The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A planning expert is suggesting Aucklanders look to New York City for the impacts of congestion charges.    A report, commissioned by Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, has found traffic will cost the city $2.6 billion a year by next year.   Auckland University Architecture and Planning Senior Lecturer Timothy Welch says New York and London have effectively implemented congestion charges.   He told Mike Hosking revenue in New York City has already increased because of faster buses and more foot traffic.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a bit of pushback coming from some sectors in the education business towards the reading, writing, and maths tests.  These are the tests we are failing. Those who are failing mostly come from poor backgrounds.  I'm not sure equating monetary status and academic success should be a thing.  But a bunch of principals from the "poorest communities" have got together to lobby the Government to stop the tests because they say it will lead to more kids leaving school with no qualifications.  After two rounds of these tests more than half failed reading and writing and 75% failed numeracy.  You can't get university entrance if you don’t get these grades.  Now, there is no doubt that failure affects attitude and there is equally no doubt that for some the “give it up” scenario must be tempting if the hurdle is too high.  But then there's also no doubt that allowing kids to leave school having failed is a failure in and of itself.  Any country that has any level of success globally is not a country that goes soft on education.  The principals’ answer is the answer that has failed us for years, which is also the Chris Hipkins Covid answer - give them something for nothing.  An alternative to an exam is the extra 20 credits scenario that is due to expire at the end of 2027. They want that made permanent and instead of 20 credits they want it made into 60 credits. So, like Hipkins and Covid, extra credits for not actually doing anything. Just extra credits for life being a bit crap right now.  No one gains when we do this. It is excuse making. It is an acceptance that we fail, and are failing, and failure is part of what we do.  You can either read and write or you can't. You can either add up or you can't. And if you can't, having people pretend you can, won't fix anything.  Part of why this country is where it is, is because we are apologists in areas like this and instead of being determined to fix it, we set about looking for ways to excuse it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 4th of March, GPs are loving the new health announcement, which should have been implemented years ago.  The Prime Minister joins the show to talk health, school lunches, and Ukraine.  Former Australian Defence Force Major General Mick Ryan is back on the show to talk about the Chinese warships in our waters and the Ukraine war after the Oval Office bust-up.  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.

The Upper Hutt Mayor says it was obvious the region's water agency was ripping off ratepayers for a long time.  Report findings show a lack of oversight meant Wellington Water was paying nearly three times more to contractors for pipe work, compared with in other areas.  Board Chair Nick Leggett says it means millions of ratepayer dollars wasted.  Upper Hutt Mayor Wayne Guppy says Leggett must resign.  He told Mike Hosking his council smelt a rat for years, but their concerns fell on deaf ears.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A military expert says China's sent a clear message with its war ships as they sail away from Australia and New Zealand.  Three highly powered navy vessels entered Australia's exclusive economic zone in the Tasman Sea last week, where they performed live firing exercises.   The New Zealand Defence Force is no longer monitoring the warships as they sail west away from Australia.  Lowy Institute Senior Fellow Mick Ryan told Mike Hosking it's a display of power from China, showing they can disrupt trade whenever they want.  He says it's also a test of Australia's relationship with the US, considering what's happening with Europe.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister is defending how much nurses in New Zealand are being paid.   Yesterday the Government announced multiple incentives to improve access to primary care, including a cash injection of $285 million over three years.   Christopher Luxon says any narrative about health services being cut is completely untrue.   He told Mike Hosking the Government's making good progress on recruitment, just not getting the results patients need.   Luxon says the remuneration of nurses has increased to $127 thousand dollars, including allowances and overtime.    He also says that those unhappy with his Government's refreshed school lunches should go make a marmite sandwich.  A number of schools have complained about late deliveries and sub-standard offerings under the new cut-price regime.  Luxon's acknowledged some delivery timeframes and meals haven't been up to scratch, but says some people will never be pleased.  He told Hosking parents should be the ones feeding their kids.  Luxon says he'd rather the state didn't have to provide lunches, but he's not willing to let children go hungry.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A nutritionist is defending health star ratings, despite the little impact they have.  Otago University has led a probe of the decade-old voluntary system for rating food products, finding they only slightly improved diet.  It calculates it'd save the health system about 70 times more if it were made compulsory.  Nutritionist Nikki Hart told Mike Hosking it is a helpful system for consumers.  She says people aren't looking at the back of the packet, so the rating gives people a good idea.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

GPs say a Government cash injection into general practices is a good start.   The Health Minister's announced $285 million in performance-based funding for practices over three years.   Simeon Brown is also kick-starting initiatives to boost the number of nurses and overseas-trained doctors in healthcare.   Royal College of GPs President Samantha Murton told Mike Hosking practices need a lot more money, but the Government has to start somewhere.  Another measure announced was the 100 new placements for overseas-trained doctors.   The Royal College of GPs says vocational training for the doctors was always done in hospitals.   But Murton told Hosking primary care is now getting a slice of the pie.   She says general practices offer a wider range of training in New Zealand healthcare than hospitals.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a vision Australia and New Zealand can help ease each other's seasonal electricity woes.  Company Taslink is proposing a massive underground trans-Tasman cable, allowing surplus power to be transferred between the two countries.  It estimates the link would increase our power grid's capacity by about 40%.  Co-Director Richard Homewood told Mike Hosking it would have meant 20% lower power prices last winter.   He says Australia has the opposite problem, with power outages during the hot summer days, when we have a surplus.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You can argue until you are blue in the face as to whether what happened at the White House on Saturday was bullying, or unfair, but what the U.S President has on his side is common sense and military power. As Zelenskyy slunk off to Downing Street for a hug with Keir Starmer and today's meeting with King Charles, what few in Europe seem to understand is that saying you back Ukraine doesn’t win a war, or come close to it. Without America, this thing is over, and fast. Mark Rutte gets that, hence his plea to Zelenskyy to repair the damage. Norway promised more resource, or at least said they would ask their Parliament. The UK announced another 2.5 billion pound loan. But for what? This thing is three years old and is going nowhere, at best with America fully on board it is a stalemate. It is, as so many have put it now, a meat grinder and Russia has more meat to grind. What was on display in Washington was a simple reality of the Trump administration - they are not interested in war, they are interested in deals. A mineral agreement sees the Americans on the ground in Ukraine. No one is rolling over American interests militarily in Ukraine. Trump is also right in saying a ceasefire is pretty much instant and it's at that point you start working on the “what next“. All the photo opportunities and love-ins that Zelenskyy appears to revel in doesn’t get you an inch of your country back and it doesn’t give you any advantage over the Russians. NATO are incapable of beating Russia without American buy-in. That buy-in is over. Trump keeps it simple - Zelensky has no cards and, to a lesser degree, Europe only has limited cards. It is why America is America. Without them we are done. Where I think Trump is most right is he appears the only one interested in actually getting this thing sorted. The Europeans talk about peace, but peace as a result of victory. There will be no victory. Three years of the war shows us this. The only victory is Russia's if America bails.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.