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Phil Goff: Former Foreign Affairs Minister on the meeting between Winston Peters and Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Winston, Peter's Foreign Affairs heading to the Cooks this week
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: for the first time since twenty twenty four, hoping to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: get their Prime Minister Mark Brown back on our side.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: They met at Winston's house for a cup of tea
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: a few weeks back. Phil GoF, former Foreign Affairs Minister,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: with us this morning. Feel good morning.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, good morning, Ryan.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: So what should be the goal here?
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Well, I think the goal will be to try to
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: get the relationship to back on track. It shouldn't be
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: too hard. Supposedly, this is a country of seventeen thousand people.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: They have ninety four thousand compatriots, people of Cook Island
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: descent living in New Zealand. They get nearly half of
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: their aid from New Zealand and they carry a New
• 0:39
  Speaker 2: Zealand passport. Now you know, I think the Cooks are
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: at fault and the problem that occurred over the strategic
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: partnership with China. They were bound under a two thousand
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: and one agreement to give due notice to New Zealand
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: and consult on it. What's their status. They're a self
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: government country and free association with New Zealand. That means
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: that they do their own thing except in areas like
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: defense and foreign affairs, and I think you know that
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: the danger is that a micro state like the Cooks,
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: a very small country, they can get seduced by any
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: scamster or any country that comes along. And that's the
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: challenge that New Zealand has long had with the Cook Islands.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: But we all wondered whether, you know, with a breakdown
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: of the relationship, whether Winston Peter's had a plan B.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: I think the plan B will be to rely on
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: the fact that Mark Brown is going to election this
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: November and it's really unpopular in the Cook Islands to
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: think that they might lose their access to the New
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Zealand passport, one of their most prized possessions. So Peters
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: should have the cards on this one.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: Plus, there is the issue of the funding that's been cut,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: right that we're kind of turning the tap off.
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Here supposedly we give the Cooks in total about
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: two hundred million over three years and Peters has cut
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: that by thirty million, and he's cut it selectively areas
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: that will influence the running of government rather than the
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: provision of things like health and education. You know. The
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: difficulty is, of course, if you're competing with China. China's
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: vastly bigger, vastly more resources in New Zealand. They could
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: come along and outbud New Zealand anytime. But do Cook
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Islanders really want to have their primary relationship with China
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: rather than the country that they have blood ties with,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: that they have so much in common with. And the
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: answer is most Cook Islanders really value the opportunity to
• 2:32
  Speaker 2: be able to live in the Cooks but come to
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: New Zealand visit family in New Zealand when they want to.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: The Trump card is always well, you can say to
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: the Cook Islands, look, you can be an independent country
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: if you like. That's your sovereign right. You do it
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: by referendum. But by the way, if you do that,
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: of course you won't have a New Zealand passport, which
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: is totally appropriate. So the Trump card is held by Peters.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: Hopefully there'll be an improvement in the relationship. It's stagnated
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: for really rather too long.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Phil Goff for former Foreign Affairs Minutes to appreciate your
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: time this morning.
• 3:03
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• 3:06
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• 3:10
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