ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: I am absolutely delighted to host Prime Minister Luxon here in Australia on your first official overseas visit as New Zealand's Prime Minister. I congratulate, once again, Chris on his election as Prime Minister. Australia and New Zealand, of course, share history, geography, values, and a common strategic outlook, and our relationship has never been more important. On a personal level, Christopher and I are perhaps the two leaders of nations who are more than anyone else aviation nerds, having built the relationship when Prime Minister Luxon was the head of Air New Zealand and I was Australia's Transport Minister. So, we have known each other for a very long period of time and that's a good thing. It means our relationship is not starting, it's continuing, and that was shown by the nature of the discussions that we had today. This year has marked a number of milestones for the Australia-New Zealand relationship. 40 years of the Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, 50 years of the Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangements and 80 years of reciprocal diplomatic representation. This year, we also strengthened the bonds between us improving pathways to Australian citizenship for New Zealanders residing in Australia. We also, of course, co-hosted the FIFA Women's World Cup - one of the most successful events ever held in our two nations. I was also pleased that last week we showed the extent of our cooperation with the joint statement we made with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, condemning Hamas' terror attacks on Israel, supporting urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire, and affirming our commitment to a just and enduring peace in the region.
Today, we look to the future. Our two countries are most effective when we work together. In our talks today we recommitted ourselves to the Trans-Tasman Roadmap to 2035 which we will review and modify annually to help drive our ambitious agenda. I have invited Prime Minister Luxon to attend and take up the opportunity very early on in his Prime Ministership to meet the ASEAN leaders when we host the Australia-ASEAN Summit in March of next year in Melbourne. We discussed the way that we can work together in the Pacific Islands Forum as well. Our common values that we have as nations mean that there are great opportunities for us to work together on closer economic ties, closer social ties, and working together in the international community too to meet our common objectives. Australia and New Zealand will continue to support Pacific priorities, working together to respond to our region's shared challenges. And that includes, of course, very importantly action dealing with climate change. We'll continue to deepen our trade and economic engagement in the context of our unique single economic market agenda.
So, I thank you very much, Prime Minister, for making Australia your first visit here. We will talk today as well about hosting next year in New Zealand the meetings that we have, the annual meetings between our respective leaders. But including in that as well our economic ministers and our defence and foreign affairs ministers as well. It was a real opportunity to renew our relationship on a one-on-one basis. I look forward to informal discussions afterwards as well where I'll host the Prime Minister for lunch after we deal with this press conference. But I'd ask Prime Minister Luxon to make some comments and then we'll take the questions as have been designated from our Australia and New Zealand media.
CHRISTOPHER LUXON, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Thank you, Prime Minister. And Kia Ora and good afternoon everybody. Thank you very much for the warm welcome and can I just say I am absolutely delighted to be back here in Sydney and, Prime Minister, it's good to renew our friendship and our relationship and thank you for the generosity and the way you hosted us and our team here so well over the course of today. As some of you know, I spent five years living and working here in Sydney. My son was in fact born here, my daughter now lives and works and studies here in Australia. So, it has to be clear the health of the relationship between New Zealand and Australia is actually very close to my heart. I am very pleased that the Trans-Tasman bond remains strong as ever. And it’s been forged through that Anzac spirit on the beaches of Gallipoli but more importantly by 80 years of diplomatic representation and, as the Prime Minister said, 40 years of our closer economic relationship and this is a relationship that actually deserves constant renewal. We want to deliver new energy, new enthusiasm, and new direction to ensure that our bond is fit for contemporary challenges that we see. We are a family and we step up for each other in times of need. And I want to say, thank you Prime Minister, for the way that you and Australia responded to Cyclone Gabrielle and gave us support earlier in the year and we had a rather difficult and devastating extreme weather event. And I want you to know that New Zealanders hearts go out to the people of North Queensland and also that we're here to help in any way that you think we can as well and reciprocate. The depth of our relationship is unique and it actually spans all areas including security, our work together in our region, economic integration and obviously our people and our strong cultural links. If I can talk a little bit about defence and security. We know we're facing a more challenging and complex world, close security and defence relationships we have with our only ally, Australia is very foundational for New Zealand. And so, New Zealand is committed to doing our share of the heavy lifting in the alliance and I'm determine that New Zealand will continue to be alongside Australia as we seek to advance our share interests and our common values. We want to work together to support a stable and a very resilient region and we will defend and advance the international rules-based order. That's why we agreed our ministers of foreign affairs and defence will hold their first joint meeting most likely in the new year as quickly as possible after Christmas to dive into some of those issues and to ensure that our plans and our responses are aligned and coordinated and mutually supported. We also discussed this morning our work in the Pacific and our near neighbourhood faces obviously a complex and growing array of challenges including the impacts of climate change and an increasingly contested strategic environment. We are determined to work together as bedrock partners in the region together working with our Pacific Island nations partners, particularly through the Pacific Island Forum which is a key mechanism for us to continue to ensure peace and stability