The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to discuss the Premier League title race between Liverpool and Manchester City, the weekend’s Super Rugby, the Warriors’ defeat to the Sharks, Carlos Alcaraz Garfia’s victories over Djokovic and Nadal in the Madrid Open and the Miami Grand Prix. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nine’s “Great Debate” format has been slammed by viewers as a “s**tshow” after Sunday’s showdown descended into a shouting match between Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese. Furious Aussies wasted no time in slamming the debate on social media, with one describing it as the “worst debate I have ever seen”, and political commentator Ronni Salt declaring it an “insult to the audience”. This is the w...

So let me get this straight, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says we don’t want a knee jerk reaction to crime and ram raids. The Police Minister says the accusation that they are soft on crime is a sexist comment, crime is all about the gender of the minister. The police tell us repeatedly they have the resource they need. And yet, all of a sudden, we have half a billion dollars for crime, $100 mill...

First lady Jill Biden spent part of Mother's Day making an unannounced trip to Uzhhorod, Ukraine, a small city in the far southwestern corner of Ukraine, a country that for the last 10 weeks has been under invasion by Russia. At a converted school that now serves as temporary housing for displaced citizens, Biden met with Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska, who has not been seen in public since t...

The work of volunteers is making a big splash for wildlife in Wellington Harbour. Around a dozen divers have banded together and cleared the capital’s seafloor of rubbish near Clyde Quay. They collected six tonnes of trash in the area including items such as e-scooters, live bullets and an aircraft tyre. Ghost Diving President Rob Wilson told Mike Hosking their work is having a positive impact. He...

Allied health workers are taking a stand against poor pay. Workers from 70 professions are awaiting a pay offer from DHBs after a recent recommendation from the Employment Relations Authority.  From today, they'll work only their rostered hours and take scheduled breaks but are threatening bigger action next week.  Occupational therapist Dianna told Mike Hosking a significant number of workers hav...

The Police Minister says having small business engagement is key for Government's next steps in addressing the ram-raid surge. It's injecting over $562 million for more frontline officers, a new firearms unit and a package for businesses to protect themselves spread over the next four years. Poto Williams told Mike Hosking the package will tackle two of the biggest current concerns: guns and gangs...

More trouble in the House of Windsor. Harry and Meghan will be attending the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee with their children.  However, there’s a suggestion the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are bringing a team of Netflix filmmakers with them. Royal correspondent Phil Dampier told Mike Hosking there’s concern it could cause tension at the event if they do. “Royal courtiers reported this morning are very...

Confidence the Government's spend to combat ram-raids will make a difference. More than $562 million will be spread over four years for more frontline police, a new firearms unit and a package for businesses to protect themselves. Police Association President Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking police resources are stretched hugely across the board. “In the last few years, we’ve had 50 percent increase...

ACT is calling for major cuts to Government spending and an overhaul of the tax system. The party is launching its alternative budget this morning. It's proposing $5.3 billion dollars in Government spending cuts while increasing military spending to 2 percent of GDP. Act Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking the party wants a two-rate tax system, with a bottom rate of 17.5 percent for low earners...

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.   Trevor Mallard: 1/10 "Dick of the week. Or was he?"   Simon Henry: 1/10 "Talk about spoiled for choice."   Simon Bridges: 8/10 "He left in style, it was a good valedictory with good advice and lots to thinks about. I hope some of it might just be acted on."   Huffer: 7/10 "Spok...

Another of these strange made up claims this week masquerading as a report that suggests the solving of a problem, or perceived problem, can only happen if we changed the way we did things. A group called Mind the Gap likes the idea of forcing companies to publish their wages on a gender basis thus embarrassing them in paying more to women. The claim is, if we did this, we could increase females'...

The backlash against racist and sexist criticism of  Nadia Lim continue... Chemicals company CEO Simon Henry described Lim as a piece of "Eurasian fluff" -  and suggested her appearance could explain why his company had outperformed My Food Bag on the NZX and ASX. Lim responded on social media last night - saying Henry's comments are 'so damaging'. Shareholders' Association Chief Executive Oliver...

