The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Full effects of the Victorian lock-down are evident in Melbourne as they battle through strict lockdowns every day without an end date in sight.
Earlier Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews was promising to ease some restrictions currently in place on Sunday, but instead in the last 24 hours he and the state had to face another wave of infectious people.
Australian correspondent Murray Olds told Mike Hosking that after his chats with health professionals and journalists in Melbourne, mental health is a major issue among the people of Melbourne.
“Mental health is a hell of a problem and they are locked down and there’s no end in sight.”
“What do we get in the last 24 hours, a swag of positive cases including a little boy who went to school when he was crook with Covid.”
“And half a dozen suburbs now have been told to be alert for symptoms, self-isolate if you got a sore throat or a runny nose.”
He says Andrews promise to ease restrictions now looks in doubt and there may be stricter precautions.
“You’re talking about the ability to go out and get a meal.”
Olds has described one of Australia’s most busiest, prosperous and culturally diverse city’s currently as a ‘wasteland.’
Questions have been raised about big name officials in Australia about the handling of backlashes through social media.

Auckland Airport expects that International aviation won’t recover for three years.
Just a remainder on how harsh the virus has been on some industries.
With the uncertain future ahead, the government is urged to work and develop a health security system which allows living norms despite Covid-19 being in the community.
Auckland Airport Chief Executive Adrian Littlewood has compared this pandemic’s effects to the industry to the effects during 9/11.
“I think we are seeing that kind of model at large.”
Littlewood told Mike Hosking that the airport is ready to travel to parts of the Pacific and other non-hotspot Australian states if the government allows them to.
“Look we are ready to go, our airport is separated… into two separate areas for safe travel and different category risk.”
He says he is confident that demand will be high for those services and capacity will not be an issue.
 
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'Late breakers' or undecided voters could decide the next president of the United States.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are vying for the position in today's final debate.
This time, the moderator will be able to mute either candidate, to stop interruptions when the other is speaking.
US correspondent Nick Bryant told Mike Hosking polling shows Biden leading by a few points, but Trump's campaign is counting on last minute voters.
He says in the last election, many people decided to vote for Trump in the final few days.
“There’s a very small number of people now who are undecided.”
Bryant said a major factor in the last election were the ‘late breakers,’ people who decided to give Donald Trump their votes on the last few days.
 
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A regional mayor is calling for new people to set themselves up in her district, where there's cheap housing and plenty of work.
Statistics show a 40 percent increase of people on the job-seeker benefit from October last year.
But Grey District Mayor Tania Gibson told Mike Hosking people who want work should be open to a move to the West Coast. 
And there's a need for skilled workers, particularly in health and engineering.
Gibson says her region can also offer affordable housing and no rush hour traffic, empty beaches - and despite its reputation, the weather is not always bad.
“I think… we are attracting people… houses are starting to rise, our real estate agents are actually asking for listings... it is reasonably positive.”
“We have a lot of opportunities in the minerals and mining sector… we don’t want to live on government handouts, we’ve got hundreds of jobs that could be created very fast if had some changes in decision.”
She said average house prices are around $250,000.
“People are buying houses off the internet without even looking at them.”
 
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The Government's being urged to relax visa rules, to help sectors like rest homes and horticulture that can't find staff.
Former Immigration Minister Tuariki Delamere told Mike Hosking workers from Pacific Islands should be allowed in, because there's no Covid-19 there.
He says anyone already in New Zealand on a visitor visa ought to be able to work full-time, along with those on student visas, provided they're attending classes.
Delamere says any over-stayer should be allowed to work full-time in those sectors, and people on benefits should be able to work, without their benefit being reduced.
“There big shortages in horticulture and the rest home healthcare situation.”
“I think there’s three areas the government can do, one is allowing workers from Pacific islands because they got no Covid-19 that’s a now brainer.”
“Until such time our boarders re-open… allow any person who is already in New Zealand and on a visitor visa to work unlimited full-time in those sectors.”
“If they are on a Student visa, let them work 40 hours a week as long as they attend their classes.”
Another area I think we should look at seriously… in New Zealand we got a lot of people on the benefit, let them take employment in those sectors without any reduction in their benefits.”

