comes to youth crime. They announced their $53 million Better Pathways package, with a focus on children under 14. $23 million of it will go towards a programme that gives "wraparound support" to youths at risk of, or already involved in, organised crime. There's also $23 million for supporting teenagers and young adults to re-engage with education or employment as well as money to help students whose education was affected by Covid. Chief Operating Officer at Blue Light Brendon Crompton joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A Northland mayor isn't hiding his frustration, with the blunder that forced Northland into an 11-day Covid lockdown last October. The Government accused the two women who sparked the lockdown of using false travel documents to get across the Northland border, allegedly to be sex workers within the gang scene. But documents obtained by our newsroom show the women weren't sex workers, had no gang links, and had correct documentation, issued in error. Speaking to Mike Hosking, outgoing Far North Mayor John Carter isn't hiding his feelings. “It just pisses you off, it makes you angry. This is just typical of the invisible, arrogant Wellington bureaucracy.” LISTEN ABOVE
Calls for the Government to review tax brackets amid rising inflation. New Zealand’s marginal tax rate system means higher rates of tax are applied as someone earns more income. Stats NZ data shows median weekly earnings increased 8.8 percent in the year to the June quarter, the biggest jump since records began. Deloitte partner Robyn Walker told Mike Hosking it needs some tweaking at the lower end of the scale. “When you get to $48,000 you suddenly go from a 17.5 percent tax rate, up 71 percent to a 30 percent tax rate.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Government needs the polytech redundancies like a hole in the head. 230 jobs look set to be going from AUT. Education in this country is a mess. From the earliest days until your last, the system is shambolic, the kids who leave are under-educated and aren't able to read or write to an acceptable level. With subjects like maths and science we've slipped down the international ladder. And we have the kids who just don’t turn up at all to school. We have the crisis in staffing where getting a teacher in front of some kids is a small miracle in itself. Of course, none of that has been addressed. What has been addressed is a fairly successful polytech system that was by in large minding its own business, until the Government, weighed down in their ideological blindness, rolled into town and upended the whole thing. A new centralised system that is ladened down with debt, had a CEO that wasn’t at work on full pay, until he quit, and various other senior players who have quit and spoken out about the mess of an idea it is. And now, the inevitable layoffs. Of course, some of it is predictable. We have tight job market, the sort of job market you get when you lock people out of the country. And a decent chunk of those locked out were students who, not so long ago, brought $5 billion into the nation's bottom line. When you lock those people out, you tend not to need as many teachers. And so here we are. Also in a tight job market, you get people who find work more easily, hence don't enrol in polytech. Which leads to a bigger question, just how much of polytech is useful? Just how many people study for the sake of study? How many people are on a pathway? And how much of it doesn’t actually lead anywhere too specific? There have been too many "bums on seats" courses funded by the taxpayer. There's nothing wrong with study, but courses that benefit us all are the future. People and skills we need are the future. And of course, having laid all these people off, and they won't be the last, and when the students return, the economy falters, and the demand returns, then what? This seems haphazard. This doesn't seem to be part of a big picture plan. Of all the stuff in education that needs urgent attention, why did they take a successful sector and bugger it up?
The Nick Kyrgios train keeps on rolling. His rackets aren't surviving his US Open Games but he is, knocking out world number one Daniil Medvedev to go through to the quarter finals of the slam. It now has bookies calling Kyrgios the favourite. Tennis commentator Craig Gabriel joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
It's fair to say Bret McKenzie has been one our most successful entertainment exports. We all know it started with the Flight of the Conchords in the 2000s with Jermaine Clement. That got Hollywood’s attention and led to him serving as music supervisor to The Muppets movies in 2011 and 2014. His song Man or Muppet earned him the Oscar for best original song. Now he's back with his solo album debut titled Songs Without Jokes. And he's currently on a tour around the country before heading out on a global tour. Bret McKenzie joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. TOUR DATES: Thursday 8th September 2022 Opera House, WELLINGTON TICKETS FROM TICKETMASTER Monday 12th September 2022 Royal Opera House, WHANGANUI TICKETS FROM TICKETEK Tuesday 13th September 2022 Opera House, HASTINGS TICKETS FROM EVENTFINDA Wednesday 14th September 2022 - SOLD OUT Town Hall Concert Chamber, AUCKLAND Thursday 15th September 2022 Town Hall Concert Chamber, AUCKLAND TICKETS FROM TICKETMASTER
There has been delight at falling gun crime in Wairoa. It's had 15 firearms incidents between August last year and July this year, which is down from 35 for the previous period. Mayor Craig Little says open lines of communication with gangs in the town has helped that decrease. He told Mike Hosking more cops on the beat has also helped. Little says they used to struggle with police numbers which lead to more crime. LISTEN ABOVE
Tough times for universities are forcing them to look at their balance sheet. Around 230 staff face redundancy at AUT, despite the university having a $12 million surplus last year. Universities New Zealand Executive Director Chris Whelan says inflation has hit the sector hard. He told Mike Hosking the lack of international students is also causing dramas. Whelan says it will take a while to return to pre-pandemic numbers, if we return there at all. LISTEN ABOVE
Banks are apparently starting to come down on property investors when it comes to their levels of debt. Rising interest rates and rents not increasing at the same pace has banks taking the hard line, which could involve getting investors to sell a property or being told to pay down debt when they voluntarily sell rather than pocketing the profits. Property Investors’ Federation president Andrew King joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Liz Truss has been elected as the Conservative Party's new leader, the party announced Monday, and she will take office Tuesday as Britain's new prime minister to steer the country through an acute cost-of-living crisis. Theresa May's former advisor Chris Wilkins told Mike Hosking Liz Truss has been underestimated so many times in her career. “People have sort of written her off and thought that at times she was almost a bit of a joke, but, tonight she stands at the head of the Conservative Party, tomorrow she takes over as Prime Minister.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Government's crackdown on criminal assets is following in the footsteps of other countries. It's unveiled new laws intended to confiscate ill-gotten gains from crime, gang members and their associates. The changes will allow assets to be seized from a person associated with organised crime, if Police suspect they're criminally funded. Criminal lawyer Steve Cullen told Mike Hosking similar rules have been implemented overseas. He says these changes were implemented in other jurisdictions to try to get property off people obviously profiting from criminal activity. LISTEN ABOVE
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has put petrol retailers on notice as the government prepares to hike petrol prices by 22 cents a litre at the end of September over “misleading or anti-competitive conduct”. As motorists prepare for the reintroduction of the full fuel excise on September 29 after a six month reprieve, Dr Chalmers has warned the consumer watchdog the ACCC will “ramp up its activities”. The warning confirms — as expected — that there will be no extension of the fuel tax relief that was introduced in March as prices soared to an all-time high of 216.5 cents a litre in Sydney and 212.5 cents in Melbourne. “I’ve instructed the ACCC to step up their surveillance of fuel markets to help make sure Australian motorists get a fair deal at the bowser,’’ the Treasurer said. “Refiners, importers, wholesalers and retailers should consider themselves on notice – the ACCC is keeping a very close eye on fuel prices across the country to make sure any increases are justifiable.” The government’s 44 cent excise on fuel was halved in the last budget before the election, saving motorists 22 cents per litre of unleaded and diesel fuel. The reduction in the excise saved motorists roughly $15 when filling a 60-litre tank of unleaded fuel. At a cost of about $3 billion, cutting 22 cents in tax from every litre of petrol for six months was hailed as hip-pocket relief as voters headed to the polls. “What we were seeking to do in the Budget was put a shield up for Australians against those higher world oil prices,” former Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in March. “One of the hallmarks of our economic response in this pandemic is we’ve always designed it carefully. “You don’t just spend money forever.” But after signalling it would not be extended, Liberal leader Peter Dutton is now calling for the Labor government to do more to help Australians deal with rising costs including on fuel. “Households are facing rising power bills and your plan to address this is in disarray,” Mr Dutton said last month. “Will your government compound the pressure on household budgets by not extending the fuel excise relief? Why is Labor making a bad situation worse?” Now that relief is coming to an end, the Treasurer said the consumer watchdog would be monitoring for evidence of misleading or anti-competitive conduct by fuel retailers and wholesalers. The ACCC will also be “analysing the retail price data on a daily basis after the reinstatement of the full excise” and accessing more frequent, daily petrol and diesel retail price data in all capital cities and more than 190 regional locations. Dr Chalmers has written to fuel companies, outlining the expectations in relation to passing on increases, including warning companies about misleading Australian consumers about the rationale for any price rises. The consumer watchdog will also be charged with “stepping up communication with consumers about prices, including about the best times to buy in their location based on petrol price cycle information.” “There should be no doubt that if there is evidence of misleading or anti-competitive conduct by fuel retailers, the ACCC will take action,’’ Dr Chalmers said. In his letter, the Treasurer notes that “the ACCC will play a critical role in ensuring that market participants do not take advantage of the expiry of the fuel excise reduction to penalise consumers.” The ACCC is also scheduled to release its quarterly report on retail petrol, diesel and automotive LPG prices for the June 2022 quarter on Monday. Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese’s post-election honeymoon is continuing, with support for the Coalition plunging to record lows. In the wake of a fortnight of controversy over Scott Morrison’s secret ministerial power grab, the Coalition’s popular support continues to tumble. An exclusive Newspoll conducted for The Australian reveals the Coalition’s primary vote has slumped by another two points to just 31 per cent. The result reflects a five-point plunge since the...
