The Mike Hosking Breakfast

A call for a nationwide review of HomeStart Grants.
First-time buyers can receive up to $5000 or $10,000 as a couple, but with caps on salaries, and the prices of properties they can purchase.
Real Estate Institute chief executive Bindi Norwell told Mike Hosking only six percent of houses in Queenstown Lakes District qualify, whereas in Christchurch it's 52 percent.
“It varies a lot, which is why we need a countrywide review so the grants are much easier to get.”
The Real Estate Institute says prices have shot up, so caps on HomeStart grants should be lower to make it easier for first home buyers.
Bindi Norwell says we shouldn't make Loan to Value Ratios too punitive for them either.
She says we also need to look at the Resource Management Act and the processes that support the building of more new houses.
“It's been an inhibiting factor for many years and we haven't been able to build at scale.”
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A man who lost his mother in the Erebus disaster says the approval of new national memorial is a win for common sense.
The Waitemata Local Board has voted in favour of granting land owner approval to the $3.5 million memorial in Auckland's Parnell Rose Garden.
It comes more than 40 years after Flight TE901 crashed into Antarctica's Mt Erebus killing all 257 people on board.
David Ling told Mike Hosking he's been extremely disappointed to see the project delayed by what he says are misleading comments from opponents.
"Claims the memorial would gobble up green space would be terrible, it will only cover 150 square metres out of 55 thousand square metres."
Mr Ling says it shouldn't have taken this long and the need for a memorial shouldn't have to be defended.
He says nobody ever really spoke to the families and, without being able to express themselves, they've become the lost victims of Erebus - until now.
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The deadly rise in COVID-19 cases across the U.S. is forcing state and local officials to adjust their blueprints for fighting the virus, with Republican governors adopting mask mandates — skeptically, in at least one case — and schools scrapping plans to reopen classrooms.
The steps face blowback from those who question the science behind mask wearing and social distancing and fear the new restrictions will kill off more jobs and trample on their civil liberties.
In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds had pushed back against a mask mandate for months but imposed a limited one Tuesday, becoming the latest GOP holdout to change course on face coverings. At the same time, she claimed “there’s science on both sides” about whether masks reduce the spread of the coronavirus.
With Thanksgiving coming up next week, public health officials are bracing for a holiday-fueled surge. Doctors are urging families to stick to small gatherings.
A DEADLY SURGE
The key measures of the country’s effectiveness in managing the pandemic are all heading in the wrong direction. Hospitalizations, deaths and cases are all skyrocketing in the U.S.
More than 73,000 people — an all-time high — were hospitalized with the virus in the U.S. as of Monday, an increase of over 3,000 from just a day earlier, according to the COVID Tracking Project. More than 166,000 newly confirmed infections were reported on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University. The average number of new cases per day has more than doubled over the past few weeks.
The virus is blamed for more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide, including over 247,000 in the U.S. Deaths per day in the U.S. have climbed to an average of 1,145, up from 828 two weeks ago.
MORE MASK MANDATES
Since the election, Republican governors in hard-hit Iowa, North Dakota and Utah have reversed course and put in place requirements on masks, and others have extended or expanded earlier orders.
Plenty of other elected officials and residents are balking at such requirements despite the surge. And some local law enforcement authorities have refused to enforce mask requirements.
In Utah, dozens of people opposed to a statewide mask mandate protested outside the home of Gov. Gary Herbert. In South Dakota, the state with the highest rate of COVID-19 deaths per capita in November, Republican Gov. Kristi Noem has no plans to issue mask requirements.
In Iowa, Reynolds cast some doubt on the science behind masks even as she imposed a limited mask rule. She noted that neighboring states with mask mandates, like Illinois and Minnesota, have seen rising numbers of cases, although not as severely as Iowa.
“Oh, there’s science on both sides and you know that. If you look, you can find whatever you want to support wherever you are at,” she said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says masks can help protect you and those around you.
A more stringent mask mandate took effect on Tuesday in California, where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said residents will be required to cover up outdoors, with limited exceptions.
