The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Education Minister's confident successful primary school literacy results aren't just low hanging fruit. Results from the new phonics literacy programme show 58% of students are at or above expectations after 20 weeks. More than 40% of students exceeded expectations in Term 3 – more than double the first term. Erica Stanford says they're tracking where they hoped. But she told Mike Hosking this couldn't be achieved by just anyone and required a government who was prepared to follow the science. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday 13 October. Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I have read the latest KPI's for the Government. This is the things they are going to do before the end of the year. "Drag this dump out of the quagmire" would have been my number one, but theirs is introducing new planning legislation to replace the RMA. Which is no bad thing. But introducing stuff isn't the same as ticking stuff off, is it?   And in this list, which is 33 "things" long, is part of this Government's image issue. You most likely won't have read or seen the 33 because it’s a good example of the news cycle, or our attention span, or a bit of both. Remember when they first came out? There was mass coverage. A Government with a "to do" list was novel. It showed things you could see and come back later to and check whether it had actually happened. It was very business like. You may also remember that, mainly, they get done. This Government has roughly achieved what it set out to do so as an exercise in discipline it deserves some sort of recognition. But here's the problem - a cheaper power bill and an annual surplus might have been more use. So as several quarters and lists have passed we appear, and by that I mean mainly the media, to have lost interest. As far as I can tell the latest list is virtually nowhere to be seen, and I do quite a bit of looking. Further, it starts to look like a list, and this is the problem, that has stuff in it that is a mix of indecipherable, non-specific, and/or part of a sort of ongoing, broad-based thought bubble. Here's a good example - number 3 is "pass legislation to allow granny flats to be built without a consent". That's perfect; it's simple, clear and ticks the box. But what about number 15? "Begin the hospitality sector review". Is forecasting the start of a look at something, a thing? Number 20: "Take cabinet policy decision on options to provide more tools to address antisocial behaviour". Take a decision? For tools? For behaviour? Come on, that’s stacking a list. That’s whiteboards and blue skies and boring meetings. We have an economic shambles on our hands and your hot, fourth quarter take is some tools for behaviour? Maybe one of the KPI's in the first quarter could have been "lets not make bollocks up for future lists so they look like we ran out of stuff to do". LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason Pine and Andrew Saville join Mike Hosking this morning to discuss the weekend's sports. On the table today: The weekend of supercars at Bathurst has concluded in a thrilling wet race that came down to the wire. Canterbury look set to win the NPC, can they be stopped? And Tiger Woods undergoes another back surgery, is it time to hang up the clubs? LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Turnout in the weekend's local elections has fallen even further this time around. By the end of Friday, less than 33-percent of Kiwis had cast their vote. Local Government New Zealand President Sam Broughton - who was unseated as Selwyn Mayor - says we should be aiming for much higher turnout. He says general elections get double the turnout and we should expect the same for local elections. Prime Minster Chris Luxon told Mike Hosking both candidates and voters alike are to blame. He says candidates have to be compelling and set out a clear vision, but the public also can't complain if they don't vote. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Outgoing three term Selwyn Mayor Sam Broughton says rates increases played a part in his job loss.  Former Councillor Lydia Gliddon has taken the top spot in the country's fastest growing district, unseating the incumbent. She unseated the current Local Government NZ President by more than 13,000 - he was seeking a fourth term. Broughton believes Selwyn's larger than average rates increases contributed to voting behaviour.  He says although it took a personal toll, raising rates was the right thing to do, so the region could invest in long-term infrastructure.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Assurance for farmers with the latest methane target update.  The Government's set the 2050 targets to 14 to 24-percent below 2017 levels - which is 24 to 47-percent lower than the previous.  Federated Farmers President Wayne Langford told Mike Hosking they'd been advocating for lower, but this at least gives farmers a clear direction of travel.  He says the numbers are scientific rather than idealistic, which is good for farmers.  Langford says it's measurable, and they're on track to achieve it. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The annual report by ACC revealed a $1.5billion deficit, taking the total debt up to $13.8billion.  ACC Chief Executive Megan Main told Mike Hosking that the numbers are improving, but it's a 'big ship to turn around.'  She said that the costs for services from providers have risen more than inflation, hindering ACC's ability to provide rehabilitation for those who need it.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

So soybean farmers, like a lot of American farmers, are having a very tough time of it.  Soybean farmers particularly so because most of their product goes to China. So far this season, China has bought no beans.  A lot of countries, when they can, are doing business with other countries and avoiding the American tariff regime.  China in particular is caught up in an ongoing shambles around trade generally, so China has gone to Argentina for their soybeans.  This has left the people of Minnesota, where most of the beans are grown, with a problem.  If you remember when Trump announced the tariffs, the tariffs had no downside, apart from a little pain at the start. His words: "a little pain".  I'm assuming losing your biggest soybean customer is the "little pain" bit.  Anyway, the White House’s response to this is a massive bail out. Farmers all over America from beans, to wheat, to corn are going to get money because they can't sell their products.  In a country like New Zealand, none of this will come as any surprise given we have been basically tariff free for years and we do business on the very simple basis that it costs what it costs to make something and you sell it to willing buyers for what the market can bear.  Need I introduce the butter story at this point?  The problem in some cases is if the tariff or barrier is too high into a market you look for other markets. This is happening a lot in food.  By the way, it's also reported Trump is looking at some kind of major carve out around car production as well, given there is no car that is truly American made and they told him this at the start.  So the tariffs arrived, the prices went up, and the demand went down.  I'm assuming even Trump can see that a farmer who grows something that he once sold to the world to make a living but now can't because he has been priced out of the market, does not a good economic story make.  And when said farmer then has to earn an income from the Government, not the market, something about the Trump tariff plan doesn't seem to be working.  But then there was no shortage of people pointing that out earlier this year. 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.    Attention seekers: 1/10  What a dreadful week as we gave far too much energy to narcissists who masquerade as people with causes, both at sea and on land.    Noeline: 2/10  Still nothing. How badly handled can a badly handled scandal be handled?    Winston Peters: 7/10  In between cleaning up the glass on his dog, his Pacific reset speech was a reminder of what a considered and sensible Foreign Minister he is.    Chlöe Swarbrick: 1/10  The party under her leadership really has become farcical. If Palestine was a national park, it might make sense.    Chris Hipkins: 3/10  Telling us how appalling it was that Winston's house got smashed but then didn’t vote for the new protest law. H.Y.P.O.C.R.I.T.E.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.