Christopher Luxon and Anthony Albanese are due to hold talks in Canberra. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Analysis: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon leaves today for his first official trans-Tasman meeting with his Australian counterpart where security and defence will be front and centre amid concerns over any potential AUKUS involvement.
Luxon is travelling to Australia for the annual leadership meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
It was last held in Wellington with former prime minister Chris Hipkins in July 2023. The ANZLM is where the two leaders sit down and work out the priorities in the bilateral relationship for the year ahead.
"My visit is an opportunity to build on our already close relationship and further strengthen our security and economic connections," Luxon says.
He will head to Sydney first, for a range of meetings focused on infrastructure before making a foreign policy speech, his first official foreign policy speech, to the Lowy Institute.
Chris Bishop, Shane Jones and Simeon Brown - the Ministers for Infrastructure, Resources and Transport respectively - will be joining him to learn from the experiences of New South Wales in delivering major infrastructure projects.
Then he will head to Canberra to meet with Albanese where trade and the economy, the two countries' defence and security relationship, and Pacific connections will be on the agenda.
"Australia is our closest partner and only formal ally. Working hand in hand is vital as we face an increasingly challenging global environment," Luxon said. "I look forward to sitting down with my friend, Prime Minister Albanese, to discuss areas of common interest."
Luxon often speaks about how important New Zealand's relationship with Australia is, and the government will continue to focus its energy on maintaining that.
There have been 12 ministers visit Australia since the new government was sworn into power in November last year.
Trade and economy
Last year the two countries celebrated 40 years since the Closer Economic Relations trade agreement, that allows people to live, work, trade and businesses to grow and invest more easily between the two nations. It's an agreement built on "mutual trust", and one that Albanese has called "gold standard."
Anthony Albanese rates Australia's relationship with New Zealand as "gold standard". Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
Australia is New Zealand's most important trading partner and biggest investor, with two-way trade worth more than $31 billion last year. Luxon said he wants to make it even easier to do business across the Tasman.
More than 1.55 million Australians visited New Zealand in 2019, making them our largest source of visitors. They contributed $2.7 billion to the economy.
And for Australia, New Zealand is its second largest source of tourists.
About 700,000 New Zealanders live in Australia, more than 170,000 of them Māori.
In the year ended June 2024, 131,200 people departed New Zealand - the highest on record for an annual period - and a third of them were headed to Australia.
In April last year, a pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders in Australia was announced, easing tensions that had lasted more than 20 years. There will also be a focus on this trip in supporting New Zealanders living in Australia.
It's Luxon's third visit to Australia as prime minister - the first was his first official international trip since taking office followed by an invitation from Albanese in March to meet with ASEAN leaders.
Defence and security
The trade and economic relationship is important as New Zealand navigates its independent foreign policy, balancing ties with China as it flirts with the possibility of joining AUKUS Pillar Two.
It's unlikely there will be any new developments on AUKUS, but it will be part of the discussions, as the government continues what it calls an investigation into the military technology partnership, and as critics continue to caution against being involved. Luxon recently told the Financial Times New Zealand was "very open" to it.
The conversations will centre on the importance of the defence relationship with Australia, and understanding the reasons behind Australia's focus on AUKUS.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters has maintained that New Zealand hasn't made a decision yet, and the country's involvement is contingent on agreement from all parties.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters. Photo: RNZ / NICK MONRO
The government has reiterated that two conditions need to be met, firstly an invitation and secondly, New Zealand deciding to join.
It will be difficult to avoid China as part of the discussions, but the government will be focused on how to protect national interests.
Peters has been consistent with his messaging about the difficult geostrategic environment, navigating these conversations as he travels the globe.
Last year, former prime minister Hipkins acknowledged New Zealand had big decisions to make on improving the capability of the Defence Force. That came after Australia announced its biggest defence overhaul in decades.
Later that year a new government strategy stated New Zealand would ramp up its readiness for combat. Then defence minister Andrew Little said the country was facing more geostrategic challenges then it had in decades.
Just this week, Little disagreed with those saying AUKUS was a US plan to contain China.
"There might be some legitimacy to that argument, but if it is used to suggest there is no threat to respond to and that we have no interest in the broader Indo-Pacific, then it's a meaningless claim and gets us no further in deciding what we, as a country, should do."
"I strongly disagree with those who argue that China is a benign presence and poses no threat. The nature of China's engagement in the Pacific, its ambitions and its conduct in the South China Sea, as well as its actions in the cybersphere, make its presence in our neighbourhood a source of tension," he said.
In being realistic about the threat posed by China, New Zealand must also be realistic about its partners.
Little questioned the United States' long-term commitment to the Pacific, but acknowledged it was still a long-standing military partner.
Pacific connections
Australia and New Zealand's role in, and commitment to, the Pacific will also be discussed, particularly given the wider geostrategic tensions in the region.
The Prime Minister and the Foreign Affairs Minister have both pointed to the Pacific Island Forum (PIF) as the "architecture" that deals with challenges in the region. Recently Peters pointed to it as a way of finding a "pathway forward" in New Caledonia.
Peters especially has focused on the Pacific, as he aims to visit all PIF member nations in under a year.
"We had set our minds to fill a void of non-contact we believe was there when we got into government in November.
"Our neighbourhood is important to us in terms of our long-term security and long-term interests."
It was Peters who championed the Pacific Reset back in 2018, himself making a speech to the Lowy Institute.
The discussions between Luxon and Albanese will focus on how the two countries can work together in support of PIF and its centrality to enhancing Pacific interest and ensuring resiliency in the region.
It comes ahead of the next PIF meeting taking place in Tonga later this month.
501s
The issue of 501 deportees, which continues to be a thorn in the relationship, will inevitably come up as part of the conversations.
In June this year, the Australian government back-tracked on a commitment from early last year to give more weight to a person's ties to the country and length of time living there, when considering whether to deport them to New Zealand.
The commitment had been signalled under the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour government when Albanese first came to power and came into force under Chris Hipkins' leadership.
The U-turn came following a political backlash against the Albanese government.
The prime minister will return to New Zealand on Friday evening.
