The Mike Hosking Breakfast

President Joe Biden and Russia's Vladimir Putin agreed to meet next month in Geneva, a face-to-face encounter the White House hopes will help bring some predictability to a fraught relationship that's only worsened in the first months of the Democratic administration.
The June 16 summit is being tacked on to the end of Biden's first international trip as president: He'll also visit Britain for a meeting of Group of Seven world leaders and attend a NATO summit in Brussels.
The agenda is expected to include discussion of Russian action in neighbouring Ukraine, this week's forced diversion of a Lithuania-bound flight by Russian-ally Belarus, efforts by both nations to stem the coronavirus pandemic and more. White House press secretary Jen Psaki said no preconditions were set for the meeting.
The White House is setting low expectations for the meeting. It isn't expected to lead to any major breakthroughs — let alone the sort of reset of U.S.-Russian relations pursued by Biden's old boss, Barack Obama, or the curious bonhomie of the Donald Trump-Putin relationship.
Instead, officials say Biden — who as a candidate and early in his presidency has warned that he expects the relationship to remain complicated —- is looking to find some common ground with his adversary on the path forward.
The Kremlin, for its part, said the presidents will discuss "the current state and prospects of Russian-U.S. relations, strategic stability issues and the acute problems on the international agenda, including interaction in dealing with the coronavirus pandemic and settlement of regional conflicts."
Biden first proposed the summit in a call with Putin in April as his administration prepared to levy a second round of sanctions against Russian officials during his young presidency. And the U.S. levied more sanctions last week  on Russian companies and ships for their work on a European natural gas pipeline called Nord Stream 2. U.S. officials say the pipeline threatens European energy security, heightens Russia's influence and poses risks to Ukraine and Poland in bypassing both countries.
The White House has repeatedly said it is seeking a "stable and predictable" relationship with the Russians. At the same time, it has called out Putin on allegations that the Russians interfered in last year's U.S. presidential election and that the Kremlin was behind the SolarWinds hacking campaign in which Russian hackers infected widely used software with malicious code, enabling them to access the networks of at least nine U.S. agencies.
The Biden administration has also criticised Russia for the arrest and jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny and publicly acknowledged that it has low to moderate confidence that Russian agents were offering bounties to the Taliban to attack U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
Geneva with its bucolic vistas of the Mont Blanc peak — the highest in Western Europe — and a reputation as both a hub for international institutions and an icon of Switzerland's much ballyhooed neutrality offers an intriguing backdrop for the summit.
The city last hosted American and Russian leaders in 1985, when President Ronald Reagan met Mikhail Gorbachev — a summit considered short on substance but critical in fostering what would become mostly friendly relations between the two men through their tenures.
The Biden administration announced sanctions in March against several mid-level and senior Russian officials, along with more than a dozen businesses and other entities, over a nearly fatal nerve-agent attack on Navalny in August 2020 and his subsequent jailing. Navalny returned to Russia days before Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration and was quickly arrested.
Last month, the administration announced it was expelling 10 Russian diplomats and sanctioning dozens of Russia companies and individuals in response to the SolarWinds and election interference allegations.
But even as Biden moved...

