The Mike Hosking Breakfast

There are unconfirmed reports of another person testing positive for Covid-19 at an Auckland hotel.
It comes as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking go head-to-head over the number of potential people who have left quarantine without being tested - as was the case last week when two women left an Auckland hotel and later tested positive.
The Herald understands a person staying at a Novotel in Auckland tested positive on Sunday night and the hotel is now in full lockdown.
If confirmed, this would be at least eight active cases in New Zealand, all from managed quarantine facilities.
Alexa Cook, who has been in isolation at the Novotel Auckland Airport since June 13, said she was also informed of the new case at 8.25 on Sunday night. "We had a call to our hotel room from reception and it was a guy from the New Zealand Defence Force saying, 'please stay in your room, the hotel has gone into full lockdown because there's been a positive Covid-19 test from inside this hotel'."
She said she wasn't told whether it was one or more cases, just that it "was one bubble".
Two new Covid-19 case discoveries today proves the Government's isolation and quarantine system is working, the heads of the operation say.
On Newstalk ZB today, Ardern could not say how many people had left hotels untested, before protocols were tightened last week. She said the Ministry of Health was still working through the number.
"The most important thing is the 14 days in isolation," she told Hosking. "The 14 days is the most cautious approach. Belts and braces are testing. Fourteen days is how you can be assured if you are symptom free that you are safe."
Since quarantine was introduced, more than 20,000 people had been through facilities, she said. Everyone other than those on compassionate leave had been in the facilities for at least 14 days, she said.
Hosking: You have a major credibility issue around what you say and what actually happens.
Ardern: I am going to dispute that Mike. We are not the only country who are putting in place protocols like this. Many other countries, however, just allow people to self-isolate at home.
Hosking: That's got nothing to do with anything. We have our own programme to run. What you are telling us happens doesn't happen - we found that out last week.
Ardern: Mike, I am of course accepting that what happened last week was not in accordance with the very strict protocol that was put in place. Health will not argue that, I will not argue that. It is why we have put in place someone completely new to oversee testing, the entire process and exit criteria - and that is Air Commodore Webb from the Defence Force.
More than 20,000 had been through quarantine and there was not one case, she said, where someone had passed on Covid to anyone outside of quarantine.
Hosking: You don't know that. You don't know that because they left the hotels untested.
Ardern: Mike, Yes we do.
Hosking: You don't.
Arden: Yes, we do. We do.
Hosking: You do not - they left the hotels untested.
Ardern: Yes... we can know because we have had community testing.
Hosking: That doesn't mean anything.
Ardern: I have made my point - you continue to make yours.
Ardern said there 4272 people in facilities now - double that of last month. "The pandemic is growing but some of the flights are starting to increase. We have more New Zealanders coming home."
This included flights from the India, a country that was experiencing a significant number of cases and now considered "high-risk".
"Kiwis are going to continue coming home and we have an obligation to allow them to come home."
Rigorous testing was continuing and there were tight protocols around moving people in quarantine, she said. People needed to be tested before they were moved and they could not be on flights with people outside of quarantine and...

Every Friday morning, Mike Hosking is joined by Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to wrap the week in news.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison has warned “these are our dark times” after “heartbreaking” jobless figures showed another 227,700 people lost their jobs in May thanks to coronavirus.

Australia’s unemployment rate has jumped to 7.1 per cent, having already climbed from 5.2 per cent in March to a revised 6.4 per cent in April, as the deadly global pandemic gripped the country.
May’s monthly drop in the number of people employed is the second largest on record after nearly 600,000 got sacked in April.
Another poor set of figures had been expected as a result of nationwide lockdowns.
Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Mr Morrison said the "sad truth is these numbers are not surprising in these circumstances".
"We must get Australians back into work. We must maintain our focus on them. All 838,000 of them, but we know there will be more in the months ahead," he said.
Mr Morrison said the figures were just before the states began ending lockdowns and that there was "some comfort" Australians were finding their way back into work, but urged "I would not be seeking to overstate that".
"These are our dark times, but I can see that ray of light, and I'm sure Australians can see that, too but we have to keep moving towards it and work harder each and every day," he said.
"We will not rest. We are working with some of the biggest economic challenges this country has ever faced and our government is working day and night to get the balance right, to get the right supports in place."

