Episodes
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In her seemingly never-ending ability to surprise, Tory Whanau fronts on the local Newstalk ZB morning show in her beleaguered capital yesterday and scores herself a 9/10.
If she had come from comedy I could have seen the joke she was making.
But she doesn’t come from comedy, which is not to say her reign hasn’t been comedic.
She is the Meghan Markle of local body politics - so self-absorbed and she doesn’t appear cognisant as to just how destructive and useless she is.
I wasn’t going to even comment on Whanau given it’s a local issue, she has announced she's off, and the sooner the Whanau era of terror ends the better.
But fly in the ointment: she is still standing for a seat and bringing potentially all her 9/10 madness with her.
Now the guard rails on this part of her future are of course in the hands of the public of the capital. You don’t have to have more of it. You can in fact vote for someone else.
As such she is free to take her record, put it in front of you and test it.
But it takes a special sort of narcissist to think of herself so highly, having just been bundled out of the big race because she knows she can't win.
If she is a 9/10, she should be bolting home. But that’s the problem with narcissists, isn't it? They continue to bluster even when they know the game is up.
She is also a wider problem by remaining as part of the wider picture. She puts people off.
Local body politics is crying out for decent, hardworking, competent contributors, but who in their right mind is interested in sitting round a table with buffoons?
A bunch of do-gooding lifers, who as often as not, are not actually able to get work in the normal world.
Not all of Wellington's many, many problems are on Tory. But she led the team that wrought the havoc and the stuff she inherited, she didn’t help.
Her advice to poor, old Nick Mills, who had to listen to this tripe, was every time you see a road cone, you see progress.
It's that sort of fairytale, fanciful nonsense most of us realise isn't remotely true.
Maybe that’s her ultimate problem. Maybe she lives in her head
In her head Wellington is a riviera and Tory is the queen of that riviera. The pipes didn’t burst, the city boomed, and Tory oversaw a renaissance.
Maybe that's how all narcissists delude themselves.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Wednesday 30th of April, Mark Carney is the new Canadian Prime Minister, and the Government is reversing Labour's 2020 decision allowing prisoners to vote.
Former Finance Minister Steven Joyce is on to discuss how Nicola could deliver a Budget with everything we need, while cutting over a billion dollars from the operating allowance.
Ginny Andersen and Mark Mitchell talk Mark's rating from Audrey, the Budget cut, and crime on Politics Wednesday.
Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Episodes manquant?
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There will be further cuts to Government agency spending, to be diverted into priority areas.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis confirmed a $1.3 billion operating allowance – plummeting from the $2.4 billion estimate.
Willis says they've reviewed funding line-by-line.
National’s Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking they have to cut spending as the reality is the country went from $58 billion of debt in 2017 to $175 billion in 2024.
He says we went from paying $3.6 billion in interest a year to $8.9 billion, and we cannot afford that.
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The Garden City's reaping the benefits of this year's Electric Avenue festival.
The event produced $10.5 million in visitor spend after 75 thousand people attended in February.
It's believed to be the largest since the 1974 Commonwealth Games.
Loren Aberhart, ChristchurchNZ General Manager of Destination and Attraction, told Mike Hosking they’re looking at options for growth, as the festival had the city bursting at the seams.
They’re undertaking accommodation research, she says, and planning ahead for the opening of the One NZ Stadium to ensure the city has the capacity to cope with events.
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A question mark over how Canada's Prime Minister, Mark Carney, will perform.
The Liberal Party won the country's election yesterday, beating the Conservative party, and locking down a fourth term.
The win means Carney will keep hold of the top job he took over from Justin Trudeau six weeks ago.
Globe and Mail Ottawa Bureau Chief Robert Fife told Mike Hosking he has no experience in retail policy, but headed the banks of Canada and England.
He says given these credentials, he should do okay, but there's been no real opportunity to see him perform as Prime Minister.
There’s also doubts Carney will be able to secure a majority government, as he’s currently sitting at 169 seats of the 172 needed.
Fife doesn't think he'll get up to this number, but may reach 170.
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A former Finance Minister says cutbacks to public spending need to be seen in context.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has confirmed a drastic cut to the operating allowance in next month's Budget, from $2.4 billion to $1.3 billion.
There will be no new funding for most Government departments, with the focus being on priority areas and paying off debt.
Steven Joyce told Mike Hosking there's still scope to reduce spending.
He says Government spending has doubled in the past eight years while inflation has only gone up about 30% in the same time.
Joyce is also saying there's growing public appetite for more public sector restraint.
