The Mike Hosking Breakfast

For me, the more interesting aspect of our Roe v Wade reaction is the intolerance of so many in a country that would argue the opposite. We love free speech, we love freedom of thought, and we love our ‘rights’, all of our ‘rights’, until of course it affects us or affronts us. Then we go nuts. I got a lot of reaction to the Simon O’Connor post on Roe v Wade, National had just lost half their vote...

Since December the government has spent $1.2 billion on emergency housing, with a lot of it on housing people in motels around the country. There are currently 8000 households living in emergency housing around the country, working out to $150,000 spent on each household. Rotorua Lakes councillor and chair of Whanau Ora Merepeka Raukawa-Tait is right in the thick of it all in her city and joined M...

Air New Zealand's Dreamliners are undergoing the airline's biggest cabin transformation in almost 20 years. The airline's new planes will be fitted with new-style seats throughout and will have an ultra-luxe business class area, the outdated herringbone layout in Business Premier is being modified, and there will be new areas for passengers further back in the plane to graze and stretch during fli...

There's no guarantee Jacinda Ardern will come home from this week's visit to Europe with a free trade agreement with the EU. The Prime Minister is pushing the deal during meetings with European leaders. She's received support from Spanish President Pedro Sánchez‌ during a meeting in Madrid overnight, but other EU members are more reluctant to sign an FTA. Reporter Thomas Coughlan is travelling wit...

Health Minister Andrew Little is being accused of spending too much on reform, rather than access to healthcare. The country's 20 DHBs warned the Government a year ago of "critical workforce issues", calling it an "unsustainable situation". They wrote to the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, warning some overloaded hospitals were at "code red". National Party Health spokesperson Dr....

Contact Energy says potential electricity shortages shouldn't worry people. It follows concerns being averted both last night and last week, after warnings there were risks of insufficient power generation and reserve to meet demand. Chief Executive Mike Fuge told Mike Hosking we're never close to the edge, as the country has a robust power system and recent events show it responds well. “Sometime...

Part of the reason we started student loans is before that it was all funded by the taxpayer. So, like when anything is free, people just wandered off to university to see what it was all about, to see if there was anything they liked, and to just generally “discover themselves.“ That led to a tremendous number of people never completing anything, as they worked out tertiary study wasn’t for them....

Phil Tippett is a Hollywood legend - he's an Oscar awarding-winning animator, visual artist and supervisor. He's known as the father of stop-motion animation and CGI - and is the man behind the stop motion characters in the Star Wars universe, the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, and is behind RoboCop. He's taken home two Oscars, a BAFTA and two Emmys for his work. Now he's making his directorial debut...

Look no further than the mighty Hamilton for how a city survives during a pandemic when it isn't locked down. A recently released 2021 economic report shows that Hamilton has had the strongest economy compared to other cities. Since 2019 it's GDP has increased 4.3 percent - compared to 3.3 percent for Wellington, 3.1 percent for Christchurch, 0.4 percent for Auckland and 3.6 percent across the cou...

Just as the excitement was building for the first All Blacks test of the year - Covid has struck. Ian Foster and his assistants John Plumtree and Scott McLeod are out of action with the virus. Add to that midfielders David Havili and Jack Goodhue testing postive. Former Ireland coach Joe Schmidt is being brought in to help - but what does something like this do for preparations? All Blacks assista...

ACT says Labour's attempt to change the rules around political party donations will have the opposite effect. Justice Minister Kiri Allan's Electoral Amendment Bill will lower the limit for public disclosure of donors from $15,000 to $5,000 by the 2023 election. But, ACT Party Leader David Seymour says no one gets any undue influence over any New Zealand party for $15,000. He says they're reducing...

Warnings from industry leaders that the housing crisis could deepen and property prices could spiral again, if new builds stall. The Master Builders Association says supply chain issues and rising material costs are behind a drop in sales and inquiries for new housing builds, as lending becomes tougher and banks want fixed-price contracts. Vice-President Johnny Calley told Mike Hosking it's the ha...

The head of the Defence Force says New Zealand's contribution to Ukraine is being appreciated. The Government is committing another $4.5 million towards non-lethal military aid. Ukrainians in New Zealand have criticised the Government for not providing more support, including lethal aid. But Air Marshal Kevin Short told Mike Hosking Ukraine and our western allies appreciate the professional suppor...

An electoral law expert says New Zealand's threshold for anonymous donations is still higher than many countries. The Government has announced tighter party donation rules, including a requirement that all donors above $5,000 be identified. This was previously $15,000, but expert Graeme Edgeler told Mike Hosking it varies around the world. He says it's somewhat high compared to countries like the...

As if the Government didn’t have enough credibility issues, the inevitable Mahuta investigation has begun against the backdrop of the Prime Minister saying she had her full confidence. There is something not right about the whole Mahuta thing. The Foreign Affairs appointment came so far out of left field it made the Poto Williams appointment look like a stroke of genius. A person who hates flying...

An interview for the history books. Wairarapa MP Kieran McAnulty has taken over Tim Shadbolt's world record for the longest live interview of all time. The Chief Labour whip told Mike Hosking doing the exercise was worth it. He says while it's quite a cool experience, it was primarily for raising money for the Rural Support Trust in which donations have totalled around $4000 so far. LISTEN ABOVE S...

The 2022 State of Origin series is going to a series decider in Brisbane. The Maroons are heading home for the series finale absolutely decimated after they were put to the sword by the Blues in a second half rampage in Perth on Sunday night. The Blues crossed for five second half tries to win 44-12 in a game that was riddled with controversy. Some Queensland commentators are still crying foul aft...

National Leader Christopher Luxon is making his position on abortion crystal clear. In the wake of the removal of a constitutional right to an abortion in the US, Luxon's pro-life stance has been brought into question. He's vowing there will be no revisiting of our laws under a future National Government. Luxon told Mike Hosking he has a personal pro-life view, but no politician's role is to force...

Two unions are calling for "fares-free" public transport in Auckland. A report from First Union and the Public Service Association says it would help alleviate pressure on families,  and help Auckland's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. First Union's Louisa Jones told Mike Hosking currently, Aucklanders pay a lot of money for petrol to join a daily grid lock which is unproductive. She says the...

A dangerous drug that kills tens of thousands of people in the U.S each year has reached our shores. Twelve people have been hospitalised after taking a powdered form of fentanyl in Wairarapa over 48 hours, following the drug being sold as methamphetamine or cocaine. Drug Detection Agency chief operating officer Glenn Dobson told Mike Hosking it's part of a much bigger picture involving organised...

A division in the United States over how long the angst and anger surrounding the removal of the constitutional right to an abortion will last. Termination law has been given back to the states which could mean bans in more than half of them. Washington Post political reporter Annie Linskey says Democrats believe the angst and anger will continue all the way up until the mid-term elections in Nove...

As I understand the metaverse it will eventually be a place where you live that’s so real you may not know where you are, here or the metaverse. At the moment, as I understand, the metaverse it's just a bunch of avatars, like avatars on games. In fact, the metaverse as I understand it right now just looks like a cheap game. Some are starting to take it seriously. A Minister from a Middle Eastern g...

Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined Mike Hosking to wrap the week that was. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.   MIQ: 2/10 "The not appealing bit was the right thing to do, but the not apologising is this Government to a tee. Say you are right until you are not and never say sorry. It's kindness personified."   Polls: 7/10 "This week's Curia poll have National and ACT forming a government...

Fletcher Building says the plasterboard shortage should be sorted by October. Chief Executive Ross Taylor has spoken at an investor presentation about measures being taken to control and increase supply. That includes its allocation model and importing Australian board. He told Mike Hosking they've also reconfigured their plasterboard factory to lift production. Taylor says supply should be hittin...