June 17, 2024 • 8 mins
Air New Zealand's Chair says the airline's done its best to help with the Defence Force plane's failure.
The Prime Minister's business delegation flight broke down yesterday in Papua New Guinea, en route to Japan.
Finance Minister Nicola Willis told Heather du Plessis-Allan “We’ve got a defence capability review under way – that includes being able to quickly get to the Pacific and around the world to help out after disasters.”
Willis said “That’s likely to include a plane capability.”
LISTEN ABOVE.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
With us right now as Nichola willis the Finance Minister
Hei Nikoler hither how much is in New Zealand charging
us for this rescue plane?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I don't know. I haven't been advised of that number.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Have they not told anybody in the government yet, or
has there been no deal struck?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I just haven't been advised of that number yet. Heither
I've been in back to back meetings today. But I'm
sure that that is a number that will be available
for public scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Is that a pledge to make it public?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh? Look, as long as it's not commercially sensitive. So
in New Zealand, no doubt we'll have arrangements in place.
But my expectation would be that we can share more
information about that in the centre and.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Look forward to it. Hey, what are we going to
do about the Defense Force planes? We're going to have
to buy a couple of new ones, aren't we.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, we've got a defense capability review underway, so we're
looking at what is the kIPS that the Defense Force
require for the future so that it can do the
things we expect it to do. And of course that
does include being able to quickly get to places in
the Pacific, around the world, so that we can help
out after disasters, so that we can transport our soldiers
(01:06):
around the world. And so that's likely to include a
plane capability, and it may be that as a result
of that review they recommend replacement planes.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
How long does that review take.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's underway at the moment, and our intention is that
it's completed ahead of our budget next year, so that
our budget can reflect the investment decisions that Defense are
advising us they want to make over the coming decade.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Any idea what it costs to buy a plane to
replace the ones we've got oka.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I think a lot of those questions like how long
is a piece of string, because obviously planes can come
at different costs depending on whether they're news you can hand,
how big they are, what capability they have. So what
we'd need to consider is what's a plane that can
do all of the functions that the Defense Force needs
to do but in a way that we can afford
to maintain and that works with all of our other kits.
(02:00):
That that number will be no doubt one of the
things that Defense Force that are considering as part of
their capability.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So if we were to get this review done by
budget next year, and then budget was to include new planes.
We're still, you know, given how long it takes to
get these things, we're still maybe two or three years,
maybe even more away from actually having the planes. In
the meantime, what do we do? I mean, does the
Prime Minister need to fly commercially because he can't keep
doing this?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah? Look, I think that he needs to consider for
every visit he goes on, what's the way is to
do it that is the most reliable. And obviously, if
we can't be assured that the planes are going to
be able to get up in the year, that sometimes
he's going to be flying commercial to the people who
is flying with.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, does the Defense Force sometimes say, look, it's a
little bit dodgy at the moment, or you know, other
times now she's looking good. Do they actually have a
sense of whether it's going to work well?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Look, I think that they go to her extensive efforts
to make sure that their planes are safe and that
they're ready for the Prime Minister. But obviously in this
case they've found an issue that they've said no, it's
not safe to fly, and they've made that decision. And
I'd rather they made that decision that put a plane
up in the air that wasn't safe. But we do
(03:11):
obviously need to look in the future into how we
make sure that when the pen is flying around, but
it's reliable.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Hey, I see you're considering performance pay for public sector CEOs.
How much are you thinking?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, I'm still taking advice on that, But what I
want to see is a culture of performance and accountability
in the public service. And just as anyone working in
a business actually feel the results of their efforts, we
want public agencies and their leaders to feel responsible not
just for turning up, but's actually getting a result. And
(03:43):
so we've set those public service targets. You'll be aware
where said will be measuring performance against them every three
months and making that public. Well, we'd quite like it
as chief executives feel personal accountability for delivering against both targets,
and we think performance pay is another way to create
that culture.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So, I mean, it'll be easy enough to set the
targets for somebody who's running let's say the Ministry of Education.
Obviously how many kids are graduating, passing, what have and
health will be really easy and so on. But how
on earth do you set a target for somebody running
the Ministry of Women.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well, obviously what the performance will be judged on will
vary from agency to agency, but it might be about
how they're contributing to another target that the government has
in place. And actually, every single person employed by the
government and a public role with responsibility has accountability, so
we should be able to measure their performance against those accountabilities.
(04:39):
And we all know there's some people who do a
great job to go above and beyond their job description,
and there's others who don't. And I think that it's
good to reward those who perform really well, have prepared
to be innovative, to do things differently, to really challenge
their teams. Those are the kinds of go getters I
want in the public service. So let's make sure that
(04:59):
we actually we have structures that are modern pay structures
that reflect that reality. The private sector do it for
a reason because it gets results.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Do you think Fitch is going to downgrade us?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
No, I don't think so. I think that they can
continue to see that New Zealand has a position which
is going to make us a good place to invest
in and then too into the future.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
The one thing that worried me. And what they said
is that our best years are behind us. For now.
