Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Commonwealth Games is officially underway. The opening ceremony has just concluded, with 72 nations being paraded around Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. Our team of 233 athletes is being led by Joelle King and Tom Walsh. Chef de Mission Nigel Avery joined Mike Hosking before the opening ceremony began. LISTEN ABOVE  

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: 2/10 "The important issue of the week. The facts, now laid bare, show they’ve blown this for us and the economy. The bailout has begun to the tune of $9 billion and counting. What's not to review?"   David Seymour: 6/10 "Most sensible political point of the week. He wouldn’t have indemnified the Reserve Bank when they printed money. Grant Robertson knew better and look where that got us. At least $150 million a month, every month for five years."   The Green Party Leadership Vote: 2/10 "What a staggeringly ill-conceived and hair brained cock up. Who is the candidate? Hello? Anyone home? Hello, did anyone think about a plan?"   Christopher Luxon's Te Puke/Hawaii Drama: 4/10 "He was let down by a media team that should have known better on a day when he wanted to

We end the week with a couple of unresolved issues. First, the Green Party leadership. What a complete and utter bust that has been. If you were looking to make a dick of yourself, you could not have done it better than the Greens have this week. They vote to open nominations for co-leader because James Shaw isn't what they like. And what happens next? A media that looks desperate to fill the space with speculation as to who might run. And slowly but surely two names that could be, might be running, don’t. Chlöe Swarbrick, who may or may not be a political talent, doesn’t want it. That's probably wise. And Elizabeth Kerekere, who is only known by anyone outside the party because she famously as Covid spokesperson got on a plane as a household contact, thus, showing us she didn’t have the slightest idea about the Government's Covid rules. So here we are with crickets chirping. Shaw will hold his job, as he should because he is the best thing

The Revenue Minster says the government knew some people living overseas would get the Cost of Living payment, when it was announced. People earning $70,000 or less, who aren't on a benefit, will receive the first of three $116 instalments today. But some New Zealanders living overseas and former migrants are also getting it. Minister David Parker says they're New Zealand taxpayers, and the alternative was not making the payment at all. He says the only other way to get around it was to make everyone eligible apply and the admin involved in that would have been a huge waste of money. LISTEN ABOVE

A spring in the step of tourism businesses today, with New Zealand's border now fully open for the first time in more than two years. All visa categories are open for travellers from anywhere -- and cruise ships can return. Tourism Industry Aotearoa chief Rebecca Ingram says they're not expecting an immediate influx of visitors. But she told Mike Hosking the buzz around the industry is positive. Ingram says they're starting to see enquiries and bookings for the summer, but it'll be two to three years before we find a new normal. LISTEN ABOVE  

It is a tough time to be in the construction industry. The annual construction industry survey shows on top of battling the well-known skill and worker shortages and cost escalations, which more and more think will affect future growth, there's also a lack of project certainty and the need for government policy changes to improve productivity and actually allow the sector to deliver on infrastructure works. CEO of Civil Contractors NZ Alan Pollard joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE

Our serial underfunding of the aged care sector could come back to bite a lot of older New Zealanders. A new NZIER report has found that we often access finance for residential care by selling our homes, but with declining home ownership rates that pathway is looking less likely. We also spend less government money compared to other OECD countries and haven't changed the funding model since the year 2000. Arvida CEO and Aged Care Matters spokesperson Jeremy Nicolls joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE

Corbin Strong has secured New Zealand's sixth track-cycling gold medal at the Commonwealth Games after producing an upset performance in the men's 15km Scratch Race. Strong, whose previous best result on the world stage was a first place in the Points Race at the 2020 Cycling World Champs, launched a bold attack with Scotland's John Archibold and Wales' William Roberts with 43 laps left to run in the race. The attack seemed to take the rest of the peloton by surprise as they failed to put together any sign of a counter-attack until it was too late. The result was that, with 10 laps to go, Strong's group lapped the main group of riders, leaving them as the sole medal contenders. It was at that stage that teammates Campbell Stewart and George Jackson mucked in to do their best to help Strong; initially giving him a chance to rest his legs somewhat in their draft, before positioning him superbly to sprint to the finish line and a gold me

I am led to believe that today marks the fifth anniversary of Jacinda Ardern  and her arrival as head of the Labour Party. Andrew Little imploded. But, to his credit, he admitted he wasn’t the man and quit. In came this new young leader whose job was to resurrect the Labour fortunes which were at the time sitting at about 24 percent in the polls. Resurrect them she did. On election night they ended up with about 37 percent. I distinctly remember it. I was hosting the television coverage and I watched as she left her house headed for the big speech. She looked deflated. Yes, it wasn’t 24 percent but it also wasn’t a win. National beat them and fairly easily, but they would need Winston Peters. And so the latest chapter of the New Zealand government had begun. The rest is history but the history is the story of Ardern. And the story on this day marking five years shows us the best days are behind her. Short of her turning out to be a John Howard type figure, which she i

