‘More important than ever’: Australia, NZ PMs laud trans-Tasman relationship
Friday, 5 June 2026
BRISBANE: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the relationship between Australia and New Zealand is “more important than ever”.
“We live in a world in which a war on the other side of the Middle East, where neither of us are protagonists, still is having an impact.”
He was giving opening remarks at the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting in the resort town of Noosa.
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told media that the two nations were strategically aligned and that he and Albanese had a great relationship.
“The fact that we have a relationship means that we have high trust with each other, and we talk about the possibilities of what we can do together in order to deliver better results.”
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Earlier Luxon has been welcomed to Australia with open arms selling the opportunity for Kiwi businesses to be involved in the 2032 Olympic Games.
Organising committee president Andrew Liveris told Luxon he was the first head of state to visit the Brisbane Olympics committee headquarters at their high-rise office building in central Brisbane overlooking the nearby river and Story Bridge.
He told media he couldn’t describe the impact of having a political leader visit them and say they wanted the games to be an economic opportunity for the country.
“To have the prime minister bring a delegation to say that is a seminal moment.”
Liveris said he’d like to see more Kiwi companies register interest with the games.
“You might want to advertise back in New Zealand that there’s an opportunity to supply everything from white goods to toilet paper.”
People who will work on the Olympics preparations are already arriving in Brisbane: with the event needing 150,000 contractors, 600 washing machines and over 5000 road cones there’s plenty of work to do.
It is hoped the Olympics, which will be held from July 23, 2032 to August 8, 2032, will be a boon for both New Zealand and Australia.
Luxon then travelled across town to Pinkenba Hub, a centre which co-ordinates training for police across the Pacific region as part of the Pacific Policing Initiative (PPI).
The PPI is funded by the Australian Government with the intent to improve regional co-operation and interoperability between Pacific police services.
Luxon met members of the PPI, taking a look at their equipment which ranged from riot shields and tear gas masks to chainsaws and helmets for dealing with natural disasters.
New Zealand police officers stationed at the training base focus on community policing.
Superintendent Glyn Rowland told The Post their work was focused on building capability across the Pacific.
After a cultural performance for the prime minister, Luxon and his delegation were taken by motorcade back into central Brisbane to the Queensland Government’s executive offices where a meeting with Queensland Premier David Crisafulli Luxon ran over time.
Luxon will have official talks with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese at the annual Australia-New Zealand Leaders’ Meeting in the resort town of Noosa, with the main roundtable taking place on Saturday.
Before he left on Friday for Queensland, Luxon told The Post the relationship between the two countries was “better than ever before”.
He said he wanted to focus on strengthening economic advantages for New Zealand and Australia, security and the role the two nations played in the Pacific.
“There's a lot for us in a very challenged world at the moment to work out what more we can do together.”