The Mike Hosking Breakfast

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Thursday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Who Doesn't Love a Road?/Smegageddon/Surgical Birthday Warning/Don't Say That If You Want the Job/REALLY Secret Santa

The Police Commissioner is concerned about bullying in the police force, involving high-ranking staff.
One in four police officers say they've experienced abuse, bullying or harassment.
Commissioner Andrew Coster told Mike Yardley many reports have been made by sworn staff, about issues with senior staff.
"It's tempting for leaders to tell everyone what to do in a hierarchical organisation, but that's not what leadership is."
Coster says changes are being made, to ensure staff can report issues when they come up.
He says it's important that staff know something is being done.
"There needs to be clear leadership and communication from the top, so staff understand why they're being asked to do certain things."
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The America's Cup World Series will be the first opportunity for the teams to go head-to-head in official races, having squared off several times in practice duels in recent weeks.
The first three days follow a double round-robin format, with four races each day. Each team will face their three opponents on two occasions.
The top-ranked team from the round-robin will then face the fourth-best team in one semifinal, with the second- and third-placed teams squaring off in the other.
The winners of each semifinal will face off in the Christmas Cup decider, while the two losers will race in a playoff for third.
For Team New Zealand, it is their only chance to take on the three prospective challengers in official races before the America's Cup match next March.
Luna Rossa, American Magic and INEOS Team UK will then battle it out in the Prada Cup starting in January, which will determine who will compete against the defender Team NZ in the America's Cup match.
Team New Zealand will head into the World Series as favourites, with their second AC75 Te Rehutai impressing early.
They have also showed early superiority in practice races against Luna Rossa in recent weeks.
But American Magic also showed they are a force, with Dean Barker leading the US syndicate to a practice race win over the Kiwis in the last race of the day on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, INEOS Team UK are still somewhat of an unknown, with the team not completing a trial race until Tuesday against the Americans.
Team NZ and Luna Rossa during the second day of practice. Photo / Dean Purcell
However, as Luna Rossa boss Max Sirena said in the first racing-focused America's Cup press conference on Wednesday, don't get carried away with the results just yet.
"The development process will keep going until the end of the Cup," Sirena said.
"Every day there is a different boat in the water. What we see today could change tomorrow.
"Today is not the real level we will see in the coming months.
"You will see a lot of change for us in the coming week and I think everyone else will do the same. We are at the beginning with this boat."

It certainly won’t please everyone, but on balance, I back the ANZ’s move to ramp up deposit requirements.
Residential property investors previously needed to have thirty per cent. And ANZ is now demanding you produce fourty per cent equity. Fair enough, too.
They are New Zealander’s biggest home lender. Rehashing the LVR on residential investor lending is a prudent measure and a timely show of leadership.
It will help re-calibrate the forces at play in the residential property market.
No one in their right mind, bar the financially illiterate, wants to see housing prices crash. No reasonable person wishes for a thumping correction, given the tsunami of downstream wreckage that would do to people’s livelihoods.
But equally, the pace of property value increases is too fast and too furious.
It is entirely responsible for ANZ to play their role in taming the excesses of rampant price growth. An eighteen per cent year on year hike to median house prices is way too hot.
And I have absolutely no problem with the divergence in terms, whereby first home buyers do not have to endure the same hefty deposit requirements now being applied to the monopoly board pros.
As ANZ point out, in the past two months, there has been record property lending with investors outstripping first home buyers by nearly two to one.
There is no silver bullet to bend the arc on the rocketing sale prices of real estate. But if this helps play a part in putting housing price growth on a more moderate track, a more palatable footing for the many, that should be welcomed and embraced.

