The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Day two of the America's Cup match is here. Team New Zealand and Luna Rossa square off in races three and four on Auckland's Waitematā Harbour, in what is turning out to be a closer series than many initially expected.
The Italian syndicate took out the second of two races on the opening day, following on from the defender's win in the first tussle. Both teams are level on one win apiece in the best of 13-race series.
Day one saw plenty of action, and plenty of promise from the challenger.
They employed an aggressive tactic in race one, trying to draw a penalty against Team NZ, but it didn't come off. It was a bold manoeuvre, and put the challengers on the back foot immediately.
The defender built a handy lead and controlled the race for the remainder, winning by 31 seconds.
In race two Luna Rossa again showed plenty of fight, and this time it paid off with victory by seven seconds to square the ledger. They bettered the Kiwis in the start box, and raced out to a handy lead which extended over the first four marks – enough to ultimately cross the line in first.
Team New Zealand did preview a possible pass occurring as the race progressed and they ate into the lead. But they ran out of course as Luna Rossa held on for a slim win.
Team NZ helmsman Peter Burling admitted his team was "a bit rusty", but pleased to come away with at least one win.
"It felt like if there had been another lap we might have had a good chance," he said post race.
Understandably, Luna Rossa co-helmsman Jimmy Spithill was enthused by their performance.
"We just followed our plan, kept it calm and the boat did the rest of the work."
Over the past few weeks, there have been suggestions that Te Rehutai has been hitting never-before-seen speeds in training - but former America's Cup sailor and commentator Nathan Outteridge called reports of Team NZ's speed edge "greatly exaggerated".
"These boats are pretty evenly matched. Luna Rossa look like they're making small gains every time they tack. With these numbers ... there's nothing in it but every time they manoeuvre, they're making their gains," Outteridge said.
Colleague Stephen McIvor agreed, saying "everybody who suggested Te Rehutai was a quicker boat might just be eating their words right now".
Once again a mass of spectators are expected to congregate on the water to watch the action unfold, but those on land are still barred from attending the race village with Auckland currently at Covid-19 alert level 2.
That however could change today. Cabinet met yesterday to reassess the city's alert level status, and will make an announcement at midday.
Race one is scheduled to get underway at 4:15pm with the second to follow at 5:15. Like day one, racing will occur either on race course A, offshore from Takapuna in Auckland's North Shore, or race course E, east of the city near Maraetai.
Officials say both have been chosen as they're the least likely to attract crowds.
Schedule:
The America's Match is a best of 13 series, with the winner being crowned champions and awarded the Auld Mug. The racing window for each race day will be around 4pm-6pm, with the first race of each day scheduled for 4.15pm.
Mar 12: Race 3 and 4Mar 13: Race 5 and 6Mar 14: Race 7 and 8Mar 15: Race 9* and 10*Mar 16: Race 11* and 12*Mar 17: Race 13*
Odds:
Race 3:
Team New Zealand - $1.45Luna Rossa - $2.60
Overall winner of the America's Cup:
Team New Zealand - $1.37Luna Rossa - $2.80

Māori MPs are reluctant to tell Māori they should get the Covid-19 injection, saying it's about mana motuhake and whānau have the right to choose.
The Government has put $39 million towards a targeted Māori Covid-19 vaccination strategy, which includes $24.5m for the development of community support services to be run by Māori health providers.
The vaccine framework would also directly give 40,000 courses of the vaccine to Māori and Pacific health providers across the country to immunise older people, and the family members they live with.
"This whānau-centred approach means that an entire whānau can be vaccinated altogether and will help to keep our people safe," associate minister of health Peeni Henare said.
They're in the second stage of the rollout, alongside elderly and people with relevant health conditions in South Auckland.
Manukau Urban Māori Authority chairman Bernie O'Donnell said there was "now light at the end of the tunnel".
"For too long now we've been frontline in terms of our geographic location but also in terms of our vulnerability ... so it's great to know that the Government recognises that we are vulnerable," he said.
Māori health leaders like Turuki Health chief executive Te Puea Winiata have consistently called for Māori over 50 years old to be prioritised for vaccination, because they're more at risk than the general population.
"Although we would've preferred to have seen a reduction in the age of the eligibility, we are still able to work with members of the whānau around kuia, kaumātua."
As part of the targeted Māori vaccination plan, $11m would be given to providers to put the right infrastructure in place, and train their staff.
Health providers have consistently called for funding so they can vaccinate on marae and through mobile or pop-up clinics.
Henare said they were still working on this.
"The challenge is this: in order to cool store the vaccine so that it isn't compromised, that's difficult to do in places like Te Kahao and Nūhaka so we're going to have to make sure we have the infrastructure."
Another $2m will be given to iwi for communications campaigns to help Māori.
A Ministry of Health commissioned-survey found Māori and Pasifika were less confident about the safety and quality of the Covid-19 vaccine than the rest of the population.
Henare has previously told RNZ that up to one in five Māori could be hesitant.
"That's what we like to call 'ancedata' but there's also a series of information that tells us it's relatively high and particular amongst our people."
The survey from September last year found only 31 per cent of Māori would definitely take the vaccine, with 23 per cent saying they wouldn't get the jab.
A recent poll commissioned by Horizon Research and The Hui found 12 per cent of more than 500 Māori surveyed saying they definitely wouldn't take the vaccine, with another 11 per cent saying they were unlikely to.
Making pathway clear
Recently released data found half of those who've ended up in ICU from Covid-19 have been Māori.
Despite this, Māori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi won't tell tangata whenua they must get the vaccine.
"Because that's what mana motuhake is all about, mana motuhake is about everybody being able to freely make that choice. We're not going to make it mandatory and I would be against that," Waititi said.
"Mine and Deb's job here in this Parliament is to make sure the pathway is clear for those who choose to take the vaccine."
Misinformation was a concern for Waititi who implored Māori to get the right information from their GPs.
The Minister of Māori Development, Willie Jackson, also supported Māori having the choice.
"But ... I'll be encouraging my community very, very strongly to take that vaccine, but our people have a right, no doubt about it."
Text By Meriana Johnsen of RNZ

