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We have important Pacific relationships to maintain, which commercial flights cannot service, but spending money on travel for politicians looks bad
New Zealand is a nation that generally likes to think of itself as classless, with any whiff of special treatment for our politicians or other elites treated with immediate disdain. Scandals erupt over the amount that a politician spends on chauffeured rides around the country, or the speed at which the prime minister is driven.
So it comes as no surprise that the jets used by the prime minister to travel abroad is a 30-year-old RNZAF Boeing 757 so ancient our prime minister had to bring a spare for most of his trip to China this week, prompting condemnation and ridicule over the extra cost and carbon emissions.
Henry Cooke is a freelance journalist covering New Zealand politics
