They were announced by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon with much fanfare in April. Labour leader Chris Hipkins told Morning Report he backed replacing the planes and as prime minister had asked his defence minister to look into it. Stuff’s Tova O’Brien revealed former defence minister Andrew Little had wanted to put an end to it. The prime minister and Kishida struck an intel-sharing deal which would see the two countries sharing more intelligence. “The prime minister’s trade mission to Japan’s been pretty successful but who would have noticed?” he said in an article published by the Herald.

Source: Stuff June 22, 2024 18:00 UTC