SCHOOL SHUTDOWNS
The rising infection rates are prompting some school districts to revert to remote learning or postpone a return to classroom instruction.
In South Dakota, the Rapid City-area school system plans to close all schools and move to virtual instruction on Wednesday. The district’s latest data showed 94 students and 47 staff with an active case of COVID-19, while 105 staff and 676 students were in quarantine following exposure.
In metro Las Vegas, the Clark County school district postponed plans to resume partial in-class instruction and will continue with remote learning through at least the end of the calendar year.
West Virginia’s largest teacher organization urged Republican Gov. Jim Justice to make public schools online-only. The state recorded more than 4,400 cases during the week ending Sunday, a 63%...

Supermarkets are in the spotlight.. with the Commerce Commission subjecting them to a year long study to check if their prices are fair. They’ll also look at whether suppliers get a fair deal.
Given how much we all spend on groceries, fair enough.
They’re a big expense and it can feel like that expense gets bigger every time we hit the checkout.
Although I do think a study should be done on the correlation between what you spend when you do the grocery shop alone, versus what you spend when you take the kids. I know my trolley seems exponentially more full when children are in tow sneaking things into it.
My beef with supermarkets though is not the fairness, but the freshness.
And I don’t just mean the fruit and vege.. I mean the amount of expired food on the shelves.
A couple of our kids were at the supermarket yesterday.
Among other groceries, they bought a pizza from the chilled deli section, some popcorn, a bag of onions, and a box of muesli bars.
When they got home and unpacked them, the chilled pizza had expired 6 days ago.. and not just a best before but a use by date.. which was 6 days old, the popcorn was best before August 2020.. so 3 months ago, and half the bag of onions were mouldy and rotten. Oh and the museli bars.. they also had an expiry best before date of last week.
So more than half of the groceries they purchased were either old, inedible or rotten.
I suggested they take it all back, but they didn’t have time, they hadn’t kept a receipt and they figured they’d just queue up again only to have to argue with someone who may or may not refund them anyway. “This is why we do Uber eats”, they sighed.
So much for trying to encourage kids to cook and fend for themselves.. tricky when they’re put off supermarkets with old stock.
Given this was our local, I called them and asked whether it was usual to have so much old stock on the shelves, and whether they would swap or refund. I was told I would need a receipt, and that if I didn’t have one I’d have to come in and speak to the manager about each individual item.. but that the manager wasn't in until tomorrow, I'd have to call first to check he was there.
Whose got the time?
Who can be bothered?
Why is there not fresh stock on the shelves in the first place?
Supermarkets are supposed to be about convenience, not repeat visits to swap out old food for fresh stuff.
So during the Commerce Commission’s year long study into the supermarkets over whether they’re ‘fair’.. I’m wondering if they could also look into whether they’re.. ‘fresh’.

The Australian Government is trying to lure New Zealand seasonal workers across the Tasman, to strengthen its agricultural industry.
They're being offered $2000 if they complete six weeks' work of harvesting, working a minimum 20 hours a week, in Australia's regional areas.
Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi told Mike Hosking the Australians are being cheeky.
He's suggesting it isn't a good deal, because they haven't thought about our quarantine rules.
“Anyone who leaves New Zealand and comes back within 90 days, has to pay $3000 for managed isolation. So people will have to think carefully about that.”
Faafoi says businesses need to do all they can to secure local employees, and give them a fair go.
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Well, well, well, high drama and tension at the banks, one bank anyway.
Chief Economist at Westpac Dominick Stephens is suggesting some sort of wealth tax is coming. By mid-decade, maybe 2024 or so, a tax of some description is on its way he reckons, and it's coming because of the anger.
And that is anger from the disparity of the haves and the have nots. The have nots, according to Stephens, are going to be so outraged no government will ignore them, and some sort of redistribution mechanism is on to quell the fury.
It's an alarming statement in an otherwise upbeat-ish sort of report. He, like all the other economists and banks, are concluding that the Covid recession or depression is not as bad as first feared and that the bounce back is on. As in the third quarter number will be solid, it won't cancel out what we lost, but by next year we could be in roses.
