The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Finance Minister Grant Robertson says although our economy is doing better than expected, the resurgence of Covid-19 overseas means we may still be in for some challenges yet.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning, the country's new Deputy Prime Minister was asked directly what the state of New Zealand's economy is.
"Better than expected, would be the way that I phrase it," Robertson said.
"Obviously when we go back to Budget, in May, there were some pretty dire predictions around particularly unemployment and where that was heading - and what kind of activity we'd seen in the economy.
"We've rebounded back quite a bit better than that."
Treasury is due to release its half-yearly update next month and he hoped the updated numbers would reflect a better position.
He acknowledged the ongoing issues of Covid-19 overseas and how the resurgence of the virus would inevitably have an effect on New Zealand's economy also.
"Clearly, the resurgence of Covid in Europe, the restrictions and the lockdowns we're seeing there are going with where the forecasts were.
"Obviously that means the medium and long-term outlook for the New Zealand economy has still got plenty of challenges in it."
Referring to the projection from some New Zealand banks that things would be back to normal by 2022, Robertson acknowledged that it was still a long way away and Covid-19 is still something the world is dealing with.
"Overall, what I'd say is while we're better than we thought we'd be and the domestic economy is looking strong, we are still somewhere need the middle, probably, of the effect of Covid-19 and the economy.
"And so everybody's going to be both cautious but also looking to do everything they can to keep the economy ticking over."
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said she would be asking the Ministry of Social Development to make do an audit on companies that had taken the wage subsidy offer over the past few months.
That was on the back of companies such as Fulton Hogan, which took up the offer of a wage subsidy then went on to make a huge profit.
"There is a moral question here," Ardern said.
Community cases
The Ōtorohanga College hostel and the Kāwhia Hotel closed yesterday after a positive Covid-19 case potentially exposed members of the community on a flight.
The small towns of Ōtorohanga and Kāwhia were now on high alert after learning about the flight.
Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said the casual contact was on the same flight as an infected Defence Force staffer and went to a meeting in Kāwhia.
They had been feeling unwell. But his test results came back negative yesterday afternoon.
On Friday, health officials confirmed a Defence Force worker from the Jet Park quarantine facility in Auckland had tested positive for the virus.
A second worker tested positive after meeting with them on Wednesday. That person caught a flight from Auckland to Wellington the next evening.
The person was in Auckland Airport's Domestic terminal from 5.30–7.45pm on the Thursday evening before flying to Wellington.
Other locations visited were:
• Avis Car Rental, Auckland Airport: 5–5.15pm, Nov 5
• Orleans Chicken & Waffles, Auckland Airport: 5.30–7pm, Nov 5
• The Gypsy Moth, Auckland Airport: 7–7.15pm, Nov 5
• Hudsons, Auckland Airport: 7–7.15pm, Nov 5
• Little Penang, The Terrace, Wellington: 1.15–3.45pm, Nov 6.
Anyone who visited these businesses during the relevant timeframes is being considered a Covid-19 "casual contact" with a low risk of exposure, the Ministry of Health says.

All Blacks coach Ian Foster has given a blunt assessment of his team's performance in their loss to the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday night, admitting there will be some things they simply have to take on the chin.
The All Blacks fell to a 24-22 defeat at the hands of their trans-Tasman rivals in a chaotic game which saw both teams receive a red and yellow card.
But while the Australians bounced back from a 43-5 defeat a week prior, Foster said Saturday night's scoreline was more a reflection of his side's performance than a turnaround from the Australians.
"I didn't see a massive difference in the Wallabies to be honest," Foster said, speaking the day after the match. "I thought the first 20, apart from the first try we conceded – and good on the Wallabies for that – but I thought we looked reasonably composed with the ball, we were creating stuff; I don't think we potentially actually backed ourselves to get the ball to the space that we needed to.
"We'll take some of that on the chin. It might be combinations and people coming back in, I get all that."
In a game full of emotion with a number of scuffles breaking out, the All Blacks failed to respond as Foster would have liked and were unable to capitalise on a number of promising periods.
While there are plenty of things to work on heading into this weekend's match against Argentina, Foster said there were bright spots in the loss.
"I'm not sure how the narrative goes about this game, but I was intensely proud with many things," Foster said. "We were under a lot of pressure, withstood a lot of pressure, physically we kind of ran ourselves into the ground there for a while.
"But you could just see that our game tightened up. We got narrow in our perspective, we got narrow in the way that we played, and that to me is an indication of where we're not seeing things clearly and responding to the opposition rather than being proactive and forcing them to start responding to us.
"You can't just keep bashing yourself against a brick wall when you're feeling frustrated because it makes it easier for them to get physical with you. That was my frustration – we lost our ability to step back and say 'Okay, what can we do here that's going to widen our game a little bit and change the picture?'
"There's a massive degree of emotion and feeling whenever the Wallabies play the All Blacks, and [Saturday] night's a classic case of it. When people talk about dead rubber and all that, clearly our number one priority was to win the Bledisloe, we did that, but we needed to back that up and really launch ourselves into the Tri Nations, and we also needed to make another statement against the Wallabies and we didn't."

