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Speaker 1: Good afternoon. The business delegation and the media pack traveling

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Speaker 1: with the Prime ministers are both finally on the way

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Speaker 1: to Japan. The broken Defense Force plane flew them from

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Speaker 1: Papua New Guinea to Brisbane earlier, but had to fly

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Speaker 1: at a lower altitude because of technical issues, and in

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Speaker 1: New Zealand Flight then picked up the stranded travelers in Brisbane.

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Speaker 1: Is now on the way to Japan. Now. Before they

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Speaker 1: jumped on board, we caught up with Political editor Jason

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Speaker 1: Walls Hi Jason.

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Speaker 2: Good afternoon, Heather, Jason.

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Speaker 1: Going from Papua New Guinea to Brisbane on this broken

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Speaker 1: down plane, was the plane flying noticeably lower and slower?

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Speaker 2: Yes, I mean that was what we were told beforehand.

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Speaker 2: It was the port that we could get to where

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Speaker 2: the plane was able to move at this sort of altitude.

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Speaker 2: If we wanted to go any further, we would have

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Speaker 2: to take multiple stops. And look, I'm no airplane nuts,

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Speaker 2: but I did notice that we were flying a lot

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Speaker 2: lower than we were when we were going over to PNG.

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Speaker 1: Was the business delegation or is the Business delegation paved

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Speaker 1: off at this?

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Speaker 2: Like?

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Speaker 1: Are they saying anything about it?

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Speaker 2: Oh, listen, they're not speaking to us publicly. But we're

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Speaker 2: getting a sense that there was obviously some irritation in

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Speaker 2: some of the compations that I've picked up along the way.

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Speaker 2: There are some grumbled words about how this has shifted

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Speaker 2: the focus and has been a distraction. And you can't

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Speaker 2: really blame them for feeling upset about that sort of thing,

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Speaker 2: because it is a distraction. This has shifted the focus,

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Speaker 2: and they've got every right to be upset. I mean,

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Speaker 2: Chris Luxon, in his defense, did put together what was

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Speaker 2: a very good business delegation to kick down some of

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Speaker 2: these doors and get some more business and some hype

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Speaker 2: up some more trade. And that's just the winds being

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Speaker 2: completely taken out of the sales in that regard.

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Speaker 1: How much of a delay is this causing the people

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Speaker 1: who are actually paying to be on this flight over

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Speaker 1: to Japan, who are now detouring to pick you guys up.

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Speaker 2: Oh well, yes, I mean it's probably I'm close to

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Speaker 2: two three hours, I would say, and we're just about

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Speaker 2: to get on the plane, and I'm not looking forward

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Speaker 2: to the frosty reception that we're going to get from

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Speaker 2: all the people that paid good money to get across

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Speaker 2: to Japan and having to be diverted to pick us up.

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Speaker 2: But you know, the tab seems to have been picked

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Speaker 2: up by the government and Air New Zealand. They're going

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Speaker 2: to be looking at how that invoicing system works. So

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Speaker 2: at the end of the day, you, me and all

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Speaker 2: other taxpayers are paying for this one.

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Speaker 1: Would this have happened if Dame to Raise, the chair

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Speaker 1: and Greg four and the CEO weren't on the flight, Oh.

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Speaker 2: I highly doubt it. I mean the credit where Credits due.

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Speaker 2: Todd McLay has worked extremely well behind the scenes pulling

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Speaker 2: this together. When the Prime Minister ditched us in p

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Speaker 2: and G and gond and is Modiicaid without telling us

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Speaker 2: and just shipped off to Japan, he left Todd McClay

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Speaker 2: in charge who was able to put together this deal

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Speaker 2: with Air New Zealand and Greg Forum and Dame Terraise

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Speaker 2: were their instrumental to that getting it across the line.

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Speaker 2: So you know, it's they've made the best of a

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Speaker 2: really bad situation and I think credit where credits due

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Speaker 2: in that regard.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, any sense of what the government is going to

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Speaker 1: do in the future though, because they can not keep

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Speaker 1: doing this this is ridiculous.

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Speaker 2: Oh, it is ridiculous. It makes us look ridiculous on

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Speaker 2: a global scale. The prime minister of a sovereign nation

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Speaker 2: can't turn up to meetings because this plane keeps breaking down,

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Speaker 2: and it's getting to be it's getting to seem somewhat

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Speaker 2: of an international joke at this stage that can't continue.

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Speaker 2: But Heather, we said that the last time this happened

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Speaker 2: and the time before that, and I get the sense

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Speaker 2: that there's continuously been kicked to touch here and there

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Speaker 2: needs to be some serious questions around what we do next,

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Speaker 2: whether it is chartering planes or if it's just a

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Speaker 2: fully commercial option, and that'll be top of mind when

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Speaker 2: the Prime Minister is looking at things, because if anybody

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Speaker 2: is upset today, it's the prime minister who's been hugely

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Speaker 2: embarrassed by this situation.

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Speaker 1: Jason, thank you very much. That was Jason Wool's, our

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Speaker 1: political editor we spoke to before he jumped on that plane.

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Speaker 1: For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 1: news talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow

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