Episodes
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The Conservatives annual conference in Birmingham – essentially one big job interview. By Wednesday afternoon the Conservatives should be a lot closer to knowing who their next leader will be.
The selected candidates are Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly, Kemi Badenoch and Tom Tugendhat with Rishi Sunak as the leader.
Tens of thousands of council homes sit empty as the waitlist grows.
Rod Little told Heather du Plessis-Allan that today it was Tugendhat who seems to be one of the outsiders.
Liddle states the general thinking is that this will come down to a final between Badenoch from the right and Jenrick from the centre left.
Liddle believes that it's looking more like the conservative MPs will try to get rid of Badenoch before it gets to the final.
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We've got a fascination with prime ministers and their money, it turns out.
Last night 1News did the calculation that Christopher Luxon stands to make $480,000 off the sale of his apartment in Wellington —he's moving out because he's going over to Premier House— and also a rental property that he's selling in South Auckland.
Now the implication of the story was that Christopher Luxon's making too much money off these properties, and he should be taxed.
Over the weekend, a newspaper in Wellington also reported that Jacinda Ardern is earning $316,000 per appearance every time she speaks on the international speaking circuit, and the implication there was —certainly in commentary afterwards— that it's unethical for her to be doing that. It's damaging her reputation by showing that she really does love money over doing good after all. And if prime ministers keep on doing stuff like this, how do we know that they're actually making the right decisions when they are in power and not thinking about what kind of money they're gonna earn afterwards?
Now, look, I don't mind the fascination with prime ministers and former prime ministers' earnings. I think it's completely human nature to be into it. We're fascinated by what our colleagues earn, right? So why wouldn't we be fascinated by what Luxon and Ardern earn? However, that is where I think it should stop – at fascination.
There's nothing wrong with Jacinda Ardern earning that much money off the speaking circuit. Frankly, if we're honest about it, talking was about the only thing she was actually good at, and she'd be a fool not to take that kind of money if it's on offer.
Same goes for Luxon. He was a well-paid businessman before politics. You would expect him to have plenty of money, you would expect him to put some of that money into property. And unless things have gone very bad for him in his calculations, you would expect him to make money off a property, especially one that he has apparently renovated. Nothing wrong here.
To suggest that Luxon's capital gain on his property is evidence that we need a capital gains tax and to suggest that Jacinda's speaking circuit means that we need to put some sort of restraint of trade on future prime ministers is just taking it a bit far, isn't it?
It's fine to be fascinated, just leave it at that.
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A French far-right politician is on trial, accused of misappropriating EU funds.
Marine Le Pen, the leader of the National Rally Party, along with the party itself and 24 others, are accused of using money destined for work at the European Parliament to pay staff working for their party.
Le Pen denies the charges, and is confident she would be able to prove she did nothing wrong.
France Correspondent Catherine Field told Heather du Plessis-Allan that they’re accused of diverting around $5.5 million New Zealand.
She said they’ve paid back about a quarter of that sum, but the party did say it doesn’t mean they’re guilty.
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For eleven years Mitch James has been releasing music and touring the world.
He’s opened for Callum Scott, supported Ed Sheeran, and toured with Six60, not to mention his own tours.
James has just released a new single and has a new EP coming out next month, but the release comes with a caveat.
The Kiwi musician is stepping away from the trade, James telling Heather du Plessis-Allan that the industry has become an environment that was just too difficult to overcome.
“I’ve got this music coming out now that I believe is my most complete, most mature, advanced work as a songwriter and an artist, and coupled with the fact that this industry had sort of turned against me in a lot of ways, I just thought, you know. I’m sick of this.”
“I just wanna hang my hat on something that I can look back on in twenty years’ time and go like, this is my finest work, and something that I can be very proud of.”
It’s a bittersweet feeling, he said.
For eleven years Mitch James has been releasing music and touring the world.
He’s opened for Callum Scott, supported Ed Sheeran, and toured with Six60, not to mention his own tours.
James has just released a new single and has a new EP coming out next month, but the release comes with a caveat.
The Kiwi musician is stepping away from the trade, James telling Heather du Plessis-Allan that the industry has become an environment that was just too difficult to overcome.
“I’ve got this music coming out now that I believe is my most complete, most mature, advanced work as a songwriter and an artist, and coupled with the fact that this industry had sort of turned against me in a lot of ways, I just thought, you know. I’m sick of this.”
“I just wanna hang my hat on something that I can look back on in twenty years’ time and go like, this is my finest work, and something that I can be very proud of.”
