New Zealand Prime Minister John Key during a previous visit to Australia. File photo / APN
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key during a previous visit to Australia. File photo / APN
Prime Minister John Key and six ministers will fly to Sydney this week for a joint cabinet with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and ministers.
Mr Key will also take a business delegation and address a business luncheon.
He will take with him Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister BillEnglish, Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce, Justice Minister Judith Collins, Health Minister Tony Ryall, Environment Minister Amy Adams and Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse.
Mr Key made the announcement today at his post cabinet press conference.
He said they would discuss the 2015 Cricket World Cup which New Zealand and Australia are co-hosting, the centenary of Gallipoli next year, and the issue of the treatment of New Zealanders living in Australia.
A law change in Australia prevented New Zealanders who arrived after 2001 from accessing most government support and welfare programmes including student allowances and loans, and more recently they have been denied access to the disability scheme despite having to pay fees for it.
Mr Key also said it would be an opportunity to think Mr Abbott in person for inviting New Zealand to join the G20 meeting that Australia is hosting in November, and it allow them to discuss the report into Trans-Tasman economic integration conducted jointly by the Productivity Commissions of both New Zealand and Australia.
The New Zealand delegation will fly on an RNZAF Boeing on Thursday and return on Saturday.
It is the third so-called joint cabinet Mr Key has had with an Australian Prime Minister since 2009.
