/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/rss 九一星空无限 Tue, 16 Sept 2025 04:10:02 Z en /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-labour-is-watching-the-m%C4%81ori-party-closely/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-labour-is-watching-the-m%C4%81ori-party-closely/ I see the plan.  Labour is sweating the current Māori Party meltdown, so they have rolled out Willie Jackson, who claims Takuta Ferris is handing political extremists ammunition to paint the Māori Party as too weird to ever do business with Labour.  There are several problems with the plan.  Firstly, post the by-election Willie has no credibility.  Willie couldn’t win a raffle, far less a vote. And not only couldn’t he win the vote, he couldn’t get anyone out to even contemplate voting. What we saw a couple of weeks ago in Auckland was the biggest by-election shambles in many a long year.  The next problem is the Māori Party are too wacky to ever be in Government, Ferris or no Ferris. In citing Ferris as some sort of issue, you are forgetting Packer, Waititi, and Maipi-Clark, and all the others who found themselves in front of the Privileges Committee and sanctioned in a way we had not seen previously.  These are not people remotely interested in working with others.  In that is the real issue for Labour. It's not the Māori Party's problem.  If the Māori Party weren't attached to a centre-left bloc by polling, none of this Ferris nonsense would be of any interest to anyone.  But because mathematically they are needed in an invented deal for polling purposes, they take on a larger importance.  Without them Labour stand zero chance in the election next year.  To make the story interesting, the pollsters and the media have to align all three parties otherwise the narrative doesn’t work.  Then there's the other issue for Willie: the so-called "political extremists" he talks of. Another name for them is middle New Zealand, who saw what Labour, and Labour alone, did with Māoridom 2020-2023 with the obsession, the name changes, the new rules and courses and the compulsion around all things Māori. Talk about turning the punter off with obsession.  Between the Greens with their Palestine and wealth tax fascination and the Māori Party and their separatism, no wonder Labour are worried.  They have freaks for friends.  Mon, 15 Sept 2025 22:16:36 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-noeline-taurua-has-been-badly-treated/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-noeline-taurua-has-been-badly-treated/ Noeline Taurua isn't the first coach to be badly treated. But she might be the most successful and well regarded. Sport is a funny thing, especially nowadays where it seems to want to walk a line between being successful and being modern, or dare I suggest the word "woke"? Last week when reports of players feeling unsafe emerged I didn’t even know what they meant by that. "Unsafe" is something that might happen in the dark, in an alley. It’s a physical danger thing, as opposed to an emotional state on a court. On a court you can be exhausted, or exhilarated, or furious, or elated. I just can't work out how you are "unsafe". Which in part is the problem. It's an invention or a new derivation of the word. Your “environment” has been interfered with. Even if you accept its new usage it’s the sort of thing you might find on a university campus among the angsty. On a sports field or court it has no place. Even less so if that court is at the elite level. Cycling had a horrible time, but that was abuse. Is netball talking about abuse? Does Taurua abuse people? That doesn’t seem to be the suggestion. Next problem is the lack of clarity, if not honesty. All reports seem to indicate "unsafe" is code for the coach being old fashioned, demanding high standards and not putting up with slackness. We used to like that approach. That approach was the norm. The only purpose of elite sport is victory. It exists for no other reason than to let a chosen few express themselves in a way where they win and others can piggyback by way of TV licensing and ticket sales. Unless Noeline Taurua has had a personality transformation and they are all wandering around at Netball NZ going "what happened to Noels, man she's changed", which I suspect hasn’t happened, then what we are left with is the inescapable conclusion that Taurua is the victim of soft management in a world where every crybaby is “heard” and the ultimate victim, in an irony of irony's, is one of the sport's greatest exponents. She is benched while the woke in the boardroom wreck the national women's sport. Sun, 14 Sept 2025 21:22:33 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-heres-the-truth-on-working-from-home/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-heres-the-truth-on-working-from-home/ Hasn’t working from home become funny?  Seek have produced a thing called Money Matters, and they look at work-life balance.  Actually, hasn’t that become a thing as well – work-life balance. I can't place it exactly, but it seems like a Covid thing. The world changed and so did we.  Working hard is now so last year, or so last decade. We all long for work-life balance with a good sprinkling of mental health days.  But working from home is a scam because according to Money Matters if you got a pay rise you would go back to the office quick as you like.  So is it about work-life balance or is it about money?  Everything is about money. We just like to pretend it isn't. You feel more virtuous if you pretend it isn't about money.  But Money Matters spills the truth. Working from home is easier, we save on the commute, you claim you are more productive, blah blah blah. "Hey, how about 20% more?" Then you're out of there.  We would work more hours for more money, we would take on an increased workload for more money, and we would commute further for more money.  There isn't much we wouldn't do for more money.  The work from home thing, by the way, is funny because before Covid there was virtually no such thing. The idea that you could invent a thing and then having invented it, because we were all locked down anyway, turn it into a permanent thing that could only be broken by a pay rise is the ultimate in farce. It's an insight into how quickly a habit can form if it suits you.  Anyway, the only other thing that can make us blow up our precious work-life balance is more time off.  But it still doesn’t beat money.  It's why lotto is popular I guess – money solves everything.  Do we value work-life balance? My word we do.  But do we value it more than money? Don’t make me laugh.  Fri, 12 Sept 2025 22:21:51 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-the-by-election-was-a-bust-on-every-level/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-the-by-election-was-a-bust-on-every-level/ 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 cathedral: 7/10  If I wasn’t from Christchurch, I doubt I'd be gripped, but that thing is in such desperate need of being sorted so a new plan is most welcome.    The by-election: 3/10  A bust on every level, but mostly for the lack of interest in basic democracy.    Charter schools: 7/10  The first public, publicly declared school having a look at the option. The idea might have come of age.    Compulsory KiwiSaver: 6/10  Between Peters and several new reports, it's building a head of steam as an idea. The ideas time might have come.    Takuta Ferris: 1/10  Idiot.    The Warriors: 8/10  Webster was right yesterday: it is a new season now. We are 6th and 6th is good, 6th is alive, and 6th is a ticket to the big dance. Let's dance!    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW  Thu, 11 Sept 2025 22:11:05 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-charter-schools-starting-to-get-their-day-in-the-sun/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-charter-schools-starting-to-get-their-day-in-the-sun/ My uplifting story of the week involves charter schools.  Charter schools are the little idea that could. Or maybe they are the big game-changing idea that could.  We heard this week of the first public school wanting to explore the charter route.  