Nanaia Mahuta and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong Address the media after bilateral talks. Video / Mark Mitchell
Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong says her country has "a lot to learn" from Aotearoa-New Zealand in developing an indigenous foreign policy.
Wong and Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta met at Parliament in Wellington today for their first official bilateral talks since Anthony Albanese's Labor Government took power last month.
The pair spoke at length in a private meeting, where they covered climate change, issues in the Pacific, Russia's war on Ukraine, next month's Pacific Islands forum and working together on indigenous-based foreign policy.
"It's an act of respect and honour, you feel the power of that. Being welcomed onto someone's land, you feel the importance."
Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong and her delegation sing the Māori waiata E Toru Ngā Mea during pōwhiri led by mana whenua Te Āti Awa at Parliament pic.twitter.com/KznD0Xj6WI
She said one of the main reasons she sought her job was to be part of a Government that implemented the Uluru Statement of the Heart.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong singing a waiata at Parliament. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The statement, issued to the Australian people in May 2017, calls for constitutional change and reform based on justice and self-determination for indigenous peoples.
It calls for a First Nations voice in Parliament to be enshrined in the constitution, and a commission set up to supervise a process of investigating injustices, agreement-making and truth-telling.
The first thing Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said after he took victory was that his Government would commit "in full" to the statement.
Wong said she appreciated learning on the topic from Mahuta - of Waikato-Tainui, Ngāti Maniapoto and Ngāti Manu iwi - who had a "depth of personal wisdom".
She had read Mahuta's statements and speeches and found the use of Māori concepts "extraordinarily powerful".
"We can learn a lot from your country," Wong said.
"We are a modern, multicultural, diverse nation and we have the privilege of one of the oldest continuing cultures on Earth.
"And we should integrate that much more into how we engage with the world and how we talk to and with the world and about ourselves."
Wong's visit comes amid rising tensions in the Pacific that stem back to March when the Solomon Islands signed a security pact with China, sparking concerns it could lead to a military base in the Pacific.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong with Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta after her pōwhiri. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Then China sought a wide-reaching agreement with 10 nations and its foreign minister Wang Yi embarked on a regional tour.
Mahuta acknowledged Wong had "hit the ground running" and said they had both recognised the Pacific was "contested space" and the need to work together.
Mahuta said there was "an increasingly uncertain and risky geostrategic environment".
"It's really important that we communicate and coordinate across the foreign policy spectrum.
"It will be important to ensure that we work alongside the Pacific as they define their priorities, but also the way in which we partner the Pacific on the biggest issues like climate change, like economic resilience are areas where we've identified opportunities for us to work together."
Wong said previous Australian Governments had not done enough in the region and she pledged to "do more" for the "Pacific family".
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wong, who was a climate change minister under Kevin Rudd, said then as now climate change was expressed as the "number one national security and economic challenge facing the region".
Wong said New Zealand was "family" and they saw the partnership as "indispensable".
"We know we can always rely on each other.
"We're allies, we're friends, and we're partners in the region and the world that, as the minister said, is experiencing a much sharper set of challenges."
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Wong gave no further information on any impending changes to the 501 deportation policy, a sore point between the countries that has deported thousands of people to New Zealand, despite some spending their whole lives in Australia.
