The Mike Hosking Breakfast

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 14th of March, a major investor with over $1 trillion in assets talks our Investor Summit and its success so far.  Act leader David Seymour is pushing for the removal of a compulsory Maori course for international students, keeping them from taking a paper they would prefer to pick up.  Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson try to explain Minecraft Cubeez to Mike and debate whether any of them are good enough to get into the singing jingles business as they Wrap the Week.  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.

Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson joined Mike Hosking once again to Wrap the Week that was.  They discussed clothes shopping and quiet luxury, Mike’s problem with some supermarket collectables, and who has the best voice for advertising jingles.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Manager David Higgins has speculated on the timing of Joseph Parker's chance to fight unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.  The World Boxing Organisation has ordered Usyk to take a mandatory defence of his WBO title against Parker, which would also likely put his remaining alphabet soup of belts on the line.  The news came hours after reports of Usyk's camp negotiating for an undisputed bout with IBF champion Daniel Dubois, who allegedly pulled out of last month's fight with Parker due to illness.  Higgins told Mike Hosking that at the end of the day, who Usyk fights will be up to him.  But he says if he chooses to ignore the order by the WBO, he’ll be stripped of his title.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Shihad front man John Toogood says he wants to spend more time with his children as he prepares for his final show.  The iconic Kiwi rock band will play its last ever performance at Wellington's Homegrown festival tomorrow.  Toogood told Mike Hosking now is the right time to end.  He says it's something they've been thinking about for a while, and he just wants to put his family first.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A push for more infrastructure growth through foreign capital has piqued offshore interest.   The Government's Investment Summit is in its second day in Auckland.   More than 100 investors from around the world are attending to hear from ministers about potential projects and partnerships.    ABRDN Infrastructure Head Bill Haughey told Mike Hosking his firm has the capacity to invest globally, but New Zealand's been relatively quiet in recent years.  He says New Zealand's a place where the firm can do business if the pipeline is right and the Government's coming forward with the right kind of projects.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Act Party's putting the pressure on Auckland University to say goodbye to its compulsory ‘Waipapa Taumata Rau’ course.  The near $6 thousand paper covers the Treaty of Waitangi and traditional Māori tikanga for first year students.  Leader David Seymour told Mike Hosking students within his Epsom electorate are upset.  He says constituents have told him they aren't interested in the course and view it as a perversion of academic freedom.  The university says the course offers core knowledge and skills to help transition students into tertiary reduction, and set them up for success.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A sociologist isn't worried about net migration inching closer to zero.  New Stats NZ data shows there was an annual net migration gain of around 32,000 in the year to January, down on December.  Migrant departures also rose 18% to almost 123,000 in that time, the highest on record for an annual period.  But Massey University's Paul Spoonley told Mike Hosking we don't know about the skills of those departing.  He says we also need to ask if we're also seeing unskilled and semi-skilled workers leaving and therefore exporting part of our unemployment rate.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Health Minister is looking to ensure procurement rules were followed in a big Health New Zealand contract.  The agency awarded a $2 million contract to MBI Healthcare Technologies in April 2023.  It was partly founded by ACC senior executive John Bennett, who left the company in 2020, but had been an advisor to Health New Zealand since 2022.  Simeon Brown told Mike Hosking he also wants to ensure procurement rules are being followed today.  He says this is taxpayers' money – they expect to be getting value for money from every dollar and every contract.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Well, here we go and welcome to International Investment day.  I found it somewhat bewildering, if not sad, that Ginny Andersen on this show yesterday said foreign investment wasn’t the answer to our problems.  Because, actually, it is.  What we don't have as a country is size and scale.  If we want to participate in the world, we need the world involved in what we do.  We are not like America where you can, at least partially, pretend that you can produce everything you need locally and whatever it is you do produce is sold to a local market.  In fact, Ginny's lack of basic economic understanding may well give some insight into why we are having the event we are over the next two days.  Labour's view of the economy is so small and insular. It is why the borders were closed for so long, why tourism has not bounced back, why the world has moved on without us and why this new Government has had to travel so many miles to knock on so many doors, saying "don’t forget about us".  It could also be a clue, if you have noticed, as to why they are currently exercised in Parliament over the idea of the public health system using the private health system to churn through some elective procedures.  Forgetting of course that even they did the same thing and that it has in fact been common practice for ever, and if you have a bed and a team sitting there with capacity, do you really care whether the place you get the knee done is public or private?  Anyway, the Prime Minister will be relishing this next week, given he is pitching not just here but India as well and will be able to get back to doing what, by all reports, he does best - hustle and sell.  The polls might be problematic for a variety of reasons, but you can't possibly mark this lot down for not getting out into the world and re-engaging both trade and foreign policy-wise.  Between the Prime Minister, Winston Peters and Todd McClay, many circuits of the globe will have been completed. He is also right that the world is awash with cash looking for a place to land.  We once were that place to land. We were once that rock star economy. We once had our act together.  Today and tomorrow, hopefully, is about restoring our rightful place as progressive go getters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2025 Formula 1 season is underway, kicking off this weekend with the first Grand Prix in Melbourne.  The season is set to be intense, with Lewis Hamilton in the drivers seat for Ferrari, Liam Lawson making his fully fledged debut as Max Verstappen’s new wingman at Red Bull, and McLaren looking like the team to beat.   Luke Smith has chased the sport for over a decade, currently working as the Formula 1 writer for the Atlantic.  He told Mike Hosking this year looks so competitive, and it’s very hard to call who’s going to be quickest.  “We go into a lot of seasons kind of thinking like, there’s normally one team that should dominate,” Smith explained.  “But this year, it really feels like anybody’s game.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.