The Mike Hosking Breakfast

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 bu...

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 Taylo...

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. Edu...

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 withhold...

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...

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 arbi...

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 Mi...

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...

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...

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 purc...

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...

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, to...

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 Heal...

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 ba...

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 - mea...

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   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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...

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 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...

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 mi...

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...

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 ar...

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...

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 hav...

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 t...

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...