The Mike Hosking Breakfast

KiwiRail admits it may be helping out its competition by reducing its Interislander fleet to two.   Aratere will be retired when demolition begins on its decaying dock in Picton late this year or early next, to add infrastructure for new ships.  Two new ferries are due in 2029.  KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy told Mike Hosking some passengers may opt now to travel with Bluebridge.   He says capacity is spread between the companies when one faces an issue.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over 4000 medical procedures are on hold today while 5000 senior doctors strike for better working conditions.  This comes after eight months of failed negotiations with Health New Zealand.  The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says it's not going to fill workforce gaps without major improvements to pay and conditions.  Health NZ Chief Clinical Officer Doctor Richard Sullivan told Mike Hosking waitlist times for procedures will now stretch out further.  He says the more than 4000 procedures which have been delayed will impact on getting people earlier access to care.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In her seemingly never-ending ability to surprise, Tory Whanau fronts on the local Newstalk ZB morning show in her beleaguered capital yesterday and scores herself a 9/10.  If she had come from comedy I could have seen the joke she was making.  But she doesn’t come from comedy, which is not to say her reign hasn’t been comedic.  She is the Meghan Markle of local body politics - so self-absorbed and she doesn’t appear cognisant as to just how destructive and useless she is.  I wasn’t going to even comment on Whanau given it’s a local issue, she has announced she's off, and the sooner the Whanau era of terror ends the better.  But fly in the ointment: she is still standing for a seat and bringing potentially all her 9/10 madness with her.  Now the guard rails on this part of her future are of course in the hands of the public of the capital. You don’t have to have more of it. You can in fact vote for someone else.  As such she is free to take her record, put it in front of you and test it.  But it takes a special sort of narcissist to think of herself so highly, having just been bundled out of the big race because she knows she can't win.  If she is a 9/10, she should be bolting home. But that’s the problem with narcissists, isn't it? They continue to bluster even when they know the game is up.  She is also a wider problem by remaining as part of the wider picture. She puts people off.  Local body politics is crying out for decent, hardworking, competent contributors, but who in their right mind is interested in sitting round a table with buffoons?  A bunch of do-gooding lifers, who as often as not, are not actually able to get work in the normal world.  Not all of Wellington's many, many problems are on Tory. But she led the team that wrought the havoc and the stuff she inherited, she didn’t help.  Her advice to poor, old Nick Mills, who had to listen to this tripe, was every time you see a road cone, you see progress.  It's that sort of fairytale, fanciful nonsense most of us realise isn't remotely true.  Maybe that’s her ultimate problem. Maybe she lives in her head  In her head Wellington is a riviera and Tory is the queen of that riviera. The pipes didn’t burst, the city boomed, and Tory oversaw a renaissance.  Maybe that's how all narcissists delude themselves. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 30th of April, Mark Carney is the new Canadian Prime Minister, and the Government is reversing Labour's 2020 decision allowing prisoners to vote.  Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce is on to discuss how Nicola could deliver a Budget with everything we need, while cutting over a billion dollars from the operating allowance.  Ginny Andersen and Mark Mitchell talk Mark's rating from Audrey, the Budget cut, and crime on Politics Wednesday.  Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There will be further cuts to Government agency spending, to be diverted into priority areas.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a $1.3 billion operating allowance – plummeting from the $2.4 billion estimate.  Willis says they've reviewed funding line-by-line.  National’s Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking they have to cut spending as the reality is the country went from $58 billion of debt in 2017 to $175 billion in 2024.  He says we went from paying $3.6 billion in interest a year to $8.9 billion, and we cannot afford that.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Garden City's reaping the benefits of this year's Electric Avenue festival.  The event produced $10.5 million in visitor spend after 75 thousand people attended in February.  It's believed to be the largest since the 1974 Commonwealth Games.  Loren Aberhart, ChristchurchNZ General Manager of Destination and Attraction, told Mike Hosking they’re looking at options for growth, as the festival had the city bursting at the seams.  They’re undertaking accommodation research, she says, and planning ahead for the opening of the One NZ Stadium to ensure the city has the capacity to cope with events.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A question mark over how Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, will perform.   The Liberal Party won the country's election yesterday, beating the Conservative party, and locking down a fourth term.  The win means Carney will keep hold of the top job he took over from Justin Trudeau six weeks ago.   Globe and Mail Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife told Mike Hosking he has no experience in retail policy, but headed the banks of Canada and England.  He says given these credentials, he should do okay, but there's been no real opportunity to see him perform as Prime Minister.  There’s also doubts Carney will be able to secure a majority government, as he’s currently sitting at 169 seats of the 172 needed.  Fife doesn't think he'll get up to this number, but may reach 170.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A former Finance Minister says cutbacks to public spending need to be seen in context.  Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed a drastic cut to the operating allowance in next month's Budget, from $2.4 billion to $1.3 billion.  There will be no new funding for most Government departments, with the focus being on priority areas and paying off debt.  Steven Joyce told Mike Hosking there's still scope to reduce spending.  He says Government spending has doubled in the past eight years while inflation has only gone up about 30% in the same time.   Joyce is also saying there's growing public appetite for more public sector restraint.  The Government's ruling out giving most departments any additional funding in the next Budget, but Joyce says reaching that target will depend a lot on the international economy.  However, he told Hosking there are still lots of changes that can be made to bring down government spending.  Joyce says making those changes requires a bit of work and requires ministers having a good political radar and knowing what can't be cut.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Children's Minister says good progress is being made on reports coming into Oranga Tamariki.   The Ministry for Children estimates it's seen a 45% increase in reports of concern in the year to April.  Karen Chhour says the number of children in unsafe households is alarming but it's positive seeing more people reporting them.   She told Mike Hosking the urgency of each report can vary, with several potentially applying to the same child.   Chhour says not all reports need Oranga Tamariki intervention, with lower urgency cases better dealt with by community resources.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Justice Minister says reinstating a total ban on prisoner voting is not likely to change the outcome of elections.   The proposal would reverse changes introduced in 2020 allowing prisoners serving sentences of less than three years to vote.  People detained on remand or serving sentences of home detention will still be able to vote.   Paul Goldsmith told Mike Hosking the number of votes coming out of prisons is not enough to sway a result.   He says it's about sending a signal to people who breach the rights and responsibilities of living in society.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.