NASA’s new moon rocket sprang another dangerous fuel leak Saturday, forcing launch controllers to call off their second attempt this week to send a crew capsule into lunar orbit with test dummies. The inaugural flight is now off for weeks, if not months. The previous try on Monday at launching the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket, the most powerful ever built by NASA, was also troubled by hydrogen leaks, though they were smaller. That was on top of leaks detected during countdown drills earlier in the year. After the latest setback, mission managers decided to haul the rocket off the pad and into the hangar for further repairs and system updates. Some of the work and testing may be performed at the pad before the rocket is moved. Either way, several weeks of work will be needed, according to officials. With a two-week launch blackout period looming in just a few days, the rocket is now grounded until late September or October. NASA will work around a high-priority SpaceX astronaut flight to the International Space Station scheduled for early October. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stressed that safety is the top priority, especially on a test flight like this where everyone wants to verify the rocket's systems “before we put four humans up on the top of it.” "Just remember: We’re not going to launch until it’s right," he said. NASA already has been waiting years to send the crew capsule atop the rocket around the moon. If the six-week demo succeeds, astronauts could fly around the moon in 2024 and land on it in 2025. People last walked on the moon 50 years ago. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson and her team had barely started loading nearly 1 million gallons of fuel into the Space Launch System rocket at daybreak when the large leak cropped up in the engine section at the bottom. Ground controllers tried to plug it the way they handled previous, smaller leaks: stopping and restarting the flow of super-cold liquid hydrogen in hopes of closing the gap around a seal in the supply line. They tried that twice, in fact, and also flushed helium through the line. But the leak persisted. Blackwell-Thompson finally halted the countdown after three to four hours of futile efforts. Mission manager Mike Sarafin told journalists it was too early to tell what caused the leak, but it may have been due to inadvertent over-pressurization of the hydrogen line earlier in the morning when someone sent commands to the wrong valve. “This was not a manageable leak,” Sarafin said, adding that the escaping hydrogen exceeded flammability limits by two or three times. During Monday's attempt, a series of small hydrogen leaks popped up there and elsewhere on the rocket. Technicians tightened up the fittings over the following days, but Blackwell-Thompson had cautioned that she wouldn't know whether everything was tight until Saturday's fueling. Hydrogen molecules are exceedingly small — the smallest in existence — and even the tiniest gap or crevice can provide a way out. NASA's space shuttles, now retired, were plagued by hydrogen leaks. The new moon rocket uses the same type of main engines. Even more of a problem Monday was that a sensor indicated one of the rocket's four engines was too warm, though engineers later verified it actually was cool enough. The launch team planned to ignore the faulty sensor this time around and rely on other instruments to ensure each main engine was properly chilled. But the countdown never got that far. Thousands of people who jammed the coast over the long Labor Day weekend, hoping to see the Space Launch System rocket soar, left disappointed. The $4.1 billion test flight is the first step in NASA's Artemis program of renewed lunar exploration, named after the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology. Years behind schedule and billions over budget, Artemis aims to establish a sustained human presence on the moon, with crews eventually spending weeks at a time there. It’s considered a trai...
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to discuss the All Blacks' emphatic victory over Argentina, the Warriors' last game disaster, stadium architecture, Serena Williams' retirement and a potential promotion for Liam Lawson. LISTEN ABOVE
Could it be they have finally got the message? We are not just going to Green; it isn't even a thing. Because, it appears, the whole mad Traffic Light System is going altogether. As always, it's a game of tease and wait, no comment, hints, and more no comments. When they finally sit down to work out Covid settings, whenever that is, given they officially only say a "couple of weeks”, but they have been saying that for over a week. But when they finally work it out, I have no doubt they'll announce an announcement of an announcement or date sometime that isn't the time they are making the initial announcement. If we can be free of all this by Christmas, psychologically the country will be helped immeasurably. The psychological damage done to us over the past couple of years is a crime. I still see people daily walking around with masks on outside in the fresh air. Not because it makes any difference, but because they have been bullied into certain behaviour they have never been bullied into before. We didn’t wear masks before, but we wear them now for a caseload that has plummeted and doesn’t affect us anymore. The psychology of the Government finally cutting us loose will be good for everyone. It'll also be good for the tangibles like tourism as we join the rest of the world in the new normal. The fact is the Traffic Light System was a con anyway. We were in Red and Orange at stages, but when you looked at the official guidelines as to what was needed or required for us to be in those settings, we weren't. Rules got made up on the fly and the health system was strained, or not strained, based on politics not health. It's one of the many things that has undone the Government in terms of honesty and credibility. We looked at the so-called rules, looked at the reality, and too often they didn’t match. The fact we are still in Orange today is nuts. The fact the rules aren't followed by many around masks is no surprise. The fact they are still advertising boosters is equally mad. Covid is over. Not literally, literally, it may never be over. But in terms of the power of us all moving on, it's over. And the sooner the power freaks who have set all these mad rules unlock the shackles, the better.
A call for an open mind on housing density rules as Auckland Council and the Government clash. Newstalk ZB understands the Government is concerned about the council's moves to protect character villas. Ministers think it's being overzealous in its use of character protection in the inner suburbs. Greater Auckland transport spokesperson Matt Lowrie told Mike Hosking there's not enough talk about the good more housing can do for an area. He says it allows for more business, parks, schools and public transport. LISTEN ABOVE
Seasonal sickness is seeing a drop in numbers at Tauranga's AIMS games. The week-long sporting event for 11 to 13-year-olds has been canned for the past three years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but is going ahead this week. AIMS Games Tournament Director Kelly Schischka told Mike Hosking at their peak they had around 11,500 attendees. “We’re at sort of 10,840-odd this year. Schools have been really hammered by winter illness, so we’ve had a few drop out along the way.” LISTEN ABOVE
Scientists have used artificial intelligence to map out how our predator-free dream can be realised – finding that smarter use of current tools could bring us much closer to the 2050 goal. But they've also confirmed what conservationists have long warned: these won't be enough to completely rid the country of possums, rats and stoats estimated to kill some 26 million native birds every year. The just-published study marks the first strategic assessment of how various predator-busting tools could be deployed across the country at scale over the next 10 to 15 years – but matched to different environments. Using machine-learning techniques and sophisticated modelling, the researchers broke down the country into small units, then looked at what methods used in some areas could also work in others. "The good news is that we can achieve much more with existing pest control tools," said the study's leader, Dr Zach Carter of the University of Auckland. "Our research showed large swathes of land in both the North and South Islands will be suitable for traps or toxin distributed by air." The team found that aerially-broadcast toxins already applied to about 12 per cent of New Zealand's land area – or 33,000sq km – could also be used to cover another 26,000sq km. The bad news: predator-proof "exclusion" fences were only suitable for about 500sq km – or 0.2 per cent of the mainland – and 29,000 sq km of pest-invaded land was likely unsuitable for any measures we currently had. In these typically rugged and remote places, poisoning, trapping and fencing wouldn't be enough to wipe out pest populations that had grown in the absence of intensive control.
Aerially-broadcast toxins already applied to about 12 per cent of New Zealand's land area - or 33,000sq km - could also be used to cover another 26,000sq km. Photo / John Stone "There are some spots that are extremely difficult to get to," Carter said. "For these highly remote and inaccessible locations, we are going to need some new tools – new technologies, or the novel application of existing tools." The Government's wider 2050 strategy focuses on mobilising groups and setting up collaborations around the country; developing "new and transformational tools and techniques" to eradicate the pests; and then applying these at scale across the countryside. It also sought a "breakthrough science solution" capable of removing at least one small mammal predator from the mainland – and an accompanying action plan to the strategy set out seven specific goals for 2025. A report last year found that just one of those – increasing the area in which predators were suppressed by one million hectares – had been achieved, with others still progressing. But another goal - clearing all our uninhabited offshore islands - wouldn't be achieved within the next four years, and there still wasn't a single science solution capable of changing the game. "Our research shows that there may indeed be limitations in our existing pest control toolbox," Carter said. "However, this study affirms many of the weaknesses that are currently being addressed – namely that we need tools capable of controlling pests in highly remote areas and for extended periods of time." Because we were working to overcome such hurdles, Carter saw New Zealand as making generally good progress toward the 2050 milestone. Study co-author Professor James Russell said there was already "excellent" pest control coverage across the mainland. Work by various groups, like Zero Invasive Predators in South Westland, had demonstrated it was possible to purge pests across tens of thousands of hectares, he said. "I think our large inhabited islands, like Aotea, Waiheke, Rakiura, Rekohu, are the opportunities we should immediately be pursuing for translating pest control over large areas into permanent eradication." Still, that we didn't have the tools needed to even suppress pest predators at national-scale was a "critically important finding", said...
