The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The chances of the America's Cup being defended in New Zealand appear to be slipping, with an offer worth around $100 million from the Government and Auckland Council apparently rejected.
Negotiators appointed by the Crown have been trying since March to thrash out a deal with Team New Zealand, which beat Luna Rossa to retain the Auld Mug on March 17.
The final race of the 36th America's Cup kicked off a three-month period of good faith negotiations, during which Auckland had the first right of refusal to host the next match. That window ends on June 17.
The joint bid by the Government and Auckland Council is believed to have been worth around $100m, made up of cash and "in kind" support such as the use of land in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour.
Mark Mitchell and Stuart Nash joined Mike Hosking to discuss this and the week's politics news.

The union representing police officers is supporting calls for body cameras.
Race Relations Commissioner Meng Foon wants officers to wear bodycams, in an effort to eliminate racism in New Zealand.
The force has conceded systemic racism exists within its ranks.
But Police Association president Chris Cahill told Mike Hosking it'll show Police get it right nearly all the time.
“You’d actually see the true story of what Police have to deal with. You get the whole picture rather than these short little videos that you get from people’s phones that actually don’t show the whole circumstance.”
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New Zealand cricket captain Kane Williamson has confirmed Devon Conway will make his debut opening the batting for the Black Caps at Lord's tonight in the first test against England.
Conway's earned the right after an avalanche of domestic runs, and success in the international limited overs formats.
"A really exciting opportunity for Devon obviously he's been involved with the team over the last year in the white ball formats and gone extremely well and gets his opportunity to debut at the home of cricket," Williamson said.
Williamson says they have narrowed the squad down to 12 - he has confirmed Colin de Grandhomme's fit and ready to bowl, so he could make his return after an injury-hampered home summer.
Conway replaces Tom Blundell who opened in the side's last test against Pakistan in January. Daryl Mitchell also drops out from that XI replaced by de Grandhomme.

New Zealand squad photograph in front of the Pavilion at Lord's. (Photo / Photosport)
Conway made every post a winner in his first international season over the New Zealand summer.
The elegant-left hander smashed 473 T20I runs at an average of 59, with a strike rate of 151, with four half-centuries and a top-score of 99 not out.
Conway's ODI form was just as dominant as he plundered 225 runs at 75 in the three-game series against Bangladesh, including his maiden international century at the Basin Reserve in March.
The Johannesburg-born Conway has 18 first class centuries and 32 fifties in 108 matches, at an average of 47.21 with a high scores of 327 not out.
He became eligible to play for New Zealand last August, making his Twenty20 debut in November against the West Indies, and has since played 14 T20s and three ODIs for the Black Caps.
Conway moved to New Zealand from South Africa in 2017 and made an impact for Wellington with an unbeaten double century in a Plunket Shield against Otago in his second season.
In October 2019, the question of whether he would eventually become a Black Cap was all but answered when he scored 327 not out against Canterbury, New Zealand's sixth-highest first-class inning.
Matt Henry, who looks the likely 12th man option for the first test, was the last New Zealander to make their test debut at Lord's. He had a strong outing by taking the wicket of England captain Alastair Cook in his third over before taking 4-93 in the first innings in the 2015 defeat.
New Zealand side (probable)Devon Conway, Tom Latham, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor, Henry Nicholls, BJ Watling, Colin de Grandhomme, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Tim Southee, Neil Wagner, Matt Henry (12th man).
NZ test debuts at Lord'sDevon Conway, 2021Matt Henry, 2015Daniel Flynn, Aaron Redmond, 2008Willie Watson, 1986Evan Gray, 1983Dayle Hadlee, Hedley Howarth and Ken Wadsworth, 1969Eric Tindill, Jack Cowie, Martin Donnelly, Merv Wallace, Sonny Maloney, Walter Hadlee, 1937Ian Cromb, Jack Kerr, 1931

