The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Local politics isn't national politics necessarily, but the change that the polls have indicated is coming next year for the government, manifested itself in a small taster on Saturday. The country swung to the right, in some cases significantly so. I am convinced that if Phil Goff and Lianne Dalziel had hung about for another crack, they would have lost. Labour-backed Efeso Collins didn't just lo...

No signs of an end to the escalating supply costs that are driving up grocery bills. The Infometrics-Foodstuffs New Zealand Grocery Supplier Cost Index shows cost increases from grocery suppliers to supermarkets, rose more than nine per cent last month -- due to rising input costs. This means more pressure on prices at the checkout. Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking the...

Weeks before he died, Peter Ellis told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking in an exclusive interview he was "feeling quite excited" about the impending Supreme Court hearing, but hoped to live to see it happen. After three decades, the Supreme Court has today called the investigation and Ellis' trial a miscarriage of justice, and quashed his convictions. It's found the evidence of an expert witness didn't...

Whatever the outcome of the Peter Ellis Supreme Court hearing today, the Ellis case raises a whole bunch of questions. For the Court to consider the arguments posthumously means this decision will without doubt have consequences. So it could set a precedent. If the argument carries, and if say those convictions are quashed, then relatives and friends of other people who've gone to their graves wit...

Voting in the local body elections closes at midday tomorrow. Too late for the post, but still a chance to get in if you're prepared to make a little effort. Local Government New Zealand CEO, Susan Freeman-Greene, joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACC delays have contributed to thousands of concussed Kiwis going without the care they need. AUT analysis of more than 55,000 concussion-related ACC claims between 2016 and 2018 has found 12 percent were not seen by a specialist for over a week. Two-thirds didn't receive follow-up care, and a quarter waited more than two months to be seen at a concussion clinic. AUT Professor Patria Hume says ACC...

The Women's Rugby World Cup kicks off this weekend with three games at Eden Park tomorrow. The Black Ferns versus Australia is the big one of course at 7.15pm with it looking like a sellout crowd. Black Ferns Head Coach Wayne Smith joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Security companies are busy equipping retail staff with skills to protect themselves from ram raiders. There's been more than 130 ram raids since May this year, with a Michael Hill jeweller store in Auckland hit for a third time earlier this week. Security Association Chief Executive, Gary Morrison, says there's been a significant increase in businesses registering for security training. He told T...

A lawyer thinks today's Supreme Court decision on the Peter Ellis case will have legal impact cross the nation. The court will deliver its decision at 2pm on the appeal of Ellis, who died in 2019. The decision of the court to continue with his appeal after his death is an unprecedented posthumous argument using tikanga Māori. Peter Ellis was convicted of child abuse at the Christchurch Civic Crech...

MPI is investigating a new strain of Mycoplasma bovis that has been detected in Mid Canterbury. The disease was first picked up in 2017, with 276 properties testing positive, 178,000 animals were culled. Genome sequencing is currently underway to determine how the new strain entered the country. MPI M Bovis Programme Director Simon Andrew told Tim Dower testing will be ramped up over the summer mo...

I was very moved by the piece on One News last night featuring the teenager who got a terrible beating at school. This is Eva Vitali, she's 13, and it happened at Orewa College back in May. We're all too familiar with this kind of brutal playground nastiness. Three or four against one, that's brave eh? Eva's shoved to the ground, they're pulling on her hair and then it's punching and kicking her w...

New research shows the "shocking" amount of gambling, alcohol, and junk food ads kids are exposed to on a daily basis. An Otago University study -funded by the Cancer Society- had 122 children in the Wellington region wear body cameras for four days - taking photos every seven seconds. Senior author Professor Louise Signal says there are few places children could escape the harmful messaging. She...

Lauren Lyle is well on her way to becoming a household name. The Scottish actor has made her name on the hugely popular Outlander - which also stars friends of the show Graham McTavish and Sam Heughan. Since then she's appeared in plenty in films and TV shows. And now she brings us her latest crime drama, Karen Pirie , which is coming to the streaming service, Acorn TV. Lauren Lyle joined Tim Dowe...

Three new sports will make an appearance at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Victoria Australia. Golf, Coastal Rowing and BMX are set to make a debut with the new programme featuring  20 sports and 26 disciplines. Shooting makes a return after being dropped for the Birmingham Games. Golf New Zealand chief executive Dean Murphy joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...

Economists are trying to read between the lines of the Reserve Bank's latest decision on the Official Cash Rate. The central bank has hiked the OCR by another 50 basis points to 3.5 percent. Some of its comments have left the market in no doubt that it's taking a tougher, more hawkish, stance on inflation. Former Reserve Bank economist  Michael Reddell told Tim Dower the comments are interesting....

U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss pledged Wednesday to ride out the turmoil unleashed by her tax-cutting economic agenda, saying the "disruption" will pay off in a wealthier, more efficient Britain. Truss closed a tumultuous Conservative conference in the central English city of Birmingham with a speech intended to revive the spirits of delegates. She told them: "I am ready to make the hard choices" a...

Hopes studies into long Covid will better illuminate how it affects New Zealanders. The Ministry of Health is funding a range of research into the condition, including a national register of people with symptoms. Auckland University Health Economics Chair, Paula Lorgelly, says around 10 to 20 percent of people infected get long Covid. She told Tim Dower that means at least 170,000 New Zealanders h...

Some staff at the University of Otago have taken measures to ensure today's strike does not negatively affect their students. Members of the University of Otago branch of the Tertiary Education Union (TEU) will down tools at 2pm today for a two-hour rally, part of strike action occurring across all New Zealand universities as the union pushes for an 8 per cent pay rise to keep pay in step with inf...

The Finance Minister is standing by decisions to borrow a lot of money to get through Covid, after the Government's books were opened. Treasury has reported a budget deficit of $9.7 billion, almost half the Budget forecast. Grant Robertson told Tim Dower relative to where we thought we'd be, and the rest of the world, we've done well. He says every country had to find a way of dealing with this ma...

Here's a classic fence at the top of the cliff situation. Primary healthcare, the GP's practice or medical centre to you and me, are horribly neglected and have been hopelessly underfunded for decades. In a nutshell, New Zealand is desperately short of GPs, and a lot of those we do have are getting towards the end of their careers. Around half of all GPs will retire sometime in the next decade. An...

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

Interest in the SailGP series is looking very strong. Tickets for the inaugural New Zealand Grand Prix went on sale yesterday, as of this morning, there's only 300 left. The event comes to Christchurch in March next year - and event director Karl Budge joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adopting a policy to end streaming in schools is on the agenda for the secondary teachers union today. Streaming is when students are grouped into different classes based on perceived ability. The Post Primary Teachers Association is discussing it at its annual conference today and has recommended members push for resourcing to end the practice by 2030. President Melanie Webber says it causes harm...

It's important we understand how what we see online could intersect with the harm people experience offline. The coroner's office has launched an inquiry into suspected suicides by three young women, over concerns about material they viewed on Instagram. The mother of a 17-year-old girl says police discovered troubling social media material when examining her daughter's phone, soon after her death...

The Health Minister says cyber attacks are now a daily reality for health services around the country. Pinnacles Midlands, a network of GP practices in Taranaki, Rotorua, Taupo-Turangi, Thames-Coromandel and Waikato, have been targeted by a cyber attack. The patient data of up to 450,000 people may have been compromised. Andrew Little told Tim Dower it follows attacks on a Wellington service in 20...