Barry Soper: ZB senior political correspondent on Chris Luxon visiting the front lines of the HMNZS Manawanui clean-up

The Prime Minister's checked out the front-line of the HMNZS Manawanui clean-up in Samoa - as he attends the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

Small amounts of oil and debris from the Kiwi Navy ship have littered the waters near Upolu, since it sank more than two weeks ago.

 ZB senior political correspondent Barry Soper says this still isn't a good look for New Zealand.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry Sore, senior political correspondens with US. Now, hey Barry,
good afternoon. Hi, though prime Minister's in Salmar, and is
it straight to the wreckage?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Well, you know, the thing is, I found the Prime
minister's statement that he didn't want the Chogham to be
dominated by the sunken naval vessel off the coast of Sabor.
So what does he do. As soon as he touches down,
he goes straight to the headquarters that has been set
up for the aftermath of the sunken vessel, and that's

(00:33):
where he did his first stand up was at that headquarters.
So at least the first few hours of his visit
are certainly being dominated by the vessel. This is what
he had to say.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Now, our focus is jointly, we're working towards mitigating any
environmental impact. As you know, we're trying to mitigate and
dissipate any minor leaks that are coming out through venting pipes.
The good news as those primary fuel tanks are intact,
and we'll talk about how he removed that very very shortly.
But then obviously focus has been making sure there's no debris.
There's been clearly no loss of marine life. There's been

(01:04):
no pollution on shore. We've removed the containers, the three
containers that we're actually on the reef. So now we
move to a different phase and that phase is working
with our insurers and our selvers to make sure that
we get a safe uplift of the fuel out of
the ship, and we do that as quickly as we can.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Still is not a good look as it for New Zealand.
I mean, here we are with Commonwealth leaders and we've
got the sunk naval vessel off the coast.

Speaker 1 (01:29):
Well, to be fair though pretty accurate reflection of what's
going on in the country, and we had a pylon
come down. We're running the ferries into the ground the
whole time. It's only fair that we sink a boat
over there as well.

Speaker 2 (01:39):
But it's not causing pollution. It's just laying at the
bottom of the op.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
It might be causing a little bit, and.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's costing the taxpayer of course, an absolute arm and
a leg. But anyway, he'll move on from that and
he'll meet the UK Prime and as the first time
he's met him, so Kia Starmer later today and he'll
also meet King Charles. He's never met him before either,
so it'll be a big day for him. I'm not
sure there he's meeting King Charles today, but he'll no

(02:08):
doubt rubbed shoulders with him, because that's what they always
do it these sorts of gatherings.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah, so big deal's been made of the cost of
the public service redundancies, right, because it's about eighty million
bucks in counting.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
Yeah. Well, it's essentially the public service spokesperson for the
Labor Party that's done the sums, and that's none other
than aicheveril. She asked every ministry for the total sum
of redundancy payments made to staff and they mount to

(02:40):
just over eighty million dollars so far. But the point
that Nikola willis made, and I think it was a
fair point, that is small beer when you consider the
one point five billion dollars which she claims will be
saved as a result of the public service being cut
or peered back to where it was maybe a couple

(03:02):
of years ago.

Speaker 1 (03:02):
These arguments are always done because anybody who's ever been
made redundant or made anybody redundant, knows there's an upfront
cost and then you save a lot of money.

Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yes, exactly, Yeah, well, you know the Minister of Social Development,
they are the highest redundancy payments. They're almost fifteen million
dollars aroung A Tamriiki and maybe that's the problem that
we're facing at that particular organization. They paid out eight
and a half million dollars and stats they come in

(03:30):
at third and just on eight million dollars. So a
lot of money has been handed out to these public servants.
You'd wonder why the housing market isn't better and willing
to know at the moment.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Hey, what has Mark Mitchell, the Police Minister, had to
say about what the Marori Party said yesterday about defending
the rights of the gangs.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Yeah, I just find the statement by Raillery white to Tea,
the co leader of the Maori Party, absolutely absurd. He's
labeled at police conswered terrorism in a polto key and
Mark Mitchell. He's come out today and he said that

(04:07):
even though it's been claimed by whitey Tea that the
homes were violated on a hunch, he said they obviously
had good intelligence to go in and mount these raids.
And he said because there were twenty eight arrests, eight
hundred thousand dollars worth of assets seized and firearms and drugs,

(04:30):
So it wasn't just on a whim or on a
hunch that Whitey Tea would have us believe. And what
it does is it costs a cloud over the Maldi
Party itself. I mean, what are they in politics for?
Are they there to represent gangs in this country? I
mean these people pedal misery. I don't think the people
of a pot.

Speaker 1 (04:51):
Right that the Maori Party has come up with a
wacky idea though, Barry, thank you very much, because there's
been a run of them lately. Barry Soaper, Senior political Correspondent.
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