General consensus our Defence Force plane is embarrassing New Zealand.
The Prime Minister and his delegation were stranded in Papua New Guinea - en route to Japan - after two fuses blew while the 757 was refuelling.
Chris Luxon took a commercial flight to Japan - and Air New Zealand's diverting a flight to collect his 52-strong delegation, which has taken a slow trip to Brisbane in the 757.
ZB political correspondent Barry Soper says flying on the Air Force plane gives an important signal on trade visits.
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Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Kerry Wooden Morning's Podcast from News
Talk s.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
B Verry Soper, senior political correspondent, joins us, now, as
how many times have you found yourself colling your heels
at some distant airport terminal around the world waiting for
a lemon to be fixed?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, look, I've been traveling on those new seven five
seven while I'm new is the operative word in this coach,
I suppose. But before that they had the seven to
two seven, which was a smaller plane, and that seemed
to have few problems at all. That they bought the
second hand seven five sevens, and really they've had problems
with them for almost from the beginning. This one involved fuses,
(00:51):
I understand it, which went off twice. So look, it's
embarrassing for New Zealand. I think if you're going to
take a trade delegation away and you're on a Royal
New Zealand Air Force plane, it's part of the lock
as well. You might be waving the flag, but you're
also showing that you've got a capable military in your
(01:11):
own country, and that's why the plane is pretty important.
But now we see this one again stuck in Papua
New Guinea on this occasion. I remember running a book
once Kerry when we took off from Auckland to see
when the stops that we're going to have and when
we were going to have the first breakdown We've got
(01:32):
as far as Brisbane speed the day there broken down
with one of these seven to five sevens. I think,
really the government's got to take the bull by the
horns and say, look, we have to spend money here.
It's ridiculous, and you do it that way because I
think as a country the government owes that to us.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I mean, what has stopped the Key government, the Ardouran government,
the Hipkins government, and then the Luxe and Coalition government
from coming out and saying, right, this is ridiculous, we
need a new plane.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, money, what's top that. Now you've got a man
in charge, christ the Lakson, who of course knows a
lot about planes, having been the chief executive of their
New Zealand. You think he would for one say lot,
this just doesn't work. But look there are various options, Carrie.
You could buy another plane, you could lease aircraft. Why
(02:32):
not from Air New Zealand. We own the company and
come to a lease arrangement with air in New Zealand.
Maybe you'd have to paint the plane again, but it's
small costs.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I thought in New Zealand was struggling to find enough
planes to fill demand. Are enough?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That is true too, Kerrie, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And I mean I don't really like the idea of hiring.
I mean, surely it's you know, the public knows that
money is being set aside for twenty eight to thirty
for a new aircraft. We might have to bring that forward.
It's not for any prime minister to have a jolly on.
It's a defensefulls aircraft that is used for defense force
(03:12):
business and occasionally loaned out to the Prime Minister of
the time and a trade delegation. That is not a
hard message to sell.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Surely, well, I wouldn't have thought so. And apparently Chris
Luxon left Philly suddenly, obviously to catch a commercial flight,
but he was in Papua New Guinea, so goodness only
knows how he got from Port Moresby to Japan. I
didn't think there was any plans flying from Port Moresby
like that, but nevertheless he left the delegation behind and ironically,
(03:45):
one of that delegation was Greg greg fourteing the forlorn Oran,
the chief executive in New Zealand, for goodness ake.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And Dame Terres Walsh's on the board of Air New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I think she probably made the call actually to get
them on another Air New Zealand flight on their way
to Tokyo as we speak.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
They need another aircraft. This is just ridiculous and they
just have to find a way of selling it to
the people because it's it's unacceptable and it's the ending
up costing us more than we're saving.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Oh absolutely, Kerry. They that the advantage for the Prime
min is to taking the Prime Minister where your plane
is that a whole team of journalists go along with them,
and they are able to do so because you pay
peppercorn the rates for a seat on the Prime Minister's plane.
So they like the coverage and that the Air Force
(04:41):
plane allows them to have that extended coverage. If it
was commercial flights, you would probably find the coverage would
be much less and only companies that can really afford
it would go well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
There is there a precious few media companies like that
right now. Also, can I just ask you scrutiny week.
What's that all about?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Well, this is a new advent in parliament. The Speaker, no, sorry,
the Clerk at the House, David Wilson, he felt that
and it wasn't his idea. The government had to approve it,
but he felt that the select committees there are pretty
much once over lately and this allows heads of government
departments predominantly opposition the MPs to query various ministers on
(05:27):
their budget spend. Not just on the budget but any
portfolio is up for questioning and that will happen this week.
