The Mike Hosking Breakfast

So let's try again, shall we? The co-governance paperwork is off to Cabinet today. It was delayed a week because of bereavement in the Willie Jackson family. So off we go again today. Jackson claims they have already had 70 hui. Now I don’t know whether he means hui, as in the Maori word for meetings, was with all and sundry or was exclusive to Māori. I suspect it’s the latter. The rest of us get...

Australia's election campaign is likely to be a "white-knuckle ride" that will go right down to the wire. Labor Leader Anthony Albanese is starting the election campaign still ahead on the two-party preferred primary vote. But Scott Morrison has this morning overtaken him as preferred prime minister. Australian correspondent Murray Olds told Mike Hosking no one is prepared to call the election for...

A new line of attack to fight New Zealand's soaring retail crime problem. Aimed at tackling anything from ram-raids to robberies, a police national retail investigation support unit will come into force this month. Five years ago an Otago University study found retail theft caused more than $1 billion in lost income while retailers spent $500 million annually on security. Retail New Zealand chief...

Australia is bracing for a very tight election with polling day now confirmed as May 21. Scott Morrison has pulled ahead in the Newspoll preferred Prime Minister rankings this morning as Australia's six-week election campaign officially gets underway. But his rival, Labor Leader Anthony Albanese is still ahead on primary vote. Channel Seven's Nathan Templeton told Mike Hosking while Morrison's pos...

Jacinda Ardern insists Louisa Wall has been treated with kindness. She says Wall's strengths were acknowledged with a strong position on the party list, and she should be proud of 14 years of achievements in politics. Ardern says as the leader of the Labour Party, she strives to have a team that is inclusive, but also united. Louisa Wall says despite tensions she stands by her legislative achievem...

Hopes the Prime Minister's first trade mission since the pandemic can sell New Zealand as being open for business again.  Jacinda Ardern, Trade Minister Damien O'Connor and 13 business leaders will be heading to Japan and Singapore next week. She'll meet with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Export New Zealand Executive Director Catherine Beard t...

The education sector is delighted to start welcoming back international students. From Wednesday, borders open for up to 5000 international students for Semester 2. Of that, universities are getting around 1400. The rest are allocated to secondary schools, polytechnics, English language schools and private training establishments. Universities New Zealand Chief Executive Chris Whelan told Mike Hos...

Australia’s highest court will hear arguments about why Scott Morrison’s “captain’s pick” candidates for a dozen seats might not be valid at an expedited hearing on Friday afternoon before a final decision is made in the long-running dispute. A now expelled member of the NSW Liberal Party is refusing to give up on his bid for branch members to be given the opportunity to vote for candidates in 12...

With all the many big-name businesses and restaurants having closed down in recent months, it's nice to see one coming back. Lion's Little Creatures is officially opening back up today. They originally shut because of the Red Light restrictions and staff shortages, but the changes to the Red Light settings, although they aren't Orange, is enough to open back up. Lion Hospitality director Mike Corr...

Local body candidates say rules requiring them to put residential addresses on campaign advertisements put them at risk. The rules are being described as outdated, with some wanting them scrapped. Stories of harassment towards public figures, particularly women, are rising and come as we head towards local body elections later this year. Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins told Mike Hosking he's had his a...

This time yesterday, Dan Carter was telling about his training build-up for his record attempt for goalkicking for UNICEF. Over 24 hours, he is aiming for 1598 goals. He’s currently at 952 out of 976, which is a 98 per cent success rate. Dan Carter joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tiger Woods has defied the odds to post an under-par opening round to begin his quest for a sixth US Masters title and complete an incredible sporting comeback. Woods hit three birdies and two bogeys as part of a one-under first round 71 that came 14 months after he almost lost a leg to amputation after it was crushed in a car crash. The 46-year-old walked among the azaleas with just the hint of a...

