The Mike Hosking Breakfast

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 las...

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 joine...

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   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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...

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 Golds...

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...

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....

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 pocket...

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 eve...

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...

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 See omnystudio....

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   See omnystudio.com/...

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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...

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...

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...

MPs Megan Woods and Mark Mitchell joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the week's political news. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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 get...

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   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

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 smokin...

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...

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 del...

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 Hoski...

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...

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...