National MP wants on-air apology from ‘Maserati Mike’ Hosking after complaint upheld
Tuesday, 2 June 2026
National’s Joseph Mooney has twice asked Newstalk ZB for an on-air apology after being named by breakfast host Mike Hosking as one of five politicians leaking against Prime Minister Christopher Luxon - a claim he denies - but has not had a response.
The Southland MP was, along with his colleagues Tim van de Molen, Sam Uffindell, Barbara Kuriger and Andrew Bayly, described live on-air in April by Hosking as being “the leakers in the National Party” amid pressure over Luxon’s leadership.
At the time, Hosking said: “First of all, I am not a journalist. Second of all, I don’t have sources. Somebody told me this and I know that they know … they didn’t say off the record. I said, ‘who are they?’ and they went ‘bing, bing, bing, bing and bing’.”
All five strongly denied the claim, with Mooney and at least one other - Bayly - writing directly to Newstalk ZB to complain.
The media outlet last week upheld the complaints internally.
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“Having reviewed your matter, we acknowledge that the allegation that you were one of the five National Party ‘leakers’ should have been put to you for comment prior to the broadcast,” read a response provided by Newstalk ZB to Mooney.
“Accordingly, Newstalk ZB has upheld your complaint internally. We have also spoken to the team and reminded them of their editorial obligations.”
Mooney, on social media, described this as an apology, but Hosking does not agree. On his show last Friday, he rejected that characterisation and took aim at The Post for repeating it.
“Their coverage of our acknowledgement to the MP Joseph Mooney over outing him in the Luxon drama was wrong. They said we apologised. We did not apologise, Stuff [owners of The Post] literally made that up. It's sloppy, unnecessary and lazy.”
Mooney said that was “childish” and believed “Maserati Mike” should say sorry. The Maserati quip refers to well publicised media reports of Hosking having owned the luxury European car.
“[He should] apologise for being a bit of a douchebag and putting this out there on a morning when the whole country's eyes were on what was going on and not giving us the chance to say anything before he did so,” Mooney said.
The MP first asked Newstalk ZB if Hosking would read out an apology on-air last week, after his complaint was upheld, and followed up on Tuesday when he had not received a reply.
“It was really poor behaviour and his organisation’s acknowledged it, and now he’s refusing to apologise, which to my mind is quite childish.”
Mooney has said he won’t be taking his complaint any further. His next port of call would be the Broadcasting Standards Authority, which the Coalition Government announced plans to disestablish.
Meanwhile, at the time of writing, Newstalk ZB’s website still carries at least two articles that name Mooney and his colleagues as the alleged leakers.
One, an editorial by Wellington host Nick Mills reads: “If Mike Hosking is naming these names you can bet he's on the money, I’m prepared to lose my job on that.” The Post asked NZME, owners of Newstalk ZB, last week whether that article would be removed in light of Mooney’s complaint being upheld, but did not receive a response.
Mooney said he would expect the articles to at least carry a correction or disclaimer now that his complaint has been upheld.