Netball New Zealand chief executive Jennie Wyllie is standing by their initiative to bring the sport back with minimal crowds tonight.
The Auckland Netball Centre can host around 500 fans rather than traditional bigger numbers, which would now be permitted under Covid-19 alert level one.
Wyllie told Mike Hosking gate takings have less impact on them than other codes.
A one-day finals series in Invercargill is expected to be announced for late August.
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President Donald Trump “pleaded” with China’s Xi Jinping during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects, according to a scathing new book by former Trump adviser John Bolton that accuses the president of being driven by political calculations when making national security decisions.
The White House worked furiously to block the book, asking a federal court for an emergency temporary restraining order Wednesday against its release.
Bolton's allegations that Trump solicited Chinese help for his reelection effort carried echoes of Trump’s attempt to get political help from Ukraine, which led to his impeachment.
“I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by re-election calculations,” Bolton wrote.
The 577-page book paints an unvarnished portrait of Trump and his administration, amounting to the most vivid, first-person account yet of how Trump conducts himself in office. Several other former officials have written books, but most have been flattering about the president. Other former officials have indicated they were saving their accounts of their time working for Trump until after he left office in order to speak more candidly. The Associated Press obtained a copy of Bolton’s book in advance of its release next week.
Bolton, Trump's national security adviser for a 17-month period, called Trump's attempt to shift the June 2019 conversation with Xi to the U.S. election a stunning move, and wrote that it was among innumerable conversations that he found concerning. He added that Congress should have expanded the scope of its impeachment inquiry to these other incidents.
Deeply critical of the president and much of his senior team, Bolton wrote that because staff had served him so poorly, Trump “saw conspiracies behind rocks, and remained stunningly uninformed on how to run the White House, let alone the huge federal government.” He added that while he was at the White House, Trump typically had only two intelligence briefings a week “and in most of those, he spoke at greater length than the briefers, often on matters completely unrelated to the subjects at hand.”
Trump was asked about the book Wednesday on Fox News Channel's “Hannity.” He turned to personal insults, calling Bolton a “washed-up guy. I gave him a chance."
He also took issue with copies of the book being released. “He broke the law. Very simple. I mean, as much as it’s going to be broken.” Trump said. “It’s highly classified information and he did not have approval.”
The book also includes embarrassing claims that Trump thought Finland was part of Russia, didn't know that the United Kingdom was a nuclear power and called reporters “scumbags” who should be “executed.”
As for the meeting with the Chinese president in Osaka, Japan, Bolton wrote that Trump told Xi that Democrats were hostile to China.
“He then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming U.S. presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability to affect the ongoing campaigns, pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win,” Bolton said. “He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome.”
Bolton wrote that he would print Trump’s exact words, “but the government’s pre-publication review process has decided otherwise."
The book, titled “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir,” is set to be released Tuesday by Simon & Schuster. It has been the subject of a lengthy battle between Bolton and the White House.
The Justice Department filed suit Tuesday in an effort to delay publication of the book, claiming it still contained highly classified information and that a required review by the National Security Council had not been concluded. According to the filing, a career official determined no classified material remained in April, but national security adviser Robert O’Brien initiated a secondary...

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 Government's Week.
1/10.
"If it doesn’t rain, it pours.
The teddy bears are gone, and the acrimony, anger, and fury has arrived."
David Clark.
4/10.
"He's been a lost cause for ages.
But now he just looks pathetic, and yet still in the portfolio."
Jacinda Ardern.
3/10.
"Her worst week by so far it doesn’t matter. And not directly her fault, and yet really it is.
When you expect so little, deal in nothing more than headlines, noise, and next to no detail, it always come back to bite you."
Ashley Bloomfield.
1/10.
"Amazing he's still in work as well.
Between the testing debacle and the PPE review he has been badly exposed as little more than another Ministry lifer out of his depth when the real work arrives.
If you bought the t-shirt, bin it."
Q1 GDP Numbers.
1/10.
"The price we are paying for all those numpties is an economy that’s tanked way worse than the experts had thought.
And what's worse, Q2 will make this look like a sunny day of recovery."
Fawlty Towers.
7/10.
"Only because it got reinstated by the BBC.
They, like all the other woke hand wringers, panicked when they saw a bit of anger from a line up of go no wheres, and then decided nothing made before the MeToo era should ever see the light of day again."
Kiwifruit.
9/10.
"Along with all the other stuff we sell. Our agriculture and horticulture sectors are our lifeline.
This week's reports stats and surveys show it. Apples, kiwis, meat, or wine, we are selling heaps and for good prices."
Commercial Bay.  
7/10.
"A billion dollars into bricks and mortar retail, and 200,000 through the doors in four days.
Stats that show the money is there and being spent.
Fingers crossed."
Super Rugby.  
9/10.
"Top sport and crowds. Hell, we had sell outs.
And the Crusaders weren't even playing."
The Warriors.
8/10.  
"Isolation suits them.
The first week and last week are signs of a team that can make it their year.
This is their year."  
LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW

There's disappointment from an infectious diseases expert at the latest Ministry of Health blunders.
David Murdoch from Otago University told Mike Hosking says we're all hoping these latest Covid-19 are contained.
“It’s a huge wake-up call which may be useful at this time.
"We’ve seen this overseas with fairly explosive outbreaks which have occurred in a number of countries after slip-ups like this.'
Murdoch our system should be working a lot better.
“We’re all hoping this is contained and there aren't any cases of further transmission."
Murdoch says if that proves to be the case, it's a huge wake-up call for us, which may be useful at this time.
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The Finance Minister says the lockdown isn't the only reason GDP dropped in March.
Economic activity slowed when travel restrictions came in, and worsened as the country went into lock down.