It’s a bittersweet feeling, he said.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday 1st of October, the Government has announced their Q4 plan with a focus on infrastructure. We get Infrastructure NZ CEO Nick Leggett’s thoughts on the plan.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is in studio with Heather to talk Dunedin Hospital, the working from home backlash and the obsession with his capital gains.
Kiwi singer Mitch James is in studio to play his newest, and final, single and hinting about what he's doing after announcing he's stepping away from music.
Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Many Kiwis will be feeling relief today as new Pharmac funded drugs officially become available.
Continuous Glucose Monitors are now being funded alongside widened access to insulin pumps and consumables.
Cancer drug Keytruda is also now more accessible.
Cancer Society Chief Executive Nicola Coom told Heather du Plessis Allan that Keytruda will make a massive difference for those who've re-mortgaged their homes and travelled overseas for treatment.
She said that its absolutely life changing.
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Local councils want to clip the ticket on the Government's increased tourism fee.
The International Visitor Levy has been bumped from $35 to $100 as of today.
Rotorua Mayor Tania Tapsell says local councils pay for tourism amenities, so the Government should share the profits.
She told Heather du Plessis Allan while the Government may not want to share a cut of the increased fee, it's worth asking.
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The Government's released its fourth quarter action plan, which largely focuses on infrastructure.
Its 43 actions include passing the Fast-track Approvals Bill, RMA reform, and looking at more road tolls.
It also includes establishing a National Infrastructure Agency.
Infrastructure New Zealand chief executive Nick Leggett told Heather du Plessis-Allan the Fast-track approvals bill will help speed up infrastructure projects.
He says the National Infrastructure Agency will be a shop front for foreign direct investment, and funding and financing tools to build more housing are also important.
Leggett also says we need to change our mindset on tolling.
He says if people want things, there isn't a magical money fairy to come and deliver them, as we're in a tight fiscal position.
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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says the Dunedin Hospital project is frustrating.
“We are very committed to building a hospital in Dunedin, don’t get me wrong. But we have got to do it within the $1.9 billion fiscal envelope, otherwise that means that we can’t do Whangarei, Tauranga, Palmerston North, Nelson and other regional hospitals,” Luxon told Newstalk ZB's Heather du Plessis-Allan.
Luxon said the government was receiving advice on how to proceed, with an option to scale back the construction or staging the project.
“We’ve seen cost creep, scope creep from the Labour Government - whether it’s been ferries, school buildings, and now the hospital.”
Pressed on the Government’s spending priorities, Luxon said, “we have put almost $30 billion into health, so there’s plenty of money in health”.
He said the Government needed to get better at spending on infrastructure.
Pressed again on the Government’s proposal to spend several billion dollars on a single road in Wellington and whether spending had been appropriately prioritised, Luxon said “you just can’t have a project [the hospital] go from $1.2b when it started and heading out to $3b”.
Luxon said he was aware of Treasury’s warning of a structural deficit: “We’ve got to get back to financial discipline. We’ve got to make sure we then set up for growth.”
He said it was possible to “do more with less”.
He also said his Government’s spending cuts were being done “in a sensible, balanced kind of way - we’re not throwing the country into austerity”.
On his push for civil servants to return to the office, Luxon said he was not surprised at the level of flak from the workforce.
“We want everyone in the office. It’s not an entitlement that you get to work from home.”
He said he had moved into Premier House over the weekend.
“We finally managed to get new paint, new curtains and new carpet.”
Responding to a question about whether it was a cold house, Luxon said: “Well, I’ve got a jumper”.
Regarding the capital gains on his apartment and media attention on it, Luxon said he had come to expect it.
“If we’re going to criticise people for being successful, let’s be clear - I’m wealthy, I’m sorted.”
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There’s a belief from the Minister that reopening oil and gas exploration won't make a dent in New Zealand's climate impacts.
The public have until tonight to submit on the Government's bill, reversing the previous Governments ban on exploration off the coast.
MBIE figures show it will result in millions of tonnes of additional emissions.
But Shane Jones told Heather du Plessis-Allan New Zealand needs energy.
He says those opposed are simply "woke" in thinking it is a mortal threat, a claim he's rubbishing.
Jones says protestors are entitled to their views, and he’s happy to engage with those who disagree with him.
He says kiwis want to hear someone put an alternative view to these frog-loving and lizard-obsessed environmentalists.
The Government's own advice on repealing the oil and gas exploration ban, released under the Official Information Act and obtained by RNZ, says no new gas fields are likely to be discovered and developed in the next 10 years.
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When it comes to the Dunedin hospital scale back, the Government's in trouble on this.
That protest over the weekend was big. 35,000 people is more than a quarter of Dunedin's population.
If you assume they came from all over the region, which is probably true given the hospital would service the Otago region, it’s still big. It’s 14% of the population.
