Chris Chang and Tova O\u2019Brien (Photo: TVNZ)<\/p>\n
Despite O\u2019Brien\u2019s wealth of news and political experience, this morning\u2019s Breakfast remained a typically random mix of topics. There were the big issues of the day, like a petrol price rises and an Australian proposal to ban under-16s from e-scooters, but there was also a sponsored travel segment about cruise ships (\u201chappy birthday to my dear friend Melanie\u201d, gushed Caro from World Travellers) and a bizarre news item about a Barbiefest event in Fort Lauderdale (\u201cwhere\u2019s the Ken booth?\u201d Chang piped up). It wasn\u2019t until the second hour when Luxon appeared that O\u2019Brien gave a hint of what Breakfast could really become: a thorough, well-considered morning news show where influential New Zealanders are held to account over the issues of the day.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien\u2019s interview with Luxon showed the potential Breakfast has to go beyond cruise ship promos and deliver morning news with depth and rigour. She switched seamlessly from topic to topic, and after Luxon said no, he didn\u2019t think we\u2019d go up the guts of the Strait of Hormuz, he also said that no, the government wasn\u2019t planning to cut GST on petrol. He also confirmed that there was no deep thinking behind why the government wasn\u2019t using the Beehive theatrette for their official fuel crisis updates, and it definitely had nothing to do with being spooked by the ghosts of Covid briefings past.<\/p>\n
Tova O\u2019Brien interviews the prime minister (Screengrab)<\/p>\n
\u201cCan I be really honest? We\u2019re working 20 hours a day, seven days a week on this issue,\u201d Luxon said as he defended his government\u2019s performance. Sure, but do they set four alarms every morning? O\u2019Brien then asked Luxon if he had intentionally taken more of a leadership backseat in recent days. He shook his head. \u201cMy job is the CEO,\u201d he began. O\u2019Brien cheerily pushed back: \u201cYour job is the prime minister.\u201d<\/p>\n
CEO, prime minister, Ken, it\u2019s all the same. \u201cMy job last week was hitting the phones \u2013 hard,\u201d Luxon continued, describing how he\u2019s been flat out on the blower with international leaders. He also said he signed off on a plan and delegated some authority, and there\u2019s a cabinet update every Monday. So, you know, heaps on.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve actually got on to it quite quickly,\u201d Luxon argued about the fuel crisis response, and said that other international leaders he\u2019d spoken to are struggling. \u201cThere are also others who have arguably got onto it much faster as well,\u201d O\u2019Brien bounced back, before moving on to her next question in the very same breath. \u201cDo you think Nicola Willis is a better communicator in a time of crisis, and that\u2019s why you\u2019re putting her forward?\u201d Luxon shook his head again, this time with a smile. \u201cNo no Tova, it\u2019s just simply a different approach.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Nothing offers a different approach better than a teen on an e-scooter, and Luxon was quick to bring the other bloke at the table into the conversation about banning under-16s from riding them. \u201cChris, what do you say, mate? What do you reckon?\u201d he asked. Then it was time for Luxon to skedaddle, though probably not on an e-scooter. \u201cEnjoy the rest of the day at school!\u201d the nation\u2019s leader chuckled at O\u2019Brien, as the highly experienced broadcaster prepared for the ad break.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two more hours of news, weather and interviews followed, with O\u2019Brien\u2019s first morning at the Breakfast desk eventually overshadowed by the announcement that Tottenham Hotspur will play in Auckland and the arrival of ex-Wiggle Emma Memma in the studio. At precisely nine o\u2019clock, O\u2019Brien\u2019s first show was done and dusted, and Chang told his new co-host that she\u2019d smashed it. \u201cI\u2019m just going to crumble into a little pile,\u201d O\u2019Brien joked as the credits rolled. Set those alarms again \u2013 she\u2019ll see you tomorrow morning, New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Breakfast streams on TVNZ+ and screens on TVNZ1 on weekdays from 6am.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Just how did the former Newshub political editor\u2019s first morning on Breakfast go? Tara Ward finds out.\u00a0 \u201cWelcome…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354492,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[7054,97988,11508,156,111,139,69,1066,9683,119314],"class_list":["post-354491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-breakfast","tag-chris-chang","tag-christopher-luxon","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-pop-culture","tag-prime-minister","tag-tova-obrien"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}