The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A planning expert is suggesting Aucklanders look to New York City for the impacts of congestion charges.    A report, commissioned by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, has found traffic will cost the city $2.6 billion a year by next year.   Auckland University Architecture and Planning Senior Lecturer Timothy Welch says New York and London have effectively implemented congestion charges....

There's a bit of pushback coming from some sectors in the education business towards the reading, writing, and maths tests.  These are the tests we are failing. Those who are failing mostly come from poor backgrounds.  I'm not sure equating monetary status and academic success should be a thing.  But a bunch of principals from the "poorest communities" have got together to lobby the...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 4th of March, GPs are loving the new health announcement , which should have been implemented years ago.  The Prime Minister joins the show to talk health, school lunches, and Ukraine.  Former Australian Defence Force Major General Mick Ryan is back on the show to talk about the Chinese warships in our waters and the Ukraine war...

The Upper Hutt Mayor says it was obvious the region's water agency was ripping off ratepayers for a long time.  Report findings show a lack of oversight meant Wellington Water was paying nearly three times more to contractors for pipe work, compared with in other areas.  Board Chair Nick Leggett says it means millions of ratepayer dollars wasted.  Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy says L...

A military expert says China's sent a clear message with its war ships as they sail away from Australia and New Zealand.  Three highly powered navy vessels entered Australia's exclusive economic zone in the Tasman Sea last week, where they performed live firing exercises.   The New Zealand Defence Force is no longer monitoring the warships as they sail west away from Australia.  Low...

The Prime Minister is defending how much nurses in New Zealand are being paid.   Yesterday the Government announced multiple incentives to improve access to primary care, including a cash injection of $285 million over three years.   Christopher Luxon says any narrative about health services being cut is completely untrue.   He told Mike Hosking the Government's making good progress...

A nutritionist is defending health star ratings, despite the little impact they have.  Otago University has led a probe of the decade-old voluntary system for rating food products, finding they only slightly improved diet.  It calculates it'd save the health system about 70 times more if it were made compulsory.  Nutritionist Nikki Hart told Mike Hosking it is a helpful system for c...

GPs say a Government cash injection into general practices is a good start.   The Health Minister's announced $285 million in performance-based funding for practices over three years.   Simeon Brown is also kick-starting initiatives to boost the number of nurses and overseas-trained doctors in healthcare.   Royal College of GPs President Samantha Murton told Mike Hosking practices n...

There's a vision Australia and New Zealand can help ease each other's seasonal electricity woes.  Company Taslink is proposing a massive underground trans-Tasman cable, allowing surplus power to be transferred between the two countries.  It estimates the link would increase our power grid's capacity by about 40%.  Co-Director Richard Homewood told Mike Hosking it would have meant 20...

You can argue until you are blue in the face as to whether what happened at the White House on Saturday was bullying, or unfair, but what the U.S President has on his side is common sense and military power. As Zelenskyy slunk off to Downing Street for a hug with Keir Starmer and today's meeting with King Charles, what few in Europe seem to understand is that saying you back Ukraine doesn’t win a...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday the 3rd of March, it seems crazy we haven't had a police officer training facility in the centre of Auckland, so we've finally fixed that. Where does the Ukraine war go after the shambles that was the Oval Office meeting? We speak to an expert out of Washington D.C. Andrew Saville and Jason Pine give their sporting highlights of the weeken...

Cuts in the health sectors "back office" roles are forcing front-line workers to pick up administrative work, resulting in delays for treatment and a reduction in services.  Nurses and social worked are working as reception ships due to the staff shortages.  In the year to June, 12,000 kiwi nurses gained registration across the ditch.  Nurses Organisation President Kerri Nuku talks...

Peter Dutton's liberal party is committing $3 billion to the purchase of extra joint strike fighter jets, if they win the upcoming Australian election.  The party say they will buy 28 fighter jets.  The pledge comes as Chinese warships have circumnavigated Australia.  Australian Correspondent Steve Price talks to Mike Hosking about the commitment, Dutton's 60 Minutes interview, what...

An emergency summit has taken place in London, days after a contentious meeting between Trump, Zelenskyy and JD Vance.  Where does this leave the White House? Senior Advisor at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Mark Cancian talks to Mike Hosking about the fall out of the meeting. LISTEN ABOVE.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's Oscars day and Kiwi's are front row for their work out of Wētā   FX this year.  The team have three nominations for Alien Romulus, Better Man and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Head of Visual FX Matt Aitken talks to Mike Hosking about the ceremony.  LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand's meth use has reached unprecedented heights.  New figures show a monthly peak of 39.2 kg recorded in October - well above historic averages and nearly double the previous record of 20.6kg in 2021.  Massey University Drug researcher Chris Wilkins talks to Mike Hosking about the reason for the surge, and what this means for the country. LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/l...

The Police announced yesterday they will be opening a new training wing for recruits in Auckland.  The current Royal New Zealand Police College is in Porirua, where recruits train for 20 weeks. Police Commissioner Richard Chambers talks to Mike Hosking about the need for the new location, what it will do for the target of 500 new police, if the Police are on track for that target, and flexibi...

Consumer confidence perked up in February to 96.6.  Perceptions of personal finance situations was up five points, with 21 percent expecting to be better of this time next year.  Greg Smith of Devon Funds Management breaks down the findings with Mike Hosking.  LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world is reacting to a fiery meeting between US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.  US Correspondent Richard Arnold says shock waves are continuing to be felt around the world, with NATO attempting to 'patch things up.'  "Vance certainly intervened in ways we've not seen from an American VP before, and is facing protesters right now in Vermont," he sa...

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.    Andrew Bayly: 3/10   It’s a sad business. Was it a sackable offence? No. Does it put people off entering politics? I would have thought so. But when you call someone a loser and grab an arm, can you survive? It was the re-offence that was sackable.   ...

There were two hardcore reality checks this week as a result of the arrival of the Trump sequel.  BP summed up the climate dilemma very succinctly when he said they got it wrong on net zero.  Net zero has become an unobtainable obsession. It's a business decision for many thousands of companies all over the world, driven not by clear-sighted intelligence, but woke nonsense and a desire n...

Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined Mike Hosking once more to Wrap the Week that was.  They went through the list of MPs’ credit card expenses, discussed school lunches, and the latest conflict between Hosking and the ZB Afternoons hosts.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 28th of February, we talk to both the energy sector and Minister Simon Watts on the new recommendations that could level the playing field.  We've got the list of MPs credit card expenses – who's buying Carl Jr's and who’s buying the magnum of red wine?  Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson discuss whether the producer of this show needs...

The Prime Minister's shifting his focus from politics to business during the final leg of his trip to Vietnam.  Luxon is aiming to drum up as much support as possible for Kiwi businesses operating in the Vietnamese market.   Earlier in the week, he signed a new Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement with Vietnam, making New Zealand just one of 10 counties to have such an agreement...

Questions have been raised over how US actor Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy Arakawa died, with the situation deemed suspicious, despite no signs of foul play.  The pair have been found dead with their dog in their New Mexico home.   Carbon monoxide poisoning has been ruled out.  The couple's front door was found unlocked, with no signs of forced entry.  Correspondent Richard A...