The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Growing Up in NZ Longitudinal Study has a sample of over 6000 young people who represent the ethnic and socio-economic diversity of all young people today.   Data from the study shows high levels of interest in sport and cultural participation, with 97% of participants taking part in extracurricular activities outside of school.   Researcher Dr Rebecca Evans says the high figure shows that you...

Data shows that many GPs are moving their non-contact clinical work into the evenings or weekends in order to find time to complete it.   President Royal NZ College of GPs Samantha Murton tells Mike Hosking that a doctor’s work is not just the time spent in front of patients, and this needs to be factored into how GPs are renumerated.   Listen above.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

The full extent of work needing to be done on Premier House is estimated to cost $30 million.   The building dates back to 1843 and has been the home of the Prime Minister since 1865.   Chief Executive of Heritage New Zealand Andrew Coleman says the building's age, along with the fact that it is a multi-functional property, suggests factors contributing to the maintenance cost may include security...

The new Government has taken the first steps to ensure prisoners on remand can access rehab and reintegration support, promised as part of it’s 100 day plan.   Corrections Association President Floyd Du Plessis tells Mike Hosking the current system doesn’t work and the demand for rehabilitation will be big.   Currently, Corrections are delivering up to 100 different types of programmes. Du Plessis...

Tensions are growing over a review into the school lunches programme as a coalition of health charities has requested an urgent meeting with David Seymour to discuss it’s fate.   David Seymour tells Mike Hosking the programme can not continue at it’s current cost of $350 million per year.   Seymour says the review will find ways the programme can be made more efficient and reduce its 25 percent wa...

The 2023 Fee Survey by the New Zealand Dental Association shows dentist prices have risen 23% over the past few years.   NZ Dental Association CEO Dr Mo Asmo tells Mike Hosking that the cost of delivering healthcare is going up generally and a significant portion of the country is unable to afford healthcare.   Dr Asmo says the rise in dentistry cost is really just cumulative inflation over the pa...

Donald Trump may have avoided trouble once more.   The Supreme Court has intervened in Trump’s trial regarding the January 6 th insurrection, which was supposed to begin on March 4 th .   This would ensure that the outcome would be decided before the Presidential elections in November.   The Supreme Court has now said that they will consider whether a former President has absolute immunity from an...

If you want to laugh, have a look at the shambles that unfolded this week in Australia as a result of the new law that makes companies publish their gender pay gaps.   It turns out there is one, in some industries it's worse than others and it proves what those of us who have argued against such measures were right all along.   If you know what the other person earns, in some way, shape or form, y...

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.     Adrian Orr: 6/10  The cash rate holds and he is nowhere near as hawkish as they thought. All of that is good. He just needs to be right.     Trump: 6/10  Won South Carolina, won Michigan and the Supreme Court will hear his immunity case.     Ginny Andersen: 6/10  Apologised o...

The Immigration Minister is looking to push forward with urgent changes to the Accredited Employer Work Visa scheme.   It follows the Public Service Commission review which found Immigration NZ had insufficient checks and balances to prevent migrant exploitation.   Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking that her Government can fix it, starting with urgent alterations to the work visa scheme itself.   Sh...

Forestry operators are hopeful that an independent review of the Emissions Trading Scheme will reduce the costs on the sector.   The Government's announced a review into the forestry component of the ETS.   Forestry Minister Todd McClay says it's about delivering on an election promise.   Forest Owners Association President Grant Dodson told Mike Hosking that he hopes it results in lower costs.  ...

There’s more work to do to draw more international visitors to our shores.   Stats NZ data for the year to the end of March 2023 shows total tourism spend of $37.7 billion, up $10.7 billion from the year before.   That's about $4 billion shy of pre-covid levels.   Tourism Minister Matt Doocey told Mike Hosking that Australia, USA, and the UK all have similar market share compared with 2019.   He s...