in the region. And then with respect to trade and economy, this is a relationship that has $32 billion in annual trade. One-third of Australian businesses export to New Zealand and more than half of our foreign direct investment comes from this side of the Tasman. So that economic relationship underpins jobs and livelihoods on both sides of the Tasman and we want to continue to work strongly about what can we do more to renew and to extend the ambition and aspiration we have together economically. And with respect to people, the Trans-Tasman relationship as we talked about, and many of us in the room will have the same examples that I have had, is intertwined. To our two people that work together and live together more closely than I think many other countries around the world. So we welcome the contribution that Australians make to New Zealand and I think New Zealanders in Australians and make a contribution to Australia. Just pointing it out there, I think probably your best migrants. And so, our people-to-people relationship is important for us to keep working at as well. I do just want to especially acknowledge Prime Minister Albanese and the Albanese administration for the work and the interventions that you made to make it easier for New Zealanders to have a pathway to citizenship here in Australia. I think that's a good thing for the New Zealanders here but I think it's also a very good thing, as I said, for Australia as well knowing how good those migrants actually are. And I really want to say thank you for making an effort to make that intervention for us on our behalf, that has been very, very helpful. Finally, Prime Minister Albanese and I just started discussing what we get out of the formal meetings we have between our respective Governments over the course of the next year. We'll use the annual leaders' meeting in the middle of the year to track our progress and to sort of lift our ambition, but as the Prime Minister said, we want to make sure that we have strong relationships between our respective ministers. They have deep engagements with each other and are building those relationships between each other. So, can I just say again, Prime Minister, thank you so much for so generously hosting us. I look forward being with here more with you in the future and appreciate the friendship and appreciate the hospitality we experienced. Thank you very much.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: We've got four questions a side. We'll go, Australia, New Zealand intertwined with one question each.
JOURNALIST: Thanks, Prime Minister. Mr Luxon, your Government has expressed interest in playing a greater role in the AUKUS military pact. What do you see that looking like? What can New Zealand bring to the table? And to Prime Minister Albanese, does New Zealand’s nuclear ban pose a stumbling block between this?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Well, the first thing I'd say is, look, AUKUS is a very important element in ensuring we've got stability and peace from the region and we've talked about it, there's a number of countries that are increasing their military capabilities and it's a more contested region for sure. We will always have our nuclear free position. That's non-negotiable for us in New Zealand. We already have our navies that work together in an incredibly interoperable way and we want to see more interoperability, frankly, between our respective defence forces. So, from my point of view, we are interested in exploring pillar two in AUKUS, particular new technologies and what that and the opportunities that may mean for New Zealand to participate. We'll work our way through that over the course of next year as we understand it more and think about what the opportunities may be for us.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I see that there are opportunities for greater cooperation between our militaries, particularly in interoperability. That has practical effect as well. It's about efficiency and one of the things that we commented on today in our discussion was that often it is indeed our defence forces respectively, that provide support for each other at times of need of natural disasters. And that's just one area whereby increased cooperation could benefit both of our nations. With regard to the AUKUS arrangements, we're very pleased that the Congress passed the AUKUS legislation this year. That was our objective. Many said that couldn't be achieved. We achieved that with considerable support across the political spectrum in the United States. And I also note that at the Pacific Island Forum that was held just a couple of months ago, we received support and understanding about our AUKUS arrangements that what we're envisaging here is nuclear propulsion, not nuclear armed ships. It's a very important distinction to draw and certainly we see AUKUS as being very important for promoting stability and security in the Pacific.
JOURNALIST: How hard are you pushing Prime Minister Luxon to join Pillar Two, does it matter if we're part of it or not?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Prime Minister Luxon leads a sovereign Government. So, what sovereign governments do is not push each other, they talk through issues and they cooperate. And we'll do that and we'll look for opportunities where there are prospects of greater cooperation. We have a very good relationship between our two nations and we have a very good personal relationship as well. And I look forward to building on that.
JOURNALIST: Your Chief of Defence joined in talks with the US Secretary of Defence. Matt Thistlethwaite said this morning the Chief of Defence gained some further information in that meeting. Given that, are you now inclined to send a ship join to join in the Red Sea, or do you still stand by your position that our first priority is in the Indo-Pacific?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, Australia participated last night, as we do. We're one of the 39 countries in the combined maritime force. We are making a contribution there. We've said that we'll examine further personnel as well being there. And the US is keen for Australian diplomatic and public support. We provided that along with New Zealand, I must say, in the statement of condemnation that we made just yesterday. And a range of countries signed that, like minded countries. We think that it is important that navigation and freedom of movement be allowed. We condemn the actions of the Houthi and the disruption that is occurring. And we know that the US understands the best way for Australia to support this is through diplomatic support and our resources have been prioritised in our region, the Indo-Pacific. We've played an important role in freedom of navigation in the South China Sea and the operations that we're conducting as well with the Philippines.
