ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Well, thanks for joining us. It has been an absolute delight to have my friend Prime Minister Luxon here in Australia, to welcome him on what is his third visit to Australia as Prime Minister. Of course, over a long period of time, he's been a regular visitor here to Australia. Today has been an opportunity for us to host the Prime Minister, to talk through the range of issues that our closest of partners have, together. Our ties are, of course, older than our democracies, and a connection so strong we regard ourselves as family. Our history speaks for our common commitment to peace, prosperity and security. Our economic cooperation reflects our pursuit of new prosperity. Our flags remind us, in all of that, that we steer by the same stars. Ours is more than a bond of old affection. It is a partnership driven by a new determination, one that recognises that together we're stronger than just individual countries and that we'll work together not just in our relationship between each other, but as well as part of the Pacific family and as good global citizens as well. Prime Minister, when we first met following your election, you said that we shared a commitment to lifting our ambition. Today we do just that. On the economy, our economies are already two of the most closely integrated in the world. Today we talked about how we can further modernise our single economic market. Our Treasurers and Climate Ministers met recently and agreed to work together on the policies that underpin the net zero transition. Today we talked about how many of the initiatives in Future Made in Australia can present opportunities for cooperation. I'm pleased that New Zealand has joined Australia in the Climate Club, which will support decarbonisation across the Tasman. In addition to that, of course, we've spoken about a seamless transition of our people being able to go through in a contactless way, between our two countries. In defence, we know that we face the most strategic circumstances since the Second World War. Today, the Prime Minister and I have committed to working in lockstep, like never before, to assure our nations’ security and prosperity. New Zealand is going through a defence review, a bit like what we did with our Defence Strategic Review. We talked about the way that that experience we’ve had can assist, while New Zealand works through those issues. We worked through, as well, the benefits of interoperability, the exchanges that we have between senior defence personnel that are so important for us. We also discussed the increasingly important role cyberspace plays in national security and agreed to enhance cooperation in tackling cyber threats. We reaffirmed that international law applies in cyberspace and that a cyberattack on either country could, depending on its nature, constitute an attack under Article IV of the ANZUS Treaty. We recognise that as Pacific nations, our future success is tied to that of the region. In a couple of weeks time, we'll join together at the Pacific Island Forum. We talked about the way that we will cooperate in the lead up, but also at that forum that will be held in Tonga in just a couple of weeks time. Of course, deep and enduring people-to-people links remain at the heart of our relationship. Last July, my Government made it easier for New Zealanders who call Australia home to become Australian citizens. Sixty thousand people have applied. More than 30,000 have completed their citizenship. That is so important as we go forward. Prime Minister, just across the lake on Anzac Parade stands a monument to the relationship between our two nations. A towering bronze basket handle rising from soil taken from Gallipoli with the Māori inscription ‘each of us at a handle of the basket’. Now, as always, Australia and New Zealand continue to share the load, doing that heavy lifting together, as we work to move as one, to move our countries and our region forward. Before I ask the Prime Minister to make some comments, I do want to just raise one issue, which is that our thoughts today are also with our friends in Türkiye. We understand there are efforts underway to control fires that are burning on the Gallipoli Peninsula. Gallipoli is, of course, sacred ground to both of our countries. Some 60,000 Australians served at Gallipoli during the eight month campaign and 8700 Australians lost their lives. Eighteen thousand were wounded during the campaign and there were more than 7200 Australians buried in cemeteries or listed as missing there. Our thoughts today are with those who continue to care for those cemeteries and welcome thousands of Australians who visit Anzac headstones each year, as they endure these difficult times. Prime Minister.