Victorians are bracing for an extension of the state’s seven day “circuit breaker” lockdown today, as officials reveal the alarming way the virus is spreading.
The Victorian government has continually refused to confirm whether the lockdown will be extended past its end date of 11.59pm on June 3, but multiple media outlets have confirmed senior government ministers met overnight to discuss the next step.
Three new Covid-19 cases were confirmed on Tuesday, bringing the total number of infections in the cluster to 54.
The lockdown extension is expected to be announced on Wednesday and is expected to remain in place until early next week, according to the Herald Sun.
A cabinet minister told The Age the highly transmissible nature of the B.1.617 strain seen in Victoria is one of the major reasons a lockdown extension is being considered.
This strain was first detected in India and has since spread to more than 40 countries, with the World Health Organisation identifying it as a “variant of concern” as it appears to be much more infectious than other strains.
Cabinet minister were reportedly told the options for a length of extension were between three and seven days, with a final call to be made on Wednesday morning.
On Monday, chief health officer Professor Brett Sutton said Victoria was “neck and neck with this virus”, describing it as an “absolute beast”.
He said authorities were discussing the lockdown measures day to day, but the latest developments were “really concerning”.
“We’ve gone from a single case of the beginning of the month to 4200 primary close contacts,” he said.
“It has been a rapidly moving virus and the transmission that has occurred in those high-risk settings has been very substantial.
He said Victoria has to “prepare for anything” in the coming days.
‘Fleeting transmission’ a cause for alarm
Victorian authorities say people are becoming infected with covid after just “brushing past” strangers with the virus.
Testing Commander Jeroen Weimar said at least four of the state’s 54 locally transmitted cases have come from “fleeting” contact between Victorians.
“What we’re seeing now is people are brushing past each other in a small shop, they are going to a display home, they are looking at photos in a Telstra shop,” he said.
“This is relatively speaking, relatively fleeting. They do not know each other’s names, and that is very different from what we have been before.
“This is stranger to stranger transmission.”
Mr Weimar said this is a feature of the B.1.617 variant, saying it is “quite different” to the kind of of transmission Victoria is used to seeing, such as in homes, workplaces or any big social settings.
He said this is the “fastest moving outbreak” to hit Australia.
“This is the biggest outbreak … this year. It is one of the most, certainly the fastest moving outbreak we’ve seen anywhere in Australia. For a long time,” he said.
There are now more than 320 exposure sites across Victoria, with thousands of close contacts already sent into isolation.
Mystery cases are also another major cause for concern for health authorities, with contact tracers still struggling to figure out how a staff member, a woman in her 50s, at aged care facility Arcare contacted the virus.
The case was the first mystery case linked to the current outbreak.
“That of course is a significant concern for us, and we’ve got everybody focused on trying to identify where that’s come from and any other exposure that she may have had,” Mr Weimar said.
The woman worked at the facility on Wednesday and Thursday last week, authorities say.
It’s believed that she was infectious during this period, before she developed symptoms on Friday, when she immediately got tested.
Virus linked to multiple aged care settings
Multiple aged care facilities have been forced into lockdown after either recording...

