NZ signals advancement in closer economic relationship

Martyn Dunne. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Heavyweights from New Zealand's diplomatic, trade and foreign affairs corps assembled in Canberra this week to help define the future shape of the nation's relationship with Australia.

At the head of the table was Martyn Dunne, Wellington's new High Commissioner, who hit the ground running after a welcoming powhiri from the local Maori community and reassurances to a Senate committee that New Zealand's imports of tropical hardwood would not undermine Australian controls by slipping across the Tasman under the closer economic relations agreement.

Dunne had decided early that he needed a clear accounting of transtasman ties: it arrived as a 68-page stocktake of government, official and business dealings.

This month Commerce Minister Simon Power was in Australia discussing future directions for the evolving single economic market and the alignment of business law in the two counties.

Much work has been done: further harmonisation of financial reporting standards, the new External Reporting Board modelled on Australia's Financial Reporting Council, new patent arrangements and cross appointments on each other's corporate watchdogs.

Next month Prime Minister John Key will be in town to address federal parliament, the first New Zealander to join a select list that includes the leaders of the United States, China and Indonesia.

In Sydney, he will attend an earthquake fundraising dinner organised by expatriate Kiwi Sir Ralph Norris, head of the Commonwealth Bank.

Australian counterpart Julia Gillard spoke to New Zealand's Parliament in February - albeit with differences forced by the Greens - the two countries had given substantial help to each other during the summer of disasters, and Gillard had flown to Christchurch for the earthquake memorial service.

Throw in some significant warming in the previously troubled defence relationship, continued co-operation in a number of global initiatives, and Dunne has arrived in Canberra at a pretty healthy time.

The relationship, Dunne says, has "good vibes".

But it is also a relationship that has been marked by peaks and troughs over the past century, and Dunne says it has to move beyond the Anzac story. While New Zealand can use that goodwill, he says, it has to identify the economic opportunities and advantages it can employ to deepen its ties with Australia and, by extension, improve its own wellbeing.

Dunne has some pretty impressive qualifications for a job he said came as a surprise and humbling experience, including head of New Zealand Customs and for two years chair of the World Customs Organisation.

Previously Dunne was a soldier, the first senior New Zealand officer in East Timor commanding the Dili area and was later Joint Forces Commander. He is a graduate of the Australian College of Defence and Strategic Studies and the Command and Staff College, and gained a masters degree in strategic studies from Melbourne's La Trobe University.

Dunne believes New Zealand has to push to new levels in Australia, working beyond traditional ties to build on the complex web of linkages between national Governments, separate state governments, departments to departments, business to states, business to business.

"The job comes with the challenge of how can I add value to the diplomatic role in its broader sense, and what are some of the goals we can reach here," he says.

Some are obvious: the border for one, with an eventual common border as a distant goal, the new Smartgate system using biometric passports to automate border controls as a significant step forward, and a transtasman review under way to see what might be possible next.

Politically there are synergies, ranging from common interests in the Pacific and Southeast Asia to emerging economies at home.

Dunne says he wants to take a NZ Inc approach: "We need to leverage off the common interests, and use that particularly with an economic focus, attracting business and capital investment to New Zealand."

Despite vast differences in scale and economic structure, there are also similarities: two-speed economies, for example, led by mining in Australia and dairying in New Zealand, with other sectors falling behind. Some analysts have seen natural areas of collaboration, especially in emerging global markets, and the potential for development of business and industry using relative competitive advantages. Biotechnology, for example, is already developing through the Biotech Alliance launched in 2004, and the 50 collaborative research and development agreements established under the Australia New Zealand Biotechnology Partnership Fund.

Beyond these are other relations, such as defence, which has emerged from the depths of the Anzac gulf and new Australian recognition of New Zealand capabilities - most recently Canberra's need to fall back on HMNZS Canterbury to plug its heavy sealift gaps.

But Dunne is not complacent: "We're a small country and we'll always have to work to make our voices heard here."