The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Some suggestions for the Prime Minister of ways to make the housing market more affordable.
Real Estate Institute figures show median house prices across the country have increased by 20 per cent.
Jacinda Ardern said yesterday rising prices cannot keep increasing at that rate.
New Zealand Initiative executive director Oliver Hartwich told Mike Hosking he'd start with a proper reform of the Resource Management Act - not just replace it.
"We also have to make sure that councils are compensated for investments in infrastructure such as roads and water when they're needed for new housing."
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It's unclear just how many property investors will be impacted by ASB's move to increase it's minimum deposit rate.
ASB has lifted the deposit required by investors to 30 per cent on the back.
It follows the Reserve Bank's announcement it's considering the re-introduction of loan-to-value restrictions in March.
Property Investors Federation executive officer Sharon Cullwick told Mike Hosking it's good for first home buyers, but would have a flow-on effect ...
"It means tenants will now find it harder to find a place to live." 
Cullwick says 90 per cent of property investors only own one other property besides their own home.
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At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.
Joe Biden.
8/10.
"He's across the line, the speech is given, and the transition is on."
Donald Trump.
2/10.
"He's on the golf course, miserable, washed up, and looking exceedingly unpresidential."
MIQ Facilities and the Voucher System.
4/10.
"I get that it's hard when a lot of people want to come home and you don’t have the room.
But the mish mash, Mickey Mouse sort of calamity that seems to be operating as our quarantine service smacks, yet again, of a lack of organisation and precision."
West Indies Cricket Team Breaking Quarantine Rules.
1/10.
"Idiots."
The Economy.
7/10.
"Overall, we still aren't where we were. But a lot are, and doing better than we thought.
All good news is welcome."
The Reserve Bank.
6/10.
"Overall, they're shovelling well but the LVR call is an overreaction.
We'll see housing go nuts between now and March."
Growing Up in NZ Longitudinal Study.
8/10.
"The media, who can't get enough of a good whinge, picked the bullying stats out of this survey.
But what was also in there, if you cared to look, was the fact that if you're eight, growing up in this country is, was, and will most likely always be, pretty damn good."
Fruit and Vege Picker Shortage.
4/10.
"It's not just courgettes, it's all fruit and field work. This is another battle that seems harder than it needs to be.  
Why can't we get workers? Why does the problem not get resolved? How much energy is lost dragging this out, instead of fixing it?"
NZ Post.
4/10.
"They announce the start of the festive delivery season and so far at our house, they’ve lost two bags of tea and a dumbbell. Don’t ask.
Point is, I have little faith in a lot of stuff getting anywhere close to where it needs to be."
LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW

The White House race was in limbo in 2000 when outgoing President Bill Clinton decided to let then-Gov. George W. Bush read the ultra-secret daily brief of the nation’s most sensitive intelligence.
Clinton was a Democrat and his vice president, Al Gore, was running against Republican Bush. Gore had been reading the President's Daily Brief for eight years; Clinton decided to bring Bush into the fold in case he won — and he did.
President Donald Trump has not followed Clinton's lead. As Trump contests this year's election results, Trump has not authorized President-elect Joe Biden to lay eyes on the brief.
National security and intelligence experts hope Trump changes his mind, citing the need for an incoming president to be fully prepared to confront any national security issues on Day One.
“Our adversaries aren’t waiting for the transition to take place,” says former Michigan Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “Joe Biden should receive the President’s Daily Brief starting today. He needs to know what the latest threats are and begin to plan accordingly. This isn’t about politics. This is about national security.”
U.S. adversaries can take advantage of the country during an American presidential transition and key foreign issues will be bearing down on Biden the moment he steps into the Oval Office in January.
For example, unless Trump extends or negotiates a new nuclear arms accord with Russia before Inauguration Day, Biden will have only 16 days to act before the expiration of the last remaining treaty reining in the world’s two largest nuclear arsenals. Perhaps U.S. spies have picked up tidbits about the Russians' red lines in the negotiations or about weapons it really wants to keep out of the treaty.
That's the type of information that might be in the daily summary of high-level, classified information and analysis on national security issues that's been offered to presidents since 1946. It is coordinated and delivered by the Office of the National Intelligence Director with input from the CIA and other agencies. It is tailored for each president, depending on whether the president prefers oral or written briefs or both, short summaries or long reports on paper or electronically.
Having access to it also could help Biden craft a possible response to North Korea, which has a history of firing off missiles or conducting nuclear tests shortly before or after a new president takes office.
Biden, a former vice president, has decades of experience in foreign affairs and national security. But he probably has not been privy to the latest details about how Iran is back to enriching uranium or the active cyber attack operations of Russia, China and Iran. China’s crackdown on Hong Kong is heating up. The threat from Islamic extremists, although curbed, still remains.
Biden is trying to play down the significance of the delay in getting access to the PDB.
“Obviously the PDB would be useful but, it’s not necessary. I’m not the sitting president now,” Biden said Tuesday. He didn’t answer a question about whether he’d tried to reach out to Trump himself on this or any other issue, saying only, “Mr. President, I look forward to speaking with you.”
He was also asked about needing access to classified information as soon as possible if Trump doesn’t concede the race.
“Look, access to classified information is useful. But I’m not in a position to make any decisions on those issues anyway,” Biden said. “As I said, one president at a time. He will be president until Jan. 20. It would be nice to have it, but it’s not critical.”
Biden is familiar with the PDB, having read it during his eight years as vice president. But threats are ever-changing and as Inauguration Day nears, his need for Trump to let him get eyes on the intelligence brief will become more critical.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., predicted that the issue...

