The Mike Hosking Breakfast

I looked at Chris Hipkins forlorn face on Friday at his Covid briefing telling us we just didn’t like getting tested.
This, of course, at least in part is a sham. It's at least part of the charade the government is desperate to spin as they approach election day.
To be fair, it's probably partially true. We don’t want to get tested. We have all seen the pictures, who wants a cotton bud up your nose?
The only person I know who actually had a test is my daughter who got out of isolation in Australia on Saturday. She got tested twice, and they did nose and throat both times. Her experience varied widely, and I think this is the key. It's not the test or the probe per se, it’s the approach of the operator.
She had one who was determined to stick it up and out the other side and clearly couldn't give a monkeys about discomfort or pain. The second test was done by someone more kindly, and the reports from my daughter were the experiences were night and day.
Before we leave my daughter, small tip to this government; do what Australia is doing. 14 days isolation means you don’t leave your room, literally. Simple, yet effective. And if you do that, guess what? You don’t have absconders and bad headlines. It seems remarkable we haven't worked that out.
Back to the sham, why aren't we really getting tested? Because why would we? We don't have Covid, we haven't for months now. You can't have it both ways. You can't tell us how successful we are, and then tell us to keep panicking and getting tested.
The government are playing us for votes. Scaring us has worked and they just need to keep freaking us out until September 19.
Why would you get a test for something you don’t have, and for something no one else has?
There is no community spread. The only Covid is in a hotel in a handful of people. Keeping on testing for something that isn't here, doesn’t make sense. Unless, of course, it suits your political agenda.
The economic implosion, the government has realised, isn't going as well as the health response did. Hence the forlorn face and the pretence we still need to act the way we did.
The lack of testing is merely proof we've worked that out, but they don’t like it.

SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft — carrying NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley — splashed down into the Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, marking a safe end to an historic two-month mission and paving the way for the United States to once again become a world leader in human spaceflight.
The Crew Dragon vehicle fired up its engines and safely plunged back through the Earth's thick atmosphere on Sunday afternoon before deploying parachutes and slowing the vehicle down for its target landing off the coast of Florida.
Mission control dispatched a humorous welcome to the astronauts: "Thank you for flying SpaceX."
The journey was made more dramatic by a two-day standoff with mother nature: Tropical Storm Isaias was barreling toward the east coast. But waters in the Gulf of Mexico remained calm enough for the astronauts' capsule to splash down near Pensacola.
A giant recovery ship, GO Navigator, met the Crew Dragon spacecraft and hauled it out of the water. Medics were on site for any emergencies, and Hurley and Behnken will soon be whisked by helicopter to the Pensacola Naval Air Station. From there, the astronauts will board a NASA plane that will shuttle them to Johnson Space Center in Houston, NASA's official home base for astronauts.
Their mission was technically considered a test flight, but Hurley and Behnken's safe return paves the way for NASA to officially certify Crew Dragon as a human-rated spacecraft. That queues up the vehicle to begin flying regular trips to the ISS, allowing NASA to take more control over US operations on the giant orbiting laboratory after years of relying on Russian spacecraft to fly crew.
Another Crew Dragon spacecraft is already preparing to launch another mission, dubbed Crew-1, that will carry four more astronauts to the space station: NASA astronauts Victor Glover, Michael Hopkins, Shannon Walker and Japan's Soichi Noguchi.
SpaceX also plans to refurbish Hurley and Behnken's spacecraft, which is nicknamed Endeavour, to fly on another crewed mission in the spring of 2021.
That trip will include Megan McArthur — Behnken's wife and fellow astronaut — along with NASA's Shane Kimbrough, Akihiko Hoshide with Japan's JAXA space agency and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule separates from the International Space Station. Photo / AP
NASA has been working to returning human spaceflight to US soil for nearly a decade: It lost that capability after retiring the Space Shuttle program in 2011. And at the time, few people at NASA expected Elon Musk's scrappy rocket startup would be the organization that brought crewed launches back to US soil.
NASA's decision not to create its own replacement for the Shuttle — but to contract that task out to commercial companies — was hugely controversial in the early 2010s.
The program, called Commercial Crew, sought to spur innovation and encouraged corporations to compete to bring down costs. In, 2014 NASA awarded two contracts: $4.2 billion to Boeing to build its Starliner vehicle, and $2.6 billion to SpaceX, which planned to create a crew worthy version of the Dragon spacecraft that was already flying cargo to and from the International Space Station.
Boeing, a longtime NASA partner that has worked on numerous human spaceflight programs, recently suffered a significant setback when a Starliner capsule malfunctioned during a key uncrewed test flight. NASA had repeatedly signaled that it expected Boeing to beat SpaceX to the launch pad. That changed after SpaceX soared through the final tests of its Crew Dragon capsule and readied for its historic launch in May.
SpaceX's success is a major win for NASA, which has been pushing for more commercial partnerships and can use this program's success as evidence that it's an effective contracting method.