Adventure tourism operators could benefit by emphasising the wellbeing benefits of outdoor activities. During the 2020 lockdown, Otago University spoke to people who regularly do adventure sports, but weren’t able to. It found they coped quite well, as they'd built up skills like being able to embrace challenges and adapt to things outside their control.  Co-author of the study associate professor Susan Houge Mackenzie joined Tim Dower. LISTEN ABOVE

The Government is making yet another attempt to fix our housing issues with its multi-billion dollar fund for housing infrastructure. Now officially up and running with seven regional schemes to put in all the basic infrastructure needed to support subdivisions. You've just heard the Minister insist this isn't doubling up or even tripling up on work that should be paid for by developers, or by the local bodies that charge the earth for building consents. If you've ever gone down that road, you'll know you pay a development contribution that's meant to cover your slice. Anyway, it's expected to basically lay the groundwork for about 8000 homes over the next 20 years. Heck of a long way from that KiwiBuild promise of 100,000 new homes. So far, six years in and we've got how many? Well the most recent number the Minister gave last month 1,365 New Zealand families are actually in KiwiBuild homes. Another 856 are currently under construction, just wait

Kerre Woodham and Tim Wilson joined Tim Dower to wrap the week's news. LISTEN ABOVE

James Shaw might not have paid close enough attention to dissatisfaction within his own party. The Greens have voted to reopen nominations for Shaw's co-leadership position, as part of the annual process of reconfirming their two leaders. Former Green MP Gareth Hughes told Mike Hosking the party has always been distrustful of leadership and power. He says the whole party was set up as a new way of doing politics, and for the first five years it didn't even have a leader. LISTEN ABOVE

A compromise is being proposed in the controversial Three Waters reform. The Bill currently before select committee would transfer responsibility for all tap water, sewage and stormwater from local councils to four new regional agencies. Now the body representing councils, Local Government New Zealand, has put forward the idea of local bodies keeping control of stormwater until councils are ready to transition.  President Stuart Crosby told Mike Hosking one size doesn't fit all.  LISTEN ABOVE

As the school gates reopen for another term, teachers are throwing their support behind new Covid-19 guidelines. The Ministry of Education has written to schools asking them to enforce mask wearing policies. Auckland Primary Principals Association President Wendy Kofoed told Mike Hosking mask-wearing is a small price to keep kids in the classroom. LISTEN ABOVE  

Efforts to turn the tide on harmful content online. NetSafe has reached an agreement with Meta, Google, TikTok, Amazon and Twitter for a code of practice, obliging the tech giants to actively reduce damaging material.  It's self-regulated and voluntary, but NetSafe's Brent Carey told Mike Hosking it'll hold the companies accountable through a public complaints process. He says that'll help determine what's considered harmful. Carey says there are some definitions already, but they'll be tested over time through the complaints process. LISTEN ABOVE  

Andrew Saville and Guy Heveldt joined Mike Hosking to wrap the weekend's sport. LISTEN ABOVE

As schools return, let’s begin the term with a little Economics 101. When you artificially inject yourself into an economy with the view to helping people out financially, what do you do? Do you: - Give the help to everyone no matter whether they need it or not? - Give it those who need it most? - When do you stop, and under what circumstances? - Was any of this explained in a way at the start that would allow you to enter the programme and exit it, in a way as to avoid fiscal and political fallout? - If not, why not? So, we got the extension of the petrol subsidy last Sunday. We got it last Sunday out of the blue because the Government knew on Monday the inflation figures were coming out, and they would be ugly, and they would yet again be faced with the quite accurate charge that they are economically incompetent. So what better way to appease a growing number of angry people than to give us all some free stuff? You might remember after the budget, Grant Ro

It seems TikTok can even influence what we choose to read. The Whitcoulls top 10 is out this morning - and the usual likes of Harry Potter dominate the list. But 20 out of the top 100 are books that rose to fame thanks to BookTok - a section of TikTok that's dedicated to book reviews and endorsements. Marketing manager at publisher Hachette NZ Sacha Beguely uses BookTok to advertise and she joined Mike Hosking. LISTEN ABOVE

Personnel changes are coming to the All Blacks in time for the Rugby Championship. John Plumtree and Brad Mooar have been sacked as assistant coaches and the Crusader's Jason Ryan will take control of the forwards. Head coach Ian Foster will temporarily also be in charge of the backs. Former All Black Ian Jones joined Mike Hosking to give his thoughts on the appointments. LISTEN ABOVE