Fears the thousands leaving ED each month are just the tip of the iceberg. New figures show more than 4000 people left hospital without being seen during the month of May due to wait times. Northcare Medical Director Peter Boot told Mike Hosking the real number's probably much higher. He says people are going to ED with primary care needs because their GPs are full. “All of these people with general practice problems — just looking after their diabetes or blood pressure — are all going into the A & Es and well as all the sick people and all of the people who’ve had accidents, and a few people with Covid.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Government will today announce steps to make it easier for police to stop gangs and criminal groups hiding their assets to avoid seizure laws – and to stop criminals using KiwiSaver to shelter cash obtained through crime. The NZ Herald understands the changes to the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act outlined today will allow police to target those with links to gang and organised crime figures who may be being used to shelter assets or cash which are the proceeds of crime. It will extend the law to cases where police believe ownership of assets, such as luxury cars or property, are put under the name of an 'associate' in an attempt to hide them and avoid the forfeiture provisions. It would require those with a link to a gang or crime figure who did not have the income to afford such assets themselves to prove how they paid for them, or risk losing them. Police would not have to prove somebody had benefitted directly from a specific crime, but would have to point to a lack of income and an association with an organised criminal group. It is also aimed at targeting the leaders of criminal groups who may not have directly committed a crime themselves but benefit from its profits of it. The changes will also allow police to seize New Zealand-based assets in cases where the person has gone overseas, by issuing an order to them overseas giving them two months to prove how they have obtained the asset in question. Potential sticking points for the law changes could be in the definitions of who is covered by the term 'associate' - such as whether it includes family members, friends and business associates – and in the threshold of proof of a link at which police can invoke the new provisions. The Government will also move on a loophole exposed by court rulings in the case of convicted fraudster Joanne Harrison which prevented police from seizing her $110,000 KiwiSaver balance to repay her fraud and allowed Harris' bid to withdraw about $23,000 early on the grounds of financial hardship. In 2021, the Court of Appeal said it required an "urgent legislative fix", and police also flagged concern that the ruling would result in criminals using KiwiSaver to shelter money because it would be exempt from being seized under criminal proceeds legislation. In 2017, Harrison was convicted of defrauding the Ministry of Transport out of more than $780,000 – she was deported to Britain after being released from prison in January 2019, after serving less than two years of a 3-year and 7-month sentence. More than $1 billion worth of real estate, luxury cars and cash has been taken from drug dealers, gangs and other criminal groups since the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was passed in late 2009. The moves to boost the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act were foreshadowed by the Government earlier this year, after the NZ Herald reported the Government was looking at the changes in January. Briefings last year revealed the Ministry of Justice expected the changes to result in a further $25 million in assets being seized each year. The briefings to then-Minister of Justice Kris Faafoi last year said changes were recommended to stop leaders of gangs and organised crime groups structuring their affairs to "insulate" themselves from involvement, or even knowledge of, profit-driven crimes committed by their members. "These leaders and other members nonetheless provide the structure within which this criminal activity takes place and will derive benefit from this structure," briefings to Justice Minister Kris Faafoi show. "For example, drug-related organised crime in New Zealand is structured into franchises and pyramid schemes, so that the leaders and senior members who receive a portion of profits are distanced from the criminal activity. "They also created distance between themselves and their illicit activities by using intermediaries, third-party relatives or friends, associated business people, apparently legitimate businesses and legal entiti...
Recognition of the changing nature of families post-pandemic. Fletcher Building's introducing a Gender-Neutral Parental Leave Policy, giving parents the option to choose whether Mum or Dad receives the 26 weeks full pay maternity leave. Diversity Works Chief Executive Maretha Smit told Mike Hosking it was going to happen anyway, but Covid may have sped it up. She says Covid showed it was necessary for the whole family to get involved with care responsibilities, not just the traditional mother caretaker role. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Marama Davidson: 3/10 "No bills, three cabinet papers, eight press releases and all that chocolate. What a bench mark..." The Cost of Living payment cock up: 3/10 "If you're going to roll out a haphazard idea, don’t do it in three parts. It's three times the pain." The Auditor General: 7/10 "That letter about the cost of living payments was grim reading, it was embarrassing and it showed an abdication of fiscal responsibility." Kids working: 7/10 "A simple, sensible and entirely workable solution to an ongoing crisis. No, it's not for all jobs, but work is good for a huge variety of reasons. It looks like a win-win to me." Hamilton buses: 3/10 "Patronage is down 40 percent. Why don’t they get that when there are no buses and there are no drivers, there is no point in trying to convince us things that aren't there are worth ditching your car for?" Meghan Markle: 1/10 "What's worse; the delusion, the bewilderment, the narcissism or the outright lies? Have you ever seen a person so puffed up, spin so hopelessly out of control?" Ram raids, gun crime and the answers: 3/10 Another week of despair and the stats don't lie. The Minister won't visit a victim and the paper work for a bollard drowns you. LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
I feel bad that Sir Ray Avery is leaving New Zealand. He is far from the only one; the stats tell you the embarrassing story which is that we currently have more people leaving than arriving. You wonder when that will actually stop, when do more people arrive and who are those people? Most of the people leaving right now are the younger ones and we can only hope that some of those will be back. Ray is leaving for the predictable reasons - he's over this place and sees more hope in Australia. I met Ray first time around when I hosted the inaugural New Zealander of the Year Awards - back in the days when I think there was only one New Zealander of the year, not several. I didn’t know a lot about him, so it was an evening of discovery. And what struck me is how many people in the room that night that loved him and loved what he had done for the country in terms of where he came from and what he had achieved. My fear for Sir Ray though is he is heading to a country that might in a very short period of time, not be the magnet so many of us think it is. There's a jobs summit this week and that’s really just a smokescreen for up ending the labour market in favour of the unions. They are going where we are, proving yet again ideology is a very dangerous state of mind. Because you don’t want to be where we are and all the Australians have to do is look and learn from us. They want industry-wide pay deals which are our Fair Pay agreements. They hate the gig economy, they call it a cancer. They want structure; they want pre-ordained hours and deals and wage rates and protections - the very antitheses of the gig economy. They more broadly have the same issues we do in terms of lack of labour and massive job gaps. Where they might - might - have an advantage is; 1) they seem more prepared to let more people in to the country and, 2) they announced last week more areas of exploration for mining and oil. When you are making as much as they are in a world desperate for energy even a Labour Government can’t turn that tap off. Not related to the jobs summit but eerily similar to us, is of course their indigenous voice idea. The only upside at this stage is it is so light on detail that whether it’s the Machiavellian reorganisation of democracy our lot are implemented is not known. But Sir Ray may arrive wherever he is heading to in Australia and wonder for a while whether he's actually left New Zealand. Either way, he is part of a trend and in this specific case they will be a better country for his presence.
So it's an unchanged starting 15 for the All Blacks this Saturday, as they look to bounce back from yet another historic loss to the pumas in Christchurch last week. Lock Sam Whitelock joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions are being raised about what the consequences will be for those who break a university ban on student staff relationships. The capital's Victoria University is the first in the country to outline a standalone policy, which sets out behaviour standards between students and the staff responsible for them. Employment law specialist Jennifer Mills told Mike Hosking the rule is legal, but still has some issues. She says if you have a consensual relationship and there's only a perceived power imbalance, there needs to be answers around what's an appropriate penalty. LISTEN ABOVE
Very proud, but some serious imposter syndrome at play for Miranda Harcourt. She's been named Supreme Winner at last night's Kea Awards in Auckland. They recognise those who have demonstrated unique power of Kiwi connection and used it to benefit Aotearoa. The actor, director and performance coach told Mike Hosking she was in awe of the other winners. Harcourt told Mike Hosking as the evening progressed, she was so overwhelmed and impressed by the global impact of all the amazing Kiwis in the room. Other winners include Katie Sadlier, the first female CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation who just oversaw the Birmingham event, and Dave Ferguson who has an algorithm being used on NASA's Mars rover. LISTEN ABOVE
A kiwi in the coal mine. That's what the Financial Times is calling New Zealand's housing market in a video that warns other countries to take heed of our market's fast rises and quick falls. Infometrics Principal Economist, Brad Olsen, says our income to housing affordability ratio is far worse than other countries. He told Mike Hosking while our housing market might provide an indication as to how interest rates cause house prices to move, we're different. Olsen says the way our taxes are structured, and the fact we invest more in property than the stock market means we need to be careful when making comparisons. LISTEN ABOVE
Organisations representing the construction sector are standing together to address the industry's health and safety crisis. They want a renewed focus, as WorkSafe reveals at least two workers have died in construction every month since the start of last year. A further one person is seriously injured every day. Construction Health and Safety Council Chief Executive Chris Alderson says told Mike Hosking they're not seeing improvements. He says compared to other developed countries, our construction industry is well-behind. LISTEN ABOVE
Fears confusion with our Covid restrictions could be turning off international tourists. The Tourism Export Council says around 20 percent of US travellers planning to visit are now looking elsewhere for their summer stay. As a result, the local tourism sector could lose millions, with Australia picking up the cancellations. Council Chief Executive Lynda Keene told Mike Hosking many cite the traffic light system, testing upon arrival, and complex traveller declaration forms as the main issues. She says visitors are booking a flexible New Zealand-Australia-Mediterranean holiday, as they're still uncertain whether we're fully open. Keene says some tourists drop New Zealand from their plans before they leave when they're told we're still in Orange. LISTEN ABOVE
Questions over whether employers would be willing to hire 13 to 15 year olds. The Australian Retailers Association is floating an idea to address ongoing staff shortages in hospitality and retail by bringing in teenagers. However, there is no minimum wage for under 16s and leaving under 14s alone being illegal. AUT human resources expert Jarrod Haar says convincing employers is possible, but it won't be easy. He says there are lots of 15 and 16 year olds who might want some work, and it might benefit employers to have extra help on standby.