SpaceX support teams are deployed on fast boats from the SpaceX GO Navigator recovery ship...

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has defended the Government's new border-charge policy, saying the Government would expose itself to "high legal risk" if it charged Kiwis returning to New Zealand to live.
The Government will be charging only a small percentage of people for the cost of Covid-19 quarantining and isolation in hotels - essentially people coming here for holidays, or Kiwis leaving and returning, of which there have only been about 1000 so far.
Ardern told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today that the Government had received a range of advice, including legal advice, on what could be challenged.
The Government would not be charging for Kiwis returning home to live permanently.
"If we create a barrier to coming back for good, to someone's legal place of residence, that did carry some high legal risk.
"To charge them would bring a whole range of risks and issues."
She acknowledged a Colmar Brunton poll at the weekend that showed people wanted travellers to be charged, and she said the Government was doing that.
"Ultimately New Zealanders want people to be charged and we are," Ardern told Hosking.
Hosking: But they're not.
Ardern: We have just drawn a distinction on the different circumstances that cause people to travel. So basically if you're here, you're safe, you're in New Zealand and you're making a choice to leave (and return) then yes, you should pay for that. But if you're offshore and you, for no fault of your own, find yourself in circumstances where you need to come home, then you can come home (without being charged). We draw a distinction if you're coming here for a holiday.
Hosking questioned why a loan system could not operate - Ardern replied the Government had reached a balanced situation.
Hosking: But next to no one is [being charged].
Ardern: That is simply not true.
She said about 1000 people had chosen to leave New Zealand out of choice, and return, but she did not have the number of people coming in who could be charged. "Someone who comes home for a short period of time - less than six weeks - you will be charged."
The Government announced the border-charge legislation last week. It intends to be rushed through Parliament in the next two weeks before the House rises ahead of the general election.
The decision will mean a managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) charge for:

People who leave New Zealand after the legislation comes into effect.
People who are visiting New Zealand temporarily.

Travellers required to contribute towards their managed isolation hotel stay will pay $3100 per room and $950 for each extra adult and $475 per child.

