The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Friday afternoon, the tale of two Prime Ministers.
At 4PM our Prime Minister announces we still have restrictions in Auckland. Level two, not level three, but ask an event organiser how that feels. The rest of the country is back to level one.
No one disagrees this is the messiest of the lockdowns. There has been acrimony, complaints, narking, and general frustration that a year on we are still doing this. But the Prime Minister does not back down, does not apologise, and in fact, with a grand total of no cases, announces she'd do it all again exactly the same way.
An hour earlier, 3PM, Scott Morrison leaves his National Cabinet meeting and announces a migrant worker hub so they can bring more labour into the country. He announces the significant expansion of an MIQ facility so they can bring more Australians home. He praises the medics who, that morning, started rolling out the AstraZeneca jab in South Australia.  And then announces that the CSL, the government owned medical facility, will in have produce 1 million doses vaccine per week.
He also talked of the economic news of the week and generally spoke of Australia being the best performer in the world. The last part is, of course, what you would expect him to say, but the earlier bits are fact. You can't argue with them.
So the tale of two Prime Ministers, one is expanding migrant worker numbers, we aren't. One is expanding MIQ, we aren't. One has has started their AstraZeneca programme, we haven't. In fact, we haven't even cleared it, far less got any.
One is producing a million doses, we aren't. So, what that shows is, we are not at the front of the queue, and indeed never were. Much more importantly we most certainly are not in lock step with Australia as so frequently claimed.
Eventually the frustration we have seen this last week over lockdown will pervade the overall performance debate. As the contrasts grows greater, as the vaccination passports get handed out in Australia, more here will ask why we haven't even started our vaccine campaign to the wider public.
The excuse we've used that we don’t need to because we haven't had Covid will be exposed for the lie it is. The same sort of lie about being in lockstep, or at the head of the queue.
Australia has always been our greatest friend, ally, and unfortunately repository for talent and labour. The latter because they're aspirational and appealing.
If our Prime Minister thinks her approach, a year old and increasingly fragmented, creaky, and disliked is the way forward, the numbers both economically and through migration will, in time, expose that thanking for the dishonest, superficial nonsense that it is.  
And in two hours on Friday, you saw the stark contrast of what we are versus what we could be.

Silver Ferns coach Dame Noeline Taurua's secured another pinnacle netball prize.
They've won the Constellation Cup with a 45-43 win over Australia in the fourth match in Christchurch.
It's the second time New Zealand has secured the title, and first since 2012.
Taurua's put the result into a more clinical perspective.
"I think it's just a progression as we lead into the Commonwealth Games and also the Worlds."
She told Mike Hosking that she was thrilled the team was able to claim the cup. 
"Overall for us, it's a great confidence boost, but we were able to get all 14 players out there and build the decks." 
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A multi-million dollar fund is looking to make sport more accessible for kids from poorer backgrounds.
Sport NZ has joined with children's charity Variety - they'll help about 3,000 kids between the ages of 4-18 by giving $300 to families for each kid to go towards whatever is needed.
Sport NZ chief executive Raelene Castle told Mike Hosking they partnered with Variety as they are already dealing with many families around the country who are finding things difficult. 
She says that the money will go towards anything sport related.
"It could be a rugby ball, it could be boots, it could be for a skateboard, or use it to join a club of some description."
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Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt has slammed calls from a Toorak doctor to charge patients for the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.
Speaking on Sunday, Mr Hunt said a medic from the elite Melbourne suburb had expressed his desire to charge patients for the coronavirus vaccine, despite both the AstraZeneca and Pfizer doses being free of charge.
“I did have one Toorak doctor who talked to me about how much they wanted to charge patients,” Mr Hunt told reporters.
“We said sorry – this is bulk billed. This is something that we have striven for. Worked for as a society. This is free.”
Mr Hunt, who was vaccinated alongside former Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Sunday, spoke to reporters after announcing more than 4500 GP clinics had been enlisted to help with the vaccine rollout in a bid to keep it on schedule.