It looks as though the Ukraine war is going to drag on and on. The fighting has intensified in the east of the country and the fears are growing over attacks on nuclear power plants. The Mike Hosking Breakfast has previously spoken to former Australian Major General Mick Ryan for his thoughts on the war. Ryan is back to share his analysis. LISTEN ABOVE
There have been some big movements amongst New Zealand Cricket. First Trent Boult and now Colin de Grandhomme has called time on his international career. De Grandhomme will instead move to the more lucrative Big Bash league in Australia after somewhat surprisingly being picked in their draft. Many are suggesting this may be the future of the sport, with players choosing money over their country. Former Blackcap and Otago Sparks coach Craig Cumming joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
As far as U-turns go, this is a spectacular one. On Tuesday, the Government announce GST on KiwiSaver fees, Wednesday afternoon they're gone, so less than 24 hours. They were gone before they even arrived. What it tells us, apart from the fact it's good news and we can take that money and actually save it, as opposed to giving it to the Government, is that the Labour Party has literally no idea what ordinary every day New Zealanders think. And that’s mainly because virtually none of them are remotely like the rest of us. That is the danger of a political party that is stacked with wonks who have spent so little time in the real world. In their mind I am sure they were smoothing out some tax treatment for different providers, while at the same time grabbing billions more in income they so desperately need. So you have the two branches of the party. One is the David Parker wonky part that argues around tax and revenue and treatment. The other is the Machiavellian part led by the Ardern's and Robertson's who see easy cash. What they clearly never anticipated, and this is the part that has undone them in so many ways, is the politics of it, the pub test part. The big question; what will New Zealanders thinks? Will New Zealanders see this as a tax grab? Will New Zealanders see this as yet another broken promise? Will New Zealanders put another nail in the Labour Party credibility coffin, given it shows yet again how non-transparent, how dishonest and not open they really are. Yes, yes, yes and yes a hundred times over, was the answer. You ask us to save, you already tax us a fortune. You up the tax on petrol, you change the rules around investment property and then you invent taxes on fees for our retirement. What part of that wasn’t going to get the reaction that rained down on them yesterday? How is it you can be so blind not to see that coming? In the same week old wonky Parker is still defending the cost of living payment cock up, he's tossed in a new tax for good measure. As I asked in my Herald column this time last week, name me one thing that is going right for this Government? It’s a new low. Not only can't they deliver policy, they can't even deliver an announcement.
Chris Luxon says KiwiSaver is about making sure people are set up for their retirement and we shouldn't be messing around with it. The Government has u-turned on plans to impose GST on KiwiSaver fees, less than 24 hours after the proposal emerged. He told Mike Hosking he's seen the power of having a good KiwiSaver-type operation in other countries, giving them a good backbone for investing in the likes of infrastructure. Luxon says it's exciting we're making progress with KiwiSaver and building domestic pools of capital. But he says you don't muck around with it, and you try to encourage people to do more investment in it, not less. National has done its share of tinkering with Kiwisaver in the past, and was opposed to its establishment. LISTEN ABOVE
A suggestion has come that having 13 to 15 year olds help address staff shortages is actually a good idea. The Australian Retailers Association is floating the idea to address staff shortages in retail and hospitality. New Zealand's in a similar situation, with no employment age limit here. AUT human resources expert Jarrod Haar told Mike Hosking there are lots of good things that teens can learn from it. He says teens would be taught a work ethic, alongside earning money and paying taxes. LISTEN ABOVE
A rise in the number of people not clearing their debts. The latest data from Centrix shows consumer arrears increasing 13 percent year-on-year in July, while vehicle arrears rose for the fourth consecutive month. Centrix Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking it's a trend they were expecting. He says they expected the discretionary arrears to rise first, and then go into secured lending. McLaughlin says they're now watching the home lending to see what's going to happen there. LISTEN ABOVE
Warriors boss Cameron George has fired a shot at the NRL's top table for not forcing more matches to be played on New Zealand soil next season. The Warriors will host nine home games at Mount Smart in 2023, with two games going to the regions. Some Australian clubs had expressed a willingness to take a match across the Tasman after the Warriors spent three years away from home, but none have yet followed through. George has speculated whether it would be different if the shoe was on the other foot. LISTEN ABOVE
No sympathy for big corporates opposing a Government bill limiting the number of tobacco retailers. Foodstuffs and Z Energy are lobbying against the proposal, which could see a 95 per cent reduction of around 8,000 retailers. But Cancer Society New Zealand says maintaining thousands of tobacco retailers will hinder the country's Smokefree 2025 aim. Chief Executive Lucy Elwood told Mike Hosking widespread availability has normalised the most harmful consumer product in history. She says there shouldn't be a product that kills as many as two-thirds of its long-term consumers available in stores across New Zealand. LISTEN ABOVE
Associate Finance Minister Megan Woods says the current situation in law when it comes to GST on KiwiSaver fees, is a mess. The Government is planning to impose it across the board, which will give it an extra $225 million a year. Woods told Mike Hosking some of the smaller funds are paying GST, while some of the larger funds are currently exempt. She says this is about fixing an anomaly that has allowed some of the large managed funds to get away with it. Woods says meanwhile the smaller funds, which are doing the innovative stuff and charging people less, are already paying the GST. The police minister's priorities are being questioned over his handling of ramraids. Police have secured $6 million for the Small Retailer Crime Prevention Fund -- rolling out equipment like shatterproof glass, bollards and fog cannons to small businesses. But National's Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking he's shocked meeting with victims wasn't top of the list when Chris Hipkins took over the portfolio two months ago. He says not only has he failed to visit one business hit by a ramraid since May, but he also couldn't say how many security systems have been installed as part of the package.
After years of focusing on infant nutrition and our kids development, Fonterra are expanding into brain performance for adults and cognitive health. The dairy giants have created drink and capsule products that apparently support caffeine free alertness, stress and combat blue light from extra screentime. Fonterra's Biokodelab founder Carl MacInnes told Mike Hosking “The blue light coming off our screens is degrading our brain, it’s stopping our ability to get good sleep. It’s impacting our eyes, it’s impacting our mood, and we need to compete, and we need to build our brain in order to protect ourselves.” LISTEN ABOVE
Businesses say Government efforts to prevent ramraids fall short. It comes after one of the country's top cops revealed there's been more than a thousand ramraids since 2017. Police are attempting to make a difference by supplying businesses with fog cannons, shatterproof glass and bollards while training officers to better protect them. But Dairy and Business Owners' Group chairman Sunny Kaushal says we need real consequences. He says until the Government is tough on crime, no amount of money will solve the problem. LISTEN ABOVE
Trade Me's new owner is hiking its success fees across a number of categories from tomorrow. Consumers will be hit with a three per cent increase on items such as motor parts, wholesale lots and electronics. Financial commentator Amanda Morrall says it was well signalled when Trade Me was sold there would be incremental fee increases - and it makes sense. LISTEN ABOVE
Once again, I find myself a bit confounded by a government that seems, at heart, basically dishonest. Can they argue the GST treatment on KiwiSaver fees is not a new tax, given they said there would be no new taxes? Yes they can, because GST is not a new tax. But are you paying more tax because of the Government's move on KiwiSaver fees? Yes you are. So has the tax take gone up because you are paying more tax? Yes it has. And so we dance, I guess, on the head of a pin. We all know what this is - it's just a matter of whether we can be bothered, yet again, with dealing with a bunch of reprobates who say one thing and do another. Excise tax on petrol isn't a new tax - we have been here before. Brightline taxes on lengths of time on investment properties - no they are not new taxes, just more egregious versions of the established methods of fleecing us. Maybe, come the election next year we should not ask about new taxes but ask whether whatever they say around things like tax bears any semblance of truth, or whether we should take basically everything they say with a grain of salt because they have B.S down to a fine art. That’s before we get to the fact that it will be inflationary, given the tax and cost will be passed on and therefore we pay more, and of course, save less. The saving less is the stupidest part because KiwiSaver was of course supposed to be this country's ticket out of the absurd reliance we have on the pension and its increasingly crippling effect on the tax base. I am of the mind that the Government has worked out it has lost next year and is increasingly fatalistic about its options, therefore goes for broke. They are of course actually broke which is why we have the tax move. The numbers they will haul in are astonishing. And the amount you will lose for your retirement is pretty bad as well. So the policy mix now is made up of stuff like Three Waters and co-governance, which wasn’t mentioned as part of the election campaign last time, and stuff that sort of was but we can get around it anyway Such a classy Government with so much honesty, so much transparency, so much openness. If you are one of the 50 percent who voted for this, surely you’ve worked out how bad the con was.
The journalist who broke the news of Princess Diana's death has reflected on her lasting public impact. Today marks 25 years since she was killed in that Paris car crash at the age of 36. The Press Association broke the news of her death, 17 minutes before the official announcement was made. Former executive editor Mike Parry told Mike Hosking it was the biggest story of his career and lifetime. He says she was the most popular woman in the world when alive, and now one of history's most revered figures. LISTEN ABOVE
By Rowan Quinn of RNZ More than 1300 midwives are taking the Ministry of Health to court, saying they are fed up with broken promises to pay and support them properly. The class action is being led by the College of Midwives and is expected to be filed in the High Court today. It was on behalf of Lead Maternity Carers, the self-employed midwives who work in the community, providing pregnancy, birth and post-natal care for tens of thousands of women and babies every year. The college said the midwives were not fairly paid for their work and expenses, and were not properly supported by the ministry to do their jobs. They had to meet work-related expenses on their own, like most self-employed people, but were locked into a contract and job requirements that did not give them the freedom that self-employed people had, it said. Chief executive Alison Eddy said over the past seven years, midwives had reached a number of settlements with the ministry over the problem. None had been delivered on, including the last one in 2018, that was supposed to have created a new contract and fairer pay, she said. They had been left with no choice but to sue the ministry for breach of contract. "We've just gone down so many blind alleys and hit brick walls. Without exerting our legal rights, we will just be treated badly," she said. Christchurch lead maternity carer Violet Clapham had signed up for the class action. Midwives like her were only paid for the service they provided, not for any of the other costs they incurred doing their job - including time and money spent driving to see clients, she said.