I was kind of hoping when we got the final cannabis and euthanasia result on Friday we might not get a weekend of whining.
No such luck. Being a good loser is not actually that hard, if you have the right attitude.
Some of the Republicans might want to look at themselves in the mirror as well. As I said last week, there is a very distinct line between looking for votes, issues, and making sure the job has been done properly, versus just being a bad loser who can't cope with being beaten.
The euthanasia side of the equation appears a lot more mature here than the cannabis camp. I think partly, as we have said a number of times, the euthanasia debate got sorted in the minds of most New Zealanders many years ago. The politicians were the hold up, so by the time David Seymour corralled them across the line, we were merely rubber stamping a well sorted stance.
Hence when the results came in, although those on the no side were obviously disappointed, they didn’t whine, nash their teeth, and wander around asking for reform, reviews and writing op-ed pieces moaning about their lot.
Sadly, the same can't be said for cannabis.
Here was the deal; we all had a say, yes or no. The yes crowd worked hard, spent a lot of money, told a lot of lies, twisted a lot of arms, and, I would argue, threw about all you could expect to be thrown at an argument.
They had well known advocates, they had government parties behind them, they had a decent chunk, if not the bulk, of the mainstream media in their camp, they got vastly more favourable coverage than the no camp, but under the rules, they didn't win.
When the votes were added up, there were more votes for no, than there were for yes, full stop. And yet sadly, like a week ago when the preliminary results arrived, nashing of the teeth, op-eds galore, moaning, whining,  whinging, and all the "but, but, but."
But nothing. In the preliminary and final results, yes, lost.
Whether the gold medal is won at the Olympics by a 10th of a second or five seconds changes nothing. Whether Joe Biden got 270, 285, or 320 changes nothing. You either win, or you don't.
When you win, you're gracious. When you lose, you're gracious. How about the yes camp give that a crack?

The wave of Kiwi expats returning to escape the global pandemic has only just started, new research suggests.
More than 50,000 Kiwis have already returned home this year as the pandemic has ravaged the world.
But as many as 500,000 could be on their way in the next few years.
A survey of 15,000 expats by KEA (Kiwi Expats Association) found that 49 per cent were planning to come home.
About half of them said they would be returning in the next two years.
Kiwi Expats Association chief Toni Truslove told Mike Hosking they're advocating for a taskforce to maximise this opportunity.
"We want to make sure that resources are adequately planned for, but also that we can successfully land these Kiwis home and get them thriving." 
She says what's most surprising about the data is the experience they'll be bringing with them.
"These are Kiwis at the absolute height of their career, they are professionals coming home in a range of industries that are highly appealing to New Zealand."
LISTEN ABOVE

The search for life on Venus is about to become more than a pipedream for Rocket Lab's Peter Beck.
Beck plans to launch a craft on a 160-day voyage to Venus in 2023, and drop a probe into its atmosphere.
He told Mike Hosking we have a duty of care to find out if life can be supported on Venus.
"One of the largest questions any human can ask is 'are we alone', and with the discovery of phosphine, we have a new ability to answer that question."
Beck says the only way phosphine gas is produced on Earth is through biochemical processes.
He says the 2023 launch won't be easy.
"For the Venus mission, we have to re-enter a probe into the atmosphere. It's a lot of work to design the probe, and the of course the instrument we want to fly to go and search for life." 
Beck says the spaceship's design will be similar to one the company plans to build for NASA, to go to the Moon.

