Source: Radio New Zealand (world)
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (R) with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Queenstown in 2025.
Photo: RNZ/Katie Todd
Anthony Albanese says New Zealand and Australia are more than just neighbours, they’re “family” and Christopher Luxon says the relationship should “never be taken for granted”.
The Australian and New Zealand prime ministers met on Friday night in Noosa ahead of the annual leader’s meeting taking place on Saturday.
Albanese discussed advancing the economic relationship between the two countries, in order to make it “seamless”.
He also discussed the need to work together in a “volatile world”, where a war neither of them were part of was still having an impact.
Albanese said norms such as trade being a good thing, or that globalisation brought benefits and people out of poverty, couldn’t be taken for granted anymore.
“We need to work on them, and we need to work together.”
Luxon said the world was at an “inflection point”, and moving from one ordered by rules to one ordered by power.
He said it was an opportunity for two countries “like us” working so closely together with other like-minded countries.
“We are in a place where we are strategically aligned, we have very good alignment on our values, and very good alignment on our interests.”
Luxon said the relationship was one of family and therefore “we should never take it for granted”.
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