An emotional President Joe Biden marked the 100th anniversary of the massacre that destroyed a thriving Black community in Tulsa, declaring Tuesday that he had "come to fill the silence" about one of the nation's darkest — and long suppressed — moments of racial violence.
"Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous, they cannot be buried, no matter how hard people try," Biden said. "Only with truth can come healing."
Biden's commemoration of the deaths of hundreds of Black people killed by a white mob a century ago came amid the current national reckoning on racial justice.
"Just because history is silent, it does not mean that it did not take place," Biden said. He said that "hell was unleashed. literal hell was unleashed." And now, he said, the nation must come to grips with the following sin of denial.
"We can't just choose what we want to know, and not what we should know," said Biden. "I come here to help fill the silence, because in silence wounds deepen."
After Biden left, there was a spontaneous singing by some audience members of a famous civil rights march song, "Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around."
The events on Tuesday stood in stark contrast to then-President Donald Trump's trip to Tulsa last June, which was greeted by protests. Or the former president's decision, one year ago, to clear Lafayette Square near the White House of demonstrators who gathered to protest the death of George Floyd, a Black man, under the knee of a white Minneapolis police officer.
In 1921 — on May 31 and June 1 — a white mob, including some people hastily deputized by authorities, looted and burned Tulsa's Greenwood district, which was known as "Black Wall Street."
On Tuesday, the president, joined by top Black advisers, met privately with three surviving members of the Greenwood community who lived through the violence, the White House said. Viola "Mother" Fletcher, Hughes "Uncle Red" Van Ellis and Lessie "Mother Randle" Benningfield Randle are all between the ages of 101 and 107.
Biden said their experience had been "a story seen in the mirror dimly."
"But no longer," the president told the survivors. "Now your story will be known in full view."
Outside, Latasha Sanders, 33, of Tulsa, brought her five children and a nephew in hopes of spotting Biden.
"It's been 100 years, and this is the first we've heard from any U.S. president," she said. "I brought my kids here today just so they could be a part of history and not just hear about it, and so they can teach generations to come."
As many as 300 Black Tulsans were killed, and thousands of survivors were forced for a time into internment camps overseen by the National Guard. Burned bricks and a fragment of a church basement are about all that survive today of the more than 30-block historically Black district.
Several hundred people milled around Greenwood Avenue in front of the historic Vernon African Methodist Episcopal Church awaiting Biden's arrival at the nearby Greenwood Cultural Center. Some vendors were selling memorabilia, including Black Lives Matter hats, shirts and flags under a bridge of the interstate that cuts through the district.
The names and pictures of Black men killed by police hung on a chain-link fence next to the church, including Eric Harris and Terrence Crutcher in Tulsa.
Biden briefly toured an exhibit at the center, at times stepping closer to peer at framed historic photographs, before he was escorted into a private meeting with the three survivors.
America's continuing struggle over race will continue to test Biden, whose presidency would have been impossible without overwhelming support from Black voters, both in the Democratic primaries and the general election.
He announced Tuesday that he was appointing Vice President Kamala Harris to lead efforts on voting rights as the GOP carries out efforts to pass laws restricting access to the ballot....

Space debris has hit and damaged the International Space Station.
It has hit a robotic arm, which is still operational, but it's being classed as a reminder about just how much space debris there is out there.
Richard Easther, Head of Department of physics at Auckland University told Mike Hosking while we can track most space junk, the piece in question was probably too small to be seen from the ground.
“It might be smaller than a .22 bullet. But when it hits, it hits much faster than a .22 bullet.”
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An Australian media company is raising eyebrows over making its own vaccine adverts.
Channel Nine has launched its own Covid-19 vaccination campaign on Twitter.
The advertisement features famous Aussie faces, including Hamish and Andy, Karl Stefanovic and Eddie McGuire, urging people to "give it a shot".
Auckland University Marketing Associate Professor Mike Lee told Mike Hosking the company has put itself in a difficult situation.
“It is your role to cover the news about the pandemic and also highlight the side effects of the vaccine.”
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There are calls for the Highlanders to remove Speight's branding from their jerseys.
Alcohol Healthwatch has made a formal complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority, claiming the rules have been breached.
Executive director Nicki Jackson told Mike Hosking sporting heroes modelling beer to kids is a huge concern.
“We’ve got players with logos emblazed on their jumpers going into schools and training games where we are seeing large numbers of children being exposed. The evidence is clear that it harms them.”
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The chances of the America's Cup being defended in New Zealand appear to be slipping, with an offer worth around $100 million from the Government and Auckland Council apparently rejected.
A team of negotiators appointed by the Crown have been trying since March to thrash out a deal with Team New Zealand, which beat Luna Rossa to retain the Auld Mug on March 17.
The final race of the 36th America's Cup kicked off a three-month period of good faith negotiations, during which Auckland had the first right of refusal to host the next match. That window ends on June 17.
The joint bid by the Government and Auckland Council is believed to have been worth around $100m, made up of a mixture of cash and "in kind" support such as the use of land in Auckland's Viaduct Harbour and other services.
Sources with knowledge of the talks have told the Herald that Team New Zealand informed negotiators in recent days that the bid has been rejected.
Team New Zealand is said to have wanted a package worth in excess of $200m. The board of the syndicate is expected to meet later this week to discuss the matter.
While the negotiation period still has more than a fortnight to run, the source believes the Government has indicated it has tabled its best offer.
Sailor Chris Dickson said the event is "very attractive" and there would be interested parties around the world.
"[The negotiation] is all behind closed doors and we the ratepayers and taxpayers can only wonder what's going on. $100 million sounds like a lot of money to me," he told Newstalk ZB.
Dickson said he thought Team New Zealand would be wise to think about their brand reputation if they took the defence offshore.
"Team New Zealand has built a very strong and valuable brand globally, largely on being New Zealanders. For them to take it somewhere else would go against the grain."
Dickson said the 2021 America's Cup event had been a success, but a lot smaller than initially anticipated due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It feels to me we only got half a party, I think we deserve the other half and I hope they can put it together."

