The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Shane Jones says many businesses won't survive without help moving away from natural gas.  The Government's setting money aside in Thursday's Budget to back loans for firms transitioning to other forms of energy.  The Associate Energy Minister told Mike Hosking many industries reliant on natural gas have been seeing their energy costs surge.  He says unless the Crown steps in, many...

On Saturday night Auckland FC beat Sydney FC to become the A-League champions in their second ever season. AFC CEO Nick Becker joined Mike Hosking to chat about the win. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia's teal independents could band together to form a new party, according David Pocock, with the aim to push back against the growing influence of One Nation. The talks are reportedly led by Zali Steggall and Allegra Spender. Australian correspondent Steve Price says the new party could be the end of the Liberal Party in Australia.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday the 22nd of May, is today finally the day we get a deal on Iran, plus raucous sideline sport parents have caused cancellations across the board in Waikato. The PM is in ahead of the Budget while also talking about Labour's leaked attack strategy. Jason Pine and Andrew Saville talk the Auckland FC Championship win, Indycar and F1, the Warri...

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Mike Hosking in studio this morning for their weekly chat. With the budget coming up this week they spoke about the pre-budget announcements so far, and what's yet to come.  Luxon said that more spending announcements will be revealed on Thursday, but the budget is strict.  "That's what we have to have, good fiscal financial discipline year in year...

A couple of interesting property developments for you. 1. Half finished town houses in Christchurch.   2. Lack of demand for off the plan deals from developers. That last one came from a select committee hearing last week. The head of Kiwibank was suggesting there is a stark lack of appetite for off the plan stuff because of the risk you take on what the value will be when its done i.e are yo...

All Waikato junior league rugby games have been cancelled after fights and abuse from adults on the sidelines.  The Waikato Junior League Rugby Board said it would continue working with clubs to address the issues and ensure appropriate standards are upheld. Sport Waikato CEO Matthew Cooper joined Mike Hosking to chat about the issues, calling the behaviour 'disgraceful'.  LISTEN ABOVE S...

Is the Nicola Willis public service announcement to be admired or condemned?  I think the former, on balance.  They should have done it properly two years ago and they didn’t, hence they probably should not be back here now, unless this was their Machiavellian plan all along.  Two public service haircuts a term. But assuming that wasn’t it, we go back to a lost opportunity that coul...

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.    Tourism: 7/10  This has been a good vibe week. TRENZ had them coming from everywhere, the sentiment is good, and the numbers are excellent.    Kiwifruit: 9/10  This story is starting to outshine dairy. Not in numbers, but in terms of growth. At al...

Another lesson for our Labour Party if they want to ponder it.  Australia’s Labor have blown their Budget.  It's hard to overstate the anger and pushback on their tax changes made now well over a week ago.  Budgets and their news cycle tend to come and go.  This was different. It was billed as generational. It was seen as transformational and it was seen as Albanese having to s...

Another week has come to an end, so Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week that Was.  They discussed ZB’s latest ratings, some parenting advice, and Kate being banned from making an Amazon account.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The backlash to Donald Trump’s ‘ anti-weaponisation ’ slush fund continues.  Earlier this week the Justice Department announced the creation of a $1.8 billion fund to compensate allies who claim they were unfairly targeted by previous administrations.  Some of those eager to tap into the fund are convicted January 6th rioters, who stormed the capital after a rally with Donald Trump, as w...

The Mike Hosking v Hits Breakfast Saga came to a head this morning when Jono, Ben, and Megan crashed the show, invading the ZB studio.   But it seems things aren’t over yet, as they managed to extract an agreement from Mike to come down and teach them a thing or two about radio.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More money is on the table as Hawke’s Bay aims to regrow Snooker in the region.  The Hawke’s Bay Open, taking place this September, has announced a winning prize of at least $2500.  It’s being seen as a sign of growth in the sport and an attempt to attract newcomers to the table.   Hawke’s Bay Confederation of Billiard Sports President Wayne O’Donnell told Mike Hosking prize money h...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 22nd of May, the Government is shaking up social housing , and our exports are, once again, going gangbusters .  It’s a massive weekend for Auckland FC as they host the Grand Final of the A-League at Mt Smart Stadium.  Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson talk Kate's banned Amazon account, parental advice, and ZB’s ratings as they Wrap t...

A history-making weekend.   Auckland FC is hosting the A-League Grand Final, facing off against Sydney FC at a sold out Mt Smart Stadium.  A later kick-off time has been locked in to suit the Aussie audience —8:10pm— as Auckland looks to make history in just their second season.  CEO Nick Becker told Mike Hosking the later start time won’t impact the team’s performance – you could p...

Beef exports are booming, up 12% annually.  The latest Stats NZ figures show exports for April hit $8.6 billion, with meat leading the way – worth $1.3 billion.  The US remains our top beef market, taking more than a quarter of our produce, representing a 54% increase.   Special Agricultural Trade Envoy Nathan Guy told Mike Hosking US herd numbers are at a 70-year low.  He says...

The Iran war may be denting demand for Turners, but the company's still outperforming previous years thanks to its popular Tina ads.  Turners Automotive has reported a record normalised net profit of more than $63 million for the year to March – up 16%.  Chief executive Todd Hunter told Mike Hosking strong growth in finance and insurance means they're well ahead, despite the war slowing...

The Associate Health Minister's praising a proposal to offer free flu jabs to more people.  Pharmac's looking at providing the jabs to an extra 260 thousand children between six months and five-years-old from next year.  It's also proposing introducing two new brands for over 65s.   David Seymour told Mike Hosking some young people still die every year from influenza, and as every p...

There’s some confidence the Government's struck the right balance with its social housing overhaul.  This year's Budget includes hiking the amount social housing tenants have to pay from 25% of their income to 30%.  The savings will be redirected into support for private renters.  Wellington City Mission Chief Executive Murray Edridge told Mike Hosking the increase is not a huge amo...

I asked yesterday whether Chris Hipkins thought we were stupid.  And as luck would have it, he answered our question – yes, he does.  First you have the Future Fund, a cornerstone policy, revelation that they aren't telling us who's money goes in and what sort of job creation they are expecting because they got bogged down in the Treaty issues, so we will need to wait until after the ele...

Last month saw Russian aircrafts “repeatedly and dangerously” intercept British surveillance aircrafts over the Black Sea.  According to the UK’s Ministry of Defence, a Russian Su-35 fighter approached the Royal Airforce Plane, getting close enough to trigger its emergency systems and disable its autopilot.  On another occasion, a Su-27 jet carried out six passes in front of the plane’s...

Grant Baker is one of the country’s best success stories.  The Kiwi serial entrepreneur has had his hand in a number of pies but is best known for two companies – 42 Below and Turners.   It’s a career that’s spanned decades, and that’s before you get to his philanthropic efforts and work in co-founding the Gut Cancer Foundation in 2008.  He’s unravelling his career in his new book ‘...

A record season for kiwifruit company Zespri.  It cracked $5.9 billion in global sales in its 2025/26 financial results, up from $5 billion the season before.  The company also sold a record 248.1 million trays, with strong performances in Europe and North America.  CEO Jason Te Brake told Mike Hosking that it’s a pretty uncertain world out there, so they just have to navigate some...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 21st of May, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop discusses our tangled web of regulators and Floyd du Plessis unpacks the arrests of 14 Corrections staff.   We've heard throughout the war that people are turning to EVs, so Drive Electric’s Kirsten Corson joined to unpack their new State of the Nation report.   Kiwi entrepreneu...