The Ashley Bloomfield ticket mea-culpa is, in its own, small specific way, everything that is wrong with this country and its Covid response.
As they announced yet another embarrassing zero yesterday taking it to 11 days with no cases, the Cabinet meet to decide what? How big a bunch of buffoons they are?
And then having met and, hopefully, decided to drop Auckland to level one, won't make that announcement until today. It's another overt display of over-arching power from a government now drunk on it.
Don’t worry about the America's Cup, home shows, or any of the other myriad of events that have been cancelled these past two weeks. Forget the hundreds of millions in damage done to any number of businesses. You just take your sweet old time to add up all the zero case days and tell us when you're good and ready.
You might have noticed the ever-compliant media after last week stopped making any noise about all those zeros. The irony being as each day passed it got more embarrassing, and it became more evident the government had pulled the lockdown trigger for no good reason. In other words, the story got more and more relevant given the lockdown did more and more damage.
And yet, where were the headlines? Where were the stories of incredulity and outrage?
Back to Bloomfield, true to form when busted by the photo with Jimmy Neesham, the usual flannel was rolled out. He ”broke no rules," he ”was there in a private capacity.” Classic Labour Party spin. Spoon a bit of BS, see if it's swallowed. When it isn't, step up the response, and it culminated yesterday in an acceptance he should never have taken the tickets.
Correct, Sherlock, and why would that be? Because he's a civil servant in charge of a government department in charge of a pandemic response, not a spice girl.
In that is the problem, he thinks he's a spice girl, and we've turned him into a spice girl. It's the cult of Saint Ashley. Grey, no name bureaucrats don't get tickets to the cricket and selfies with Black Caps.
Why? Because they're not rock stars and they're not celebrities. Celebrities play charity rugby and sell off lunches with themselves to raise money for worthy causes.
That’s what he's become. That is the danger, is he a medical professional with our lives in his hands? Or is he an Instagram influencer?
The fact he didn't get it and had to be cajoled into an apology, tells you how out to lunch this lot have become. They're drunk on their own notoriety and power.
And it's our health, country, and future they're ignoring when they're busy grinning for the camera having grabbed the freebies.

A top business leader has taken aim at Jacinda Ardern and her Cabinet - they already know if Auckland will come out of level 2 this weekend, but they're not telling the public until late Friday morning.
The prime minister and top members of her Cabinet have already made their decision on a move to level 1- they met yesterday, 13 days after the last community case - but Ardern won't reveal the decision until 11.30 this morning.
Auckland Business Chamber chief executive Michael Barnett said the public and businesses should have been told promptly.
"This would have enabled businesses time to get ready to welcome customers and visitors back and make the most of having a full weekend of trade to make up for some of the crippling losses from level 3 and 2 restrictions."
And Barnett told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning he couldn't work out the 11.30am timing. "If you told us yesterday there would have been more winners. So tell us why you didn't tell us yesterday.
"I can't work it out. I look at 11.30 today - it's better than four o'clock on a Friday afternoon, but the sector that's been most vocal that's been most impacted is the hospitality and the restaurant sector. Most of these guys it's been soft for them this year and it's been a disaster over the last couple of weeks so it's an opportunity for them to get started again, it's an opportunity for the government to get some return on the money invested in America's Cup, and we've got nothing until today, at 11.30."
The outcome is likely to be a shift to alert level 1 – Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said he was "optimistic" that Auckland would be at alert level 1 this weekend.

