The Mike Hosking Breakfast

This is this government to a "t." All noise, no delivery.
Even as the two women were let out of quarantine on compassionate grounds were exposed as being two new cases we shouldn’t have had, the Prime Minister, yet again, was spinning the bollocks she's spun this entire time through Covid-19.
That's how well prepared we are, why we test, and how rigorous our testing is. It meant nothing because most of it isn't true.
The same way it wasn’t true when she defended no quarantine, because self-isolation was full proof because the police were knocking on the doors, until, of course, it was discovered they weren't. The same as yesterday’s fiasco where people are released from quarantine early with no test.
And as a result of that cock up Ashley Bloomfield fronts up, and tells us how it's good this has been discovered so we can tighten those rules further. Was he perhaps hoping at no point anyone goes, "mate, we thought you would have thought of testing them before they leave because that’s about the most obvious thing you can do, and we all thought it went without saying you were doing it?"
If you're thinking we should be keeping the borders closed, don’t. It's not the border's fault, or the people who turn up here to see dying relatives. The answer is not to prevent people coming here or be more conservative, the answer is for the people who are supposed to be doing their job, to actually do their job.
Yesterday, it was revealed the police didn’t do their job either, and that’s why the madman in Christchurch in March last year got a licence for his guns. The answer was never a gun buyback, it was to do the job properly in the first place.
This, by the way, is the same Ministry of Health who in yesterday's health review essentially got a lot of the system taken off them and handed to what is recommended to be an entirely new agency.
This is the same Ministry, the head of which the Prime Minister, as we have said over and over again, has foolishly hitched her inexperienced wagon to, and driven the economy into the ground by being overly fascinated, zealous, and obsessed with a numbers game around a virus while jobs burned.
And now the same bloke who ran that obsession, lets peoples out from quarantine without testing them. And let us not get started on those who scarpered from the funeral.
For all those obsessed with Bloomfield, who bought the t-shirt, who wanted him knighted, he's a policy wonk no smarter than the rest of them advising a government that’s spins bollocks to hide their ineptitude.
End of.

Job hunters are turning to building as a career after joining Covid 19's unemployment ranks.
Helping them will be the Government's new $380 million boost to assist employers taking on new apprentices.
LT McGuinness construction manager Sean McGuinness told Mike Hosking it's good to see more people looking to work in the trade sector, as it's an under-valued career path.
"There's obviously a lot of Covid affected industries out there, be it tourism, aviation and the like, and there's people out there who are looking at retraining."
Trade businesses will be given up to $16,000 to help pay for apprentices' costs over the first two years.
McGuinness says this will help an industry facing trade shortages in recent years.
"This is really going to incentify a lot of employers to take on new trainees and really future proof trades people in New Zealand for the next decade, I believe." 

Rally New Zealand organisers have announced two new events, the City of Auckland Rally and the Battle of Jack’s Ridge to be staged in November.
The events will comprise the stages that were planned for the World Rally Championship event both north and east of the city.
The City of Auckland Rally will be held on Saturday 14 November and include stages in the Kaipara Hills, Puhoi and Riverhead Forest before its conclusion at the purpose-built road “Jack’s Ridge” in Whitford.
Kiwi rally star Hayden Paddon joined Mike Hosking to preview the upcoming events,
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Daniel Andrews’ government is in turmoil in the wake of a corruption scandal that has already claimed two senior scalps, with more likely to come.

Victoria’s Assistant Treasurer Robin Scott quit cabinet hours after Mr Andrews referred Labor powerbroker Adem Somyurek to the state’s police and anti-corruption commission after sacking the minister over explosive corruption allegations.
Mr Scott released a statement on Monday night to say he found “recent reporting of matters relating to the administration of the party especially confronting” and was looking forward “to the opportunity to clear my name”.
The branch-stacking allegations were aired on Sunday night after a year-long investigation by The Age and 60 Minutes.
Investigative journalist Nick McKenzie told Nine on Monday afternoon that “more evidence, more recordings” would be released within hours relating to Mr Scott and fellow frontbencher Marlene Kairouz.
Ms Kairouz heads the portfolios of consumer affairs, gaming and liquor regulation and suburban development.
It has been alleged staff members of Mr Scott and Ms Kairouz were involved in Mr Somyurek’s efforts.
Mr Scott said he had told Mr Andrews that he would stand aside from his ministerial responsibilities, as Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Veterans, and had notified Governor Linda Dessau “of the resignation of my commission, effectively immediately”.
News.com.au understands Mr Scott’s alleged conduct has also been referred to the Independent Broad-Based Anti-Corruption Commission.
Parliament is sitting from Tuesday through to Thursday this week in Victoria.

Speaking at a media conference this morning, Mr Andrews said he had written to the national executive of the ALP to seek Mr Somyurek’s termination from the party, and that he no longer considered him part of the Victorian Labor Party, “my team, my caucus, my Government”.

