The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Auckland Airport is spending $300 million on a transport hub and setting aside land for light rail near its international terminal. The company is also installing a $100m new smart baggage hall and system designed to transform luggage handling as part of a planned combined domestic and international terminal. Built to double height, the ground floor of the four-storey building will accommodate bus...

International rugby could hit a new proposal on the burst in Dublin. The sport's bosses are holding discussions at the governing body headquarters about introducing a new north-south competition every two years. Representatives from the Six Nations and Sanzaar are present, including New Zealand's chief executive Mark Robinson. The players association is also understood to be agreeable to the conce...

There are high hopes for the tourism sector ahead of looser border settings. Our newsroom understands the Prime Minister will announce today an acceleration in opening the country up to all-comers. It had been set for October, but that could now happen in July. RealNZ Chief Executive Stephen England-Hall told Mike Hosking he's optimistic but there will be challenges. He says the growth will largel...

The Government is expected to open the door to more highly skilled workers, but not to unskilled hospitality workers. Hospitality New Zealand Chief Executive Julie White told Mike Hosking that means many hospitality businesses will never recover from two years of Covid restrictions. “I’m hearing from our members more people are leaving than arriving, this is really going to put a handbrake on our...

A couple of good clues as to why we have such wastage of government spending and how the psychology behind it suggests it won't change under the current government. We have had the revelations so far this week over the millions for consultants on Three Waters, it’s $20 million and counting. The Zoom job fair that attracted next to no one yet cost a bit under a million to run with even the Minister...

Queen Elizabeth II will not attend the opening of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time in nearly 60 years, as she struggles with difficulties in getting around. Buckingham Palace said in a statement Monday that the decision was made in consultation with her doctors and that the 96-year-old had "reluctantly'' decided not to attend. Prince Charles will read her speech, while for the first time h...

It has been a few years since we caught up with Julia Deans. She, of course, is the lead singer of Fur Patrol - and we all know the success they had. She's gone on to have a successful solo career - and has linked up with the likes of Jon Toogood and Neil Finn. But now - Fur Patrol is reuniting - they released a 20th anniversary edition of their debut album P.E.T last year. They were planning to r...

A third of the 120 family harm call outs a week in Rotorua are to emergency housing motels. Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni once again has acknowledged emergency housing is not ideal, but it's better than people sleeping in cars. Mihi James, a Rotorua family lawyer and Waiariki Women's Refuge chair joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Government's expected to announce next week that congestion charging in Auckland could be introduced in 2025. A report by the Helen Clark Foundation's looked at the equity impacts of congestion charging, and is recommending the charges be brought in fairly. There was talk in 2020 that Aucklanders could pay $3.50 to go in and out of the CBD during peak times. Report author and WSP Fellow Tom Ja...

The Government’s Covid-19 policies are being blamed for creating an international visa backlog.  Over the past two years there’s been a surge in overseas investors wanting to live here.  However, Immigration New Zealand is struggling to keep up with the demand – seeing people withdraw from the wait-list.  Malcolm Pacific Immigration Chief Executive David Cooper told Mike Hosking visa policies duri...

A lot of first home buyers are waiting for the right price. A CoreLogic’s report for the quarter reveals the number of people buying their first home, fell by three and a half percent on the second half of last year. CoreLogic NZ Chief Property Economist Kelvin Davidson says March saw a sharp fall, and the overall numbers are below what we normally see. He says some people have pulled back, and ho...

The Government could make its apprenticeship boost scheme permanent. $230 million will be put towards the scheme, which will now run until the end of next year. The funding goes towards trades training programmes, and will support an additional 24,000 apprentices. Education Minister Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking locking the scheme in long term is a possibility. “I think it’s absolutely justifiab...

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to discuss the Premier League title race between Liverpool and Manchester City, the weekend’s Super Rugby, the Warriors’ defeat to the Sharks, Carlos Alcaraz Garfia’s victories over Djokovic and Nadal in the Madrid Open and the Miami Grand Prix. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nine’s “Great Debate” format has been slammed by viewers as a “s**tshow” after Sunday’s showdown descended into a shouting match between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese. Furious Aussies wasted no time in slamming the debate on social media, with one describing it as the “worst debate I have ever seen”, and political commentator Ronni Salt declaring it an “insult to the audience”. This is the w...

So let me get this straight, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says we don’t want a knee jerk reaction to crime and ram raids. The Police Minister says the accusation that they are soft on crime is a sexist comment, crime is all about the gender of the minister. The police tell us repeatedly they have the resource they need. And yet, all of a sudden, we have half a billion dollars for crime, $100 mill...

First lady Jill Biden spent part of Mother's Day making an unannounced trip to Uzhhorod, Ukraine, a small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine, a country that for the last 10 weeks has been under invasion by Russia. At a converted school that now serves as temporary housing for displaced citizens, Biden met with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, who has not been seen in public since t...

The work of volunteers is making a big splash for wildlife in Wellington Harbour. Around a dozen divers have banded together and cleared the capital’s seafloor of rubbish near Clyde Quay. They collected six tonnes of trash in the area including items such as e-scooters, live bullets and an aircraft tyre. Ghost Diving President Rob Wilson told Mike Hosking their work is having a positive impact. He...

Allied health workers are taking a stand against poor pay. Workers from 70 professions are awaiting a pay offer from DHBs after a recent recommendation from the Employment Relations Authority.  From today, they'll work only their rostered hours and take scheduled breaks but are threatening bigger action next week.  Occupational therapist Dianna told Mike Hosking a significant number of workers hav...

The Police Minister says having small business engagement is key for Government's next steps in addressing the ram-raid surge. It's injecting over $562 million for more frontline officers, a new firearms unit and a package for businesses to protect themselves spread over the next four years. Poto Williams told Mike Hosking the package will tackle two of the biggest current concerns: guns and gangs...

More trouble in the House of Windsor. Harry and Meghan will be attending the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with their children.  However, there’s a suggestion the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are bringing a team of Netflix filmmakers with them. Royal correspondent Phil Dampier told Mike Hosking there’s concern it could cause tension at the event if they do. “Royal courtiers reported this morning are very...

Confidence the Government's spend to combat ram-raids will make a difference. More than $562 million will be spread over four years for more frontline police, a new firearms unit and a package for businesses to protect themselves. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking police resources are stretched hugely across the board. “In the last few years, we’ve had 50 percent increase...

ACT is calling for major cuts to Government spending and an overhaul of the tax system. The party is launching its alternative budget this morning. It's proposing $5.3 billion dollars in Government spending cuts while increasing military spending to 2 percent of GDP. Act Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking the party wants a two-rate tax system, with a bottom rate of 17.5 percent for low earners...

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.   Trevor Mallard: 1/10 "Dick of the week. Or was he?"   Simon Henry: 1/10 "Talk about spoiled for choice."   Simon Bridges: 8/10 "He left in style, it was a good valedictory with good advice and lots to thinks about. I hope some of it might just be acted on."   Huffer: 7/10 "Spok...

Another of these strange made up claims this week masquerading as a report that suggests the solving of a problem, or perceived problem, can only happen if we changed the way we did things. A group called Mind the Gap likes the idea of forcing companies to publish their wages on a gender basis thus embarrassing them in paying more to women. The claim is, if we did this, we could increase females'...

The backlash against racist and sexist criticism of  Nadia Lim continue... Chemicals company CEO Simon Henry described Lim as a piece of "Eurasian fluff" -  and suggested her appearance could explain why his company had outperformed My Food Bag on the NZX and ASX. Lim responded on social media last night - saying Henry's comments are 'so damaging'. Shareholders' Association Chief Executive Oliver...