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.   Water. 2/10. "Because the cost of it is going up, like everything else. And because the government's $2 billion three waters slush fund opened this week which has nothing to do with water, but a lot to do with bribing people."   The IPCC Report. 6/10. "Because they don’t give u...

Not remotely surprised trust in media is falling. It's falling, according to the authors of this week's latest report into the industry, at "an alarming rate." This is the AUT Trust in News in New Zealand report. They mark various organisations out of 10. Over the past three years overall it's gone from 62%, as in 62% of us trust the media, down to 52%. That's barely over half. In a year's time, a...

Delight that Defence Force personnel can attend Anzac services this year. Recent changes to vaccine mandates were taken into account in this week's review of the original instructions not to allow them to attend. Changes to vaccine mandates prompted a review this week of the original instructions not to allow them to attend. They will have to wear masks at all times and won't be allowed to attend...

It's being suggested the Police Minister is hiding behind the "it's an operational matter" line. That was Poto Williams response to new figures suggesting it's taking longer for police to respond to serious crime in most parts of the country. In Auckland City, the average response time has ballooned from less than half an hour to almost two hours in the past five years. Former detective and Nation...

In a way, you can't blame Ashley Bloomfield, and yet you can.  He's quit. Why wouldn’t he? What a thankless task. But why do you quit when the job isn't over? The pandemic, as he has told us many a time, is far from finished. He's walking out with an unfinished job, Anthony Fauci hasn't quit.  Has he done a good job? I'm not sure how much of what he did was him versus what the government made him...

Nato are meeting in an emergency session in Brussels to discuss possibility of sending further weapons to Ukraine.  The EU has stepped up sanctions against Russia.  Auction house Sotheby's is selling Maradona's "hand of god" shirt.  France correspondent Catherine Field joined Mike Hosking.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Boris Johnson wades into the transgender debate.  More sanctions against Russia.  Jimmy Savile’s documentary paints his relationship with the royal family.  Rod Liddle joined Mike Hosking.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You might remember a couple of weeks back we had Nadia Lim on the programme – and I mentioned we should get her back on to talk her farm.   She and her husband recently acquired a 1200-acre farm down in Arrowtown – and is on a mission to prove that farming ethically can be profitable.   And this year she and her husband have opened a farm gate store full of organic greens, honey, eggs, some fruit...

Dan Carter is well known for his record 1598 test points he scored in international rugby.   He might wish it was a little bit less in 24 hours' time.   Starting at 7pm tonight carter will be doing a 24-hour kickathon, kicking 1598 goals for UNICEF's water, sanitation and health programme.   It equals out to about 66 or 67 successful kicks per hour, a little over a kick a minute.  Dan Carter joine...

Police say response time figures aren't always as they seem.   Data, obtained by the National Party, show response times for serious crimes have increased in many regions since 2017.   They've more than tripled in Auckland and Waikato since 2017, and doubled in Northland.    But, police deputy commissioner Glenn Dunbier told Mike Hosking those are the average times.  “When you go back and look at...

The Trade Minister says the Government's latest tariffs on Russian goods are aimed at putting a stop to Russia imports.  New Zealand has introduced a 35-percent tariff on Russian goods.  Infometrics analysis – released exclusively to Newstalk ZB – shows it would add almost 700-thousand dollars to the cost of Russia imports each month.  Trade Minister Damien O'Connor told Mike Hosking introducing t...

The National Party is calling for an end to the daily reporting of Covid case numbers and deaths.  It's backing calls from Australia's Chief Medical Officer – who says focus should instead be on 'excess deaths'.  That refers to the number of deaths from all causes during a crisis, above and beyond what would have been expected to see under ‘normal’ conditions.  National's Covid spokesman Chris Bis...

Ashley Bloomfield's being compared to Winston Churchill.  The Director-General of Health will leave the post at the end of July, after steering the country through the Covid crisis.  He says now is the right time to go in terms of Covid.  Former DHB chief executive Craig Climo worked with Bloomfield and told Mike Hosking turning him into a rock star is appropriate but isn't something he would've e...