The horticulture industry that saw crops of fruit and vegetable rot over summer due to Covid-19 border restrictions is welcoming a new scheme to bring in more skilled overseas workers.
The Government announcement, which includes a further 2400 workers in the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme arriving mostly from Pacific island countries by March, has also been welcomed by a union saying the scheme was a "win-win" for employers and workers.
But some industries, including dairy operators, say they are disappointed their "desperate" applications to bring in more skilled migrant workers have been rejected, with MIQ spaces going begging.
The Government on Monday announced 500 spaces a fortnight in managed isolation will be allocated over the next 10 months to specific groups based on demand - the majority for skilled and critical workers.
Mark Mitchell and Stuart Nash joined Mike Hosking in studio together, for the first time, to discuss this and the week's politics news.
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We have a passing of the torch when it comes to the hugely successful NZ Fashion Week.
Founder Dame Pieter Stewart has sold the event to entrepreneur Feroz Ali.
Although she's staying on as an advisor, Feroz Ali wants to take the event global.
Dame Pieter Stewart told Mike Hosking it will be challenging.
“There's a lot of global fashion weeks, our designers certainly have the ability to be more global than they are, but there's a lot of different ways of becoming global."
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Victorian health authorities have sent an update revealing a positive coronavirus case attended an Aussie Rules football game at the MCG, warning fans that they face being exposed to the virus.
The alert for the Collingwood and Port Adelaide match at the MCG on Sunday afternoon, May 23, was posted shortly before midnight on Tuesday evening, with authorities advising they will be reviewing CCTV footage to decide whether the current warning zone should be extended.
It is understood at least 23,000 people were in attendance.
The case was sitting in Zone 4, Level 1 of the Great Southern Stand (the Punt Rd end of the stand).
Victoria Health said people seated in Zone 4, Level 1 – those with a bay between M1 & M16 on their match ticket – will be contacted directly with advice to get tested & isolate until negative.
"Further reviews of CCTV footage will be undertaken to determine if the advice to test and isolate will be broadened beyond these areas," a statement said.
"Some individuals with the closest contact to the positive case will be directly provided more specific advice from the Department of Health.
"Others attending the MCG not located in these areas will be advised to check for symptoms and be tested if any develop. "
It reassured the AFL and MCC has "prepared for this situation in multiple simulations", with contact information linked to ticketing data and QR codes.
"We are grateful for their contribution to Victoria's public health response."
It comes after earlier revealing further exposure sites as part of Melbourne's growing Covid cluster, including a major shopping centre and a McDonald's.
The Department of Health on Tuesday afternoon listed five stores within the Highpoint shopping precinct in Maribyrnong where an infected person had visited.
Previously health authorities had only said that levels two and three at Highpoint had been exposed to the virus on May 20 between 5.15pm to 6.35pm.
It also listed a McDonald's in Clifton Hill and a Chinese restaurant in the CBD as new exposure locations.
It comes as a further four people tested positive to the virus on Tuesday, bringing the cluster to nine cases.
Genomic sequencing has linked the outbreak to a Wollert case earlier this month.
"There are a number of other small, private or closed exposure sites which we are managing, that haven't been published online," Health Minister Martin Foley said.
"One is a small workplace of case number one, which reports only four contacts and all have tested negative."
Around 10 public venues of significance were named as exposure sites this week, including multiple shopping centres, a Woolworths and a Nando's.
A raft of restrictions were reintroduced for residents in metropolitan Melbourne in an attempt to slow any potential spread.
The new restrictions include face masks to be worn indoors in all settings, with only five people allowed in homes and 30 for public gatherings.
- words by Anthony Piovesan, Rhiannon Tuffield and Matt Young, news.com.au

There are concerns over our mounting debt.
Government-owned entities have racked up almost $13 billion in debt, and this figure is expected to reach close to $21 billion by 2025.
That includes the likes of ACC, Waka Kotahi and crown rental agency Kainga Ora.
But it's debt that isn't included in the Government's total net core Crown figures, which is at more than $110 billion. 
Economist Michael Reddell told Mike Hosking it's clear a debt target has been scrapped.
"It is inefficient, it's not very transparent and it's not clear that it's got very positive arguments."
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A group representing retirement homes admits there are areas where they can do better.
It comes after calls for the industry to clean up its act.
Associate Housing Minister Poto Williams wants the sector to offer a better complaints system, while Consumer NZ says terms aren't transparent or fair for some residents.
Retirement Village Association President Graham Wilkinson told Mike Hosking they've been working on changes for some time.
“This is just simply a progression of what we’ve been doing for the last year or so. Every week 100 Kiwis move into a retirement village so we must be doing something right, but we acknowledge we’re not perfect.”
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Seriously ill cancer patients could be sent to Australia for treatment as Waikato District Health Board wrestles with a crippling cyber-attack and potential privacy breach.
A senior doctor says the malicious ransomware attack is putting scores of lives at risk and the Government must intervene to protect patients who are missing out on vital treatment.
The doctor, who the Herald agreed not to name, works in Waikato Hospital's cancer centre.
They said the situation was a national health crisis and far worse than the DHB was making out.
A group claiming responsibility for the attack yesterday claimed it had accessed confidential patient notes, staff details and financial information.
They said the DHB had until today to comply with its demands or warned the information would be made public.
"We stole documents ... We have a lot of personal info of employees and patients, financial information etc," the emailer said.
"We give them 1 more chance to contact us. 1 more day."
The DHB's entire system crashed on Tuesday last week during a cyber-attack described as "the biggest in New Zealand's history".
Some surgeries and clinics at the DHB's five hospitals have been postponed and non-urgent cases are being asked to stay away from emergency departments. Experts are scrambling to get the system up and running but any fix is unlikely till at least next week.
The cancer service is among key healthcare services heavily impacted, with hundreds of cancer patients unable to have vital operations or access radiotherapy treatment, the doctor said.
Staff had been told to prepare for the centre being out of action for at least a month, and fear there is no plan in place for the growing number of affected patients.
"We are a huge cancer centre and essentially we are down."
The DHB had arranged for the most urgent patients to be seen by private providers in Tauranga and, from next week, Wellington, the doctor said. Nurses and clinicians were accompanying patients to provide care.
Auckland Hospital had agreed to treat Waikato DHB's emergency cancer patients who could suffer major consequences such as being paralysed if treatment wasn't given, but it had no capacity to take anybody else, the doctor said.
An Auckland DHB spokeswoman confirmed the hospital was caring for Waikato's most urgent radiotherapy patients.
"We're assisting wherever possible".
The Waikato doctor said other national radiotherapy treatment centres were full and staff were now seriously discussing whether patients should be flown to Australia.
"When you've got patients who are on treatment or due to start treatment - people with tumours that are growing - you've got to be able to send them somewhere else because we just don't know when we can start them here."
Waikato DHB said earlier this week that 17 urgent patients were being transferred to Tauranga Hospital to continue treatment.
But the doctor said another 70 patients should be receiving treatment now but weren't getting it.
There appeared to be no plan for a further 100 patients due to start radiotherapy within the next three weeks, 60 new patients seen in the past two weeks requiring radiotherapy planning, and 145 patients still waiting to be seen by a radiation oncologist, the doctor said.
Depending on the cancer, radiotherapy treatment could be required five days a week for up to seven weeks.
Waikato DHB provided cancer treatment for the Waikato, but also Lakes DHB and Tairawhiti DHB.
The doctor said staff didn't know who was on their waiting list as they were locked out of the hospital's IT system.
The only technology available to them was their own personal laptops and email.
They couldn't access patient information, old scans or look at blood tests.
Staff were instead having to track down patients using paper copies of consent forms and had been warned the disruption could last for...

