The Mike Hosking Breakfast

There is a simple advantage of a vaccine passport, and this is why our tragically slow roll out of the vaccine is little short of a scandal.
You can't have a passport without a vaccine, we don’t have vaccine, we don't know when, short of the vaguest half yearly sort of guess, when we will have a vaccine.
The droplets of vaccine we have had hasn’t been rolled out at the rate they said it would, so god knows what sort of mess it'll be by November or December.
But the point is this, as of next month, Singapore is accepting vaccine passports. In other words, you’ve had your jab, you've got your app, and you're off.
This is the world reopening.
The two questions for the government that they haven't got around to dealing with yet is once I am offshore upon my return why am I still in MIQ if i have been vaccinated? And why, when the world is going to be offering more and more opportunities to do business, are we still defending the idea that we were never in any rush to vaccinate?
We are in a part of the world , Asia-Pacific, that by in large is proactive in these matters. Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and China are all countries that are moving forward and fast.
It's the sort of reaction you would have expected.
Australia is leaving us behind. The thought of us being in lockstep with them as Chris Hipkins so often stated is now laid bare as the joke and lie it always was.
This, by the way, isn't about holidays, it's about business. The business of tourism, markets, growth, and returning to some sort of normality. The CDC over the weekend said all Americans vaccinated can now travel freely domestically and internationally.
Are they coming here? Of course not, why would they? They'll go to Singapore who have their act together and their doors open. Of course, the vaccine isn't the magic elixir some might want it to be, but it is the biggest step forward so far and by some margin.
With it comes a global acceptance of one of the most important things we do in the 21st century, travel and freedom of movement. Singapore in May, Americans by the end of May, and Brits on holiday in June to August. The world is opening up.
Vaccines are the key, and we still sit here at the bottom of the world, more reliant on travel than most, kidding ourselves that there is no rush, we don’t need the world, travel isn't important, and none of this matters.
Some have been sucked in by the government and some just live their lives in fear.
But we are getting left behind. We have dropped the ball, we lack a plan, we lack a date, and we lack leadership.
We had a year to get this sorted and we've wasted it.

Airlines are preparing to radically ramp up trans-Tasman travel - ahead of the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble.
Quarantine-free travel will begin on Monday, April 19th.
Air New Zealand has been "run off our feet" as thousands of Kiwis snap up Australian airfares with the launch of the trans-Tasman travel bubble on April 19.
The number of flights crossing the Tasman each week is expected to skyrocket - from about eight now to around 122.
Board of Airline Representatives executive director Justin Tighe-Umbers told Mike Hosking it means far more people will be coming and going, each way.
"We'd be expecting about 30 to 50 percent of the usual Tasman capacity being in play form day one. Somewhere around 160,000 seats per month."
LISTEN ABOVE

The Prime Minister says about a thousand spaces in MIQ will be freed up by the trans-Tasman travel bubble.
And Jacinda Ardern says that could help people from the Pacific Islands, wanting to travel here.
She told Mike Hosking about 500 spaces are being kept back as a contingency.
The Winegrowers Association hopes there's a chance to bring in new seasonal workers, on the back of the travel bubble.
Chief executive Clive Jones says they want to take advantage of the managed isolation spaces that will be freed up, despite 500 being kept aside as a contingency.
He says seasonal workers who've come here regularly are highly trained.
But Jones told Mike Hosking many of them weren't here last year, so the remaining workers were retrained.
"Many people are wanting to go home...so it would be great to bring some of those already skilled workers back."
LISTEN ABOVE

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Wednesday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Why Are There Less Than There Should Be?/Where's Our Passport?/Making an Exhibition of Yourself/From the Hip/iCar

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has already begun her hard sales pitch to Aussies, promoting New Zealand to Australians as a "safe place to bring your family to visit".
But the launch of the quarantine-free transtasman travel bubble in less than two weeks also comes with a "flyer beware" warning.
Ardern is this morning doing a round of Australian media to persuade would-be transtasman travellers to visit New Zealand, with at least four major TV and radio interviews.
Although she said she was "excited" about the bubble coming into force from April 19, she warned that quarantine-free travel would not be the same as it was before Covid.
There is a chance - if an outbreak occurs - of people being stranded on either side of the Tasman, or facing suddenly having to go into managed isolation upon their return.
"Those undertaking travel will do so under the guidance of 'flyer beware'," Ardern said yesterday."People will need to plan for the possibility of having travel disrupted if there is an outbreak."
There would be no Government assistance to anyone who gets stuck, Ardern confirmed.
Ardern told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning 1000 MIQ spaces would be freed up by the transtasman arrangement and 500 of those spaces would be kept as a "contingency".
She said there were a range of demands on MIQ facilities.
"We already have buffers - we've always needed that," she said.
Ardern said they were now looking at the other low-risk areas such as the Pacific Islands to use the additional spaces.
Hosking quizzed the PM about why MIQ wasn't opening up further, particularly to allow overseas workers in to help the horticulture industry and others.
Arden said New Zealand was one of the few countries in the world operating an MIQ system effectively and because of this the economy had not been crippled.
Ardern said the matter of when vaccinated people would be allowed to travel to NZ without then being asked to quarantine was an "open question".
She said the government was still trying to gauge whether the vaccine stopped transmission and once they had more data around that then a travel passport could be considered.