The Government's ruling out giving most departments any additional funding in the next Budget, but Joyce says reaching that target will depend a lot on the international economy.
However, he told Hosking there are still lots of changes that can be made to bring down government spending.
Joyce says making those changes requires a bit of work and requires ministers having a good political radar and knowing what can't be cut.
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The Children's Minister says good progress is being made on reports coming into Oranga Tamariki.
The Ministry for Children estimates it's seen a 45% increase in reports of concern in the year to April.
Karen Chhour says the number of children in unsafe households is alarming but it's positive seeing more people reporting them.
She told Mike Hosking the urgency of each report can vary, with several potentially applying to the same child.
Chhour says not all reports need Oranga Tamariki intervention, with lower urgency cases better dealt with by community resources.
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The Justice Minister says reinstating a total ban on prisoner voting is not likely to change the outcome of elections.
The proposal would reverse changes introduced in 2020 allowing prisoners serving sentences of less than three years to vote.
People detained on remand or serving sentences of home detention will still be able to vote.
Paul Goldsmith told Mike Hosking the number of votes coming out of prisons is not enough to sway a result.
He says it's about sending a signal to people who breach the rights and responsibilities of living in society.
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More than 90-thousand solar panels are now generating power for near 13-thousand homes in Canterbury.
New Zealand's largest solar farm has opened at Lauriston on the Canterbury Plains.
The 93 hectare plant is a joint venture between Genesis Energy and FRV Australia.
Genesis Energy Chief Executive Malcolm Johns told Mike Hosking New Zealand will still need a coal reserve in the future.
He says there will be periods of time where the wind isn't blowing or the rain hasn't come, and we will need to lean on thermal generation.
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For a while there being a tough guy was good for your credibility.
Look at Victor Orban, Javier Milei and Nayib Bukele. They all revelled, and succeeded, at the polls with their macho, Trump-esque persona.
The world was moving away from "Me Too" and progressivism. There has been a very distinct move to conservatism, especially in parts of Europe.
Being like Trump was, more often than not, good for your political aspirations.
Peter Dutton had a touch of that, but sadly in the length of an Australian campaign it's all changed. The more he has looked like Trump, talked about Trump, and promised policy that sounded like Trump, the worse it has got.
Chances are by Saturday night, he will be a loser.
In the meantime, in Canada, who are voting now, the reason Mark Carney is in the lead is twofold.
1) The bloke who ran the place before him was a progressive sap and was a victim of the movement against the left. But he also had been there a decade, and his clock had run out.
2) His replacement has made much ground in the new-found vein of political success of looking not at all like Trump, but being tough enough to stand up to him.
Mark Carney will most likely win today and if he does, the fortunes of his Liberal Party will be one for the ages.
The same anger, frustration and impatience that led Trump to victory over a hapless socialist, should have played out the same way —and was going to play out the same way— north of the border.
Yet in the space of a couple of months, the entire scenario has been tipped on its head.
Looking like Trump, like Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives do, is no longer currency. It's bad news.
They have tried desperately to direct the campaign towards the issues that had Canadians so upset for the past ten years; cost of living, cost of housing, and jobs.
But the tariffs and Trump and his insults have fired them up and off into a new direction, which is hating on America. Carney and the Liberals have seen it, grabbed it and run with it.
The last polls have a 3%-ish point gap to them. The Liberals have come back from 20 points down, it's astonishing.
Let's do the counting. But if they win, what's it say about the distaste for Trump? What's it say about a single-issue campaign?
And will there have ever been a bigger victory snatched from the jaws of defeat?
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It’s been 100 days since Donald Trump was sworn in as US President.
His campaign was filled with promises of dramatic change, and he’s certainly followed through, with a record-breaking number of orders filed in the first three months.
The most dramatic of which is his sweeping global tariffs.
Quest Means Business host Richard Quest told Mike Hosking it goes against the orthodoxy of economics that has always been taught – that tariffs can be a benefit if targeted and used for a specific purpose.
He says using widespread tariffs to reshape global trading structures has not been done before, but it’s something Trump has always wanted to do.
Quest believes with the tariff headwinds pushing against the global economy, major economies are facing recessions, and the slowdown in economic growth will feel pretty awful for people as the year continues.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 29th of April, Tory Whanau has decided to drop her bid for re-election – this must be the news Wellington wanted.
Shane Jones is rejecting the co-governance plan for the Waitakere Ranges, and we look at the latest fruit market to go gangbusters – persimmons!
