PM unsure how Aussie ship knocked parts of NZ offline
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon remains unaware of how an Australian warship was allowed accidentally to knock out mobile internet access across Taranaki and Marlborough last week.
Navigation radar interference from HMAS Canberra, the Royal Australian Navy's largest warship, disrupted 5 GHz wireless access points on Wednesday as it sailed through the Cook Strait.
The interference triggered in-built switches in the devices that caused them to go offline, ABC News reported - a safety precaution to prevent wireless signals interfering with radar systems in New Zealand's airspace.
Luxon told RNZ this morning he was yet to have an explanation how the situation was allowed to happen, but he was "sure" Defence Minister Judith Collins would find out.
He said it was not a "deliberate" act from the Australians.
"Look, we are very pleased that they're here. They are our only ally. We work very closely with the Australians, as you know, I'm not sure what's happened here. Again, that'll be something the defence minister will look into."
Asked if it had exposed a vulnerability in our communications network, Luxon said it was "the nature" of it.
"There's a whole bunch of technology… in the defence space and the cyberspace and how wars are being fought, and will be fought in the future will be a big component of it…
"Judith Collins will be checking into that and understanding exactly what has happened there, but I'm very proud of that relationship. I'm very proud that they're here. It's great that they've come."
The blackout came the same week "human error" knocked out fibre-based internet to much of the lower North Island.
Communications Minister Paul Goldsmith told RNZ last week he would be discussing the Australian warship situation with officials. Relationships with China, US
Also last week, two former prime ministers and an ex-governor of the Reserve Bank put their names to a letter questioning the government's foreign policy - in particular "positioning New Zealand alongside the United States as an adversary of China".
It was signed, among others, by Helen Clark, Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Dr Don Brash, questioning whether New Zealand was risking its economic and trade relationship with China by aligning itself closer with the US.
"Like 192 other countries, we've got an independent foreign policy. There'll be lots of different views on foreign policy, I get that," Luxon told RNZ.
"But, you know, frankly, my job as prime minister is to advance our national interests - that is both… around our security and our economic interests. And I think you've also got to acknowledge that the strategic environment from 25 or 35 years ago is very different from what we have today, and it will continue to evolve."
He said he disagreed with the view that working more closely with the US on defence, under the adversarial Trump administration, would sour New Zealand's relationship with China.
I think, you know, we have important relationships with both the US and China. We will make our own assessment based on our own needs, as to, you know, how we navigate those relationships.
"But in both cases, you know, we have, you know, deep engagement and cooperation. We also have differences with the US - we've raised concerns around tariffs. With the Chinese, we've raised concerns around cyber attacks on our parliamentary system."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Otago Daily Times
an hour ago
- Otago Daily Times
Aussie reporter hit with rubber bullet at LA protest
Seconds later, she was shot with a rubber bullet. Footage of the incident appeared to show an officer taking aim in the direction of Ms Tomasi and then firing. Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson for media and communications, condemned the shooting. "US authorities shooting an Australian journalist is simply shocking," she said. "It is completely unacceptable and must be called out. "The Prime Minister must seek an urgent explanation from the US administration." Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has yet to speak publicly on the incident. Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles declined to comment on US immigration policy under President Trump, but said he was glad to hear Ms Tomasi was OK. "At the end of the day, how America operates its own immigration system is really a matter for the United States, and how it manages its own internal law enforcement is a matter for the United States," he told Sky News. It follows a similar incident in 2020 when Seven Network correspondent Amelia Brace was shot by US police with non-lethal rounds and struck with a truncheon during a Black Lives Matter protest. Ms Brace and cameraman Tim Myers were in Washington DC's Lafayette Square when officers began aggressively clearing the area ahead of a surprise appearance by Mr Trump. She later told US Congress she was shot in the legs and backside and Mr Myers was hit in the neck by non-lethal rounds from a police automatic weapon.