The class action is being led by the College of Midwives and is expected to be filed in the High Court today. Photo / 123RF They were not even funded for the medical supplies they had to buy, such as scales for weighing babies and sterile gloves, she said. They did not get annual leave or sick pay, yet they were still contracted to provide a high amount of care - including being on call around the clock - and that gave them very little flexibility in their work. Midwives had shown a lot of patience waiting for the problem to be sorted, but some had moved on, she said. "That is the part that makes me the most sad because we're seeing very good midwives leaving the profession," she said. "They're left with no choice but to accept the conditions as they are, or leave the workforce." Eddy said pay was not the only problem. The midwives had no formal support structure the way that general practitioners, for example, did with Primary Health Organisations. That meant there was no one to help provide back-up or after-hours care if a midwife or their colleague was not available. Eddy said the college liked the model of care in place in New Zealand - where every person giving birth had access to free care for their entire pregnancy - but midwives needed to be supported properly to provide it. When the college met Health Minister Andrew Little and Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall this month, they seemed genuinely shocked at the midwives' conditions, she said. But after so many broken promises, midwives could not afford to wait any longer for action, she said. Te Whatu Ora, the new national health body, declined to comment, as it said the matter was before the court. It said the government had invested significantly in midwifery in recent years. - RNZ
The Government's plan to impose GST on KiwiSaver fees is being labelled by some as a tax grab. The move, which would kick in from April 2026, will give the Government an extra $225 million a year. Modelling suggests it will raise fees and mean $103 billion fewer saved in accounts by 2070. KiwiSaver provider Koura Wealth Managing Director Rupert Carlyon told Mike Hosking there's no need to do this. He says there's no real reason to do this, but for some reason they've decided this is any easy way to make another couple of hundred million dollars a year. LISTEN ABOVE
It’s time to catch up with one of Britain’s biggest comedic exports. Rob Brydon has been an institution of British television and radio for years - appearing in Gavin and Stacey, Would I Lie to You, and The Trip. He's become a household name with his dry humour, wit and celebrity impersonations. And he's coming back to our shores - with his latest tour a Night of Songs and Laughter coming in March next year. Rob Brydon joined Mike Hosking LISTEN ABOVE
Shipment delays to Oceania are on the rise and hitting New Zealand hard according to an international logistics company. Project44 data comparing pre-Covid 2019 to the third quarter of 2022, shows shipment delays from china to new Zealand jumped a whopping 6764 percent. Representative of the NZ Council of Cargo Owners Simon Beale tells Mike Hosking that lockdowns in China have contributed to the rise in shipping delays. “We’ve had major issues here again with the lockdowns in Shanghai, where we had the first lot of products in and out of other ports- while they have lockdowns, there are a lot of containers that aren’t available to be used in other regions as well, your capacity gets restricted .” LISTEN ABOVE
A Kiwi company has struck a deal with researchers in Singapore to create alternative meat from fermented bio-waste. Off-Piste Provisions is also raising $15 million with which to build an export-grade fermentation plant once the R&D side of the process is ironed out. Company founder is who joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Transport NZ says soaring diesel prices are putting transport operators out of business. Average diesel prices have hit over $2.50, compared with the average price of 91 at $2.60 without taking into account road user charges. Transport NZ chief executive Nick Leggett told Mike Hosking diesel has become a significant business cost for some. “We have seen the price of diesel as a proportion of total business costs from about 25 percent a year ago, to over two thirds now for some operators.” LISTEN ABOVE
The Health Minister is standing firm on Health New Zealand's lack of public meetings. The organisation does not allow the public or journalists to attend its monthly board meetings or view meeting agendas - unlike the 20 district health boards it replaced. National has condemned what it calls the reduction in transparency. But Andrew Little told Mike Hosking any loss of transparency is negligible as DHBs used to exclude the public from much of their meetings anyway. LISTEN ABOVE
The Revenue Minister is accepting criticism of the cost of living payment. The Auditor-General says it should have been rolled out more carefully. New screening measures are being launched ahead of the second $116 payment on Thursday. Minister David Parker says 31,000 people won't get the second payment until they confirm they're in New Zealand. He told Mike Hosking the Auditor-General's criticism of some screening measures not being in place for the first payment is fair. “In defence of Inland Revenue they would say they were busy setting up the system writing the software to get the payment out to 1.4 million people and, they didn’t think the extra tests were necessary at that point.” LISTEN ABOVE
The statistic that should send a chill through every one of us was the one you might have seen over the weekend from a construction company. They hired 52 people, but lost 54 to poaching. It's that fundamentally destructive aspect of the economy that has seen us almost certainly in a recession in the first half of this year, and quite possibly another one in the latter part of this year and into next. The economy is broken, it can't function without enough people and we don’t have enough people. You can't hire 52 and lose 54 without serious consequences for what you do. The 54 will have got pay rises not because they're doing anything different or producing anything more but merely because the people who hired them were desperate. Meantime, Christopher Luxon was in the Bay of Plenty looking at one of the country's biggest kiwifruit operations. This is an industry that is one of the great success stories of this nation and yet is in the middle of a crisis over quality, at least in part, because of a labour shortage. Quality for a country like this is everything, we don’t do quantity we do quality. It's suggested the fruit was picked wet and rough. Why? Because of the labour shortage. The answer? It's more workers Where from? The Pacific. It's not hard; Luxon promised an expansion of the RSE scheme immediately. But he shouldn’t have to make such a promise because it should be already in place, and it should already be in place because it’s obvious. The Government will tell you they have already expanded the RSE scheme but here is the simple truth - if you still have a problem, it doesn’t matter what you have done because you haven't solved the problem. The policies of this Government around labour and immigration are literally destroying the economy and the country. We have aged care facilities closing because they can't get nurses, we have one of our major exporters with a reputational crisis because they can’t get labour and we have construction workers going round in circles from site to site because they can't get new workers. Put simply, it is the economics of idiots.
Accountability is one of the most important attributes of leadership. If you have a mandate to make decisions, then they must be defended and the decision maker must be held to account. This Government doesn’t want to be held to account. The Aged Care Association wrote to the Health Minister. Their warning was that the industry was on the verge of collapse. The job gaps are so great it’s now dangerous. We have seen a facility in the Upper Hutt with a state of the art dementia unit that simply closed in recent weeks. Andrew Little ignores it all. 30,000 people are currently on the waiting list for surgery. That's not the base waiting list, that’s the waiting list of people who missed the four month target. Andrew Little ignores it all. With regards to aged care a bloke called Chris Fletcher, who's a former DHB head, wrote to Little about the crisis. Little who tends to get angry when confronted said last week when it was suggested to him he had ignored the letter, he said "a letter from an advocate is not evidence of anything, its evidence of a letter being sent". That will help things a lot won't it. If Andrew stopped being angry long enough to offer some sort of defence I assume he would spruik his new centralised health behemoth, which appears to this point to have achieved less than nothing but cost a fortune to get to that point. The one announcement they have made is to get everyone on a waiting list, onto another list to get a date for your procedure. Doesn’t mean you'll get the procedure, just a date. And that’s Little and that’s this Government isn't it, paper shuffling and announcements. The fact you have a date is an answer, even if it means you might die waiting for the date to arrive. Meanwhile an entire aged care industry is collapsing in front of our eyes with the main problem being labour, as in workers and no sign of them. Just another of those famous brush-off-the-problem one liners - but don't worry, the border is open. All of this is a direct outworking of the Covid response, the lockdowns and the hermit kingdom and this is the health part of the price we are paying. Ah yes, the Covid response. Another thing they won't be held to account on.
Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to wrap an action-packed weekend of sport. LISTEN ABOVE
New Zealanders may have to cut back on the Friday night fish and chips. The country's favourite takeaway has been unable to escape the grip of inflation, as businesses face rising costs. Bluff fish and chip shop Galley Takeaways has been hit and the business has been forced to put prices up. Owner Diane Williamson says a Blue cod fillet is going for $12.50 this week, plus the scoop on top. She told Mike Hosking everything is causing costs to blow out. Williamson says unfortunately fish in the southern region has gone up 10 per cent from mid-April, and while she's reluctant, she's having to pass it onto the customer. LISTEN ABOVE
A weekend to savour at Spa for Liam Lawson. The Kiwi driver has finished third in the Formula 2 feature race at the Belgian Grand Prix. It comes after winning the sprint race and enjoying a practice session behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car with Alpha Tauri. Liam Lawson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Auckland authorities are yet to complete any investigations into vape retailers selling to underage people since the vaping regulatory authority was set up in late 2020. Nationwide, just 11 infringement notices have been issued, each carrying a fine of $500. Asthma Foundation chief executive Letitia Harding joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
There is a push to end an unfair pay gap within the nursing industry. Rallies will be held nationwide today; as primary healthcare nurses demand Te Whatu Ora pay them the same as their hospital counterparts. Currently primary health care nurses are paid up to 15 percent less, but in some cases the gap is wider. Nurses Organisation Co-President Kerri Nuku told Mike Hosking the unfair way this is happening is beyond them. She says primary healthcare nurses are out in the community, and is questioning why the Government isn't paying equity for all nurses regardless of where they work. LISTEN ABOVE
Former All Blacks halfback Justin Marshall believes the current players need to take just as much responsibility as coach Ian Foster as the side sinks to a historic low. Saturday's 25-18 loss to Argentina in Christchurch was the All Blacks third straight defeat at home. They've now lost six of their last eight tests. Marshall told Mike Hosking there's only so much Foster can control. “The players actually have to respond and go out there and adapt and play like All Blacks as well.” LISTEN ABOVE
National continues to slam our justice process for youth-offenders. The party is calling for tougher penalties for young people who commit robberies and ram raids. It says while there's been a halving of prosecutions of young people since 2017 – ram raids have increased 518 percent under Labour's watch. Party Leader Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking there's a range of escalating tools in the justice system that aren't being used. He says there are too many family conferences and not enough use of community service or home detention. Luxon also believes youth justice residences need to be used more for repeat offenders. LISTEN ABOVE
At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Waka Kotahi: 7/10 "For shutting down, hopefully once and for all, the talk of a cycle lane on the harbour bridge." Spending: 4/10 "Down in the June quarter, another nail for those who argue there was no recession." Baristas: 7/10 "$30 an hour is all that’s good, and all that’s bad, about the mess we are currently in." Brian Tamaki: 6/10 "Say what you want about the bloke but he's active and he's launched a party. He wants to get amongst it. Participants are welcome in this age of complacency." The All Blacks: 8/10 "Because we've had a week with no bitching, no back stabbing, just the anticipation of a game. I'll take that any day of the week." Trevor Mallard: 4/10 "Does 35 years count - yes. But in totality, by the time you take the thuggery, the bullying and the defamation that wipes pretty much all of it out. Character beats time served for me." Those who defend Mallard: 3/10 "That goes to their character..." Sanna Marin: 4/10 "She worked it out eventually, hence the second apology in a week." LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW
One team's top of the Rugby Championship table, the other is the All Blacks. Argentina have one of their best opportunities to secure a maiden win in New Zealand when test matches resume at Christchurch tomorrow night for the first time in six years. All Blacks coach Ian Foster says there is respect for the visitors, especially after their win over the Wallabies. LISTEN ABOVE
It's potentially been a good week for democracy. The Brian Tamaki march -come-party launch gave us one more option to vote for next year. I personally don’t think it will go anywhere. On day one, one of the parties that allegedly signed up said they didn’t sign up, so if that’s the opening shot they have trouble. But in an MMP environment choice is always good, even if the choice won’t appeal to many. Then came Winston, as in Peters. He gave a speech last weekend about democracy. It got no coverage so I got it off his website. It’s a mixture of history and pithy one liners; co-governance he calls bro-governance. He talks of cultural entitleists and treaty entitleists. He outlines Three Waters and its many pitfalls, he lambastes, and justifiably so, Willie Jackson and his reinterpretation of democracy. Essentially, he warns that what is happening in this country right now is dangerous and we need to wake up. That message sounds to me like he will be back next year chasing, as he has done so many times before, a place in the Parliament. After all, if you are retired why are you wandering around provincial New Zealand making political speeches? So if I am right then he is choice number two. The difference with this choice is, unlike other elections I actually give them a decent chance at getting 5 percent. And before you go, "no way, I'd never vote for him again, he gave us Labour", all that is true. I won’t be voting for him because I've been alert to his modus operandi for years. He picks a bandwagon and milks it. The Asian population, that went well for him. Now its co-governance, but that too will work well for him. 5 percent support is one in 20. It's not that hard. It may be a crowded field too. ACT will certainly be looking for the same territory, and if National are smart, so will they. But of all the things that gets voters exercised beyond the economy, co-governance and the Government's obsession with Māori-fying everything will be next years; 1) issue of the year and, 2) ultimately the Government's undoing. This is a country where most of us have to vote for representation but if you are Māori you bypass that and you get your people appointed. That is not democracy and whether its councils or Three Waters or health authorities - it is racist, it’s unethical and it’s unfair. For what it's worth, in the interests of being better informed, look up Peters’ speech. It's pretty good - in that old Winston Peters "I am back and I am angry" kind of fashion. The point being is he's onto something and as a result will be part of a growing field looking for you to tick his box next year.
Economic signs are pointing towards a greater chance of a recession. Stats NZ data shows sales slumped 2.3 percent over the last quarter, for a second consecutive quarterly drop. ASB Senior Economist Mark Smith says declining sales combined with interest rate increases and low population growth are all contributing. He told Mike Hosking labour market conditions aren't helping lower the risk. Smith says staff shortages are preventing the economy from growing. LISTEN ABOVE
Air New Zealand is hoping for a better year ahead. The airline made a net loss of $591 million in the year to June, up from a loss of $292 million in the previous financial year. But revenue has increased by nine percent, to $2.7 billion. Chief Executive Greg Foran told Mike Hosking they're off to a good start, with much depending on what happens with the cost of fuel. LISTEN ABOVE
Concerns have been raised about a lack of certainty over the delivery of infrastructure projects. Waka Kotahi is warning the Government's $8.7 billion NZ Upgrade transport package is flashing red, with monthly reports showing more delays and increasing costs. Construction Industry Council Executive Director Graham Burke says it's likely due to the cost pressures we're all facing. But he told Mike Hosking processes need to be more efficient. Burke says we need to look after the environment while also managing the processes efficiently and cutting some of the red tape. LISTEN ABOVE
Chris Hipkins admits he's very concerned about the latest spike in crime. The Police Minister has revealed there's been 129 ramraids since May, with 84 taking place in Auckland. So far, 38 of the offenders have been identified or arrested and the median age of those caught is just 15-years-old. Hipkins told Mike Hosking it's a serious problem, which Police are taking seriously. LISTEN ABOVE
Ainslie Allen is another taking advantage of the country music renaissance in this country. She, like so many, first started getting attention from the Smokefree Rockquest and appearing in the McDonald’s young entertainers show when she was 16. Allen released her debut EP in 2013 - and has gone on to win NZ Country Music Entertainer of the year and was a seven-time finalist for the Gold Guitar awards. Now - she has released her debut album, Betty and is about to go on a nationwide tour. Ainslie Allen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Communism has finally arrived and it's lobbed into Countdown. Or New World or Pak'nSave. Anyway, your can of beans will now be priced by David Clark. I am assuming suppliers will be happy. Under the Government's threat yesterday, and that’s all you can call it, supermarkets have to cut a deal with anyone and everyone at commercial rates. What's a commercial rate? Well, once upon a time in a free and open country that was an arrangement between a person selling something to a person buying something. Under the Labour regime, if they don’t like that arrangement they will step in and tell you what the commercial rate is. The irony of this is the Commerce Commission, who was told to step into the supermarket market and have a snoop about, didn’t recommend this step. Why not? Because they are not communists and saw in their usual way that the market wasn’t perfect but it certainly didn’t need a regulatory sledge hammer. So the obvious question is - if you were going to regulate or threaten to regulate why ask the Commerce Commission to waste everyone's time? Unless, of course in the usual Machiavellian way in which this Government operates, they were hoping the Commerce Commission would make the recommendation so they could then blame them for the move they wanted to make all along. But, and here is the next irony, will that mean we end up with way cheaper groceries? No. And that's because a wholesale arrangement isn't a retail price. If the wholesale arrangement, whether completed by mutual agreement or David Clark sticking his nose in, encourages new players to the market, it doesn’t mean the new player automatically prices their goods a mile below everyone else. If Countdown prices beans at $3.49 and you want to beat that you might price them at $3.39. You might be able to price them at $2.79 but why would you when you don’t have to? There is already competition in food and lots of it. The idea this is all a massive rort on the supermarkets part is the commentary of the Government, not the reality of the market. If you think a Government that can't build houses, build light rail, deliver health services or be open, honest and transparent can sort your grocery bill - and this is the same bloke who cocked up the CCCFA and is now sorting your flour and biscuits - then you need to wake up. You're being had.
A big day for rally fans in New Zealand, with the official opening of the Jack’s Ridge Haunui stage in Whitford, Auckland. It's a significant milestone to have even got this far, as the WRC returns to the country for the first time in 10 years this September. Peter Johnston is the chair of Rally NZ and joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
New fears that the Government's cost cutting on recruiting staff for public sector could lead to an already hopeless and unstaffed workforce. The Government is requiring a further 3,423 staff to fulfil their budget commitments, but now want to charge recruiters the same price for filling a low-skilled position as a high-skilled position. Jon Ives is the CEO at OneStaff and Chairperson of the RCSA NZ Council and joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Putting kids in state care appears to be, in many cases, setting them on a pathway to crime. A Royal Commission of Inquiry report has found a third of children in institutions between 1950 and 1999 served a prison sentence later on in life. Māori children and young people were even more likely to end up in prison, at 42 percent. Criminal justice advocate Sir Kim Workman told Mike Hosking if the State wants to change things, it has to start a lot earlier. He says they need to identify families and bring in support for them, to ensure their kids don't end up in the system. LISTEN ABOVE
Stacks of cash will be required to create competition against the supermarket duopoly. The Government is requiring Countdown and Foodstuffs to provide competitors with fair access to their products on wholesale terms. Supie online supermarket founder, Sarah Balle, says meaningful competition will only happen when other supermarket players get bigger. She told Mike Hosking for this to occur, consumers need to change where they shop, and competitors need huge capital. Balle says there's yet to be someone with deep enough pockets to take on the billion-dollar supermarkets. LISTEN ABOVE
The Kiwi soldier killed in Ukraine has been described by a fellow soldier as "strong, hardcore and handsome" - but "anything but scenery". The Herald understands the fallen soldier is Dominic Abelen, who was based at Burnham Military Camp in Christchurch with the Royal NZ Infantry Regiment's 2/1 Battalion. Abelen, who was on a period of leave without pay at the time, was not on active duty with the NZDF."At this early stage, there is still more information to be gathered in order to understand the circumstances fully," the New Zealand Defence Force said in a statement. "The New Zealand Army will work closely with the family of the soldier to offer support at this deeply sad time." One former NZDF soldier fighting with Ukraine's International Legion has paid tribute to the fallen comrade. "The bro was anything but scenery. Strong, hardcore, handsome but extremely humble," he wrote online. Best believe he died doing what he loved and was extremely good at. "We will miss you brother. So much. You have left a hole that we are feeling and we could never hope to ever fill." The soldier's family, when approached by the Herald last night, declined to comment.