Quest Means Business host on CNN, Richard Quest joins to talk Trump's first 100 days and the global effects of the tariff debacle.
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There is a growing appetite for New Zealand’s rarest and most unusual fruit.
Persimmons have had a 20% rise in exports in the last year, and demand has never been higher.
Persimmon Industry Council Manager Ian Turk told Mike Hosking it's thanks to recent sunny weather in Gisborne, where the vast majority of the fruit is grown.
He says after a rough five years for the industry —with impacts from the likes of Cyclone Gabrielle— growers are looking forward to a good season ahead.
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The number of Kāinga Ora tenancy terminations is being described as a far cry from what's needed.
Newstalk ZB can reveal the agency terminated 299 tenancies in the year to March – more than double the 134 in the year before.
Much of the increase is from Kāinga Ora taking a stronger line on disruptive tenants and rent arrears.
Litigation lawyer Adina Thorn told Mike Hosking Kāinga Ora needs to evict 1,000 to 1,500 tenants by her own calculations.
She says nobody wants to live in public housing when they're next people described as the worst of the worst.
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The Deputy Leader of New Zealand First says his party will step in to stop management of the Waitakere Ranges morphing into co-governance.
Auckland Council's proposing a board made up of Iwi, the Department of Conservation, and the council.
Act Leader David Seymour has also criticised the plan as moving towards co-governance.
Shane Jones told Mike Hosking they're not going to stand for it.
He says they won't tolerate any slither of the West Auckland heritage land being under that type of arrangement.
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Tory Whanau's shock U-turn not to run for the Wellington mayoralty again marks three consecutive one-term mayors for the capital.
Whanau has this morning revealed she's dropping out of the race, saying she wants to give Andrew Little a clearer run to victory.
It means Whanau, along with the two previous mayors Andy Foster and Justin Lester, only served one term in the job.
Former Mayor Dame Kerry Prendergast told Mike Hosking that's bad for the city, which needs stability.
Tory Whanau will stand for the city's Māori ward.
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There's a belief changes to certifications and inspections for builders is a step in the right direction.
Legislation introduced by the end of this year will see approved building firms, drain layers, and plumbers allowed to sign off their own work on smaller residential dwellings.
Certified Builders Chief Executive Malcolm Fleming told Mike Hosking the Government's missed an opportunity to introduce a quality mark for builders.
He says that would give homeowners the confidence a builder has the credentials to do the job well.
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Charities have been spared from tax changes in this year's Budget.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis has been proposing revisions to tax rules that could see charities taxed on their business activities.
But she says there are still complex issues that need to be worked through before any rules are updated.
Tax expert Geof Nightingale told Mike Hosking it's likely too hard.
He says there's been several goes at this over the last 20 years, with not enough tax revenue being the main problem.
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It is being reported as a scrap, which I'm not sure is accurate.
But if it is, it is a shame and probably a lesson for the combatants, who are both supposed to be on the same side.
But under MMP, is anyone on the same side?
Act are concerned about ACC and their current desire to solve safety issues in the manufacturing sector.
But by putting a race-based lens across it, ACC want people who have answers, or programmes, for injuries to Māori and Pasifika.
This of course is not what the Government is supposed to be about and a Cabinet edict says so.
The shame of this is both sides, in fact all three sides, are at one on the issue.
They campaigned on the issue and they campaigned on it because the last Government got so obsessed with Māori issues and language and acquiescing to everything cultural that a large swath of voters got thoroughly sick and tired of it.
So why we are here after a year-and-a-half and a Cabinet instruction is beyond me.
The fact ACC, or any Government department, are still trying this on is the real problem.
It goes to a theme we have highlighted too often this term and that is that a public service don’t appear to be neutral, or operating under the instruction of the Government of the day, but rather to their own beat.
There is no good news in two parties seemingly debating a formally agreed approach with each other and there is no good news in a department continuing to do something they shouldn’t.
We have enough to deal with at the moment without previously agreed approaches being re-litigated or disavowed.
Obviously work safety is not a race-based problem. It is an industry or sector problem and ACC should know this. Even if they didn’t, they should be following instruction.
Act are on the right side of this.
But they shouldn’t have to be given the point of Government is enactment of policy, not endless re-litigation.
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The Government's changing New Zealand's approach to EV infrastructure.
Grants will now turn into interest-free loans -$69-million worth for the private sector to build chargers throughout the country.
The target is 10 thousand in the next five years.
ChargeNet Board Member Stephen England-Hall talks to Mike Hosking about the scheme.
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