It's in Northland and it's being driven by the realisation that what they currently do doesn’t work for their kids.  And that is the genesis of the charter school thinking.  Remember, charter schools go back to a previous Government, before Labour took to them in 2017.  So this isn't new. But the basic premise was one size does not fit all and a lot of kids may well benefit from different styles and approaches to learning.  I have been a fan from day one. Not because charter schools are magic bullets, but rather the simple premise that what we have demonstrably doesn’t work for everyone.  You can't hide from the facts and the truth and our pass rates, our success rates, are shocking.  The unions simply bleat for more resource. Even if it is a partial answer, it isn't close to being the whole answer and their myopic view that there can only be one way is a very large part of the overall handbrake that has prevented real change and advancement.  The Northland school, I thought, gave excellent insight. They have good people, they work hard, but they are simply not getting the cut through, so they need to try something different. They didn’t used to be “for” charter schools, but just their ability to accept change needs to be admired and encouraged.  Chris Hipkins as Education Minister in 2017 killed them. Not because they weren't working, but because he is beholden to the unions and there was no way they were ever going to get a chance to prove them wrong.  So what we have seen this time round is no shortage of demand for schools. In fact, more schools are demanding it than there is money allocated.  We see the first public school, or at least the first public school prepared to admit they want to look at change, which leads surely to a growing sense charter schools might at last have their time.  Some may well turn out to be brilliant, lives may well get changed and the recognition of a decent idea may well be widely accepted.  It seems the momentum is on.  Thu, 11 Sept 2025 22:03:17 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-public-support-could-be-tipping-away-from-teachers/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-public-support-could-be-tipping-away-from-teachers/ As the teachers maybe, maybe not accept their pay offers and maybe, maybe not go on strike yet again, I can't help but worry about the new recruits.  We were busy celebrating just last week, enrolments to become teachers have gone up markedly – big, big increases.  This seems, on the surface anyway, to in part be a solution to a long-term problem, i.e. our permanent shortage in a profession that has lost its lustre.  I am not against migration to solve issues, but there is a balance to be struck and you would like to think that the profession is actually staffed by people who like what they do, and not a pile of recent arrivals whose main criteria for being in a New Zealand classroom was to be in the country, not the job itself.  So, lots of new recruits, good. But once out the other side, what awaits them, and does it look like the ongoing industrial mess that pervades our work landscape at the moment?  Do these recruits know what they will get paid? What their conditions are? Do they know what actually teaching in a New Zealand classroom in 2025 entails and looks like?  Because somewhere between the enthusiasm of enrolment and the jaded misery of experience a decade on, something dramatically goes wrong.  The money seems decent —not spectacular, but decent— the same way it seems decent for nurses and doctors.  It seems to me we have got to a point where no small amount of energy, money, and change has been put into education, and between that and the pay, it’s not a bad deal.  Yes, it's challenging, given kids and their issues. Yes, you'd like more specialist teachers, or non-contact time, or whatever, but negotiations are quin pro quo.  The rises we have seen in recent years, the change currently being implemented to turbo charge performance by way of results, seems to be setting us up for a decent sort of system producing a decent sort of outcome.  Is it the unions that are wrecking this? Are they really the impediment? Do most teachers just want to get on with it?   We seem at a place where the public support is most certainly not what it was for the teachers' plight, and might just be tipping against them.  Wed, 10 Sept 2025 23:17:58 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-issue-hipkins-has-with-the-m%C4%81ori-party/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-issue-hipkins-has-with-the-m%C4%81ori-party/ I have been wondering when the penny would drop and yesterday might have been it.  There were two stories on Chris Hipkins' problems with the Māori Party.   For all the energy the media wants to put into Chris Luxon and his future, the very obvious other side of the coin, if they ever wanted to explore it, lies in the very real issue for Labour in even coming close to putting together the numbers for a government.  The genesis of the coverage came out of the Takuta Ferris post on all the "Asians and blacks" and other racist bile he managed to pedal in the lead up to last Saturday's debacle of a by-election.  The Māori Party had to apologise, and obviously Hipkins had to face the growing reality that these folks are crazy and not remotely interested in being helpful, useful, or part of a coalition.  Why this hasn’t occurred to more in the media before now, I have no idea, other than to offer the suggestion it may just be a bit inconvenient for them and their agendas and its far easier to help build on the so-called demise of the Prime Minister.  But yesterday we got there at last, through simple questions: how does Labour even begin to form a deal with the Māori Party?  This is one for their coverage of the polls too. You will note polls are presented as simple centre-left/centre-right numbers.  A collection of parties added up and the headline is formed from the result of the maths. In this week's Curia poll, there was to be a change of Government, apparently.  But each time it involves the assumption, and what an assumption it is, that Labour and the Greens and the Māori Party are one group and no such thing has ever happened.  Let me make this prediction right now: it never will.  So add the numbers of likely groupings and you are left with Labour and, maybe, the Greens. Do they get to Government? No, they don’t.  So Hipkins, given it's his issue, not the Māori Party's, has to answer the very simple question: will you work with the Māori Party, and if so, how? What jobs do they get? What policies of theirs are you implementing?  Given he can't answer that and, dare I suggest, won't, he needs to grow his party support to about 40%, which he can't, and won't, either.  Which is why he is not winning the election next year.  Tue, 09 Sept 2025 22:04:29 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-we-need-more-transparency-around-the-reserve-bank/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-we-need-more-transparency-around-the-reserve-bank/ We should all thank Kelly Eckhold, a some-time participant on this show and most-of-the-time economist at Westpac, for his thinking around the future of the Reserve Bank.  As I have said many times, if one good thing came out of Covid, it put the Reserve Bank, its role, and its influence front and centre for many more of us that may never really have paid attention to its workings and its ability to shape everyday aspects of our lives.  Eckhold suggests the new governor put the inflation target a little higher than 1-3%. Historically we sit at about 2.5%, so chasing less than that can have a lot of effects you may, or may not, want.  Do remember some inflation is good. You want inflation, you just don’t want the amount we have had, and you want it produced from growth, not just cost-plus-accounting from councils and power companies.  More importantly for me is the public accountability. The Quigley/Orr debacle shows you what can go on when public disclosure is not as fulsome as it could be.  Eckhold wants the Monetary Committee vote made public. Good idea, so it should be.  