Grant Robertson told Mike Hosking this morning that NZ's biggest GDP drop in 29 years was significant.
The economy fell 1.6 per cent in March, the first quarterly fall since December 2010 and the largest fall since March 1991, Stats NZ said.
When asked by Hosking if he was "gutted", Roberston said: "No".
"The specific number, you need to be careful as Stats NZ says it will bounce around a bit," Robertson said.
"But I am not denying it is significant. I've said from the beginning this is a 1 in 100 years shock. We took a part approach, go hard and early, and the benefit of that is our economy is operating in a way others are envious of, but the impacts will be significant in quarter 1 and quarter 2. I've personally been saying that since early March and most commentators have too."
Hosking pressed Robertson that things could look even worse for quarter 2, given quarter one only took in the first week of lockdown.
"We all know the June quarter will be more severe because we were in lockdown for longer," Robertson said.
"Then the way these things work with GDP, the third and fourth quarters will likely see a bit of a rebound."
Robertson said the quarter 1 pressures were not only from the Government-enforced lockdown, but issues in the forestry sector with a "glut" of logs from Europe heading to China, and border restrictions with China around the Chinese New Year.
"There are a number of factors at play here, not just the lockdown."

There is no hiding from negative 1.6. It is a disaster.
The quarter one GDP number is the first, no hiding from it, it's not a guess, factual statement as to what sort of mess our economy is in. Sadly, the forecasters had picked negative one, so unlike many other guesses that turn out to be overly negative, this turned out to be overly optimistic.
Negative 1.6 for the months of January, February and March. Compare it with Australia, at negative 0.3. We are in excess of five times worse than that. If there was ever any doubt that they are managing this better than us, negative 0.3 versus negative 1.6 is your answer.
This ends the Government's worst week by so far it doesn't matter.
Not only has the health side of the equation been botched in comedic, tragic and gobsmackingly unprofessional fashion, the price we are paying economically is massive.
Politically, my guess is this week will have turned the love tap off for the Government. The sycophancy, the adoration, the international heads, the Ardern-and-Bloomfield-can-do-no-wrong hypnotic trance so many fell into, will have turned.
You can't put a country through what we have, to then have a bunch of halfwits at the Ministry of Health screw it up in their dumpty-doo fashion - with no one held accountable,- and then, oh by the way, look how badly the economy has tanked as well.
Remember for Q1, January and February weren't even Covid months. Nothing untoward was happening in this country apart from the Government's economic policies slowing the economy. Don't forget that, pre-Covid, the economic delivery of this Government was ordinary, to say the least.
Add Covid on top and if you think Q1 is bad, the real misery comes in Q2. Q2 is April, May, and June. If there is hope, it's that we aren't out of June yet - and for a lot of the month we have been in level 1. The money stats say spending has been solid, if not spectacular. It might be June works out okay, and the only damage is April and May.
But if March sunk Q1, then two months worse than that in Q2 is surely a sign we are sinking, as we speak, like a stone.
Those Q2 numbers will be out by election time. If things continue the way they have this week for the Government, they may well be the final nail in the coffin.
Here's the simple truth: They have underestimated the suffering and sacrifice we have gone through. They don't get the life-changing trauma they have inflicted on hundreds of thousands of us, because they have never been in the real world. And because their jobs are safe, this to them has been a project, but for the rest of us, it's our lives.
We end the week with the health part and economic parts in tatters. Conclusion? They couldn't run a piss-up in a brewery.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has acknowledged that the public has lost confidence in the Government's management of Covid-19 at the border.
Her major focus is to now "restore public confidence and, indeed, confidence in the Government and [its] ministers".
Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters said today he was pleased the army was now running the quarantine and isolation process - up until now it has been the Ministry of Health.
Peters told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that the army knew how to introduce and follow protocols and instil discipline.
He did not want to specifically point the finger of blame directly at Director General of Health Ashley Bloomfield for the border bungles.
"It stops with the people who have the protocol in their control... at the place where it had to be exercised, and they didn't do their job. That's where the buck stops, and with anyone who knew they weren't doing their job.
"It's not good enough...some people are letting us down."
Meanwhile, Ardern and her deputy, Winston Peters, are on very different pages when it comes to what should be done to those responsible for the blunder.
Peters told the House that the Government would find those people "at the coalface who didn't follow the protocols".
"The only way we can eliminate this sort of irresponsible behaviour or failure to fulfil the protocol requirements is to identify those people and make sure it doesn't happen again."
But Ardern said told reporters she does not want to see a "witch hunt".
"This has been a failure of the system; I'm not interested in going down into individuals and finding out exactly who."
At a press conference, Bloomfield acknowledged that New Zealanders were upset by the Government's blunder.
Work is now under way to contact trace more than 350 close contacts of the women and Bloomfield said the "vast majority" had been tested.
He said he couldn't say how many of the 200 people granted compassion leave has been tested before they were allowed to leave quarantine facilities.
But the rules have been changed and now no one is allowed to leave a facility unless they have a confirmed negative test, even if it's under compassionate leave.
The story of the Covid-19 positive sisters was made worse when National MP Michael Woodhouse told the House that the pair had got lost while in Auckland and were given directions by a family friend.
Woodhouse alleged they gave the helpers a "kiss and a cuddle" but Bloomfield said put their "arm around them" and said that was the only contact they had.
This is despite the fact that Ardern and Bloomfield had claimed the pair had gone from Auckland to Wellington and made no stops.