Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Jason Walls: ZB political editor on Prime Minister Luxon's trip to Japan being impacted by plane breakdown

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Jason Walls: ZB political editor on Prime Minister Luxon's trip to Japan being impacted by plane breakdown · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: How slick do we look? On our way to Japan?
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: A couple of fuses blind leaves on a commercial flight
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: and the rest get left behind in P and G
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: for the night before they go to Brisbane, before they
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: get picked up and taken to Tokyo. Our political letters
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: to Jason Wall has drawn this political short straw enders
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: with us. Jason, very good morning to you.
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Good morning.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Make What time is it in P and G?
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: I just went three am.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Okay, look, so fourteen past three? And what'd you do
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: last night? Where do you stay in P and G
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: when you're stuck?
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Oh? Listen, mane. I couldn't tell you where we are.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: We're in some hotel in P and G. It's quite nice.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Basically it was headed down to the entire time while
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: we tried to figure out what was going on. I
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: couldn't tell you which way is up at this stage
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: because there were so many different changes to the plan.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: All I know is that we're up. We're leaving from
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: P and G to go to Brisbane in a couple
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: of hours before getting an a New Zealand plane that's
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: been diverted from New Zealand to Brisbane before going to Japan.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: So yeah, there's still a lot of unanswered questions as
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: to what's going on here, but we're slowly inching our
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: way towards Japan.
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: You are on the seven five seven from p Andng
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: to Brisbane.
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: Well, at this stage that's the plan. I mean, anything
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: can happen. We could get to the airport and they
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: could tell us something else has gone wrong. So I'm
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: not holding out much hope given what happened yesterday, But
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: that is the plane of the stage.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: How did yesterday unfold? Is there a sense of panic
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: or upset or angle or fury or resignation or depression.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: What's the vibe when this unfolds.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Well, there's always a sort of a slight glimmer of hope.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: We were initially told that there was something that was
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: wrong that was only going to take an hour, and
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: then we thought, okay, that's fine, but this is about
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: my third or fourth breakdown, so I kind of I
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: kind of had a whop something else was going on.
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: And at one point we saw the Prime Minister's delegation
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: go up to the plane and so we thought, oh,
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: everything's fine, they're getting back on, and then they grabbed
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: all their gear and left, and by this point, nobody
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: had told us what was going on. So seeing them
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: all having their gear and leaving and then getting into
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: the Prime Minister's convoy and then leaving the airport was
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: quite the head scratcher because at that point we hadn't
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: really been told what was going on, and then from
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: there we were basically just given rolling updates every hour
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: or so that something has gone on or something has broken.
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: And then here we are.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Like a shag on a rock. Does is there not
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: a point person? I mean does the Prime Minister surely
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: goes to the Business delegation and goes, guys, once again,
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: this is embarrassing. I'm so sorry, I'm leaving for Japan.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Let's get you up there as quickly as does he
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: not say anything to anybody?
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: Well, I'm not sure how it played out with the
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Business delegation. We were all in the same room with
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: them in this holding area in the p ANDNG airport
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: and they were getting about as much information as we were.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: It was all going through fran Dame Therese Walsh, who
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: is the lead of the business delegation here, and she'd
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: be ushered into a room to be told what was
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: going on, But the Prime Minister leaving took everybody by surprise.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: I mean I saw his face in his the side
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: profile of his face as he was leaving in the motorcade,
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: and he looked dark. He was not happy with what
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: was going on, because obviously he said on your show
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: this time yesterday that no spots or maybe so the
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: Defense Force plane is going to get to Japan. And
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: obviously that hasn't happened.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: No, it has not. So in New Zealand, divert to Brisbane,
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: they pick you up and the textpayer picks up the
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: tab to get you into Tokyo. All things going well,
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: When do you land in Japan?
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: All things going well? About eight thirty pm tonight is
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: what we're told.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Okay, and then he'll carry on and do his thing
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: in the business delegation. We'll look to do whatever that way.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: How long are you there for?
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: Well, we're only there till a Thursday, and that's then
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: when the big supports part of this trip is happening.
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: That's when he's meeting with President Kashita. And there's the
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: various different political elements of the trip. There are a few.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: The thing is, we're not missing any big set pieces today.
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: There is a few sort of visits and various different
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: openings of things and MoU to be signed. So it's
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: not the end of the world. We actually still get
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: there for the big Prime minister. It's a Prime minister
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: meeting on Thursday. But it's still you know, a national
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: embarrassment for this to happen yet.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Again, Yes it is. We'll talk to the go well, Jason,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: I wish you all the very best of luck. Seven
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: five seven to Brisbane. So he's going in completely the
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: wrong direction of course before in New Zealand' sweep across
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: and pick him up. And I'm when it's say him,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: it's the whole media delegation. It's the business delegation. Isn't
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: that story about lux and unusual? Wouldn't you, as the
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: leader of the delegation go to the business people. You
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: know you got Greg Fum there, You've got Peter Beck
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: of Rocket Lab. For God's sake, wouldn't you go and
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: go look? You know how embarrassing anyway. For more from
• 4:36
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• 4:40
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• 4:42
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