Team New Zealand sailors celebrate defending the America's Cup in Auckland in March. (Photo / Photosport)
Team New Zealand earlier this year confirmed they were considering whether to take the world's oldest sporting trophy overseas, warning the foiling monohulls had renewed interest which could see its talent stripped.
Documents showed Team New Zealand had appointed agents to seek international bids, where host cities were invited to offer both a "rights/sanction fee" from the host city to the yachting syndicate, as well as to commit to covering the operating costs of the America's Cup match.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash this week declined to say whether the talks were at an end, or whether the Government might submit an improved offer.
"Discussions and negotiations will be commercial-in-confidence and further information is unable to be released."
Auckland Council referred questions to its economic development and events arm, Auckland Unlimited. It declined to discuss the state of negotiations.
Team New Zealand has been approached for comment.
After the Government and Auckland Council announced a $136m package to defend the America's Cup in 2018, both sides privately acknowledged that to get true value for money, Auckland needed to host at least two defences.

If you subscribe to the “numbers don’t lie” scenario, then we have to do something about those who don’t have work.
The stats last week were shocking: 115,000 on the dole for longer than 12 months. That doesn’t count the many tens of thousands more on the dole at all.
Fortunately, many move in and out of welfare and for them the system works largely as planned.
But all over the world we are seeing an increasing gap between the number of jobs that are available and the number of people who can’t seem to find one.
I gave you the numbers yesterday: 188,000 vacancies in hospo alone in Britain, 289,000 in Australia. According to Seek, we have more job ads here than we ever had.
Stateside, the hiring game has become a nightmare all over the economy. In every sector, shortages reign supreme.
They’re offering hundreds of thousands of dollars by way of a salary for truck drivers.  36 states so far have cancelled boosted federal welfare because last time the stats came out they had 8 million jobs, but only filled 366 000 of them.
Part of the issue is location - are the jobs where the people are – but also skills and, of course, attitude.
What is also being done increasingly stateside is the insistence that if you want welfare, you have to prove you’re working hard to find a job.
We should go further here. We either accept that there are tens of thousands of hopeless cases and let them rot and fill the gaps with migration settings, or we actually do something about it: it is a crime to pay someone to do nothing.
The cold hard truth is you shouldn’t be allowed to live somewhere with no work. You shouldn’t be allowed to be on welfare with no skills, or skills where there is no longer work available.
The same way kids can’t leave school and get welfare for nothing, why does the same rule not apply to everyone?
You’re either being educated, or trained, or both. You’re either in a job scheme or an apprenticeship.
Isn’t it a social contract with those of us who work to pay these bills? You need help? No problem: what are you doing to help yourself.
Clearly given the international story, we aren’t alone, but it doesn’t mean we have to accept it and pretend that doing nothing other than forking out free money is some sort of way forward.