THE BEST BITS IN A SILLIER PACKAGE (from Monday's Mike Hosking Breakfast) No Blue Wave This Year/A Close No Is Still a No/Garden of Associations/Venus Is a Real Thing

More COVID-19 restrictions will ease in Victoria after the state recorded nine straight days without any new infections.

From 11.59pm Sunday restrictions will be eased in Melbourne and regional Victoria. These are the new rules:
Melbourne’s 25km radius rule will be removed
Melbourne’s “ring of steel” separating the city from regional Victoria will be scrapped
Gyms and fitness studios in Melbourne will open with a maximum of 20 people per venue, with ten people per space.
Restaurants, hotels, cafes and bars will move to an indoor maximum of 40 with 10 people per space, and an outdoor maximum of 70 people with one person every two square metres
For faith gatherings, there will be an outdoor maximum of 50 people plus one faith leader, indoors there will be a maximum of 20 people, plus one faith leader
Funerals will move indoors, with a maximum 20 mourners, and outdoors with a maximum of 50.
Indoor pools can host up to 20 people and 50 for outdoor pools.
Indoor skate parks, indoor trampoline centres, libraries, toy libraries and community venues, play centres and galleries, cinemas, museums, all 20 per venue all 20 per space, depending on the sector.

Premier Daniel Andrews said Victoria’s COVID-19 record was of “international significance”.
“To have gone from more than 700 cases a day to nine days of zero cases in a row is a particularly impressive thing and something every single Victorians should be proud of,” he told reporters on Sunday morning.
“We‘ve all done this by playing our part.”

A second phase of opening up will follow at 11.59pm on November 22, when the following rules will come into force in Melbourne and regional Victoria:
Private gatherings of 10 visitors to a home
Public gatherings of 50 allowed
Indoor maximum of 100 people in hospitality venues, with the density of 1- foursquare metres and an outdoor limit of 200 people
Sport, physical recreation, gyms will go to 100 people in groups of 20, indoor sport 100 people – in groups of 20.
Large sporting venues will be at 25 per cent of their overall capacity. Outdoor physical recreation at 500 people, groups of 50.
Faith gatherings can have 100 indoors and they will be grouped in 20s and outdoors, 500 people, grouped in 50s.
Weddings will go to 100 but only still 10 people in a private residence if the wedding is held at a private home.
Funerals, 100 people, again 10 people if the service was held privately.
Cinemas will go to 100 indoors – grouped in 20s

It comes as health minister Martin Foley revealed an “overwhelming majority” of businesses were adhering to COVID-safe rules since reopening on October 23.
But he warned some business owners still needed reminding, 121 instances from 784 businesses visited on Saturday breaching COVID-safe rules.
He said there were 36 infringements, 47 matters being brought up again today with those businesses and 14 warnings issued.
“The main compliance issues related to lack of signage, density quotas, incomplete contact registers, and inadequate hygiene provisions,” Mr Foley said.
“The enforcement officers will be out again today and will continue to be out as we carefully unsustainably reopen.
“It is an obligation on all businesses to stay safe and to follow the Chief Health Officer‘s COVID-safe work plan so we can all stay open and repay that amazing contribution of our healthcare workers to keep us safe.”
Daniel Andrews also urged Victorians not to become complacent about the virus.
“There is a fragility to this thing. It is not gone,” the Premier said.
“Today is a day to be optimistic. Today is a day to be proud as Victorians of what we have been able to achieve.
“There has been a lot of pain and hurt and there is a need for healing, for investment, for all sorts of repair.”

