Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Queenstown this afternoon at the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting.
The two leaders have spoken about “geopolitical tensions, issues of trade and economic relationships, and conflict in the world,” Albanese said.
Albanese — accompanied with his fiancée Jodie Haydon — was welcomed with a pōwhiri by Ngāi Tahu, which he thanked as “warm” and “generous”.
He said it was his third visit to New Zealand as Prime Minister but had been “many more times than that” over “many, many years”.
Saying the last time he was in Queenstown, he came with a backpack on “to this extraordinary, beautiful part” of not just New Zealand, but the world.
Albanese agreed with Luxon “about the uncertain world that we’re in, and there’s no question that that is the case”.
“There is one thing that’s certain, that is Australia and New Zealand stand together.”
He said the two countries have a “seamless economic relationship” between “our family, the Pacific Island family”.
Luxon has said Australia is our only ally and a vital economic partner, “with two-way trade of $32 billion, I look forward to discussing what more we can do as we tackle economic challenges on both sides of the Tasman”.
Albanese said he hoped “this is the first of many very successful meetings that will happen here to advance the interests of New Zealanders here domestically, but also in international forums as well.”