The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Who would possibly have thought two sleepy weeks of winter school holidays could unearth such political histrionics.
It’s been backdropped by the rumble of insurrection wenching at National’s soul.
The squishy centre, the Labour lite urban liberals have a lot to answer for. First, they brought down Bridges. Simon may have not been the dream leader, but I don’t believe he was leading National to political disaster.
The squishy centre torpedoed him for Todd, who wasn’t up to snuff. He never looked comfortable in his skin, despite his impressive credentials. Bridges’ critics argue that the public were no longer tuned in. The phone was off the hook. Yet with Muller, the phone wasn’t even plugged in. His bumbling hash magandi on the MAGA hat said it all. He wasn’t a sure-footed leader.
And then we got all the woke rubbish, as the Labour light crowd dabbled in identity politics. Nicki Kaye said Goldsmith was Ngati Porou. Just this week, Amy Adams talking up Catherine Chu as Chinese. Wrong. They are both better than that. This kind of identity nonsense is not the National Party I know. National looked lost, confused and rudderless, grasping for its true north, as the centrists ran amok.
Thankfully, with Collins and Brownlee at the helm, a sense of order has been restored by the seasoned pros. Kaye and Adams are packing their bags. Malcolm Turnball-ising this party was never the answer.
Yes, National is a broad spectrum church. But it’s default position, its anchor is a party of the centre-right.
National should always tilt to the right. The injection of Nicola Willis and Chris Bishop up the rankings should pacify the more centrist urban liberals. But similarly, Collins has soothed the right wing by dramatically promoting Bridges to Number 4, and adding Justice to his workload. She has played this well.
Judith and Gerry are righting the ship. If any other MP is not hearing the siren call for stability, if they’re disaffected, they should join the clean out. Back Judith, back this team, or buggar off.

New National Party leader Judith Collins has revealed why former leader Simon Bridges has been given such a top position in her new caucus - even though she voted against him in Todd Muller's leadership coup and he voted against her this week.
Bridges has been given the number four spot in Collins' caucus, with Muller at number eight.
Collins said Bridges - who voted for Mark Mitchell over Collins to replace Todd Muller as leader this week - deserved to be treated with respect.
"We all know Simon," Collins told Newstalk ZB today. "There are two reasons (for his new position); he's a hard worker and he is intelligent. These are two excellent qualities as we try to get back into Government.
"He's a former leader. I do not like to see former leaders not shown the respect that their caucus chose to give them when they elected them."
Bridges has already taken a dig at Muller, saying he "wasted" valuable time during his swift term as leader.
Bridges told Newstalk ZB last night he was disappointed with Muller's stint at the top and how the leadership coup played out.
Both former leaders are part of Judith Collins' new-look, shadow front-bench.
Bridges said the party's election preparation was hindered but believes the rise of Collins could propel the party forward to success.
"I was really disappointed [in how the leadership coup played out]. It would have been a privilege to lead National into this election. We wasted a bit of time. There's a bunch of complex reasons for that.
"We're making back that time. We're going to finish this election much more strongly than the position we were in two or three weeks ago."
When asked today by Newstalk ZB's Mike Yardley about any lingering malcontents or unhappiness in the Nats, Collins said today she was not worried.


Everyone, she said, had been treated with respect and had received a call to talk through their roles.
"It's a good reshuffle. You've got to do what you have to do. I didn't see this coming. I wasn't planning and plotting. I just had to make decision and if there's one thing I know what to do, it's making decisions.
"I haven't got time for soul-gazing nonsense."
Fifty-six days ago, Collins said she voted for Muller as leader because she thought it was "the best course" for the party. "I have been very successful in voting for the right leader every time," said Collins at the time.