President-elect Joe Biden signalled he plans to move quickly to build out his government, focusing first on the raging pandemic that will likely dominate the early days of his administration.
Biden named a former surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, and a former Food and Drug Administration commissioner, David Kessler, as co-chairs of a coronavirus working group set to get started, with other members expected to be announced Monday.
Transition team officials said that also this week Biden will launch his agency review teams, the group of transition staffers that have access to key agencies in the current administration to ease the transfer of power. The teams will collect and review information such as budgetary and staffing decisions, pending regulations and other work in progress from current staff at the departments to help Biden's team prepare to transition.
"People want the country to move forward," said Kate Bedingfield, Biden deputy campaign manager, in an interview on NBC's "Meet the Press, and see Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris "have the opportunity to do the work, to get the virus under control and to get our economy back together."
It's unclear for now whether President Donald Trump and his administration will cooperate. He has yet to acknowledge Biden's victory and has pledged to mount legal challenges in several closely contested states that decided the race.
Biden adviser Jen Psaki pressed for the Trump-appointed head of the General Services Administration to quickly recognize Biden as the president-elect, which would free up money for the transition and clear the way for Biden's team to begin putting in place the transition process at agencies.
"America's national security and economic interests depend on the federal government signaling clearly and swiftly that the United States government will respect the will of the American people and engage in a smooth and peaceful transfer of power," Psaki said in a Twitter posting.
A GSA official said Sunday that step had not been taken yet.
Still, there were signs that leaders in Washington and foreign capitals were preparing for a new administration.
Biden aides said the president-elect and transition team had been in touch with Republican lawmakers. Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, one of Trump's closest allies, opened a Cabinet meeting on Sunday by congratulating Biden, a former vice president and longtime senator.
"I have a long and warm personal connection with Joe Biden for nearly 40 years, and I know him as a great friend of the state of Israel," Netanyahu said. "I am certain that we will continue to work with both of them in order to further strengthen the special alliance between Israel and the U.S."
George W. Bush, the sole living Republican former president, also wished Biden well.
"Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country," Bush said.
Biden faces key staffing decisions in the days ahead. The always-frenzied 10-week transition period before Inauguration Day on Jan. 20 already has been shortened by the extra time it took to determine the winner of Tuesday's election.
The second Catholic to be elected president, Biden started his first full day as president-elect by attending church at St. Joseph on the Brandywine near his home in Wilmington, as he does nearly every week. After the service, he visited the church cemetery where several family members have been laid to rest, including his late son, Beau.
Beau Biden, a former Delaware attorney general, died in 2015 from cancer. Before his death, he had encouraged his father to make a third run for the White House.
Joe Biden said Saturday in a victory speech that he would announce a task force of scientists and experts Monday to develop a "blueprint" to begin beating back the virus by the time he assumes the...

President Donald Trump has promised legal action in the coming days as he refused to concede his loss to Democrat Joe Biden, making an aggressive pitch for donors to help finance any court fight.
Trump and his campaign have levelled accusations of large-scale voter fraud in Pennsylvania and other states that broke for Biden, so far without proof.
But senior officials, campaign aides and allies told The Associated Press that overwhelming evidence of fraud isn't really the point.
The strategy to wage a legal fight against the votes tallied for Biden in Pennsylvania and other places is more to provide Trump with an off-ramp for a loss he can't quite grasp and less about changing the election's outcome, the officials said. They spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.
Trump aides and allies also acknowledged privately the legal fights would — at best – forestall the inevitable, and some had deep reservations about the president's attempts to undermine faith in the vote. But they said Trump and a core group of loyalists were aiming to keep his base of supporters on his side even in defeat.
There has never been a presidential election in memory where such widespread fraud was alleged.
Moments after the AP called the race for Biden, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani stood in front of campaign banner taped over the garage door of a landscaping company in Philadelphia, wedged between a cremation center and an adult book store, with a handful of poll watchers and declared they'd been kept too far away to check for any inaccuracies.
"We have no way of knowing, because we've been deprived of the right to inspect ballots," he said.
Partisan poll watchers are designated by a political party or campaign to report any concerns they may have. They are not poll workers who actually tally ballots. Monitoring polling places and election offices is allowed in most states, but rules vary and there are certain limits to avoid any harassment or intimidation. They are not allowed to interfere with the conduct of the election and are typically required to register in advance with the local election office.
This year, because of the coronavirus that has killed more than 230,000 people across the country, there was litigation in a few states, including Pennsylvania, over where poll watchers could stand to ensure social distancing.
Lawyers could potentially argue the vote tally should be cast aside over fraud observed by poll watchers, but in order to win that argument they'd need evidence, not just allegations the monitors weren't allowed to see clearly enough. Judges are loathe to disenfranchise any voters and there would need to be substantial proof that fraud had damaged the count so much that it must be set aside.
Democratic poll watchers, who were also given the same access, have not raised concerns. Giuliani called evidence of fraud circumstantial at the news conference. He said he'd be filing suit in federal court, but the issue has already been before judges.
A federal judge in Philadelphia Thursday night ordered the two sides to work out an agreement on the number of poll watchers and how close they could be to the counting. The judge also voiced concerns about the safety of poll workers during the pandemic if poll watchers were allowed to peer over their shoulders.
On Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures" Sunday, Giuliani said two additional lawsuits were in the process of being drafted, in addition to existing litigation in Pennsylvania.
By the end of this week, Giuliani predicted the campaign would have filed "four or five" lawsuits, with a total of 10 possible.
Voter fraud is extremely rare, and when it does happen, people are generally caught and prosecuted and it does not change the outcome of the election. Typically, it involves someone wanting to honor the wishes of a loved one who recently died and either knowingly or not...