This week has been another good insight or lesson into the mindset of some, who even when faced with overwhelming evidence, do not want to see what's there.
There are still a decent number of people here, certainly in the States, and I am guessing around the world that believe Donald Trump got robbed. The fact we are having increasing numbers of court cases tossed out, I assume, whittles the numbers.
The fact the poll yesterday had 80 percent of Americans believing Joe Biden was the winner moves the needle as well. But there are those who are convinced, and social media and YouTube haven't helped, that there is scandal to be had, and it needs outing. The fact the result now isn't actually even that close makes it even weirder.
It's not like this was a majority vote and in a count of 150 million votes Biden won by 212, or Biden won by a single electoral vote in one state and we want a recount, he's actually won by quite a lot. The result isn't going to get changed.
The even odder thing, is the people who refuse to see reality are, of course, influenced by the bloke who still doesn’t see it himself.
As each day passes, it's going to get more humiliating. Literally, how long do you dig in for before at some point you're going to actually have to pack a bag and naff off? And you might actually have to say something publicly.
The Republicans aren't helping by standing alongside Trump in his lawful right to check proceedings. They're legit, but they're confusing a constitutional right with a belligerent President who somehow thinks if he hangs out in court long enough things are going to go his way.
Having predicted his loss, let me make another prediction.
He won't be back.
The idea that 70 million plus voted for you is real, it's not to be underestimated, but this theory he will run in 2024 is not real. Increasingly, Trump is a time and place anathema. His broad belief about America will still be the belief of many, but he was a lightning rod, not a figure of historic change.
Guys like him come and go, you seize the moment, and he did. But when the moment passes, which it has, you can't reheat it.
He already looks stale, and it's barely two weeks since the vote.

Auckland's CBD is feeling the brunt of Covid-19 once again- as the latest community case is linked to the central city.
CBD workers are being asked to work from home and wear masks if they must go out.
The AUT student became symptomatic on Monday, was tested on Tuesday and asked to isolate.
The latest revelations come as the boss of the woman at the centre of the new Covid outbreak has rubbished claims he told her to work despite her feeling sick.
He says he has been abused by members of the public and is seeking legal advice.
Business New Zealand chief executive Kirk Hope told Mike Hosking the situation it isn't acceptable what's happened.
"This is going to affect a whole range of businesses. People need to take responsibility and do the right thing."
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THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Friday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) Why Can't We Do What They're Doing?/Trump In Denial/Gun Love/Mark the Week/Questionable Menu Choices

The latest case of an Auckland student with Covid is likely linked to the existing Defence worker cluster - and not a new community outbreak, coronavirus response minister Chris Hipkins says.
The results of genomic testing are due this afternoon but early signs were that the student's positive test is linked to the existing cluster and this was "incredibly, incredibly encouraging", Hipkins told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today.
"It's looking likely that they will be a link with the other cases that we're dealing with around the Defence force group," said Hipkins.
Two NZDF workers tested positive for the virus earlier this month. One is a worker at Auckland's Jet Park quarantine facility.
Hipkins said if the link was clearly established the key thing was to find how the shop-worker contracted the infection.
The latest revelations come as the boss of the woman at the centre of the new Covid outbreak has rubbished claims he told her to work despite her feeling sick. He says he has been abused by members of the public and is seeking legal advice.
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In a night follows day kind of way, I note the warnings are already out there over the governments new tax regime.
Top earners, earners over $180 000, are facing a large tax increase probably in law by the end of the year. 33 to 39 cents in every dollar they earn.
The warning is be careful when you start to reorganise your finances to avoid it, and make no mistake plenty of people will.
And in that is the age old mistake so many governments have made over the years when it comes to taxation.
Having a top rate different to the business rate simply means many people will turn themselves into a business and if the difference is 39 vs 28, why wouldn’t you?
Also trust tax rates are low 30s, so the temptation is there as well for a bit of shuffling.
This of course contrasts with Australia’s moves. As of next week their tax thresholds are changing and people actually get to keep their money and more of it.
And that’s before you get to the bit where they also have the first $18,000 or so tax free, so by the time you add it all up, it’s a better deal across the ditch, which is why in part, along with the generally higher wages we have got to be very, very wary of another brain drain at a time when we can least afford to lose anyone, far less the highly skilled.
Anyway, back to tax, the new top rate is justified because it only applies to two percent of earners and in that is another irony if not sadness.
the fact only two percent earn more than $180,000, merely proves what a poorly paid and generally poor country we are and that is nothing to be proud of.
One of the American  states was looking to up their top tax rate above $250,000, and that would capture the top three percent, not two.
And further, not only doesn’t it capture many people it doesn’t therefore capture much money.
The Government claims  $500 million. It will of course be nothing of the sort by the time the trusts and the companies have been set up, it’ll be well short, which then begs the question, why bother?
And the answer is, one, window dressing to make it look like they did something around tax to make them look transformative, the way they promised they would be.
And two, elitism, to make it in classic Labour style look like the so called worker is front and centre and those rich pricks can pick up the bill.
What this country so desperately needs is more success stories, more go getters, more highly paid, highly skilled winners, and less punitive thinking.

Graham McTavish is well known to Kiwi audiences for his role as Dwalin in The Hobbit trilogy.
But he's made it internationally, starring in acclaimed shows such as Lucifer, Castlevania and Outlander.
Now, he's teamed up with his Outlander co-star Sam Heughan, and travelled around the highlands of Scotland in a campervan.
And that adventure has been turned into a book -  Clanlands - which is out next week.
McTavish joined Mike Hosking to discuss his adventures and his life living in Wellington.
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