A chemical found in one of our native plants is helping people quit smoking overseas.
It's called cytisine and it's found in Kowhai trees.
It's more effective than nicotine replacement products ,and is used in European countries but it isn't approved for use in New Zealand.
Director of Action for Smokefree 2025, Deborah Hart joined Mike Hosking to explain how the chemical works.
LISTEN ABOVE

Champagne, lobster and no masks: That's what a French TV documentary says is on the menu at one of multiple high-end “clandestine restaurants” catering to the Paris elite, in violation of nationwide pandemic restrictions.
What's even more shocking to the newly confined French public — and exhausted medical staff — is that one organizer claimed government ministers are among those who attend.
French authorities are investigating the accusations, and government members scrambled to insist they're behaving properly.
Anti-capitalist activists and critics of President Emmanuel Macron aren't convinced, and plan a protest Tuesday — advertised on social networks under the banner “Let’s Eat the Rich” — at one of the alleged secret venues,
The Paris prosecutor’s office said Monday that an investigation was opened Sunday into possible charges of endangerment and undeclared labor, and to identify the organizers and participants of the alleged gatherings.
A documentary that aired on French network M6 over the weekend included a man saying that he had eaten in two or three clandestine restaurants “with a certain number of ministers.”
The prosecutor’s office said Monday that the investigation is continuing despite reports that the man featured in the documentary had retracted his claim.
Government members denied knowledge of any wrongdoing by their colleagues. Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin asked police to look into the claims.
M6 aired hidden camera footage that it said came from two different private venues in recent weeks, as a new virus surge swept over France and restrictions tightened.
At one venue, white-gloved waiters presented fixed-price menus running from 160 to 490 euros (around $190 to $575) per person whose offerings included Champagne, truffles with foie gras, and lobster in ginger sauce. One host said guests don't wear masks, despite France's indoor mask requirements, because “it's a private club. We want people to feel at home.”
At another venue, reportedly offering a 220-euro ($260) meal, visitors in elegant attire shared cheek kisses and strolled a red carpet.
French restaurants have been closed since October to slow the spread of the coronavirus, and the country just entered a new partial lockdown in response to intensive care units again filling with COVID-19 patients.
“I'm getting sick of this. There's no point in going to work,” said Michele Feret, a nurse providing home care to virus patients in the town of Creil, north of Paris. She noted that a clandestine restaurant in a working class district of Creil was also recently shut down.
“Let them go to restaurants,” she told The Associated Press, but warned that no one, including top officials, “has special protection” from the virus.
Government spokesman Gabriel Attal said ministers “have a duty to be totally irreproachable and exemplary.” Speaking on LCI television Sunday night, Attal said authorities have been investigating reports of underground parties and restaurants for months, and 200 suspects have been identified and face “heavy punishment.”
When asked by the AP last month how many government officials had been fined for violating virus restrictions, Prime Minister Jean Castex refused to give a breakdown, instead listing the number of fines issued to the overall French public.
For those who are caught, the endangerment charge carries a potential prison term and fines of 15,000 euros ($17,600), while participants face fines of 135 euros ($160) for violating curfew and another 135 euros for not wearing masks.
The restaurant revelations came as France’s health minister warned Monday that the number of COVID-19 patients in the country’s intensive care units could reach the level of the first crisis a year ago.
France has reported more virus infections than any European country, and among the world’s highest death tolls, at 96,650.