It is true sports needs heroes and in this current age sport needs crowds.
Watching Phil Mickelson win Monday’s major was as much joy as I have had from sport for a year.
It reminded you of what great moments are, and why sport is such a critical part of our lives.
It’s odd that he broke the record for the oldest ever winner of a major at 50, especially in a world where age is less and less relevant.
But in that was part of the reason he won. Diet, fitness, and equipment they put it down to, you can do more for longer these days.
The other oldest winner of the modern era was Jack Nicklaus and he was 46, so in a way winning at the highest level has been a young man’s game for quite some time, which made Monday even better.
And it’s the mystery of sport. Alongside him for the final round brooks Koepka, 31, one of the hot guns of the new era. And yet it was Koepka who fell apart: not badly, but enough to never really be in contention.
So the question is why is 50 a real “thing” when it comes to winning in a sport like golf?  Surely at that level it’s mental and surely, given Mickelson has so much experience, he’d be the favourite.
Maybe it was a post Covid sort of thing. We were desperate for something memorable after a year of all those empty courses stadia and piped in crowd noise.
By the time Mickelson got to the final hole the crowds had gone nuts, security had lost control and Mickelson could barely get to the green.
Of course, the fact he was American helped, and it was being played in South Carolina. Americans love winners, we all love winners, and we all love a fairy tale.
Mickelson’s great burden, if you want to call it that, was he was around for a lot of the Woods era, and Woods won a lot more than Mickelson did.
Which makes you wonder if Woods hadn’t have turned up, we would we see Mickelson in a different light.  He lived in the Tiger shadow.
Which is another irony Woods won’t be back, and yet Mickelson has carried on in a sort of seen them come, seen them go kind of way.
Anyway, it was a thrill. The day started out with history to made, but a lot more start out that way than finish, which is another of sports great attractions.
You just never know, so when it plays out as though the script writer had a movie in mind, you don’t and you won’t forget it easily.

The BBC has a challenge in ensuring it doesn't repeat the mistakes of the past.
The board of the public broadcaster will carry out a review into its editorial policies and governance, following last week's damning report into Martin Bashir's famous interview with Princess Diana.
The report found the BBC journalist used "deceitful behaviour" to land the 1995 interview, and the public broadcaster covered up what it knew.
Rod Liddle, the former editor of BBC's Today radio programme, told Mike Hosking  the corporation had a culture problem, that should never be allowed again.
“Mavericks didn't have a chance to do anything. It was all down to 'Yes Men' who would do anything whatsoever they could to protect their own careers, and I know because I was there at the time."
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