There are very few issues that would drive that kind of frustration, but health is one of them.
It's because we want to know that there are the medical facilities to save our kid's lives, or our parent's lives.
Or our life.
But this is the reality - we are broke.
New Zealand can’t afford a $3b hospital, and $3b dollar ferries and 64,000 public servants and any number of other things we may want.
We are running an operating deficit every single year. That's basically the household equivalent of spending more every year than you make and just running it on the credit card forever.
You can’t do it.
If you want to know how broke we are listen to the Treasury warning last week.
Dominick Stephens, the Chief Economist there, warned that for us to get back to surplus the Government would have to cut so much spending, and so fast, it would be unprecedented in recent history in New Zealand.
Our debt is out of control, largely thanks to what Grant and Jacinda did during Covid.
Treasury's been warning about our debt levels since 2006. But back then they thought we were heading for net Crown debt of 13% of GDP.
We are now 3 times that. So, we’re broke.
I don’t want to see projects like a hospital scaled back. I don’t want to be sailing on tinpot ferries I’m not sure will make it to the other side.
But you need money to buy and build and we don’t’ have any.
And we need to wake up to that.
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Thousands of Australians have collectively rallied in a National Day of Action in protest of conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon.
This comes following Israeli strikes into Lebanon, which killed 30 Hezbollah leaders including Hassan Nasrallah.
Australian correspondent Steve Price tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the turnout was the strongest Australia has seen in a long time.
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New Zealand wool carpet company Bremworth is claiming to have made the country’s first TV commercial using Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Bremworth Chief Brand and Product Officer Rochelle Flint tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the AI advert is an innovative way to showcase and elevate the wool industry.
The use of AI is estimated to have reduced advertising spend by 60%.
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There is potential for 67 building consent authorities to be replaced as the Government considers major reform of the system.
Despite there being just one building code, different regional interpretations are creating inconsistencies across the country.
Reform would see the process streamlined to reduce inconsistencies, costs, and delays.
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk tells Heather du Plessis-Allan when considering the changes, the Government is considering how to avoid lowering quality.
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Kiwis are increasingly moving to private healthcare and it is costing health insurance companies.
Southern Cross Health Insurance paid out close to $1.5 billion in claims in the last year – equal to $6 million every business day.
2024 results from Southern Cross show the number of claims made is up with 995,000 kiwis now on the books.
Southern Cross Health Society Group CEO Nick Astwick tells Heather du Plessis-Allan kiwis are concerned about access to quality healthcare.
In a normal year, the insurer finds one third of its members make a claim, but in 2024 nearly half did.
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The Middle East is on edge after the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Israel claims to have killed 30 top Hezbollah leaders and despite pressure from the United States to de-escalate the situation, Netanyahu says Israel is at a historic turning point.
Israeli journalist and analyst Gideon Levy tells Heather du Plessis-Allan the region is very close to war.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday the 30th of September with Heather du Plessis-Allan, the Government are looking at building consents to make it more consistent across the country.
Just wait until you hear how much just one insurance company is paying out each day for private healthcare and you'll get a sense as to why they are all putting up premiums.
Guy and Sav debate whether moving Beauden Barrett to first five was the success that Scott Robertson wanted it to be on the Commentary Box.
Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The Government has announced a reform of the current Building Consent Authority structure.
The proposed reforms aim to streamline and standardise consenting processes, reducing inefficiencies.
Master Builders CEO Ankit Sharma tells Heather du Plessis-Allan that there have been reports of different inspectors from within the same consenting authority having different interpretations of a code.
80% of Master Builders report significant delays and costs caused by inconsistencies between neighbouring consenting authorities.
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Administrator of the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency Deanne Criswell has said she doesn’t believe anyone could be fully prepared for the amount of flooding that has been brought on by Hurricane Helene. In her assessment, Criswell stated the damage was a result of warm waters, which is a result of climate change.
The storm was a category four hurricane and has been catastrophic across multiple states.
US correspondent Richard Arnold tells Heather du Plessis-Allan close to 500 rescues have been performed, with people lifted off roofs of flooded buildings.
Meanwhile, Israel has claimed to have killed 30 top leaders of Hezbollah. The US was not aware of plans to assassinate Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Richard Arnold says “there is no question that the Hezbollah of today is not the Hezbollah that was even just a week ago.”
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An estimated 35,000 people marched in Dunedin over proposed downgrades to the city’s new hospital project.
Protesters were calling on the Government to keep its promise on the build - but the Government says the project is blowing out by billions and overspend would affect infrastructure in other regions.
Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop tells Heather du Plessis-Allan “it’s an extremely complex project” and the Government is being as transparent as it can be.
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