The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A tick of approval for the Government's new tourism funding boost, aiming to generate an extra $300 million in spending.  Minister Louise Upston's announced a $13.5 million injection into Tourism New Zealand, targeting markets in Australia, the US and China.  It's hoping to bring an extra 72 thousand visitors over coming years.   Tourism Holdings CEO Grant Webster told Mike Hosking...

New Zealand's heading down a precarious road of corruption, with organised crime networks targeting our institutions and borders.   An independent advisory panel on Transnational Crime says we need to take urgent action.   It says police officers, immigration officials, and private sector employees are facilitating corruption.   Group chair Steve Symon told Mike Hosking they talked...

The Education Minister says several factors are at play in making teaching an increasingly attractive career option.  New figures released to Newstalk ZB show the teaching workforce increased 2.5% last year – the largest annual increase since records began back in 2009.  First-time enrolments in teaching courses are also up, 6.3%.  Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking the Government's d...

The government will allow a 'Parent Boost' visa from September.  It will grant parents of citizens multi-entry access for five years, with the opportunity for renewal once - meaning they could hold the visa for 10 years.  Applicants will also need to meet specific health, income, and insurance requirements.  NZ Immigration Principal Consultant Katy Armstrong says New Zealand's not a...

Steve Price and Mike Hosking discuss the impacts of Scott Morrison’s COVID policies and support for Australian citizens. Morrison provided relief money for countless Australians during COVID to keep families afloat during the pandemic. A move he now says has led Australians to lean on the government. Price also discussed the use of Amazon to order machetes and large knives into Australia, and if t...

There are plenty of questions after an Australian naval ship accidentally blocked internet and radio services across parts of the country. It's understood the radar of the HMAS Canberra accidentally interfered with one of the shared spectrum bands that anyone can use free of charge. Intelligence expert Paul Buchanan saysoperational security was lacking. He wants to know why the Canberra was on a c...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday the 9th of June, the Government is making changes to parent visas so will this actually change anything? Will it help bring in the people we need?   The Prime Minister is in for a chat about our ferries, our gas (or lack of it) and when some of the changes they've promised will actually come into effect.   Andrew Saville and Jaso...

Large-scale protests have erupted in Los Angeles in response to ICE deportations set up by President Trump to crack down on illegal immigrants.  The National Guard has now been deployed to LA by The President to assist the local police and riot squads in stopping the protests.  A third of the people living in Los Angeles were born outside of the USA, with many hailing from Central and So...

Little guidance around how money is spent on principals' wellbeing,  is being seen as a key cause for excessive state-school spending.  A report from the Office of the Auditor-General - as reported in the Post - has discovered 54 schools were questioned for “sensitive” spending with no apparent educational benefit. In 2022, the Ministry of Education paid $6.3 million dollars to 524 schoo...

Mike Hoskings and Prime Minister Chris Luxon sat down in the studio this morning for a discussion on electricity and gas in New Zealand. “The oil and gas ban was one of the dumbest, most insanest moves I’ve seen happen.” said the PM this morning. According to Luxon, New Zealand must steer back away from coal in favour of gas as a source of energy. “We’re the only country I’m aware of in the world...

The polling industry, whose only answer to fairly obvious questions seems to be “this is just a snapshot in time”, may have trouble explaining the past week of polling in this country.  There was one on Tuesday night and one on Wednesday morning. They have completely different results.  One has Luxon as the most popular leader.  One has Hipkins as the most popular leader.  One...

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.    David Seymour: 7/10  In Britain, debating as we speak. But last weekend he ascended to Deputy Prime Minister and gave an excellent speech about what our country can be. It was uplifting, and uplifting is good.    Chris Bishop: 7/10  Was at the mus...

I've struggled with a couple of authors this week – Jacinda Ardern and Jake Tapper.  What I struggle with is one of them is making money out of the fact they made an astonishing hash of their job, quit, bailed out of the country and is now collecting money for retelling what happened in a way that would suggest no carnage was left behind.  The other is making money by exposing what he wa...

