June 16, 2024 • 7 mins
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon had to urgently change his travel plans while bound for Japan after the Defence Force's Boeing 757 ran into yet more mechanical troubles.
It left the business delegation and media travelling with the Prime Minister stranded in Papua New Guinea, including Newstalk ZB political editor Jason Walls.
He joined Nick Mills from Port Moresby airport to talk through the events of the last 24 hours.
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 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk SETB direct from News Talks edb's team
at Tolomance the bee Hive buzz hipus.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, it's not quite the beehive buzz this week, but
more of a buzz than any a jet engine, or
I guess the lack of a buzz from a jet
engine joining me from the road is on the road
is news Talk setb's political editor Jason Wall who was
stuck in Papa New Guinea last night and I spoke
to him just before he took off about an hour ago. Jason,
(00:42):
run us through what actually happened. When did you first
realize there was a problem on your flight?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Well, we stopped in Papua New Guinea to refuel and
did a we pressed end up with the Papua New
Guinea Prime Minister and Chris Luxon, and then we got
ushered away into a room to wait and we're only
soarced to be waiting for ten minutes, and then ten
minutes turned into twenty minutes, and then twenty minutes turned
into thirty minutes, and then I started seeing some concerned
looks on some of the officials faced and this is
(01:09):
not my first rodeo. I've been in this scenario before
and I know what those faces mean. And so they
called us together and said sorry, folks, were going to
be delayed by about an hour. Now I know better
than that if a delayed by an hour always leads
to something else. Then not long after that, we spotted
Chris Luxon getting into a car and jetting off in
(01:30):
a motorcade. And we hadn't really been told anything. The
only thing that we had seen was his officials going
onto the plane. So we thought, oh great, we're about
to leave. And then a couple of minutes later they
got off the plane with all their bags and we thought,
oh no, this is not this is not what we
want to be seeing. So the Prime Minister left with
all his or small part of his delegation and left
us here. And then since then we've had multiple updates
(01:54):
telling us how long we'd be here. The plan was
to fly back to Brisbane yesterday and take commercial flights
up to Japan, but that is being kiboshed because the
plane was too heavy, so it had to actually physically
take off burn fuel by driving around in circles or
flying around in circles rather and then landing again. Then
in the eleventh hour, Greg Floran from Air New Zealand,
(02:16):
who's been here as part of the Business Delegation, was
able to divert an Air New Zealand plane to Brisbane
to meet us there. So the where we're currently are
neck is where at the Papua New Guinea airport waiting
for the Defense Force plane to take us to Brisbane,
and then an Air New Zealand plane will take us
from Brisbane to Japan and then we will finally start
(02:36):
reporting on this Japanese leg of the trip.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Jason, you were a very high powered group from New Zealand.
I mean this must all feel bloomin Mickey Mouse. I
also heard that and that all those waiting times, all
you've been given is bags and chippies and some warm beer.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Oh yeah, I mean that sort of thing. You know,
it happens. You know, they're never going to give us
like five course meals while we're waiting. Things happen, and
we understand that. But yeah, this is a Mickey Mouse
rinkied inc operation. It doesn't make us look good at all.
I mean I heard some people from the Business delegation
saying how disappointing it was because it distracts from the focus.
I mean, in Chris Luckson's defense, he had assembled a
(03:13):
very a list team of delegates to come with him,
and in fact they're all just arriving to the airport now
ahead of the flight to Brisbane, so yeah, this will
be seen as a distraction. They're just looking to get
over to Japan to kick some doors down and do
some business, and now the focus has been stolen yet
again by this bucket bolts plane that can only get
(03:34):
up in the air about fifty percent of the time,
it seems.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And I mean your three day trip now is two days,
so obviously some things that you were planning on doing
and what the delegation was planning on doing and seeing
will be cut.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, I mean, fortunately it's nothing that important. It was
a bunch of MoU signings or various different PR exercises
where the Prime Minister goes and eats a bit of
sushi or the Prime Minister takes a photo of the
sporting team, so it was never really all that critical
for us to be there. The big stuff is the
Prime Minister's meeting with Prime Minister Kashita for me or
(04:09):
Kashina Kashita later in the week, which is happening on Thursday,
and that's still expected to happen, so we still get
to go to that meeting, and this the big part
of the delegation and the trade trip actually gets to happen.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Wouldn't it have made more sense if the Prime Minister
had come into the group and said, look, this is
what's happening. I'm getting on another flight. I've got to
get over there. I mean, just sitting there watching him
in his group, I mean, you must they must have
been in disbelief, the whole crowd of you thinking, what
the hell's going on? Oh, I know what's going on?
