Consensus on issues that matter

Between heads of government there is no substitute for face-to-face contact, as the two-day forum in Queenstown between Scott Morrison and New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern showed. Earlier this year Australia had reason to be uneasy about our neighbour’s commitment to the Five Eyes intelligence group and New Zealand’s view of Beijing’s wide-ranging campaign of trade coercion against Australia. In January, New Zealand Trade Minister Damien O’Connor set off a trans-Tasman storm – widely reported in Chinese media – when he said Australia “should follow us and show respect” to improve its relationship with President Xi Jinping’s administration. In April, New Zealand Foreign Minister ­Nanaia Mahuta said her country had “raised with Five Eyes partners that we are uncomfortable with expanding the remit of the Five Eyes relationship”.

On Sunday and Monday in Queenstown, Ms Ardern and the Prime Minister were on a unity ticket on the major strategic issues. These included developments in the South China Sea; the continued militarisation of disputed features and destabilising activities at sea; limitations on the rights and freedoms of the people of Hong Kong; the human rights situation of the Uighurs in China; ongoing instability in Myanmar; and North Korea’s continued development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

The meeting was the first in person since February last year, on the eve of the Covid-19 pandemic. Importantly, Ms Ardern reiterated that New Zealand’s membership of Five Eyes was “not in doubt”. She also made clear that New Zealand backed Australia in its trade dispute with China. Mr Morrison welcomed New Zealand’s offer to act as a third party in Australia’s stoush with China over its punitive 80 per cent barley tariffs on Australian imports, which Australia has taken to the World Trade Organisation. New Zealand, Mr O’Connor said, “upholds international rules and norms, so ensuring international trade rules are fairly applied by others is important to us and our exporters”.

In a pointed reference to China, Mr Morrison said “there will be those far from here who will seek to divide us and they will not succeed”. Ms Ardern said Australia and New Zealand were broadly in “exactly the same place” on trade and human rights issues. Members of her government should take note. As foreign affairs and defence correspondent Ben Packham writes, Ms Ardern knew she needed to close any gap between the countries on China during Mr Morrison’s visit, and she did so: “Of course, she pretended there had been no differences to start with, but that’s not how Australia saw it.” On issues of disagreement – especially Australia’s deportation policy under which New Zealanders are packed back across the Tasman if they are convicted of a crime in Australia – the prime ministers each held their ground. Ms Ardern reiterated New Zealand’s opposition. The policy, Mr Morrison pointed out succinctly, applied to all foreign nationals in Australia, not just New Zealanders. Their positions play well with their respective constituencies, so politically it suits them to disagree.

While the visit was brief, the discussions covered a wide variety of issues, set out in a 51-point communique. The points, appropriately, emphasised the importance of regional co-operation. They included providing safe, effective vaccines to ensure comprehensive coverage for “our Pacific family and Timor-Leste (East Timor) at the earliest opportunity” to complement doses from the US and France. Most important, amid increasing strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, the prime ministers agreed to work to counter foreign interference in the region by building resilience in education, infrastructure, research, electoral processes, media and communities. In the wake of Covid damage to regional tourism, they flagged the potential for extending their travel bubble to include other Pacific countries when it is safe to do so. In the longer term, the leaders agreed to negotiate the upgrade of the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

Given their sharply contrasting political philosophies, Mr Morrison and Ms Ardern have established a good rapport to advance the trans-Tasman relationship at a challenging time. Ms Ardern has invited Mr Morrison to join her when New Zealand hosts virtual Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation talks later in the year. “The trans-Tasman relationship, as we have said many times, is the most important for New Zealand,” she said. “We are family and the pandemic has underscored that in many ways.” From the perspective of both nations, it was two days well spent.