When the movie Crazy Rich Asians was released 2 years ago, a lot was riding on its success.
It was the first film with an all east-asian cast in 25 years, so the pressure was on to make it into a major hit.
The movie, based on the book trilogy by Kevin Kwan, became the highest grossing romantic comedy in more than a decade.
Kevin Kwan’s now started another book series with Sex and Vanity, a love triangle featuring Lucy, the daughter of an american-born Chinese mother and a blue-blooded New York father.
Kevin Kwan joined Mike Yardley to talk about his new book.
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Italy's government said Wednesday it scored a victory in a battle stemming from the deadly 2018 collapse of Genoa's main bridge, with the Benetton fashion family agreeing to exit the company that manages and maintains most of Italy's toll roads and bridges.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte announced the agreement nearly two years after 43 people perished in the collapse of the Morandi Bridge, a disaster that has been blamed on poor maintenance.
The deal avoids the possibility that the government would revoke the concession Autostade per l'Italia has to manage a huge swath of Italy's toll roads and bridges.
The 5-Star-led government had threatened to do so in the immediate aftermath of the collapse, but a revocation would have proved financially disastrous for the company and its foreign shareholders, and led to years of costly legal battles to contest the decision.
There was no immediate comment from the Benetton family, Autostrade or its holding company Atlantia SpA.
Conte said that as part of the deal, Autostrade agreed to become a public company and to pay 3.4 billion euros in compensation while also investing more in road maintenance and security.
In a statement on Facebook, Conte claimed a victory in the negotiations and said the government had affirmed a principle throughout: "That public infrastructure is a precious public good that must be managed responsibly and guarantee security and efficient service."
The Morandi Bridge, which opened in the 1960s, was a key artery that linked Genoa to highways to Milan and France, a vital lifeline for both commercial traffic as well as vacationers bound for the mountains and famous Mediterranean beaches.
A large section of the bridge collapsed on Aug. 14, 2018, killing 43 people and forcing the evacuation of nearby residents from the densely built-up area. It was the deadliest in a series of bridge disasters that exposed the horrific state of Italy's aging road infrastructure.
The Italian engineer who designed the span, Riccardo Morandi, warned in 1979 that the bridge would require constant maintenance to remove rust given the effects of corrosion from sea air and pollution on the concrete.
After the collapse, it emerged that authorities were well aware the concrete had corroded and that the bridge was structurally compromised. Criminal investigations were opened to ascertain criminal blame, but the government immediately accused Autostrade of neglecting to maintain the span.
At the time, Autostrade apologized and said it was prepared to take action beyond any criminal charges against any managers who might have been responsible.
The government has granted two dozen private companies the right to manage Italy's highways, bridges and tunnels, but the Benettons' Autostrade is by far the biggest, controlling some 3,020 kilometers (1,876 miles) of highway.
Under the deal reached with the government, the Benetton family will have less than 10% of Autostrade and within a few months will definitively exit the company, known by its acronym ASPI.
"This means the Benettons won't manage our highways. This was our principle objective, and we obtained it," Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said.
Conte recently was in Genoa to attend a key stage in the construction of a replacement bridge, this one designed by architect and Genoa native Renzo Piano.

The pregnant wife of Warriors star David Fusitu'a has posted an emotional message calling for her husband to return home ahead of the arrival of their first child.
Fusitu'a is one of four Warriors players, including Ken Maumalo, Agnatius Paasi and King Vuniyayawa, who will return back to New Zealand on July 27 for family reasons in the middle of the NRL season.
The Warriors winger's pregnant wife Eden Fusitu'a took to Twitter to thank everyone involved in getting the green light for players to return home after months away from their loved ones.
"For my health and the health of our baby, we need David home," she wrote on Twitter. "We've needed him home for a while.
"Ngā mihi (thanks) @NZWarriors, @RLPlayers, (coach) Todd (Payten), the welfare staff and the players for being so understanding and supportive.
"And David, for being the best husband and soon to be dad."
The Warriors yesterday announced they had booked flights back to New Zealand for the four players who expressed desire to reunite with their families.
The Warriors have been forced to leave their families behind in New Zealand since relocating to Australia in May to play in the resumption of the NRL season. Earlier this month, the Warriors warned the NRL that some players would return to New Zealand if their families were not granted an exemption to enter Australia, with this weekend's clash against the Sharks being the final deadline.
However, the New Zealand Government's request to Air New Zealand for a temporary halt of all incoming international flights to ease the stress on the country's isolation facilities has pushed back that deadline for the Warriors, with players now only able to fly back home on July 27.
Warriors CEO Cameron George said Fusitu'a, Maumalo, Paasi and Vuniyayawa had the total support of the players, staff and the club.
"We can't say enough about the sacrifice they have made being away from their families so long," he said.
"We fully understand the predicament they have been in and we're so appreciative of what they have done in committing to the cause for as long as they have.
"When we travelled to Australia we promised the players everything possible in our control would be done to secure travel exemptions for their families to join them there.
"Ultimately the decision lies with government agencies to approve the applications the NRL made on our behalf. There hasn't been any sign of a favourable result, which we accepted was always a possibility. Given those circumstances David, Ken, Agantius and King are free to go home.
"We're hugely disappointed it hasn't worked out as we would have liked but it was out of our control."
George doubts families will get an exemption any time soon, and those who are returning to New Zealand on July 27 are unlikely to participate "at all for the rest of the season".
The quartet will be required to go into isolation for 14 days before they can finally see their families next month. George said consideration was now being given to how best to replace the returning players in the squad.

