Episodes
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Is Shane Jones showing the Minister for Treaty Negotiations Paul Goldsmith how to run his own portfolio?
In response to Jones and his Member's bill on the never ending Ngāpuhi drama, Goldsmith says the process can't go on forever.
Which is the same as saying nothing, because clearly it is, and Goldsmith clearly has no plan.
The Jones bill is clever because my sense of it is there is so much infighting in the north of the country, they will, out of bloody mindedness, never strike a deal.
All the logic we heard yesterday about tribes that have cut deals and invested billions and seen the endless benefits will have missed their mark in Northland, given a lot of Ngāpuhi aren't interested in a deal. They thrive on dissent and division and permanent anger and grievance.
Jim Bolger, who I note in the past few weeks as he celebrated his 90th is still prone to the odd piece of public commentary, might like to have pondered his own role in this many, many years ago when they started to put up a few road markers around timeframes.
The idea was they would set a date to file your claim, remembering even in Bolger's day the Waitangi Tribunal had been going since the 70's, and once you filed, they would impose another deadline to get it all wrapped up.
Good idea, but it went nowhere because Bolger and Co. got sucked into the idea that this was unfair, it was rushed, and it was history. What wasn’t said out loud was this was a gravy train that could go literally forever, and people were going to make a living off it.
As Jones revealed yesterday, we've spent $20 million for Ngāpuhi alone, just for lunch and chats and airfares.
You have to remember 1975 was a goodwill gesture. The tribunal and the settlement of grievances was entered into not because anyone had to, but because it was the right thing to do. It was driven by goodwill.
I would have thought it was fairly obvious in the vast array of deals to be done and apologies to be made, like life, that some would embrace it and run with it and some would be unable to get out of their own way.
What was needed but was missing, and still is (Jones aside), was leadership. We needed boundaries set and an explanation of the rules and expectations.
And because that was missing, so is $20 million on lunch, and still no deal.
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Concern over an increasing number of children bringing weapons to school.
Figures released under the Official Information Act show 526 students were stood down, suspended, or excluded for using or having a weapon at school last year.
It's an 80% rise on 2018.
Secondary Principals' Association President Louise Anaru told Mike Hosking that in a vast majority of cases, children have no intent to use the weapon - but regardless, the matter needs to be treated seriously.
She says it’s important to get the message out that they can cause harm, and to take a real strong stance on it.
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Today on Politics Wednesday, Mark Mitchell and Ginny Andersen joined Mike Hosking to delve into some of the biggest stories of the week so far.
The cost of living crisis is still weighing heavily on Kiwis’ wallets despite all of the Government’s efforts – can Mark Mitchell explain why we’re not feeling the recovery?
And Ginny Andersen had quite a few points to make on the topic as well.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 25th of June, a ceasefire between Iran and Israel is on, then off, then on again, as another NATO summit kicks off in the Hague.
As we go into another round of pay negotiations, this time with teachers, Judith Collins outlines exactly who gets paid what.
Ginny Andersen and Mark Mitchell talk butter and the cost-of-living crisis, whether we should cut regional councils, and if rates should be capped on Politics Wednesday.
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New Zealand scientists have developed a new technology to reduce food waste and import dependence.
The waste system takes perishable food before it hits landfill and turns it into shelf-stable powders, concentrates, and extracts for food.
Director of Powered by Plants Dr. Andrew Prest says the concept came from frustration with the current production model.
He told Mike Hosking it's a good opportunity to address the country's environmental waste, as powders can be produced from almost any fruit or vegetable.
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Assessment processes will still be rigorous for prescribing ADHD medication.
From February, GPs and nurse practitioners will be able to prescribe treatments from the outset without a specialist recommendation.
Wait times for specialist appointments vary but can be over a year.
Royal College of GPs medical director Dr. Luke Bradford told Mike Hosking it's a good move to help people access diagnoses more quickly and affordably.
He says it will be under a specialist interest type GP who will have to up-skill through training courses to prescribe.
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Primary school teachers may have less ground to stand on at the bargaining table.
They began negotiations yesterday for the first time since losing their pay equity claim in the May Budget.
The Public Service Minister says there is a public mantra that teachers deserve to be paid more.
But Judith Collins told Mike Hosking it ignores the facts.