We have a Kiwi company aiming to streamline the freight process.
Jetkrate is promising to cut out the middle man and ship goods directly to customers, over it having to go to somewhere like china or Singapore first.
Plus they're helping our exporters, by collecting goods from companies that may not ship to some areas overseas and putting in that work themselves.
The co-founder of Jetkrate is Varun Khetrapal, and he told Mike Yardley it's about making it easier for business to ship their goods overseas.
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The trucking industry says it's pleased vehicles that aren't up to standard are being pulled up.
Police have been checking the large number of heavy vehicles ferrying Christmas cargo from Northland to Auckland.
Of 534 trucks, 96 failed inspections - with 11 having such serious faults they were taken off the road.
Road Transport Forum's Nick Leggett says they support Police pulling up vehicles that aren't up to standard.
"I don't think there's any excuse for any vehicle travelling on New Zealand's roads not to be road worthy."
He says this is a good reminder for truckies.
"What we've got to do as an industry is ensure that our operators are compliant and that all trucks moving around the country delivering vital are road-worthy at what is a peak season."
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Australia's prime minister said that China would be violating World Trade Organization rules and a bilateral free trade agreement if it banned Australian coal.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison was replying to a report in China's state-owned Global Times newspaper that said Beijing's main planning agency had given power plants approval to import coal without restrictions, except for Australian coal.
Morrison said he was treating the report as "media speculation" because the Chinese government had yet to clarify its position.
"If that were the case, then that would obviously be in breach of WTO rules," Morrison told reporters. "It would be obviously in breach of our free trade agreement and so we would hope that's certainly not the case."
China has targeted various Australian exports as relations with the country have deteriorated after Australia called for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus pandemic.
Asked about the report, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin gave no specifics but said China had "recently taken measures against some imported Australian products in accordance with law and regulations."
China has consistently said Australia is entirely responsible for disruptions in economic and political ties motivated by what it sees as anti-Chinese bias among Australian politicians, civic leaders and media outlets.
Wang said China would "never accept" accusations of unfair trade practices, and accused Australia of having politicized bilateral exchanges in trade, investment, science and technology, while targeting Chinese companies with increased security checks on investments.
"We hope that the Australian side will reflect on itself, be consistent with its words and actions, and effectively provide good conditions and atmosphere for China-Australia practical cooperation in various fields, rather than the other way around," Wang told reporters at a daily briefing.
China's pique has pitted Australia's most important trading relationship against its alliance with the U.S., which has rolled out increasingly harsh measures against Beijing over trade, technology and human rights.
Beijing's grievances against Australia range from accusations of Chinese meddling in Australian politics to the barring of tech giant Huawei and the government's push for an independent investigation into the pandemic that is believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
Coal and iron ore, Australia's most lucrative exports, appear to have suffered due to Chinese barriers, while wine, lumber and other products have also seen their Chinese markets reduced.
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham said Australia was close to finalizing a complaint to the World Trade Organization over Chinese tariffs imposed on barley.
"We see these reports and obviously are deeply troubled by them," Birmingham told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. referring to the reported coal import ban.
"They, if true, would indicate discriminatory trade practices being deployed by Chinese authorities and we would urge them to rule that out swiftly," he added.

Cabinet is keeping quiet on when an announcement could be made on Ihumatao.
It's understood an initial agreement about the contested land near Auckland Airport was presented to Cabinet on Monday.
Jacinda Ardern says she won't discuss the outcome of any discussions.
Cabinet minister Stuart Nash told Mike Yardley he can't say whether an announcement will be made this week, or next year.
Nash says Government has been working hard to get a deal that's acceptable to all.
"When I say to all, I mean to all New Zealanders. I won't be making anymore comments on this until a decision is made."
Listen to the audio above as Stuart Nash and Mark Mitchell join Mike Yardley.

