Police have made a public appeal for sightings of Mei Han Chong, The Electoral Commission launches full check for errors, Northern Hawke’s Bay hit with heavy flooding and leaders arrive for the annual Pacific Islands forum.
Video / Lydia Lewis / Corey Fleming / RNZ
Current Deputy Prime Minister and new Labour deputy leader Carmel Sepuloni says she won’t let her political leanings influence her comments to other leaders about the incoming National-led government when she attends the Pacific Islands Forum this week.
Sepuloni is attending the forum in Rarotonga on behalf of the caretaker government as incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon continues with coalition talks with Act and NZ First.
She will be joined on the plane leaving New Zealand this morning by National foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee, who will act in an observer role.
The pair were briefed by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade on Friday, in part to establish an agreed set of responses to agenda items and how they would share information.
On Thursday, Sepuloni will take part in the forum’s leader’s retreat on Aitutaki, which Brownlee will not attend. Instead, he will be holding meetings with representatives of non-Pacific countries in attendance. Those countries would likely include the United Kingdom, Portugal, the United States and China among others.
Sepuloni told the Herald she had deliberately chosen not to do some one-on-one meetings without Brownlee because she desired a “legitimate handover”.
“I think it’s important that we’re on the same page ... it doesn’t mean that I won’t have constructive conversations at the table with other leaders whilst I’m in Aitutaki, but I do think that it’s important if we do pull-asides or if we do formal bilaterals that the incoming government is present for those.”
Based on her briefings, Sepuloni said she didn’t expect anything “contentious” to arise during the forum, but accepted she needed to be careful.
“Clearly I’m a Labour politician but at the same time, I respect the caretaker role that I’m in.
“I’m not there to cast shade on the incoming National-led government because it is going to be so important that they have a good relationship with the Pacific region and I want to support that to happen.”
National's foreign affairs spokesperson Gerry Brownlee is travelling to Rarotonga as an observer for the incoming government. Photo / Mark Mitchell
She did acknowledge some of the more informal conversations she would have with Pacific leaders during the retreat could be confidential and therefore wouldn’t be shared with Brownlee. However, any significant details would be recorded by ministry officials and given to the next Foreign Affairs Minister.
Brownlee told the Herald he was comfortable with the arrangement the pair had and was confident Sepuloni wouldn’t talk down the next government.
“Look, I’ve known Carmel for a long time, I’ve travelled to the Pacific with her twice before and I don’t have any concerns around that at all.”
Asked about his likely meetings with representatives of the US and China, Brownlee said primary topics would include how climate change was impacting Pacific countries and the need for larger countries to ensure any financial assistance was targeted.
“We can’t get involved in the geopolitical discussions that each specific nation has with either of those very big countries,” he said.
“What we can do is encourage those big countries to recognise that they can make a contribution to the wellbeing of the Pacific by looking at the specific needs of not just individual countries but the Pacific as a whole.
“We, in the past, have talked to China about how we could have more collaboration in the Pacific to ensure that we got outcomes that were valuable to Pacific Island communities and I think that’s where we’ll focus our discussions.”
He said National’s aim was to make sure Pacific nations prospered instead of being caught up in “a sort of general playground” dominated by larger powers.
Brownlee said he and Luxon had had several conversations about outcomes from his attendance in Rarotonga and that his priority was to affirm New Zealand as a friend to all in the Pacific.
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
