The Mike Hosking Breakfast

The British government came under renewed pressure Wednesday to refine its travel policies following criticism of its sudden decision to remove Spain from its safe list, a sudden change that has upended many vacation plans and rocked the ailing travel industry.
While London Heathrow Airport urged a ramp-up in coronavirus testing and the U.K.'s biggest tour operator recommended a more regional approach to quarantining, Culture Minister Oliver Dowden downplayed the prospects for any change, arguing there was “no viable alternative.”
Heathrow's chief executive, John Holland-Kaye, said he wants the 14-day self-isolation requirement to be eased for people arriving from countries not on the government’s exemption list — should they test negative for the virus on arrival as well as some days after.
“The U.K. needs a passenger testing regime and fast,” he said Wednesday alongside half-year results showing the airport reporting a pretax loss of 1.1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion). “Without it, Britain is just playing a game of quarantine roulette.”
His suggestion follows another hugely difficult few days for anyone connected with travel abroad following the decision to remove Spain from the list of countries where quarantine-free travel was permitted.
The change has thrown into turmoil the plans of many British families currently in Spain or due to fly there this summer. It's also another blow to the travel industry, which is trying to salvage something from the summer.
Spain is traditionally the number one holiday destination for Britons — 18 million or so made the trip in 2019 — and resorts like those on the Costa del Sol or on the Balearic island of Mallorca are hugely reliant on tourism from the U.K.
Though the U.K. has the highest official coronavirus-related death toll in Europe at nearly 46,000, new daily infections are stable around the 700 mark. Spain, which also suffered badly during the pandemic with more than confirmed 28,000 deaths, has seen a spike in infections over the past week or two toward a 7-day rolling average of around 1,900 a day.
The Spanish government says the U.K. move is disproportionate, insisting the outbreak is localized in areas in the northeast of the country. It also says that the rates of infection in the Balearic and Canary Islands, which were added to the wider Spanish advice on Monday, are lower than those in the U.K.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Wednesday that his government is working “tirelessly” to persuade the U.K. to reverse its decision.
The damage to the Spanish tourism is becoming more apparent by the day. Around 12% of the Spanish economy is dependent on tourism, rising to 30% or so for the Balearic and Canary Islands.
On Wednesday, TUI UK extended its suspension of vacations to the Balearic Islands and Canary Islands for U.K. customers until August 4 and confirmed that trips to mainland Spain remain cancelled until August 10. The U.K.'s biggest tour operator also said it will increase flights to Greece and Turkey, neither of which require anyone to self-isolate on their return.
Its managing director, Andrew Flintham, said the British government should remove “the blunt tool approach” of quarantine and consider regional travel corridors instead.
“The level of uncertainty and confusion created this week is damaging for business and customer confidence in travel," he said.
The British government has said it could toughen its travel advice to other destinations in the event of a spike in infections. Belgium, Croatia and Luxembourg are three countries mentioned as possibly being removed from the quarantine-exempt list.
Given the uncertainty, it's increasingly clear than most people in Britain have opted against their traditional summer getaway to the resorts of the Mediterranean. Heathrow, for example, would normally fly around 250,000 people a day at peak time in July. Now, passenger numbers are around...