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has still not given a clear timeline of a potential travel bubble with Australia.
The PM was in the Newstalk ZB studio this morning speaking to breakfast host Mike Hosking.
Talking about transtasman travel bubbles, she acknowledged that there were still coronavirus cases popping up in those places overseas and there was a need to tread carefully still.
She said one of the issues - which she has also raised with her Australian counterpart, Prime Minister Scott Morrison - was trying to get more clarity around internal border (restrictions) within Australia.
Any travel bubbles between New Zealand and Australian cities would still need to be analysed and dealt with carefully.
"We've got to make sure though that, in the future, if we were to say to have a hotspot - where we say, we have another breakout in Victoria - could we maintain our open movement with the likes of say, Brisbane," Ardern said.
"You could - if they had a border control regime that allowed it. So some of those details we still need to work through to make sure we don't have a stop-start.
"We do want to make sure we do it properly and do it carefully."
Home for Christmas? Yes - sort of
The PM also touched on the issue of Kiwis overseas trying to get home in time for Christmas - but struggling to secure a spot in managed isolation, which is now full.
Asked whether there might be a move to expand capacity in those facilities, she said: "No, not at this point in time".
Ardern said she had looked at the numbers last night and the capacity was tight.
"In fact there's no available places, from memory, up until about the 16th of December. After that - there's plenty.
"The issue is everyone wanting to come in, understandably, and get their quarantine done before Christmas," she said.
"What I'd say to people is: 'You will get back before Christmas. You just might not be able to spend it with your family."
On the wage subsidy, she said she would be asking the Ministry of Social Development to make do an audit on companies that had taken the offer up over the last few months.
That was on the back of companies such as Fulton Hogan, which took up the offer of a wage subsidy then went on to make a huge profit.
"There is a moral question here," Ardern said.
Defence Force staffers test positive
Meanwhile, Ardern said two Defence Force workers who had caught Covid-19 had been wearing full PPE when they were infected with the person who has been identified as being the source.
"This just reminds us how hard it is," she said.
Officials confirmed on Friday that a Defence Force worker at the Jet Park quarantine facility, in Auckland, had tested positive for Covid-19.
A second worker, from Wellington, then tested positive for the virus after being in the same meeting as that person last Wednesday.
That second case then caught a flight from Auckland to Wellington the next evening - on Thursday, November 5.
The person was in Auckland Airport's Domestic terminal from 5.30–7.45pm on the Thursday evening before flying to Wellington.
Other locations visited were:

Avis Car Rental, Auckland Airport: 5–5.15pm, Nov 5
Orleans Chicken & Waffles, Auckland Airport: 5.30–7pm, Nov 5
The Gypsy Moth, Auckland Airport: 7–7.15pm, Nov 5
Hudsons, Auckland Airport: 7–7.15pm, Nov 5
Little Penang, The Terrace, Wellington: 1.15–3.45pm, Nov 6.

Anyone who visited these businesses during the relevant timeframes is being considered a Covid-19 "casual contact" with a low risk of exposure, the Ministry of Health says.
Officials are now calling for anyone who was sitting in row 23 of the Air New Zealand flight (NZ457) to get tested. Anyone else on that flight who may have concerns about their wellbeing is told to contact Healthline: 0800 358 5453.