The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Mark Mitchell, New Zealand's Police Minister and MP, confronts controversial claims made by former Police Commissioner Andrew Coster regarding the McSkimming allegations. Mitchell insists he was first informed about the situation on November 6, 2024, dismissing Coster's narrative as "utter nonsense." He emphasizes his expectations for transparency from senior staff and critiques how McSkimming has been portrayed, expressing concerns about the power dynamics involved. Mitchell also discusses his immediate actions to ensure the welfare of those affected.

It's the definition of madness. And stupidity.  How many times do you have to do the same dumb thing with no result, thus proving your system doesn’t work, before you admit your system doesn’t work and give up?  The last of the carbon auctions was held this week. You know where this story is going.  I first got interested in this a couple of years ago when it struck me that this auction malarkey might be one of the better examples of the sheer, ideological madness that drives so much of the climate policy.  One of the reasons so many people have got into forestry is it's free money.  It's on land and land, generally, is a good investment and free money isn't a bad deal either.  Also, after a while, they might pay you some good dough for your wood.  So if trees get carbon credits why would you turn up to an auction? You wouldn’t, and indeed this week they didn’t.  Not one person. Not one bid. Not one credit sold.  There are four of these each year for the past two years. No one has bought a thing. Ask yourself why.  They have tried to price the units, to no avail, but what is really causing the issue is the Government.  To buy something you must believe it has value. It has to have worth.  Why would you buy into the Government carbon narrative when they keep changing the rules?  This Government is doing their best to do as little as possible to meet their climate emissions. I applaud that because it’s the right thing to do.  But given the rules keep changing I'm certainly not turning up to buy stuff like a credit I may not need.  The minister, as I told you the other day, took the unprecedented step of offering commentary about the auction and telling us how committed the Government is to climate in the hope we would go "well that’s OK then, see you at the auction".  It didn’t work.  The auction didn’t work, again. Eight down and zero sales, no revenue.  How long before they pull the pin on a gargantuan embarrassment?  The longer this goes the more foolish they look. 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.      Consumers: 7/10  Confidence at a 6-month high.    School lunches: 3/10 This is the stupidest story of the week. Four days it lasted – we've become myopic. We fixate on triviality. It’s got a small village idiot vibe to it, don’t you reckon?     Social media ban: 6/10 Mainly for effort, because it’s not real, it’s not practical – it’s got idealism all over it.     Pete Hegseth: 3/10  Between the narco boats and the Signal report, what odds are you running that he doesn’t make Christmas?     Rates caps: 7/10  Move of the week from the central government.  If local government just stopped whining for a moment and asked themselves who the architects of the mess actually are and why, they might not have as much to moan about.   LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 5th of December, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon joined Mike to wrap the year before he takes off on holiday.  They also exchanged gifts, and both of them were hugely impressed with each other's loot.  And for the final time of the year, Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson Wrapped the Week, talking about the gift exchange and Mike's reaction.    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 New Zealand retail experience, as summed up by a frustrated Katherine Hawkesby as of yesterday.  She visited half a dozen shops - one was decent and the rest were useless.  They were useless for a variety of reasons, but the common theme was service, or lack of it.  How is it continually possible that we have a sector crying out for support and yet so unable to offer something worth spending money on, and a country with a lot of people allegedly happy to go find a job and yet the people with the jobs are so fantastically incompetent?    We all know the story. It's not unique to Katie yesterday, on the early burst of Christmas shopping. Retail, tragically, is filled with hopelessness, lack of stock, lack of desire and a lack of professionalism.  Which is why the good ones are so welcome and why I have been able to tell you many times in the past few months, and can name you a decent number of operators in a variety of fields, that have weathered these past few years with no real issues at all.  They are good at what they do. They want to do well. Word of mouth and reputation travels far and fast and they are fine, thank you very much.  Yesterday's highlight was at a liquor shop. It's a large one and is part of a chain.  The woman behind the counter, slovenly, full of tattoos and on the phone with no interest in service or acknowledging a customer.  When asked, because she didn’t offer any help, she didn’t know what Prosecco was.  How can you work in a shop that sells nothing but wine and spirits and not know what Prosecco is, or where in the shop you find it?  Who employed her, and why? And why was there no training? This is a big brand and a brand, I would have thought, that would be interested in reputation and a decent customer experience.  How does a person with clearly no knowledge or interest in the thing they are selling actually get work?  Are you telling me the people who can't get work are even worse than her?  The resentment, Katie fumed, is based on the idea that we all work hard for the dollars.  Handing them over would be easier, nicer and more fulfilling if you thought the recipient, just for a moment, was even slightly grateful. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US Defence Secretary seems to be in hot water.  A Department of Defence report concluded that Pete Hegseth put military personnel at risk when he shared information of a planned airstrike over Signal.  The incident came to light when a journalist for the Atlantic was accidently added to the chat in which sensitive details of the strike on Houthi fighters in Yemen back in March.   US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking Hegseth refused to take part in interviews for the investigation, claiming he has the power to declassify material mentally.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the final time this year, Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby joined Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week that Was.  They discussed the gift exchange that happened earlier on the show and Mike’s reaction to the Prime Minister's interesting gift.  Plus, they got into the price of postage, shopping, and good service.