The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Prime Minister Bill English says there won't be an inquiry into allegations New Zealand's SAS was possibly involved in war crimes in Afghanistan - but won't rule out an inquiry or investigation into other claims.

English told Mike Hosking this morning that an inquiry into any of the claims was "unlikely", now the NZ Defence Force had told him its troops never operated in the two villages identified in the book Hit & Run.

LISTEN ABOVE AS PM BILL ENGLISH SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

"But as we found with this issue it is better to work through it pretty carefully. I wouldn't rule it out just yet.

"But I think we can rule out an inquiry into the alleged war crimes because whatever those stories were, if they happened at all they happened in different villages, not in the village where the New Zealand operation occurred."

Asked what could be covered by an inquiry, English said, "we just need to make sure there are no loose ends".

"[That] there are no new allegations that appear, that all the right steps are followed with respect to the legal processes because they are a bit complicated.

"We won't be having an inquiry into war crime allegations because whatever stories are in that book occurred somewhere else, not where the New Zealand operations were."

Journalists Nicky Hager and Jon Stephenson claimed in Hit & Run that six civilians were killed and 15 were injured in the raid, which was carried out with US air support and alongside Afghan troops New Zealand had been mentoring.

The book said the raid was a revenge attack on insurgents who were believed to be responsible for the death of SAS soldier Timothy O'Donnell, the first New Zealand combat death in Afghanistan.

After almost a week of publicity and questions, Chief of Defence Force, Lieutenant General Tim Keating, returned from Iraq on the weekend and yesterday briefed English at the Beehive, along with Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee.

Late last night the NZDF released a statement from Keating saying it could confirm its personnel have never operated in the villages named in the book as Naik and Khak Khuday Dad.

"The authors appear to have confused interviews, stories and anecdotes from locals with an operation conducted more than two kilometres to the south, known as Operation Burnham," the NZDF statement said.

"The villages in the Hager and Stephenson book and the settlement which was the site of Operation Burnham, called Tirgiran, are separated by mountainous and difficult terrain. The NZDF has used the geographical references in the book and cross-referenced them with our own material."

The NZDF said that during Operation Burnham New Zealand was supported by coalition partners, which included air support capacity as previously reported.

After the raid an investigation by the Interior and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) found that a malfunctioning gun sight on a coalition helicopter resulted in errant shots hitting a building by mistake.

After the raid an investigation by the Interior and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) found that a malfunctioning gun sight on a coalition helicopter resulted in errant shots hitting a building by mistake.

"The NZDF reiterates its position that New Zealand personnel acted appropriately during this operation and were not involved in the deaths of civilians or any untoward destruction of property.

The NZDF has previously said in statements that the ISAF investigation concluded that "allegations of civilian casualties were unfounded".

Wayne Mapp, who was Defence Minister at the time of the raid, said last week civilians were killed, and confirmed he had referred to the operation as a "fiasco".

Past Defence Ministers have previously said they could not rule out civilian deaths at the hand of foreign troops, but that New Zealand troops were not responsible for inflicting civilian casualties or injuries.

In response, Hager said the NZDF claims were "astonishing".

"It doesn't in any wa...

The Foundation for the Deaf's demanding the Government set up a working group to address hearing loss in New Zealand.

LISTEN ABOVE: Mike Hosking talks to The Foundation for the Deaf's chief executive, Louise Carroll, about the issue of hearing loss in New Zealand.

They've just released a report completed by Deloitte, which says 880,000 Kiwis suffer some form of hearing loss, and that costs us almost $5 billion a year.

Foundation chief executive Louise Carroll told Mike Hosking the Government needs to be proactive about the problem.

"This is a wake up call New Zealand, we have to stand up and do something about this, otherwise we're leaving future generations with a huge burden of hearing loss."

One of the original writers of the iconic animated television series The Simpsons, Al Jean, speaks with Mike Hosking about the history and future of the long-running show.

Employers struggling to fill skilled jobs are finding an increasing number of employees have drug problems.

LISTEN ABOVE: Mike Hosking talks to the CEO of the Drug Detection Agency, Kirk Hardy, about how big of a problem drugs have become in the workforce.  

140,000 workplace drug tests were conducted last year.

Just over 13 percent tested positive for methamphetamine use - a five percent increase on the previous year - and more than 80 percent of tests revealed cannabis use. New Zealand Drug Detection Agency boss Kirk Hardy told Mike Hosking it was picked up in random testing.

"And that comes with a wide range of work places these days, it's not traditionally how it used to be which was transport, forestry, etc. We're seeing a lot of it in tourism, hospitality and professional services now as well."

Protecting women from sexual assault is the idea behind a women-only taxi service, 'Sophie's Angels', which has launched in Wellington.

22-year-old founder Sophie Denman told Mike Hosking there's a demand for it.

She said she started the service after hearing about young women's bad experiences with male taxi drivers, or having to walk home at night because taxis refused them a short ride home.

"While I was an uber driver I found girls a little bit more threatened by it, but we're not going just based on the fear of sexual assault. Its more that women can get a safe comfortable ride."

Denman said the female cab drivers will be able to offer fares to men at their discretion.

"They can get in with the girls, girls can bring their boyfriends or mates that's not a problem, and if it's a man alone then it's up to the driver's discretion whether or not they feel safe taking them home."

LISTEN ABOVE: Mike Hosking talks to Sophie Denman, founder of 'Sophie's Angels'

New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Sir Lockwood Smith, is stepping down from the role tomorrow.

He joins Mike Hosking to chat about his time in the job.

Women would get information about pay rates in their workplace to test if there is gender-based discrimination, under new legislation welcomed by the Human Rights Commission.

A private member's bill by Green Party MP Jan Logie has been drawn from the ballot.

It would make all employers include gender when recording information about pay rates for different roles in their workplace.

Employers would be required to pass that information on to the Department of Labour for publication in aggregate form.

LISTEN ABOVE AS GREEN MP JAN LOGIE SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING ABOUT HER BILL

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Why Did You Think I Didn't?/Hager Saga/Is This Really a Long Term Thing?/Mark the Week/Drinking Is Bad and Good for You

The Labour Party says it's not proposing a carbon tax, despite agreeing to form a coalition with the Green Party if it's elected.

LISTEN ABOVE: Labour's finance spokesman Grant Robertson spoke with Mike Hosking

The two parties have released a set of economic rules to follow if they form a coalition government after the September 23 election.

It was presented by Labour leader Andrew Little, finance spokesman Grant Robertson, and Green Party co-leader James Shaw at a business breakfast hosted by law firm Kensington Swan in Auckland, where the audience was made up of business leaders, bankers, economists, academics and NGOs.

The two parties said the new rules would give New Zealanders confidence about how the two parties would work together on economic issues.

But they are also an attempt to reassure voters who are unsure or sceptical about how the Greens could influence Labour's economic agenda.

Labour has promised no new taxes if in power. But the Greens will lobby for a capital gains tax and a carbon tax.

Labour's Finance spokesperson Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking each party has its own policies so the Greens are entitled to campaign on what they want.

However, he said the rules of the coalition mean there'll be a tax working group after the election.

"If the Greens propose ideas they want that working group to look at, they're welcome to do so.

"But what we're saying is in a Labour-led Government, we're not planning on that policy.

The Trump administration is trying to distance itself from a former campaign manager who was secretly paid tens of millions of dollars to help Russian President Putin improve his image in the US.

Paul Manafort was paid $10 million per year between 2006 until at least 2009.

US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking White House spokesman Sean Spicer says US President Donald Trump knew nothing about the Russia connection because it was a decade ago.

LISTEN ABOVE AS RICHARD ARNOLD SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING