The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Global tourist hotspots like Barcelona and New York are banning or restricting the use of short term accommodation, like AirBnB to try to free up housing. Now , Sydney is looking into it.  Queenstown is also interested - with a third of homes empty every night due to short term rentals.  Opes Partners Resident Economist Ed McKnight told Andrew Dickins that it makes sense for Sydney but not necessarily Queenstown.  He says if  you take away Airbnb in Queenstown - it doesn't mean there's more housing for sale - because a lot of them are holiday homes anyway.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tauranga's Mayor says they're hopeful recovery work can resume today,  after Thursday's slip at Mount Maunganui. Six people remain unaccounted for and are presumed dead. Recovery work was paused yesterday after a crack was found on the maunga, making the site unsafe. Tauranga City Council has ordered an independent review into the slip - and what happened leading up to it. Mahe Drysdale says specialist equipment was flown in from Wellington last night - to help with recovery operations.  He says geotechnical engineers are up Mount Maunganui at the moment - to ensure it's safe for work to continue today.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Queenstown's seeing a surge in ultra wealthy overseas buyers looking to purchase houses. A luxury real estate agent is reporting a 600 percent increase in overseas enquiries for properties across the lakes district. There's increased interest from former Soviet bloc countries, suggesting buyers are trying to get away from the conflict in Europe. Oliver Road Luxury Real Estate Founder and Managing Director Cam Winter told Andrew Dickens that the issue of affordable accommodation in Queenstown is separate from the luxury real estate market. He says buyers don't want to buy a home here and spend so little time in it that they feel like aliens. LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.    Trump: 6/10  An infuriating mix of effective and insane. It's rare for a single person to dominate news everyday all week, but there you go.    Iceland: 2/10  Was Iceland his Biden moment and no one called it out? Can you threaten to invade a place who's name you can't even remember?    Tony Brown: 8/10  Appeared on the show this week and set the cat amongst the pigeons.    The rugby union: 2/10  When you look at Razor and listen to Tony, where do you reckon the real issues are?    Anna Breman: 6/10  The Dr vs Winston vs Nicola. I side with Anna. She is either independent or she isn't.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ACC is in crisis.  I'm not sure if that’s news to you or not.  They are sinking in a sea of debt. They are forecast in four short years to be in the hole to the tune of $26 billion.  Now there are side issues like court cases, which make decisions that envelop the organisation into a fiscal level of responsibility they can't calculate, and in that I feel sorry for them.  But their turnaround plan, which has just been launched, involves them getting back to black in four years.  That, if done, will be well worth applauding. Now, I have no doubt it can be done, mainly because the problem is one of will and determination.  But it does involve tough decisions, a bit of backbone and a whole new attitude.  A couple of key figures give the story away.  Figure 1: The number of people in the past decade who are on long term payments. It's gone from 12,000 to 24,000. In other words, it's doubled.  Has the population doubled in that time? No.  Have we fallen over a lot more? Not necessarily.  Have we milked a system able to be milked? Of course.  Figure 2: The cost of rehab. In the same period, it's gone from $2 billion to $4 billion, so it's doubled.  Has inflation doubled? No.  Have people seen ACC coming and adjusted their costs accordingly? Yes.  The whole thing is not a lot short of a scam.  It's an industry in which if you take your eye off the ball, make the rules convoluted and look to scrimp and save in the wrong areas, is ripe for the sort of calamitous outcome that has clearly eventuated.  Literally half the country claims ACC each year. It's astonishing.  It's not normal.  Recently a family member was a recipient of ACC. Without boring you with the details, at times ACC seemed determined this person should not return to work.  There was a rigid inflexibility in their approach. Rules were rules. Ironically this family member was desperate to get back to work, but, said any number of doctors and specialists, not before just a bit more treatment.  Do that two million times over and you're $26 billion in the hole.  The good news is there is no reason it can't be fixed. The question is, do they have the gonads and the wherewithal to do it? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greenland's been kept in the dark over discussions between Donald Trump and NATO about its future.  The US President claims he’s laid the groundwork for a potential deal involving the Arctic island, while also backing down on proposed tariffs on NATO countries.  Greenland Prime Minister Jens Frederik Nielsen says nothing can proceed without Greenland’s clear support.  US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that Denmark is open to Greenland being used as part of the Golden Dome anti-missile system and an extension of US-controlled military bases.  However, he says, the US has had basing rights in Greenland under an agreement reached in 1951, so there’s a question of if this is anything other than the status quo.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friday has come and Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson are back for the first time this year to Wrap the Week that was. They discussed ACC and Kate’s pickleball injury, marriage and anniversaries, and Tim’s gift.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 23rd of January, Emergency Management Minister Mark Mitchell provides an update on the slip in Mount Maunganui and the recovery efforts.  ACC has a plan to turn around its multibillion-dollar debt, and it seems to be bearing fruit.   Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson are back to Wrap the Week for the very first time in 2026.   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.

The tourism rebound continues.   New figures from Stats NZ show 3.48 million arrivals in the year to November – up 214 thousand on last year, and the highest level since March 2020.  November alone saw 347,600 visitors, with arrivals from the US, Asia, Europe, and China all up.   Tourism Holdings Ltd CEO Grant Webster told Mike Hosking there’s more to come.  He says January and February are going to be even better than what was seen in November.  Webster says recovery is naturally happening, and we're expected to inch back up to pre-Covid numbers within the next 12 months  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The forestry sector is set to pay less, more efficiently.   The Government is proposing further cost reductions on carbon credits, Forestry Minister Todd McClay saying they’re lowering payments from forest owners to $10.25 per hectare.  It's the second reduction since the coalition took office, and proposals would see costs go down from $14.90 a hectare.  Forest Owners Association CEO Dr Elizabeth Heeg told Mike Hosking they’ve been looking for efficiency in the government processes, and MPI has done a good job in finding ways to bring those costs of operations down.   She says they also looked at moving some of the things in the annual charge into targeted fees, so if someone uses a service multiple times, they don’t all have to pay for it.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.