The Mike Hosking Breakfast

More people have been filling up at petrol stations as prices climb.   The Waitomo Group says there's been a 15-20% increase in demand in the past week.  Chief Executive Simon Parham says pump prices have gone up from about 10 to 20 cents a litre.   He told Mike Hosking it's because they buy their product on a weekly basis.   Parham says with short sharp shocks it's very hard to avoid price increases.  LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Some positive signs from international markets overnight.  American and European markets tumbled on Friday due to ongoing concerns about the Middle East conflict.  Asia-Pacific markets followed suit yesterday, with the NZX 50 dropping 3.1%.  Craigs Investment Partners Investment Director Mark Lister told Mike Hosking trading overnight has been more subdued.  He says oil prices got up to about $120 a barrel and are now back in the 90s, and the US, UK, and Europe markets are down again, but only slightly.  LISTEN ABOVE   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Monday the 9th of March, we look at week two of the war and whether it's about to start hitting retail prices. The Prime Minister joins and talks his eventful weekend after the bad poll, plus whether we are looking at repatriation flights in the Middle East. Jason Pine and Andrew Saville talk the F1, Auckland FC, Rennie vs Joseph and the might Warriors! Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Staying the course when things are tough is a skill. I think you either have it or you don’t. Chris Luxon will not get rolled, but he may quit. That would be a mistake of epic proportions. What would drive me, if I was him, would be rational thought. 1) This election is not about personality, it's about economic management. On that the Government are tracking well. 2) The internal polling within the National Party is fine. It does not reflect the Curia poll that the media made so much of. The unfortunate thing about Friday's pre-hyped release is it came at the same time Luxon had had a bad week on the war. That week by the way, was nowhere near as bad as some made it out to be. But the two events came together for a good week-end headline. 3) This would be the bit that would focus my mind - it's only Hipkins. Seriously, you're only lining up Labour as an opponent. On the economy. The people who wrecked the place two and a bit years ago are asking the voter to come back and do a bit more of it. You don’t believe me? Read Thomas Coughlan's piece with Barbara Edmonds. 4) Even if you take the poll seriously, which you shouldn’t. There is a one seat shift, so it's within a margin of error. 5) The economy will save you. You campaigned on a turnaround and the turnaround is real. Given we are voting on economics, the National leader is not a deal-breaker. If you are voting on interest rates and jobs, does Chris Bishop or Erica Stanford really change your view of your lot? They are good people and good talents, but they aren't game-changers and they won't get you a job any more than Luxon will. 6) Having done the hard yards, why quit now? The prize is just down the road and with a second term perceptions change. 7) The coalition as an operation is a success. Three parties have, and do, work well together. It's MMP in action. The alternative? Hipkins talking about a minority Government, a Green Party and extremism and a Māori Party that will not be back in anywhere near the numbers they have now. It's not a combo. This must all sit heavily with Luxon. How could it not? But that is what leadership is about. That is what you chased and bought into. If you think you will fail you will automatically be successful. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A surge in enrolments has Auckland University's campus buzzing. Total semester one enrolments have topped 47,000, up 8% from the same time last year. Undergraduate numbers are driving much of the growth rising 10%, which is nearly three thousand more students. Deputy Vice Chancellor of Education Sarah Young told Mike Hosking that several factors are driving the increase. She says more students go to university when unemployment is high, while they've put a lot of work into attracting international students. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's been another assurance from Chris Luxon that he isn't going anywhere. A Taxpayers' Union Curia poll shows National on just 28.4%, behind Labour on 34.4%. This has sparked speculation about Luxon's future as leader. On Friday, Luxon says told Newstalk ZB he wasn't considering his position. Today, Luxon told Mike Hosking that hasn't changed at all over the weekend. He says the only future he's been considering is the future of New Zealand's kids and grandkids, and how the Government to set the country up for better success. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many Fonterra dairy farmers are planning to invest their upcoming capital return back into their farms. The dairy co-op's been given the green light by regulators to sell its consumer brands to France dairy giant Lactalis for $4.22 billion. Farmers will get back two-dollars a share, possibly by the middle of next month. Fonterra Co-operative Council Chair John Stevenson told Mike Hosking that farmers will be trying to make the most of the money they receive. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The conflict in Iran won't just affect petrol.  Retail NZ Chief Executive Carolyn Young says prices in her domain haven't increased yet, but they will soon.  She says it's been forecast that the conflict could add half a percent to inflation.  Young told Mike Hosking that it will affect everything that needs to be delivered, whether they be by road, sea or air.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Millions of barrels remain stuck behind the blocked the Strait of Hormuz.  The price of crude oil has increased 35% since last week.  Generate Investment Specialist Greg Smith told Mike Hosking that only a few ships are being getting through.  He says Chinese ships are getting through as Iran still needs them for revenue.  The Commerce Commission says international conflicts will affect prices but it expects retailers to keep prices competitive.  It says it will call out any behaviour which impacts New Zealanders' ability to get a fair price. LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The primary teachers' union is doing my head in.  This country needs fewer people like them and more people wanting to get on with it, get ahead, dream big, be bold, work harder and generally look at life in a more upbeat way.  The latest problem for the union is they want facilitated bargaining. I bet they do.  Unlike just about everyone else union based who has signed a deal, the primary teachers lot think they are so special and so different that the fact they can't reach a deal like everyone else must be someone else's fault.  My line, and it's always been this way, is have a structure, a couple of cracks, a bit of back and forward, a best and final offer and then if you can't agree go to compulsory arbitration. Not facilitated. Make it compulsory.  You argue your case, the decision is made and that's the end of that.  These cases we have seen of late all go on for literally months, and all end up literally the same. In the recent cases everyone has got about 2% this year and 2% next. That is not a result that required that amount of angst and anger and walk outs and placards and TV news stories with moaning unionists talking about unfairness and shortages.  What the unions have never quite gripped is social licence.  The broad idea of unions representing the most vulnerable of workers is not a bad one.  But like so many of these things, it's turned into an industry where hundreds of people on large salaries rely on division and upset to have a job.  Happy workers do not make happy unionists and teachers especially are not vulnerable. Cleaners are vulnerable. Teachers are largely on six figure salaries.  On a bang for buck basis unions don’t pull their weight. They are not worth it. Stalling is not a productive tactic, and placards are last centuries technique.  Compulsory arbitration – I dare them to give it a go. It's short, it's sharp, it ticks a box and we can all move on.  But why would you want to solve an issue quickly when your very existence relies on the opposite? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.