CHRISTOPHER LUXON, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Kia ora. Good afternoon, everybody. As you know, the Prime Minister and I have just concluded our formal leaders' meeting. We’ll take questions in a moment but before we do say, I want to make a few brief remarks, and then I'll pass to Prime Minister Albanese to do likewise. Let me open by just reiterating what an absolute pleasure it is to welcome you to Queenstown, Anthony. You and I go back before politics, and I like to think that our personal friendship, frankly, is emblematic of the nature between our two great countries.
It's an ironclad bond, uniquely defined by our respective histories and the things that we celebrate about ourselves; practicality, humility and good sense of humour for one. For another, both our nations are mindful of where we have come from and proud of the journey that we are on. So, it is with a sense of privilege today that I join my Ngāi Tahu, the manawhenua in this part of the country to welcome you, Anthony and Jodie as our honoured guests. I'd like to thank Ngāi Tahu for that welcome. With the Albanese Government, now given a strong electoral mandate in May and now firmly established, three months on, today has been an excellent opportunity for us to check in with the Prime Minister on his second term achievements.
First, we look out at the world in very similar ways, navigating a global order that is volatile, uncertain and contested. And our conversation today highlighted that we share the same assessment of the problems, but that we’re also firm about the agency we have to navigate a complex word. That the close bonds between Australia and New Zealand provide us both with a bedrock of certainty, of predictability, and, quite frankly, the knowledge that we have one another's backs. For New Zealand, Australia is our only formal ally and family, like no other country.
Second, we discussed our deepening alliance, underpinned by the work of Richard Marles and Judith Collins, who’ve done well to strengthen closer defence relations with increasing integration between our forces. We are deploying them all together, training them all together, and exercising more together. And with my government’s significant lift in defence spending, I am determined that we are interoperable with Australia and that we procure together to ensure our purchases are as cost effective as possible. Tomorrow morning, we will visit Arrowtown to commemorate the Australian and New Zealand sailors, soldiers and aviators whose service embodies the Anzac spirit.
Third, we discussed our commitment to working in partnership with Pacific Island countries to advance our regional family security and its prosperity, to ensure a family-first approach when our Pacific neighbours face disaster and to partner with them on climate change. We're proud of the tight collaboration between Winston Peters and Penny Wong to ensure that we are more effective together in the Pacific. Prime Minister Albanese and I prize the centrality of the Pacific Islands Forum, and we look forward to meeting our fellow leaders there next month.
And finally, we discussed the opportunities for ever deeper Trans-Tasman economic integration. As two economies that succeed best when trade flows freely, we share an agenda in resisting rising protectionism. At the same time, we're confronting a similar set of economic challenges at home, be that the cost-of-living, fiscal discipline or lagging productivity. Faced with these problems, the deep trade, investment and innovation links between our two countries provide vital growth opportunities. For example, we just aligned our building standards, whether it's laminated structural timber or a kitchen door handle, you have one benchmark in Auckland, another in Sydney, which should help lower prices here in New Zealand. We’ve harmonised our digital technology standards via cloud storage of cyber security and businesses comply with the same standards of Queenstown and Queensland, and by aligning we’re scrapping the barnacles off the bottom of the boats, ensuring that our economies ride just that little bit faster.
