The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The Transport Minister says maintenance to keep the country's railways working is long overdue.  Chris Bishop, alongside Rail Minister Winston Peters, announced $461 million for the rail freight network, and an additional $143 million for Auckland and Wellington's metropolitan trains.  It's ahead of this week's Budget announcement.  Bishop told Mike Hosking more will be needed in the future to keep Auckland and Wellington's trains running.  He says successive governments have neglected rail maintenance.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's frustration over the Government's lack of pace in changes to encourage foreign investment.  It's set aside $65 million over four years to loosen the capitalisation rules for investors.  The change will allow foreign-owned companies to fund a bigger chunk of their investments in New Zealand through tax deductible debt.  Queen City Law managing director Marcus Beveridge says told Mike Hosking the Government's still trying to get rid of roadblocks.  He says it's underwhelming to be a year and a half through an election cycle and to still be tweaking things in this space.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

OneRoof had a story over the weekend about an apartment in Auckland that is for sale for $17 million. It was for sale for $16 million, so they have put the price up despite the fact it has been for sale for several years. They are looking to the international market where $17 million is not a lot of money. The article also featured information about a Knight Frank Wealth report that ranked the priorities of those with money and real estate investment was right up there, as well as, for the super wealthy, the ability to have a super yacht park featured highly as well. The point being, in Auckland your $17 million penthouse can be a few hundred metres away from your super yacht. Yet, in this country foreigners can't do that because they aren't allowed to buy a house. What they are allowed to do is get a golden visa and the new rules have proved popular. There is good inquiry. For $5-10 million you invest in a business, you employ, you grow, you help us out and, yet, you still can't buy a house. The fact the apartment has been on the market for years clearly shows no locals want it, or can afford it. So the fear, as proffered by some, that foreigners take houses off New Zealanders at this level clearly isn't true. The Government, or parts of it, want to fix this anomaly and yet they can't, or don’t, because NZ First refuses. Rumours a while back suggested a compromise had been reached. National had an election policy of $2 million as a protection on lower priced houses. The rumour was a figure of $5-6 million had been reached with NZ First but it never came to fruition. So in Budget week, when yet again the dire state of our finances is laid bare and a commentary around growth will be pushed hard, one of the answers of the wealthy having money to invest, has not been fully enacted because one part in this Government is xenophobic. This battle to regain our economic mojo is hard enough as it is without ankle-tapping ourselves by refusing to enact blatantly obvious ideas. If we can't pull every lever possible we have no one to blame but ourselves.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attended the pope’s inauguration in Rome over the weekend. While there, he met with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy to discuss donating military tanks to the country. Australia has donated $1.5 billion in support of Ukraine. Australian Correspondent Steve Price talks to Mike Hosking about the meeting between the leaders, Victoria’s budget, the F1 and more. LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Listen to the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday 19 May. 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 says his Government is calling out bureaucrats falling foul of the government's expectations. It comes off the back of Winston Peters expressing his criticism of Māori targeted hires, after a government job was advertised as a “tikanga lead” to promote Māori customs, principles and values in the Māori policing unit. Luxon discusses whether the reason NZ First is seeking changes to the regulatory standards bill is because they have problems internally. The Government is officially announcing its budget on Thursday, after a series of pre-budgets announcements have been made, including multi-million-dollar funding to the film industry and urgent care facilities across the country. Mike Hosking questions where the money’s coming from. Prime Minster Christopher Luxon and Mike Hosking talk all this and more. LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's good news for the manufacturing sector.  Business BNZ performance of manufacturing index shows an upward of 0.7 points. JMI Wealth Spokesperson Andrew Kelleher says it's a strong indicator that recovery is underway for manufacturing.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There are changes to the way New Zealanders are getting educated, with distance learning increasing.  Correspondence schooling has seen a 32 percent rise in enrolment since 2018. Crimson Global Academy CEO Penelope Burton talks tells Mike Hosking social anxiety is a contributor, while others aren't finding in-person schooling challenging enough.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The rural community of members bill is looking to adjust the rules around KiwiSaver so that it can be used to buy a farm.  The change would also allow defence force personnel to get access to a first home.  National MP for Rangitīkei Suze Redmayne talks to Mike Hosking about the proposed changes.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rules are being relaxed around borrowers using flatmates to pay their mortgage. Previously, borrowers would need signed documentation from a flatmate contributing to the cost, but now a declaration of intent is all that’s needed. Opes Partners Resident Economist Ed McKnight talks to Mike Hosking about what this means. LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.