The Mike Hosking Breakfast

David Shearer says the future of famine and war that South Sudan faces is grim, but there is hope.

The former Labour leader now heads the United Nation's mission in South Sudan.

Mr Shearer told Mike Hosking it's mainly conflict - not drought - that's caused the famine, and he's hopeful the conflict can be reconciled as it has been in other parts of the country.

"I've been in lots of countries in the past that have been lost causes and they've pulled themselves through. It's the newest country in the world and it's fought for a long to get its independence."

Mr Shearer told Mike Hosking is causing people to flee their homes, and their livelihoods.

"In this particular area where the famine is being declared there' about 100,000 people who are basically hiding in swamps and taking refuge in other places. Without food they're effectively slowly perishing."

The question's being asked as to why commercial buildings can be built so close to airports - after Victoria's worst crash in three decades.

Five people died in Melbourne yesterday when their small aircraft crashed into Essendon's DFO shopping centre shortly after take off.

Australian correspondent Murray Olds told Mike Hosking if it had happened on a Saturday and crashed further into the centre - more lives would've been lost.

"Federal governments own the land that airports are built on. Local government controls development on the outside."

Catastrophic engine failure's being blamed.

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Wednesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Never Stand Up for What You Believe In/So Over DotCom/Dan Defender/Ramsay Anticlimax/Baching Update

Westpac has been accused of breaching Nicky Hager's basic human rights by releasing his personal information to police.

In the lead up to what has since been ruled an unlawful police raid on Mr Hager's home in 2014, police asked Westpac for more than 10 months of Mr Hager's bank transactions.

The police falsely said Mr Hager was being investigated for fraud, but provided nothing to support the claim they needed his information, and Westpac didn't ask for any.

Westpac argued that customers sign over privacy rights under its terms and conditions, but the Privacy Commissioner said it was a breach of privacy to hand over the information without a warrant.

The Council for Civil Liberties chair Thomas Beagle said people should rightly expect their banking to be private.

"I think most people expect their banking and other information to be private most of the time.

"They don't expect it to be handed out on demand."

LISTEN ABOVE: The Council for Civil Liberties chair Thomas Beagle talks to Mike Hosking

WHAT YOU SHOULD HAVE HEARD (highlights from Tuesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) glennzb Dominating the Social/Paid Too Much/Is That Guy Still Here?/Hosking Home Alone/This is Our Year

One of the country's biggest unions is joining the chorus of people questioning the 23 percent salary rise for the head of the Super Fund.

Adrian Orr is the first public servant on a package of more than a million dollars.

SEE ALSO: Andrew Dickens: Adrian Orr is worth every cent

CTU President Richard Wagstaff told Mike Hosking we need to think about the levels of remuneration for our top CEOs.

"I know in other countries, there's some real thinking going into the policies of public institutions which says the relativity between top and bottom needs to be closed."

Wagstaff said we should consider a legal maximum wage because things are way out of kilter.

He said people who are struggling will find it offensive.

"I can't believe Adrian needs those kinds of pay rises to motivate him. I don't think that's where we need to put money as a society into people who already have more than enough."

LISTEN ABOVE AS CTU PRESIDENT RICHARD WAGSTAFF SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

You'll have to wait another nine months if you want to take shellfish or seaweed from Kaikoura's quake-affected coast.

Primary Industries Minister Nathan Guy has renewed the emergency closure.

The chair of the Paua Fishery Group Jason Ruawai said although it's cut out 50 percent of business - it will be better in the long term.

He told Mike Hosking they're not the only ones who are suffering - the closure of State Highway One from the north is also hurting business.

He said other places like Murchison are now the thoroughfare and are receiving the benefits of the traffic - so Kaikoura needs to be more of a destination rather than somewhere you pass through.

LISTEN ABOVE AS JASON RUAWAI SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

US-backed Iraqi forces have started a ground offensive to dislodge Islamic State militants.

They're trying to weed them out from their remaining stronghold in the western part of Mosul.

Commanders are expecting the battle to be more difficult than it was in the east of the city.

That's because tanks and armoured vehicles can't pass through narrow alleyways in the old parts of the city.

Reuters Iraq correspondent Stephen Kalin told Mike Hosking hundreds of thousands of civilians are also there.

LISTEN ABOVE AS STEPHEN KALIN SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange dialled in to New Zealand last night – but his fairly tame talk started off with him talking about his cat.

The Australian, who is holed up in Ecuador, spoke and answered questions via live video link to students and others at Auckland University and a crowd at the Melbourne Town Hall. 

About 300 people turned up to the Sir Paul Reeves Building, where the New Zealand stream was showing, to join the debate, called Julian Assange: No More Secrets, No More Lies.

Think Inc producer Michael Tucker told Mike Hosking he thought people mainly turned up to see if Assange was alive and how he was getting on.

LISTEN ABOVE AS MICHAEL TUCKER SPEAKS WITH MIKE HOSKING

He said Assange, who was speaking from the Embassy of Ecuador in London, started off talking about his cat which was rather boring, and then he gave no real revelations.

The event was organised by Think Inc, an Australia-based initiative which organises speaking events with intellectuals,

He’d already spoke via video link to Brisbane and Sydney.

Assange has been in Ecuador since June 2012, refusing to meet prosecutors in Sweden, where he remains wanted on an allegation of rape, fearing he would be extradited to the US to face espionage charges if he leaves the embassy.

He came to prominence in 2010 when WikiLeaks published information leaked by US Army Private Chelsea Manning. Manning was sentenced to 35 years prison for leaking the information but was commuted by Barack Obama as one of his last acts as president. She is due to be released in May.

The New Zealand Initiative has renewed calls for performance-based pay for school teachers.

A report by the right-wing think tank said a system in Washington DC works particularly well.

LISTEN ABOVE: Martine Udahemuka of the NZ Initiative talks to Mike Hosking

Researcher and report author Martine Udahemuka told Mike Hosking teachers there have to show they have met the expectations of good classroom practice.

She said teachers are evaluated against a multiple number of performance indicators including "student scores and student surveys".

Teachers who are not up to scratch can get tailored professional development.

"Telling teachers that they do stand to gain a good reward if they do maintain their performance, they do find that they improve their performance and student performance as well."