The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Buildings consents continue to rise and rise. Almost 51,000 homes were consented in the year ended September 2022, a seven percent jump from last year. 55 percent of these are for multi unit homes. Master Builders Association National Vice President Johnny Calley told Mike Hosking there is likely to be follow through on them to. He says while there are pressures, most of these consents are underwa...

Confidence that the four-day working week is just as beneficial for businesses as it is for their workers. Unilever New Zealand has run a voluntary trial for 18 months, with encouraging results. The trial saw stress drop by 33 percent, feelings of strength and vigour at work increase by 15 percent and work/life conflict fall by 67 percent. Managing director Cameron Heath told Mike Hosking the four...

A stark warning that inflation will continue to spark unemployment and wage growth problems for a long time to come. Economists are predicting our unemployment rate to come in as low as 3.1 percent today. But economists are also predicting wage growth to increase, which will put pressure on the Reserve Bank to drop interest rates. Economist Tony Alexander told Mike Hosking we're going to be in a s...

National’s tax plan will give $10 in tax cuts to the top 5 per cent of income earners and landlords for every dollar of tax it cuts for the bottom half of earners, according to new calculations from the Council of Trade Unions. If you take a fairly costly interpretation of National's policy, the changes would give people earning the Prime Minister's salary about $54,000 over the three years of the...

Shock from a horse breeder after Starship Children's Hospital's rejected a donation of more than half a million dollars. After a high-profile race win, Mark Chittick attempted to donate $570,000 dollars to the hospital. The Starship Foundation says while Starship is grateful for contributions, it's unable to accept all donations due to existing partnership obligations. But Mark Chittick told Mike...

Which bit are we surprised about? Air New Zealand tells people to book early because fares are going up. Headlines scream how unhappy we are because fares are going up. Be as unhappy as you want, things ain't changing. We have a bit of experience around airfares at the moment. We have a family member looking to get home from Europe. The ability to get a seat, far less wince at the price, has been...

Liam Lawson is currently 7th in the F2 standings with 123 points -with one round to go in the UAE between 18th and 20th november. Lawson is in a five-way shootout for 3rd spot and joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Netball Australia has signed a $15 million sponsorship deal with Visit Victoria just over a week after Hancock Prospecting pulled its contract with the sport. Under the deal, which will run from 2023 to 2027, the Australian Diamonds will wear Visit Victoria branding on the uniform and players and coaches will appear in tourism campaigns to promote Victoria as a travel destination. Victoria will ef...

Regardless of if you're a regular punter, or a partaker of a once a year flutter, the Melbourne Cup captures our imagination every year. The Kiwis have a rich history in the race, we won't get into the Phar Lap debate - we know he was a Kiwi, and Kiwi jockey James MacDonald was successful last year. The weather hasn't been great in Melbourne, so wet track form will likely be the key for horses and...

Air fares are expected to remain high for a number of months, as Air New Zealand says there aren't enough seats to meet demand. Consumers are complaining of sky high prices as demand for both domestic and international travel rises with the approaching holiday season. Domestic capacity in New Zealand's close to a hundred percent, with international flight capacity at 65 percent. That's expected to...

More signs of the cost of living crisis are beginning to show. People are taking out more personal loans to maintain their household budgets rather than splashing on luxury items. The number of people missing mortgage payments has also  tipped over one percent. Centrix Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking there has also been more hospitality and construction businesses defaulting....

An alternative plan to the Three Waters legislation is expected to garner widespread support from councils. The Government has confirmed it will look at the latest proposals from the mayors of  Auckland, Christchurch and Waimakariri. Wayne Brown,  Phil Mauger, and Dan Gordon say their version keeps the idea of having a water regulator, but leaves ownership, control and accountability in local hand...

Over in Australia, public schools in Victoria will be getting access to a free lunch program created by the Liberal Party. Local cafes will be providing the food for the school aged kids as a means of addressing the current cost of living crisis ahead of the upcoming election. Australian correspondent Steve Price explained further here today. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

More people are finding it too difficult to care for pets amidst the cost of living crisis. Three Auckland animal shelters are chokka and unable to take on any more dogs, due to the influx of people not being able to meet the needs of their pet. Auckland Animal Management Leader Shaun Murray says while one dog door closes, another opens. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...

The Justice Minister says community groups up and down the country have been calling for changes to alcohol law. The Government's looking to give communities more power to oppose more liquor stores. Kiri Allen says for a long time they've felt they didn't have a show against the liquor barons. She says if they try to oppose new stores they face huge barriers. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listen...

Bus drivers are beginning to pick up speed in their campaign for better pay. After multiple strikes and calls for more pay, the Government has announced it will inject $61 million dollars into urban bus driver wages over the next four years. But questions remain over whether this will sort out staff shortages, with 800 drivers needed to fill gaps. First Union assistance general secretary Louisa Jo...

Concerns about how a windfall tax would be calculated. The Green Party wants a one-off tax on large companies making record profits due to high inflation, caused by the pandemic. PwC Tax Partner Geof Nightingale says if you take banks for example - the question is are they windfall profits, or just well run banks? LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If it's not broken, don't fix it: that's the message an immigration lawyer has for the Government after only one person's applied for the Government's new investor visa. The initiative was set up to bring high-value businesspeople to Aotearoa to increase economic gain and opened in September. When the policy was launched, Immigration Minister Michael Wood said the visa category would help attract...

Nancy Pelosi, the current US House of Representatives is speaking out on the recent attack on her home. An intruder broke into the Pelosi family home and attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer, while demanding to see Nancy. Nancy Pelosi released a public statement condemning the attacker while explaining that her husband was recovering from his injuries. US correspondent Richard Arnold explained that...

A red line is being drawn through the idea of a 40-year-mortgage. With interest rates up and property prices still high, some buyers are asking why banks can't offer a longer mortgage term to make payments more affordable. Currently, all lenders are maxed out at 30 years. Mortgage Lab's Rupert Gough says interest becomes very expensive over 40 years. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...

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.   Fair Pay Agreements: 3/10 "The unions look like they are winning."   The Health System: 3/10 "It's an example of one of those crises the Prime Minister should be attending to, rather than being in Antarctica, given the ED mess these past few weeks. I don't know how long Andrew...

One of our more unfortunate traits has been on display this week with the arrival of Rishi Sunak. It turns out he's rich. And when it turns out someone is rich we need to make a thing of it. We made a thing of it when Sir John Key got the top job as well. Chris Luxon got a bit of a left-wing going over because he was, God forbid, successful too, and with more than one house. Sunak it has been proc...

Bank profits are up, with the country's biggest bank taking home serious returns this financial year. The net profit of ANZ's New Zealand arm has risen 20 percent for the year to September, to almost 2.3 billion dollars. ANZ speculates that's due to post-pandemic economic activity. Economist Cameron Bagrie says more record-high profit margins could be on their way. He says across 27 banks, there's...

Summer tourism has arrived in Queenstown. Tourism Minister Stuart Nash is in the resort town to officially launch the season today. Queenstown Mayor Glyn Lewers says he's optimistic about the months ahead, after a strong winter. He says forward bookings are looking good. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The number of businesses going under is still below pre-pandemic figures, but the rate is increasing. A BWA Insolvency report has found there's been a 48 percent increase in formal insolvencies in the third quarter, compared to the second. BWA Insolvency founder, Bryan Williams, says that pre-Covid 25-hundred businesses went under a year... it's currently about 15-hundred. He told Mike Hosking tha...