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Retirement Commissioner's unfazed at the prospect of a potential retirement village price rise.  The Government's announced changes to the Retirement Villages Act 2003, aiming to ease the experience of elderly people and their families.   Changes include ensuring money is paid back within a year after a resident leaves.  Commissioner Jane Wrightson told Mike Hosking it’s been a five-year process with painstaking consultation and assessment, and the Government has done a very careful balancing act, going straight through the middle of most of the disputes.  She says that both parties, the operators and the residents, are pleased about some things and not so pleased about others, which suggests the changes are mostly right.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Education Minister's pleased to see secondary school teachers vote yes for their new collective agreement.   PPTA members have accepted the Government's offer, which includes a 4.6% pay increase over two years and a million dollar a year fund for professional development.   Minister Erica Stanford told Mike Hosking it's a good resolution and she's happy for teachers.   She says they've worked hard to raise achievement and close the equity gap, and they deserve the pay rises they're getting over the next two years.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

‘Tis the season for the annual swapping of gifts between the Prime Minister and broadcaster Mike Hosking.  For Prime Minister Christopher Luxon the festive season has begun with meal tray tables bearing the longtime broadcaster’s face, after the pair exchanged gifts in a Christmas tradition that dates back several years.  As for Hosking, he’ll leave the Newstalk ZB studio today with a bespoke calendar with a range of dates highlighted, from sports events to Parliament’s Question Time and random world elections.  “I get a lot of unsolicited advice when I’m in Parliament during question time. So, I’ve marked out in green all the times that you can give me that unsolicited advice,” Luxon said.  “And then the other two big interests in your life are obviously F1 and the Warriors games, so they’re all mapped out there on the planner. And then sometimes you love to give a bit of esoteric advice to the listeners around sort of the Cameroonian election that might be taking place. So, down this side, I’ve just given you a list of random world elections.”  Luxon also gave the broadcaster two wine glass rubber lanyards, briefly alarming Hosking as he unwrapped his gift, which was “only for you and [wife] Kate”, Luxon said.  “Oh my Lord, what is it?” Hosking replied before the Prime Minister revealed the lanyards were bought at Ikea after the Swedish giant opened its first New Zealand store in Auckland yesterday.  Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Newstalk ZB host Mike Hosking after the pair exchanged Christmas gifts on the Mike Hosking Breakfast this morning. Photo / Cameron Pitney “I was the first person in the country to make a physical purchase in the store at Ikea. And I bought Mike ... wine glass lanyard[s], because as he ponders his estate ... him and Kate go wandering around and they often have a glass of wine in hand.  “As you’ve got older, I don’t want you to trip and fall, because that’d be a real problem.”  You can listen here to the exchange.  The tray tables were inspired by a comment Luxon made this year about him and wife Amanda eating dinner on their laps while watching Netflix.  “Stop eating dinner on your knee, it’s not healthy”, Hosking scolded the Prime Minister.  “All I ask of you when you’re sitting with that on your lap looking at me … is not to spill your food.”  The Prime Minister described the trays as having “lovely wood surrounds” and the image of Hosking as being “very wistful”.  “It’s ponderous and thoughtful,” Hosking said.  “The question I’m asking you with my eyes is, ‘Do you really think you’ll win the election next year?’”  The Government has been struggling in the polls as economic challenges continue, with Luxon himself the subject of ongoing speculation that his leadership may face a challenge from within his own party.  But the Prime Minister’s response was to the point.  “Oh hell yeah, don’t you worry about that.”  ‘The Complete Guide to Surviving a Mike Hosking Interview’  Last year, after Luxon’s first full year in the top job, Hosking gave the Prime Minister a gift he described as “one of one” and a “prototype”.  It was a book titled “The Complete Guide to Surviving a Mike Hosking Interview”, which Luxon described as “genius”.  Luxon gave Hosking a Christmas card with a family photo on it and some “furikake seasoning,” a Japanese seasoning typically made with toasted sesame seeds and nori.  “People like me, who are men of the people, just use salt, I mean, I come from a very humble background,” Luxon said.  “This is what really posh people do.”  “Absolutely love it,” Hosking said in response to the gift.  Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking Breakfast with host Mike Hosking in October. Photo / Mike Hosking  Luxon also gave Hosking a “special energy Voost” that was described as “posh Berrocca”.  Former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also exchanged gifts with Hosking during her time leading the country.  This included in 2018 a framed photo given to Hosking of the pair riding Lime scooters together and, in exchange, a T-shirt with a picture of Hosking holding a vacuum cleaner.  Broadcaster Mike Hosking proudly wearing his Christmas gift from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern - a T-shirt immortalising a verbal stoush between the pair. Photo / Supplied  The following year Ardern – who in 2021 would cancel her regular weekly interview on the Mike Hosking Breakfast – gave the broadcaster a T-shirt showing the pair mid-verbal stoush and with the slogan “I heart Tuesdays”.  “This could go wrong,” Hosking then said as he prepared to give Ardern her gift, a miniature “one-off Mike Hosking vacuum cleaner”.  “And I don’t want you to think it’s a sexist gift either because … no one loves to vacuum more than me.”  Broadcaster Mike Hosking gifts Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern a miniature vacuum cleaner in their annual gift exchange in 2019.  In 2020, Ardern pranked Hosking by gifting him a Labour billboard featuring the ZB host alongside the Prime Minister herself, a present she said Hosking will grow to love as the years roll on.  “Do you want me on board? Have you seen my magnetism as a vote-getter?” Hosking joked.  Ardern then unwrapped two presents from Hosking, one for daughter Neve and one for herself.  Hosking gave Neve a Mickey Mouse soft toy with Neve’s name engraved before pranking Ardern back with his own gift to her, a series of face masks with his face printed on the front.  “When I first opened it, I briefly worried it was a g-string,” Ardern said.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.