Mr Somyurek later resigned from the Victorian branch of the ALP, and the federal executive moved to ensure he can never rejoin.
The Premier said today Mr Somyurek had been sacked, effective immediately following allegations he described a female minister as a “stupid b**h” and a “moll.”
“Just after 9am this morning I met with Adem Somyurek and I informed him that I would be writing to the governor to terminate his commission as a minister to essentially sack him from my ministry,’’ Mr Andrews said.
“Mr Somyurek was not offered an opportunity to resign.
“He is not worthy of an opportunity to resign. He was sacked. And that is the fact of the matter. Any statements to the contrary are simply false.”
Mr Andrews said comments made by Mr Somyurek about MP Gabrielle Williams “were simply unacceptable, wicked comments and I simply will not tolerate those sorts of comments or attitudes from any member of my team”.
The secret recordings broadcast last night include threats to the career of Ms Williams.
“I will f***ing force her out of the ministry, that f***ing stupid b**ch, when Andrews goes … She’s a stupid, stupid moll,” he says. “I’m going to f***ing knock her f***ing head off. She’s a f***ing psycho bitch.”
At another point Mr Somyurek was heard describing Young Labor members as “little passive aggressive f***ing gay kids.”

Mr Somyurek this morning quit the Victorian Labor Party.

In a statement, he rejected the allegations of wrongdoing “around memberships” but acknowledged he was caught speaking in a way that was highly inappropriate.
“It follows the publication of numerous personal and private conversations between myself and a long-term friend and factional ally of mine,” Mr Somyurek said in his statement.
“It is clear that I was taped and surveilled in a federal electorate office without my knowledge and that this material was published without my knowledge of its existence or my consent.
“I will be taking steps to seek a police...

It's still too early to say whether the rental property ball will stay in the tenants' court.
Stats NZ data shows rents fell in May and there are almost three times more available apartments, than this time last year.
Auckland Property Management's Howard Morley told Mike Hosking his figures are showing something else.
"Part of the market is certainly struggling, with the lack of students and Air BnB slowing down, but the rest of it is okay."
Morley told Mike Hosking they're still short of properties.
"Rentals in Auckland are certainly holding, but this may not be the case in other areas."
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President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday aimed at curbing police brutality by directing federal dollars to those police departments that meet certain credentialing standards on the use of force. The executive action also makes it harder for those officers with a troubled history from getting hired by other departments.
Congress is also moving toward passing policing bills, but Trump was anxious to put his own stamp on the issue with a Rose Garden press conference in which he was flanked by representatives from the nation's leading law enforcement groups.
Here's a look at some of the topics in the order:
Q: What are some of the most important provisions?
A: The executive order would give police departments a financial incentive to adopt best practices and encourage programs in which social workers join police when they respond to nonviolent calls involving mental health, addiction and homeless issues.
The president’s executive order also requires the attorney general to create a database tracking terminations, criminal convictions and civil judgments against law enforcement officers for excessive use-of-force. It encourages participation by providing certain grants only to those agencies that submit the required information.
Q: Why track officer misconduct and what will a national database do?
A: Many officers who wind up involved in a fatal incident have a long history of complaints made against them by the public, including Derek Chauvin, the white Minneapolis police officer who has been charged with murder in the death of George Floyd. Chauvin had at least a dozen complaints made against him, according to records. But those records are often not made public, making it difficult to know if officers have a track record. And some police departments do a bad job of keeping track of misconduct claims, since not all are substantiated for a variety of reasons, and police reform groups say it’s a missed opportunity to identify and correct problem behaviors before it turns fatal.
A national database would force some departments into more transparency and accountability, but like other national clearinghouses, it depends on the locality’s willingness to participate.
Q: Are chokeholds banned?
A: President Trump said he was banning chokeholds, but that's not the case. Rather, he's encouraging such bans through financial incentives.
Chokeholds have become a symbol of police brutality again following the death of Floyd. They are a potentially tactical maneuver in which an officer cuts off air to a person’s neck. The officer involved in the death of Eric Garner was accused of using one, but has maintained he was employing a legal takedown maneuver called the seatbelt which is similar but doesn’t block air. But chokeholds are already largely banned by many departments around the country.
Q: Can the administration set conditions on law enforcement funding?
A: That could be a matter of legal dispute.
There have been a number of lawsuits brought in the past against the Trump administration for attempting to condition the same law enforcement funding on specific policies.
A similar situation happened in 2017 when the Justice Department said it would withhold grant money from so-called sanctuary cities and states until they gave federal immigration authorities access to jails and provide advance notice when someone in the country illegally is about to be released.
Courts around the country have been divided on the issue.
A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled last February to block the Trump administration from imposing conditions that police departments cooperate with immigration authorities to receive law enforcement grants. But earlier this year, a federal appeals court in New York said the administration can withhold millions of dollars in law enforcement grants to force states to cooperate with immigration enforcement. That decision...

