The Mike Hosking Breakfast

One of our brightest musical talents is making waves across the ditch, just in time for some new music to drop.  Cassie Henderson arrived on our screens in 2014, competing on X-Factor at 14 years old, and making it all the way to the quarterfinals.  She stepped away from music for a while, before returning to the industry in 2023, quitting her job to pursue music fulltime.  Since then, Henderson’s won awards, released new music, and is currently competing on the The Voice Australia. “It was the biggest opportunity for me to grow, and rise up, and test myself,” she said of performing on TV.  “I get messages a lot from young people in New Zealand saying that I inspire them, which is always a huge dream, but it’s almost a little bittersweet because I know how long I’ve been working at this, and I know how long I haven’t had success for.”  “It’s a really tough gig, but it's always been my passion, and it’s what I love the most in the world, so it’s no question for me.”   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 30th of September, the Government is changing the earthquake-prone building system in a common sense move for this country that will free up billions.    We also have new data on our health targets and they are going, slowly, in the right direction – Health Minister Simeon Brown unpacks the results.   Kiwi singer Cassie Henderson is in for a song and chat - you'll love her!  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 Reserve Bank's conceded earlier or more aggressive OCR hikes may have reduced inflation sooner.  It's been reviewing its response to the recent three-year period of high inflation.  Chief Economist Paul Conway says the central bank was also required to maintain maximum sustainable employment.  It had limited data and less accurate forecasts due to Covid uncertainty.  ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking the bank will absolutely draw lessons from the report, just as they did with things like the Christchurch earthquake.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Could a New Zealand-based team join the Big Bash T20 cricket competition?  NZC governing body chief executive Scott Weenink says they are investigating whether joining the Australian league is viable.  Cricket Australia is mulling over expansion options – Singapore, New Zealand, and Canberra have been deemed candidates.  Weenink told Mike Hosking they’ve been in talks for about a year about the potential of adding a men’s and women’s team to the Big Bash.  If it were to happen, he says it wouldn’t be at the expense of Super Smash, as it’s important to have a strong domestic competition in New Zealand as well.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It appears other countries are still thirsty for our wine.   The New Zealand Winegrowers 2025 Annual Report states exports are sitting at more than $2 billion per annum, fuelling investment in 42-thousand hectares of vineyards.  The US remains the major export market despite a 3% drop at $762 million, and newer Asian markets are doing well.  NZ Winegrowers CEO Philip Gregan says balancing supply and demand, and growing markets remain the two major challenges, which they're prepared to meet.  He told Mike Hosking there are lots of market opportunities out there for the industry.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Police scrapped millions of dollars from crime prevention to meet the Government's savings expectations ahead of this years' budget.  The cuts were found in funding to burglary prevention programmes.  Documents show Treasury had warned funding cuts could lead to higher cost and more crime in the longer term.  But Police chief operating officer Andrea Conlan says difficult decisions had to be made in order to be fiscally responsible.  She told Mike Hosking prevention is a key focus across the organisation, so it’s not about reducing their effort or focus on prevention.  Conlan says the specific initiatives were identified as areas in which the money could be moved and reinvested.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Health Minister acknowledges more work's needed to ensure the Government's targets are met in every region.  Data shows there's been improvements around cancer treatment access, childhood immunisation rates, ED stays, and wait times.  But regional averages paint a different picture, with Counties Manukau and Auckland going backwards in ED wait times.  Simeon Brown told Mike Hosking that decrease is due to localized factors.  He says there's been a significant increase in people turning up to those hospitals' EDs, which has an impact on wait times.  Child immunisation rates have seen the biggest lift among the targets.   The proportion of children fully immunised by age two is up more than five points, to 82 percent.  Brown told Hosking significant work is going into lifting immunisation rates to avoid declines like those seen in the US.  He says they're investing more money and working with primary care, but adds that some regions need more work.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Building and Construction Minister says new earthquake building rules are more nuanced. Changes to the rules will remove Auckland, Northland, and the Chatham Islands from the regime.  Coastal Otago, including Dunedin, will be classified as a medium seismic hazard area, and will remain within the earthquake-prone building system  Building Minister Chris Penk says the rules are ultimately designed to protect life.   He told Mike Hosking under the current system some owners were unable to afford the upgrades.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday the 26th of September, the Corrections Association speak on almost running out of money already due to growing prisoner numbers. The Prime Minister joins for his regular Monday chat to talk the Palestine call and power reform coming this week. Andrew Saville and Jason Pine cover off the All Blacks test, the netball and plenty of other non-related sport chat too! 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.

If you watched Winston Peters speech in New York late Saturday morning you can see why he did so well last week in the Herald's boardroom feedback. For the bloke who has been the epitome of aggro and grumpiness, in his better moments he is as good a foreign minister as this country has ever had. Politically, the announcement and its build-up got dragged out way longer than it ever needed to and therefore took up too much oxygen at a time when we really should be focusing on vastly more pressing local issues. No matter what we said the eyes of the world were never really on us, despite the hysteria of too many in our media landscape who have little or no grip on perspective. But given we were to say something, what we did say was logical and sensible, unlike what was said by many far larger countries earlier in the week. The United Nation's greatest weakness is its reliance on hot air as opposed to substance, which is why we landed where we did in our declaration. Just saying stuff counts for nothing. It's too easy, which is why too many people do it. By the time Peters had finished the week, he had done some excellent truth bomb work. On climate he is indisputably right - we make a lot of promises we know aren't going to come to pass. On Gaza we are all appalled at the outworkings of hate. But recognising things doesn’t stop that hate, or the war, or have the food flow, or the hostages released. Essentially we should expect more of both Israel and the Palestinians. Don't ask for recognition while you still refuse to release hostages. When there is something a lot more tangible New Zealand is ready to recognise progress. Progress is tangible. Words aren't. The idea that a lot of people saying stuff builds momentum is simply untrue and we have seen that in the past week. A peace, if there is to be one, will be driven by the Americans, who will corral the Israelis to a point of some sort of submission or agreement. Albanese and Starmer and Carney and all the rest of them played true to the usual lightweight, verbal frippery that’s made the U.N famous. We at least told it like it is. It was a good moment for a small country.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.