Britain is planning to test a series of measures including “coronavirus status certifications" over the coming weeks to see if they can allow people to safely return to mass gatherings at sports arenas, nightclubs and concerts.
People attending a range of events this month and in May, including a club night and key FA Cup soccer matches, will need to be tested both before and after. The trials will also gather evidence on how ventilation and different approaches to social distancing could enable large events to go ahead.
Officials are also developing plans to test out COVID-19 passports that are expected to show if a person has received a vaccine, has recently tested negative for the virus, or has some immunity due to having had coronavirus in the previous six months.
The issue of vaccine passports has been a hotly debated topic around the world, including in the United States and Israel. The question is how much governments, employers, venues and other places have a right to know about a person's virus status. Many disagree over what the right balance is between a person's right to medical privacy and the collective right of people in groups not to be infected with a dangerous disease by others.
Some critics also say such vaccine passports will enable discrimination against poor people and impoverished nations that do not have ready access to vaccines.
Authorities in Britain have said the passes could involve the use of an app or paper certificates for those who don't have access to the digital option.
But U.K. Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston stressed to reporters that “the earliest pilots almost certainly won't involve any elements of certification” but will involve testing before and after the events. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to set out more details about the coronavirus passports on Monday.
“We are doing everything we can to enable the reopening of our country so people can return to the events, travel and other things they love as safely as possible, and these reviews will play an important role in allowing this to happen,” Johnson said.
Dozens of British lawmakers, including some from Johnson’s own Conservative Party, have opposed the plans.
Cabinet minister Michael Gove, who has led the task force responsible for drawing up the plans, acknowledged that vaccine passports raised “a host of practical and ethical questions” which needed to be resolved before any wider rollout.
Officials said the trial events include the FA Cup semi-final at London's Wembley Stadium later this month with a crowd of 4,000 in a stadium that seats 90,000, and the event's final on May 15, with a crowd of 21,000.
Other upcoming trial events include the World Snooker Championship in Sheffield, central England; a club night at a warehouse and a comedy club event in Liverpool; and three marathon races involving thousands of runners.
The news about the trials came as U.K. businesses including pubs, restaurants, nonessential shops and hairdressers prepared to welcome back customers as restrictions ease in England. Officials say 47% of the country’s population has had a first vaccine dose and more than 5 million people in the U.K. have received their second shot.
Johnson’s government is also expected to set out its approach to easing restrictions on international travel next week. Media reports say when Britain's current ban on foreign holidays is lifted, a risk-based traffic light system with ratings for countries around the world will be introduced and travellers will be required to quarantine accordingly.
More details are to be unveiled when a government task force on global travel reports on April 12. The government has said that international vacation travel cannot take place until mid-May at the earliest.
Last week the U.K. added four more nations to its red list of countries from which travel is banned except for U.K. citizens and those with residency...

The fees for taking part in the Weetbix TRYathlon are too much of a hurdle for some families.
More than 300,000 six-to-15 year-olds have taken part over the years, but at $50 a child the entry fee is too rich for some budgets.
Principal of Nelson's Hampden Street Primary School, Don McLean, told Mike Hosking he doesn't understand why it's so expensive.
He says parents and educators are frustrated the event is heavily promoted, but not easily accessible.
Mr McLean told Mike Hosking it's soon obvious who can take part in the event - and who can't.
"The kids who have participated return to school in their TRYathlon t-shirts, and it becomes clear who can and who can't afford to go."
LISTEN ABOVE

Paracetamol medications are no more effective than a placebo for the most common illnesses or injuries, a medical review of the drug has revealed.
The most ineffective use of paracetamol is when it is taken for back pain, University of Sydney researchers have concluded in a review for the Medical Journal of Australia.
Researchers conducted systematic reviews that compared evidence of the analgesic effects of paracetamol with placebo (saline solution or sterile water) in treating almost 50 common pain conditions.
It was discovered only knee and hip osteoarthritis, craniotomy, tension headache and perineal pain after childbirth were receptive to the drug.
"While paracetamol is widely used, its efficacy in relieving pain has been established for only a handful of conditions, and its benefits are often modest," the review found.
"High or moderate quality evidence that paracetamol [typically 0.5–1g, single or multiple doses] is superior to placebo for relieving pain was available for only four of 44 painful conditions examined."
Paracetamol is the most commonly used painkiller in Australasia but there is little to no evidence to support its ability to relieve pain associated with migraine, post-operative pain, dental procedures, childhood middle ear infections, back pain, abdominal pain and common cold-related headaches.
"For tension headaches we know it works better than placebo, but for most other conditions we simply lack the evidence to be able to make strong or definitive statements about paracetamol's effectiveness," said the review's lead author, Dr Christina Abdel Shaheed.
The MJA review is a blow to paracetamol, which in 2018 became the most dominant over-the-counter analgesic following a decision to make codeine medication prescription only.
"This MJA review is that for the first time it brings all the evidence on efficacy of paracetamol to treat pain together in one document," Shaheed said.
Marketing of paracetamol medications also needed to change, the review recommended.
"Back pain guidelines should stop recommending paracetamol," Shaheed said. "About 50 per cent of back pain guidelines still recommend paracetamol, even though we now know it is ineffective for back pain.
"Our review highlights the need for large, high-quality trials to reduce uncertainty about the efficacy of paracetamol for relieving common pain conditions."