An official agency has floated the possibility of letting 500 overseas students into New Zealand every month from January.
Education NZ, the state agency that promotes New Zealand to international students, says there will still be 25,000 to 30,000 foreign students in the country when the first semester starts next year based on current numbers "and assuming 500 students arrive in New Zealand each month from January 2021".
A Ministry of Education post-election briefing also advised Education Minister Chris Hipkins that officials would discuss "decisions around next proposed cohort [deleted] for class exception for border restrictions" during November.
Only one "cohort" of foreign students has been approved to enter New Zealand so far since the border closed in March - 250 postgraduate students who had visas to study in NZ at doctoral or masters level when the border closed.
Numbers have been restricted by high demand from returning New Zealanders for the 4500 places available in quarantine hotels.
But that demand could be cut by 40 per cent when New Zealand opens quarantine-free entry from Australia, which was signalled "in principle" this week to take effect in the first quarter of 2021 - freeing up about 1800 quarantine places every fortnight.
Universities, schools, English language schools and other private institutes are all pressing the Government to let students take up some of those places because, unlike tourists, most would stay long enough to make it worth paying for a two-week quarantine.
Masked health officials at Auckland Airport: NZ's border closure has been 'the longest and most restrictive in the world'. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Education NZ says in its post-election briefing to Hipkins, published today, that New Zealand's border closure since March "has been the longest and most restrictive in the world".
"New Zealand education providers will be at a competitive disadvantage for years to come," it says.
It says New Zealand's success in eliminating Covid-19 has created an opportunity - "but this could be lost as some of New Zealand's competitors open their borders or signal paths to re-entry and others continue to maintain an open border".
"Similar to New Zealand, Australia is looking to pilot the entry of a small cohort of international students," the agency says.
"However, the United Kingdom's border is open with students from certain countries required to self-isolate and Ireland's border is open with all students required to self-quarantine.
"In addition, Canada just reopened its border with students needing to quarantine for 14 days and providers needing to have a Covid-19 readiness plan."
It urges Hipkins to "issue a clear message to students offshore that New Zealand not only recognises the difficult position they are in, but that New Zealand is keen to welcome students to return to New Zealand when it is safe to do so".
The agency's general manager for stakeholders and communications John Goulter said the figure of 500 students coming in each month was part of a model developed in October "informed by a set of assumptions that modelled historic trends and used them to run several scenarios into 2021".
"These assumptions are not based on any planned work programme by other agencies," he said.
Universities like the University of Auckland (above) want the next cohort of foreign students to be the 5200 who are already enrolled here but stuck offshore. Photo / Dean Purcell
Universities NZ says in its post-election briefing that there are still 5200 students who are already enrolled in NZ universities but have been forced to study online from offshore.
Universities NZ chief executive Chris Whelan said they should be the next priority to be let into the country before any new students.
"About half of them just cannot progress until they get to NZ, they have to get to laboratories or workshops. We have an...

So the embattled Speaker of the House faces a grilling today as he fronts to Parliament’s governance and administration select committee. The Wellington inquisition. Whether it turns out to be just a dog and pony show remains to be seen, but I suspect they could sell tickets to it.
One strand to this scandal is likely to be seized on by Trevor Mallard. That being that the former Deputy Speaker, Anne Tolley, signed off on the legal financial support and the fiscal envelope to settle this defamation action. She received plenty of official advice, including from Crown Law, who don’t appear to have considered Mallard’s outrageous claims on state-radio as wreckless.
But Tolley’s role is actually a side show, a potential distraction. Fully expect the Labour members of this select committee to try and run plenty of interference.
The question remains – should Trevor Mallard resign as Speaker? And the answer is YES.
It’s completely disingenuous for the Prime Minister to opine that the Opposition’s loss in confidence is regular behaviour. Or that votes of no confidence in the Speaker routinely happen. Rubbish.
This is a man who has repeatedly acted appallingly. And egregiously.
He refused to accept fault for over 18 months. He has failed to explain himself to the House. He timed his written apology for the Royal Commission release. He has cost us a bomb. And he’s has compounded his perception as a hot-head, devoid of the dignity the Speaker’s chair demands. He also serves at the government’s will. God didn’t appoint him.
Jacinda Ardern says he made a mistake. No Prime Minister, he’s made a mockery of the Office of the Speaker. And contrition hasn’t come easily.
Maybe Mallard will turn on the taps, the tears, the humility and the remorse today. Maybe he will try to. But I think its more likely he will go off-piste, lose his rag, lash out and poison his well even further.
He’s a bully who has destroyed a man’s life. His lingering presence reflects on Labour’s character.
Trevor’s credibility as Speaker remains terminal.