She says primary school teachers can earn $115 thousand including allowances, after eight years experience.
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A fragile ceasefire's holding for Iran and Israel after the US President got involved.
Both sides claim the other has breached the truce.
Donald Trump scolded both for early violations but directed particularly stinging criticism at Israel over the scale of its strikes.
University of New Haven Associate Professor of National Security Dr Matt Schmidt told Mike Hosking he's unsure if US strikes fully destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities.
He says it's at least set back the program several years.
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A new Rabobank report reveals within the next 10 years, New Zealand agriculture will begin its largest-ever inter-generational transfer of wealth.
More than half of farm and orchard owners will reach the age of 65 in the next decade, but only a third have a formal succession plan.
It's estimated $150 billion worth of farming assets will change hands.
Rabobank CEO Todd Charteris told Mike Hosking the challenge is farms are getting better, but there are fewer farm owners, so the capital requirements are big.
He says we need to continue to explore different ownership models.
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So having looked at every council in the country and the pending rate rises we are all going to have to pay, a couple of inescapable conclusions are to be drawn.
1) We need central Government to cap rates.
2) We need fewer councils.
If you were to roughly use inflation as a guide, Waitomo and Whanganui are your only councils to get under the wire at 2.93 % and 2.2% – so congratulations to them.
I'm sure every council could, and would, mount an argument as to why whatever it is they have come up with, whether it be the 12.9% in Taranaki or the 15.5% in Hamilton, is in some way, shape, or form, justifiable.
A lot of it will be historic. In other words, if previous councils had done their job and been fiscally prudent the work being undertaken today would not be the current burden it is.
But a lot of it if you were DOGE-like, or brutal, would not in fact be needed at all.
Councils have become fiefdoms. They have entered areas they have no business in, but like so much in life, once you have ventured there is no turning back.
Apart from the specific, like the 9.76% for Otorohanga or the 12.4% for Central Otago, you also have the more general impact. In other words, you are adding cost to the economy, and you are charging fixed-income folk who don’t have the money.
What you are doing is inflationary.
None of us have the ability to simply add more charges. We don’t simply get the pay rise we want, or up our hourly rate to the poor sap we are servicing. Life isn't like that.
We cut our cloth. Could we buy more? Could we do more? Could we spend more? Of course we could, but we can't. Unless you're a council.
Even if a council could say "look at what all that money got you, look at the gold plating and the shiny baubles and the tens of thousands who have flocked to our region because of our expenditure", but they can't say that because none of that has happened.
15% doesn’t buy you utopia. It merely sets you up for another 15% next year because councils know a sucker when they see one.
So, cap those rates and can those councils. It might well be the most popular thing this central Government does in three years.
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New Zealand’s largest bank is lending less cash to businesses than it was half a decade ago.
Figures from the Reserve Bank show a softening across all bank business lending since the pandemic, with ANZ the only one going backwards.
The overall growth rate across all banks has slowed to just 1.5%, down from 6% in 2013.
ANZ CEO Antonia Watson told Mike Hosking much of the drop is caused by a decrease in lending to commercial property.
She says their decision was to support their existing customers through rising interest rates and tougher circumstances as opposed to taking on new customers.
However, she confirmed the bank is back to taking on new customers.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 24th of June, our golden visa has done better in the last few months than it had under two and a half years of Labour. People want to come here, and they are bringing millions of dollars with them.
Local Government NZ respond after Christopher Luxon and Shane Jones proposed getting rid of regional councils.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson tells Mike what he's been doing during the offseason and his expectations for the 2025 season.
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Scott Robertson has called up five new faces for his first All Blacks class of 2025, with his 35-man squad for next month’s series against France named.
All Blacks regulars Dalton Papali'i, Ethan Blackadder and David Havili have been left out of the squad instead.
The trio’s exclusion comes with the inclusion of Ollie Norris, Brodie McAlister, Fabian Holland, Timoci Tavatavanawai, and Du'Plessis Kirifi.
Coach Scott Robertson says it wasn't easy to leave out players like Papali'i, Blackadder, and Havili.
He told Mike Hosking that you need to give opportunities to players over this period of time and get to know what they’re going to be like in action.
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The leader of the country's local government association says there's global evidence a rates caps can have detrimental effects.
The Government's mulling a cap as part of its wider reform to refocus local government.
