The Mike Hosking Breakfast

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 26th of August, the Reserve Bank is opening consultation on banks’ capital requirements – Chair Neil Quigley discusses the situation.   TVNZ will be introducing a paid event pass for the first time ever after securing the broadcasting rights for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.  Mark 'Frosty' Winterbottom has a new memoir out about his time as a full time Supercars driver, so we had to catch up with him.  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.

TVNZ will be charging its viewers for content for the first time after securing the rights to broadcast next year's Fifa World Cup.  Viewers will be able to stream 104 football games over the tournament's 39 days, including replays and highlights, if an event pass is purchased.  All of New Zealand's games will be free-to-air, alongside a handful of others.  TVNZ CEO Jodi O'Donnell told Mike Hosking data was collected on how many people are actually prepared to pay for additional sport.  She says the number of people that watched the Euros tournament with TVNZ gave them confidence.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Reserve Bank says it wasn't dragged kicking and screaming to a review of capital rules.  It's put out two proposals aimed at loosening capital requirements.   Board Chair Neil Quigley says they were reviews that the bank has been looking at for a while.   He told Mike Hosking if they were loosened, it wouldn't cause too much of a shakeup, and it probably won't have a big effect on pricing.   Meanwhile, Quigley says the decision about a full-time replacement for Adrian Orr is weeks away.    LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The tertiary sector's not losing sleep over grade inflation at universities.  A New Zealand Initiative report's found the proportion of A-grades has increased from 22% to 35% since 2006, but academic improvement can't explain it.  Universities NZ CEO Chris Whelan told Mike Hosking it's not clear what's causing the change, but the report only considers four factors.  He says none include the changes in how teaching is done, the use of online technologies, and the increasing number of postgraduate students.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Self-employed Kiwis are prioritising their businesses rather than thinking about retirement.  A report by the Retirement Commission and accounting firm Hnry shows just 44% of self-employed people actively contribute to KiwiSaver.  This is compared to 78% of employees.  The report also reveals 41% of self-employed workers don't get any government KiwiSaver contribution.   Retirement Commissioner Jane Wrightson told Mike Hosking they're having to make trade-offs.  She says employees get contributions from their employers, but self-employed people are having to pay themselves.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Port inefficiencies could undermine New Zealand's goals to double export earnings.   The Cargo Owners Council says there's been a 30% drop in productivity since 2019.   Chair Brent Falvey says there needs to be a comprehensive reset of our ports and a strategy for the whole supply chain.   He told Mike Hosking we just aren't keeping up with rest of the world.   Falvey says New Zealand is in the bottom 20% for port efficiency.   LISTEN ABOVE See 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 All Blacks suffered a defeat at the hands of Los Pumas in Argentina, is the criticism they're receiving justified?  TVNZ is set to broadcast the NPC through the year, hopefully bringing attention to the local games. And the Warriors defeated the Titans in Queensland to secure an important victory in the NRL. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday 25 August. 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.

The Prime Minister could follow Australia's lead in an attempt to boost overseas stays through major events. A new report shows strong demand for hotels in the likes of Queenstown, but occupancy's down for Auckland and Wellington. Big names in the tourism sector, like Sudima Hotels believe more events equals more hotel rooms booked.  Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking that he's been looking at a model that Australia's Victoria once used. He says they had major events every quarter and micro-events every week, which is something to think about. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"MP's struggle to identify silver bullet solutions". That was the headline Friday as Jenee Tibshraeny detailed a years worth of work by the Finance and Expenditure Committee that has come up with zip. Oh they have made recommendations, don’t get me wrong. Imagine what it would look like if they had been toiling away for a year and came up with a blank piece of paper. But without telling you I told you so... I told you so. Here is the difference between us and them. They entered this particular exercise with an ideological or conspiratorial bent. The opposition and their ideas involve public ownership, Māori banking theories and all sorts of psychobabble that has nothing to do with competition. The Government has the Nicola Willis idea that this is all a scam, the banks are crooks and they are ripping us off. I have argued there is no scam, there is plenty of competition and I have become increasingly convinced the issue really lies in the Reserve Bank and their desire for retail banks to hold gargantuan amounts of money in reserve "just in case". Labour buys into this thinking, which is why they appointed Adrian Orr, who introduced the rules in the first place. The evidence is all around us. Is there choice? Do people swap banks a lot? Do banks openly compete for customers? Can you do deals through brokers, or directly? Yes, yes, yes and yes. Would more banks help? Probably, but there is nothing stopping them opening. So, the committee has no silver bullet. Do you know why? Because there isn't one. Because guess what - the system isn't broken. No, it's not perfect. It's what happens with limited markets and small populations. As I have said to Nicola Willis all along, if you've got an answer, do it. Pull the trigger, show us your trick and wave your wand. But one year of searching tells you one thing. If you look at things with an open mind, you wouldn’t have gone down the rabbit hole. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.