Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese have fronted their first joint press conference after meeting in Canberra, where Albanese congratulated Hipkins for becoming Prime Minister.
New Zealand and Australia both announced humanitarian aid to those affected by the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake which has killed thousands in Turkey and Syria.
Albanese opened the press conference by announcing $10 million in humanitarian assistance, while New Zealand will also be providing immediate support with a $1.5 million contribution.
“To Australians who have family in the region this will be a difficult time,” Albanese said.
“All the world’s thoughts and condolences are with the people in the region who are suffering at this time,” Albanese said.
Hipkins said New Zealand knows “a little bit about earthquakes in New Zealand” and how they affect people in them.
“I first met Chris - Prime Minister Hipkins - in the Parliament in Wellington some years ago,” Albanese said.
“It means a lot to us Australians that your first visit is to Australia,” Albanese said.
Albanese said the discussion was wide-ranging reflecting the depth of the relationship.
The Australian Government would continue to work through issues around citizenship with an announcement before ANZAC day, Albanese said.
“2023 is a milestone for the Trans-Tasman relationship,” said Albanese, noting it was the 40th anniversary of the Australia–New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, commonly known as Closer Economic Relations.
Albanese said he wanted to ensure the “trans-Tasman relationship continues to grow” in the future”.
“New Zealand has no closer partner than Australia,” Hipkins said.
“Our countries are more than friends, we are family.”
“I was happy to provide my Government’s commitment to continue working together and to strengthen the Trans-Tasman relationship,” Hipkins said.
Hipkins said they both discussed cost of living issues.
Hipkins said he wanted to “acknowledge and applaud” the “positive progress” made on citizenship issues faced by New Zealanders in Australia.
“Our foreign policy hasn’t changed just because there’s a new prime minister,” Hipkins said.
“Our nuclear policy hasn’t changed either,” Hipkins said.
Albanese said the “Voice to Parliament”, a key plank of his Government’s policy on indigenous rights, “did not come up” in his discussion with Hipkins.
“China is an incredibly important partner for New Zealand... that doesn’t mean we won’t disagree sometimes and we’ll voice those disagreements when they happen,” Hipkins said.
Answering a question on whether New Zealand was reluctant to voice concerns about China, Hipkins said the Government was going through some “very significant” changes in its defence policy.
Albanese will not consider retrospective action to assist 501 deportees who have already been deported to New Zealand.
He said the changes to 501 policy will take a “commonsense approach”.
“I outlined with prime minister Ardern after our first meeting our position - that position hasn’t changed,” Albanese said.
Hipkins replied “the New Zealand position hasn’t changed” either.
Speaking after the press conference, Hipkins described his conversation with Albanese as “broad-ranging”.
On the path to residency, Hipkins said “some work was underway” but didn’t want to get ahead of those discussions.
On 501s, Hipkins said he welcomed the change Australia had made as far as it being a “common sense” decision when deportees had no remaining ties to NZ.
“I think it’s a sign that the Australian Government has taken on board the concerns that we’ve raised.”
Hipkins confirmed he would continue to push for improvements, however.
Hipkins said the Australian Government’s position on people who have already been deported had not changed, but he would continue to raise the issue.
Asked whether New Zealanders were treated as second-class citizens in Australia, Hipkins hoped there was some reciprocity in how Kiwis were treated across the ditch.
“New Zealand’s approach and position haven’t changed.”
Hipkins said his predecessor Jacinda Ardern had demonstrated the impact of Australia’s former actions around 501s had had on the relationship between the two countries.
“I think we’ll get on well,” Hipkins said of Albanese, adding the pair had a lot in common as heads of Labour parties and new Prime Ministers.
Hipkins said New Zealander and Australia were “very close together” on foreign policy and had more commonalities than differences and would continue to work at that.
Hipkins said he was still working on his international travel plans but didn’t rule out a trip to China. He said he’d always had an interest in the world but accepted he hadn’t had much of a foreign-facing role in Government, apart from some of his duties as Education minister.
On the prospect of becoming a republic, Hipkins said the topic wasn’t raised.
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta announced an initial contribution of $1.5 million from New Zealand to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in both Turkey and Syria.
“Aotearoa New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of life and devastation caused by these earthquakes. Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones affected,” Mahuta said.
“Our humanitarian contribution will support teams from the Turkish Red Crescent and Syrian Arab Red Crescent to deliver essential relief items such as food supplies, tents and blankets, and provide lifesaving medical assistance and psychological support.
“We are playing our part in the global effort to support those at the centre of the devastation. By contributing directly to the IFRC appeals, emergency responders on the ground can benefit from additional assistance immediately.
“Officials will continue to monitor the humanitarian needs and assess options for further support,” Mahuta said.
Through the IFRC, $1 million will go to support the response in Turkey and $500,000 to the response in Syria.
They met for the first time in the Prime Minister’s courtyard, where Albanese said congratulations to Hipkins and recalled he was the first overseas leader to speak to Hipkins.
He also mentioned that Jacinda Ardern had told him prior to announcing it publicly.
“It was good of Jacinda to give me a bit of a heads up.”
Hipkins thanked him for the congratulations: “it’s been a bit of a whirlwind since then.”
The talks were relatively informal, over a quick lunch. They are expected to discuss the cost of living and the global economy, and canvas developments in the New Zealand-Australia relationship, including Albanese’s more lenient approach to the 501 deportees and New Zealanders’ path to citizenship in Australia.
Regional security was also likely to be discussed, including China, the US and their involvement in the Pacific.
Hipkins said Albanese was the first foreign leader he spoke to on the telephone after taking over as Prime Minister and the conversation was friendly.
Hipkins arrived in Canberra on an RNZAF Boeing this morning and will leave tonight, soon after speaking to the media following his meeting.
Hipkins was also given a welcome smoking ceremony earlier at the New Zealand High Commission, undertaken by Ngunnawal elder Wally Ball - a ceremony in which those arriving wave smoking eucalyptus leaves over themselves to be cleansed.
Hipkins thanked Ball for it afterwards, saying it was his first visit to Canberra.
The ceremony had to be moved from the courtyard because of a handful of anti-vaccination protesters outside the High Commission with a loudspeaker who played a siren and railed about Hipkins being “an unelected Prime Minister”, his previous role as Covid-19 minister, the Covid-19 vaccinations, and New Zealand’s Parliament protests of a year ago.
Hipkins then took part in a Trans-Tasman Business Circle roundtable with about 15 representatives from large companies of both countries, including Woolworths, Fulton Hogan, Ryman Healthcare, Xero, Bunnings and Fonterra. Former Queensland Premier Anna Bligh was in the group as chief executive of the Australian Bankers’ Association.
Hipkins was met at the airport by New Zealand’s High Commissioner to Australia, Dame Annette King. King is a good friend of Hipkins - and a former colleague - and they greeted with a hug.