Jacinda Ardern has topped a new list of the world's most eloquent leaders.
Britain's Development Academy has given our Prime Minister the top ranking, after analysing more than 100 hours of footage of public appearances from the last 12 months.
It says Ardern challenges the common perception that emotional communication shows weakness, and approaches the public with a softer touch.
The academy says she has a measured and authoritative sincerity.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon round out the top five.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison comes in at number 10, while Donald Trump and Boris Johnson don't make the list.
Mike Hosking is joined by Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to discuss this, along with the other issues making news this week.
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It seems a new bill which aims to prevent drug-driving still has some hurdles to overcome.
Introduced into Parliament yesterday, the law would allow Police to conduct saliva-tests on drivers, for drugs such as cannabis, P, cocaine and MDMA.
Associate Transport Minister Julie Anne Genter says under the bill, there would be consequences for anyone caught driving while under the influence.
She says if a person returns two positive saliva-test's they will get an immediate infringement fine, demerit points and be unable to drive for 12 hours.
Drug Detection Agency chief executive Kirk Hardy told Mike Hosking it's difficult to determine the limits of impairment, given some drugs can stay in the human body for several weeks.
"If you look at the NZ Drug Foundation's website on driving while high, they say that even people who use cannabis regularly are likely to be impede."
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Hopes the deployment of specialist bowel doctors throughout the country is decided by the Ministry of Health, rather than District Health Boards.
A new report looks into the capacity and demand faced by the current gastroenterology specialist workforce, in comparison to other countries.
It reveals New Zealand has a lower specialist number per population, and an older workforce.
Report co-author Professor Michael Schultz says a national entity would better distribute specialists around the country.
He says if DHBs choose which specialist goes where, it might not solve the inequity issue.
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A farm training facility placed in liquidation two years ago, has been reborn, thanks to a $1.2 million Government cash injection.
The funding will allow a thousand people to participate in farming courses at Masterton's Taratahi Agriculture Centre.
Federated Farmers' William Beetham told Mike Hosking it's outstanding news because its closure left a gaping hole.
He says training and farming opportunities for young people were impacted when it shut.
“The community is grateful for the assistance. It’s been a long time coming and will create opportunities. “
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The amount of money managed by KiwiSaver providers has bounced up to a new high after a strong recovery in sharemarkets.
Total funds under management hit $66.5 billion as of June 30, up $7.4b from the March quarter figure of $59.1 billion, according to Morningstar.
The March quarter saw a record $4.5 billion wiped off total funds under management after sharemarkets plummeted around the world amid news of the spreading coronavirus pandemic.
Tim Murphy, director of manager research Asia-Pacific for Morningstar, said the June quarter saw markets improve from the lows of March boosting KiwiSaver funds.


"The June quarter returns of KiwiSaver funds generally reflected the improved underlying market conditions."
Improving markets
Murphy said the benchmark New Zealand index - the S&P/NZX50 - rose 16.9 per cent over the quarter which meant the index was now only 0.4 per cent down from the start of the year - and was one of the best-performing sharemarkets globally.
But the recovery has been centred around a small number of companies, with A2 Milk and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare largely attributed to the index rise.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX200 is up 16.5 per cent over the June quarter but is still down 10.4 per cent over the half year.
International shares have also recovered but the MSCI World Index is still down 5.8 per cent in US dollars, although New Zealand investors were mainly sheltered from this by the fall in the kiwi against the greenback.
Best performers
Murphy said funds with a large exposure to US growth stocks, A2 Milk or Fisher & Paykel Healthcare performed particularly well, but over the quarter no funds were in the red.
Over the year to June 30, 21 funds out of 196 had negative returns but these were largely funds with very concentrated portfolios. Most KiwiSaver funds had a spread of different asset classes.
Murphy said the bounce-back served as reminder as to why it was important not to focus on short-term performance.
"If you panicked and switched funds you have cost yourself a lot of money," he said.
It's estimated around $4.5 billion worth of investments was switched by people moving from growth to conservative funds during the March quarter which saw them crystallise losses and miss out on the market bounce-back.
The average returns for the quarter ranged from 4.6 per cent for the conservative category to 13.1 per cent for the aggressive category.
Over the quarter, Kiwi Wealth's conservative fund topped the conservative category with a 7 per cent return, while the SuperLife Growth fund topped the balanced category with 11.6 per cent and the AMP KiwiSaver Nikko AM Growth fund was the best-performing growth fund up 14.8 per cent.
Murphy said investors were better to base their decisions off long-term performance.
Over 10 years, the growth category has had an average annual return of 9.6 per cent, while funds in the balanced category were up 8.1 per cent on average per annum and conservative funds rose 6 per cent on average per annum.

