The Mike Hosking Breakfast

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday the 18th of June, our food prices are on the way back up. Is it seasonal or is something happening behind the scenes?  Our health stats are slowly trending in the right direction, and Health Minister Simeon Brown also answers the question as to why surgeries in public hospitals don't happen past 4pm.  Ginny Andersen and Mark Mitchell talk Mark's lengthy trip over to China, scrutiny week, and the elective surgery load being taken on by the private sector 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.

The Government is delivering an increased number of elective procedures to try to meet patient wait time targets.  More than 84% of cancer patients are starting treatment within 31 days – 1% more than last year.  Health Minister Simeon Brown told Mike Hosking they want that up to 90% by 2030, and are working to speed up treatments.  He says they've swiftly outsourced nine thousand 500 electives to the private sector in an effort to get Health New Zealand moving faster.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's being suggested the pricey cost of our food baskets is great for the economy but bad for our wallets.  Food inflation has risen 4.4% annually, the highest in 18 months.  Meat, poultry and fish had the biggest increases, while butter, milk and cheese drove grocery prices.  Foodstuffs North Island CEO Chris Quin told Mike Hosking increases in foods like Kiwifruit and butter is fantastic for New Zealand's economy, but tough for households.   Quin says they're doing everything they can,  but they can't contain the same costs of energy and people. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's being suggested small businesses are finding it tougher to get loans than big businesses, despite being a safer option.  The latest data shows the compound annual growth rate of bank lending has slowed from 6% to 1.5% since 2013.  Small Business NZ Founder Phil Wicks told Mike Hosking most banks are making business hard.  He says lending to someone with skin in the game should be more attractive to banks.  Wicks told Hosking many banks assess loan risks like it was centuries ago.  He says there are small businesses with strong work ethics, no debt, and personal guarantees, still being declined  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump's recent social media posts hint at major escalations in the Iran and Israel conflict.   Israel and Iran continue to trade strikes, with at least 224 Iranians and 24 Israelis killed since hostilities began after Israel's initial attack on Friday.  US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking Trump's posts mean we could be on a brink of a rapid shift in the American role in the Iran and Israel conflict.  He says Trump wrote that they now have complete and total control of the skies of Iran,  which echoes exactly what Israel's leader Benjamin Netanyahu said in his most recent US interview.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Vocational Minister's hopeful students will flood back to polytechs after the model is de-centralised.  Staff-to-student ratios are still lower than they were in 2016, despite staff numbers being slashed by 8.2%.  Penny Simmonds says low ratios signal financial trouble.  She told Mike Hosking student numbers have dropped by 11,000 since Te Pukenga was established in 2020.  Simmonds says the Government's working hard to get student numbers up and viable again.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Last week when Shaun Johnson was in the studio, we were discussing retirement.  Not mine, but that’s of growing fascination to me these days.  When do you know? If you aren't getting cancelled, or run out of town, or falling apart, how do you know?  John Key famously had nothing left in the tank.  Johnson was explaining it was important for him to go out when he decided, not when he was dropped. The TV stuff he now does was something he was interested in, but didn’t know how it would unfold.  Johnson at 34 years old seemed young enough.  I look at people like Tom Brady in his mid 40's. One more season, one more chance at greatness, and he goes out a hero with another Super Bowl win.  I look at Aaron Rodgers, who has signed at Pittsburgh this year. He looks like he has gone a season too long. He looks like he is looking for work, when he should really be looking for life after football. Maybe this season will make a fool of me, but I doubt it.  But all of that pales in comparison when it comes to Nico Porteous. He is walking away from his snow sports career at 23 years old.  He doesn’t want to use the word retirement, but equally he won't be at the Olympics anymore.  As our most successful ever snow sport athlete, it is over. He also doesn’t know what he is going to do, or what his future looks like. But he has enjoyed videos and production so maybe that’s a path.  How do you decide that at 23 years old?  How do you know that it's right?  Who advises you? How do you know they're right?  Having spent your entire life aiming for the one big thing, sporting excellence, how do you pull the cord when you have, if you want, years to go?  Are you one of those people who can walk away from that level of exhilaration and success and not look back? Is now knowing what's next part of the thrill?  Will you keep the scrapbook of memories? Will you tell your kids or grandkids about the halfpipe? Will they ask how come Dad can do flips on skis when they first go to Cardrona?  What a big call with so much ahead of him. Or was what he did plenty? Is that a good way to see life?  I admire him. Is he reckless? Could be. Maybe he is an insightful genius. Either way, I admire him.  At 23 years old I would have tortured myself, and probably still wouldn’t have done what he has. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ian Foster was one of the more polarising All Blacks coaches in recent memory.  He took the helm after the superb record of Sir Steve Hansen, and during his time there were constant discussions surrounding his job security.  During his tenure he had a win rate of 70% and lost New Zealand the number one world ranking, but at the same time, he won 4 Bledisloe Cups, 4 Freedom Cups, and 3 Rugby Championships, as well as coming within a point of winning the Rugby World Cup.  Foster is still in the coaching game over in Japan, but in the meantime, he’s written a book called ‘Leading Under Pressure’, that tells the story of his time with the All Blacks.   He told Mike Hosking he had never intended to write a book, but felt it was an important story to tell.  “A lot of the feedback we got is that people actually saw a team go through a journey over those four years,” he said.  “I just felt that I almost owed it to my management team and a lot of my leading players to actually tell the story of the journey of that particular team.”  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 17th of June, we have good news around the number of families moved out of emergency housing and where they've gone. Small hint - it's not to cars or the streets.  At 23 years old, Nico Porteous has decided he wants to retire from the Olympics, at the peak of his prime. He joined the show to delve into his decision.   Former All Blacks coach Ian Foster has a new book out about leadership and his time in the top job, so he's on to talk all things pressure.    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.

A growing number of New Zealanders perceive China as a threat.   A new report from the Asia New Zealand Foundation surveyed 2,300 locals between November and December, with an additional poll in March.   It shows New Zealanders' perception of China as a threat rose from 28% to 40% over four months.  Jason Young, Director of Victoria University’s NZ-China Research Centre, told Mike Hosking the big jump in threat perception happened in March, just after Chinese Navy conducted exercises in the Tasman Sea.  He says that New Zealand has seen China and its military grow, but its military has always been very far away, and coming into the Tasman changed that.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.