The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A bit of insight into wars and conflicts plaguing the world from one of the world's leading military brains. Major General Mick Ryan served in the Australian military for more than 30 years - and ended up becoming director general of the Australian Defence College. He was awarded the Order for Australia for his leadership of the 1st reconstruction task force in Afghanistan. Since his retirement -...

We've seen the ugly side of the community lately with the ram raids and shootings and burglaries galore. But here is an example of the good side. Doug Jarvis is a butcher and has been for 44 years - his stores had been frequently targeted in burglaries recently and as a result he was due to close one of them because of the effects it was having on his blood pressure. But the community rallied behi...

The Police Commissioner says officers are making progress in fighting gun crime. There were multiple drive by shootings in Auckland last week Andrew Coster says there have been seven arrests related to those shootings, he says they have been grabbed for those shootings and other unrelated crimes. Some of those are gang related. Coster told Mike Hosking cops are dealing with a tough environment. LI...

Pacific business leaders are keeping an open mind about China's big push into the Pacific. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has failed to convince Pacific countries to sign up to a new wide-ranging trade and security pact. However, he has has struck an agreement on areas of cooperation, and says we shouldn't be too anxious about China's intentions in the region. Former Cook Islands Chamber of Comm...

The Food and Grocery Council says new supermarket regulations will start to make real change for the sector. The Government will put in a regulator, a code of conduct and mandatory unit pricing. The council says getting rid of exclusivity in leases should free up spots for non-duopoly competitors in malls and shopping centres. Chief Executive Katherine Rich told Mike Hosking measures like the code...

Banks are preparing for further hikes following last week's Official Cash Rate increase. The Reserve Bank raised the OCR by 50 basis points to 2 per cent and signalled it'll go higher still. ANZ and Kiwibank have both increased mortgage and deposit rates in the wake of the hike, Kiwibank lifting its headline rate for a two-year fixed mortgage to 5.19 per cent. Kiwibank chief executive Steve Jurkov...

Nationals deputy leader David Littleproud has confirmed he will challenge Barnaby Joyce as the leader when the party meets in Canberra on Monday. He follows Gippsland MP Darren Chester, who has also announced his intention to contest the party’s top job. Mr Littleproud, Maranoa MP and former agriculture minister, said he advised Mr Joyce of his intention on Saturday. “This afternoon I advised Barn...

Depressing, and yet encouraging as well. Lani Fogelberg, a young entrepreneur, serves it up the way it is in the Herald on Saturday. It's a must-read, if you missed it. Depressing because it’s a realistic take on the country as it currently sits. But encouraging because we are seeing, at long last, an increasing series of people speak out on the way we are being led and why we are where we are. Fo...

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to recap the White Ferns contract situation, the latest from Silver Lake, the Warriors’ week from hell and Steven Alker’s Senior PGA Championship run. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The bright sunshine in Uvalde belies the cloud of anger and anguish enveloping the small Texas city. Local funeral homes are so overwhelmed, it will take weeks to bury some of the 19 children and two teachers killed Tuesday at Robb Elementary School. And days after the massacre, victims' families learned more about what really happened in classrooms 111 and 112 during their loved ones' final momen...

A mass exodus with indications that up to 50,000 Kiwis could be leaving the country by the year's end. It comes as many New Zealanders who returned home when the pandemic struck are also jetting back off overseas. OneStaff Chief Executive Jon Ives says told Mike Hosking there are many contributing factors at play, the most obvious being our border closures for the past two years. “And we are coupl...

A media personality who’s gone through surrogacy says removing the courts from the process would be a game-changer. The Law Commission’s made 63 recommendations to simplify New Zealand’s surrogacy framework.  Toni Street says the original law is from 1955 and change is long overdue.  She says the best amendment is the one to the legal requirements of intending parents.  Street told Mike Hosking th...