The US presidential campaign is hitting its peak, but for millions of people - it doesn't matter anymore.
Today's final debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden will go ahead at 2pm our time, to convince undecided voters.
The first debate was littered with interruptions, prompting the use of a mute button this time around.
More than 42 million people have already cast their vote, ahead of Election Day on November 3rd.
US correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking they've never seen advance voting like this before.
He says they don't have Election Day anymore, it's more like election month - with drive-thru voting in Texas.
Public polls show Biden leading by single figures, but Arnold says it's still a tight race once you allow for a three percent margin of error and Trump will trying every last resort.
He says it's the battleground states in the mid-west that might be the deciding factor in the end.
“Last opportunity for President Trump to change the course of the campaign.”
“Where polls show the election is tight, but with Joe Bidden holding the advantage.”
 
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Time to mark the week; the little piece of news and current events that’s as effective as Caleb Clarke with a ball in his hand, and an Australian in front of him.
The election: 7
We got a result, and aren't sitting here this morning beholden to Winston Peters.

Winston Peters: 6
He hung in there a long time, got awfully influential for various periods, was both good and hopeless...but rarely boring.
 
The Greens: 3
Not because they didn’t get a good result. But MMP is a weird old beast and oh the irony of having more MPs but being basically a spare “you know what” at a wedding.
 
Banks: 7
Upgrading their forecasts, reminding us the end of the world didn’t come. It ain't over, but it's not Armageddon.

Dairy: 8
Milk price forecast up. If ever we needed to realise the value of the country, now's it. Farming and tourism: one is bust, one is saving us.
 
Pens: 3
A million bucks to order and ship 3.6 million pens from china so we could use them to vote, then throw them in a landfill. You wait, Greta will tweet a picture of a turtle with one stuck ups its nose, and we'll all know where that came from.

Jobs: 7
The weirdest thing: on one hand, people are retraining. On another, people cant get out of bed and everyone from fruit-growers to hoteliers are screaming for help over lack of skills. How is it we can have so many jobless and so many jobs and dots aren't joined?

Jobs: 7
Good stats, listings are up, not what they were a year ago, but better than they have been.
 
Houses: 9
You know why.

The Reserve Bank: 3
How is it they can lower rates, make banks lower rates so we can lend, then when we borrow and buy houses they panic. What is it they actually want? And in fact do they even know?

The Cathedral: 2
A decade on, and the bills gone from 100 million to 150 million. 50 million is a lot to pay for procrastination and bickering.

Krispies: 6
Is that really a biscuit to form a government on?

School zones: 4
More meddling that will lead no where.

Briscoes: 7
Repaying the wage subsidy; good on them. If they feel good, everyone's a winner but this thing and its moral outrage has got a bit out of control.

Space: 8
Exciting week: they got some dirt from an asteroid and Nokia is building a phone network on the moon.

Mystery breaks: 6
Air NZ sending you to…well that’s the point...that's the mystery. But $3,200 for 2 is a lot of money to end up in Hokitika. Nothing against Hokitika.

South Australia: 8
Pleading with our PM to open our side of the bubble...good luck. She took the border key and swallowed it months back.

That’s the week. Copies on the website and you get a free one of these for the long weekend if you park in a Wilson building as an early bird.

Grant Dalton has fired back at Luna Rossa after two of the five courses for next year's America's Cup were ruled out by the arbitration panel – with the Team New Zealand boss even suggested the Challenger of Record is "misleading the New Zealand public".
The typically confused and bitter America's Cup spat started yesterday when Team NZ kicked off the war of words by tweeting an attack on Luna Rossa, claiming the Italians were "destroying" the public's ability to view the regatta early next year in the B and C courses of the initial concept for the 36th edition of the event.
TNZ claimed they were "outraged that after three years of planning a land-based stadium event", the Italian challengers had wrecked the concept. They accused Luna Rossa of conducting a "campaign through the arbitration panel".
However, Luna Rossa's Brad Butterworth – who was hired as an external and institutional relations officer role to help facilitate communication with the hosts – hit back, saying TNZ had been "caught out" by the arbitration panel.
Grant Dalton and Brad Butterworth. Photos / Photosport/Getty
Butterworth, a Kiwi yachting legend and four-time America's Cup winner, claims the challengers discovered they would not have access to the B and C courses during the challengers' Prada Cup, handing a tactical advantage to the home team defenders. He says the British and American teams backed the Italian position.
Speaking to Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking this morning, Dalton countered Luna Rossa's claims and said a deal was reached back in February around the two courses.
"There was a deal done in February this year where they knew through the ports of Auckland and through the harbour master, as we both did, that they wouldn't [get access to the courses] through that period of time and they agreed," Dalton said.
"That's been verified by the council in their statement overnight. It's a little bit too late now to try and start to re-litigate or re-write history."
Auckland Tourism, Events and Economic Development boss Nick Hill, who is the Independent Chair of the AC36 Joint Chief Executive Group, backed up Dalton's claims in a statement to NZME.
"We've been clear that the parties need to work together to resolve these issues as quickly as possible," Hill said."The uses of the courses and the parameters around their use were agreed to by all of the agencies, including the Challenger of Record representative and the Defender in February."We expect to see an event where Aucklanders and visitors can share in the experience, an event that will showcase Auckland to the world, and we will work with the parties to help achieve that outcome."
Dalton admits that the arbitration panel's decision was fair but insisted that the issue shouldn't have gone to the panel because a deal was reached with Luna Rossa earlier this year.
"There's a rule in there that you must have equal access for the challengers and the defender, which is fair enough. But there's also [a rule] that allows the Challenger of Record and ourselves to make an arrangement between ourselves.
"And by agreeing in February, as has been said by Auckland City and correctly, that the letter tabled by the ports of Auckland and agreed by ourselves, Luna Rossa and the harbour master, that they would not have access during that period of time.
"There's really no advantage to them either way. That's it. So to try and re-litigate and try and re-write history now is a little bit rich."
Dalton even went as far to suggest the Italians were misleading both the New Zealand public and the arbitration panel.
"Look, to be fair, they (Luna Rossa) cleaned out their staff in March – they had a big change of staff – and if I was to be charitable, possibly that message wasn't passed on that they had already agreed. If I was not to be charitable, I would say the COR (Challenger of Record) is misleading the New Zealand public and misled the...