If you struggle in the kitchen, then there could be a solution for you just around the corner. Researchers at the University of Cambridge have designed a robot chef that can taste food at different stages of the process and give guidance on how much seasoning to use. Leader of the project Grzegorz Sochaki joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Wayne Smith era for the Black Ferns has begun. He's named his first squad, omitted some veterans, including the captain, and now has his work cut out for him to rebuild the culture ahead of a World Cup in October this year. Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What started as a punt, has become a relatively successful story in eradicating Mycoplasma bovis from New Zealand. Only one farm is left with the infection. It has been cleared from 271 farms - but not without herds lost, generations of genetics gone and claims from more than 2700 cases. Dairy New Zealand chair Jim van der Poel told Mike Hosking says it's been worth the shot. “We took a punt and s...

A gesture from one of our two big supermarket companies. Countdown says from Monday, it's putting a price freeze on 500 items for the winter months, everything from cheese and butter to carrots and pumpkin. It's in response to the cost of living crisis. But, Consumer New Zealand Chief Executive Jon Duffy told Mike Hosking it's just masking the real problem, which is that the industry is broken. “S...

The Auditor-General's being commended for flagging issues with the transparency of the Government's Covid response fund. John Ryan has written to Treasury, saying MPs and the general public haven't been getting enough information about how the $74 billion fund is being spent. Treasury has now published details on how much funding has been set aside and how it has been allocated. But Ryan says it's...

What I wasn’t expecting in yesterday's unemployment number is that it would go nowhere. Just think about it, how is that possible? Everyone was forecasting 3.1 or 3 percent, down from 3.2 percent. Why? Because given what we know about work and the desperate shortage of skills and massive demand for labour, how is it possible we have so many people jobless and yet not able to find a single day's wo...

How do you recover from meeting your hero? Country Americana powerhouse Tami Neilson is wrestling with just that. The Canadian New Zealander recently returned from a trip to Texas, where she performed at Luck Reunion, a festival held on Willie Nelson's ranch on March 17. Not only that, but the country music legend performed one of Neilson's songs alongside her, in the first international show she'...

Grant Robertson says the Government's doing what it can to get more workers into the country. The unemployment rate remains unchanged at a very low 3.2 percent. The Finance Minister says work is still continuing to open the border to visa waiver countries, and Immigration New Zealand will need time to process visa applications. But he told Mike Hosking the Government is working to reopen the count...

New Zealand is facing staffing issues facing the aged care sector. It could be the issue of underfunding that causes the closures. Aged Care Matters have a report out that surveyed sector leaders who say the concerns have reached breaking point. 47 percent say they are unlikely to build new beds in the next year, 65 percent say it's very likely or likely they will have to stop or restrict the numb...

Waikato nurses who put their hand up to help in MIQ, say they aren't able to get their old jobs back. The nurses who previously worked at Waikato Hospital, understood they'd be able to return to their roles after their MIQ work was done. While other DHBs redeployed their nurses on a secondment basis, those at Waikato DHB were given new permanent positions. Nurses' Organisation Chief Executive Paul...

Winston Peters says it's no longer tenable for Speaker Trevor Mallard to stay in his job. Mallard has withdrawn trespass orders against five people who attended the recent anti-mandate protests - all former MPs. Two other people who attended the protests will continue to be banned from visiting Parliament Grounds for the next two years. The New Zealand First leader told Mike Hosking Mallard has mi...

Auckland Airport is welcoming back international travellers, although most of its food and retail stores are yet to open. Vaccinated tourists can now come here from up to 60 visa-waiver countries. Currently there are limited dining and shopping options for them to choose from at the international terminal. Auckland Airport Chief Executive Carrie Hurihanganui told Mike Hosking about 30 percent of s...