CHRISTOPHER LUXON, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: Thank you, Prime Minister. Kanui te mihi, kia koutou, kia ora everybody, and good morning. It's a real pleasure to be here. Can I just acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the land that we're meeting on and also to recognise people or families with connections to the lands of the ACT. Prime Minister Albanese, can I say thank you again for hosting me. Thank you for the very warm welcome and the very special ceremony at the beginning of our visit. We've really had some warm and productive talks and we look forward to continuing some of that this afternoon as well. We are working hand-in-hand with Australia and it's more important that we do so than ever before. We both face, as we've talked about extensively, a challenging global environment that we haven't seen in decades. Our conversation, I think, reflected our shared assessment, our alignment on the issues, and the broad set of shared priorities that we have. As the Prime Minister said, we discussed defence and security issues in detail today and Australia, as you know, is our only ally. Today, Prime Minister Albanese and I reaffirmed the strength of that alliance that we have together. Our defence forces are working seamlessly with our personnel currently deployed together offshore in nine different deployments. We affirmed also today that our alliance can come into play if either New Zealand or Australia face a sufficiently severe cyber-attack. We invited our Defence Ministers to also update and renew closer defence relations at their next meeting. We also discussed appointing senior officers into our joint forces headquarters and we decided to prioritise combined defence procurement as we strive for greater interoperability. We also had a very good discussion about the Pacific with a focus on the centrality of the Pacific Islands Forum. The meeting of which, as the Prime Minister talked about, is later this month. We talked about the investment and the trade and the innovation links that generate jobs in each of our economies. The foundation, of course, is CER and our most comprehensive free trade agreement, which continues to evolve and change given global environments and conditions. We agreed to continue to work on the need to reduce friction in doing business on both sides of the Tasman. We are aligning our regulatory approaches in emerging sectors, including battery and EV technologies. New Zealand announced earlier this week that we intend to align our approach to regulating gene technology with the Australian legislation and approach as well. We'll continue to be aligning our building standards to help maximise efficiency of trans-Tasman trade and competition in the building and construction sector at home in New Zealand. Prime Minister Albanese and I are also committed to improving the operation of the trans-Tasman mutual recognition arrangement to support more seamless trade between our two countries. We discussed, as you highlighted, the report on advancing seamless travel, which again lays the connection for our people-to-people connections and obviously our economic ties. The Prime Minister and I also discussed the freedom of Australians and New Zealanders to travel and work and live in each other's country, which is a unique feature of our relationship. Again, I commend the Prime Minister and thank him deeply for the changes that he announced last year to create a direct pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders in Australia. That is life changing. It's turning hardworking Kiwis into your very best Australians. We also discussed 501 deportation with a focus on the common sense approach to deportations that addresses people whose formative experiences were nearly all in Australia. Prime Minister Albanese and I agreed to engage closely on this. Can I say, Prime Minister, thank you again for the very warm welcome. Thank you for the friendship, thank you for the hospitality, thank you for your commitment to this relationship, which we so appreciate. And I guess with that, we're happy to take any questions.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Thanks, Prime Minister. First is Stephen.
