The Defence Minister's facing a balancing act with the country's Defence Force planes.  

Christopher Luxon's Boeing 757 never left the ground yesterday due to a technical fault, meaning the Prime Minister had to fly commercially to Melbourne for ASEAN talks. 

It's the latest instance of old Defence Force planes disrupting diplomatic travel plans. 

Judith Collins told Mike Hosking that we need better and more reliable equipment, but we also need to be able to afford it. 

She says we're in a cost-of-living crunch and people won't want them to spend hundreds of millions on some planes when people are struggling to pay their mortgages. 

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