The Mike Hosking Breakfast

There's a small sense of satisfaction for me as the second quarterly monitoring report from the Commerce Commission came out on the petrol industry. Do you remember the Commerce Commission and the petrol industry? We were being fleeced by them, so a market study was conducted and, for better or worse, nothing really came out of it. There was a little bit of loosening when it came to access at whol...

Claims dismissing Stuart Nash was black and white. The Napier MP emailed donors about private cabinet information around a 2020 rent relief package. He's been stripped of his ministerial roles in Forestry, Economic Development and Oceans and Fisheries. Nash had already received two strikes for past transgressions, which led him to resign as Police Minister. Labour Party Cabinet Minister Megan Wood...

In 2022, Kiwis spent almost 20 million hours waiting for customer services. With 19.7 million people contacting customer services, that equates to an average of just under 8 hours per person, with many saying that in itself is something to complain about. ServiceNow NZ Country Manager Kate Tulp joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since 2019, New Zealand's litter problem has only gotten worse. The 2022 National Litter Audit found a 72 percent increase in plastic since 2019. While construction waste, when totalled nationally, was the largest contributor to litter weight overall. However, there was a drop in the number of cigarette butts found. Keep New Zealand Beautiful CEO Heather Saunderson joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOV...

New Zealand appears to be edging closer to a recession, with some regions faster than others. BusinessNZ's latest Planning Forecast suggests the country's on track for a mild recession, with interest rates rising and retail sales falling. It says employers are still finding it difficult to fill roles due to the tight labour market. Chief Executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking while not all regions...

A view Stuart Nash has gained nothing from leaking government information. It's emerged the Napier MP emailed donors about private Cabinet information around a 2020 rent relief package. Nash had already received two strikes for past transgressions, which led him to resign as Police Minister. Peter Dunne, who's served in cabinets in both Labour and National governments, told Mike Hosking there's no...

A much-needed adjustment has come to a key piece of legislation for disrupting gang activity. The Government has tweaked the Criminal Proceeds Act, which means a gang associate now has to prove their assets were acquired legitimately, or face them being frozen. It's estimated to return an additional $25 million annually, which will help fund programmes that target organised crime. Justice Minister...

Public servants jumping roles may have melted the Government's pay freeze. The policy that was introduced for high-paid public servants during the Covid-19 pandemic has now ended. During the freeze, workers on high salaries could only receive pay rises under "exceptional circumstances". New Zealand Initiative Chief Economist Eric Crampton told Mike Hosking people have been moving to different mini...

It's hard to know where to start with Marama Davidson. It all came crashing down, as it was always going to, but with a number of strands as to how it played out. Firstly, what she said was unforgivable. It is everything the Green Party should not be. It is everything that keeps them stuck at five or six percent in the polls as it has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with ma...

Are you ready to have your mind blown? Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist who has been described as the "single best explainer of abstruse concepts in the world". The co-founder of the World Science Festival, his books have sold more than two million copies and spent 65 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. He's coming to the country very soon as part of an Australasia tour and Brian G...

Over the next year or so around 60 percent of households will need to refinance their mortgages at higher rates. With 50 percent of the value of existing fixed rate loans due to be repriced, with another 10 percent on floating interest terms. Infometrics principal economist Brad Olsen joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Students are calling for more education around the impact of student debt. Student loan living costs have increased by more than $100 a week over the past six years. On Saturday, April 1, that amount will rise by just over $20 to $302 a week. For students borrowing the maximum amount, that's more than $15,000 dollars a year. New Zealand Union of Students' Associations President Ellen Dixon says st...

The Prime Minister says Marama Davidson's comments at the Auckland counter-protest for Posie Parker are regrettable. The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence said most violence is caused by white cis men, cis meaning the gender a person's born with. She's now clarified, removing white and cis, saying when she spoke, she was in shock after being hit by a motorbike. Chris Hipkin...

Three domestic terror attacks prevented by New Zealand's spy agencies have shown the complex scale of threats the country is facing. GCSB boss Andrew Hampton has revealed how its capabilities were used in three counter-terrorism operations They included a person making bomb threats last year and increasingly concerning behaviour online from a white extremist. Disinformation Project Director Kate H...

France is preparing for further political unrest President Macron is not backing down following huge protests against a controversial pension law pushed through parliament without a vote last week. It will lift the retirement age from 62 to 64. Paris correspondent Catherine Field says the Minister of the Interior has just briefed the public on what to expect for upcoming demonstrations. She says t...

David Seymour says if he were Prime Minister he would have sacked Marama Davidson after comments at the Auckland counter-protest to Posie Parker. The Minister for the Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence said most violence is caused by white cis men, cis meaning the gender a person's born with. She's now clarified, removing white and cis, saying when she spoke, she was in shock after being hit...

Dare I suggest that of all the wins we have seen this season, and there have been no shortage of them, that yesterday at Mt Smart, the first home game of the season, was the best of the lot. Here's a fun stat: when the Warriors won three out of four in the early 2000's and then in 2018 we went to the final. It's way too early to say that this time. Or is it?   But you would have to be a miserable...

My working theory for this year's election was re-enforced Saturday night in New South Wales. My working theory for the October election here is that the damage for Labour is done. Chris Hipkins can burn as much policy as he wants and the media can write about him being more popular than the predecessor over and over. The key is, the damage is done and the rot has set in. You have a recession, you...

A free week away - but with a catch More than 50 people are being fed, watered, and housed in the small west coast community of Okarito this week, as part of this year’s GorseBusters working bee. Those who attend will get to work in helping remove rubbish and invasive weeds from the town's coastal wetlands. Organiser and local business owner Barry Hughes says that while the environment has greatly...

The US town of Rolling Fork has been utterly devastated by a deadly tornado. At least 26 people have died in Alabama and Mississippi, dozens are injured, and thousands of homes have been destroyed after the storms surged through the states. US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that there were trailers flipped over, mangled cars, and buildings torn open with residents inside. LISTEN AB...

Nearly 15-million-dollars has been paid out in the three months since the Government hiked the dental grant. In December the annual amount jumped from 300 dollars to one-thousand. The number of people accessing the fund has doubled to nearly 20-thousand. Dental Association spokesperson Rob Beaglehole says that the high uptake highlights a huge amount of pain, suffering, and untapped need. LISTEN A...

National says that the Posie Parker rally wasn't a good look for New Zealand. Thousands protested Parker's planned speaking tour over the weekend. Scuffles broke out at Saturday's Auckland rally in Albert Park, and Parker called it off after having tomato juice poured over her. Green MP Marama Davidson —who was in the crowd— was hit by a motorcycle and required medical attention. National Leader C...

Five weeks on from cyclone Gabrielle, a report from Auckland University researchers calls for a national risk assessment authority. Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures suggests that the recent weather events show that Kiwis' disaster risk understanding is inadequate. Co-author Sir Peter Gluckman says the independent authority would produce a register that openly tells the public what risks to...

US lawmakers have grilled the CEO of TikTok over data security and harmful content, responding sceptically during a tense committee hearing to his assurances that the hugely popular video-sharing app prioritises user safety and should not be banned. Shou Zi Chew’s rare public appearance came at a crucial time for the company, which has 150 million American users but is under increasing pressure fr...

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.   Scott Robertson: 8/10 A shambles of a process but the best bloke got the job he deserved.   Stuart Nash: 3/10 Not so much a repeat offender, more of a serial offender and unbelievably he is still in cabinet. But then that’s not on him.   Chris Hipkins: 4/10 No, it's on him. Ard...