We had a decade of growth and now we're not
going to have a decade of growth.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Does that worry you, Well, I think our best years
are in front of us. But I think that if
we are complacent, then we could be in for a
continuation of what. Let's face it has been a pretty
troubling period economically because what we have.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
But what that point to is the fact that China
fueled our growth for such a long time. And now
China's not buying as much of our stuff right because
they're not growing as fast. So what do we replace
China with?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, I think if you talk to individual business owners
and sectors across the country, they will tell you that
they see growth, opportunity and new markets not just China,
but also they'll tell you there are cities upon cities,
town upon town that they're still not selling to in China.
They'll tell you about how they're looking to make their
(06:17):
processes more efficient, but I get gamards on the products
that they create that they look at to produce more
of their products using modern systems. I'm actually hitting enough
people working in their organization. I guess my point is
this the idea about what the next big growth thing is,
in my experience very rarely actually comes from a politician
(06:37):
or government agency. That comes from entrepreneurs and businesses being
able to get on with what they do best, and
so as a government we're trying to create foundations on
which they can do that, to get the barriers out
of the way and let them go for it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Hey, is Winston warming up to the idea of letting
the foreigners come in and buy houses here?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Well, you'd have to ask onestion about that.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
But you've had the do you know how hard it is?
You've had the conversations with them? Can't you tell us?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, obviously we've got a coalition agreement that I respect
which maternational agreed not to progress our policy to reverse
the foreign biban and impose a charge on foreign FIBs.
Every party in the coalition has the ability to revisit
any aspect of our agreements if they believe it's in
the best interests of New Zealand. So that is ultimately
(07:26):
a question for Winston Peter's in New Zealand. First, is
a government minister I adhere to the government policy which
is as this out.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I reckon that sounds hopeful, So I'm going to take
some hope from that. Nikola, do you reckon we need
to look into these allegations that were made last week
about Chinese interference in our democracy?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, I'm confident that government agencies all foreign interpearance seriously
and that zan has in place system that I'm sure
we react to that appropriately.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Was Yan yang Aspy.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Thank you. That was a tough question, Nicola. Thank you.
I appreciate it. Nicola Willis Finance Minister. Then again, then again,
would Nichola have known? So I my mind remains open
for more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to
news talks it'd b from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
With us right now as Nichola willis the Finance Minister
Hei Nikoler hither how much is in New Zealand charging
us for this rescue plane?
Speaker 2 (00:08):
I don't know. I haven't been advised of that number.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Have they not told anybody in the government yet, or
has there been no deal struck?
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I just haven't been advised of that number yet. Heither
I've been in back to back meetings today. But I'm
sure that that is a number that will be available
for public scrutiny.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Is that a pledge to make it public?
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Oh? Look, as long as it's not commercially sensitive. So
in New Zealand, no doubt we'll have arrangements in place.
But my expectation would be that we can share more
information about that in the centre and.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Look forward to it. Hey, what are we going to
do about the Defense Force planes? We're going to have
to buy a couple of new ones, aren't we.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, we've got a defense capability review underway, so we're
looking at what is the kIPS that the Defense Force
require for the future so that it can do the
things we expect it to do. And of course that
does include being able to quickly get to places in
the Pacific, around the world, so that we can help
out after disasters, so that we can transport our soldiers
(01:06):
around the world. And so that's likely to include a
plane capability, and it may be that as a result
of that review they recommend replacement planes.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
How long does that review take.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
It's underway at the moment, and our intention is that
it's completed ahead of our budget next year, so that
our budget can reflect the investment decisions that Defense are
advising us they want to make over the coming decade.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Any idea what it costs to buy a plane to
replace the ones we've got oka.
Speaker 2 (01:38):
I think a lot of those questions like how long
is a piece of string, because obviously planes can come
at different costs depending on whether they're news you can hand,
how big they are, what capability they have. So what
we'd need to consider is what's a plane that can
do all of the functions that the Defense Force needs
to do but in a way that we can afford
to maintain and that works with all of our other kits.
(02:00):
That that number will be no doubt one of the
things that Defense Force that are considering as part of
their capability.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
So if we were to get this review done by
budget next year, and then budget was to include new planes.
We're still, you know, given how long it takes to
get these things, we're still maybe two or three years,
maybe even more away from actually having the planes. In
the meantime, what do we do? I mean, does the
Prime Minister need to fly commercially because he can't keep
doing this?
