The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Geopolitical superpowers continue to tussle over the Pacific. The United States raised eyebrows yesterday when Vice President Kamala Harris made an unprecedented speech at the forum. It's understood one or two Chinese Embassy security officials were in the room, disguised as media, as Harris made the address. Newstalk ZB Chief Political Reporter Aaron Dahmen told Mike Hosking China's foreign affai...

Chris Hipkins is refusing to comment on the whereabouts of the head of the national polytech. Te Pūkenga Chief Executive Stephen Town is currently on paid "special leave", earning up to $13,000  a week. His absence comes as a memo, leaked to Newstalk ZB, has revealed the organisation is facing falling enrolments and a ballooning deficit. The Education Minister told Mike Hosking he'd be keen to see...

Kāinga Ora has yet to use its most punitive measure for disruptive tenants since introducing tougher rules earlier this year. If there's evidence tenants are involved in three separate incidents over 90 days, Kāinga Ora can apply to the Tenancy Tribunal to have the tenancy terminated. Housing Minister Megan Woods has confirmed the agency has not yet applied to end a tenancy. Monte Cecilia Trust CE...

Thumbs up from a gang expert for the Government's new measures for tackling gangs. Police now have greater powers to search, seize weapons and cash, and impound vehicles. Firing a gun to intimidate will become an offence punishable by up to five years in jail. Sociologist Jarrod Gilbert told Mike Hosking the provisions are well targeted. He says they won't be gang-busting laws, but they will be us...

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

A sparkling landscape of baby stars. A foamy blue and orange view of a dying star. Five galaxies in a cosmic dance. The splendours of the universe glowed in a new batch of images released from Nasa's powerful new telescope. The unveiling from the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope began on Monday at the White House with a sneak peek of the first shot — a jumble of distant galaxies that reached...

Move over kumara, it's vape outlets that Dargaville is becoming known for. There are 13 within a one kilometre radius in the Northland town. Kaipara District Council is calling for vape sales to be restricted to R18, and set up proximity limits to prevent clustering of stores. Mayor Jason Smith told Mike Hosking they're seeing vaping proliferation generating new demand, particularly among youths....

The Reserve Bank's move today regarding the OCR seems to be a foregone conclusion. Anyone who's anyone in the finance world is predicting another 50 point rise, the third in a row - putting the OCR at 2.5 percent. Head of Banking and Finance at KPMG John Kensington joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's just one day left until Christchurch finds out if it will push ahead with its controversial stadium. The city council's confirmed it took some negotiation, but lead contractor BESIX Watpac has agreed to a fixed price contract, meaning the figure won't exceed $683 million. More than 30,000 public submissions have been made on the project - 77 per cent in support of the council  spending the...

A warning the big moves by the US in the Pacific, may not win over nations from China. America promises to treble aid to the region - amounting to $600 million of assistance over the next 10 years. They'll also appoint an envoy to the forum, establish new embassies in Tonga, Kiribati and craft the first ever US national strategy that prioritises foreign policy with the Pacific. Auckland University...

The Government is announcing a suite of new measures today to help Police tackle gangs and intimidating behaviour. Criminal lawyer Marie Dyhrberg told Mike Hosking she'd like to see changes to the wording of the Crimes Act. “You would want to add ‘or near a dwelling house or in a public place’ and that’s going to get your drive-by shooter.” LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

Candidates to replace Boris Johnson as Britain's prime minister scattered tax-cutting promises to their Conservative Party electorate on Monday, as party officials set out rules to narrow the crowded field of almost a dozen candidates to two contenders by next week. Little-known junior minister Rehman Chishti became the 11th candidate to declare he wants to succeed Johnson, who quit as Conservativ...

John Lithgow is legend of the stage, television and big screen. He made his theatre debut back in the 1970s and has gone on to star in the likes of Third Rock from the Sun, The Crown and Terms of Endearment. He's earned six Emmys, two Golden Globes, two Tony awards and been nominated for two Oscars and four Grammys. Now, he's back on screen with another legend, Jeff Bridges, in the spy thriller Th...

David Seymour's argument is you need the Royal Commission into Covid despite the fact it will cost tens of millions of dollars. It will cost tens of millions to save tens of billions, he tells us. But you know what? I don’t think it will. What I have learned out of Covid very broadly is that a lot of it was luck. That luck, or not, was in who was running your country at the time of the outbreak. F...

We are getting more and more young people into business. The amount of young people between 18 and 30 running their own business is growing in what we call the purpose led business space. Young enterprise scheme chief executive Terry Shubkin joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kiwifruit growers have a big decision to make soon over the future of the most popular SunGgold fruit. Zespri want to expand their overseas planting area of SunGold by up to 10,000 hectares in each country, excluding China and Cchile. It's all to try and counter China and their SunGold kiwifruit crops. The issue is a similar proposition and vote failed last year. Zespri Chief Grower, Industry and...

Concerns have been raised that the Master Builder guarantee is not in fact a guarantee at all. A number of customers have made complaints to the Master Builders Aassociation after the building company they were with went into receivership or liquidation. In these cases, despite the guarantee having been paid for, it had never been filed to the association, leaving people to have paid hundreds of t...

Winston Peters says New Zealand and Australia must learn not to talk down to our Pacific neighbours. Jacinda Ardern, Anthony Albanese and other Pacific leaders are in Suva for the first Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting since 2019. The meeting is taking place amid growing concerns about China's influence in the region. Peters, a two-time Foreign Minister, told Mike Hosking Ardern and Albanese...

Britain's Conservative leadership race could get ugly. The 1922 Committee has set September 5 as the date the new Prime Minister will be announced, with 11 candidates in the running. UK correspondent Enda Brady told Mike Hosking he'd be looking at the latest poll if he were a Conservative advisor, with Labour surging ahead on 43 percent. He says some say Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is dull and...

The Health Minister says he isn't ignoring the concerns of health staff. A letter sent to the Prime Minister from more than 900 doctors says the workforce is at risk of catastrophic collapse. Andrew Little says the Government has added five and a half thousand medical staff since it came into office and more graduates are on their way. He told Mike Hosking while he won't label it a crisis, he conc...

President Joe Biden has defended his controversial visit to Saudi Arabia next week, saying the trip is critical to the security of the United States. "As president, it is my job to keep our country strong and secure. We have to counter Russia's aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world," Biden...

There are questions being asked as to whether social media given rise to a new pathway for potential comedians, or just given them false hope. In Australia, they're having the discussion about whether going viral on TikTok suddenly makes you a comedian. Some argue yes, others say you have to do the hard graft of open mic nights, shows up on stage performing to large numbers of people. Director of...

Charges have been laid against people allegedly trying to defraud the Government's Covid-19 wage subsidy. The Ministry of Social Development has charged 16 people involving more than $680,000 worth of taxpayer money. Another five people are likely to be prosecuted. Canterbury University researcher Michael Gousmett told Mike Hosking the whole scheme was based on a trust model. He says there should...

A reminder of just how close to the surface the carnage of our Covid response is. I am standing Friday in a retail outlet, when the owner comes to me and says look what I have just received. It's a text from his friend who is inside the government and tells him there is an announcement coming Monday, as in today, moving us back into the red traffic light setting. He said he wanted to cry. In that...

Promises have been made at the ACT party's annual conference over the weekend - but a challenge has also been laid down to the National party. Party leader David Seymour delivered a speech promising that if they got into government they would begin an investigation into the handling of the pandemic while also repealing a number of Labour's policies. Seymour criticised National for coming in after...