An early childhood education expert says private providers should be given incentives to up their game.
Child Poverty Action Group has released a research paper showing private operators are providing lower quality services, across a range of indicators.
Early childhood education expert Dr Mike Bedford told Mike Yardley we should do away with the current licensing system, which has no incentives for quality.
"We should shift to a system where the Government takes responsibility by becoming the national provider."
Bedford says that would give a much higher level of accountability.
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As we fleetingly profiled on yesterday’s show, one of New Zealand’s greatest urban legends seems to have been starkly exposed as the hysterical nonsense it always has been.
Tourist drivers are not the monstrous deadly menace they have been made out to be in recent years by an excitable media narrative. With virtually zero tourists in the country, the post-lockdown road toll has not dropped.
Transport Ministry data shows June had the same number of monthly fatal crashes, that the past five years has had, while July is shaping up to be the worst or second worst July for fatalities in the past five years. We are the Kiwi killing machines. We cause the carnage.
And our borders are closed. Admittedly, I have enjoyed tripping through the Mackenzie and Central Otago lately, where many a distracted tourist driver comes a cropper. Without them on the roads, it has made for a more relaxing drive. I’ve become accustomed to driving like a hyper-defensive driver in those parts. I accept that. It goes with the territory in a tourist trap. But a huge amount of work has been invested in enhancing driver safety for the foreign driver in recent years, with centre line rumble strips, keep left signage…you name it.
The bottom line remains that tourist drivers were never the big contributor to our fatality count, that the hysterics and hyperbole made out. They were a convenient scapegoat, while we downplayed our own collective driving defects and glaring imperfections.
The public hysteria was best illustrated by those whipped-up demands for all tourists to be ordered to sit a New Zealand practical driving test before being given the keys to rental. Ridiculous.
Over the past ten years, the Ministry’s crash data shows foreign nationals were involved in three to four per cent of serious or fatal road crashes. And we had four million of them in the country in the past year. When they finally return, post-Covid, hopefully we won’t be so feral or so quick to point the finger of blame.

Two high profile MPs have decided they don't have a future in a Judith Collins-led National Party.
Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams have announced they'll retire at this year's election - having both served their respective electorates for 12 years.
New health spokesperson Shane Reti told Mike Yardley he respects the decision made by Nikki Kaye, and the party values every caucus member.
The National Party says it won't be reducing the number of District Health Boards.
A report by Heather Simpson recommends slashing them from twenty down to around eight to twelve within five years.
Dr Shane Reti says he definitely won't be following that.
“I personally worked through the regional health authorities and observed that all Northland's issued were consumed by the major issues in Auckland.”
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An infectious diseases expert says localised lockdowns are the right approach to managing any future outbreak of Covid 19.
Jacinda Ardern has outlined the framework for the next steps of the coronavirus response.
The Government would move at a local, or regional level if there was a new outbreak.
Police would be the "first port of call" in terms of enforcement.
Ardern said the Covid-19 situation has changed since it first arrived in New Zealand, with "scattered" instances of Covid-19 arriving in the country.
The most likely instance going forward would be seeing much more isolated cases.
Ardern would not rule out going back to level 4, nationwide.
But the focus would be acting locally before a nationwide lockdown was implemented.
Otago University's David Murdoch told Mike Yardley it would be the best way to contain an outbreak, while avoiding the economic and social disruption of a national lockdown.
“We want to avoid if possible going back to a national shutdown. The key is being able to identify it and act early”
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Senior National MPs Nikki Kaye and Amy Adams are quitting politics, creating a massive headache for new leader Judith Collins.
National MPs have been left blindsided for the second time in a week, following Todd Muller's resignation on Tuesday.
Collins is due to announce this morning what was planned to be a "minor" reshuffle - now she has to scramble to replace two experienced MPs who were former ministers in the last National administration.
In a statement, Collins thanked Kaye and Adams. "Nikki and Amy have both made incredible contributions at very senior levels with consistent dedication to their work and to their constituencies. I wish them the very best for the future."
Adams told Newstalk ZB that she decided to quit after Collins offered her a role that she was not keen on.
However Collins had her full support, saying "she has a different approach."
"The party is in good hands," Adams said.
Earlier today in a statement Adams said she would not accept a ranking on the National Party list.
"Last year I made the decision that I would retire at this election and accordingly I did not seek nomination for the seat of Selwyn that I have held for 12 years. In May I was asked to stay on as a list only candidate and take on the role of co-ordinating our Covid-19 Recovery policy framework," she said in a statement.
"As I said at that time I decided to stay because with the scale of challenges the country was facing, I saw being able to contribute in this way as an honour and a role I could not turn down.
"With Todd Muller's decision to resign the leadership the most important issue for our party was to get a strong and effective leadership team in place without delay and I am proud at the way in which the caucus managed this. I am in no doubt that in Judith Collins we have the right leader for the challenges ahead and Judith and the team have my full support.
"My time as an MP for the National Party and as the MP for Selwyn has been an honour and a privilege and I remain humbled and grateful at the opportunity I've had to serve this country."