A closed border, a lockdown and a once-in-a-century drought aren't hampering the spirits of farmers and growers.
BNZ's latest survey of thousands of agri-business customers has found 89 percent are excited about the role they'll play in New Zealand's economic recovery.
The primary sector continued to operate as an essential service during lockdown.
BNZ Agri-business General Manager Dave Handley told Mike Hosking that's given them reason for cautious optimism.
He says farmers and growers were disrupted, they were able to keep cashflow coming in, unlike other businesses.
Handley says the sector isn't bullish, but it is cautiously optimistic.
"We've just come through one of the worst droughts in the last century, there are still challenges but our clients are feeling confident."
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A top Cabinet MP used language stronger than his own Prime Minister and the Health Minister, saying two new New Zealand cases of Covid have highlighted unforgivable and unacceptable "ineptitude".
Police Minister Stuart Nash told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking that someone needed to be held to account after the two women flew in from the UK, were allowed out of isolation in an Auckland hotel early, and made a road-trip to Wellington.
There, they took tests for Covid and tested positive. Their tests mean Covid is active again in New Zealand.
"I cannot repeat the words on your show that I said when I heard what had happened," Nash told Hosking, using language far stronger than Health Minister David Clark and Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
"Someone does need to be held to account. We need to have a review of what's happening in quarantine because it's totally inacceptable, when five million Kiwis do it real tough.
"To get this sort of ineptitude, man it is unforgivable. As David said, he's cancelled compassionate dispensation and there's a review of the system. Let's make sure it doesn't happen again."
Listen to the audio above as politicians Mark Mitchell and Stuart Nash speak to Mike Hosking

Spare a thought for poor old Jacinda Ardern this morning. She's frustrated. She's frustrated she is still earning half a million dollars, and that pay cut hasn't come through.
And the virtue signalling nonsense she instigated months ago is yet another example of having led to exactly nothing.
The real frustration, of course, is that she has been caught out. She gets caught out a lot. She got caught out on Monday when we asked her about Rob Fyfe. She'd cold shouldered Fyfe by not even acknowledging his letter of his return to his home having volunteered to work for her for the past two months. That's Ardern to a "t."
There is no need for her to be frustrated over her non pay cut. She could have got the Remuneration Authority to move more quickly, sort of like hundreds of employers did to hundreds of thousands of workers all over the country.
Or she could have front footed it and said, "look, I had no idea this was so hard." At which point someone like me would have asked, why not? And if you didn’t, why didn’t you check it before you got yourself another headline with yet another vacuous promise?
Anyway, she could have said, "I had no idea it was so hard, so in the meantime I'm donating the money to charity or putting it aside to deposit it as a lump sum."
Or, "I've told the Authority to back date it." Or "I'm reviewing the Authority to find out why it's so useless." Or anything other than, yet again, what's happened, which is the NZ Herald once again busting her for spouting a lot of frippery that goes nowhere.
What makes this particularly egregious is I said at the time it was a bunch of virtue signalling nonsense given, unless you were directly affected by Covid, or unless your job was in jeopardy, there was no point in taking a pay cut because it solved nothing. It saved nothing, it did nothing, it changed nothing. So all that was left was it made you look like you cared.
She's into that stuff, she wants you to like her, and she wants you to think she's cool and on your side. In that is the deception. In intent she may well be genuine, in delivery she is nothing of the sort.
And this embarrassment is her to a “t.” She made her announcement, got her headline, and she moved on. The details were inconsequential, until, of course, they came and bit her on the bum.
At which point we have to roll out the old "I'm frustrated line. Not my fault, nothing to see here. All I want to do is the right thing by everyone."
Saying stuff that leads no where, is superficial, and in this case supercilious as well.
You can only play this trick so often before the Empress would appear to have no clothes.

Heads could roll after two women weren't tested for Covid-19 before leaving quarantine in Auckland.
Compassionate exemptions have been suspended after the women, who'd flown in from Britain, tested positive for Covid-19 after driving to Wellington.
Health Minister David Clark told Mike Hosking that he spoke to Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield on the phone last night, and told him compassionate exemptions needed to stop. The call appears to have been terse.
"I have expressed my frustration. The Director-General is absolutely committed to putting this right."
Pushed hard by Hosking on why no one was held to account - citing Clark's own lockdown breaches as well as previous controversies involving MPs Phil Twyford, Iain Lees-Galloway and Clare Curran - Clark said: "I have certainly been demoted, Mike."
"I am not interested in a witch-hunt. I want this to be fixed and that's why I want this thoroughly investigated.
"New Zealanders have sacrificed a huge deal to ensure we don't have community transmission."
In a Facebook Live post on Tuesday evening, Ardern said standards had not been met. "This case is clear - our expectations ... have not been met in this instance," she said.
"The two cases that came in from overseas that were announced today were not announced under the circumstances that we would have expected at our border."
Clark told Hosking this morning: "I want it fixed. That's my first priority. There will be consequences if it's found people have failed in their duty. I am quite certain that people who have made this mistake will not be making it again.
"We have to find out exactly what happened...it's fallen short of what New Zealanders expect. I am very disappointed.
He said health officials needed to do more than just tests.
"We need a thorough medical check when people are leaving. I don't think that just testing is enough, because we know people return false negatives. We need assurance that peoper interviews are being done as well."