The Mike Hosking Breakfast

For those who don’t work in the public service, if you ever want a lesson into why it's completely different to the way the rest of us work, just look at yesterday's decision by the Privileges Committee when it came to Alison McDonald and Nic Blakeley and their misleading of ministers and an IT project at immigration.
They deliberately misled MPs. That's what the committee found.
Just think about that – it wasn't an accident. This isn't a maybe they did/maybe they didn't scenario.
They deliberately misled them.
The punishment is... there is no punishment. Unless you believe the committee saying what it did is punishment enough, which, as it turns out, is exactly how it unfolds.
This is unique to the public service. You fail at the job, you fail to be independent, and you fail to be honest, but short of being outed as such, that’s where it stays.
Nowhere else in the New Zealand workforce can that happen the way it has.
Smallish side note, which also gives insight into the public service; they claim they didn’t want to say anything about the IT project being dead because they were negotiating a commercial exit with various other players in the project.
They could have, but didn’t realise, talked to MPs in private to inform them of this critical piece of information.
These people were at the top of the public service tree and yet didn’t realise how the system works.
You see it, ironically, in the Parliament all the time with MPs. They don’t know how Parliament works and they don’t understand rules and standing orders. It reminds you of just how many people go to work in this country and aren't really interested in being that good.
The public service has had a rough time of it. The claim is they are not fans of the Government and events like this merely show the suspicion is well-founded.
It's an odd and worrying mix between Machiavellian behaviour, arrogance that they think they know best, and sheer dishonesty.
There's no good way at looking at how this played out.
And yet this is unique to the public service. The service we all pay for and the service I'm sure any number of unions would defend on an almighty ideological hill. You can do what McDonald and Blakeley did and still get to turn up the next day.
It's inexplicably absurd.
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The head of the CIA has travelled to Russia for unscheduled talks.
US intelligence chief John Ratcliffe flew to Moscow via Latvia, but neither the Trump administration nor Russia is publicly commenting.
Footage on social media also appears to show a diplomatic motorcade travelling through the Russian capital.
Retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan told Mike Hosking he believes Donald Trump is after Vladimir Putin's support to get out of the a very tight spot in Iran.
He says any help Russia may offer would be designed to leverage Trump's help in getting a favourable solution in Ukraine.
Ryan told Hosking that Russia's in big trouble in Ukraine, and it can only make significant process by using nuclear weapons, or by getting Trump back on side.
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A change in the wool sector.
Wool Impact and Campaign for Wool NZ have formally merged into the New Zealand Wool Collective.
It's a new sector-led body focused on growing the product's value in the country.
Chief Executive Ross McIsaac told Mike Hosking the merger was a logical step.
He says wool's financial potential isn't being realised, and there's a lot of work to do.
McIsaac says it's not only for core products such as carpets anymore, there's a range of items where it can be useful, which supports a higher price point.
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Strong results from the Port of Auckland.
They reported a 30% increase in underlying profit from last year, rising to a record $111.2 million, and a revenue of $403.8 million.
Container volumes rose by 5.5%, cars rose 17.7%, and containers moved by rail surged 76%.
As a result, the Port will pay a $55 million dividend to Auckland Council, an increase of $3 million.
CEO Roger Gray told Mike Hosking they're proud to be supporting Auckland as it continues to grow.
He says in August alone they've seen 25,000 cars arrive through the Port, and the cruise season is starting on Saturday – both of which are very positive.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 27th of August, we have good news for the economy next year and incredible numbers coming out of our dairy sector.
Do we have a postcode situation with grocery prices in this country? Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden talks prices and competition.
Retired Australian Major General Mick Ryan is a welcome addition to the show as he details the latest with Ukraine, Russia, Iran and the US.
Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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