The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Asbestos fibres are leaching into Christchurch's drinking water supply from ageing underground pipes, according to a University of Otago study.  While the researchers say there is no immediate cause for public health concern, the discovery has prompted calls for better monitoring of asbestos in drinking water to help councils prioritise which pipes to replace.  The researchers sent drinking water...

New emails show the Health Ministry asked Rapid Antigen Test suppliers to prioritise its orders over those of private businesses.  On January 22, staff flagged concerns they only had information on five percent of their January and February orders - just two percent were confirmed for delivery.   By month's end, businesses began reporting their orders were cancelled - because the Government had ta...

New Zealand's border has reopened to Australian citizens and permanent residents with thousands flying into the country today as New Zealanders await the Government's traffic light setting announcement later today.  There were 11,063 new Covid-19 community cases reported yesterday and 622 people in hospital, including 23 in intensive care.  New Zealanders will find out today whether the country is...

Welcome to the new week, New Zealand styles. Do you think Poto Williams might have been over the crime news for the first day of the week yesterday?  One gang shot up another gang's headquarters because one of the gang's mates got shot up at a strip club. So, a lot of gangs and a lot of shootings.  Downtown Auckland, the bit they want the tourists to wander up when the cruise ships return, if they...

Country music continues to grow in this country.   The Mike Hosking Breakfast has interviewed many over the last couple of years - and another who is making her mark joined the show this morning.   Jackie Bristow has just released her fifth studio album Outsider to critical acclaim .   She's mainly been based in Nashville for the past 15 years  - but thanks to Covid has been stuck here - and is cu...

A review into the Black Ferns culture and environment found NZ Rugby hasn't sufficiently supported women's high performance rugby, the management structures within the team don't support the Black Ferns and the structure of the players' group needs work.  It also found some players had received culturally insensitive comments, poor communication and inconsistent feedback, there was allegations of...

Some building companies are fed up with long waiting times for inspections.  There's a seven-week delay to get routine on-site building inspections from the Christchurch City Council.  These are inspections needed in order for builders to move forward in their work.   Home Trends Building director Peter de Gouw says it's not unique to Christchurch but it's particularly bad there.  He told Mike Hos...

There's a call for a broader conversation about New Zealand's growing issue of greenwashing.  It comes from AMP Wealth Management.  Chief executive Blair Vernon told Mike Hosking it's more an issue of gilding the lily.  He says there's a lot of money out there being invested - and the demand from their clients is no matter where it goes, they want it invested responsibly.   Vernon says that's why...

An acknowledgement from the Government it's a challenge to fill job vacancies in rural areas.  It's making it easier for dairy, meat processing and forestry workers to come here from overseas.  An extra 1600 or so workers will be given border exemptions from today.  Agriculture Minister, Damien O'Connor, told Mike Hosking that farmers have made efforts to get young Kiwis into these roles, but not...

New Zealand has again upped support for Ukraine - this time including money for weapons.   A Defence Force Hercules and 50 personnel are being sent to Europe - to assist in transporting and distributing military aid to Ukraine.  As well, more than $13 million is being put forward - more than half to help the UK supply weapons to Ukraine.   Defence Force Commander Joint Forces Rear Admiral James Gi...

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to talk the Australian Grand Prix, the Masters, the Warrior's golden-point win, lack of Super Rugby crowds at the Blues and Crusaders' victories over the Chiefs and Hurricanes respectively, a tackle on an NRL pitch invader, Mitch Evans and Dan Carter's kick-a-thon. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SpaceX launched three rich businessmen and their astronaut escort to the International Space Station on Friday for more than a week’s stay, as NASA joins Russia in hosting guests at the world’s most expensive tourist destination. It’s SpaceX’s first private charter flight to the orbiting lab after two years of carrying astronauts there for NASA. Arriving at the space station Saturday are an Americ...

There’s crowd trouble going on at Super Rugby. Crowds are allowed back with no limit on outdoor gatherings but people aren’t coming. Around 11,500 were at the Chiefs vs Blues game while the yellow seats of Sky Stadium glaringly stood out at the match between the Hurricanes and Crusaders. Former NZR CEO David Moffett joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

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...