Private Dominic Abelen kneels behind a barricade while engaging targets at Range 218, Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton CA United States 2013 during Dawn Blitz. Photo / Cpl. Joseph Scanlan Defence Minister Peeni Henare expressed his condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the Kiwi soldier. "I have been advised the New Zealand Army are supporting the soldier's family through this difficult time," he said. The Herald understands relevant ministers have been briefed but details were scant. Former New Zealand Defence force commanding officer Tenby Powell, who is in Ukraine undertaking humanitarian work, said he had been asked by the family of the dead soldier to bring him back to New Zealand. While he was not willing to go into details about the circumstances of the soldier's death he told Today FM the family were distraught. "It's a very sad day here in Ukraine, not just for New Zealanders but for everyone." He said he had been asked to bring him home and he felt honoured to do that, breaking down in tears midway through his sentence. "I've talked to a family member they have asked me and I have agreed to go and get him. We need to do this in a very respectful and expedient manner. I have given the family my assurances that he will be well looked after all the way back. "The critically-important thing is to ensure that he is recovered and brought back in a way where he is looked after for the entire trip back to New Zealand." He intended to drape the coffin in a New Zealand flag for the trip home and make sure the soldier had all the care a person serving in the defence force warranted. The soldier would be taken initially through Warsaw, then Ukraine and back to New Zealand. "We are determined to bring him out. He will come out and he will be looked after all the way." Tough month August is always a tough month for many serving and former members of the Defence Force. The "Battle of Baghak", a Taliban ambush near Dahane Baghak in the Shikari Valley of Bamyan Province on August 4, 2012, was New Zealand's bloodiest battle since Vietnam. Lance Corporals Rory Patrick Malone and Pralli Durrer, both aged 26, were killed in the fierce shoot-out north of their Kiwi base, while six comrades were wounded. Two weeks later, on August 19, 2012, Crib 20 deployment comrades Corporal Luke Tamatea, 31, Lance Corporal Jacinda Baker, 26, and Private Richard Harris, 21, died when their Humvee hit a 20kg roadside improvised explosive device. Lieutenant Tim O'Donnell was first of 10 Kiwis killed in Afghanistan, when on August 3, 2010, while serving as part of New Zealand's provincial reconstruction team in Bamiyan province in Afghanistan, he was killed in an attack. SAS soldier corporal Douglas "Duggy" Grant died in a firefight with Taliban insurgents as he tried to rescue civilian...
Doubts are being raised over whether Trevor Mallard's past behaviour warrants a diplomatic posting. National's Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking he's unsure Mallard's record makes him a good representative of the country. He says there are a lot of people working for MFAT who would make extraordinary ambassadors for New Zealand that have never hit someone or falsely accused an employee of rape. But Labour's Megan Woods says three of the last five Speakers have gone on to diplomatic positions. And she told Hosking Mallard's proven himself to have the credentials. Woods says no one's ever raised any concerns about him having the skillset to host delegations and he's been a Member of Parliament for 35 years, holding 13 ministerial portfolios. LISTEN ABOVE
Further insights into the property market from economist Tony Alexander. His mortgage adviser survey showed first home buyers are coming back into the market. In fact, a net 8 percent of advisers surveyed are seeing an uptick in interest from first home buyers. In another report with Crockers on investors found those looking to increase rents is still dropping, interests in new builds continue to fall away, and concerns over interest rates are abating. Tony Alexander joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Actions, as it turns out, do speak louder than words. Last week's poll around our view of Covid is backed up by; 1) another poll and 2) more importantly, real life. Last week's poll had 65 percent of us wanting all restrictions gone. That's a fairly large majority. This week's poll has fewer and fewer of us adhering to the so called rules. Those willing to use a mask - down 11 points. Those willing to isolate - down 12. RAT use down three and reporting a rat result is down 27 percent. People see this for what it is and are acting accordingly, but in the real world it's even starker. I went to the mall and I hardly ever go to the mall. No one, and I mean no one, in the mall was wearing a mask and I felt reassured about that. Polls and stats are one thing but the real world is another. In the shop itself inside the mall, the ratio went up. Now this is a bit of grandmother research but roughly it went up by about a third of people wearing a mask. But you can easily say the majority weren't wearing one and this was a major department store. All the staff had them on but very few of the customers which made me even more reassured. Having started what was clearly a research project into mask wearing, I monitored use on the way home. It seems we are in camps. Because once outside, hardly anyone was wearing a mask, but those who left the shop and left the mall kept their masks on - i.e. they wore them all the time. And in wandering down the street you see them; a combination of the full mask wearer and the half mask wearer. You know, the one that still has it on despite the fact it has slipped down and doesn’t work. Now, I am not anti-mask, if you want to wear a mask wear one. But I am a realist and Covid is no longer a ‘thing’. It’s a virus we might catch like a cold or the flu. We have at last, thank God, got to that point. It is clear the rules are no longer being followed; the surveys show it and the real world shows it even more. The Government of course should have read all of this. We have left them behind and I assume at sometime between now and Christmas they’ll read their own survey and work this out.
Farming technology company 26 Seasons will seek $5.5 million in a Series A funding round next week aimed at advancing its plans for its vertical farming operation at Foxton and to explore opportunities in Southeast Asia. The company, co-founded by current Delegat Group chief executive and former Landcorp chief executive Steve Carden, aims to grow and sell premium strawberries on a commercial scale in the off-season. It has just released its first crop of locally grown and spray-free strawberries in one of the wettest winters on record, one that has seen many outdoor crops fail. 26 Seasons CEO Grant Leach joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
NZ Cricket is threatening to bowl New Plymouth's Pukekura Park out after 130 years. The national cricket governing body says the pitch is no longer up to scratch and has given the council a year to spruce it up. Pukekura Park has been restricted to domestic competitions, due to its small boundaries and lack of international class facilities. Taranaki Cricket General Manager Ryan Evans told Mike Hosking this has all come in response to proposed redevelopments. He says they've worked closely with the council on the redevelopments, and there's a bit of a process they'll have to go through. LISTEN ABOVE
Adjusting residential homes to climate change will probably take some time to implement. CoreLogic analysis has revealed that river flooding in homes is already costing around $100 million a year. Otago, Auckland, Wellington, Hawke's Bay, Manawatu-Wanganui and Marlborough have been identified as the regions most at risk. Head of Research Nick Goodall told Mike Hosking the National Adaptation Plan will feed into how we respond. He says people need to start taking responsibility instead of relying on government and insurance companies to bail them out. LISTEN ABOVE
Gaurav Sharma may fade into oblivion. He's now an independent in Parliament, after being expelled from the Labour caucus yesterday for his allegations over the past two weeks. The Hamilton West MP accused his colleagues of being bullies and the Prime Minster of a cover up, which Jacinda Ardern and other MPs have rejected. Political Editor Barry Soper told Mike Hosking Sharma will need some pretty good material to make any impact from now on. He says independents sit in the farthest reaches of the House and find it hard to get speaking time, let alone ask questions. LISTEN ABOVE
Act leader David Seymour has issued a scathing statement about Trevor Mallard's announcement as the next diplomat in Ireland, saying it was "an outrage". Mallard announced that he will resign as Speaker Tuesday, and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced Mallard would become New Zealand's ambassador to Ireland. Mallard is expected to hand over the Speaker reins to Adrian Rurawhe, and leave Parliament in October ahead of taking up the post in January next year. However, the timing of the widely-anticipated announcement and diplomatic posting after a controversial reign as Speaker infuriated the Opposition parties. Seymour said it was an "an insult to our friends in Ireland". "To send someone with such a lengthy political rap sheet and zero diplomatic ability is an insult to our friends in Ireland." He pointed to the troubles Mallard faced after wrongly accusing a parliamentary staffer of rape, and Mallard's attempts to drive out the protesters at Parliament with bad music on repeat in February. "He took the Office of the Speaker only to have the worst approval rating of any politician in modern history. Now he's being rewarded for his bad behaviour." Seymour said the timing of the announcement just before the 6pm news on a day in which there were other major stories at Parliament was "cynical". "The Prime Minister and her colleagues should have shown leadership and integrity and not given in to Mallard's petty demands for an overseas posting. "The only theory we can come up with is that Jacinda Ardern wanted to get rid of him and at least the Irish have a sense of humour." The election of a new Speaker will also mean Question Time and the General Debate tomorrow are scrapped. Earlier, the National Party tried to get an additional Question Time and an additional debate scheduled for this week to replace it, but was unsuccessful. That motion could have been big news for newly independent MP Gaurav Sharma who could be given time to speak in the House under privilege, allowing him to attack his former Labour colleagues without fear of defamation. Sharma was expelled from Labour's caucus this morning. When Parliament meets tomorrow, the Government will put forward Deputy Speaker Adrian Rurawhe for the role of Speaker. Under Standing Orders, the rules that govern Parliament, the House will then adjourn for the day. This would mean Question Time on Wednesday and General Debate will be cancelled. National is keen to ensure that does not happen, because it would mean the Prime Minister only being present for one session of Question Time this week - leaders typically skip Thursday sittings in favour of their deputies. Cancelling General Debate would also be significant, given it is an opportunity for MPs to make more free-flowing speeches about any topics they choose. Slots in general debate are allocated to political parties based on their representation in the House, but parties are allowed to give their slots away if they choose. It is understood National had at least considered giving a slot to Sharma, a newly-independent MP. The party had previously given former Labour MP Louisa Wall one of its speaking slots on a debate on suicide after Labour denied Wall the opportunity to speak. MPs speaking in the debating chamber are protected by parliamentary privilege. This means MPs can make defamatory statements without being held liable for what they say. As Parliament finished Question Time on Tuesday, National's shadow leader of the house Chris Bishop sought leave "in light of other events … for the House to hold a General Debate after the dinner break" on Tuesday night, which would follow the format of the usual Wednesday debate. There was objection to this motion, meaning it was not successful. Bishop then sought leave for the House to hold a second Question Time on Thursday, again "in light of other events this week". This Question Time would have replaced Wednesday's lost Question Time. This was also voted down. - T...
