The Mike Hosking Breakfast

One of our brightest musical talents is making waves across the ditch, just in time for some new music to drop. 

Cassie Henderson arrived on our screens in 2014, competing on X-Factor at 14 years old, and making it all the way to the quarterfinals. 

She stepped away from music for a while, before returning to the industry in 2023, quitting her job to pursue music fulltime. 

Since then, Henderson’s won awards, release...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Tuesday 30th of September, the Government is changing the earthquake-prone building system in a common sense move for this country that will free up billions.   

We also have new data on our health targets and they are going, slowly, in the right direction – Health Minister Simeon Brown unpacks the results.  

Kiwi singer Cassie Henderson is in for a song and chat - ...

The Reserve Bank's conceded earlier or more aggressive OCR hikes may have reduced inflation sooner. 

It's been reviewing its response to the recent three-year period of high inflation. 

Chief Economist Paul Conway says the central bank was also required to maintain maximum sustainable employment. 

It had limited data and less accurate forecasts due to Covid uncertainty. 

ANZ Chief Economist Sharon Zollner told M...

Could a New Zealand-based team join the Big Bash T20 cricket competition? 

NZC governing body chief executive Scott Weenink says they are investigating whether joining the Australian league is viable. 

Cricket Australia is mulling over expansion options – Singapore, New Zealand, and Canberra have been deemed candidates. 

Weenink told Mike Hosking they’ve been in talks for about a year about the potential of adding a ...

It appears other countries are still thirsty for our wine.  

The New Zealand Winegrowers 2025 Annual Report states exports are sitting at more than $2 billion per annum, fuelling investment in 42-thousand hectares of vineyards. 

The US remains the major export market despite a 3% drop at $762 million, and newer Asian markets are doing well. 

NZ Winegrowers CEO Philip Gregan says balancing supply and demand, and growi...

Police scrapped millions of dollars from crime prevention to meet the Government's savings expectations ahead of this years' budget. 

The cuts were found in funding to burglary prevention programmes. 

Documents show Treasury had warned funding cuts could lead to higher cost and more crime in the longer term. 

But Police chief operating officer Andrea Conlan says difficult decisions had to be made in order to be fisca...

The Health Minister acknowledges more work's needed to ensure the Government's targets are met in every region. 

Data shows there's been improvements around cancer treatment access, childhood immunisation rates, ED stays, and wait times. 

But regional averages paint a different picture, with Counties Manukau and Auckland going backwards in ED wait times. 

Simeon Brown told Mike Hosking that decrease is due to localiz...

The Building and Construction Minister says new earthquake building rules are more nuanced.

Changes to the rules will remove Auckland, Northland, and the Chatham Islands from the regime. 

Coastal Otago, including Dunedin, will be classified as a medium seismic hazard area, and will remain within the earthquake-prone building system 

Building Minister Chris Penk says the rules are ultimately designed to protect life.  ...

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday the 26th of September, the Corrections Association speak on almost running out of money already due to growing prisoner numbers.

The Prime Minister joins for his regular Monday chat to talk the Palestine call and power reform coming this week.

Andrew Saville and Jason Pine cover off the All Blacks test, the netball and plenty of other non-related sport chat too!

Get the Mik...

If you watched Winston Peters speech in New York late Saturday morning you can see why he did so well last week in the Herald's boardroom feedback.

For the bloke who has been the epitome of aggro and grumpiness, in his better moments he is as good a foreign minister as this country has ever had.

Politically, the announcement and its build-up got dragged out way longer than it ever needed to and therefore took up too much oxygen at ...

The Prime Minister says Winston Peters has articulated New Zealand's position on Gaza well. 

Over the weekend the Foreign Minister announced that New Zealand would NOT recognise Palestinian statehood,  yet. 

Chris Luxon says Hamas is the de facto government and a designated terrorist organisation in New Zealand. 

He told Mike Hosking that New Zealand's also called out the excessive response of Israel. 

Luxo...

The Kiwi dollar continues to weaken against the Australian dollar, hitting a three-year low last week.

The NZD is currently trading at 88 cents off the back of soft GDP growth and rate cuts, and concerns are raising as China's economic rebound could widen the gap further.

Investment director for Craigs investment partners Mark Lister told Mike Hosking that New Zealand's rate cuts are having a stronger impact on the economy than Aus...

The government has decided against recognising a Palestinian state.

Foreign minister Winston Peters argues that the move would be counter-productive, but he retains the "when, not if" stance. 

CBS News correspondent in Jerusalem Linda Gradstein told Mike Hosking that Israelis are worried about a 'diplomatic front turning against Israel.' 

She said that the public want the war to end as the international community's opinio...

International students are loving their time in New Zealand, as new data shows a steady recovery in enrolments.

The 2025 International Student Experience Survey shows the number of students enrolled in domestic institutes, has increased 16% to almost 64,000 since 2024.

It found 87% of students gave a positive rating of their overall experience.

Education New Zealand Chief Executive Amanda Malu told Mike Hosking that students value ...

The argument over our Corrections Minister's looking through rose tinted glasses continues, as the organisation begins to run out of new money. 

A $98million boost in this year's Budget was expected to last until June, when the population was projected to hit 10,800 - but that milestone is already nearly met.

Despite this, Corrections Minister Mark Mitchell says there's no looming crisis.

Corrections Association President Floy...

We are apparently going to hear about major electricity sector reform from the Minister this coming week. 

The final touches are being sorted. 

Simon Watts calls them fundamental. He refers to the last time it was this major as being in the 90's. 

So are they going to split the gentailers? 

The Government's history would suggest no. They have been talking big on banks and supermarkets, and they've made plenty of...

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. 

Donald Trump: 2/10 

Possibly his worst and easily his maddest week yet. Tylenol, the war, Jimmy Kimmel, James Comey, the visas, the escalator, and the teleprompter. Unhinged doesn't even come close. 

Jimmy Kimmel: 7/10 

Won the moral ground on free speech. 

Disney: 2/...

Donald Trump has had as bad a week as any he's had. 

The difference that made it stand out was that he looks increasingly unhinged. 

It was not the UN speech. That was classic Trump – a lot of made-up stuff and grandiose pomposity. 

It sort of wasn’t the visas, given at its core it's also classic Trump. They want Americans hired, not immigrants, which is on brand. Chaotic, but on brand. 

It wasn’t even Jimmy Kim...