It's not often there is a divergence, but there has been lately. In fact, the last statement involved a 4-2 vote, which has never happened before.  So why don’t we know who they were and what they said?  The rules as they stand mean a person on the committee can out themselves. But you will notice from last time that no one has. Why not?  Next idea: a press conference should be held after each meeting, not just the ones that produce a cash rate call.  I know I'm a wonk, but I cannot press enough the value of watching these things live. Not just the Reserve Bank, but opticians who these days, thanks to digital coverage of places like the Herald, run them in full routinely.  The irony of that is you would be amazed what you learn, as opposed to what you may or may not learn from a news bulletin edited and often curtailed to a point of nonsense later in the day in a news bulletin.  The best example is the Prime Minister's press conference on a Monday after Cabinet.  So, more pressers, more transparency, which is more detail, more sunlight, more inquisition and more knowledge.  What possibly could the Reserve Bank argue is wrong with that?  Mon, 08 Sept 2025 22:41:52 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-all-blacks-vs-the-m%C4%81ori-party/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-all-blacks-vs-the-m%C4%81ori-party/ What a contrast Saturday night was. At Eden Park the rugby as good as you could possibly want. For all the hype and worry of the week, the All Blacks reminded us that when it all comes together, when it really matters and records of significance are on the line, there is no side in the world that can touch them. We won well. We never looked like we would lose and when you know you are that good there is no reason to believe you won't win the rest of the season. In the meantime, in the by-election, what a shocking reminder of several things; 1) Given MMP, we no longer need Māori seats. 2) Given those who argue for Māori seats do so at least in part because Māori need to see themselves represented and they need the chance to participate, why then don’t they? The turn out was appalling. It was a joke. 3) What does the result tell the Labour Party? 4) What does the result tell the Māori Party? Let's deal with number three first. The seat has been Henare's for three terms until he lost last time by 42 votes. Not great, but not the end of the world. Yet on Saturday they rejected him spectacularly. Not only couldn’t they get the vote out, but those that did turn up didn’t want Henare or Labour. You can argue all you want about by-elections and history and turn outs, but this was embarrassing. On number four, this was not a win for their candidate. This was a win for the party. The candidate didn’t seem up to much but, worryingly, that doesn’t seem to matter, which indicates in most races we don’t vote for the individual, we vote for the party. The Māori Party will be worried because they too failed to get the vote out. But they'll be buoyed by the fact that they seem to have the Māori vote, such as it is, stitched up. So the All Blacks march on after one of the great matches and the Māori Party take a win that was worryingly troubled. The Labour Party must really be wondering if the size of this rejection is potentially there to be played out again next year, short of them doing something pretty spectacular between now and next October/November.   Sun, 07 Sept 2025 21:25:56 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-are-we-over-cafed/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-are-we-over-cafed/ We have all seen it. I have seen it a good number of times.  The café that was exemplary, sold, the new owner changes the menu, brings in a few kids to serve, and then wonders why six months later they are out of business.  As the hospitality people yet again told their tale of woe, and do not get me wrong, times have been tight and many an outlet has struggled, but as the new numbers got rolled out for the obligatory headline, it is probably time to get a bit honest  about a sector that at times is its own worst enemy.  In the past 12 months, 2,564 hospitality outlets have closed. That’s an increase of 19%. As a stat it's miserable.  But ask yourself this: are all the cafes gone? No.  So is it possible we were over-cafe'd?  Is part of the problem with hospitality the fact anyone can join? You simply write a cheque, put an apron on, and you are in the hospitality game.  Do you know what you are doing? Are you interested in excelling or are you looking for an easy job and an easy job for your family?  Are you providing something new, or better, or different, or just adding to the collection of people who pedal paninis and bowls of cappuccino?  We talk a lot about the two step, or two stage, economy. Normally it's rural vs urban, Auckland vs Queenstown.  But there is another two step story: the people who are good at what they do and those who aren't.  This doesn’t just apply to hospitality. But hospitality is the standout example because it is one of those sectors where anyone can join and you can be anything from exceptional to useless, and a lot of things in-between.  In 1990 Paul Keating, then Australian Treasurer, famously said this is the recession we had to have. Australia had not known a recession and had always been the lucky country.  But part of the argument was a recession cleans out the hopeless. It tidies an economy up.  The strong survive because they hustle and adjust. The weak wither and die and out of the renewal starts something afresh.  A lot of people liquidating only tells you a fraction of the story and the story is supposed to make you feel bad.  It shouldn’t. It's life. If you are good and determined and work hard in hospitality or anywhere else, you'll be fine.  If you are really determined, you will be more than fine.  Fri, 05 Sept 2025 22:39:23 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-the-chinese-parade-was-spellbinding/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-the-chinese-parade-was-spellbinding/ 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 Chinese parade: 8/10  Forget politics. As a “thing”, as a spectacle, as a “can you believe how in time those goose steppers are?”, it was spellbinding.    Helen Clark and John Key and Dan Andrews and Bob Carr: 4/10  On balance, given what it was really about, I think it was a mistake.    Trump's death: 2/10  A sad reminder of just how thick, gullible and worryingly naive some people are. And that’s before you get to the morons who thought Taylor had DM'ed Eden Park as a wedding venue. I am not making it up.    Teachers: 7/10  Big increases in enrolments. Just wait until the unions get hold of them and kill the buzz.    The Tamaki Makaurau by-election: 2/10  Is this the most pitiful display of disinterest in modern democracy? If you thought Port Waikato was bad, this thing looks like it will hit it out of the park. That’s if the park is open.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW  Thu, 04 Sept 2025 23:21:10 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-govt-promised-what-they-cant-deliver/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-govt-promised-what-they-cant-deliver/ From the old "cart before the horse" department are two setbacks for ideas we thought were going to work, or perhaps we hoped were going to work, but aren't.  Idea 1: We get big tech to pay for locally produced news.  That’s Google paying 九一星空无限 for news that ends up on their news feed.  To a degree, deals had been done specifically between some companies, but the Government had the idea that as part of their "supporting the troubled media" plan they could drag big tech to the table to cough up.  It turns out they couldn't, they can't, and they won't.  Australia had the same idea. Then Donald Trump got wind of it, told them that these are American companies and if you tax them, he will whack tariffs on all over the place.  We were waiting in the wings to see how it all went in Australia before we gave it the full crack here.  Neither of us will be cracking anything.  