The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Prime Minister's set to finalise a deal strengthening our diplomatic and trading ties with 11 South East Asian countries, as he meets with leaders in Malaysia. Chris Luxon is in Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN summit and will finalise a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the association. He's then off to South Korea, for the APEC summit later this week. Luxon told Mike Hosking that we will be only one of seven countries with this relationship, which is the highest level of diplomatic partnership possible. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arrests have been made following last week's Louvre heist.  Thieves stole an array of valuable jewels, worth $177million NZD, including a crown belonging to the wife of Napoleon III. Newstalk ZB reporter in Paris Catherine Field told Mike Hosking that the thieves arrested were not masterminds, and were known to police.  'They knew that these two were part of the gang, but they knew that they weren't the mastermind.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's set to get easier for New Zealand businesses trading in South East Asia, as the Prime Minister's in Malaysia to finalise a regional deal. Chris Luxon is in Kuala Lumpur for the ASEAN summit and will finalise a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the association. ASEAN has 11 member countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Laos. Trade Minister Todd McClay told Mike Hosking that it can be difficult for kiwi businesses to deal in South East Asia, with often complex and prohibitive rules. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Queenstown is now just 5% shy of pre-COVID levels.  Records show that there were 192,000 international arrivals between January and August, up 14% on 2024. Australia continues to dominate the market, making up 40% of all visitors to the region.  Chief Executive of Tourism NZ Rene de Monchy told Mike Hosking that, 'the outlook for summer is actually really positive is what we're hearing from operators across the board.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all. Judith Collins: 7/10 Her open letter to all of us this week revealed a few excellent home truths about unions, with the prize going to their obsession with Palestine over kid's education. Labour's election policies: 2/10 It seems almost impossible to believe you could roll some simple ideas out as badly as that. Joe Parker: 8/10 Is it just me or do we love Joe Parker? One fight away from the belts. Kevin Rudd: 6/10 In being humiliated he seems to have saved his job. Putin: 2/10 Honestly, what does he has over Trump? Trump looks like a punching bag on this war. The sports academy charter school: 8/10 Is it just me or is that like a dream school for kids who hated school? LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEWSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday the 24th of October, Sir Brian Roache on the so-called "mega strike" and whether it changed anything, at all. Joseph Parker joins from London ahead of his fight against Fabio Wardley. Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson talk changing careers at a late age and the strike. Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Heavyweight boxing moves to London on Sunday morning. Joseph Parker is back in the ring taking on Fabio Wardley, a boxer from London who only took up the sport at age 20. A win would put Parker firmly in line for a shot at the undisputed world heavy weight title against Oleksander Usyk. Parker told Mike Hosking, 'I'm in proper good shape for a good fight this weekend.' LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Attack coach Jason Holland will be stepping down after the northern tour, when his contract ends.  This is the second high-profile exit under Scott Robertson, following Leon MacDonald's departure after just three test matches last year.  Former All Black Justin Marshall told Mike Hosking that the departure was a personal decision, not something motivated by back-stage scandals.  "Jason has his reasons for moving on, and those reasons could be the fact that he's not happy with the workload or he wants to move on to other things." LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ahead of the long weekend let's give the Labour Party a report card for their policy week. It will be one of the few report cards this week because we actually turned up to work. So overall a 'C-' for presentation. They had two years to organise this, to make a splash, to grab the headlines and run with them. Policy one didn’t have any detail so it was just a thought bubble. Policy two was forgotten about, or sneakily given to a magazine ahead of time, or a combo of both. And policy three was fine but it was just an extension of an already existing idea and the problem with the existing idea is the existing idea isn't used, or needed. So a drone-type view of the “themes” is we have a lot of overarching Government control, a Government picking winners on the future fund, a Government telling doctors how much they can charge and some freebies for gaming. Now that’s left-wing politics and some people like that and that’s fine and that’s democracy. That’s why we have elections. So a 'B' for the theme. On specifically the future fund they get a 'C' because at no point can they escape the fact that whatever they give to the fund it won't go to debt repayment and, given we have less than no money, that must be a priority. And that’s before you get to the bit where the world is awash with money for ideas anyway. The GP's committee gets a 'D'. A 'D' for dumb and dunce and fail. Telling already struggling GP's what they can and can't charge is a recipe for frustration, anger and resignation. It's got administrative cluster written all over it. The gaming subsidies get a 'B-'. Because it's already running. But here's the clue - gaming is booming. Is it booming because of subsidies? No. The subsides aren't used. They set aside $160 million but less than half has been applied for. It’s a classic Government-looking-to give-away-money idea. They can't even give it away. But the truth is, as artificial as it is, Government's do offer tax deals on gaming and film, so you've got to compete. So of the three policies this was their best idea of the week and by quite some margin. Overall if this is them, if this is the sharp and ready to rock-n-roll alternative to run this country, they need to majorly sharpen up. Or if you're looking at this week and going "man that Hipkins is one slick operator", well I'll see you at the airport. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A view Australia's recent military alliance with Papua New Guinea could be the springboard for a wider 'Pacific Eyes' alliance. Australian think-tank Lowy Institute's proposing an intelligence sharing agreement between us, Australia, PNG and Fiji to counter China's influence in the region. It claims it'd also help tackle trans-national crime and climate-related disasters. Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp says it would be a tough deal to negotiate, but it's feasible. He says Australia's alliance is about sharing more intelligence and cooperating more, like this proposed deal. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.