The Mike Hosking Breakfast

I'm trying to work out in this council amalgamation back and forward, how many who aren't amalgamating are genuinely stuck, versus how many are simply sticking it up the Government because they don't like them and/or they don’t like being told what to do?
Councils are the bane of our lives. We are over council-ed, we are overrated and we should be immeasurably grateful to the central government who are capping rates and reducing the number of these groups.
The deadline to submit your plan is this weekend.
As always there are a decent number who haven't been able to get there, or if they have it will be close to deadline.
Another part of the problem is of course we don’t care. Our participation rate via voting is a joke.
I noted ironically the other day Auckland Council set up a committee to work out why their turn out was only 28%. I could help them there – get rates down and produce fewer committees.
The only reason you can argue against amalgamation is you're power hungry.
There are 70+ councils in this country. A tiny island nation with a handful of people and we need, they argue, over 70 councils?
Tiny little operations with duplication of services all over the place, all with their own rules, regulations and staffing costs and all with their weird variation and interpretation of rules.
If ever there was a case for “less is more”, we have it. But no.
Like recalcitrant children they are holding out. I assume some of them because they hope Labour get back and let them get on with their orgy of waste and inefficiency.
When those who don’t submit rely on the so-called back-up plan, they will moan about that too.
The sad truth or outworking of this sort of behaviour is the revelation that these people are not really about us. They are not really about their community. They are about themselves.
They are power grabbers and control freaks. They love their insignificant little fiefdoms and love to laud their perceived power over others.
Come deadline and come the capping of the rates and the reduction of the council numbers, not to mention the water amalgamation, is there a single person outside those whose power is being disabled, that will actually miss what we currently have?
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A major milestone for ZB, as the station celebrates its centenary on Sunday.
It’s grown from fragile beginnings filled with government regulations and restrictions on broadcasting hours into the commercial juggernaut of today.
Leighton Smith spent 33 years behind the ZB mic, hosting the weekday morning programme until his retirement in 2018.
He joined Mike Hosking to reminisce on the years he spent on the station and watching it grow from 1ZB into Newstalk ZB.
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New Zealand's professional netball ranks could be about to undergo the biggest shake-up in a generation.
A private investor described as "a high net-worth family with sporting links" is in talks to take over the ANZ Premiership licence.
Any new model would see a franchise league established for the 2028 season, not next year.
Former Netball New Zealand chair Don Mackinnon says the move is timely in the current sporting landscape.
He told Mike Hosking that the traditional federated model that moves through club, school, province, and international has served New Zealand sport superbly for over a century, but it’s under huge pressure now.
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Politicians are being urged to pay more attention to our exercise workforce as a way of easing health system demand.
ExerciseNZ's proposing all parties consider compulsory registration for exercise professionals, removing the fringe benefit tax from employer-supported exercise, and using exercise professionals to help with ACC rehabilitation.
CEO Richard Beddie says they also want any future government to make one-hour daily school exercise mandatory.
He says physical inactivity costs the public health system $600 million a year.
Beddie told Mike Hosking GLP-1s are helping to address obesity, but they don’t address the underlying issue of inactivity, which is what’s driving all the big health costs and shortening lives.
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On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Thursday 6th of August, we look at the unemployment rate – is 5.6% the peak?
Paul Goldsmith is reviewing the Justice Department after another four employees were found to be on paid leave while facing criminal charges or misconduct investigations – one for more than 25 weeks.
Newstalk ZB legend Leighton Smith reminisces on the past with ZB set to turn 100 over the weekend.
Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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