Idea 2: Banning social media for kids. One of those almost universally agreed upon, feel-good ideas that was never going anywhere.  It's a nice thought. It's just not real.  Australia had a crack at that too and, like idea number one, we are sitting, waiting and watching.  Their ban comes in in December. It won't work.  A landmark national study has found its impossible. The age assurance technology trial, which was commissioned by the Government, looked at everything and their conclusion was that no single solution exists.  Can you fiddle and poke and prod? Sure.  But they say, "we found a plethora of approaches that fit use cases in different ways, but we did not find a single ubiquitous solution that would suit all use cases, nor did we find solutions that were guaranteed to be effective in all deployments".  And this is where bandwagons come in. We all like to hate on social media, we all like to protect kids and we all want to be seen to be doing the right thing.  Governments are not devoid of that particular weakness. But the problem with Governments is they shouldn’t promise what they can't deliver, and they were never going to be able to deliver either ideas one, or two.  Not Australia. Not us.   Thu, 04 Sept 2025 22:48:26 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-auckland-is-dealing-with-the-trouble-of-change/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-auckland-is-dealing-with-the-trouble-of-change/ The trouble with change, apart from the fact we don’t like it, is it's especially bad if we don't know what it is.  The good news for real estate this week has been the foreign buyers changes for visa holders.  Adding to that, we've had a series of interest rate cuts, with more to come.  But in a place like Auckland what do you buy, and where?  There is no small amount of angst currently over a new unitary plan.  The new plan came out of the Government's idea of having three houses, three stories tall, on a regular section with no real clearance required.  Auckland didn’t want that, so they were, and are, allowed to make up their own.  The answer roughly, at the moment, appears to be high-rise and a lot of it around public transport hubs. Cue the outrage, the upset, the questions, and the heated meetings.  The new plan must be able to accommodate two million houses.  What this does to a real estate market is simple: it hobbles it, especially at a time when none of the decisions are made or are concrete.  What neighbourhood is affected? What part of that neighbourhood?  We looked at a place the other day. Currently it's mixed use with next door being commercial. It could be 27 stories. It's not currently, but it could be.  Another place we looked at had a nice view of the harbour, apart from the house in front that could be multi-story. It isn't currently, but it could be.  You don’t look at a house anymore, you look at the house next door, or behind. What is it? What could it be?  There is little in life to fire us up more than our castle and its environments being meddled with.  Making it worse, specifically, in a place like Auckland is the fact the place has been butchered by clowns. You wouldn’t trust these people to run your bath, far less a city.  So as we sit and wait and debate and get tense and object and fume and worry, how many people who were about to borrow, or spend, or shift, or expand, or build are now second guessing?  And in second guessing, doing nothing?  Wed, 03 Sept 2025 22:13:10 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-paris-accord-was-well-intentioned-but-futile/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-paris-accord-was-well-intentioned-but-futile/ David Seymour's call around the Paris Accord merely adds to the list of calls around the Paris Accord.  If we could park the emotion and the bandwagons associated with the obsession around saving the planet, the case for 2050 would no longer add up.  For example, take the countries that never signed up, take the countries like America that are leaving, take the future British Tory Government who will bail, take the world's biggest climate alliance for banks who have suspended their activities and proposed a vote on scrapping its current structure after a whole pile of members bailed.  The Net-Zero Banking Alliance stated their commitment was to align their lending with achieving net zero. It didn’t work.  It didn’t come close.  Since Paris in 2015, banks globally have provided loans of $6.4 trillion USD to oil and gas and $4.3 trillion to green projects.  The founder of Reclaim Finance Lucie Pinson says the reality is the banking alliance never truly challenged the fossil fuel business models.  On facts alone, climate is losing. You can argue forever about why and whether that’s good or not, but if it is fact you are using, then the Seymour call and the growing actions of places like America are actually sensible.  Just how much farce, how many COPs 18, 19, 27, 32, do you want to continue the failure?  How many press releases do you want asking for us to redouble our efforts, knowing it will never happen?  How much funding? How many air miles? How many promises that will never come close to reality do we want to pursue in what is simply a vain hope?  A well-intentioned hope, yes. Laudable, but futile.  Maybe net zero or Paris is a guide and an aspiration. A "let's give it a go and see how close we get" sort of thing. Perhaps with no target the whole thing falls apart.  But like a lot of nonsensical ideas, this one has fast become exposed as a bust.  If good intention and hot air was currency it might be different, but the facts and the truth tell us it isn't. Maybe we are all going to hell in a handcart, a dirty, filthy, climate-induced hand cart. Or maybe we aren't.  But the juggernaut of Paris isn't working and never really did.  Good, clear, decisive decision making would mean we stop the rot, expense and energy sooner rather than later.  Tue, 02 Sept 2025 22:42:32 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-foreigners-buying-homes-we-got-there-at-last/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-foreigners-buying-homes-we-got-there-at-last/ We got there at last.  If you are a Golden Visa holder, that’s a person who puts $5-10 million into the country, you can now buy a house.  The idea that we expected you to put that sort of money into a country and then rent was, and is, absurd.  Not to get into the weeds too deeply, but the Golden Visa is different to the 183 days rule.  The Golden Visa means you can invest but not be here the 183 days. But it now means you do qualify for a $5m+ home.  None of this is complex. None of this needed to be as hard as it has turned out to be.  You will note from Winston Peter's comments yesterday he has preserved his ongoing dislike for so-called foreigners coming here and snapping up the countryside and locking the rest of us out of the market, none of which happened of course, but the xenophobic streak runs deep in that party.  But if you go back to National's original idea of $2m, a lot of water has gone under the bridge. A lot of banging of heads has happened and some people have had to be dragged kicking and screaming to what I would've thought was a fairly obvious finish line.  The weird thing for me about Peters is this is the same bloke who is out in the world pleading with said world to come and invest. He's saying come and do business, we are open.  He is trying on one hand to desperately rectify the damage of the Labour Government Covid era, while at the same time doing the old New Zealand First "cake and eat it too" trick. "Please come, please bring your money but, oh, given you're a foreigner you can use Airbnb". It's nonsense.  At $5m it changes little for you and me. It’s a tiny portion of homes. Its two million pounds and it's three million US dollars. For some global citizens it's pocket change.  But it all helps, and man do we need help.  The worry is the difficulty in getting here. Easy, obvious decisions should not be hard. They should be quick and slick.  But we got there. It all helps.  It was a good day for NZ Inc.    