It'll be pretty mundane and boring, to be a lot
of political point scoring made, I would imagine, but I
think they should take it much more seriously. And essentially
it's to test the government on the money they're spending
(05:48):
and why they need to spend where and on what
and what.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
They don't get enough opportunity to do that normally.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or the question time carry if you listen.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
To it, Yeah, I do like it.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, I like it too because it's and politics. But really,
if you're looking for a good answer to a question,
you very rarely get it. It's more about grandstanding than
getting the nitty gritty of the issue. So yeah, this
allows a more expensive questioning of ministers. I would imagine
(06:26):
that Nicky Willis will be in the chair for quite
a while being questioned because of the budget.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Interesting, Well, it's going to help Parliament run better, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Well, one can only hope. Okay, I've been living in
Hope for many, many years. You never know. That's a
burning question. I don't think that'll ever be answered the now.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Life time't interesting. Thank you so much, Barry Soper, Senior
Political Correspondent.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
For more from Kerry Wooden Mornings, listen live to news
talks it'd be from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Kerry Wooden Morning's Podcast from News
Talk s.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
B Verry Soper, senior political correspondent, joins us, now, as
how many times have you found yourself colling your heels
at some distant airport terminal around the world waiting for
a lemon to be fixed?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Well, look, I've been traveling on those new seven five
seven while I'm new is the operative word in this coach,
I suppose. But before that they had the seven to
two seven, which was a smaller plane, and that seemed
to have few problems at all. That they bought the
second hand seven five sevens, and really they've had problems
with them for almost from the beginning. This one involved fuses,
(00:51):
I understand it, which went off twice. So look, it's
embarrassing for New Zealand. I think if you're going to
take a trade delegation away and you're on a Royal
New Zealand Air Force plane, it's part of the lock
as well. You might be waving the flag, but you're
also showing that you've got a capable military in your
(01:11):
own country, and that's why the plane is pretty important.
But now we see this one again stuck in Papua
New Guinea on this occasion. I remember running a book
once Kerry when we took off from Auckland to see
when the stops that we're going to have and when
we were going to have the first breakdown We've got
(01:32):
as far as Brisbane speed the day there broken down
with one of these seven to five sevens. I think,
really the government's got to take the bull by the
horns and say, look, we have to spend money here.
It's ridiculous, and you do it that way because I
think as a country the government owes that to us.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I mean, what has stopped the Key government, the Ardouran government,
the Hipkins government, and then the Luxe and Coalition government
from coming out and saying, right, this is ridiculous, we
need a new plane.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
Yeah, money, what's top that. Now you've got a man
in charge, christ the Lakson, who of course knows a
lot about planes, having been the chief executive of their
New Zealand. You think he would for one say lot,
this just doesn't work. But look there are various options, Carrie.
You could buy another plane, you could lease aircraft. Why
(02:32):
not from Air New Zealand. We own the company and
come to a lease arrangement with air in New Zealand.
Maybe you'd have to paint the plane again, but it's
small costs.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
I thought in New Zealand was struggling to find enough
planes to fill demand. Are enough?
Speaker 3 (02:46):
That is true too, Kerrie, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And I mean I don't really like the idea of hiring.
I mean, surely it's you know, the public knows that
money is being set aside for twenty eight to thirty
for a new aircraft. We might have to bring that forward.
It's not for any prime minister to have a jolly on.
It's a defensefulls aircraft that is used for defense force
(03:12):
business and occasionally loaned out to the Prime Minister of
the time and a trade delegation. That is not a
hard message to sell.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Surely, well, I wouldn't have thought so. And apparently Chris
Luxon left Philly suddenly, obviously to catch a commercial flight,
but he was in Papua New Guinea, so goodness only
knows how he got from Port Moresby to Japan. I
didn't think there was any plans flying from Port Moresby
like that, but nevertheless he left the delegation behind and ironically,
(03:45):
one of that delegation was Greg greg fourteing the forlorn Oran,
the chief executive in New Zealand, for goodness ake.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
And Dame Terres Walsh's on the board of Air New Zealand.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
I think she probably made the call actually to get
them on another Air New Zealand flight on their way
to Tokyo as we speak.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
They need another aircraft. This is just ridiculous and they
just have to find a way of selling it to
the people because it's it's unacceptable and it's the ending
up costing us more than we're saving.
Speaker 3 (04:19):
Oh absolutely, Kerry. They that the advantage for the Prime
min is to taking the Prime Minister where your plane
is that a whole team of journalists go along with them,
and they are able to do so because you pay
peppercorn the rates for a seat on the Prime Minister's plane.
So they like the coverage and that the Air Force
(04:41):
plane allows them to have that extended coverage. If it
was commercial flights, you would probably find the coverage would
be much less and only companies that can really afford
it would go well.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
There is there a precious few media companies like that
right now. Also, can I just ask you scrutiny week.
What's that all about?
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Well, this is a new advent in parliament. The Speaker, no, sorry,
the Clerk at the House, David Wilson, he felt that
and it wasn't his idea. The government had to approve it,
but he felt that the select committees there are pretty
much once over lately and this allows heads of government
departments predominantly opposition the MPs to query various ministers on
(05:27):
their budget spend. Not just on the budget but any
portfolio is up for questioning and that will happen this week.
It'll be pretty mundane and boring, to be a lot
of political point scoring made, I would imagine, but I
think they should take it much more seriously. And essentially
it's to test the government on the money they're spending
(05:48):
and why they need to spend where and on what
and what.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
They don't get enough opportunity to do that normally.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Or the question time carry if you listen.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
To it, Yeah, I do like it.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Yeah, I like it too because it's and politics. But really,
if you're looking for a good answer to a question,
you very rarely get it. It's more about grandstanding than
getting the nitty gritty of the issue. So yeah, this
allows a more expensive questioning of ministers. I would imagine
(06:26):
that Nicky Willis will be in the chair for quite
a while being questioned because of the budget.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Interesting, Well, it's going to help Parliament run better, isn't it.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Well, one can only hope. Okay, I've been living in
Hope for many, many years. You never know. That's a
burning question. I don't think that'll ever be answered the now.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
Life time't interesting. Thank you so much, Barry Soper, Senior
Political Correspondent.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
For more from Kerry Wooden Mornings, listen live to news
talks it'd be from nine am weekdays, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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