Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Jason Walls: ZB Political Editor on Christopher Luxon meeting with Commonwealth leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa

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Jason Walls: ZB Political Editor on Christopher Luxon meeting with Commonwealth leaders at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Sorry, We're going to Jason Wolves, who is an rpre now. Jason,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: good morning, Good morning Ryan, thanks for being with me. Hey,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: luxan'ce met with Starma. Anything interesting from.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: That, oh, listen. It was a lot of the usual
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: sort of what we call gripping grin conversations when they
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: get in front of the camera and talk about how
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: much the two countries mean to each other. There was
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: a bit of banter about the America's Cup. Of course,
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: it was Team New Zealand victorious over the Brits, and
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: so Luxon has a bit of a habit of doing
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: this when he meets world leaders. He always brings up
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: little sporting events because, of course, as you know, punches
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: well above its weight when it comes to that area.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: But apart from that, listen, No, it was the first
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: time the pair had actually meant in a bilateral setting.
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: They've had a couple of little meetings since Starmer was
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: elected in various different either over the phone or in person,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: but this is the first time they actually sat down
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: to talk in a bilateral setting. They talked about the
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: UK's placed in the Pacific and the Commonwealth at various
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: other things about the wars in the Middle East and Ukraine,
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: but nothing in terms of any big announceables between the
• 1:06
  Speaker 2: two countries.
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Did I hear yesterday in that press conference fifteen million
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: dollars we go to support Sama holding Chogham fifteen Yes,
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: that's correct, cheapers, that's a lot of money.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: It is a lot of money. I mean, it's it's
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: quite a big event. I mean, this whole place is
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: just a buzz with activity right now. There were I mean, look,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: the UK press pack here apparently is about forty to
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: sixty people alone, so there's a lot of people that
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: are coming over here for this event. And at the
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: moment I'm actually staying on a cruise ship because there
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: weren't enough hotels within Samoa for us to be housed at.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: So it's absolutely massive. And that was the whole reason
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  Speaker 2: the Manawanui was over here. It was helping support Chogham,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: It was doing some surveying activity before it ran aground.
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: So it's a huge event. In New Zealand has been
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: helping with financially and with about five hundred or so
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: News Island personnel over here as well, so it's a
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: really big.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Effort and no talk of compensation yet for that. I
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: mean they probably have to figure out first with the
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Monanui how bad it is, what damage there is, before
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: they can even decide on something like that exactly.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: And I think, you know, it might be, as the
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Prime Minister said, a little bit too premature for those
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: sorts of conversations. He was really playing down any impact
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: or any concerns about the environmental impact, saying that you know,
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: there was some initial estimates that about two hundred thousand
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: letters of diesel could be leaking out into the ocean,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: but those estimates were way way off, the Prime Minister said,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: and actually there's been little to no pollution and no
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: damage to marine life. So at this stage they're not
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: actually sure what sort of damage there has been, but
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: they're just kind of a weight and see mode. But
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: Luxelan was praise for the mono when the WE task
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: force over here, saying that they're doing a terrific job
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: and they're representing the best of New Zealand.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: All right, Jason, good luck, don't get norovirus on the
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: cruise ship, Jason Walls, Our news talks had been politically
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: editor and afia for us this morning. For more from
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: early edition with Ryan Bridge, listen live to News Talks
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: a'd Be from five am weekdays, or follow the podcast
• 3:13
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