Mon, 01 Sept 2025 23:06:22 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-reserve-bank-mess-is-finally-at-an-end/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-reserve-bank-mess-is-finally-at-an-end/ Rhetorical question - why do you think Neil Quigley quit on a Friday night? The key is, he would have been booted if he didn’t walk. So it sort of ends a shambolic and shameful period for what should be one of our most esteemed institutions. Between Orr and Quigley (mainly Orr) they have made a joke of the Reserve Bank. What should have happened is simple. When the Government decided, rightly, that the gargantuan amount of money Orr wanted to run his fiefdom was never going to fly Orr should have, in an adult way, stated he disagreed and he disagreed to the point he could not see himself continuing in the job. He would then resign, they would organise a nice, but frugal, farewell morning tea and that would have been that. But what actually happened was Orr chucked his toys, yelled and stamped his feet to the extent that Quigley had to write to Orr. All this was also kept secret until the Official Information Act and the Ombudsman forced their hand and exposed them for the bunch of egotistical babies they are. Quigley was yelling at Treasury, Orr was yelling at Willis, deals were looking to be done, letters and proof was looking to be binned and cheques were being written to make it all go away. Lest we forget, in an irony of ironies, this is the same group of clowns who buried the economy in the hole we are still trying to get ourselves out of years after Covid. So they couldn’t do their job, they stuffed the place, then packed a massive sad when their rain shower of funding was getting rectified, started a big tantrum and scrap with various departments and ministers, then tried to cover it all up. Have I missed anything? Oh, Orr vanished with the money, never to be heard from again. To his credit Quigley hung around and made a few public appearances while trying to paint a picture of normality, until the Ombudsman undid him last week and that was that. They really are an embarrassing, shambolic mess. On a side note, it's also why I assume Christian Hawkesby stands zero chance of getting Orr's old job. He is fatally linked to this period of mayhem. We'd be glad to see the back of them, if it wasn’t for the fact we are still trying to clean up the mess and every one of us is paying the bill. LISTEN ABOVE Sun, 31 Aug 2025 20:59:41 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-govt-hasnt-followed-through-on-cutting-the-public-sector/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-govt-hasnt-followed-through-on-cutting-the-public-sector/ It is with real enthusiasm that I see the Public Service Commissioner potentially doing what the main Government should have done two years ago.  What the Government did two years ago was say they were going to rectify the absurd size of the public service.  It had blown out to gargantuan proportions under the Labour Government, who knew no bounds in terms of fiscal largesse based on debt.  What the new Government actually did with the public service, sadly, was tinker.  It peaked at a bit over 65,000 and it sits at over 63,000. In fact in the ensuing period, it's gone up again.  So rough math will tell you they got rid of about 2,000 jobs. As a raw number it's a lot of jobs. A percentage it's tiny.  As an effective exercise in efficiency and savings, it's a joke.  The shame of it was the new Government of the day had licence. Yes, it was controversial. Yes, the unions bleated and moaned. Yes, the media went to town on a Tory slash-and-burn exercise.  But the trick was always simple – if you're going to dish out the bad news go hard, DOGE it, blow it up, do it once and do it properly.  The fall out, headlines, and anger will be exactly the same whether you trim a couple of thousand for no effect or 6,500 and make a difference.  So they blew it. They took the heat but got few, if any, results. In an odd way it’s symbolic of the weaker parts of this Government; the ideas, rhetoric, and execution are never quite aligning.  But now the Commissioner Brian Roache looks to be having another crack by merging departments. The Ministries of Women, Pacific peoples, disabled peoples, and Māori Development could all be in for an upending.  I'd go further. The never-ending series of commissioners and their offices that have no actual power and really only write reports would not be missed.  But ministries for ministries sake is what holds this country back. They all fill a space to meet their budget and so-called mandate.  If this is on, and I pray it is, wait for the bleating. Every one of them will tell you the critical nature of their existence but I defy anyone of you to list me the profound and productive change they have made to all our lives.  Given you can't they then fall into the category as largesse, waste and tokenism.  Do it once and do it right. That's how change should happen.  Fri, 29 Aug 2025 22:26:15 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-where-is-the-meeting-with-putin/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-where-is-the-meeting-with-putin/ 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.    New Zealand: 7/10  We're the 3rd safest country in the world and about to outgrow Australia. How's that for openers?    Horticulture NZ: 7/10  Their plan is to double export returns within 10 years. That’s the sort of attitude that turns tides. More please.    Sean O'Loughlin: 8/10  My hero of the week. He took Auckland Transport to court and won. Brains - 1. Arrogance - nil.    Nicola vs Tory: 6/10  Who doesn’t love a bitch slap? And who doesn’t think Nicola has an excellent point?    Principals: 4/10  Or at least the ones who wrote to the Education Minister asking for her to stop her reforms. In that letter is so much that’s wrong with education – people overseeing failure and yet not wanting change.    Putin: 3/10  You forgot that, didn’t you? Where is the meeting? Where is the place? Where is the date? Did Trump get stiffed?    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW  Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:52:40 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-i-think-the-mood-has-shifted-in-nz/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-i-think-the-mood-has-shifted-in-nz/ I got a sense about something this week and it's not because it's about to be spring, although that will undoubtedly help.  I got a sense this week that the tide on the New Zealand story is turning.  The ongoing stats, like the size of the infrastructure pipeline, more money this year, more money and projects for years to come, the new visas, and the visas that are working better than we thought, money, jobs, and culture are on their way.  But the gold medal goes to the dawning realisation that we are about to outgrow and outperform Australia. Not just next year, but for a number of years.  The stats have been there – the Reserve Bank Governor in Australia reduced her GDP forecast and that number is below ours, which is about 2.5%, maybe more.  But put it together, as Westpac did, call it a report, lay it out for all to see and pennies drop.  Why it's so important is a lot of our plight is as much mental as it is physical.  Australia has a myriad of real issues, from housing, to debt, to transport, to race.  We do too, but they have never sunk like us.  Part of what is and has held us back this year is too many have decided we are stuffed, so they left.  But left for what? What is the psychology of moving countries? Pay? It can be, but not always and I'll tell you this for nothing, the pay gap does not bridge the house gap.  But do those leaving realise that, or they don’t care, or don’t even know?  Obviously what bogged it down this year was the "Survive to '25" thing. It started well in January but never took off. So were we sold a lemon? A false dawn?  What this report does, and it's not alone because there is plenty of material out there if you hunt for it, is quantify our reality. Between the law changes, the visas, the farmers, the currency, and all the fixes and reforms, it adds up to an irrefutable picture of change that is about to pay dividends.  