The Mike Hosking Breakfast

House prices are set to rise as businesses report less confidence   With two further cuts expected to the OCR, ANZ is now expecting a 4.5% lift as opposed to 6%.  Business confidence has also taken a tumble, with just 49% expecting improvements in the year ahead – down 9 points.   ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told Mike Hosking the data was taken amid tariffs hitting the markets, impacting business confidence, investment, and employment.   She says there may be a hint of a knee-jerk reaction that may not last, but only time will tell.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 1st of May, the Aratere ferry is being retired – the only rail-enabled ferry in KiwiRail’s fleet.   Financial literacy will now be taught at schools in Years 1-10.   And Indy NXT driver Liam Sceats details just what young drivers have to go through to get the funding for a single season of driving at the top level.  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.

Another big win for New Zealand Rugby in the wake of the messy end to a major sponsorship agreement.  Vehicle manufacturer Toyota has reportedly signed a multi-million dollar agreement to put its name on the All Blacks training kit – partly replacing INEOS.  The agreement is also believed to include the provision of vehicles for players and management who don’t have existing contracts with previous vehicle partner, Ford.  Former NZ Rugby CEO David Moffett told Mike Hosking it’s good news.  He says it’s very similar to the Ford deal that they had back in 1995.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Another Government curriculum refresh is aiming to give school kids more grasp of money management.  The Education Minister's making financial literacy a compulsory topic for Years 1 to 10.  The Government's teaming up with financial organisations, banks, and charities for lessons on investment and taxes.  Banqer CEO Simon Brown told Mike Hosking that on an international level, we don’t stack up too badly, but there’s a wide variety in the level of financial education given by schools.   He says that some schools do a great job delivering to all students, but in others financial education is completely lacking, and as a result, student preparedness is left up to chance.   Brown believes a lot of people appreciate the importance and value of financial education, so to see this plan come to fruition is an exciting step.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Ruapehu District could be in for an economic boom with new skifield ownership.  The Department of Conservation's approved a 10 year concession for Whakapapa Holdings to operate the Whakapapa side of Mount Ruapehu.  An agreement for the Turoa side was struck last year, following a lengthy bidding war, with numerous Government bailouts.  Mayor Weston Kirton told Mike Hosking it’s a critical milestone in securing the future of skiing in Mount Ruapehu.  He says it gives confidence to the wider tourism sector, and provides a huge amount of income to the community and region – to the tune of around $100 million.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KiwiRail admits it may be helping out its competition by reducing its Interislander fleet to two.   Aratere will be retired when demolition begins on its decaying dock in Picton late this year or early next, to add infrastructure for new ships.  Two new ferries are due in 2029.  KiwiRail Chief Executive Peter Reidy told Mike Hosking some passengers may opt now to travel with Bluebridge.   He says capacity is spread between the companies when one faces an issue.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Over 4000 medical procedures are on hold today while 5000 senior doctors strike for better working conditions.  This comes after eight months of failed negotiations with Health New Zealand.  The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists says it's not going to fill workforce gaps without major improvements to pay and conditions.  Health NZ Chief Clinical Officer Doctor Richard Sullivan told Mike Hosking waitlist times for procedures will now stretch out further.  He says the more than 4000 procedures which have been delayed will impact on getting people earlier access to care.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.