Local doctors will be brought in for phase 1b of the rollout, which targets older people and those with certain underlying conditions, from March 22.
Mr Hunt said GPs would be paid “three times as much” per vaccine administered as they were for more common jabs such as the flu inoculation – making calls for it to be privatised even more outrageous.
Mr Hunt said bringing in local doctors to help with the rollout would “ensure an efficient and equitable distribution of vaccines across the country”.
Until now, the vaccines had only been administered at hospitals and aged care centres.
Overall, more than 4,500 accredited general practices will participate in Phase 1b of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout which he says is one of the greatest logistic challenges in the nation’s history.
“More than 1,000 general practices will commence from the week of March 22, with a rapid scale-up over the following four weeks. This will ensure an efficient and equitable distribution of vaccines across the country,” Mr Hunt said.
“Phase 1b of the rollout includes vulnerable populations, such as older people and people with certain underlying conditions.”
The strategy to rapidly deliver vaccine inoculations includes a collaboration between the Australian Medical Association (AMA), The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine (ACRRM).
The rollout start dates are to be staggered with dosage allocation, to be dependent on vaccine availability.
Ms Gillard in a press conference said people need to trust government sources on the virus, with the litany of anti-vaxxer conspiracies online feeding the public with false information.
“The vaccine is safe, its effect of, it‘s free, it will prevent you from getting seriously ill, so it is in your interests to take it as soon as you have the opportunity to do so in accordance with the Australian government rollout,” she said.
“You do need to be looking at the health (websites) like the Australian government information and make sure that what you are getting is from scientist, not social media influences.”
AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said general practitioners (GPSs) have a proven track record with flu vaccinations of older Australians and those living with chronic disease who would make up the majority of the Phase 1B rollout.
“It is very pleasing to see the majority of GPs putting up their hands to participate in this critical national program,” Dr Khorshid said.
 “General practice is highly accessible for people and has helped Australia achieve some of the highest rates of vaccination in the world.”
“Patients see their GP for trusted advice and support and rolling out a COVID-19 vaccine through general practice is the best way to encourage the community to get vaccinated.”
RACGP president Dr Karen Price said the approach is built on a platform of trust and knowledge and it was a historic and logistically-challenging project.
“We already have the trust of our patients and communities and can ensure that those who...

Traffic rates are now worse than before Covid in parts of Auckland.
New research by AA shows the average commute on the Northern Motorway is eight minutes faster than it was before the pandemic.
But the average commute on the Southern Motorway is now taking 10 minutes longer.
AA infrastructure adviser Barney Irvine told Mike Hosking a number of factors could be at play.
"A higher proportion of people on the North Shore are in jobs that allow them to work from home than in the South.
"There's also a chance that a larger proportion of the growth we saw in 2020 was based in the South."
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The Prime Minister has not been on the programme this morning, and there is a reason for that.
She is running for the hills.
She no longer wants to be on this programme each week. The somewhat tragic conclusion that is drawn is the questions she gets, the demand for a level of accountability, is a little bit tough.
Officially, her office will tell you they are re-arranging the media schedule this year and are maintaining the same number of interviews. This appears not to be true.
By way of background, this has been coming for most of the year. They rang us and told us this a month ago. But various developments, mainly Covid related, made an appearance here a necessity.
At the time we got the call, and the line about re-arranging, we obviously asked who was replacing us. We are still waiting for a reply despite asking, re-asking, and re-asking again. The reason we're still waiting is no one is replacing us. They know it, we know it, they are just over being held to account.
Without being too unkind to some of the other players in this market, the reality is the Prime Minister enjoys a more cordial and compliant relationship. The questions are more softball. She favours a more benign pitch, where the delivery can be dispatched to the boundary more readily without the chance of an appeal.
To be honest, I'm pleased. The management here, not quite as much. They argue accountability is important, and they're right. But what I argue is the Prime Minister is a lightweight at answering tough questions. The number of times she's fronted on this programme with no knowledge around the questions I'm asking is frightening.