The pieces seem to be fitting together. But the prize is they paint a better picture than our nearest neighbour, our greatest friends, our biggest opponent.  We are not just beating anyone. We are beating Australia.  When that comes to pass, watch the mood then.  Thu, 28 Aug 2025 22:46:51 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-no-smoking-gun-for-the-supermarkets-either/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-no-smoking-gun-for-the-supermarkets-either/ Nicola Willis was back yesterday for another "guns at dawn" with the supermarkets.  She had the results of the RFI, the Request for Information. The main takeaway was we are too tied up in red tape and we need to make it easier to do business.  Now we know this of course, because before the RFI she told us this, and she told us she was going to do something about it. She told us she was going to do something about it again yesterday.  Play another song Nicola.  Then the bad news: ALDI and Lidl, a couple of large supermarket players who she had been courting, didn’t even take part in the RFI. Why?  Because, as I have said for about two years, we are too small and the scandal Nicola insists exists, actually doesn’t. There is no scandal, they just can't be bothered with a country our size.  Costco did take part though. But Costco isn't Nicola's answer. Why?  Because Costco isn’t going nationwide, even though Nicola said they may, may, have one or two more stores in the coming years.  Then the worst bit of her greatest hits show, the finger wagging exercise, yet again, of threatening to break the industry up with regulation.  She is awaiting a report. When? She doesn’t have a date.  Who's doing the report? The same company that did the same report for Labour. It's good work if you can get it, aye?  So what did we actually end up with? A re-announcement of the fact we are hard to do business with. Fine, stop telling us and actually change the laws.  The second issue is major players couldn’t even be bothered taking part.  And the third point, the thing that may bring real change. Do remember, I think all this is nonsense but in Nicola's mind it's a scandal.  But the thing that can bring real change is no closer because we don't have the report and we don’t even know when we are getting the report.  Having got the report there is of course no reason to think such a major business-busting trigger by a so-called "business friendly" Government would even be pulled.  So, is your trolley any cheaper? Has Nicola or her Grocery Commissioner, another game-changing pile of nonsense she referenced, actually achieved anything?  Has a cent been saved? Has a law been changed? Has a new player arrived?  Or is this just like the banks? No smoking gun to be found? Wed, 27 Aug 2025 23:01:39 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-good-and-the-bad-of-a-4-year-term/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-good-and-the-bad-of-a-4-year-term/ I would have thought the timing could not be more awkward.  If you broadly accept the current narrative that this Government is working awfully hard to get us out of the massive economic hole left to it by the previous Government, and if you accept that the previous Government was one of the worst in living memory, then just imagine where we would be if that hopeless lot of 2020-2023 had actually been rampaging across the countryside until last year because they had had a four-year term.  Surely it's that cold, present, still-throbbing reality that prevents a discussion on a four-year term going much further.  A lot of politicians seem to want one, and who can blame them? There is logic to what they argue.  In year one you arrive in your office, introduce yourself to everyone, put a few press releases out and start the spade work.  In year two you go for broke because year three is written off in campaign mode.  As Britain is discovering, five years is an awfully long time and until they changed the law about calling early elections, they got into a nasty habit of calling early elections because five years tended to exhaust them, and various calamities would present themselves with the only exit strategy being a vote.  So, if you're following the logic three years isn't enough and five is too long. So four years is goldilocks.    Or is it?  David Seymour is a fan of four years. He argued that most countries have longer terms and there are very few countries with three years.  There are also very few countries that balance their budgets or pay down their debt. That doesn’t make it good.  What is good is his admission that the gerrymandered shambles he offered up as a twist on an extended term with committees and numbers will never see the light of day.  It's taken us 25 years to get our head around MMP. The Seymour version of an extended term has a half-life of eight million years.  So, four or not? My gut says it will get to be a thing. Change is coming.  But here's a small warning: time isn't the issue. It's quality. Time doesn’t bring talent, or skill, or insight, or dedication, professionalism, or success. It just brings time.  The rest is what we should be way more concerned about.  Tue, 26 Aug 2025 22:59:01 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-luxon-finally-told-it-as-it-is/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-luxon-finally-told-it-as-it-is/ Has the penny dropped?  There was no shortage of headlines and news coverage yesterday out of our interview with the Prime Minister on the Reserve Bank.  In a nutshell, Luxon suggested Christian Hawkesby blew it and should have/could have moved faster on the cash rate.  This is news, but not because the Prime Minister is right. We all know he is right.  But there is a convention whereby because the Reserve Bank is independent you don’t bag them, especially if you are a politician, far less the most influential politician.  But here is why Luxon was right and deserves recognition for what he said: there comes a time when you've got to say what you've got to say.  You can't dance around convention without becoming convention's victim.  There is too much of that. People who can't have a go at judges is another example.  By tiptoeing around the truth, we invite complacency and accountability becomes woefully lacking.  The cold, hard politics are at play as well. Christian Hawkesby and his gang of monetary committee wonks aren't up for re-election next year.  Believe me, if Luxon wanders the countryside telling us he wished the cash rate was lowered faster, he's not getting any sympathy.  The extreme of course is Trump, where you call for sackings and, occasionally, actually do some sacking. We don’t need to be that unhinged.  But it is unfairly restrictive for a government to cut spending, cut red tape, change rules and laws, trim jobs, cap councils, upend the RMA, and get the fast track going. Or in other words, work their butts off pulling every lever they can to fire the joint up.  But in the meantime, the old dump de dos on the terrace can't see a contraction when it smacks them in the face and they stall the economy through ineptitude.  Also, quite apart from anything, we like strong leadership. We like people telling it like it is.  If Luxon has had a weakness it might just be he has been a bit corporate, a bit beige, a bit polite and a bit nice.  Hopefully yesterday was the start of something new and more strident and with it a few more people are held to open, public account.  Mon, 25 Aug 2025 22:39:36 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-teacher-strike-achieved-nothing/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-teacher-strike-achieved-nothing/ As the teachers head back to school, like all the other strikes, nothing got achieved.  It never does.  For a strike to work you need to scare people, you need to bring a place to a standstill.  Cook Strait ferries and the bus and train services were unavailable for weeks on end at a time. That’s what works. But those days are gone, thank the good Lord.  