We're hungry for further integration and when we leave here, Prime Minister Albanese and I will meet with both Australia and Kiwi companies to discuss what else we can do to make it as easy to do business on one side of the Tasman as it is on the other. And next month Nicola Willis and Jim Chalmers will meet to see what they can do to enhance competition and to reduce compliance costs and Trans-Tasman integration will be enabler to that as we seek to drive greater growth and productivity into our markets. By doing this work together, we create jobs and we grow our economies on both sides of the ditch. Finally, I want to celebrate the deep and enduring links between Australians and Kiwis who are uniquely free to live, work and study in one another's countries, courtesy of the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement. I want to thank you yet again Anthony for your leadership in providing a solution to New Zealanders and a pathway to citizenship in Australia, which they can now call home. In closing, Amanda and I are looking forward to showing off some of Queenstown to Anthony and Jodie and I want to thank you both for coming to experience, no matter how briefly, one of the real favourite destinations for Australian tourists. Next time you come, hope you bring your skis. And with that I'll pass over to you Anthony, to take it forward from here.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Well, thank you so much to you, Prime Minister Luxon for your generous words and your very warm welcome. In spite of the temperature here, it has been absolutely delightful to be back here in beautiful Queenstown for our Annual Leaders' Meeting. When we spoke earlier today, the last time I was in Queenstown I had a backpack on and it was literally last century. Today of course, we become just a couple of more Australians here in Queenstown. New Zealand is a top destination for Australian travellers and Queenstown is the most popular stop. Every year over 1 million Kiwi tourists cross the ditch and return the favour. We are each other's biggest tourism market. Proof that our Trans-Tasman relationship draws on more than geography or history, it's built on a deep understanding, genuine respect and true affection. A relationship between peoples, not just a relationship between nations. In a time of global uncertainty, the certainty and the strength of this bond has never been more important. We are family and like any family, occasionally we have our differences. You constantly remind me that the All Blacks have won 22 consecutive Bledisloe Cups and it would be hospitable if somehow –
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: You let the Warriors win the NRL.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: We carry through. No, enough is enough. I think going through – if you actually, I did a little calculation and if you do, given two teams in the Bledisloe Cup, if you do two to the power of 21, it's actually a 1 in 2 million, it’s more than 2 million chance that you can win that many times in a row. But we continue to engage and we continue to do it in the most friendly way possible. Prime Minister Luxon and I reflected today on important steps that we've taken forward in our partnership over the last year. And we discussed major challenges facing our region. We've always faced challenges together going back to the Anzacs. Around the world and down the generations Australians and New Zealanders have stood together in the cause of peace. In December last year our Defence Ministers agreed a Closer Defence Relations statement, committing to build deterrence in our region, enhance joint capability and support Pacific sovereignty. Over the last 12 months our defence forces have increased the tempo of our joint operational activity, contributing to regional peace and security.
I also congratulated the Prime Minister on New Zealand's Defence Capability Plan which will enable us to work towards becoming a more interoperable force as New Zealand moves ahead with procurements under its plan. This will strengthen our ability to stand together and contribute to peace and stability in our region and uphold our commitment to the international rules-based order. A world where the sovereignty of every nation is respected and where free and fair trade delivers greater prosperity.
Prime Minister Luxon and I also discussed the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Today we reiterate our call for an immediate ceasefire to end the suffering and starvation in Gaza and the release of all hostages. And of course our Foreign Ministers have issued a media release today as well.
We both expressed our strong support for the Pacific Island Forum Leaders’ Meeting that will be held in a month's time. The theme of this year's meeting is focusing on deeper integration in our Pacific region and that is timely. As Pacific nations, we are together backing in regional solutions and deepening integration with our Pacific partners. At last year's PIF we both agreed to support the Pacific Policing Initiative. This has been a major step forward to boost policing in the region, to strengthen law and order, to tackle transnational crime and to improve disaster responses. This is about providing Pacific solutions to Pacific challenges.
And finally we discussed our very full bilateral agenda and how closer economic relations can continue to deliver to citizens and communities on both sides of the Tasman, including on climate change, on economic relationships as well. This afternoon we will sit down with the peak trans-Tasman business council, the Australian New Zealand Leadership Forum, with representatives from CyberCX, from Beca, Ampol, Qantas, Genesis Energy, ASB Bank and Bluescope. We'll talk about the opportunities to boost business collaboration and grow Trans-Tasman trade and investment.
Prime Minister Luxon and I agreed today to coordinate our reform programs, including his 'Going for Growth’ agenda, to make it easier for businesses to trade, invest and operate on either side of the Tasman. This complements the work that Australia is doing, including the roundtable that we’ll hold in a couple of weeks’ time. An agreement that our two national standards bodies have just signed is a down payment on that. And we're working together as well in new areas such as the challenges, but also the opportunities that will come from artificial intelligence and new technologies, all about anticipating change and shaping it in the best interests of our people, our economies and the security and prosperity of the region that we both call home.
Prime Minister, can I say to you and Amanda, thank you for hosting us here. We've been friends for a long time. We're probably the two leaders of nations that can sit down and talk aviation like two nerds and bore everyone else around the international forums. But out of that friendship has come, I think, a relationship that serves both and our commons interest is so important.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Well everybody I don’t know how you’re feeling, but this is the coldest press conference I’ve ever done. My, you know, bullet shaped head and hairstyle that I've got going on, I'm losing 40 per cent of my body heat through my head. So, with that, I think we'll open it up to questions. We've got three on each side.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Albanese, welcome. Tens of thousands of kiwis are leaving New Zealand and jumping over to Australia. Can you tell us what the attraction is?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: We're a great country and I've got to say there's a few Australians come over here as well. And I think when we talk about relations, I mean it of course there's still that provision in our constitution that we won't talk about. But the truth is that it's seamless. And when so many Kiwis as well, one of the things I'm really proud of, is one of the first things I did as Prime Minister was to change the rules so that people who had lived in Australia, some of them for decades, but hadn't taken out citizenship, did. And they maintain their pride in New Zealand and they still go for the All Blacks or the Crusaders or whatever team it is in particular, but they're also proud to be Australian and that's a good thing. So, I think the relationship between people to people and people moving either side of the ditch is a good thing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Albanese, you've spoken to leaders of the UK and France in the recent days regarding Palestinian statehood. Was the matter raised in discussions today, and when do you plan to speak to the US President about the matter? And Prime Minister Luxon if I may as well, what are the prerequisites for New Zealand to recognise Palestinian statehood?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well we, I've said it's a matter of when, not if. It is circumstances, I spoke with Mahmoud Abbas as well, the President of the Palestinian Authority. We put out a readout of that and there we raised the reforms that are required. We want to see, I think two things as Australians. I think overwhelmingly Australians want to see two things. One is they want to see a ceasefire. They want to see the killing stop, they want to see hostages released, they want to see peace in the region. The second thing they want is they don't want conflict brought to Australia either. And so we, for a long period of time there's been a bipartisan position in Australia of support for two states. And that of course was the vision that was envisaged when in 1947 the United Nations made the decision that they did. It wasn't the creation of one state. And so we'll continue to play a role.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Yeah, look, I mean we've had a very similar long standing position on a two state solution as well under successive governments. That is clearly where we still sit today. Again, the same thing for us is we want to see hostages released, we want to see unfettered humanitarian aid flooding into Gaza and we want to see a ceasefire. The military action that we've seen is not the way to solve this problem and it requires diplomacy, it requires dialogue. I think all New Zealanders, all Australians will be horrified by what they see on the news and it has certainly plumbed to new levels. And that's why you've seen both of our Foreign Ministers sign up to a statement today with other countries as well, three or four other countries, to make that very clear that actually even the latest action of Israel we've seen in the last 24 hours is wrong. And actually it risks violating international law. And it's really important that actually that military action is not going to solve more of this problem. We are both a long way away from this conflict. We have limited influence, we have limited trade in the region. We have a set of values that we stand up for and we do what we can through advocating those values. And you've seen that this morning again with the joint statement as we've had many together to put voice and volume to our values. But it's in our interests, peace, stability in this region, but it comes through diplomacy and dialogue, not through more military action.
JOURNALIST: On a related note to that, Donald Trump has said that Canada's intention to recognise a Palestinian state trying to hurt their trade talks between US and Canada. Does that play a factor in – you both said the countries' recognition of Palestinian statehood is inevitable, does that impact on trade talks with the US and New Zealand, and obviously Australia, does that play a factor in making that declaration?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: No, is the short answer. We have an independent foreign policy, as do 195 other countries and we make our own assessments, we act in our own interests, our own economic and our security interests. And so for us, we make our own decisions. And so that will be very much in our calculation.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: And Australia has exactly the same position where, as a sovereign nation, we make our decisions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Albanese, the Pentagon has warned that Australia would struggle to defend itself if it doesn't lift defence spending. Do you see that as a threat from the Trump Administration? And if I can ask you, Prime Minister Luxon, did you and our Prime Minister Albanese discuss the rising threat of China today?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: On the former, no. I see that as an interview by someone from The Australian with someone in the Pentagon, is what we see it as. And we will continue to invest in our defence, if people argue that we should increase our defence spending, we are. $10 billion additional over the forward estimates, $57 billion over the next 10 years. And of course, just this week, we've made a very significant announcement of the Mogami frigates the first 3 of which will be produced in Japan and then producing an ongoing production process in Western Australia, for 11. And that is a very significant investment that we're making indeed.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Yeah, the same for New Zealand. We've obviously had our defence capability plan announced recently. It's a big step up for us, doubling our spend as a percent of GDP. We’ve got $12 billion dollars going into defence in the next four years. It's a 15-year plan. We check in on it every two years as our economy improves. If we can do more, we will do more, but again, we make our own assessment on what we think we need to do. And the big focus for us has been interoperability with Australia. We want to be a force multiplier. We want to be a one sort of essential Anzac force essentially, operating within our region. And it covers all the gambit of helping the Pacific when there's emergencies and disasters. With respect to China, yes, we discussed China. We discussed all the regional and global issues that you would expect us to do so.
JOURNALIST: And what did you talk about when you discussed China?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Well, again, we've got a very similar approach, which is that we both had very successful visits to China just recently, meeting with President Xi and Premier Li. You know, China is a massive, significant player in the world, and it's a permanent feature of global affairs as well. We have an approach which is about, you know, cooperating where we can. As I said to President Xi, we cooperate where we can, we disagree where we must. We have different systems, different values, and we will stand up for those at different times, and we have differences, but actually partners talk about the hard stuff and talk about the differences too. And so, that was the nature of my conversations with the Chinese leadership when I was there.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I think we have a very similar approach, indeed, and use similar language of cooperate where we can, disagree where we must. But we engage in our national interest, and we continue to do that. And today, of course, we discussed the whole geopolitical issues in our region and throughout the world. And of course, the geostrategic competition in particular between the great powers is something that countries like Australia and New Zealand do discuss together and we cooperate.
JOURNALIST: Prime Ministers, you talk about your ironclad friendship, but a longstanding thorn in the side of that relationship has been deportations. And since Australia changed its direction around deportations last year, seeing a rise of deportees back to New Zealand, with that comes extra burden on New Zealand's services and it's been documented to be detrimental to rehabilitation of those deportees. So, Prime Minister Albanese, I would like to know if you think this is fair to New Zealand and Prime Minister Luxon, I'd like to know this whether these deportations are a hindrance to your agenda?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, Prime Minister Luxon, you won't be surprised, raised this with me and put his view, and as New Zealand's Prime Minister I'd expect him to. But as Australia's Prime Minister, you'd expect me to say, that the issue of Australia's national interests is what we put first in all of our relations. But we do so in a way, as well, that reflects common sense. And I reiterated that we have, of course, a priority of safety in Australia but also a common-sense approach that we give consideration to.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Well as Anthony just said, it did get raised. Our point of view is pretty clear. Australia is a sovereign nation, is entitled to make its own rules around the border. Our point is one which is that we think returning deportees that have very little connection to New Zealand is the key issue for us, and as a result, we want to see a continuance of this common-sense policy. With respect to whether other deportees driving into more crime across New Zealand. I'm really proud of the progress we've made on crime in the last 18 months. We've got 28,000 less serious violent crime happening, victims of crime happening in New Zealand. We've seen serious youth offending come down tremendously. We've got our police out on the beat up 40 per cent, our ram raids have dropped 60 per cent. We've got more work to do. We've strengthened the sentencing of our laws here in New Zealand so that judges cannot discount services beyond 40 per cent and all of that is added up to make people feel much safer here in New Zealand. There's more work for us to do, of course, in law and order. But I’d say in 18 months we’ve made tremendous progress with some of the legal changes that we've made in recent time.
JOURNALIST: We've seen Prime Ministers, we're seeing China's growing assertiveness in the region. We saw this with the test firing of a ballistic missile in the Pacific, the flotilla that conducted live firing between the waters of Australia and New Zealand. We've also seen a deal struck with the Cook Islands, as well. You both have similar policies. You disagree where you must, cooperate where you can. What do you disagree on when it comes to China?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, we have very different starting points. We are two great democracies, and that with that comes values that come with the democratic system China has a different political system, has different cultures, and a different political culture, and therefore a different approach towards its international relations as well. And so, I think the areas of difference are reflected there. We raise the full suite of measures when we are in discussions with China, including attitudes towards human rights, attitudes towards trade and sovereignty, we raise them, and we do so without being shy about it. But we do, one thing that I said, certainly, when I was in China, and I’ve said before is, we don't want our differences to define the relationship. We do need to engage. Engaging in diplomacy is how you get progress, and how you get understanding.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Yeah. Jack, firstly, good to see you. I don’t know if you’re a New Zealand journalist or an Australian one of these days, but mate, it's good to see you. I'd just say, yeah, we've got a very similar position. And I think, actually, you know, my conversations now with Premier Li and also with President Xi, I think it's well understood the framework for this relationship. You know, China's an important world power. It's important that we can engage. It's important that we do have a relationship. A long-standing relationship, with both our countries of over 50 years or more. And you know, a significant trading partner, our number one trading partner in New Zealand, obviously. And so for us, you know, we genuinely are able to have a conversation, I think, a very mature one now. Which is to say, look, we do have different histories. We do have different systems. We do have different values. It does mean that we do have differences. Good partners should be not afraid to actually talk about those things and do so in a way that we can manage those differences as a consequence of that. So I think, you know, both countries have followed pretty much the same playbook. And I think, you know, that's good for the relationship between both countries, China and New Zealand, China and Australia.