The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The deadline for rental properties to meet the Healthy Homes deadline is less than 24 hours away, and some properties are still not up to scratch. Betta Group CEO Matt Mason told Mike Hosking that although many proactive landlords have made the required changes, some have left it to the last minute. He says audits will be carried out and fines will be issued in the coming months to help enforce these regulation changes. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paramedics are giving the Government a thumbs up, as it moves to crack down on assaults towards first responders and prison officers.  It's proposing higher penalties, with five years maximum imprisonment for assault with intent to injure, and a seven year maximum for injuring with intent.  St John Ambulance Operations Manager Stu Cockburn told Mike Hosking this is a step in the right direction. LISTEN HERESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's excitement over expected changes to the way authorities deal with retail crime.  Newstalk ZB understands Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith will be confirming shoplifting policy changes this week, relating to Retail Crime Ministerial Advisory Group recommendations.  Group Chair Sunny Kaushal told Mike Hosking that the announcements are ones retailers across the country have been screaming out for.  Kaushal says offenders believe police won't respond and the courts will let them go, so they're working to stop this sense of impunity.   LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The One Roof Velocity house value index has revealed a drop in property value across the country.  Major cities like Auckland, Wellington and Hamilton have all experienced drops. However, more rural areas such as Southland, Canterbury and Northland have all seen a rise.  CEO of real estate at Velocity Helen O’Sullivan told Mike Hosking that although the prices have dropped, the real estate market is still healthy.  She said ‘Volumes are a key indicator, and we’re seeing those pick up’  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A friend of ours opened a new business last week.  It was a soft opening and will be full steam ahead by the school holidays.  So far he is going gangbusters. There's a lot of local support and it looks like a good news story.  He is however, if you believe the headlines that have been supplied by his industry association, in very dark and difficult days.  They don’t look difficult at his place.  The GDP figures came out as we were away on the long weekend - up 0.8% for Q1.  The Reserve Bank thought it would be 0.4%. Most banks thought it would be 0.7%. The reality was better than everyone thought.  Nick Tuffley, the ASB's head man on economics, also on Thursday told us he still had growth in the second quarter just gone, April, May and June. He had us 0.3-0.4% up.  Other commentary last week from manufacturing and services said we had hit a brick wall. If Nick is right there is no brick wall, the same way Q1 was not 0.4%, it was 0.8%.  The point is this: is it possible we are in such a funk we don’t want to see reality?  You know what else I read? Australia, the repository of so many disillusioned New Zealanders, is now losing more people than it has since Covid. A mass exodus is on.  People are bailing out of Australia, healthcare is chronically bad, you can't get seen, the Government is sinking in debt, house prices have spiked past an average of a million everywhere, there are more people than ever since records began and people are working multiple jobs just to make ends meet.  This is Australia, the golden answer for the miserable Kiwi looking for better.  Maybe better is here? Maybe in a turbulent, troubled world the Land of the Long White Cloud is actually coming right and people like our mate and his new business sees it.  And a lot of what's in front of us is attitude. Is there trouble in some areas? Yes.  Are there issues still unresolved? Yes.  But do we have growth and prospect? Yes.  Do the numbers back that up? Indeed they do!  Maybe the grass is in fact nice and just as green here. You just got to want to see it.     See 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.    Trump: 7/10  All in all, 5% defence spending at NATO, a ceasefire that holds, and talks with Iran next week. It's not bad.    Rob Penney: 8/10  From last year to this. That's one of sports great stories, and I assume involves tremendous amounts of well-deserved satisfaction.    Whanau Ora and Tama Iti and Moana Pasifika: 2/10  Central Government yet again missing the politically triggering stuff they promised to address.    David Seymour: 7/10  As Acting Prime Minister in the house and in media, he is a very solid, considered set of hands with good wit to go with it.    Golden visas: 8/10  That is practical thinking, making tangible difference. 189 applications and $800million worth of business - let's go NZ!    Wealth and the pension: 2/10  Bum note of the week. Targeting those who actually worked hard to save to help in retirement should never be used as a punishment. And the Retirement Commissioner might like to ask herself whether she understands her job.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We've got more ageism, this time in education.  Unions are "concerned" as more teachers work past retirement age.  This in part is the trouble with unions.  1) They aren't keen on work to start with,  2) They are bogged down in old fashioned rules and views of the world.  What is retirement and how do you know you are past it?  They refer of course to Super and this tired, old business of thinking that when Super kicks in you must check out.  Obviously, the world has changed and is changing, just not that quickly in union land.  At 64-years-old if you're loving teaching, somehow chronologically at 65-years-old that desire and love of pursuit needs to be shelved, as you wander off collecting your retirement income and presumably filling your days with bowls and walks.  8000 people teaching are 65-years-old or over. That’s double what it used to be 10 years ago.  But then a lot is different to what it was 10 years ago.  Beyond the numbers, does anyone ask any questions?  Like, are they doing it because they have to, as opposed to want to? Bit of a difference I would have thought.  Most importantly for teaching, given the unions insist on the mad-cap business of time in the classroom being the measure for income, are these oldies any good?  Could they be better given their experience and institutional knowledge than the 21-year-old just into the classroom and looking for all the world out of her depth?  In sex education in 6th form at Linwood High in the late 1980's, we were 16 and 17-years-old and the teacher might have been 20-years-old. She looked like she wanted to die as the diagrams of the you-know-what's came out.  As you can tell the memory is seared in my mind 40 years later.  New isn't always best. Young doesn’t always trump older and passion and skill above all else is what should drive presence in the workplace or classroom.  Are you good? Do you like what you do? Are you making a difference?  If the answer is yes, then at what point would you be remotely interested in age, far less be concerned? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The week has come to an end and so Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson are joining Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week once more.  Tim is injured again, winding up on ACC after taking a tumble off the footpath, plus, Mike's made a new musical discovery.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Treaty Negotiations Minister admits people are losing patience on a Ngāpuhi settlement, but says they want it to last.  New Zealand First is launching a Bill, proposing a one-and-done treaty settlement for the largest iwi, rather than multiple hapu settlements.  Paul Goldsmith says that although he sympathises with the desire for a faster resolution, if you want an enduring settlement, you need people to be prepared to settle.  He told Mike Hosking that the settlement has to have the support of around 200,000 to 300,000 people, which has been the challenge in the past.  Goldsmith says that they have a good plan now, and they’re making good progress on the work that’s currently underway.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Education Minister is hitting back against claims she’s trying to entrench co-governance into education.  Hobson’s Pledge is claiming that the Education and Training Amendment Bill No.2 includes a section, put there by Stanford, that will force every school board to reflect “local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te ao Māori” in their policies, plans, and classroom teaching.  Erica Stanford refutes these claims, saying that 127 was an already existing Treaty clause.  She told Mike Hosking that section is not the only clause in the Education Act to reference the Treaty, which is why there needs to be a proper review into whether or not they need to be there.  Standford says there are legitimate questions to be answered, which is why they’re looking into the act, but she did not add them in herself.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.