These days it’s a day here, a day there.  Yes, we get you are not happy. Yes, you might deserve a better deal.  But your day off with your one minute of placard waving on the TV news that isn't watched the way it used to be anyway, doesn’t really shift the dial.  I think also the country has changed in the past few decades. Although unionism had a bit of a spike under six years of Labour, the Employment Contracts Act of the early 90's largely broke the unions for good.  Not literally, but when people got a choice, they chose to back themselves.  I wish those who are unionists could see the freedom and potential of non-union opportunity.  Not all jobs can be individualised, but most can, and teaching is one of them.  We all know good teachers, great teachers, and ordinary teachers, the same way we know good waiters, and restaurants, and doctors, and accountants, and retail outlets.  In a nation of small businesses, it tells us we back ourselves. We revel in the idea that we, and our skills and determination, can make a decent living.  The fact the rote response to merit-based pay for teachers goes something like "how would you judge on exam results?" shows how little they understand their individuality and ability to make a difference.  It's like that Radio NZ report last week where most of them thought they were in a sunset industry, when in fact the exact opposite is true.  It's Stockholm Syndrome. Your captors, the unions, have told you this is the only way. It isn't and never has been.  I have argued this for years and have got nowhere, but that doesn’t make it a bad argument.  What I know, like hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders know, is that being your own boss and your own person is a winning formula, if you want to win.  I know, like hundreds of thousands of other New Zealanders, that I love my job and my lot.  I don’t see the same fizz from teachers. Why do you reckon that is?    Fri, 22 Aug 2025 22:31:38 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-recalling-mallard-was-the-move-of-the-week/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-recalling-mallard-was-the-move-of-the-week/ 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.    Alaska: 6/10  As an event it didn’t look like a lot. But Europe came to Washington and, apparently, a meeting is on. The lights aren't out yet.    Trevor Mallard: 8/10  Move of the week from Winston Peters. It took a while, but I still haven't found anyone who disagrees.    The Reserve Bank: 2/10  They missed the contraction, and they paused as the country was going backwards. Now we need two more cuts. They got us into trouble but can't get us out? Look up the word "useless" in the dictionary.    Helen Mirren: 7/10  James Bond "has to be a guy". You wouldn’t have had to say that once. Nowadays it makes headlines.    TOP: 4/10  As novel as it is to advertise for a leader, the fact you don’t have one probably sums up the prospects for next year - which are none.    Balls: 7/10  The balls at the US Open are made of New Zealand wool. My favourite fun fact of the week.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW  Thu, 21 Aug 2025 23:20:06 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-we-were-more-right-than-the-reserve-bank/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-we-were-more-right-than-the-reserve-bank/ There are two key things for me that came out of the Reserve Bank commentary.  The press conference post the announcement should be a must watch for us all – the insight is invaluable.   On one hand, the genius three who turned up —Karen, Paul, and Christian— tell us that what they have done will flow through.  In other words, don't panic. "It will come through". I'll come back to that.  But then they tell you they got it wrong in Q2. There was less than no growth in the second quarter, but they didn’t see it.  So they're bullish in their talents on one hand, but hopelessly wanting on the other.  By the way, the vote 4-2 – that's never happened before. Two of the voters wanted a 50 point drop. I want to know who they are, because they would appear to get it.  What the confession of no growth in Q2 asks is if they had seen it, could they have done more?  Don’t answer that because the answer is yes, yes, yes, and yes. Now, because they botched it, they are most likely going down to 2.5% for the cash rate.  The other interesting thing for me is I'm a big believer in psychology. The economy is about much more than stats and data, it's about the mood and the vibe.  They talked of the cautious nature of our behaviour, I would argue they are part of the problem.  They look cautious. They look circumspect. They look like wonks who don’t get out a lot.  They certainly don't get out into the real world where the majority of us have been seeing the wreckage of our economy for most of the year.  They don’t vibe it and they don't sell it, which is not to say they are supposed to be show ponies, but my word, what a boring bunch they are, with spreadsheets for friends.  This economy needs a cheerleader. It needs a significant, impactive, influential, and loud voice for its merits. Hawkesby, Silk, and Conway aren't it.  It should have been 50 points, and it should have been 50 points before yesterday, and because it wasn’t, the economy stalled and they didn’t see it coming.  How does that install confidence?  So, there's at least two more cuts. But why are we waiting?  They will argue it's because the 25 points will flow through. Will they really?  Let the record show, to this point, we are more right than they are.  Wed, 20 Aug 2025 22:34:23 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-why-dont-parents-cop-flak-for-our-kids-education/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-why-dont-parents-cop-flak-for-our-kids-education/ Can I ask a question about parents?  I watched Erica Stanford do a press conference yesterday at a school in Wellington while launching the writing action plan.  While I was watching that I was reading a story about Nicola Willis, who it was suggested by people in London might be the next Prime Minister.  She had gone to the New Zealand Society on her trip last week. She stood there in a tangerine suit and there had been a buzz about the room as they wondered whether this was New Zealand's next Prime Minister.  It was a weird story, and it means nothing, but if it ever came down to it, I would take Stanford over Willis all day long.  She is a force of nature and if you ever want to see a minister in charge of detail, watch her in a classroom in front of cameras. You won't fail to be impressed.  The bad news though is part of the day involved the release of yet more data showing our kids in Year 3, 6, and 8 are in real trouble when it comes to maths and reading.  Only a small minority are where they should be. A small minority.  The claim at this stage by Stanford is what they have introduced, and are introducing, is the turnaround plan. It's the magic, the cure, and the panacea.  Not that it makes it better, but the numbers out yesterday were marked against some of the new standards, hence the massive failure rate.  This stuff is benchmarked internationally. Once, not long ago (maybe when I was at school), in a lot of stuff we led the world. Today we are so far from leading the world it makes you want to cry.  Stanford isn't crying. She speaks in a way that suggests she knows something the rest of us don’t, like she has seen the future and it is bright.  Or could it be she just hopes it is and is faking it till she makes it, because the gap between where our kids are and where they need to be is gargantuan?  So, back to the parents. Where are they?  Maths can be sort of tricky, if you want to find an excuse, but reading and writing isn't. A kid who can't read or write properly by high school is a reflection of their home life, as much as the school.  Schools take too much heat. Governments take too much heat.  If your kid can't write or read and your kid is 12 or 13, where have you been?  