JOURNALIST: Question for Prime Minister Albanese, since you adopted your common sense approach, the number of 501 deportations to New Zealand has dropped. But just this week we had a case of a 57 year old born to Australian parents, lived in New Zealand when he was a teen, deported to New Zealand. Why should people who left so young be sent back to New Zealand, even if they do pose the risk to Australians? Isn't that violence from an Australia?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, I don't comment on individual cases. What I would say is that Australia's position has been to apply a common sense approach to these issues. That has, I think, contributed to the improvement in relations between Australia and New Zealand.
JOURNALIST: Australia has signed a statement condemning Houthi attacking ships in the Red Sea. Is that a void declaration to the region? And where are you at with considering your request from the US?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, I really answered this question. But to the first part of your question, the answer to that is no. We were asked to do that, there are 39 countries who are members of the combined maritime force. Australia is playing an important role in that.
JOURNALIST: What tangible things would you like to see New Zealand do so that it can improve the security partnership with Australia and do that heavy lifting, that expenditure?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I think that New Zealand has always punched above its weight. We have an extraordinary history when it comes to defence and security, going back to Anzacs. Of course, something that we don't just commemorate, but we celebrate as well. And I think that one of the things that the Prime Minister and I discussed today was our Defence Ministers continuing to work through ways in which we can have an increased interoperability, I think makes sense so that we can have seamless operations. I've seen firsthand when there was a shipping disaster close to Auckland when I was the Transport Minister. I will remember the fact that we had military, our military, assisting in that once again when the natural disaster happened earlier this year, that assistance. But if we can work on ways in which what is a very positive, good relationship can be made even better, then we're certainly up for that. And one of the things we discussed today with Pillar Two, as the Prime Minister has mentioned, is that's about a whole range of new technologies. I think that there are areas of cooperation which are challenges to the globe, like artificial intelligence. How do we make sure that we keep ahead of those issues? I think the more that we cooperate, the better the benefit for both of our countries.
JOURNALIST: To Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, after just three weeks in office, you've moved to dismantle the Māori health service, reduce the Māori language in public service, and you've been accused by the Māori Party of bringing race relations in New Zealand to its worst since colonisation. Do you think you’ve steered New Zealand off course?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Well, look, I just disagree completely. As I've said right from the get go, we're going to be a Government for all New Zealanders. We want Māori to do well, we want non-Māori to flourish and do well. We know that when Māori are doing well, New Zealand is doing great. And so, you know, we have differences of opinion about how to deliver improved outcomes for Māori. Part of it is, yes, we don't think a separate Māori health authority delivers that. We think there are better ways in which we can improve those outcomes. And so our Government's going to be very focused on delivery, improving outcomes for all Kiwis and that's what we're going to do.
JOURNALIST: And Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, same question to you.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I have no intention of commenting on New Zealand domestic politics.
JOURNALIST: A question for both Prime Ministers. Race relations and Indigenous issues are topical issues in both your countries. What do you think you need to do as governments to alleviate the anxiety among Māori and Aboriginal Australians?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Look, I mean, this morning we had a fantastic welcome to country ceremony this morning and it was fantastic, actually talk to Yvonne and Brendan about that and actually where they are. But what I observed was that we have very strong connections between Māori and Indigenous people of Australia and actually we want to continue to build out that depth of that relationship between them as well. It's one of the things I'm going to be talking to potential businesses and investors actually later on this afternoon is about the opportunity that exists in the Māori economy in particular and actually how they can get connected to those opportunities economically. But we want to continue to see those Indigenous ties between our Indigenous people actually continue to grow and deepen in the coming years, and we've got to work hard at making that happen.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: We regard closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia as being a core priority of the Government. We have gaps when it comes to life expectancy. We have health outcomes that are a huge difference across our nation, including some diseases that have been eradicated in most parts of the world, but are still prevalent in some parts of remote Australia. We see educational opportunities where there are gaps as well. And it is an unfortunate fact that a young Indigenous male has a greater chance of going to jail than a university in our country. My Government is working to listen to Indigenous Australians. We listen to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who put forward a request in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. We listened to them and put that to the Australian people in accordance with that request. We respect the outcome that the Australian people determined in the referendum earlier this year, but that does not change our commitment to making a practical difference, to close that gap, because while we have one section of Australian society clearly more disadvantaged than the overall population, then we're all diminished by that. So, we'll continue to work constructively through the range of policies that we have on education, on health, on housing, on practical differences, to close that gap going forward.
Can I thank all our Kiwi friends from the media who've travelled here with the Prime Minister as well. And can I conclude this event by thanking Prime Minister Luxon for making Australia his first visit. The first Prime Minister that I met upon my election was Prime Minister Ardern. That says something about the relationship between our two countries. And that it is a relationship that I know has never been stronger. But I look forward to it being even further strengthened in the years ahead due to the working relationship as our respective Prime Ministers that we've begun today. Thanks very much.