New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern coming to Australia
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has offered to accept 150 refugees held by Australia. Photo: AAP
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s first trip as PM will be a jaunt across the ditch to meet Malcolm Turnbull.
The NZ Labour leader, who formed a coalition government earlier this month, will meet the Australian PM on Sunday in Sydney before returning to Wellington later in the day.
“Australia and New Zealand are not just mates, we are family,” Mr Turnbull said in a statement on Tuesday.
“I look forward to congratulating Prime Minister Ardern on her recent election and discussing how we can further strengthen the already close friendship between our nations.”
The pair are expected to discuss trade and defence ties ahead of the upcoming APEC and East Asia Summits.
“The Trans-Tasman relationship is New Zealand’s most important. Our economies are among the most integrated in the world with strong trade, people and investment flows,” Ms Ardern said.
“I’m looking forward to this early opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Turnbull and to establishing a close working relationship.”
The pair earlier this month had their first phone conversation, with Ms Ardern describing it “incredibly warm and friendly”, dispelling fears of a potential diplomatic rift with Australia.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop in August suggest she would find it hard to trust a Labour government in Wellington after accusing the party of interfering in Australian former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce’s citizenship saga.
She later said she had accepted Ms Ardern’s explanation and both parties had moved on.