Some experts have expressed shock and concern after it was revealed Victoria recorded a new record-high day of 723 coronavirus cases yesterday.
There was hope on Wednesday the state had reached a peak in infections after two days of lower numbers that saw cases drop below 300 but yesterday's numbers have far exceeded the previous record of 532 cases on Monday.
Melbourne University epidemiologist Professor Tony Blakely told news.com.au that he was surprised by the huge jump in cases.
"It's not the number I was hoping for," he said.
"There is still a lot of day-to-day variation but it is a big bounce and more of a daily bounce than you would expect to see if numbers were coming down."
Prof Blakely acknowledged daily results could be impacted by the fact that tests were often processed in batches but he said "a number greater than 700 is still concerning".
However, Chair in Epidemiology at Deakin University, Professor Catherine Bennett, said it was not totally unexpected.
"Like everyone else, we're all disappointed when we see a number like this but I was aware it was a possibility, I was hoping it wouldn't happen but I'm not surprised," she said.
Prof Bennett said she noticed eight new aged care facilities had been revealed on Monday to have one positive staff member each.
"I always knew there would be a risk that when they tested the rest of the staff and residents at the facilities then we could see more numbers," she said.
"With existing outbreaks and the potential new clusters, I knew there was potential on any given day we might see a rise in numbers."
She said Victoria appeared to be working through a large number of new coronavirus cases linked to the aged care outbreak, with more than 100 new active cases yesterday linked to the sector.
Premier Daniel Andrews told reporters yesterday that 913 of the state's 5385 active cases were linked to the aged care outbreak. This compares with 804 active cases on Wednesday.
"These numbers today are a reflection of increased cases in aged care," he said.
More than 80 aged care facilities in Victoria have been affected, which is a substantial proportion of the more than 430 venues in the state.
Once the new cases linked to these outbreaks have flushed through the system, Prof Bennett hopes an improvement in community transmission will be able to be seen.
"Once we move through these aged care cases then we will be able to see how much we've suppressed case numbers in the community, but it might take a week or two to get through," she said.
"Numbers should come down quickly after that."
Prof Blakely agreed that if cases numbers were largely related to aged care then it was not unexpected for the numbers to be rising.
But both Prof Blakely and Prof Bennett now don't think Victoria will be able to come out of lockdown within six weeks and that an extension will be necessary for authorities to get community transmission down to low figures and keep it there.
"I hope within six weeks cases will come down to double digits if not single digits but we need to keep the numbers down for a couple of weeks after that to ensure we've contained it," Prof Bennett said.
Crucial factor to recovery
A crucial factor in containing the virus is cases of community transmission which don't have a known source.
At his press conference yesterday Premier Andrews played down the number of community transmission cases and said they would make up a fraction of the 700 cases.
While he said cases of community transmission were "still too high", they were certainly not 700 and would be a "very small number".
Mr Andrews said further insights into modelling on community transmission trends might be presented in a press conference later this week.
Asked how the public should respond to yesterday's number, Mr Andrews said: "There'd be significant concern across the community and I'm...

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.
The Polls.
7/10.
"The TVNZ Colmar Brunton poll confirms the earlier one was rogue.
But don't we love a poll? Bet you David Seymour is loving the polls."
Quarantine Charging.
0/10.
"What a joke, what a bust, and what a farce. Say one thing, do another and bulldozed by the Greens.  
The ultimate committee policy where literally no one is happy.
You can't run countries that way."
Behrouz Boochani.
2/10.
"Nothing against the bloke, but when the Greens meet you at the airport, and you're here for a festival with clearly no intention of going home and you’ve already been accepted to America and suddenly, bam, you're in.
It doesn’t add up."
Sarah Dowie.
8/10.
"Went out with a zing and sent some salient messages with it.
Well done her."
Paula Bennett.
8/10.
"Gone with class and style in the valedictory week.
Good stories, good memories, some cold realisations, and a bright future she won't regret."
The Economy.
6/10.
"Spending, tick. Jobs, almost a tick.
New statistics show there is a recovery of sorts, let's hope it holds."
Shaun "The Dark Destroyer" Wallace.
7/10.
He is a good guy. He loves his name.
And in such matters if the so-called victim isn't actually a victim, but in fact perfectly happy, then the luvvies can back the hell up."
Super Rugby Aotearoa and The Crusaders v Hurricanes.
8/10.
"Adding value to the competition by providing proof that on your day anything is possible, and it's not automatically a forgone conclusion."
LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW