The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Cheese rolls have saved jobs at an Otago travel agency.
Alexandra's House of Travel staff came up with the fundraiser idea to keep the business alive, and nearly 1600 dozen cheese rolls later they've achieved their goal.
Manager Aaron Dyson told Mike Hosking the local community responded in a big way by making, buying and eating the rolls.
He says owner John Harley needed their help as there's little income coming into the office.
"We just really wanted to show that we wanted to do our part. He's facing some pretty dire times."Staff are on reduced pay and hours and two jobs were lost.
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Are we on the train to the promise land? After 26 years, is this our year? 
Yes, the Super Rugby got the headlines because they were back with crowds, and that deserved attention. But let us not forget that the NRL led the way back to normalcy, and their competition has completed its third weekend in the new era.
And here's the thing about the Warriors; who can figure out how it all works in any given week?
The Dragons in that opening weekend were given a lesson by a side that could have beaten anyone, anytime. 44 sets in a row, unheard of. Last weekend you had a side that looked like league might be new to them. And then Friday night, against a side like the Cowboys with the return of people like Taumalolo, they revert to being untouchable.
A massive completion rate, Peta Hiku back from injury and scores a hatrick, Blake Green and Kodi Nikorima as good a halves combo as you will ever see.
Here's the thing that keeps tragics like me coming back every week of every year. That side, that did that to the Cowboys on Friday night, didn’t have David Fusitu'a, Ken Maumalo, or Jazz Tevaga. In other words real weaponry wasn’t even on the field.
So surely those of you who look at people like me and roll your eyes can understand that this isn't an ordinary side. This isn't a side that delivers what you'd expect. This is a side that can be better than any other side in the competition.
On paper it's all there, on any given weekend it goes from theory on paper, to reality on the field. It is possible that the combination, the right winds and the stars align so we could actually see us actually deliver on all that potential we've been hanging out to see, put together for over a quarter of a century.
And yes, I fully understand the Phil Goulds who lambasted them last week and said if they aren't good by now, they never will be. And it’s a whole country they represent, not just one of a number of teams in a city like Sydney.
But, in that, is the magic of sport. It's addictive. And it's addictive because its enticing, it lures you in with prospects. It promises memories and joy, it promises to make your day and justify your membership and investment of energy.
And let us not forget the sacrifice the team is making, and the artificiality of their circumstances. Could they stitch this together consistently?
This is the stuff of dreams. And as of Friday night the dream is still very much alive. This could we be, this just might be, our year.

Bay of Plenty roading projects will benefit from a $12 million-plus cash injection into the region as part of the Provincial Growth Fund that will help create nearly 300 local jobs.
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones has today announced the Provincial Growth Fund is providing $60m to councils and KiwiRail to create employment for local workers.
The fund is made up of $27.2m for local roading projects, $26m for rail projects and nearly $6.8m for the Ministry of Social Development to support workers into training to take up these jobs.
It means work can start almost immediately on improving roads, cycleways, tree maintenance and water projects in seven regions. That includes the Bay of Plenty, the West Coast, Manawatu-Whanganui, Wairarapa, Taranaki, top of the South Island and Waikato.
The Bay of Plenty will receive $12.55m for footpaths, the Motu cycleway extension, a horse trail, tree and pest removal, track and park maintenance, water projects and roading. It is expected to create 291 jobs for the region.
Jones said the funding announcement meant at least 800 New Zealanders most in need of employment due to the economic effects of Covid-19 could be employed in their own communities.
"Workers throughout New Zealand have been significantly impacted by the economic impacts of Covid-19," he said.
"This latest investment is in addition to the $100m earmarked for worker redeployment, of which $28m has already been allocated to Tairawhiti, $6.2m nationally for forestry workers, and $36.7m to other regions hard hit by the effects of Covid-19."
The $26m rail investment means work can start early next month on culvert clearing and drainage improvements on regional railway lines. KiwiRail will be working with the Ministry of Social Development to take on and train new regional rail workers.
"Our aim is to put in place measures to soften the impact on workers and businesses in some of the most affected areas, and in sectors where jobs have been lost and most in need of support," Jones said.
"The local councils and KiwiRail projects are providing vital support to regional economies as the PGF refocuses on projects that will provide immediate jobs, can start immediately and have high visibility to boost public confidence in the economic recovery."
Rotorua mayor Steve Chadwick said councils played an important role in stimulating local economies by delivering projects and facilitating and enabling collaboration.
However, she said, councils needed Government investment to help make it happen.
"Rotorua Lakes Council had received $1.1m from a recent Government allocation for rural roadside work that will provide work for about 25 locals who have lost jobs as a result of Covid-19.
"The work will be contracted to council's InfraCore CCO, which will work with the Ministry for Social Development on redeployment.
"This latest allocation is another opportunity to provide work for contractors and create jobs in the Bay of Plenty, and will be welcomed as our districts continue to feel the impact of Covid-19."
Rotorua Chamber of Commerce chief executive Bryce Heard said he was eager to see what the details were.
"All I can say is watch this space with interest to see what the details are. But it sounds great," he said. "There is demand around for some big projects..."
Tauranga mayor Tenby Powell said he was "very supportive" of the initiative.
"I think the concept of redeployment is a very real issue that we have to face up to and I'm pleased to see Government acting so quickly to do exactly that.
"Given the level of unemployment so far - it's expected to be around 10 per cent and let's hope it's no more than that - having people retrain and work in areas that the country needs, to be able to pivot into those new jobs, I think is a very good initiative.
"I like the fact that it's split between roading and rail. I think it's a...

Queensland’s border could open earlier than planned if Australia’s COVID-19 status improves, the state’s chief health officer says.
Asked on Sunday if the state government still plans to open the border on July 10, marking stage three of the road map to easing restrictions, Dr Jeannette Young said their method to making any changes stayed the same.
“At the end of this month we will review all of our epidemiology,” she told reporters.
“Not only ours here in Queensland but from across the country to make those decisions about our borders.”
Dr Young said the stage three date would remain as July 10 “unless of course something … was very different either way”.
“If things were a lot better then of course we could bring that date forward, as did happen for this month’s stage two,” she said.
“Or if something were to happen interstate, I’m sure everyone would expect that we then push that date out.
“That’s always been the role of that road map, at the end of each month we’ve reviewed the situation we’re in.”
The reopening date was announced after Prime Minister Scott Morrison put the hard word on state and territory leaders at National Cabinet in Canberra on Friday.
“I would like to make one thing very clear to the states and territories today,” he said.
“If you cannot come to your state from Sydney then no one is coming to your state from Singapore. So if you want borders open for international students then you need to open borders for Australians.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said the state wasn’t dissenting from the advice.
“We are at one on this in terms of July,” she said.
There were 18 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Australia in the 24 hours to Sunday night but none in the Sunshine State.
Nine were in New South Wales, being eight returned travellers and a primary school teacher, and the other nine were in Victoria.
Five of those cases were linked to outbreaks, three were detected in hotel quarantine and one through routine testing.
Dr Young noted “there is some ongoing level of community transmission in southern states at the moment”.
But she has relaxed her stance on wanting to see a month go by without such a case recorded before lifting the state’s border restrictions, noting it does not have the “same degree of significance” as in previous months.
“Of course that’s the ideal, that’s one factor that we place a lot of significance on but there are other factors as well,” she said.
“We’ve got to remember, we’re in a totally different position here today in Queensland than we were back in March.”
She said the state would not have been able to manage an increase in cases and contact tracing, potentially from interstate travellers, when 80 new cases were being recorded there each day and up to 100 people needed to be contacted per person.
“Now we have a lot more contact tracers here in Queensland plus we have 500 additional people who have been trained if we need them,” Dr Young said.
“We definitely don’t need them at the moment of course, only having one case every day or so.”
Queensland Health Minister and Deputy Premier Steven Miles was asked whether the government was considering opening the border to certain states, such as NSW, first.
“Some work has been done on how, logistically, that could be done,” he said.
“Our preference though would be to lift the borders all at once, hopefully on the 10th of July, depending on that assessment at the end of the month,” he said.
Dr Miles said a travel bubble between states “would be possible” but is “probably unlikely”.
“It’s difficult to see how we could enforce something like that but certainly throughout this whole situation, we’ve assessed all of the possible options and that has been one that’s been considered at different points in time,” he said.
“There’s legal difficulty, there’s also the practical difficulty of how you...

The flu has been squashed down to historically low levels in New Zealand, thanks to the raft of radical measures we used to crush Covid-19.
New data has revealed how the combined effect of shut borders, heightened hygiene, record vaccine uptake and six weeks of lockdown also knocked back several other infectious diseases.
More than 200,000 Kiwis catch the flu each year, and an estimated 500 people die from it - more than the annual road toll.
Experts have been left astonished at the impact that the fight against Covid-19 has so far had on flu rates - one likening it to a fascinating "natural experiment".
But they warn the common virus will likely creep back up as Kiwis mingle under the looser world of level 1 - and are urging Kiwis to keep up good hygiene this winter.
It's also unclear whether rates will stay low enough to avoid the annual pressure heaped on hospitals, or help district health boards make headway into an 18-month backlog of elective surgeries from the pandemic.
The latest ESR data showed that, for the week ending June 5, the rate of consultations for flu-like illness was five per 100,000, compared with a historical rate of 16.5 per 100,000.
While consultation rates soared to more than 25 per 100,000 in March - in line with a surge in patients being checked for Covid-19 - the following month, figures dropped away to just 4.3 per 100,000.
Usually at this time of year, there'd be about 22 flu-related calls per 100,000 people to Heathline; rates were instead sitting at about 15 per 100,000.
Similarly, reports of any cough or fever among people being tracked by the FluTracking website are at historically low rates.
And in Auckland hospitals, rates of severe acute respiratory infection were hovering at one per 100,000 people, compared with a historical average of 6.1 per 100,000. Of 154 patients tested for influenza, 2 per cent turned out to be positive.
"At this early point In the annual influenza season, transmission is low," a Ministry of Health spokesperson told the Herald.
For Associate Professor Helen Petousis-Harris, a vaccinologist at the University of Auckland, the drop in activity was "profound".
"There is virtually none at a time when the seasons would normally be in full swing."
Along with the six weeks the country spent in lockdown, breaking the chains of transmission, she also expected better hygiene practice and a record flu vaccine uptake would've played a part.
Almost all of this year's expected 1.768 million doses of influenza vaccine have been distributed, with an estimated 911,299 Kiwis having received shots at the end of last month - higher than any other season.
Many more likely would've been vaccinated without being recorded.
Otago University epidemiologist Professor Michael Baker was also taken aback at what he called "a very dramatic drop", adding our closed borders would've made a difference, too.
While influenza was always circulating in New Zealand, it was also seeded by many of the 3.8 million tourists who annually visit.
"We can expect that low travel volumes because of the closed borders, along with the 14-day quarantine in place, will greatly reduce the chances of these viruses entering the country," he said.
"You could say it's a huge natural experiment, in the sense that measures introduced as an intervention against Covid-19 effectively does alter the ecology of these viruses."
The trend has also been seen across the Tasman. Australia recorded 20,032 flu cases in the first three months of 2020, but just 504 in April and May when Covid-19 lockdowns were introduced, the ABC reported.
Petousis-Harris further pointed to rates of another key infectious disease, whooping cough, or pertussis, which had also recorded a remarkable decrease, diving from 82 in April 2019 to seven in the same month this year.
Using the same comparison, meningococcal disease cases fell from six...

Health Minister David Clark has saved his job - despite lockdown breaches - and business adviser Rob Fyfe is apparently still in Government favour, despite not being thanked or acknowledged for his economic recovery work.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today it was "remiss of me" not to acknowledge the work of Fyfe, the former Air NZ CEO who worked without pay for eight weeks as business liaison at the peak of the Covid-19 crisis.
The Herald revealed on Friday that the Prime Minister had effectively cold-shouldered Fyfe.
On May 18, Fyfe wrote to Jacinda Ardern letting her know that after eight weeks embedded in the Wellington Covid-19 operations command centre he proposed to return to his Auckland home.
Fyfe confirmed to the Herald that three weeks on the Prime Minister has yet to acknowledge his letter.
Nor had Ardern thanked him for the leadership he and his private-sector team brought to organising vital personal protection equipment for frontline health staff, ventilators and a world-class contact tracing app to cover clear inadequacies within the New Zealand health system.
"It was surprising," said Fyfe.
Ardern told Newstalk ZB's Mike Hosking today that Fyfe had sent her an email in May - she did not see that as the end of their engagement together.
"We have been working on a way to formally acknowledge the people who have been working for us and with us. I have been in touch with him in the last couple of days. We are having a catch-up some time very soon.
"The job's not done yet. Perhaps I viewed his ongoing role a little differently... perhaps he thought he was exiting and I didn't.
"Rob still has an ongoing role he can play, so I didn't see it as a conclusion.
"It was remiss of me not to publicly acknowledge him in between times given he thought he was concluding. He's played an important role."
The comments come as a spokesperson told the Herald on Friday that Ardern had thanked and acknowledged Fyfe.
Meanwhile, Ardern also confirmed David Clark would stay in his role as Health Minister, despite saying earlier he would have been sacked for lockdown breaches if the country was not in the middle of dealing with a pandemic.
Clark drove to a beach during lockdown and to a mountain-bike park on another occasion.
"I deem it necessary for him to be the Minister of Health," Ardern said today.
"I stand by the decision I made at that time.
"We have had a very successful response and David Clark has been part of leading that."
The country was also about to unveil health reforms that he needed to lead.
"If you are asking me if, because we are out of lockdown, I am revising that decision [not to sack him], I am not."

Every Friday morning, Mike Hosking is joined by Tim Wilson and Kate Hawkesby to wrap the week in news.
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Card spending last month rebounded back by $2.3 billion following horrifically low levels in April as businesses reopened after the Covid-19 lockdown.
However, in actual terms, retail spending using electronic cards was down by $332m from May 2019, reaching $5.2b total.
Consumables and durables were the only two retail industries of six to record increased spending compared to the year previous, Statistics NZ revealed.
The jump in retail spending for May was not unexpected, Statistics NZ retail statistics manager Kathy Hicks said.


t was thought the partial recovery was a direct result of more businesses reopening during alert level 2, which started on May 13, after sales plummeted during level 4.
The substantial increase in May was good news but trouble was still on the horizon, Retail NZ chief executive Greg Harford said.

Meanwhile, it was important to remember the transactions were from electronic cards only, with cash transactions thought to have decreased by 50 per cent, he said.
In May, sales for hotels, motels, cafes, and restaurants remained well below typical levels, but sales for groceries, furniture and appliances increased.
Grocery and liquor recorded the largest increase, up $254m, of the retail sectors last month when compared to the same time in 2019.
Spending on furniture, hardware, appliances, and other durables was the next highest, up $122m.
The largest decrease was recorded by those in hospitality and food and beverage services, where spending fell $428m - a whopping 41 per cent drop.
Restaurant Association of New Zealand chief executive Marisa Bidois said recent survey numbers were singing a similar tune to Statistics NZ.
Around 60 per cent of their 3600 members - which equates to 2160 - had experienced decreases in revenue in May compared to the year previous.
"People are worried, they really are but for many of our businesses they are still looking down the barrel of some significant losses," Bidois said.
"I don't want to be too negative but I want to explain what's happening - people are wanting to remain positive but there are some challenges out there as well."
Other areas of the retail sector which recorded losses in May 2020 compared to May 2019 were motor vehicle, apparel and fuel sales.
Sixty per cent of Retail NZ members were uncertain their businesses would survive following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
"Things are very fragile, it's very hard for retail businesses to recover from a period of almost no revenue coming in," Harford told the Herald.
"If you make a loss for a couple of months it will take a very long time to get over that … there are certainly some clouds on the horizon."
Where possible, Kiwis were encouraged to head out and shop locally by both Harford and Bidois.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has hit out at the thousands of Australians who attended rallies in cities and towns around the nation in a show of solidarity for the US Black Lives Matter movement and to call for an end to Aboriginal deaths in custody.
The PM told 3AW’s Neil Mitchell there was “no doubt” the government would have been easing COVID-19 restrictions sooner if not for last Saturday's protests, adding those who protest again this weekend should be charged.
“I really do think they should (be charged),” Mr Morrison said.
“The issues of last weekend were very difficult, but I think people carrying it on now, it’s not about that. It’s about political people pushing a whole lot of other barrows now, and it puts others lives and livelihoods at risk.”
The PM accused protesters of being selfish, after a Victorian man who attended a rally in Melbourne tested positive for coronavirus.
“Millions of quiet Australians have done the right thing and they didn’t seem to be that concerned about their health, or their businesses, or their jobs,” Mr Morrison said.
“People who would turn up to a rally this weekend would be showing great disrespect to their neighbours. It’s a free country and we have our liberties but the price of that liberty is exercising it responsibly.”

President Donald Trump is battling House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over renaming military bases that honor Confederate generals — and he's at odds with some in his own party as well.
Pelosi swung forcefully against Trump on Thursday, saying it's time to remove symbols honoring Confederate figures from military bases and the U.S. Capitol as the pandemic and civic unrest force a national reckoning with racial discrimination.
"These names have to go from these bases, and these statues have to go from the Capitol,“ the Democrat said at her weekly news conference. “The American people know these names have to go.”
Confederate monuments have reemerged as a national flashpoint since the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after a white Minneapolis officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes. Protesters decrying racism have targeted Confederate monuments in multiple cities, and some state officials are considering taking them down.
Trump doubled down Thursday on his vow to not rename military bases honoring Confederate generals, even as NASCAR announced it would ban displays of the Confederate flag at its races.
“Seriously failed presidential candidate, Senator Elizabeth 'Pocahontas’ Warren, just introduced an Amendment on the renaming of many of our legendary Military Bases from which we trained to WIN two World Wars. Hopefully our great Republican Senators won’t fall for this!” Trump said in a Twitter blast.
But Senate Republicans, who are at risk of losing their majority in the November elections, aren't with Trump on this issue. A GOP-led Senate panel on Thursday approved a plan by Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat, to have the names of Confederate figures removed from military bases and other Pentagon assets.
The ban would be imposed within three years and was approved by a voice vote as a piece of the annual Pentagon policy bill. A commission would be set up to oversee the process. The provision is likely to be matched when the Democratic-controlled House takes up the measure in coming weeks.
Confederate symbols in the military and on Capitol Hill are coming under attack as public opinion has dramatically shifted since Floyd's killing.
“The statues in the Capitol should embody our highest ideals as Americans, expressing who we are and who we aspire to be as a nation," Pelosi wrote earlier. “Monuments to men who advocated cruelty and barbarism to achieve such a plainly racist end are a grotesque affront to these ideals.”
At her press conference, she said of Trump: “He seems to be the only person left who doesn't get it.”
The presence of statues of generals and other figures of the Confederacy in Capitol locations such as Statuary Hall — the original House chamber — has been denounced by African American lawmakers for many years. Former Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., D-Ill., was known to give tours pointing out the statues.
But it's up to the states to determine which of their historical figures to display. Jefferson Davis, a former U.S. senator from Mississippi who was president of the Confederate States of America, is represented by one of two statues from that state. Pelosi, D-Calif., noted that Davis and Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, whose statue comes from Georgia, “were charged with treason against the United States."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the appropriate way to handle the statue controversy would be to continue the trend of states replacing them on their own.
“They can trade them out at any time ... a number of states are trading them out now,“ McConnell told reporters. “I think that’s the appropriate way to deal with the statue issue. The states make that decision.”
McConnell didn’t say whether he supports renaming bases such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina, named after Braxton Bragg, a Confederate commander and slave owner.
Senators on the Armed Services Committee approved the...