Mike's Minute: The two plane debacle is an embarrassment

So the spin is flying, no pun intended, around the Prime Ministerial cavalcade to China. How do you possibly defend the use of two planes, when one of them is empty? How do you, in a climate crisis, a climate emergency, in a Government that has called this emergency our nuclear moment, possibly defend this amount of climatic carnage? The Prime Minister's office tells us there is a delegation of 45, in a way that seems to indicate that moving 45 people is somehow a bit new, or unusual, or complicated. It is cheaper than hiring a plane, thus indicating that cost is the deciding factor as opposed to the climate. Fortunately, it is not as bad as you might have imagined. The second plane isn't going to China. It's been to Manila, just in case Chris Hipkins' one broke down. The irony, of which there are many, is that when it came to cars in such a state i.e old and clapped out, the Government introduced a programme, called "cash-for-clunkers". They then went and cancelled it, but the thought was there. The point is simple - you are either a hypocrite, or you aren't. Part of the Prime Minister office's argument is this is a very important trip and with that large delegation you want to make sure they'll get there. But at no point do they address the carbon climate hypocrisy, and that’s largely because they can't. Here is the simple truth - if you don’t trust your own plane, ring Air New Zealand and buy a ticket. Buy 45 tickets! Do what most of the rest of the world does. Somehow, a trip to China by the Prime Minister of a small island nation with an old plane has been elevated to such an extent that all actions and behaviour around climate can be suspended. And all stops can be pulled out, no matter how bad it looks for the environment. Does it pass the pub test? No, it doesn’t. Here is the next thing - if we hadn't banged on about this yesterday, it would appear no one else would have. Certainly not the media on board the very planes in question. They were happy to wax lyrical about Chris Luxon and his wife's EV last week, but somehow two planes are not worth a word? A $8000 rebate, as prescribed by Government policy, is a story of rank hypocrisy. But two planes, one empty, to transport 45 people is somehow not news? I just can't work out how it is the media has ended up with such a questionable reputation. Go figure.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.