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Speaker 1: So Phil GoF Is Gonski as High Commissioner to London

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Speaker 1: to the UK, I should say he made this remark

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Speaker 1: at Chathamhouse in London. He asked the Finnish Minister who

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Speaker 1: was in attendance at a panel, if she thought that

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump really understands history, which is obviously not something

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Speaker 1: you want to say about a thin skinned man over

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Speaker 1: in the White House. Now Winston is fired to Morris

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Speaker 1: Williamson's the former Consul general to Los Angeles. Good evening,

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Speaker 1: good evening, right call to get rid of him.

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Speaker 2: I think there's no choice for the Foreign Minister to

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Speaker 2: do what he did. I can tell you I was

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Speaker 2: a diplomat in the United States when Donald Trump was

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Speaker 2: the president for his first term. We're given very very

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Speaker 2: clear warnings that we are there to convey only what

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Speaker 2: the government's policy are and not what our own personal

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Speaker 2: views may or may not be. And it wouldn't matter

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Speaker 2: if you were talking about Japan or China or anything.

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Speaker 2: That's the role of a diplomat. You're there to represent

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Speaker 2: the government's views. And I think it was pretty clear

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Speaker 2: that I think Foreign Minister said it's untenable what happened,

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Speaker 2: and I simply don't know why Phil Goff would have

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Speaker 2: made such a mistake.

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Speaker 1: I wondered whether he knew he was being filmed. I mean,

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Speaker 1: he's been around the traps a long time. Surely you

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Speaker 1: must have known. But he was playing politician, not diplomat,

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Speaker 1: wasn't he. That's the problem.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and your problem with those things, and I always

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Speaker 2: I had it quite a lot. I went to a

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Speaker 2: function in Utah once and I was told it was

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Speaker 2: all well Chatham House rules because you were a Chathamhouse

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Speaker 2: And I never accept that, because someone will be filming

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Speaker 2: it with their hand camera, someone will be recording it

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Speaker 2: with a tape deck inside their jacket. You literally, when

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Speaker 2: you're in the public you have to be representing New Zealand.

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Speaker 2: You have to The government is the master. You are

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Speaker 2: there their pleasure and they can either appoint you or

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Speaker 2: remove you accordingly. And I have to say that I

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Speaker 2: was appointed under a national government when I went up

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Speaker 2: there and it switched to a labor New Zealand First government.

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Speaker 2: It's quite unusual for me to say it, but I

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Speaker 2: think Winston Peters is just an out standing foreign minister

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Speaker 2: and really well regarded around the world. Everybody I talked

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Speaker 2: to from the foreign sort of embassies of other countries

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Speaker 2: were actually quite envious that we had a guy who

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Speaker 2: knew foreign affairs as well as Winston Peters does.

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Speaker 1: He's had a long time to learn about it too, Morris.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for that. Marris Williamson, former Consul General in

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Speaker 1: Los Angeles.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive, listen live to

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Speaker 2: news talks.

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Speaker 1: It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast

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Speaker 1: on iHeartRadio.