Azaria Howell: Newstalk ZB political reporter on the Defence Force planes bound for the Middle East

Defence Minister Judith Collins says two Air Force planes will be heading to an undisclosed location in the Middle East to help any Kiwis who are stranded.

The White House says the war could last four to six weeks - with Israel unleashing a new wave of strikes on Iran.

A C-130J Hercules aircraft left Auckland's Whenuapai - and another was sent earlier to the Middle East, after being in Asia.

Newstalk ZB political reporter Azaria Howell says Collins confirmed the plan is to get people out of immediate danger so they can get on a flight home to New Zealand.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudgin
from News Talks EDB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
It's time to talk politics now and I am joined
by New Zealand News Talk ZB political reporter Azaria how
Good morning Isarria.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Good morning, Good to be with you. And I'm still correct.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
We are in New Zealand. That is correct. Hey, can
I talk to you about the New Zealand Defense Force
planes that have headed off to the Middle East. Look,
I totally understand that we're not to know where they're
going exactly when, what the destinations are. There's got to
be some secrecy around it. But why are they going?
Who are they going? To back up?

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yeah, So the big big story here two Air Force
C one thirty J planes being deployed to that region
to assess with evacuations. I spoken to the Defense Minister,
Judith Collins about this. She's confirmed that the plan is
really to take people out of immediate danger into a
safer area, So they will not be brought home to

(01:03):
New Zealand, fully right, They'll be taken out of the
immediate sort of conflict and brought somewhere where they can
potentially take a dimensional flight. Yeah, a commercial flight, yes,
So the logic there really is that they can evacuate
more people to safety rather than bringing a couple of
people or a few people to New Zealand and having

(01:25):
to leave people behind. We're also deploying consular staff to
the region, which is significant as well. Collins has said
that the plane can take more than one hundred people,
but we are looking at around three thousand New Zealanders
registered in the area on Safe Travel. Collins also said
when I spoke to her, there could be more who
are not registered there. Collins has also said we would

(01:48):
be willing to take requests for evacuation from our Commonwealth
friends and Pacific neighbors, so we'll see how that goes.
We've also had a flight land yesterday in Auckland from Dubai,
so it does seem like more of those commercial flights
are taking place now, which is definitely a good sign.
But the plan really is to take people out of

(02:11):
the immediate danger into somewhere safer. Then they can take
commercial flights back to New Zealand, which seem to be
taking place.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
That all makes sense, Thank you very much, Asaria. I
appreciate that. Now a familiar name is considering running for
a Maldi seat.

Speaker 3 (02:25):
Yes, a really interesting piece in The Herald. Former Auckland
Merril candidate Karen Leoni is considering running for Labor in
a Maldi seat. The Herald reports Leoni's put her name
forward for the Tamaki Makoto seat, are currently held by
te Pati Maldi's Ordine Kaipita and Labor will need to
fight hard in these seats because Tepati Maldi won six

(02:47):
out of seven of the Maori seats last election. It's
also significant because the Greens, as I've said before, are
trying to put some big names forward in those seats,
essentially making the campaign in some of those potentially a
three horse race. So Labor and p Willie Jackson has
said that the part will have strong candidates with fresh

(03:09):
faces and as he says, well known Malti candidates. So
we are keeping an eye on when the party announces
who some of these people are. But that would be
quite significant because she is a well known name in politics,
and it seems like the Malti seats really are trying
to put up well known people and people with quite
a high profile in terms of those campaigns.

Speaker 2 (03:33):
Azaria. This week the Royal Commission's COVID inquiry is going
to be released on March tenth.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
Yeah, so that is really really big news. I mean,
this inquiry has been taking place for some time. We
are going to be looking forward to seeing what that
inquiry comes out with. I imagine quite a lot of it
will be focused on that Auckland lockdown and potentially was
that the right call. Something is well worth noting though,
in this is that there have been calls from Nikola

(04:03):
Willis for a separate inquiry. She's been saying that there
will be a separate inquiry held in regards to the
Reserve Banks decisions. So this one is less of sort
of a a an inquiry into spending. It's more goes
into those public health decisions in terms of the vaccine
and the lockdowns and things like that. So it will

(04:23):
be very very significant to keep an eye on this
because COVID was such a huge chapter of our recent history.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
You're right, because they expanded, didn't they the inquiry's terms
of reference to be able to include the lockdowns and
vaccine mandates and things. I'm sure that people will be
very interested to see what the outcome of the reporter
is Azariah, how News Talks the people that a reporter.
Thank you so much for your time this morning. Hey, look,
and don't forget that we've got a treat for fans
of Solemeo and Opera after ten, the amazing Panne Batti

(04:52):
is with me in the studio twelve to.

Speaker 1 (04:54):
Ten for more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin.
Listen live to News Talks there'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.