Reports I read, she hadn't. The time I asked whether they're replacing the Tauranga City Council, she replied they didn't do such things. Clearly, not having the slightest clue, in a month or so, they were going to do exactly that.
Those occasions are too many to be comfortable.
And then, your reaction. The two most often used lines post interview are "what was the point of that?" And "I don't know why you bother."
The reality is, too often it's just noise. It's waffle. It's stalling. It's filling. It's obfuscation.
It's a tricky scenario, she should be up for it. Any Prime Minister should be up for it. As a publicly elected official you are asked to be held to account. So, it stands to reason you, at least, put yourself up, even if you don't enjoy it or at times struggle with the complexity or detail of the question line.
It speaks to a lack of backbone that she would want to bail and run. It also speaks to an increasingly apparent trait; they don't handle pressure well. Last week was a very good display of that.
They say she's willing to front on an issue-by-issue basis, so she isn't gone forever.
As for the weekly bit, I lose no sleep. I'm just a bit disappointed she isn't a more robust operator, or keener to defend her corner.
After all, it's our country she's running.

One busy day won't make up for the impact of a week-long lockdown for Auckland businesses.
Tens of thousands of Aucklanders took advantage of Alert Level Three easing yesterday morning - flocking to shops, malls and cafes.
But Business NZ chief executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking businesses are still doing it tough.
"There are some challenges, and it's going to take a while for the economy, particularly in Auckland, to rebound after a very stop-start start to the year."
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Experts were surprised and mildly troubled by a poll that found 35 per cent of New Zealanders are unlikely to get a Covid-19 vaccine immediately - but they expect the rate will improve during the course of the year.
Scientists told NZME the major reason why New Zealanders said they were reluctant to get a Covid-19 vaccine - "I'd rather wait and see if others who have taken it suffer any side effects" - was a problem of education and familiarity.
Otago University immunologist Jo Kirman said New Zealand has a culturally diverse population.
She told Mike Hosking different cultures will make decisions differently - and believes seeing famous people and celebrities getting the vaccine will be one piece of the puzzle. 
"While some people are easily swayed by seeing The Queen getting the vaccine, other people might want different information or information given to them in a different way." 
Kirman said  widespread vaccination will help New Zealand achieve herd immunity and protect those most vulnerable.
"There are people in the community who can't get vaccinated because they get allergic reactions or they are under immuno-suppressive treatment."
University of Otago epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker said the 35 per cent vaccine reluctance number in the Ministry of Health's December 2020 poll was higher than he would expect but not necessarily cause for concern.
"Because we've had more than a year of really intense publicity around the pandemic now I think everything about it has elements of anxiety and perhaps even outright fear for many people.
"Because it's a new virus, it's a new vaccine, I think it's understandable some people say they would like to wait to see how it goes."
New Zealand's isolation from the brunt of the pandemic's worst affected countries also played a part, Baker suggested.
"Because the harm caused by the pandemic is quite far removed from New Zealand, so we don't know people who are dying and the people I know in New Zealand who know people who have died are all family and friends overseas," Barker said.
"So for many New Zealanders the threat is quite distant but also the vaccines are quite distant. I would say at the moment these figures aren't particularly cause for concern. It just means that the educational challenge is definitely there with the vaccine rollout."
Professor Michael Baker, epidemiologist at the University of Otago Wellington's Department of Public Health. Photo / Elisabeth Easther
The ministry has released full results of polling into attitudes to the vaccine rollout, following an Official Information Act request from the Herald, and having earlier publicised only top-line findings.
According to the full ministry report on the December 2020 survey, 69 per cent of people would be prepared to accept a "well-tested and approved" Covid-19 vaccine, while 24 per cent were unlikely to. Eleven per cent (an estimated 391,900 adults) said they definitely wouldn't.