Leaving on another plane.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, well, we had absolutely no communications from the Prime
Minister's office at all. The only thing that we knew
was happening was me watching Chris Bluxon in a modocaide
looking fairly salty as he was leaving. We hadn't been
told what was happening at all, and so maybe, you know,
you would have thought Chris Luckson could have come in
and explained the situation himself, but he decided not to
do that. Instead, he just left with the scene without
(05:02):
telling us anything. I mean, we've got to hand it
to Todd McLay, who is being left in charge here
in Papua New Guinea, who's done a fantastic job in
steering the ship and being a common and steady presence
on that one and getting this greg foreign deal across
the line. Listen, this is going to be expensive to
the taxpayer. That's something that we'll have to cross. The
(05:22):
bridge will have to cross when we get back to
New Zealand and add all this up. But yeah, law
marks with Chris Luxon, but high marks for Tom McLay.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I would say, can you tell me what the people
are saying? Can you tell me what the business delegation
are saying? I mean, especially concerning the plane, are they
you know, there's a general chatter about God, this is ridiculous,
this is embarrassing. We need a new plane. Is that
the sort of vibe that's around Well, there's definitely.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
That sort of vibe. Whether people are saying that explicitly
to media at this stage, that's not the case. I mean,
we've just been in such tight quarters that getting that
sort of message across to us would be raising a
couple of eyebrows that you can obviously see the frustration
on their face. It's really not where they want to be.
They came on this trip to go to Japan and
not sit in the airport in Port Moresby. But there
(06:10):
is also a sense of tourism at this point. I mean,
everybody's read about this ridiculous plane that never gets off
the ground, but actually being here and experiencing at firsthand,
I think that's probably something that a lot of them
are going to end up telling their colleagues and their
family when they get home.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I mean, what does it tell the people of Japan
that you're going over to Impress and say, hey, we're
open for business, We're fantastic to do business with. Come
and come and do business in New Zealand when our
own plane can't even get us there.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Oh well, that's exactly how it's going to look. I mean,
the thing is New Zealand is a great country with
a lot of business opportunity, but we have this one
international embarrassment that keeps happening that makes us all look
like a rinky dink little country, which isn't the truth.
And I think that the onus is very much on
the politicians now to stump up and get a new
plane or work out some commercial options or some leasing options,
(06:57):
because at this point, I mean, this is about my
third or fourth breakdown that I've covered, and I've been
on maybe about ten trips. So that's a terrible, terrible
a strake rate on any metric.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Forty percent. You wouldn't want to take forty percent risk
with a plane, would you. Jason Wall has always good
to talk to you. I hopefully you get to Japan
on time and get home safely. Thanks for getting up
so damn early in the morning over there to talk
to us. Appreciate it. Be safe.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Oh, anything for you next?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
All right?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Jason Wall is our political editor. Oh my gosh, this
is embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks It'd be Wellington from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talk SETB direct from News Talks edb's team
at Tolomance the bee Hive buzz hipus.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Well, it's not quite the beehive buzz this week, but
more of a buzz than any a jet engine, or
I guess the lack of a buzz from a jet
engine joining me from the road is on the road
is news Talk setb's political editor Jason Wall who was
stuck in Papa New Guinea last night and I spoke
to him just before he took off about an hour ago. Jason,
(00:42):
run us through what actually happened. When did you first
realize there was a problem on your flight?
Speaker 3 (00:49):
Well, we stopped in Papua New Guinea to refuel and
did a we pressed end up with the Papua New
Guinea Prime Minister and Chris Luxon, and then we got
ushered away into a room to wait and we're only
soarced to be waiting for ten minutes, and then ten
minutes turned into twenty minutes, and then twenty minutes turned
into thirty minutes, and then I started seeing some concerned
looks on some of the officials faced and this is
(01:09):
not my first rodeo. I've been in this scenario before
and I know what those faces mean. And so they
called us together and said sorry, folks, were going to
be delayed by about an hour. Now I know better
than that if a delayed by an hour always leads
to something else. Then not long after that, we spotted
Chris Luxon getting into a car and jetting off in
(01:30):
a motorcade. And we hadn't really been told anything. The
only thing that we had seen was his officials going
onto the plane. So we thought, oh great, we're about
to leave. And then a couple of minutes later they
got off the plane with all their bags and we thought,
oh no, this is not this is not what we
want to be seeing. So the Prime Minister left with
all his or small part of his delegation and left
us here. And then since then we've had multiple updates
(01:54):
telling us how long we'd be here. The plan was
to fly back to Brisbane yesterday and take commercial flights
up to Japan, but that is being kiboshed because the
plane was too heavy, so it had to actually physically
take off burn fuel by driving around in circles or
flying around in circles rather and then landing again. Then
in the eleventh hour, Greg Floran from Air New Zealand,
(02:16):
who's been here as part of the Business Delegation, was
able to divert an Air New Zealand plane to Brisbane
to meet us there. So the where we're currently are
neck is where at the Papua New Guinea airport waiting
for the Defense Force plane to take us to Brisbane,
and then an Air New Zealand plane will take us
from Brisbane to Japan and then we will finally start
(02:36):
reporting on this Japanese leg of the trip.
Speaker 2 (02:38):
Jason, you were a very high powered group from New Zealand.
