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Speaker 1: Winston, Peter's Foreign Affairs heading to the Cooks this week

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Speaker 1: for the first time since twenty twenty four, hoping to

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Speaker 1: get their Prime Minister Mark Brown back on our side.

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Speaker 1: They met at Winston's house for a cup of tea

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Speaker 1: a few weeks back. Phil GoF, former Foreign Affairs Minister,

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Speaker 1: with us this morning. Feel good morning.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning, Ryan.

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Speaker 1: So what should be the goal here?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think the goal will be to try to

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Speaker 2: get the relationship to back on track. It shouldn't be

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Speaker 2: too hard. Supposedly, this is a country of seventeen thousand people.

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Speaker 2: They have ninety four thousand compatriots, people of Cook Island

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Speaker 2: descent living in New Zealand. They get nearly half of

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Speaker 2: their aid from New Zealand and they carry a New

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Speaker 2: Zealand passport. Now you know, I think the Cooks are

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Speaker 2: at fault and the problem that occurred over the strategic

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Speaker 2: partnership with China. They were bound under a two thousand

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Speaker 2: and one agreement to give due notice to New Zealand

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Speaker 2: and consult on it. What's their status. They're a self

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Speaker 2: government country and free association with New Zealand. That means

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Speaker 2: that they do their own thing except in areas like

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Speaker 2: defense and foreign affairs, and I think you know that

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Speaker 2: the danger is that a micro state like the Cooks,

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Speaker 2: a very small country, they can get seduced by any

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Speaker 2: scamster or any country that comes along. And that's the

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Speaker 2: challenge that New Zealand has long had with the Cook Islands.

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Speaker 2: But we all wondered whether, you know, with a breakdown

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Speaker 2: of the relationship, whether Winston Peter's had a plan B.

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Speaker 2: I think the plan B will be to rely on

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Speaker 2: the fact that Mark Brown is going to election this

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Speaker 2: November and it's really unpopular in the Cook Islands to

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Speaker 2: think that they might lose their access to the New

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Speaker 2: Zealand passport, one of their most prized possessions. So Peters

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Speaker 2: should have the cards on this one.

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Speaker 1: Plus, there is the issue of the funding that's been cut,

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Speaker 1: right that we're kind of turning the tap off.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Here supposedly we give the Cooks in total about

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Speaker 2: two hundred million over three years and Peters has cut

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Speaker 2: that by thirty million, and he's cut it selectively areas

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Speaker 2: that will influence the running of government rather than the

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Speaker 2: provision of things like health and education. You know. The

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Speaker 2: difficulty is, of course, if you're competing with China. China's

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Speaker 2: vastly bigger, vastly more resources in New Zealand. They could

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Speaker 2: come along and outbud New Zealand anytime. But do Cook

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Speaker 2: Islanders really want to have their primary relationship with China

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Speaker 2: rather than the country that they have blood ties with,

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Speaker 2: that they have so much in common with. And the

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Speaker 2: answer is most Cook Islanders really value the opportunity to

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Speaker 2: be able to live in the Cooks but come to

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Speaker 2: New Zealand visit family in New Zealand when they want to.

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Speaker 2: The Trump card is always well, you can say to

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Speaker 2: the Cook Islands, look, you can be an independent country

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Speaker 2: if you like. That's your sovereign right. You do it

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Speaker 2: by referendum. But by the way, if you do that,

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Speaker 2: of course you won't have a New Zealand passport, which

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Speaker 2: is totally appropriate. So the Trump card is held by Peters.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully there'll be an improvement in the relationship. It's stagnated

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Speaker 2: for really rather too long.

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Speaker 1: Phil Goff for former Foreign Affairs Minutes to appreciate your

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Speaker 1: time this morning.

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