The election is finally over, and now we can focus on the truly important issues: what are the best biscuits to have in the workplace?
Politicians sparked hours of talkback this week after Labour and the Greens dined on Krispies during their negotiations over the future of the government. 
Tim Wilson has also started his new job, and discussed with Kate Hawkesby and Mike Hosking about the new biscuits in his place. 
Though the election is still not off the table, as the panel discusses whether the rule banning talking about the election on Election Day is archaic. 
They also discuss mystery breaks, the costly election pens, and why Mike has the finest 'whines' in the business.
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Debate day in the States. Mics muted, all to play for.
A pollster who's got 92.6% of his calls right says Trump will get somewhere in the 270s, possibly 280, or so in the electoral college. You need 270 to win.
Another analyst said the pollsters don’t have a clue what's going on in America. I think both men are probably right.
As we saw here last Saturday, the polls are a crap shoot. They got Act and the Greens about right, National wrong and the gap between the centre left and centre right hopelessly wrong.
In America, it would be even harder to poll accurately. Never forget, national polls break left, and hardly matter anyway.
Democratic support is disproportionately in defined areas of America; namely California and New York. Republican support is sprinkled favourably, as it turns out, in bell-weather states. Polls don’t capture that nuance. They poll on issues; economy, race, welfare, the virus. Biden wins a lot of the polls: it means nothing.
Biden, to my eye, is a spectacularly poor candidate. Clinton had it all over him. She was active, she was obviously well-read and bright. Biden, at best, even when he strings all his words together, looks old and full of stories from another age. He's a walking cliché, and this is not a partisan comment.
I am nothing more than an interested observer, and who wins will not change my life or outlook. But I was there in 2016. America was convinced Clinton was home free, and she was a way better contender.
Biden has spent the better part of this week out of sight, preparing for the debate. He looks scared. He's failed to answer the email questions over his son. I suspect because the answers are ugly. He failed to talk about stacking the Supreme Court.
Meantime, Trump, although sort of the same age, has boundless energy. Could be the drugs. He's criss-crossing the country. He's drawing huge crowds, he shows every sign of being as confident in 2020 as he was in 2016.
Also, what we see here by way of reportage, is your usual, woke, anti-Trump hatred. The economy has been smashed, but it's rebounding strongly. The Q3 number is out next week, it'll be big. Things like housing are booming, the market is booming, car sales are booming.
Never forget the ridicule we hear over the handling of the virus and states, shops and schools being open is through our fearful lens. We think locked borders and closed shops is good: there is a whole swathe of America that couldn't agree less. They are Trump's people, it's a big country and a lot of it we never see or hear from.
None of this is to say he's going to win, but it is to say if you're sitting here thinking Biden's walking home because that’s what you’ve read or watched, that will have been filtered through to you from a media that hates Trump. I stood in the Javid centre, Manhatten, four years back and watched the Democrats literally refuse to believe what was happening in front of their eyes. They're still not over it. Odds on, in the end, they’ll have to face 8 full years.