The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Two entrepreneurs are bringing Kiwi ingenuity to the world stage. 

Dan Wallace and Anthony Clyde, co-founders of Velduro, have won gold at the 33rd Annual China International Bicycle Fair. 

Their ‘super light carbon’ e-bike beat out 600 other bikes for the prize. 

Wallace told Mike Hosking they entered the bike in February in the hope they would get some recognition and to put New Zealand on a bit of a stage. 

H...

In the NZR press release yesterday, Chairman David Kirk and CEO Mark Robinson did their best to infer that life financially for the sport is sensational. 

Despite the fact it isn't. 

They lost money, almost $20 million. And they lost money the year before that as well. 

Kirk ran the line that it was not a cash loss and that they had $170-ish million in reserves. 

They also spruiked the fact that they were pullin...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 9th of May, we got the white smoke, and the cardinals have elected Robert Prevost to become the next Pope. He's the first American Pope and will take on the name Leo XIV. 

NZ Rugby have had their third full year financial loss in a row, despite record revenue. CEO Mark Robinson is on to explain whether the model, or something else, needs to change. 

Kate Hawkesby ...

New Zealand Rugby has posted a $19.5 million loss for 2024. 

Since NZR brought US fund manager Silver Lake on as an equity partner in June 2022, the national body has posted total accumulated losses of around $76 million over three years. 

NZR is trumpeting record income of $285 million dollars against the loss. 

CEO Mark Robinson told Mike Hosking that much of the deficit is as a result of investment, and putting al...

New Zealand banks are being asked to pay up in the next few months. 

Kiwibank, BNZ, Westpac, ANZ and ASB will need to repay around $9.2 billion in cheap Covid-era loans to the Reserve Bank. 

Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking that they have variety of options they can use to repay the money. 

He says the banks knew when taking out these loans they’d have to pay them back eventually. 

Ol...

The Government's scraped the bottom of the barrel to find more money for the upcoming Budget. 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's promising an extra $400 million for maintaining and upgrading assets, on top of the already projected $3.6 billion. 

He says he wants to prioritise growing the economy. 

Infrastructure New Zealand Policy Director Michelle McCormick told Mike Hosking things are looking up after the investme...

The new Pope's experience around the globe has hoisted him above front-runners for the papacy.  

69-year-old Robert Prevost, who will be known as Pope Leo XIV, is the first Pope to come from the United States.  

While he was born in Chicago, he's also a naturalised Peruvian having lived there for about 20 years, and speaks English, Spanish, and Italian. 

Newstalk ZB's Jo McKenna is at the Vatican and told Mike Hoskin...

The Government's planning to increase ventilation requirements in new homes to address overheating in townhouses. 

RNZ reports Auckland homeowners have complained of 30-degree temperatures overnight due to poorly ventilated buildings. 

Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says changes are needed so people don't get cooked alive in their own house. 

Property developer and investor David Whitburn told Mike Hos...

Donald Trump's tariffs continue to loom over the film industry. 

The New Zealand Film Commission is embarking on an international trade mission of its own. 

The team is headed to India, the UK, and France to look for new investment partnerships and international productions. 

Chief Executive Annie Murray told Mike Hosking co-production is on the rise, despite the tariffs. 

He says there's a lot of business happe...

Red meat exports are setting records. 

The country's March export sales were $1.26 billion - a new high. 

China's beef demand dropped 35% by volume and value compared to last March, due to their growing imports from South America. 

Fed Farmers President Wayne Langford told Mike Hosking there's still room to expand. 

He says there's work to do for farming marketing and trade teams to get deals across the line wit...

An organised crime expert believes New Zealand's failure to curb criminal activity isn't due to a lack of trying.  

A ministerial advisory group has released its second report criticising our response to modern crime and money laundering.  

It shows the cash and assets seized by police is just 4.2% of the $1.6 billion in criminal profits each year.  

Group Chair and top lawyer Steve Symon told Mike Hosking Police are...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 8th of May, our unemployment numbers look to have peaked, and we have the latest report from the advisory group for organised crime. 

Would you be happy if Mark Lundy moved into your neighbourhood? Should we know where a high-profile prisoner is reintegrating back into society? 

Outgoing Air NZ CEO Greg Foran gives his first in-depth interview since announcing h...

Greg Foran knew his time with Air New Zealand was limited from the get go. 

The outgoing CEO announced his resignation in March, planning to stay on until October.  

He began at Air NZ in early 2020, replacing Christopher Luxon. 

Foran told Mike Hosking he knew in the back of his mind he’d probably only do about five or six years with the company, as he has other things he’s keen to do. 

He says it’s been one of...

A $1.4 billion upgrade could be on the way for Transpower's Cook Strait electricity cable.  

The 610 kilometre link is a transmission system connecting the North and South islands, installed in 1991. 

The existing cables are likely to reach their end of life in the late 2030s.  

Energy Resources Aotearoa CEO John Carnegie told Mike Hosking the Commerce Commission will need to review that. 

He says they’ll need t...

Black smoke has billowed from Rome's Sistine Chapel, signalling a new pope's failed to be elected. 

The 133 cardinals will now reconvene tomorrow to choose a successor to Pope Francis. 

Jo McKenna, who's in St Peters' Square, told Mike Hosking they went up until about 9pm local time. 

She says many of the cardinals are elderly and have to come back in the morning. 

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It's expected twice-convicted double-murderer Mark Lundy will be slipped back into the community. 

He's been released from prison after more than 23 years for the murders of his wife Christine and 7-year-old daughter, Amber, in their Palmerston North home. 

The now 66-year-old has always maintained his innocence 

Criminal lawyer Steve Cullen told Mike Hosking where parolees are released is never made public. 

He...

The Finance Minister admits many Kiwis aren't getting as much work as they'd like to be. 

Unemployment has remained unchanged at 5.1% in the March quarter, despite most economists predicting a rise. 

However, 21% of employed people are now working part time. 

Nicola Willis told Mike Hosking the ongoing rise in the under-utilisation rate is a concern. 

She says it's clear that some people are going into part time...

Kristine Bartlett was, to many, a hero. 

She was a very likeable woman. She was a caregiver who argued her work was undervalued and she deserved more. 

The Labour Party who love “feels” and are not exactly unfamiliar with the unions leapt all over it and the Equal Pay Act 2022 was born. 

The downside was how to compare this so-called "underpaid work" like in nursing homes, where women dominate and a comparable profes...