Sanna Marin's main defence appears to be she is 36-years-old. Sanna Marin is the Prime Minister of Finland, the partier, the nightclub-er. A country whose Prime Minister is famous for not being Prime Minister of her country, and in that is part of the problem. The other part of the problem is she doesn’t appear to understand the problem. Age has nothing to do with what she does and doesn’t do. 36-year-olds might go out night clubbing a lot, or dance in front of phones at three in the morning a lot. But they aren't Prime Ministers. If you trawl through social media you will find very few Prime Ministers, or leaders of countries, out clubbing. She had form of course. She was the one who knew she was a Covid contact but still went out to party and left her phone behind. The world wants a say on this, it’s one of those stories that fires the imagination. Among many other reactions are a large series of 30-something women videoing themselves dancing and defending their right to have a good time. Once again, completely missing the point. Her other initial defence was she didn’t have any meetings on that weekend. Good God. If that's your measure of leadership, how many meetings you have, they have got trouble. By way of background, she only arrived in the job after the last Government fell apart after five months. Finland is led by a large-ish coalition and her party is the most popular. But no party, including her own, gets more than 20 percent of the vote. So she hardly has large volumes of political capital to burn. The point is simple - a country's leader is a leader 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You want to have fun? Don’t be leader. You like parties and want to be 36-years-old? Don't run for the job. All jobs have requirements and restrictions and sacrifices and the higher up the pole you go the harder it gets. She leads a country that has a 1300 kilometre border with Russia. Russia is a problem right now. So much so, she wants her country to join NATO. Europe is a mess, a lot of stuff is on the bubble, and crisis can strike at any time. She needs to be sober, available and have her phone on her. That’s what leaders do. What you don’t want is a leader pre-occupied with drug tests and character issues when there are more pressing issues to deal with. Often, and it’s the case in this circumstance, the worst bit is not the so called crime. It's the fact that having committed it you seem to not understand what it is you’ve done wrong.
The head of one of our biggest KiwiSaver providers fears Kiwibank will effectively become a zombie bank. The Government has spent $2.1 billion to buy the bank's parent company from independent crown entities ACC, NZ Post and NZ Superfund, meaning it now fully owns it. Simplicity CEO Sam Stubbs joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Time to catch up with another Kiwi artist making his mark in the music world. We first met Mitch James back in 2016 after his remarkable story of being homeless and penniless turned around with a signing with Sony Music. Mitch went on to have a breakout year in 2018 - with his singles Bright Blue Skies and 21 - plus his debut album surging up the charts. Now he's back with new music - his single Motions is out now and his second album Patience is coming in November. Mitch James joined Mike Hosking in studio. WATCH ABOVE
A first of its kind regenerative farming project hopes to reinvent the way we grow vegetables. Lead by LeaderBrand, with backing from Countdown and Plant and Food Research, the project will trial sustainable methods alongside a control site to evaluate what’s successful. It’ll then share those results with other growers. LeaderBrand General Manager of Farming Gordon McPhail joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
A revolutionary cancer drug developed in Auckland is set to begin clinical trials. Tarloxotinib is designed to help patients with head and neck cancers for which New Zealand ranks as one of the highest in the world for cases. Auckland City Hospital radiation oncologist Dr. Andrew Macann joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE
Gaurav Sharma is still making up his mind as to whether he'll attend the meeting which will decide his fate. The Labour MP has already been suspended from caucus for the way in which he went public with bullying allegations. The party is now considering a motion to expel Sharma and he's entitled to be there, where he could try and argue his case. Gaurav Sharma told Mike Hosking he doesn't have much faith in the process. He says he has been provided with a Zoom link, so he's deciding whether to attend in person or through the computer. LISTEN ABOVE
Wellington businesses have packed a punch in a pre-election report that calls for amalgamation and the capital's own version of Auckland Transport, while also questioning the role of the city's economic development agency. The Herald can exclusively reveal the details of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce's pre-election report ahead of this year's local body elections. Businesses painted a grim picture of the current state of affairs and said the city's leadership has been inward-looking and complacent for too long. "Wellington businesses feel overshadowed by Central Government and that the city is now synonymous with bureaucracy and politics, rather than business and innovation, forgetting the very essence of the heart of the city." The issue of amalgamation has recently started bubbling away in Wellington after the idea was axed in 2015. The report recommended Wellington, Porirua, and Hutt Councils should transition to become one over time, which it said was a conversation already happening "behind the scenes". Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Arcus told the Herald the Auckland Council experiment was now seen as largely successful. He said businesses considered amalgamation as a solution to some of the more wicked problems like transport, housing, and sustainability. "The boundaries of Wellington City alone seem very artificial to try and solve those problems. You've got to have a bigger, regional solution to some of the big issues that the city is facing." For that reason, the report also said the regional and city councils should relinquish their transport responsibilities to create a new entity like Auckland Transport.
Wellington Chamber of Commerce chief executive Simon Arcus. Photo / Supplied It recommended this entity should focus on reliability so people know they will get to work on time if they catch the bus. "Let's Get Wellington Moving, a source of enduring concern for business, is only one part of a tangled dysfunctional strategy that will benefit from the accountability of a single body," the report said. Accountability was a key theme throughout the report. Businesses said they often didn't know what their rates were spent on and how they directly benefited. They called for quarterly reporting from the council on this issue, as well as an annual independent "State of Business" report, and a dedicated go-between role funded directly out of commercial rates. Arcus said there was a lack of trust between the council and business. "We definitely don't want to dwell on the past which has been complicated by the make-up of council, we really want to try to work constructively to re-engage." The report took a swipe at Wellington NZ, the regional economic development agency, and said the council should clarify the organisation's "complex and cumbersome" mandate. It said the council should introduce KPIs based on economic growth and business success for WellingtonNZ. The report had three recommendations for the council's first 100 days. It said key infrastructure investment should be prioritised and restraint shown towards new projects until existing challenges were dealt with. The council should also work with businesses in this initial period to create a precinctplan for the city linking the stadium, Lambton Quay, waterfront, and Courtenay Place, it said. Finally, the report said a plan should be drawn up to prioritise and incentivise rapid CBD densification. Other recommendations included urgently addressing homelessness and antisocial behaviour, providing incentives to develop derelict sites, and positioning Wellington asthe national home of Māori and Pasifika business success and cultural celebration. Arcus said central Wellington needed to be safe, densified, and attractive for the capital to be a "magnet for talent" and seen as a destination. - Georgina Campbell, NZ Herald
Authorities are hopeful today's planned demonstration outside Parliament won't be a repeat of last time. Protestors are meeting in Wellington today for a self-styled "people's court" six months after their 23-day occupation came to a fiery end in February. Wellington District Commander Superintendent Corrie Parnell told Mike Hosking they've talked with both the Freedom and Rights Coalition and the counter-protest group. He says they intend to go about their business peacefully and lawfully, and both groups say they don't want friction between each other. LISTEN ABOVE
When Chris Hipkins says Gaurav Sharma's expulsion isn't pre-determined do you: 1) laugh or, 2) simply not believe him? For a government that is this under the gun, statements like that don’t help. Not helping either is the release of the letter from Sharma to the Prime Minister's office last December, proving this thing has been going on for a while and showing that despite the Prime Minister's office saying it’s all dealt with and it was all settled, the fact we are where we are, tells us that’s not true. Then we have the Chief Ombudsman's office writing to the Prime Minister's office - who must be getting sick of all the mail by now - asking whether this Official Information Act activity that Sharma says they are involved in is above board. The sad thing about ombudsmen is they are close to being pointless, they have no teeth. You can see from here how the Prime Minister's office will respond, by saying "no need to worry, it’s all under control, squeaky clean, nothing to see here". To which the ombudsman will say, and I have the response, they will assure all is well and I must accept their word for it. So sort of a waste of time really, eh? Anyway, back to the expulsion. By tomorrow, Sharma is gone from the party and the issue for him then is whether he sits as an independent or goes full nuclear and calls a by-election. Either way, none of it is resolved and none of it helps the Labour Party, who are now dreadfully exposed for a variety of behaviour and attitudes they would hoped to have kept under wraps a lot longer than they have. Sharma's only risk is if the public tires of it. All scandals have a life and that life is determined by the specifics of the so called crime and the material associated with it. And also, the news cycle. If something else big rolls in the media only has a capacity to handle one story at a time and the public not much more either. The Labour Party will be praying for something big and/or Sharma to have basically played his full hand. But as we sit here this morning, that is speculative. What we know for a fact is the Government start the week in a world of pain. Most of which is entirely of their own making.
Infamous murderer and rapist Phillip John Smith’s ongoing legal battles with Corrections has cost the taxpayer almost $1 million. The latest legal attempt is over a refusal by Corrections to let him wear a necklace in prison. QC Marie Dhyrberg joined Mike Hosking to discuss. LISTEN ABOVE
Discussion over the level of te reo required by the country's teachers. The Teaching Council has told the Abuse in Care Inquiry, that competence in te reo Māori will eventually become mandatory for teachers. But there's no plan to make fluency in the language compulsory. Council Chief Executive, Lesley Hoskin, told Mike Hosking they are led by the profession and the profession has yet to suggest compulsory te reo is fair or reasonable. LISTEN ABOVE