Tue, 19 Aug 2025 22:54:59 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-pay-equity-court-case-is-a-show-trial/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-pay-equity-court-case-is-a-show-trial/ If Grant Robertson thinks the Covid inquiry is a "show trial", then what is about to unfold at the High Court as of the end of this month can't be far behind.  A bunch of unions are taking the Government to court over pay equity.  They are having several stabs at it – the Bill of Rights is in play and the democratic process is up for debate.  One of the things the unions claim may happen if they win, is a select committee would have to hear submissions and a debate in Parliament would have to take place.  That’s the "show trial" part. Select committees hear from the people you would expect to hear from: broadly, it's people opposed to whatever change of law is in play.  And a debate in Parliament hears both sides, one for, one against, with the Government of the day prevailing, given it is they who have the numbers and indeed that is why they are the Government.  Which is essentially why court is a waste of time, remembering of course the Government is the ultimate court and if they want to pass a law, they can.  Making it complicated is the whole pay equity calculation is a mess. Secondary teachers, for example, were one of the many claimants putting an equity claim forward before the law was changed.  To my eye being a high school teacher is not an equity issue. Men do it, women do it, there are lots of them and they aren't paid on gender.  It's not a profession where 99% of them are women and because they are women, they are poorly paid.  High school teachers are paid quite well. You could equally argue they are not paid as well as they could be because the union insists on them all being paid the same based on time in the classroom. If they got paid on merit it would be a different world.  Kristine Bartlett's case became famous because we could all see the care industry was mainly female and the pay was poor. I would still argue the pay was poor because the work, although kind and worthy, is not of great numerical value.  If it was, rest homes would pay more, charge residents more and we'd happily foot the bill. But we don’t.  Anyway, the upshot is the best the unions can hope for is a court win. The win can then be used to beat the Government about the head as big, bad meanies.  But it will still not get them paid under an equity deal because the court is not the Government.  Mon, 18 Aug 2025 22:44:38 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-how-did-rnz-not-know-about-this-already/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-how-did-rnz-not-know-about-this-already/ You may have read a report commissioned by Radio NZ to look into why their operation has become such a dumpster fire. It said a bunch of stuff that was obvious. One thing that surprised and saddened me though was that most people within that organisation thought radio was dying and audiences were bailing. That's not true. In fact it’s the opposite. Radio is robust and, comparatively speaking, thriving. So my question is, how is it you can have a company of people who don’t understand their own industry? Where did they get their view from? Why has no one corrected the view? Where is management in that process? Their audience has shrunk, but it hasn’t vanished. It's gone to, well mainly, here to 九一星空无限talk ZB. The customer is still spending, they’ve just changed shops. The fact they don't know that I would have thought should set off alarm bells, most ironically because the place is full of journalists who once upon a time had inquiring minds. They asked questions and they wanted to know things. If you have such a mind you would have quickly discovered what was actually happening and what the reality of your medium was. How can you be a journalist and be that bewildered? And if you are that bewildered on your own doorstep, how bewildered are you about the rest of life and the world? Also of concern was management's response to the report. By the way the report basically says the place is shot, it needs a bomb and some genuine talent. The response suggests what Radio NZ management do quite well is commission reports, then ignore them. So the exercise as a whole appears a waste. They got told some obvious stuff they should have known, an alarming thing about their staff they should also have known, but now they do know they need to fix and the rest seems a bit tricky. For me, they can do what they like. But what I care about is that this industry is actually successful. Some of us are having the time of our lives. Some of us know what's going on and understand proceedings. Some of us still ask a few questions. The future is bright and it's there for anyone who wants it. But to want it you've got to be keen and you've got to be awake. That might be their biggest problem of all. LISTEN ABOVE Sun, 17 Aug 2025 20:30:52 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-stop-putting-the-bill-on-the-taxpayer/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-stop-putting-the-bill-on-the-taxpayer/ It never takes long to find the bank of the taxpayer.  The Green Building Council has lined the Government up for Lord knows how many millions so we can all ditch our gas heaters, buy heat pumps, and save money and the gas industry.  We talked during the week with businesses who use gas. Some are looking to convert, and some want discretionary loans from you-know-who.  Major gas users met the Minister last Friday to, I assume, state the obvious that we don’t have enough gas, so “something” needs to be done.  Just what the "something is" no one seems to know, given I haven't been given a clear answer to a fairly simple question.  At the big level like Methanex or Ballance, I don’t know if there is an answer. You either pay the price, and presumably pass it on, or you don’t and close down.  At the smaller level, does a grower of something need a government loan or hand out? Should a grower have seen the price of gas and thought to themselves that they might like to inquire about an alternative?  I guess you get that interface between a business being for personal good versus wider good, like jobs and produce and what role a government might play in that.  At a personal level we use gas. The price is a joke. We may or may not need to look at something different, but in the meantime, I'm prepared to foot the bill, and I have no desire to seek help from the government.  If the Green Building Council are right and we all switched to electricity as supplied by rain, wouldn't life be great? But we all know it's not that easy.  We all know the renewable journey has been, and remains, a cluster. We all know a variety of circumstances have coalesced to provide the sort of business environment that leads to big bills, big cutbacks, job losses and lack of growth.  It's an open question as to how much of the lack of gas is about Labour and the killing of an industry versus what we already had, running out faster than we thought.  But is it possible we could have a mindset change, whereby the taxpayer isn't always the first cab off the rank to cover yet more lack of foresight and planning?  Fri, 15 Aug 2025 22:32:10 Z /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-visas-are-one-of-the-bright-spots-of-the-week/ /on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mark-the-week-visas-are-one-of-the-bright-spots-of-the-week/ 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.    Visas: 7/10  One of the bright spots of the week. Two more visas and access to labour that solves problems. More please.    Recognising Palestine as a state: 3/10  Talk about angst for no result. Around and around we go.    Disney Cruises: 4/10  Can you blame them? You make this the most expensive place in the world to bring a ship – who needs to deal with that?    Mystery meat: 3/10  What idiot thought of that?    Ardern and her henchpeople: 0/10  I don't know what else there is to say when you have sunk that low. More fool us. I can only imagine what the 50% of voters who wanted a chunk of that arrogance in 2020 think now.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW  Thu, 14 Aug 2025 22:14:44 Z