How he works that out, how any of them work it out, I have no idea. Given next year tourists still won't be back, and given, along with farming, they are our two biggest foreign income earners.
Where the 6.2 percent growth is, I'm not sure. I hope he is right, but given we went backwards a bit over 4 percent this year, and we still don’t collect from tourists next year to get 6 percent, someone somewhere is rolling in it.
Well, they better not be rolling in it too much, because I assume that will merely add to the anger and fury he talks of and the need for new taxes.
It's all predicated on housing, of course, and this general acceptance that the government support helped by the Reserve Bank's money machine is driving what they call an asset bubble. So if you have assets, like a house or houses, you are getting richer, while those who don’t have one, don’t.
What we appear to be forgetting, as is so often the case in failing to learn from history, is that it's not like housing hasn’t got hot before. And given it has, many times, what happened to the anger then? Why not a wealth tax then? And why a desperate need for one now? And given the rise and rise and rise of the first home buyer in the market, are people really missing out?
Or is this just a continuation of the age-old story? For some housing has always been a bridge too far, and a tax won't change that.
Anyway, my gut says we are not quite as jazzed up about this as Stephens thinks. There's a reason people like Jacinda Ardern, especially, backed off on a capital gains tax, and why she put her foot down on a wealth tax, she can read the room.

Prince Charles has launched a capsule collection of clothing. Sadly, given we live in the age of misery, he is being chastised for being out of touch.
One of his jackets costs about two and a half grand, while a jersey costs 900 pounds.  
Which is a lot, but it’s not worth ridiculing a person for.
What’s driving it is what drives most of his business operations and that is sustainability and history.
I am a massive fan of the prince, largely because I’ve read a lot about him and watched a lot of what he’s doing, and what he’s doing is worth knowing about and not superficially judging.
He might well be the most productive royal, not just of the modern age, but ever. The Duchy of Cornwall goes back to the 1300s, and until Charles came along it never made a profit, now it does.
He has helped and supported thousands of jobs over the years trying to preserve time honoured skills and traditions.
He’s produced an astonishing housing development called Poundberry, that people que to pay above the odds to live in.
And all of it has been driven by a rare consistency over his passion for the planet that he has been warning us about for 50 years. He was green before anyone knew climate change would be a thing.
The warnings were out when we still thought coal was the only game in town. And he’s advocated for things like wool, when the world went cheap and synthetic, he argued for wools natural qualities and longevity.
For a while he might have looked old fashioned; now he looks a visionary.
Ask Cavalier Carpets here, who this year announced they were ditching man made for entirely wool. It’ll hit their bottom line for a while, but they are seeing the big picture, which is what Charles has seen for decades.
So yes, his jacket is two and a half grand, but its quality. Its handmade, it’s used skills, its created sustainable jobs, it’s designed to last a lifetime so that the throw away fashion industry stops producing cheap crap that falls apart on the first wash and is binned seasonally.
A big chunk of the fashion industry is waking up to this, from Giorgio Armani to Maggie Marilyn here
No a $900 jersey isn’t for everyone, but quality and longevity have always had their place, now so more than ever. And in a world where talking about stuff is easy, the doing is harder.
The Prince is actually doing, which is worth support not a negative headline. Even if you never buy a jersey of his read up about his work, and tell me you’re not impressed.

Head lowered, an Islamic State operative listened silently as a Paris judge on Monday detailed his alleged plot to unleash mass slaughter on a high-speed train before he was tackled and subdued by American vacationers whose heroics inspired Clint Eastwood to direct a Hollywood re-enactment.
Opening a month-long trial for Ayoub El Khazzani, the judge said the 31-year-old Moroccan with ties to a notorious mastermind intended to "kill all the passengers" aboard the Amsterdam to Paris train in 2015 but "lost control of events."
El Khazzani, who is on trial with three suspected accomplices, acknowledged the charges against him with a simple "Yes."
He risks life in prison if convicted of attempted terrorist murder.