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Bloomfield's Bad Look/Mark the Week/That's Not a Trombone/Still Waiting for Kiwifruit/Bagging and Backing the Chiefs

The European Union's executive arm has secured an agreement with Pfizer-BioNTech for an extra 4 million COVID-19 vaccine doses to fight a worrying surge of coronavirus clusters that are prompting the bloc's nations to impose border restrictions.
The European Commission said Wednesday that the deal will help “tackle coronavirus hot spots” and facilitate free border movement. The extra doses, to be delivered in the next two weeks, come in addition to previously planned vaccine deliveries.
“This will help member states in their efforts to keep the spread of new variants under control," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “Through their targeted use where they are most needed, in particular in border regions, these doses will also help ensure or restore free movement of goods and people. These are key for the functioning of health systems and the single market.”
Despite a slowdown in new infections across the European Union, which has 27 nations and 450 million inhabitants, the Commission said it is worried by the epidemiologic situation in several areas, mainly due to the spread of new variants. It cited Tyrol in Austria, Nice and Moselle in France, Bolzano in Italy and some parts of Bavaria and Saxony in Germany as places where COVID-19 hospitalizations have been on the rise.
The German government approved Wednesday a change to its vaccination rules that allows for areas with particularly high rates of infection to diverge from the usual priority by making shots available to younger and healthier people there too. Vogtland county in Saxony, on the border with the Czech Republic, is planning to offer vaccines to all adults starting Thursday in an effort to stop the coronavirus cases there spreading further into the country.
The European Commission said the new Pfizer-BioNTech doses will be made available for purchase to all member states on a pro-rata basis.
The EU has faced sharp criticism over the slow rollout of vaccinations. While Britain, which left the bloc fully in January, has inoculated 35% of its adults, the EU has only reached 9.5%, according to the latest figures.
Overall, the EU has signed six contracts for more than 2 billion vaccine doses, with Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sanofi-GSK, Johnson & Johnson and CureVac. Only the first three are approved so far and they involve two shots per person. The bloc is also in negotiations with two other vaccine manufacturers.
An expert group at the European Medicines Agency will meet Thursday to decide whether the one-dose coronavirus vaccine made by Johnson & Johnson should be authorized for use, a move that would pave the way for its deployment across the EU.

There's a backlog all over the country of more than 42 thousand driver tests that need to be taken because of last year's nationwide lockdown. 
It has meant delays and waitlists of up to months on end. 
NZ Institute of Driver Educators National Secretary Peter Elder told Mike Hosking there's been pressure on testing centres right across the country. 
"We are working as best we can, to take the pressure off them by helping out."
Young people are being urged to hone up on their driving skills, while they wait for the backlog in driving tests to be cleared up.
The average waiting time for a test has doubled, from about four weeks to about eight.
Elder says people should use the time to practice more and do driving classes, so they can pass the first time.
LISTEN ABOVE

Matt Whelan is a Kiwi actor that is making his name overseas.
He made local headlines for his role in the comedy, Go Girls.
Then came the international break - starring in season three of the Netflix show Narcos back in 2017.
Since then he's come home to star in The Luminaries and other Kiwi shows.
Now he's starring in Acorn TV's original, The Sounds, which dropped on the streaming service this week.
Matt Whelan joined Mike Hosking on the show this morning.
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The Government's being urged to draw on the expertise of private companies, in its Covid-19 vaccine roll-out programme.
It's released its roadmap, after securing enough Pfizer vaccines for the whole population.
Auckland University medical expert Des Gorman says it's time to take advantage of the offer made by business leaders last week.
He told Mike Hosking the Government needs to talk to private enterprise with logistic expertise.
Gorman says businesses can provide logistical skills, and produce a vaccination plan that is more likely to be delivered.
LISTEN ABOVE

New Zealand Oil & Gas (NZOG) has dropped its final exploration permit, marking the end of an era for an industry which is once again limited entirely to Taranaki.
On Wednesday morning Wellington-headquartered NZOG told the NZX that it had decided to relinquish to the Crown Petroleum Exploration Permit 55794, a roughly 5000 square kilometre permit also known as Toroa, which lies in waters hundreds of kilometres south of Balclutha, to the east of Stewart Island.
While it is not unusual for permits to be returned to the Crown, Toroa was the latest in a string of permits in the area to be relinquished in the Great Southern Basin and Canterbury Basin.
An MBIE official confirmed that assuming all of the surrender applications are accepted, New Zealand will have no exploration permits in any area outside the Taranaki Basin, where all of New Zealand's oil and gas exploration is based.
The news is likely to be celebrated by environmental groups, but comes as New Zealand's gas supplies are becoming increasingly stretched.
NZOG chief executive Andrew Jefferies blamed a "confluence of events" for dropping the permit, ranging from "adverse regulatory settings for offshore exploration", the failure of rival OMV to find commercial oil in the last South Island well in 2019/2020, other nearby permits being dropped and the effect of Covid-19 on drilling costs and rig availability.
All of those factors have caught the Toroa permit in the same perfect storm," Jefferies said.
"We have exhausted all avenues to find a potential partner to progress drilling this acreage and so reluctantly relinquish."