In a symbolic gesture to our military allies, New Zealand is following suit in designating Hamas a terrorist entity.   The Government says it can no longer distinguish between the organisation's military and political wings.   Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp told Mike Hosking that Australia and Canada have also designated Hamas a terrorist entity, and the three have issued a joint statement.  ...

House prices are predicted to soar back to post-covid highs sooner rather than later.   OneRoof-Valocity research predicts average property values will return to February 2022 highs of just under $1.1 million in the third quarter of 2025.   It shows Auckland and Wellington regions will have to wait a little longer.   OneRoof editor Owen Vaughan told Mike Hosking that the research shows that recove...

Sam Wood has had quite the journey.   Coming into public knowledge in 2015 on the Australian version of the Bachelor, Wood was already established as a personal trailer.   Since then he has gone on to write several award-winning books, ‘28 by Sam Wood’ and ‘7 Minutes to Better Health’.   He owns Australia’s largest personal training studio, has exclusive supermarket deals, and is now launching a n...

Air New Zealand says travellers will benefit from the latest extension to its joint venture with Singapore Airlines.   The airlines have received approval to extend their partnership by another five years.   The partnership has already been underway for a decade, with seat capacity growing by 50% in that time.   Air New Zealand Chief Transformation and Alliances Officer Mike Williams told Mike Hos...

While fully accepting these are difficult days for the media in this country, it is important to put the Newshub news into a little bit of context.   You can still be successful in this country, and to take one sad case and lump it in with everybody else is to fail to understand the nuance of the landscape.   For a start, this country, as Adrian Orr pointed out yesterday, has massive economic trou...

Interest rates may not be going up or down much any time soon.   The Reserve Bank is keeping the Official Cash Rate unchanged at 5.5%, in line with most economists' expectations.   Vittoria Shortt, ASB’s CEO, told Mike Hosking that both personal customers and businesses are coping with the higher rates, but are making big sacrifices to do so.   She said that across the board, their business client...

Retirement village operators have come under fire from the Commerce Commission for their contract terms.   A dozen retirement operators —including Ryman and Arvida— have been put on notice because their conduct risks breaching the Fair Trading Act.   They run a total of 180 villages across the country.   Consumer NZ chief executive Jon Duffy told Mike Hosking that there's an imbalance of power bet...

The Reserve Bank believes inflation is tracking downwards, despite many economists expecting the OCR to stay steady for some time. Adrian Orr told Mike Hosking that they expect it fall below 3% by mid-year, sitting within the target range of 1-3%. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Questions are rising over the strategy of Warner Brothers Discovery after Newshub’s impending closure was announced.   Former Newshub Head of News Mark Jennings told Mike Hosking that he thought they'd have a strategy to transition the company to a digital platform and put all their premium HBO series onto ThreeNow.   He says they've left a lot of their content on SKY and done nothing to combat TV...

The recent slowdown in the construction sector could be reducing the number of people coming into apprenticeships.   Figures suggest the building industry has eased, with around 50k building consents in a 12-month period now dropping down to under 40k.   Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation director Greg Durkin told Mike Hosking that there's definitely been a drop, but he isn't...

Ginny Andersen has formally apologised to Mark Mitchell on the Mike Hosking Breakfast, for comments she made on the show last week. The Labour MP has told the Police Minister she's sorry for accusing him of being paid to kill people when he was a defence contractor overseas. She says she's always enjoyed the robust debates the pair have, but she's sorry for taking it too far and making it personal...

There has been a review into the accredited employer work visa. Owner and principal consultant at into NZ immigration katy Armstrong told Mike Hosking that that the previous government let the goalie out of the box when it opened up the immigration floodgates. She said there is no 'Huge Pressure' to introduce a whole new work visa system.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

Chris Hipkins has come back swinging after comments made by Stuart Nash. The ex-Police Minister yesterday criticised Hipkins and Justice Minister Kiri Allan, for dashing his attempts to tighten laws on seizing illegal gang assets worth at or more than 30-thousand-dollars. Nash claims he wanted the threshold at zero, but Hipkins says while he was open to discussion, he didn't support it going to ze...