The heavily-armed and bare-chested El Khazzani wounded a French-American who managed to briefly yank a Kalashnikov from his hands before the three vacationing Americans took him down.
The drama on the train is portrayed by investigators as one of a series of IS-linked attacks in Europe that include the Nov. 13, 2015 massacre in Paris at a music hall and cafes that killed 130 people. A failed 2015 attack in Verviers, Belgium, and 2016 attacks in Brussels are also among them.
The suspected mastermind of the Paris massacre, Abdel Hamid Abaaoud, also worked as behind-the-scenes leader of the train attack, according to investigators. Their probe showed that Abaaoud and El Khazzani traveled together from Syria to Belgium and holed up with Chatra in a Brussels apartment.
French special forces killed Abaaoud days after the Bataclan attack.
The alleged train attack plot went awry when passengers moved in on El Khazzani.
One of the Americans who tackled the gunman told investigators that he seemed high on drugs and "completely crazy," the judge said.
A lawyer for the two U.S. servicemen and their friend, whose electrifying capture of El Khazzani inspired Eastwood's movie "The 15:17 to Paris", said their heroics during the drama on Aug. 21, 2015 thwarted a "slaughter."
"This terror attack could have killed up to 300 people based on the number of ammunition that was found on the terrorist and in his bag," said the attorney, Thibault de Montbrial.
With El Khazzani and his three alleged accomplices seated behind protective glass in a heavily-secured courtroom, the trial opening was largely taken up with procedural issues including whether Eastwood's presence is needed. That question was resolved at day's end, with the court deciding no because he wasn't a direct witness, French media reported. The three Americans hailed as heroes are to testify later this week.
El Khazzani boarded the train in Brussels armed with a Kalashnikov, nine clips with 30 rounds each, an automatic pistol and a cutter, according to investigators. A bottle of high flammable yellow liquid also was found in his black suitcase, the judge said.
His lawyer, Sarah Mauger-Poliak, said El Khazzani "regrets having allowed himself to become indoctrinated" by extremist propaganda and wants "to demonstrate his remorse." He wants to speak to the victims if allowed, she said.
El Khazzani, bearded under his mask and his hair pulled back in a bun, said when asked about his prison conditions after several reprimands, "It's hard," but "I deserve it."
Three others, who were not on the train, are being tried as alleged accomplices.
Bilal Chatra, 24, an Algerian member of the Islamic State group, would have been the second man on the train but dropped out of the plot a week earlier. He left Syria for Europe a week before to set up the exit route.
Mohamed Bakkali allegedly sheltered the attackers in Budapest, Hungary, which he denies. The two were arrested in Germany in 2016. A third man, Redouane El Amrani Ezzerrifi, allegedly piloted a boat to help in their return to Europe.
The trial ties into the massacre of 130 people in Paris three months later, on Nov. 13, 2015, at the Bataclan...

Kiwis involved in car accidents are being forced to wait up to 12 weeks to have repair work done due to long delays in getting replacement parts.
In some cases panel beaters, eager for work as the Covid-19 negative economy bites, are having to send clients away, telling them to store the car at home or, if the damage isn't too bad, to drive their dinged vehicle until the parts arrive.
Neil Pritchard, general manager of the Collision Repair Association, said before Covid-19 there was a backlog of work for panel beaters simply because of the load.
"It's one of those situations where we keep importing and buying more cars and the roads get more congested. That congestion leads to more accidents and there are not a whole lot of new [panel beating] shops opening up."
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Independent reviewers have released a damning report on the state of Tauranga City Council.
It includes allegations of bullying, in-fighting, abuse through social media and one incident where councillors suggested going outside to settle their differences.
The review team says the council needs outside help because of the large number of new councillors, who have a poor understanding of their governance role.
It says many councillors aren't engaged during briefing meetings, and have been seen texting and sending emails.
Mayor Tenby Powell is going on leave for cancer treatment from Friday, and to recover away from what he calls the toxicity of the council.
As well, councillor Jako Arbie has resigned, saying the political environment is seriously dysfunctional.