Julie Bishop to visit Auckland - but unlikely to meet Jacinda Ardern

Julie Bishop will meet with Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Waiheke Island. Photo / File

Australia's Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is to visit Auckland and Waiheke Island in mid-February.

Bishop will meet with Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Waiheke Island, according to One News, which said she was unlikely to meet Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern while in the country.

A spokesman for Peters would not confirm the visit: "An announcement on any such visits will be made in due course."

Jacinda Ardern downplayed the tense episode prior to the last election over the Barnaby Joyce saga. Photo / File

Bishop and Ardern are yet to meet face to face but both have downplayed the tense episode prior to the last election when Bishop blamed Labour for working with Australian Labor Party to dig for information on Barnaby Joyce's dual citizenship.

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Bishop said she would find it hard to work with a Labour government in New Zealand after news that Labour's Chris Hipkins had asked parliamentary questions about the citizenship of someone born to a New Zealander father following a discussion with a staffer in the ALP senator Penny Wong's office.

Hipkins had not mentioned Joyce's name but the questions coincided with media inquiries and sparked New Zealand officials to consider Joyce's status and advise he was a New Zealand citizen. That forced him to resign and stand in a byelection which he won.

Bishop has since said she accepted Ardern's admonishment of Hipkins for inappropriate action.

Chris Hipkins had not mentioned Barnaby Joyce's name but the questions coincided with media inquiries and sparked New Zealand officials to consider Joyce's status. Photo / File

Ardern is expected to travel to Sydney early this year for the regular transtasman talks with her Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull.

It is Australia's turn to host the talks, which were held in Queenstown last year by former PM Bill English.