The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Covid is exacerbating labour shortages, with Sealord asking office staff to work the factory floor. The company has only recruited 150 of its usual 450 workers in its Nelson wet fish processing factory. It comes as there were close to 10,000 community covid cases across the country yesterday, up more than three thousand on the day prior. Sealord Chief Executive Doug Paulin told Mike Hosking Covid...

New Police Minister Chris Hipkins is setting off to meet frontline officers. He's visiting every police district after taking over the job from Poto Williams in last month’s Cabinet reshuffle. Hipkins will travel with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking officers need to tell the Minister how they're coping. He says they need to mention how...

Two of Britain's most senior Cabinet ministers have quit, a move that could spell the end of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's leadership after months of scandals. Treasury chief Rishi Sunak and Health Secretary Sajid Javid resigned within minutes of each other. Javid said "I can no longer continue in good conscience." Johnson has been hit by allegations he failed to come clean about a lawmaker who w...

Optimism that the country can side-step stagflation. The latest NZIER survey has business confidence at its weakest since March 2020, with 62 percent of businesses expecting economic conditions to deteriorate. ASB Bank is warning of the possibility of stagflation, where there's high inflation and recession. ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking to have persistent stagflation, the Re...

The path to avoiding a hard economic landing continues to look tricky. Business confidence has plummeted back to March 2020 levels in NZIER's latest survey, with 62 percent of businesses expecting economic conditions to deteriorate. ASB is warning of the possibility of stagflation. JMI Wealth Director Andrew Kelleher told Mike Hosking nothing in this survey suggests it's getting any easier. He say...

An interest rate of 1 percent seems impossible right now, but ANZ is banking on it to get you to be more sustainable. The bank has launched their Good Energy home loan - you can borrow up to $80,000 at a three year fixed rate of 1 percent to either increase the energy efficiency of your home, or to buy the likes of an EV or hybrid. Managing Director for Personal Banking at ANZ Ben Kelleher joined...

Lisa McCune made her name back in the late 1990s with her starring role in Blue Heelers - that led her to getting a slew of Logie awards. Since then, she's been a mainstay on the screen and stage. Now she's in the country to perform a starring role in the Girl from North Country - it features more than 20 Bob Dylan songs. It opens at Auckland’s Civic Theatre tonight and heads to Wellington later i...

Nick Kyrgios matched his best ever result at Wimbledon and moved one step closer to a breakthrough grand slam semi-final with a five-set win against Brandon Nakashima. The Aussie was troubled by a shoulder complaint throughout his fourth round match against the American but produced his best tennis of the match when it mattered to win 4-6 6-4 7-6 3-6 6-2. "It wasn't anywhere near my best performan...

Urgent change is needed in our dental system so we don't continue to fail our kids. A new paper from the University of Otago says dental decay is the most prevalent non-communicable childhood disease in this country, despite our publicly funded dental care for kids. By age five, 60 percent of Māori, 70 percent of Pasifika and 33 percent of non-Māori/Pasifika kids have dealt with some kind of denta...

A lack of consumer confidence is taking a bite out of demand for credit. Centrix data shows lending demand in June was lower for the commercial and business sectors. Correspondingly, it means missed home loan payments are also down. Managing Director Keith McLaughlin told Mike Hosking there's a major factor at play. He says if people don't have confidence in their ability to repay a loan, they won...

The return of foreign workers isn't the golden ticket to fix the country's labour woes. Work visa applications have officially opened - the final part of the Government's accredited employer work visa policy. Partners and dependents of work visa applications can also apply from today. PERSOLKELLY General Manager Wendy Hewson told Mike Hosking there are still a number of challenges to get through....

The Film Commission's talking up the benefits of multi-million dollar subsidies for the upcoming Avatar movies. Newstalk ZB has revealed the next four movies have so far received $140 million in production grants. Film Commission Chair Dame Kerry Prendergast told Mike Hosking it's provided 20,000 jobs in the past year. She says they've just had a report done which shows for every dollar spent on t...

What a difference a home ground makes, eh? The Warriors 300th win. They hadn’t held a side tryless for yonks. The crowd was there; that alone says a lot about the warriors and the fans. To be in the position they are, to be having the season they are, to be on the table where they are and still get a full house says a lot about loyalty and consistency. It really was quite the afternoon. They also...

We do, at least, have a tangible out of the Prime Minister's trip to Europe. But over the weekend she drifted back into that dangerous habit of saying stuff she can't back up. We have a trade deal. It's not the best deal ever, but it’s a deal, and it's better than what we had, so that’s good. And she actually said something tangible against China which is to be admired. But she reverted to her go-...

Warriors 22Tigers 2 Boy, the Warriors needed this. Not just the team, but the club, the staff, the sponsors and the fanbase. It was for just about everyone who has worn a Warriors jersey or cap, and all those supporters that have sworn at their television in frustration over the last three seasons of isolation. This was much more than a game – it was a restart – but the Warriors desperately needed...

Good news for cycling enthusiasts. More conservation land has been opened up for potential new cycle trails in Otago. There is still an application process, but the area of land has more than doubled. Otago Conservation board member Tara Druce joined Mike Hosking, LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government may not be as rigorous as it should be, when it comes to appointing key advisors. Children's Minister Kelvin Davis has defended appointing Matthew Tukaki to chair the Oranga Tamariki advisory board without checking his CV. Davis's resume is now being questioned, but he's standing by his work history. Auckland University Senior Politics Lecturer Lara Greave told Mike Hosking the Gove...

A giant leap forward for New Zealand's space industry. Rocket Lab's performing a final engine burn of its Lunar Photon spacecraft tonight, to set the Capstone satellite on course to the moon for NASA. It follows the successful launch of the spacecraft from Hawke's Bay's Mahia Peninsula last Tuesday. Rocket Lab Founder Peter Beck told Mike Hosking the logistics of this evening's part of the mission...

Jacinda Ardern is leading a trade delegation to Australia this week, where she'll meet again with Anthony Albanese. Australia New Zealand Leadership Forum Co-Chair, Greg Lowe, says we're friendly rivals with Australia, but that doesn't stop us from competing with each other. He told Mike Hosking the intention of the forum is to focus on how we can take on world markets together, in a way that bene...

Hospitality New Zealand says it's at a loss over comments from the new Immigration Minister. Michael Wood has accepted some concerns the sector's raised over foreign worker shortages. But he says businesses should be considering how to make low-wage jobs with insecure working conditions more attractive places to work. Hospitality New Zealand Chief Executive Julie White told Mike Hosking they're ce...

Secondary principals are wanting wide-ranging changes facing schools to slow down. Auckland Secondary Schools Principals' Association President, Greg Pierce, says the scope and number of changes being rolled out is too much. He told Mike Hosking schools are only just coming up for air, after a couple of hard covid years. Pierce says the strategies and initiatives on their own are fantastic, but th...

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.   DHBs Letter to MBIE over Staffing Shortages: 2/10 "Between the lot of them, you wonder how anything gets done at all. And it certainly explains why you can't get into ED or find a nurse."   Chris Hipkins: 3/10 "The old lockdown regret. Oh well, it's only the biggest city and th...

There is a group called "Affordable Sports for Greater Wellington".   That proves, apart from anything, there is clearly a group set up for everything and a weird name is no barrier to existence. They have concerns over the councils charging for facilities. Their complaint appears to be, the more expensive you make sport, the less sport people will do, which appears to make perfect sense. The deal...

What a homecoming it will be for the Warriors this weekend. It's been 1039 days since the Warriors last played a home game, a streak they'll snap this Sunday at Mt Smart Stadium against the Wests Tigers. They've sacrificed a lot over the last two and a half seasons to keep the competition alive and couldn't be happier to be back in front of a packed home crowd of cheering fans. Warriors half Shaun...

The All Blacks selectors have picked two new caps for the first test against Ireland on Saturday, while going back to Scott Barrett in the six jersey for the first time since the 2019 Rugby World Cup semifinal defeat. Crusaders standout Leicester Fainga'anuku will debut on the wing while fellow debutant Pita Gus Sowakula is set to play his first test off the bench. Head coach Ian Foster said the s...