The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A transitional housing provider says we've gone from a housing crisis to a catastrophe. The amount of money set aside for transitional housing has nearly doubled in two years, with $330 million spent last year alone.  Monte Cecelia Trust Chief Executive Bernie Smith told Mike Hosking the problem has got worse, and the state can't tackle it alone. He says if we put emergency housing and transitiona...

General practice leaders are dismayed with Interim Health New Zealand's three percent increase in funding. General Practice New Zealand Chairman Jeff Lowe told Mike Hosking the funding increase should be at least 6.9 per cent to keep up with inflation. He says costs could be passed onto patients but it's not something doctors want to do. “The Government does subsidise your visits to the doctor so...

A former NZ Rugby Chairman is expecting the Silver Lake deal to go through with overwhelming support. It would see a share of its commercial rights sold to the US firm in return for at least $200 million in cash. If the union votes it favour, it will spin-off its commercial arm into a new business, allowing the investor to buy a minority stake. Former New Zealand Rugby Chairman Brent Impey told Mi...

The Labour Government is in a spot. They have released an attack ad aimed at National. In it is a photo of Chris Luxon and line he used at a speech that says the "cost of living crisis, that’s how we will win this election." That obviously hit a nerve with Labour, because running ads at this point in the political cycle is a bit wasteful. But Grant Robertson, who authorised the ads, has done a cou...

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

Seeing kids sneak into R rated movies is not a new phenomenon, but the UK are attempting to crack down on it. They're trialling an ID app called Yoti that confirms a kid's age with an uploaded official document that the UK Cinema Association is hoping will be successful, to be rolled out around the country as a permanent legal proof of age. Suggestions have been made that New Zealand should implem...

The outlook for residential construction is not looking too promising. It comes as the ANZ Business Outlook Survey has shown the situation is "rapidly deteriorating". ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking this could be caused by a combination of expected demand to dry up or a lack of supplies, such as GIB. She says it could affect whether we see a sharp bounce back, or a sudden stop...

It's remaining unclear what the resignation of two senior leaders in Gloriavale will mean for the community. The resignation of Fervent Stedfast and Faithful Pilgrim follows an unprecedented apology last Friday. Both have faced issues around employment and protecting children in their care. Former Gloriavale member James Harrison told Mike Hosking he believes Faithful Pilgrim is more genuine. He f...

Supply chains could continue to be an issue, even as the world's biggest port re-opens today. Shanghai has been operating at a severely reduced capacity since March. Many shipments have either been cancelled, postponed or rerouted to other Chinese ports. Infometrics economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking supply chain issues could get worse as manufacturing sites reopen. He wonders if ports in Euro...

High admission numbers to Christchurch Hospital have caused major surgeries to be deferred. It comes as the Canterbury DHB has more than 170 staff off with Covid-19 - and 1200 new cases across the region. College for Emergency Medicine immediate past president John Bonning told Mike Hosking it's a perfect combination of increased patient presentations in winter, and staff illnesses. He says there...

Jacinda Ardern hasn't been able to change Joe Biden's mind about the CPTPP free trade agreement. The Prime Minister has met the US President at the White House this morning. The pair discussed trade, China's growing influence in the Pacific, and New Zealand's experience on gun control. Ardern says the meeting was focused on discussions, rather than changing of minds. “Our meeting was very much foc...

As usual there's big, bold talk from the Government, this time on supermarkets. This is their response to the Commerce Commission report into the industry. In simple terms, the market doesn't work as well as it could, and the Government are going to do something about it. The exact same thing happened in petrol. Commerce Commission said the market wasn’t working as well as it could be and the Gove...

A bit of insight into wars and conflicts plaguing the world from one of the world's leading military brains. Major General Mick Ryan served in the Australian military for more than 30 years - and ended up becoming director general of the Australian Defence College. He was awarded the Order for Australia for his leadership of the 1st reconstruction task force in Afghanistan. Since his retirement -...

We've seen the ugly side of the community lately with the ram raids and shootings and burglaries galore. But here is an example of the good side. Doug Jarvis is a butcher and has been for 44 years - his stores had been frequently targeted in burglaries recently and as a result he was due to close one of them because of the effects it was having on his blood pressure. But the community rallied behi...

The Police Commissioner says officers are making progress in fighting gun crime. There were multiple drive by shootings in Auckland last week Andrew Coster says there have been seven arrests related to those shootings, he says they have been grabbed for those shootings and other unrelated crimes. Some of those are gang related. Coster told Mike Hosking cops are dealing with a tough environment. LI...

Pacific business leaders are keeping an open mind about China's big push into the Pacific. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has failed to convince Pacific countries to sign up to a new wide-ranging trade and security pact. However, he has has struck an agreement on areas of cooperation, and says we shouldn't be too anxious about China's intentions in the region. Former Cook Islands Chamber of Comm...

The Food and Grocery Council says new supermarket regulations will start to make real change for the sector. The Government will put in a regulator, a code of conduct and mandatory unit pricing. The council says getting rid of exclusivity in leases should free up spots for non-duopoly competitors in malls and shopping centres. Chief Executive Katherine Rich told Mike Hosking measures like the code...

Banks are preparing for further hikes following last week's Official Cash Rate increase. The Reserve Bank raised the OCR by 50 basis points to 2 per cent and signalled it'll go higher still. ANZ and Kiwibank have both increased mortgage and deposit rates in the wake of the hike, Kiwibank lifting its headline rate for a two-year fixed mortgage to 5.19 per cent. Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkov...

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has confirmed he will challenge Barnaby Joyce as the leader when the party meets in Canberra on Monday. He follows Gippsland MP Darren Chester, who has also announced his intention to contest the party’s top job. Mr Littleproud, Maranoa MP and former agriculture minister, said he advised Mr Joyce of his intention on Saturday. “This afternoon I advised Barn...

Depressing, and yet encouraging as well. Lani Fogelberg, a young entrepreneur, serves it up the way it is in the Herald on Saturday. It's a must-read, if you missed it. Depressing because it’s a realistic take on the country as it currently sits. But encouraging because we are seeing, at long last, an increasing series of people speak out on the way we are being led and why we are where we are. Fo...

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to recap the White Ferns contract situation, the latest from Silver Lake, the Warriors’ week from hell and Steven Alker’s Senior PGA Championship run. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The bright sunshine in Uvalde belies the cloud of anger and anguish enveloping the small Texas city. Local funeral homes are so overwhelmed, it will take weeks to bury some of the 19 children and two teachers killed Tuesday at Robb Elementary School. And days after the massacre, victims' families learned more about what really happened in classrooms 111 and 112 during their loved ones' final momen...

A mass exodus with indications that up to 50,000 Kiwis could be leaving the country by the year's end. It comes as many New Zealanders who returned home when the pandemic struck are also jetting back off overseas. OneStaff Chief Executive Jon Ives says told Mike Hosking there are many contributing factors at play, the most obvious being our border closures for the past two years. “And we are coupl...

A media personality who’s gone through surrogacy says removing the courts from the process would be a game-changer. The Law Commission’s made 63 recommendations to simplify New Zealand’s surrogacy framework.  Toni Street says the original law is from 1955 and change is long overdue.  She says the best amendment is the one to the legal requirements of intending parents.  Street told Mike Hosking th...

An analyst says New Zealand is right to be worried about China's big push into the Pacific. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to meet with Pacific nations in Fiji today to discuss a new agreement, giving it greater economic and security access to the region. Ahead of that meeting, Samoa has already signed a deal with China to strengthen diplomatic relations. China analyst Rodney Jones told M...