The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Personally, the best bit of ‘Backdown Wednesday’ was the dumping of the egregious social insurance. It wasn't just another tax from a government that said no new taxes, but a compulsory tax that didn’t serve everyone. Most people didn’t want it and it would have sent all the wrong signals to the job market. If you want insurance to protect income you can get it and you always have been able to. If...

Christchurch residents could soon face a fine of up to $20,000 for posting junk mail or littering in charity donation boxes. Under the new waste management and minimisation bylaw, the offence of depositing junk mail in any letterbox marked no circulars, could result in the fine. Measures under the bylaw also include the non-collection of kerbside bins if the contents don't comply. Councillor Aaron...

Iconic actress, Pamela Anderson, told Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking ahead of the release of her memoir Love, Pamela and her documentary Pamela, a Love Story that was a “relief” to be able to tell her side of a story that has been told by many others over the years. Anderson catapulted onto our screens with Baywatch and Home Improvement and her career has featured more than 25 movies, dozens of TV sho...

Lebron James has taken the crown of NBA’s all-time highest point scorer. With 38,388 total points he has now surpassed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's record of 38,387 that he held for nearly four decades. Once again, James has made basketball history. NBA insider and reporter Brett Siegel joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"It's getting rid of dumb stuff." That's how National Leader Christopher Luxon has described the Government's policy bonfire. He told Mike Hosking it's stuff that shouldn't have happened in the first place. Luxon says it's a stupendous waste of money, time and resources, and he's questioning what the past six years have been about. LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...

A sociologist says the Law Commission is better placed to work on hate speech legislation, than the Government. The legislation has been thrown on its policy bonfire and is punting the work to the commission instead. Massey University's Paul Spoonley told Mike Hosking some aspect of what was going to Parliament does need another look. But he says this has been on the books for about four years. "T...

There are concerns the hike to minimum wage could be devastating for businesses. The Government has announced the minimum wage will rise by $1.50 to $22.70 from April. Business New Zealand CEO Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking the ability for businesses to pass this cost on is very low. He says if a business has no capital left effectively to pay this, and can't increase prices because then they'll face...

Authorities aren't going into detail about exactly how they managed to intercept half a billion dollars worth of cocaine in the Pacific Ocean. The 3.2 tonne discovery is New Zealand's largest ever find by some margin. It's expected to land a major financial blow to the international illicit drug market, with the drug likely being destined for Australia. Police Commissioner Andrew Coster told Mike...

If and when the new Prime Minister gets around to his bread and butter reset, the work he has to do on Three Waters is going to be something to behold. That’s a genuinely complex issue that either most of us don’t get, or don’t want to - or a combination of the two. And it’s the co-governance aspect of it that kills it. Co-governance is not the way forward in this country, or indeed any country. T...

After not going ahead last year, the Burt Munro Challenge is set to commence today. Running for 16 years, the annual motorcycle challenge sees bikers compete in a range of racing challenges across Southland. This year they are expecting large crowds of supporters and entrants, along with a higher police presence to monitor gang members at the events. Burt Munro Challenge chair, Craig Hyde joined M...

There has been Opposition outrage at the Government's response to surging retail crime. Police received a record 10,000 incident reports in October last year, while the average in the year to November has almost doubled compared to 2018. National claims the Government's solutions aren't working, suggesting the crime prevention fund has had low business uptake. The party's Police Spokesperson Mark...

David Seymour is promising he can form a working Government with National, despite doubting it is much different from Labour. The Act Leader delivered a 'Road to real change' speech in Auckland on Tuesday, claiming there are few differences between the two Chrises vying to be Prime Minister. National is Act's likely coalition partner to form a Government and Seymour says a contingent of Act MPs ar...

Relief is on the way to Turkey and Syria after two devastating 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes. More than 6,300 people have died, with the World Health Organisation fearing the death toll could reach 20,000. The US is one of the 70 countries supplying aid, with President Joe Biden promising an immediate response. US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking a specialist team from Los Angele...

Something concrete is on its way about the Government's policy shake-up. It comes after a newly reshuffled Cabinet was asked to take another look at its priorities, in a bid to get back to political basics. The Prime Minister promised a government that’s focused on bread and butter issues. Chris Hipkins told Mike Hosking there will be some specifics later today. He says they'll be having conversat...

Japanese rugby is set to reap the benefits from this year's All Blacks World Cup exodus. 114-capped Aaron Smith and 112-capped Beauden Barrett will head for the Toyota Verblitz club at the end of the season, where Sir Steve Hansen is the director of rugby. Former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains has explained who gains most on the Mike Hosking Breakfast. “They’re both very talented, very knowledgeabl...

Police are standing by their approach to retail crime in the wake of surging incident reports. They received a record 10,000 reports of retail crime in the month of October last year, and the average in the year to November has almost doubled compared to 2018. But Police say numbers are probably up because they've made it easier for businesses to report incidents. Police Assistant Commissioner Jev...

New research has found people who have to pay prescription fees are more likely to end up in hospital. A year-long study involving more than 1,000 people shows for every 100 receiving free prescriptions, 33 were admitted to hospital and stayed 208 days. But for every 100 people still paying the charge, 41 were admitted to hospital and stayed 326 days. Pharmacist Din Redzepagic told Mike Hosking if...

One of the things that may be revealed out of the weather mess is the fact we are woefully underinsured as a country. It's these sorts of things that mark you as first world, or otherwise. One of the most insightful comments made over the summer was from David Seymour who expressed his profound concern that we are dangerously close to losing our first world status. He is right, but sadly it won't...

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined the Mike Hosking Breakfast to wrap the weekend's sporting news. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Latest data shows the tourism sector could be short 80,000 staff, an increase of 13,000 more than last year, with some concerned we may be going backwards. National have their own ideas of how we could fix the sector including scrapping the median wage and replacing it with an industry average, making sure key tourism roles have a pathway to residence, and processing work visas faster. But what do...

Despite government efforts to reduce single use plastics, we are producing record amounts of plastic waste worldwide. In 2021, we produced 139 million metric tons, 6 million metric tons more than 2019. You may find it hard to get a plastic straw and we all use reusable bags at the supermarket, but some are suggesting efforts are futile without everyone getting on board. Plastics NZ CEO Rachel Bark...

Calls for New Zealand to join in Australia in a major shakeup for local film and television production. From mid-2024, streaming services like Netflix, Disney and Amazon will be forced to reinvest 20 percent of their revenue back into the local market. This in turn could also see the companies produce a certain quota of domestic content. Directors and Editors Guild executive director Tui Ruwhiu to...

National is concerned rising court delays aren't being taken seriously by the Government. Data from October shows family court applications older than two years, have more-than doubled since 2017. Opposition Courts spokesperson Chris Penk told Mike Hosking it hasn't been a priority, according to the ministerial diary of former Courts Minister Aupito William Sio. He says in three months, he spent l...

501 deportees will be a hot topic when Chris Hipkins visits Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese. Today's one day trip to Canberra will be his first trip overseas as Prime Minister, the two have already spoken over the phone. There have been notable changes to 501s under Albanese, with time spent living in Australia now a big factor when cancelling a visa. Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Wal...

So Wayne Brown took some heat this week. Wayne is Auckland's mayor and Wayne wasn’t up to much, apparently, when he should have been last Friday. He has since apologised, called a review and rung the Herald to tell them not to “f “ him over. My observation of the week is a lot of people didn’t really perform the way they should have. But as I have said several times this week, I wasn’t expecting t...