A decision in the High Court case against the Director-General of Health over the legality of the Covid-19 lockdown has been reserved.
Law drafter Andrew Borrowdale claims Ashley Bloomfield went beyond his powers, and it was unlawful to put the country into lockdown.
Otago University law professor, Andrew Geddis, told Mike Hosking if the case is successful, the defence is likely to ask that a formal declaration is not given.
He says a lot of commercial issues could arise.
"People who had rents put on hold or who weren't able to build businesses and their contracts were affected, because of what was seen as the law, if that wasn't the law, that could mess it all up."
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The death of student Sophia Crestani at a party at a Dunedin flat last year is "a loss that can never be rationalised, justified or forgotten", her parents say.
However, nine months after her death, it is hoped the launch of a charter in her memory will improve student safety and well-being in North Dunedin.
The Sophia Charter is a multi-agency agreement signed this evening by stakeholders from the University of Otago, police, Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Otago Property Investors Association, the Dunedin City Council and the Otago University Students Association.
The ultimate goal was to provide a ''circle of support'' to ensure that North Dunedin became a stronger student neighbourhood where residents took responsibility for themselves, each other and the wider community.
The charter stemmed from the Crestani family's shared goal to ensure there would be improvements to student safety and well-being following her death.
Crestani, a 19-year-old second year University of Otago student, died in October 2019 when she was caught in a stairwell pile-up at a flat known as The Manor in Dundas St.
Parents Elspeth McMillan and Bede Crestani, of Wellington, said her death was a tragic loss for them, her family, friends, community and the University of Otago community.
''It is a loss that can never be rationalised, justified or forgotten.
''We want some good to come out of this, and by working with the students and support organisations, we hope to keep other students safe, so that they go home to their families and mature into caring, generous adults and have full lives.
''Some courageous decisions have been made since Sophia died and we are here to support and endorse this new way forward.''
Many of Crestani's relatives were present at tonight's signing ceremony, including her twin sister and friends from Wellington.
They gathered in a packed room in the university's clock tower building for speeches and the signing of the charter by Dunedin Mayor Aaron Hawkins, Fire and Emergency New Zealand East Otago assistant area commander Craig Geddes, University of Otago vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne, Otago coastal area commander Inspector Marty Gray and Otago University Students' Association president Jack Manning.
McMillian said The Sophia Charter was developed because "we didn't want her death to be in vain."
She said her daughter wanted to be an actuary and loved children.
"She was joyful, creative, she always lit up any room she walked into. It's a big loss, not just for us - but for everyone. She always said she wanted to have children young... it's sad she won't get to fulfil those dreams."
Crestani wanted to have the Otago experience and loved her time as a student, her father said.
"She loved her time here, she loved the community, she grew as a person and was making her own decisions, she was a lovely girl."
Crestani said Sophia was "turning into a great young woman... It was a tragic time for us, it remains that way and always will do."



The family were working towards a second scholarship in her name, with more than $70,000 raised for the first.

University of Otago Sophia Crestani died at a party at a flat in October 2019. Photo / NZME
Following Crestani's death, stakeholders met to renew their resolution to support students to reduce harm and to increase well-being.
Measures enabled by The Sophia Charter for Community Responsibility and Wellbeing's and the accompanying agreement between agencies include that the university works with OUSA on opportunities to use Starters Bar in North Dunedin and other venues to support student social activity; that police continue to work with the university to establish a clear set of working principles regarding large parties and gatherings; and that the university continues to work with Government and the DCC on changes that will reduce alcohol-related...

What a convoluted, messy, indecisive waste of time all that turned out to be.
By the time they work out who they are charging, and how they are charging them, they may as well have flagged it, the Greens win. This has been a scam, and it's an abdication of responsibility.
How the Labour Party told us they favoured having people and put this out is a joke. How New Zealand First told us they wanted people to pay and came out with this is a joke. The Greens, to their credit, have at least been consistent. Deluded but consistent that charging people somehow breaches their human rights.
Their human right is access to your home country, that has never been at stake or risk. Why did Labour and New Zealand First get rolled by the Greens only to have us pay out half a billion dollars we don’t have? And that's half a billion to the end of this year, what about next year? How long does this go? Until we get a vaccine? When are we getting a vaccine?
National could have given the government the numbers to pass the law they said they wanted passed. One can only conclude that Labour, in particular, never wanted to charge people. Or if they did, they freaked out and changed their mind when they worked out there might be a few offshore votes at stake.
New Zealand First should be embarrassed. For a party that’s made a lot of mileage out of distancing themselves from their own government, why no distancing now? Why get landed with a mess of a back-down like this?
If you're coming back for good for no charge, what if you come back for good then change your mind? How convoluted is it going to be to work out what to do when someone turns up and says they're broke? What if you structure a loan and they don't pay? This is the hallmark of this government, the ability to take an inordinately long period of time to essentially do nothing, or nothing close to what you said you were doing.
Once again, we were led to believe one thing, and something else turns out to be the result. We, yes, have been played like a fiddle. And this one was a half billion dollar fiddle that sucked us in.

