Ethan Griffiths: Newstalk ZB political reporter on Chris Luxon visiting Samoa and Tonga

Building relationships is the focus for the Prime Minister, as he departs for Samoa and Tonga today.

Chris Luxon will visit the main islands of both countries this week to meet with the pair's new Governments.

Alongside him will be his Police and Pacific Peoples Ministers - as well as a business delegation and MPs from other parties.

Newstalk ZB political reporter Ethan Griffiths explained why Luxon is looking to strengthen the partnership between the regions.

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Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Edb joining me now News Talks, he'd be Political reporter
Ethan Griffiths is with us.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
Good morning, Good morning, Francisco.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you so much for being with us.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Right.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
The Prime Minister is after Summer and Tonga today to
kick off a sort of a three day visit over
the week.

Speaker 3 (00:27):
Yeah, he is. He's taking a small business delegation with him,
a couple of MP's from other parties and his own
Police and Pacific People's Minister. And this really is a
chance to properly meet the new governments of both countries.
They haven't been in power very long. I'm sure that
the oil, the issue with the oil supply will be
on the agenda, as well as transnational crime as well,

(00:49):
which has been a big issue in the Pacific over
previous years. But it was a little bit awkward. It
will be a little bit awkward for Chris Luxe and
as he lands in Samoa tonight. Last night it was
reported that while in Samoa, Luxeen will be bestowed with
a chiefly Martai title, which is a very high honor
in Samoa. The problem is. Samo's Prime minister said to

(01:11):
local media that Luckson had asked for the title, which
really is not a good lock.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Now.

Speaker 3 (01:16):
After this report came out, Luckson's office was quick to
strenuously deny that he'd asked for it, but that officials
had checked in to see if there were any any
ceremonies or honors planned, just so the PM could be aware.
So two conflicting stories there from both leaders, which hopefully
we will get some clarity on this week. Immigration rules

(01:37):
are likely to be a big point of discussion as well.
Samo's new Prime Minister has made no secret of the
fact that he is wanting visa free travel for Pacific
nationals coming into New Zealand. Of course at the moment
subject to visitor visas, which the government has reduced the
cost of, but it is still quite difficult in some
cases for samow And and Tommin nationals for example, to get

(02:01):
into the country. So will be a very interesting visit right.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Quite a lot this week the government's move on orders,
and we've sort of learned that the move on orders
didn't get the backing of the Housing or Justice ministries.
And we've also sort of heard that the Police Minister
was concerned about the pressure was going to put on
police and things. There's now a lot of talk about
how it could potentially add more stress to the justice

(02:26):
system and our prisons and things. Where's this pushback coming from.

Speaker 3 (02:32):
Yeah, well, I mean, as you say, there has been
a lot of pushback, I mean since this was announced
from places like city missions, the Salvation Army, organizations like that.
But of course officials as well always give their advice
and recommendations to the government on how to progress with
the sort of legislation before they choose to announce it.
We actually had that advice released to us on Friday,

(02:54):
and it is quite an interesting read. The Ministry of Justice,
for example, said there was a lack of evidence that
the orders would reduce crime rates at all. They said
that they were highly likely to just merely shift begging
or rough sleep into different locations. Also concerns as well
for the safety of younger rough sleepers, and we have
heard some MPs and some of these organizations talking about

(03:15):
the rise and youth homelessness as well, and there's concerns
for these people that they might be moved on to
a darker, less populated area, which could really risk their safety.
One of the most significant findings how it would clog
up the justice system. Officials found that it could lead
to an increase of two hundred to eight hundred court

(03:36):
cases a year, and that's quite a lot for a
government that has actually had a lot of success in
reducing the amount of cases before the district court. But
on the other hand, at the same time, the government
will be quite pleased with this recommendation from Ministry of
Justice as well. It's not really expected to increase the
prison population that much. Of course, the penals he's for
ignoring these move on orders are either a two thousand

(03:59):
dollars fine or three months in prison, but officials recommended that.
Officials advised that it would only increase the prison population
by about six people each year, which is a lot
lower than some opposition MPs have been suggesting. So expect
the debate on this law to rage on. It is
certainly one of the government's more controversial pieces of legislation

(04:21):
that has been pushed through Parliament in this term.

Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, I have a funny feeling ethan that the police
are going to use discretion over this when and you
know they are going to be picking and choosing when
it's actually important to be moving on, and I hope
they do.

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Yeah, I totally agree. I mean it just seems like
I mean, look living in Wellington, for example, you walk
down in Courtney Place and you see sort of the
ones you see all the time, the problematic ones that
might be causing a bit of a ruckus. But then
you see many others who I think have just fallen
on hard times and probably would move on if police
told them to, so lots of discretion, I imagine.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Ethan Griffith, thank you so much for your time this morning. Appreciated.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
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