I mean this must all feel bloomin Mickey Mouse. I
also heard that and that all those waiting times, all
you've been given is bags and chippies and some warm beer.
Speaker 3 (02:52):
Oh yeah, I mean that sort of thing. You know,
it happens. You know, they're never going to give us
like five course meals while we're waiting. Things happen, and
we understand that. But yeah, this is a Mickey Mouse
rinkied inc operation. It doesn't make us look good at all.
I mean I heard some people from the Business delegation
saying how disappointing it was because it distracts from the focus.
I mean, in Chris Luckson's defense, he had assembled a
(03:13):
very a list team of delegates to come with him,
and in fact they're all just arriving to the airport now
ahead of the flight to Brisbane, so yeah, this will
be seen as a distraction. They're just looking to get
over to Japan to kick some doors down and do
some business, and now the focus has been stolen yet
again by this bucket bolts plane that can only get
(03:34):
up in the air about fifty percent of the time,
it seems.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
And I mean your three day trip now is two days,
so obviously some things that you were planning on doing
and what the delegation was planning on doing and seeing
will be cut.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:48):
Well, I mean, fortunately it's nothing that important. It was
a bunch of MoU signings or various different PR exercises
where the Prime Minister goes and eats a bit of
sushi or the Prime Minister takes a photo of the
sporting team, so it was never really all that critical
for us to be there. The big stuff is the
Prime Minister's meeting with Prime Minister Kashita for me or
(04:09):
Kashina Kashita later in the week, which is happening on Thursday,
and that's still expected to happen, so we still get
to go to that meeting, and this the big part
of the delegation and the trade trip actually gets to happen.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Wouldn't it have made more sense if the Prime Minister
had come into the group and said, look, this is
what's happening. I'm getting on another flight. I've got to
get over there. I mean, just sitting there watching him
in his group, I mean, you must they must have
been in disbelief, the whole crowd of you thinking, what
the hell's going on? Oh, I know what's going on?
Leaving on another plane.
Speaker 3 (04:41):
Yeah, well, we had absolutely no communications from the Prime
Minister's office at all. The only thing that we knew
was happening was me watching Chris Bluxon in a modocaide
looking fairly salty as he was leaving. We hadn't been
told what was happening at all, and so maybe, you know,
you would have thought Chris Luckson could have come in
and explained the situation himself, but he decided not to
do that. Instead, he just left with the scene without
(05:02):
telling us anything. I mean, we've got to hand it
to Todd McLay, who is being left in charge here
in Papua New Guinea, who's done a fantastic job in
steering the ship and being a common and steady presence
on that one and getting this greg foreign deal across
the line. Listen, this is going to be expensive to
the taxpayer. That's something that we'll have to cross. The
(05:22):
bridge will have to cross when we get back to
New Zealand and add all this up. But yeah, law
marks with Chris Luxon, but high marks for Tom McLay.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
I would say, can you tell me what the people
are saying? Can you tell me what the business delegation
are saying? I mean, especially concerning the plane, are they
you know, there's a general chatter about God, this is ridiculous,
this is embarrassing. We need a new plane. Is that
the sort of vibe that's around Well, there's definitely.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
That sort of vibe. Whether people are saying that explicitly
to media at this stage, that's not the case. I mean,
we've just been in such tight quarters that getting that
sort of message across to us would be raising a
couple of eyebrows that you can obviously see the frustration
on their face. It's really not where they want to be.
They came on this trip to go to Japan and
not sit in the airport in Port Moresby. But there
(06:10):
is also a sense of tourism at this point. I mean,
everybody's read about this ridiculous plane that never gets off
the ground, but actually being here and experiencing at firsthand,
I think that's probably something that a lot of them
are going to end up telling their colleagues and their
family when they get home.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I mean, what does it tell the people of Japan
that you're going over to Impress and say, hey, we're
open for business, We're fantastic to do business with. Come
and come and do business in New Zealand when our
own plane can't even get us there.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Oh well, that's exactly how it's going to look. I mean,
the thing is New Zealand is a great country with
a lot of business opportunity, but we have this one
international embarrassment that keeps happening that makes us all look
like a rinky dink little country, which isn't the truth.
And I think that the onus is very much on
the politicians now to stump up and get a new
plane or work out some commercial options or some leasing options,
(06:57):
because at this point, I mean, this is about my
third or fourth breakdown that I've covered, and I've been
on maybe about ten trips. So that's a terrible, terrible
a strake rate on any metric.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Forty percent. You wouldn't want to take forty percent risk
with a plane, would you. Jason Wall has always good
to talk to you. I hopefully you get to Japan
on time and get home safely. Thanks for getting up
so damn early in the morning over there to talk
to us. Appreciate it. Be safe.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
Oh, anything for you next?
Speaker 1 (07:23):
All right?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Jason Wall is our political editor. Oh my gosh, this
is embarrassing.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
to news Talks It'd be Wellington from nine am 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
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.