A new law to charge some Kiwi returnees will recoup not even 2 per cent of the $0.5 billion cost of the managed isolation operation.
National has slammed the legislation as a "failure" and NZ First has called it "dreadful public policy" but Housing Minister Megan Woods has said it is "absolutely critical".
She told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today that introducing a flat fee of $3000 for every returnee was "not that simple".
She said no one was mooting a system that did not accommodate waivers or exemptions.
"If we did that we would have made ourselves so vulnerable to a judicial review on the basis that it was unreasonable. The Government could then be forced to re-make the decision.
"I am not prepared as the minister in charge of this to introduce anything that undermines the stability or the ability to do long-term contracting around these facilities."
Hosking told Woods he had been advised that the Government was paying $410 a night for a room at the JetPark Hotel in Auckland - when the normal rate was $90.
Woods said she did not know the specific numbers for that hotel, but that the cost would include paying for security and the presence of police and the Defence Force. "We have negotiated good rates," she said.
The new bill sets out a co-payment scheme for Kiwis coming home for a trip shorter than 90 days or those who leave after the law comes into effect.
It will be rushed through Parliament under urgency, meaning by next Thursday returnees meeting the criteria will be charged:
• $3100 per person in a managed isolation or quarantine (MIQ) room.
• $950 for each additional adult.
• $475 for each additional child.
People who've already booked flights aren't exempt but there will be provisions for full or part exemptions for financial hardship and compassionate grounds.
The fees will also be waived for diplomats, refugees, deportees and people travelling to attend the sentencing of the accused in the Christchurch mosque attacks.
A blanket charge for every returnee was originally explored but Woods said this could have opened the scheme up to being dragged through the courts.
Under the Bill of Rights Act every New Zealander has the inalienable right to return home.
Instead, Cabinet opted for a safer version to only bill some New Zealanders, meaning only an estimated 2200 will meet the criteria by the end of the year.



"It is important that we are making sure that we're doing this within a framework that isn't easily contestable in the courts," said Woods.
"The last thing I want to see is a regime stood up around charging and have government appropriations based on a level of collections that then the courts overturn. Then we're left in a situation where we don't have that certainty of funding for those facilities."
Woods said in the House the system would return between $2.2 million and $8.8 million and cost $600,000 to implement.
That equates to 1.4 per cent of the $479m set aside to pay for the system until the end of the year.
The bureaucracy of charging everyone but with expanded exemptions would cost $33m but return a predicted $125m - almost 20 times what the proposed system would recoup.
Woods rejected the legislation wasn't a waste of time because it would establish the legal right to charge people going through MIQ and it could be expanded to include essential workers granted exemptions and for international students in the future.
"This is absolutely critical that we put this in place. I don't think there is anyone that thinks it would be fair for the New Zealand taxpayer to pay for managed isolation if you or I elected to go on holiday."
Woods said the Government was looking into data-matching to ensure Kiwis didn't lie to get through the system.
NZ First leader Winston Peters wanted to see everyone going through MIQ charged and called the watered-down version...

The job market is continuing to recover from the impacts of Covid 19.
Stats NZ says more than 35,000 jobs disappeared in April, at the peak of the Covid 19 lockdown.
That includes almost 3000 fewer hospitality jobs, and 2000 fewer in arts and recreation.
But by the end of June, there were about about 15,000 jobs more jobs.
Andrew Kelleher from JMI Wealth told Mike Hosking it's difficult to conclude concrete conclusions from the numbers.
"If you look through the numbers, younger people are being hit the hardest. The whole story won't be evident until later on this year."
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There are calls for the Government to prioritise those who need financial support when it comes to medicines.
A new report analysing Pharmac questions whether the Government needs to subsidise medicine for everyone.
New Zealand Initiative senior researcher Dr Bryce Wilkinson told Mike Hosking Phramac deserve credit for flattening prices, showing for the most part the model woks.
"And also credit to the industry for producing such a valuable range of products for the world."
Mr Wilkinson says many people can afford the drugs they need, and if they covered their own cost, it would enable more drugs to be subsidised.
He says following the pandemic, money is scarcer than ever, and the Government needs to change its focus.

Melbourne's coronavirus crisis is now so bad that specialist medical teams built to handle humanitarian disasters are on their way.
With 769 active cases linked to aged-care homes, Health Minister Greg Hunt has revealed that Australian Medical Assistance Teams (AUSMAT) are being sent to Victoria. He says they are the "best of the best".
Hunt added: "They've assisted in quarantine, they've assisted in Western Australia, they've assisted in activities around the country and they are the best of the best. They are the SAS of the medical world. Furthermore, we have put out a call for interstate nursing staff, South Australia in particular has taken the lead on that, they are formulating those resources."
Hunt says the federal Government will also send five million masks to Victoria and request interstate nurses.
Victoria recorded 384 new coronavirus cases and six new deaths in the past 24 hours, after a record number of cases was announced on Monday. New South Wales recorded 14 new cases yesterday.