An analyst says New Zealand is right to be worried about China's big push into the Pacific. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is set to meet with Pacific nations in Fiji today to discuss a new agreement, giving it greater economic and security access to the region. Ahead of that meeting, Samoa has already signed a deal with China to strengthen diplomatic relations. China analyst Rodney Jones told M...

Documents from the Ministry of Health raise concerns over the state of mental health services for children. They detail how funding for child mental health services isn't keeping up with demand, with the number of young people taken to ED because of a mental health incident rising by 177 per cent in the past 10 years. Health Minister Andrew Little told Mike Hosking mental health services for child...

Don't expect fuel prices to come down anytime soon. The country has hit a record high when it comes to the cost of importing petrol. Importers paid $1.59 per litre for 91, and $1.62 for 95 in the week to May 20th - 90 cents higher than the same week last year. Z Energy Chief Executive Mike Bennetts told Mike Hosking there are three key drivers, including tight supply. “The world’s economy is recov...

The Herald focus team did what we should all be doing. They worked out exactly how much you can save at a supermarket if you want to. Complaining about the price of things is easy. And when the two major players got into the game of making a contribution towards savings and price cuts, most people viewed it through a very cynical eye. But what I have been trying to argue is that although there is...

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.   The Reserve Bank and the OCR: 3/10 "Rate rises for as far as the eye can see. If that doesn’t tell you how bad it is, nothing does."   Government's Ram Raid Announcement: 6/10 "At last some help yesterday for the embattled, beleaguered retailer. A few jail terms might not go am...

If you're an employer and offer flexible working options, you're opening up the talent pool by 45 percent. Frog Recruitment has released their 2022 Employment and Salary Trend report - and it's still all about the flexibility. The other big benefits that employees are after is career development, and then bonuses. Frog Recruitment’s Managing Director, Shannon Barlow joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABO...

New research reveals Auckland's traffic woes are getting worse. The latest  AA report shows when the city wasn't in lockdown in the middle of last year,  typical morning travel times were worse than the three years before the pandemic. AA Senior Policy Advisor Sarah Geard told Mike Hosking the results were surprising. She says given Auckland's population declined slightly last year they thought th...

The Johnny Depp and Amber Heard defamation trial is coming to the end of its sixth week. Depp is suing his ex-wife over an opinion piece, where she describes herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. He denies he ever struck Heard and says she was the abuser in the relationship. Celebrity divorce lawyer Christopher Melcher told Mike Hosking despite all the evidence, it's uncertain wh...

Auckland's biggest supplier of sand for concrete is still fighting to mine a beach north of the city. Earlier this month, McCallum Brothers was declined resource consent by Auckland Council for offshore sand extraction at Pakiri Beach, due to concerns for the likes of marine and bird life. They have now lodged an appeal to the Environment Court, claiming the environment will be worse off, if they...

Disagreement between National and the construction industry, over the pressures facing the industry. The recent liquidation of Tauranga's Oceanside Homes and Wellington's Armstrong Downes has exposed the pressures the multi-billion dollar industry is under. National MP Andrew Bayly told Mike Hosking the issues could tip the economy into recession. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...

Dairy owners say $6 million to stop ram raids is too little too late. The funding, announced by Police Minister Poto Williams, will come out of the Proceeds of Crime Fund to help vulnerable businesses bolster their protection. It will help pay for bollards and other security measures to prevent offenders breaking into and robbing stores. Sunny Kaushal from the Dairy Owners' Association told Mike H...

The great tragedy, or sadness, for me out of the Nanaia Mahuta revelation is that we are being let down so badly by hopeless people. Forget politics and your personal view of the world, surely what you want in the leadership of your country is enquiring minds, experience, and institutional knowledge. You want people, who even though you may not agree with, at least you can see what they are trying...

Star Wars has turned out to be one of the largest and most successful franchises in media history, but few of us will ever know what it is like to be a part of it. Moses Ingram made her name a couple of years ago starring alongside Anya Taylor Joy in The Queen's Gambit. That role earned her an Emmy nomination. Now, she's playing a starring role in Disney Plus' new expansion in the Star Wars univer...