Sam Broughton —Mayor of Selwyn District Council and Local Government NZ President— says if core infrastructure like water and transport aren't included in a cap, it can lift a council's borrowing costs.
He told Mike Hosking Australia is seeing the negatives: New South Wales has a cap, and has seen higher rates increase than those states without one.
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US and UK law enforcement will soon be using a New Zealand-developed strategy to help boost police performance.
Vantaset utilisises research into people’s breaking points to assist elite athletes in performing their personal bests, at a rate of 87%
Now they’ve signed long-term deals with global law enforcement agencies to reengage frontline officers.
Founder and CEO Craig Steel told Mike Hosking that agencies such as the police understand the performance of their people is really critical for their success.
He says they’re really looking for better ways to be able to engage their people and ultimately help them deliver the outcomes that matter.
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The application process for New Zealand's 'golden visa' scheme' is firing up and going strong.
The Government's confirmed almost 200 applications have been received from overseas investors since settings loosened in April.
Queen City Law Managing Director Marcus Beveridge told Mike Hosking he's predicting a tsunami of capital into our little economy.
He says he wouldn't be surprised if we don't exceed $10 billion a year from immigration alone, and with those migrants bringing more money, we could end up with up to $30 billion per annum.
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New Zealand First says the country can no-longer afford a drawn-out Treaty settlement with the largest iwi.
The party's drafting legislation to require a single settlement with Ngāpuhi, rather than multiple agreements.
However, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith has signalled he's open to settlements with smaller groups within iwi.
NZ First MP Shane Jones told Mike Hosking the $20 million process is holding up Whangarei Hospital redevelopments.
He says one group is hijacking the claim by introducing notions of sovereignty at the cost of the taxpayer.
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If you didn’t know, ACC is in some fiscal trouble again.
This isn't new. ACC has been in trouble for years.
Last year, 1.6 million of us managed to do something to ourselves which involved money - $4.5 billion dollars worth. That's just on rehab.
The total is $7 billion paid out.
It's an astonishing amount of money - and the problem is what we pay in doesn’t cover what goes out.
ACC run a scheme whereby money is invested in the hope the returns offset the bills.
I personally pay thousands a year and have done for decades. To this day I have never claimed a cent.
The original idea was a no-faults scheme, as opposed to a U.S style scheme where we lay blame and get lawyers.
16,000 people did something to themselves in the garden last year and claimed millions.
Previously physio has been the issue. When does physio stop? Who knows, but let's have another three sessions while we decide.
Go to any doctor with anything that hurts and the first thing they do is start tapping away on the ACC claim.
Like most of these altruistic ideas somewhere along the way we lost the plot.
It might be that we need to tidy this up. Foolishly perhaps, I have always seen ACC as work related. If you injure yourself and can't work, this is its value.
Not if you cut your finger pruning hydrangeas.
We had a family member who was off work for months, I think too many months. They wouldn’t let him back even though he wanted to go back. But they kept saying "oh, just in case".
I wonder if there is too much "just in case".
The risk payments work to a degree. 40 percent of payouts are in construction, manufacturing, agriculture and fishing. I pay as a journalist, even though I'm not a journalist, but they can't work out what I am or how to charge me.
Part of a journalist's risk is being in a war zone. I can tell you journalists generally in New Zealand don’t go to war zones.
Anyway, 1.6 million people with two million claims and all up it cost $7 billion.
In barely over two years basically every single one of us makes a claim.
That's not right, it's not normal and it's why they can't pay their way.
The system doesn’t work.
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Mike Hosking that ongoing strikes and counter-strikes won't lead to a resolution.
He says all the parties need to get around the table and negotiate a way forward, although that will be very difficult.
The Prime Minister said, “You’ve got to be able to get the parties around the table and have a negotiation.”
This comes ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit to the Netherlands, where he will meet with the Dutch Prime Minister and leaders of NATO.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday the 23rd of June, we go to the US after they got involved in Iran and Israel's war and talk to Winston Peters about NZ's stance on it.
The Prime Minister has touched down in Belgium for a NATO meeting but had time to talk to us about Iran, councils and hundreds of millions of dollars of deals done in China.
Andrew Saville and Jason Pine cover the big weekend of sports - the Crusaders win, the Warriors loss and Peter Burling's big move.
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