PM: Well, thank you very much.
It's great to be here in New Zealand. I'm very much looking forward to this visit. Of course, I'll have the opportunity now to speak to some of New Zealand's business leaders. There's no closer economic partnership between Australia and any country in the world than the economic partnership we have with New Zealand and we are seeking to build on it.
I'll also have the opportunity this afternoon to talk about something very dear to my heart, and that is education and the creation of opportunity when I visit a local school with Prime Minister Key.
I'm also very much looking forward to the opportunity of addressing members of the New Zealand parliament tomorrow. Australia and New Zealand are very close friends. We share a strategic outlook. We share common bonds. We share our longstanding Anzac tradition, and of course we share a partnership based on our economic integration, and I will be talking about that over lunch today.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you disappointed that you won't be speaking during the session of parliament tomorrow and that that plan is being kyboshed by the Green Party?
PM: I'm absolutely honoured to have the opportunity to speak to members of the New Zealand parliament in their parliamentary chamber. The details of these arrangements are properly a matter for the parliament of New Zealand, but I will be very, very honoured to be there.
JOURNALIST: How would you describe your rapport with Prime Minister Key?
PM: We've got on very well in the various international fora that we've worked together. I think our close partnership reflects the close partnership between our two countries.
JOURNALIST: You're polar opposites politically.
PM: Well, when it comes to dealing with many of the strategic challenges in the world, strategic challenges in our region, defence challenges like working together in pursuit of the Anzac tradition in Afghanistan, when it comes to dealing with the consequences of the global financial crisis, for international regulation, we've taken very common approaches and worked closely together.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there are funerals in Australia today for some of the asylum seekers who were killed off Christmas Island. Scott Morrison has drawn some questions about whether or not the Australian taxpayer should be funding relatives coming out for funerals. Do you have any comments?
PM: The Acting Prime Minister, Wayne Swan, and the responsible Minister, Chris Bowen, will deal with those matters back home.
Thank you.