Victoria University of Wellington clinical psychologist Dr Dougal Sutherland said he was not particularly concerned about 11 per cent totally reluctant to a vaccine, but the 24 per cent "unlikely" to try a vaccine immediately was "troubling".
"It does seem quite high. The governing knowledge is there's always going to be a core of people who are probably going to be unwilling to take a vaccine of whatever form.
"My understanding is that 10 per cent is relatively consistent across populations is that there's often that 10 per cent core of anti-vaxxers who are never going to take it. But I'm more surprised by the 24 per cent. That seems really high to me.
"To me that's a really troubling thing and I really strengthened those calls for the Government to get onto a campaign around encouraging people to take it. It has to be a subtle campaign in terms of providing people with facts and role models.
"I think often people's immediate response...

It's set to be their most explosive interview ever, with no topic off-limits and nothing left to lose for the royal couple.
As Meghan and Prince Harry's much-anticipated Oprah Winfrey prepares to air in the US today, many will be wondering how to watch here, and just what on earth they are in for.
While the timing has been slammed as Prince Philip remains in hospital, it's unlikely to deter viewers, with the interview one of the most anticipated celebrity interviews of recent times.
So how can you watch and what can you expect? The Herald has you covered.
How to watch and where to go
It was last week revealed where we can watch the full interview here in New Zealand.
Discovery NZ has secured the rights to air the CBS interview tonight at 8pm ET (2pm NZ), and it will play on Three and Three Now at 7.30pm on Tuesday, March 9.
The Herald will bring you full in-depth coverage following the airing of the interview, with Kate Hawkesby breaking down the interview and likely fallout for the previously golden couple.
What you can expect to see
According to CBS, the focus of the interview will start solely on Meghan before bringing Prince Harry in for further insights.
Sneak peeks of the interview released over the past week have given fans a taste of what to expect from the interview where "no subject was off-limits".
"You've said some pretty shocking things here," Oprah told Meghan Markle in the first sneak peek of the tell-all interview.
Harry shared his biggest fear was "history repeating itself", a reference to what happened to his mum, the late Princess Diana.
"I am just really relieved and happy to be sitting here, talking to you, with my wife by my side," Harry said in a clip released by the network. "Because, I can't imagine what it must have been like for her going through this process by herself all those years ago because it has been unbelievably tough for the two of us, but at least we have each other."
Oprah can also be seen asking Meghan: "Were you silent, or were you silenced?"
Meghan is also seen hitting out at royal restrictions and claiming "there is an active role that the Firm is playing in perpetuating falsehoods about us".
The duchess is also expected to finally expose her rift with Kate Middleton and discuss the estranged relationship with her father, Thomas Markle.
The couple are also set to speak about their move to the United States and their "future hopes and dreams for their expanding family".
Why Oprah and why now?
The timing of the interview has been slammed by critics with Philip still in hospital following a lengthy stay and a heart procedure.
Harry and Meghan were urged to delay their Oprah tell-all in light of his condition.
Royal sources said the family was "pretty appalled" that the Oprah interview was still going ahead while Philip remains in hospital.
Now royal commentators are calling for the interview to be shelved until Philip recovers.
Author of Prince Harry, Brother, Soldier, Son Penny Junor said, "It's bad timing when they're going to be saying, 'Poor us'."
Meanwhile, another royal source asked, "Why are they doing it?" and others questioning why Oprah?
According to sources, the couple were waiting for the right person and that right person came in the form of the couple's friend and neighbour Oprah.
The talk-show queen revealed in a clip that she has been chasing the interview with the couple for years, well and truly playing the long game after attending the couple's 2018 Windsor Castle wedding and befriending Meghan's mother Doria.
Oprah has also previously promoted Clever Blends, a herbal tea and coffee company Meghan invested in - sharing an Instagram video of a gift basket she received from Meghan.
The fallout
The couple's fallout with the royal family has been widely publicised, but thus far it's mostly been speculation.
However, with...

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