Some of Melbourne's worst affected care homes have had almost all their staff asked to stay at home because of virus fears, says Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth.
He told the Today show just now this was one of key reasons some homes were left so exposed.
"It hasn't been widely reported that some of these facilities that are most affected by this, have had literally the majority of their workforce including their senior nurses and managers asked to not attend work because of their contact with coronavirus disease," he said.
"Now, we have been working with aged care facilities now for the entire pandemic.
"No business in Australia has a business continuity plan that accounts for their entire workforce not being able to go to work.
"I think in a lot of ways that has led some of the most affected institutions to where they are now."
Currently, about 769 of the 4775 active cases in Victoria are linked to aged care facilities.

Attorney General William Barr defended the aggressive federal law enforcement response to civil unrest in America as he testified for the first time before the House Judiciary Committee, pushing back against angry, skeptical Democrats who said President Donald Trump’s administration is unconstitutionally suppressing dissent.
The hearing, held Tuesday as the late civil rights icon John Lewis lay in state steps away outside the Capitol, highlighted the wide election-year gulf between the two parties on police brutality and systemic racism in law enforcement. Massive protests have sparked unrest across the nation following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, and calls for police reform are growing louder.
But Barr said “violent rioters and anarchists have hijacked legitimate protests” and argued the violence taking place in Portland, Oregon, and other cities is disconnected from Floyd’s killing, which he called a “horrible” event that prompted a necessary national reckoning on the relationship between the Black community and law enforcement. But he also said there was no systemic racism in law enforcement.
“Largely absent from these scenes of destruction are even superficial attempts by the rioters to connect their actions to George Floyd’s death or any legitimate call for reform,” Barr said of the Portland protests.
The hearing marks Barr’s first appearance before the committee after 18 months in office, bringing him face-to-face with the panel that voted last year to hold him in contempt and is holding hearings on what Democrats say is politicization of the Justice Department under his watch. But little new ground was uncovered; fuming Democrats often used their five minutes to lay out their frustrations and cut Barr off as he attempted to answer questions.
The hearing comes during a tumultuous stretch in which Barr has taken actions cheered by President Donald Trump but condemned by Democrats and other critics. Among them: the Justice Department’s decision to drop the prosecution of former Trump administration national security adviser Michael Flynn and Barr’s urging for a more lenient sentence for Trump ally Roger Stone, a move that prompted the entire trial team’s departure. Trump later commuted the sentence entirely.
The top Republican on the panel, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, used his opening statement to show an eight-minute video that spliced together images of violence by protesters around the country.
Democrats retorted with a video of their own of more peaceful protesters, shown by Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline.
“We fought for democracy, for the right to speak freely and you are attempting to take that away,” Cicilline told Barr. “What’s worse, you’re doing it for the sole purpose of furthering the president’s political agenda and generating footage for Trump campaign commercials.”
Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler said the Trump administration had “twisted the Department of Justice into a shadow of its former self,” serving the powerful before average Americans.
Nadler said Barr had “aided and abetted” Trump’s worst impulses and excoriated him and the Justice Department for turning a blind eye to necessary reforms to police departments, for dismissing Black Lives Matter protests and for flooding streets with federal agents to stop protesters.
Under combative questioning, Barr acerbically defended himself but revealed little new information about his motivations or the Justice Department's recent actions on policing or otherwise.
His testimony underscored his department's ongoing effort to differentiate between increasing violence in some cities and Floyd's death, which has led to state charges against four officers and is under investigation by federal authorities. Massive but peaceful demonstrations followed Floyd's death in May.
The attorney general acknowledged that Floyd’s death struck a chord in the Black community...

New Zealanders living overseas aren't likely to be charged for managed isolation, at least before the election.
Jacinda Ardern will make an announcement about quarantine fees today.
Newstalk ZB understands those who left the country for a holiday or business trip will be charged for their hotel stay, but those who are living overseas won't be charged.
Labour cabinet minister Stuart Nash denies that the Greens have forced the Government's hand.
"The Greens weren't holding anything up, and yes we do want to charge, but what the regime looks like will be announced by the PM."
But National MP Mark Mitchell told Mike Hosking Labour can't use that excuse, when it didn't ask for National's support instead.
"Tax payers are currently funding the bill for the border programme, and it's time returning New Zealanders helped contribute to it."
Listen to the audio above as Stuart Nash and Mark Mitchell speak to Mike Hosking