Speaker 2 (02:23):
Yeah? Look, I think that he needs to consider for
every visit he goes on, what's the way is to
do it that is the most reliable. And obviously, if
we can't be assured that the planes are going to
be able to get up in the year, that sometimes
he's going to be flying commercial to the people who
is flying with.
Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, does the Defense Force sometimes say, look, it's a
little bit dodgy at the moment, or you know, other
times now she's looking good. Do they actually have a
sense of whether it's going to work well?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Look, I think that they go to her extensive efforts
to make sure that their planes are safe and that
they're ready for the Prime Minister. But obviously in this
case they've found an issue that they've said no, it's
not safe to fly, and they've made that decision. And
I'd rather they made that decision that put a plane
up in the air that wasn't safe. But we do
(03:11):
obviously need to look in the future into how we
make sure that when the pen is flying around, but
it's reliable.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Hey, I see you're considering performance pay for public sector CEOs.
How much are you thinking?
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well, I'm still taking advice on that, But what I
want to see is a culture of performance and accountability
in the public service. And just as anyone working in
a business actually feel the results of their efforts, we
want public agencies and their leaders to feel responsible not
just for turning up, but's actually getting a result. And
(03:43):
so we've set those public service targets. You'll be aware
where said will be measuring performance against them every three
months and making that public. Well, we'd quite like it
as chief executives feel personal accountability for delivering against both targets,
and we think performance pay is another way to create
that culture.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So, I mean, it'll be easy enough to set the
targets for somebody who's running let's say the Ministry of Education.
Obviously how many kids are graduating, passing, what have and
health will be really easy and so on. But how
on earth do you set a target for somebody running
the Ministry of Women.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Well, obviously what the performance will be judged on will
vary from agency to agency, but it might be about
how they're contributing to another target that the government has
in place. And actually, every single person employed by the
government and a public role with responsibility has accountability, so
we should be able to measure their performance against those accountabilities.
(04:39):
And we all know there's some people who do a
great job to go above and beyond their job description,
and there's others who don't. And I think that it's
good to reward those who perform really well, have prepared
to be innovative, to do things differently, to really challenge
their teams. Those are the kinds of go getters I
want in the public service. So let's make sure that
(04:59):
we actually we have structures that are modern pay structures
that reflect that reality. The private sector do it for
a reason because it gets results.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Do you think Fitch is going to downgrade us?
Speaker 2 (05:11):
No, I don't think so. I think that they can
continue to see that New Zealand has a position which
is going to make us a good place to invest
in and then too into the future.
Speaker 1 (05:24):
The one thing that worried me. And what they said
is that our best years are behind us. For now.
We had a decade of growth and now we're not
going to have a decade of growth.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Does that worry you, Well, I think our best years
are in front of us. But I think that if
we are complacent, then we could be in for a
continuation of what. Let's face it has been a pretty
troubling period economically because what we have.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
But what that point to is the fact that China
fueled our growth for such a long time. And now
China's not buying as much of our stuff right because
they're not growing as fast. So what do we replace
China with?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Well, I think if you talk to individual business owners
and sectors across the country, they will tell you that
they see growth, opportunity and new markets not just China,
but also they'll tell you there are cities upon cities,
town upon town that they're still not selling to in China.
They'll tell you about how they're looking to make their
(06:17):
processes more efficient, but I get gamards on the products
that they create that they look at to produce more
of their products using modern systems. I'm actually hitting enough
people working in their organization. I guess my point is
this the idea about what the next big growth thing is,
in my experience very rarely actually comes from a politician
(06:37):
or government agency. That comes from entrepreneurs and businesses being
able to get on with what they do best, and
so as a government we're trying to create foundations on
which they can do that, to get the barriers out
of the way and let them go for it.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Hey, is Winston warming up to the idea of letting
the foreigners come in and buy houses here?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Well, you'd have to ask onestion about that.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
But you've had the do you know how hard it is?
You've had the conversations with them? Can't you tell us?
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Well, obviously we've got a coalition agreement that I respect
which maternational agreed not to progress our policy to reverse
the foreign biban and impose a charge on foreign FIBs.
Every party in the coalition has the ability to revisit
any aspect of our agreements if they believe it's in
the best interests of New Zealand. So that is ultimately
(07:26):
a question for Winston Peter's in New Zealand. First, is
a government minister I adhere to the government policy which
is as this out.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
I reckon that sounds hopeful, So I'm going to take
some hope from that. Nikola, do you reckon we need
to look into these allegations that were made last week
about Chinese interference in our democracy?
Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, I'm confident that government agencies all foreign interpearance seriously
and that zan has in place system that I'm sure
we react to that appropriately.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
Was Yan yang Aspy.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Thank you. That was a tough question, Nicola. Thank you.
I appreciate it. Nicola Willis Finance Minister. Then again, then again,
would Nichola have known? So I my mind remains open
for more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to
news talks it'd b from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.