The public breakdown between the Donald Trump and Elon Musk is snowballing - as the Tesla CEO calls for the US President's impeachment.  Musk criticised Donald Trump's spending bill days after his departure from the President's administration.   Trump says he's very disappointed, as Musk knew every aspect of the bill and never had a problem until he left.   Musk's hit back, sharing...

Kate Hakesby and Tim Wilson joined Mike Hosking once more to Wrap the Week that was.  Newstalk ZB won big at last night’s Radio and Podcast Awards, claiming Station of the Year for the fifth straight year.  The Mike Hosking Breakfast also has reason to celebrate, winning two awards of their own.  LISTEN ABOVE  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Super Rugby Pacific playoffs are upon us.  The three-week series kicks off tonight, and the Chiefs are currently sitting in the top spot on the table.   They’ll clash with the Blues tomorrow night in the only Kiwi derby in the qualifying finals.  CEO Simon Graafhuis told Mike Hosking a good game can always be expected between the two teams.  However, when it comes to the fi...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 6th of June, the farce in Parliament over the Te Pati Māori MPs is over and we can finally get back to fixing our country.   The Super Rugby playoffs begin this weekend, so we need to catch up with the table topping Chiefs ahead of the only Kiwi derby in this round.  Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson celebrate Newstalk ZB’s and the Mi...

Positive news from the manufacturing sector.  Data from inventory management software company Unleashed shows that both revenue and profitability is up.  In the first quarter of the year, revenue across the sector was up 7.5%, and profitability was up 30% compared to the same time last year.  Food, beverage, and the building industry are the big winners.  Alan McDonald, EMA Hea...

Researchers say the Vape industry and regulators needs to show they're taking consumer safety seriously.  A study in today's Medical Journal shows more than half of vape juices have incorrectly labelled how much nicotine they contain.  Most of the mislabelled products had significantly less nicotine than advertised – some by over 50%.  Otago University Senior Research Fellow Jude Ba...

Inland Revenue's cracking down on unpaid tax bills.  It's been allocated an extra $35 million in Budget 25 to boost its tax compliance and collection activities.  The tax department expects to return an additional $4 for every dollar in the first year, and $8 in year two.  IRD Commissioner Peter Mersi told Mike Hosking it's hard to estimate how much tax is owed across the board.&nbs...

A focus on boosting our gas supply in the short-term from the Resources Minister.  New Zealand's gas reserves have dropped by 27% over the past year.   Last month, the Government committed $200 million to new gas projects following removal of a ban on offshore oil and gas exploration last year.   Shane Jones told Mike Hosking there's a lot of interest in the South Island, but new pr...

Satisfaction the Privileges Committee stood its ground over Te Pati Māori's viral haka in Parliament.   The harshest sanctions in Parliament's history have been handed down, with co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi suspended for 21 days.    Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke's been suspended for seven.   Privileges Committee Chair Judith Collins told Mike Hosking the com...

Keir Starmer has signalled a potential U-turn regarding the winter energy payments.  Back in March, the UK government changed the rules for the Winter Fuel Payment, so that from winter 2024/25, it was only available to households that received the Pension Credit or certain other means-tested benefits.  This made it so that only 1.5 million pensioners received the payment, down from 10.8...

There seems to be increasing reportage, based around some new research, that our dream of being smokefree is up in smoke.  2025 is the year when we were aiming to be smokefree. By smokefree, it would have been reduced to 5% left smoking.  To meet that goal, the research says about 80,000 more people need to quit. They won't.    As always, the fact they haven't, or won't, is som...

Kiwi Supercars driver Matt Payne has had a dream start to the season.  He’s been racing under Grove and Penrite, and has already racked up three wins for the season.  It’s had fans and former drivers raving about his prospects as a future champion and considering he’s currently sitting third on the overall ladder, he’ll be hoping it’s the very near future.   Two of his wins so far c...