New Zealand ties with Australia in Pacific ‘stronger under National’

A conservative National-led government in NZ will seek to step up links with Australia in the face of a rising China, the party’s deputy leader Nicola Willis says.

New Zealand National Party deputy leader Nicola Willis speaks during a campaign rally. Picture: Getty Images

A conservative National party-led government in New Zealand will seek to step up links with Australia in the Pacific in the face of a rising China, the party’s deputy leader, Nicola Willis, says.

Ms Willis, 42, a fast-rising political star in New Zealand, is expected to be the country’s finance minister if, as polls predict, the National Party defeats Labour in Saturday’s election, earning the right to form a majority coalition government with minor parties.

The latest polls show the gap between the major parties narrowing, but National, led by former Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon, is still favoured to defeat Labour Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, ending six years of Labour rule.

Three polls in the past 24 hours show the gap between the major parties shrinking to as low as 4 per cent, with one poll carried out by Newshub Reid Research giving the left bloc of Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Maori more seats than National in unity with the libertarian ACT party. The drop in the right bloc’s support increases the likelihood that maverick politician Winston Peters, leader of the populist NZ First party, will be the kingmaker in a National/ACT coalition.

Mr Peters and ACT leader David Seymour would support National over greater defence spending and believe New Zealand should play a greater role in the Pacific.

In an exclusive interview with The Australian, Ms Willis said the defence relationship between New Zealand and Australia was “incredibly important”, foreshadowing a closer foreign policy partnership in the Pacific Islands, where China is seeking to spread its influence.

“We think the relationship with Australia from a defence perspective is incredibly important,” she said. “We have a huge amount of interest that aligns with that of Australia and it is a huge opportunity for us to co-operate even more effectively, particularly in the Pacific, where we have a depth of relationship that we can pursue together. It is something that will be very important for both our countries in the future.”

Both Labour and National have pledged to lift defence spending from its current level of 1 per cent of GDP in recognition that China’s rise has changed the strategic outlook in the Pacific.

Mr Luxon has said he would double it to 2 per cent of GDP, but neither party has given a time­frame for the increase.

Mr Hipkins told The Australian there was an “opportunity to do more” with Australia on defence but he was evasive when asked whether New Zealand would join the so-called pillar two of AUKUS. “I think we’ve got a very strong defence relationship with Australia. There’s always, you know, plenty of opportunity to do more and I think the conversations that we’ve been having are really positive,” he said.

When asked whether New Zealand would join pillar two of AUKUS, he said: “At this point, we don’t know what that looks like.”

Ms Willis said a National-led government would be willing to explore what pillar two of AUKUS might offer for New Zealand.

“Both our foreign minister and defence minister would be open to understanding more and exploring what that is essentially about. But (pillar two) is obviously un­defined at the moment,” she said.

Ms Willis said Labour had lost its way in managing the economy and delivering outcomes to improve the lives of ordinary Kiwis.

“They’ve taken their eye off the ball when it comes to the economy,” she said. “After the Covid response, they needed to take a more disciplined approach to government spending as the country had accumulated a lot of debt and had a significant inflation problem (but they) put the foot on the gas pedal and accelerated government spending right when inflation was peaking.”

She said despite higher government spending and higher taxes, the government was not delivering on its promises. “New Zealanders are being taxed at higher average rates and not seeing any improvement in core services.

“People are waiting longer in hospital emergency rooms and are longer for surgery. Achievement in our schools has declined, crime rates are at real highs.

“They’ve been a government that hasn’t delivered.”

Ms Willis said National would deliver a more disciplined approach to spending and offer tax cut relief to cost-of-living pressures but she was evasive on working with Mr Peters. “We’re not talking up other parties,” she said. “It’s our job to drive votes to our party.”