Kiwiblog
2 hours ago
- Kiwiblog
Guest Post: PM must reverse the ‘Power of General Competence' to stop activism in local government
A guest post by a reader: As powerless ratepayers face the ongoing tyranny of marxist councils over rates bills and the local government minister's repeated demands for sensible spending fall on deaf ears, the Prime Minister continues to ignore the obvious solution. Requests by Simon Watts imploring Tauranga and other councils to rein in the wasteful spending are ignored as renegade mayors like Mahe Drysdale go crazy (like kids in a sweet shop) giving away taxpayer owned land to Maori and other corrupt, wasteful spending. Reversing 'the power of general competence' legislated by socialist Helen in the early 2000s, would force attention back on delivery of essential services, rein in rates rises and improve the standard of living of long suffering rate payers. Unlike Trump who goes in like a bull-at-a-gate and changes things, our PM and ministers stand by wringing their hands timidly asking marxist councillors and staff to do the right thing. This is like so much virtue signalling on an issue Simeon Brown was threatening to address before he was promptly moved to the health ministry early this year…. curiouser and curiouser. Instead a deflecting Willis now turns our attention to a task akin to pushing back the tide: lowering supermarket prices; admirable, but probably impossible. Luxon showed that he is quite capable of some slick sleight of hand when it suits his purposes. (to get a budget over the line) Consider the pay parity bill. Now you see Labour's old version, then, faster than Dynamo, the new improved bill produced out of Brook van Veldon's hat, was passed into law under urgency. If the government genuinely wanted to help struggling New Zealanders they would have begun enacting the bill reversal in 2023. However it suits them to virtue signal and let councils carry out race based policies they profess to be against and can blame them for. They lie. The force working in government, so Luxon doesn't have to, is opportunist Tama Potaka, winning Hamilton West in the 2022 by-election, knowing Labour were heading for the wilderness. Luxon, forgetting his election promises and intent on taking his own path (like Ardern) once in power, has given full rein to Potaka, his Maori spokesperson, a new star. Speaking out on issues, referring to New Zealand as Aoteroa New Zealand in the House and else where without a murmur of dissent from so called tough commentators like Mike Hosking, who has coined the late Bob Jones' 'Maorification of NZ' as his own. When questioned Luxon defers from knowning or owning that nasty term. He mostly leaves that unpalatable stuff to his activist Maori spokesperson. Tut tutting on Twitter (X) when Seymour spoke of 'racist' media questions and of Maori targetted spending as 'racist'. (Seen as the ultimate taboo by the radical media ideologues.) Potaka is all business Tony Vaughn on Breaking Views opines: 'Tama Potaka is not a moderate. He is the acceptable face of racial separatism. A handsome cipher in a navy-blue suit, offering respectable cover for policies that are, in effect, apartheid with PR spin.' I couldn't have put it better. No doubt Potaka had a say in forcing the vote forward on Maori wards to this year's election so even those councils who voted against; their Maori wards have another term before they cease. Seymour folded like a wet umbrella on that one (not being the master of the behind -the-scenes tantrum like Winston) I know our city voted against Maori wards back in 2019 during the year, so come the election that year, there were none. Easy peasy. Luxon fires on all cylinders, speaking with authority, when he is one step removed from the decision. Consider the punishment doled out to to the Maori MPs for their 'Haka of Victimhood' (to quote Shane Jones) with 3 weeks ban and removal of pay. I wouldn't like his chances arguing the point against fiery Collins and Peters. However he can quite rightly say that the powerful privileges committee decision is final. And never waver. In the end they are carrying the can, not him and that is just the way he likes it. He lacks the courage of his convictions, necssary for real leadership. This decision will count in the government's favour, with a public sick of the Maori Party's antics. And it is a just decision considering the baptism of fire Seymour had gone through, from the shonky running of the Treaty Principles Bill's select committee; the ungracious behaviour of 'activists' Luxon and Potaka; with official records which will conceal corrupt counting methods and processes; culminating in a dramatic intimidating adult tantrum gaining global attention for all the wrong reasons. Also given the Maori Party leaders' sketchy attendance record in the House where they get paid whether there or not, losing three weeks pay might just about even it up! The Maori Party, unused to accountability, are finally finding their actions have consequences. Hard of hearing Speaker, Mr Brownlee who could have stopped the clown show before it got underway (by cutting the live feed for a start) will be most unpopular if he, in his quest to incorporate all things Maori into parliament, thinks rude imbecilic behaviour like this counts as 'Te Kanga' (behavioural guidelines for living with others) And here was I under the impression that mythical 'obligations to the treaty' were to be REMOVED not added, as part of the Coalition Agreement. If you are to get your point across you will have to brush up on your tantrum technique, David!
Otago Daily Times
3 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Sheep are 'not the problem', farmers tell govt
Federated Farmers have put up a billboard in Wellington claiming sheep are not the problem. Photo: Supplied via RNZ By Kate Green of RNZ Sheep farmers have stepped up their campaign against the government's reliance on planting pine trees to offset emissions. Under the existing Emissions Trading Scheme, planting pine trees for carbon credits is causing land to be repurposed, as it is generally more profitable to plant pine trees than to farm sheep. Parliament's own environment watchdog has questioned successive governments' reliance on planting trees to meet climate targets. Now, Federated Farmers have put up a billboard in Wellington, claiming sheep are not the problem. Meat and Wool chair Toby Williams said farming families were being pushed off the land and it was destroying rural communities. He said between 2017 and 2024, more than 260,000 hectares of productive sheep farming land was lost to pine trees. The national sheep flock had reduced from more than 70 million sheep in 1982, to fewer than 25 million sheep today. Federated Farmers wants the government to review the ETS. The government made a series of changes to the legislation in December last year, with the goal of limiting the amount of full farm to forestry conversions. Williams told Midday Report farmers were "really grateful" for those changes, but class 7 land - considered "non-arable" - still had no limit on how much of it could be registered within the ETS. "Quite often what we find is people don't regard that land to be very profitable, or driving a good return, but it's where our ewes live, and our cows live. It's producing the lambs and the calves that we then process into meat," Williams said. New Zealand is the only country in the world that allows 100 percent carbon offsetting through forestry, with other countries putting restrictions in place. Climate Change Minister Simon Watts has been approached for comment.