JOURNALIST: Thanks, Prime Ministers, can I just ask about one point in the joint statement, the reference to increasing our combined operational tempo and presence together in the Indo-Pacific region. Is it possible for you to give a bit more detail about what's being contemplated? Are we talking about New Zealand making an increased contribution to existing multilateral exercises? Are you contemplating more work together in humanitarian and disaster relief? Can you give us a sense of what's being contemplated there? And if I could add, Prime Minister, you've obviously got a defence capability review underway, what sort of investments do you believe New Zealand will have to make through that review to make a meaningful contribution to these efforts?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Look, I take the first point. We want to be working together as much as possible, wherever we can be. I was recently in Japan, visited the team that is there with 11 countries, Australia and New Zealand, working together, actually doing monitoring of UN sanctions against North Korea. It's a good example of where I want New Zealand forces working closely with Australian forces in those kinds of theatres where we've got common values that we're standing up for and protecting. With respect to our defence capability plan, what we have is a new leadership team within defence, our different forces. We have a new department secretary, we obviously have a new Minister and I've asked them as a new leadership team to go back to a blank piece of paper and actually think about the capabilities that New Zealand and the platforms that New Zealand wants to build over time in its defence capability. That work we hope to have completed towards the end of the year, maybe early next year. Obviously we want to do that in close engagement because our intention is to say we want to be fully interoperable with Australia’s defence forces. We want to be a force multiplier for Australia and by making sure that we can do things like joint procurement, we have alignment on what we can bring. That's the work that will go on through the course of the year.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: That's right. I join with the Prime Minister on saying that there are enormous benefits to gain just in efficiencies. We have common values, we have common objectives, whether it be securing peace and prosperity in the region or whether it be assisting in natural disasters. What we do now is to cooperate wherever possible, but we want to extend that. It makes sense as well for us to look at interoperability because then you can get real gains going forward.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Albanese, obviously with the 501 policy, with the implementation of Direction 110, there is concern from New Zealand's side that you will revert to sending people back to New Zealand that have little to no connection to New Zealand. How do you justify contributing to New Zealand's crime and gang problem with what are effectively Aussie grown criminals?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, notwithstanding the provocative nature of the tone in the question, what we have is an understanding that whilst we have common purpose, we don't have uniform position, but we respect each other's position. Australia's job is, of course, to look after our national interest. We say that the safety of Australians is the number one consideration in the Ministerial Direction 110. But it also continues to apply common sense. A common sense approach - that is all we try to bring to this and that is understood. The next question is from Tom.
JOURNALIST: Thanks, Prime Minister. Prime Minister Luxon, could a joint General Purpose Frigate project be part of the interoperability that you've talked about with your Australian counterpart? And is it possible that that cooperation could be undercut by Australia's efforts to recruit Kiwis to the Australian Defence Force? Do you have any concerns about that policy?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Look, I don't have any concerns about the recruitment of New Zealanders into the Australian Defence Force. Again, it's a bit early for me to presuppose the outcome of that defence capability plan. And in fairness to the people that are doing that work, I want them to be able to go through that work, build up a proper plan that as we invest more in defence in subsequent years, we know we've actually got a high quality strategy that's actually building the capability that we want to see so that it can be interoperable. But those are good examples of areas where we should be collaborating and doing joint procurement as much as possible. And when I say interoperable, that's what we mean. But again, particularly with the frigates, let's let the review go through over the course of the year and we'll pick it up when we've got the plan delivered. Who's next on our side? TV NZ.
JOURNALIST: Kia Ora, Prime Ministers. Mr Albanese, do you believe that New Zealand should be joining AUKUS Pillar Two? And if so, when would the group be extending that invite? Is there a particular timeframe that you have?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I think there will be opportunities for New Zealand to participate in Pillar Two, just as we've reached out in Japan and other countries particularly, can participate on a case by case basis. What we're talking about here is technology and its application. And just as interoperability between our two defence forces is a priority and an objective, it makes sense. Therefore, when we're considering Pillar Two of the AUKUS agreement to engage like-minded countries, we share very much common values and we share common objectives. And it is not surprising that we will look at any opportunity for including New Zealand in Pillar Two, given we are actually talking about exchanges of senior One Star and Two Star senior defence personnel being embedded and each other's defence forces. So we want to make sure that there's as much cooperation as possible because that will make the combined objective that we have much more effective.
JOURNALIST: Thank you, Prime Ministers. Mr Albanese, can I just ask on the policing initiative set to go before PIF. Are you able to respond to concerns from the Solomon Islands that it's been steamrolled through the forum? And to Mr Luxon on the same issue, what are your thoughts or can you elaborate on discussions about working with Australia in the policing initiative? And more broadly, you have an Australian Minister saying there's no role for China in policing the Pacific. Is that your view as well? And, sorry to be a bit cheeky, but is PNG getting an NRL team?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: The Pacific Policing Initiative is a Pacific led, Australian supported initiative. It has arisen from the chiefs of police from across the Pacific have been designing the initiative in order to respond to the priorities of the Pacific for a safe and a secure region. We believe, as the rest of the Pacific family do, that security in our region is primarily the responsibility of our family. And so the Pacific Policing Initiative is consistent with that. Pacific leaders have agreed that our security is best found within our family and I think that will be certainly a theme that we have in the lead up to, and we'll see what comes out of the PIF meeting in a couple of weeks’ time.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Yeah, and I just reiterate, you know, New Zealand's totally supportive of the Policing Initiative and we're very keen to be involved as well. And the reason is pretty simple, is that we've actually had policing arrangements and collaboration in the Pacific from both Australia and New Zealand with our Pacific Island friends. And I just recently visited Fiji and it was very interesting to me, as you start to think about transnational crime and border crime, you know, that you have narcotics, organised crime, floating quantities of meth off the coast of Fiji, headed to Australia and New Zealand. And so within the Pacific, I think it will be well received. Who's last from our side - Jason?
JOURNALIST: Yeah thanks, Prime Ministers -
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Our best dressed journalist within our delegation today. Sorry, Jenna.
JOURNALIST: Other than the Prime Minister. Can I just ask about the cyber-attack initiative that you talked about in terms of triggering Article Four? Could you just elaborate on what that means in practice and what it is that you're worried about in some of the tangible outcomes of this agreement today?
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Look, we're just recognising that obviously modern warfare has moved into the cyberspace and should New Zealand come under a severe cyber-attack, both countries, we would invoke the arrangements we have under our allies, our arrangements. And it's pretty simple, I mean, we can see warfare has changed and cyber is a very, very large part of that. And so we're just making sure that that is modern and it's reflective of the environment that we operate within and how warfare is undertaken. So, it's a pretty severe cyber-attack that we would need to see, but it's important that we have that covered.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Well, I agree with the Prime Minister. You know, we would make this assessment on a case by case basis, obviously. But a cyberattack can have as great an impact as an attack from traditional means. The way that we view, have viewed warfare is changing. An attack on the economy can bring down the operation of an entire society. So we know that just as we are dealing with this here in Australia, we deal with it through the Australian Signals Directorate and other issues as well. We've ramped up our cyber defences, we're working with the business community and with civil society as well on these issues, because we saw recently an impact that was global from an event. So we need to prepare for all of these issues and we need to modernise and make sure that the agreement that we have reflects modern issues. So thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Did Christopher Luxon keep it simple with you today?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Christopher Luxon and I have known each other a very long period of time.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: We have a unique way of communicating and I have to say the Prime Minister understood Te Reo very well. Yeah, awesome.
JOURNALIST: And Dom’s question about PNG getting an NRL team, is that happening?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Cheeky. Now we're getting, see this is cooperation from the Australian media that we often don't see together. But in the spirit of cooperation, look, my position's been clear for a long period of time, that the people of Papua New Guinea are very passionate about Rugby League. It is their national sport, effectively. You can't go, when I travelled with my friend, Prime Minister Marape, along the Kokoda Track, there's something remarkable about being in one of the most dense jungle areas of the world and you come into an opening and there's little kids wearing Cowboys jumpers, Origin jumpers, even Rabbitohs jumpers -
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: No Souths jumpers though, right?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: No, no, there are Rabbitohs jumpers there.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Just checking –
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Always, there's always a random Souths guy wherever you go.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: It must have been a hard trail for the Prime Minister Marape - because you can just imagine what was going on. He was being taught about Souths, Rabbitohs nonstop, wasn't it?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: All the way.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: Must have loved it.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: So look, we're working through those issues. I confirm that we're in discussions with the Australian Rugby League, with the New Zealand Government. And the Australian Government, we see this not just being about sport but being about economic development and about cementing the relationship that our two great countries have. But today it's about the great relationship that we have as well. A great relationship that has always had a sense of humour in the middle of it.
PRIME MINISTER LUXON: I love that, well said. Good to see you.