PRIME MINISTER KEY:
Good morning. So, firstly, Tony can I just welcome you once again to New Zealand and thank you for spending the time over here for the annual bilateral that we have. It’s critically important for the relationship and I think a hugely meaningful and useful day in terms of the discussions we’ve had.
Now, I’m not going to go and rehearse the relationship between New Zealand and Australia, because I think everybody understands that that's a relationship which is broad and deep and multifaceted, but it is very, very important and New Zealand's most significant relationship and we acknowledge the great work that Australia puts in to making the relationship so important from both sides.
This year, of course, as we commemorate Gallipoli, the 100 years will be a time where New Zealanders and Australians will reflect on our relationship and the closeness of it and that will be a very special, important time for both countries.
Just in terms of the discussions we had this morning, they were wide ranging discussions as you would expect. One of the important issues we talked about is the deportation issue of New Zealanders who are serving longer jail sentences in Australia. We've agreed on both sides to accelerate a formalised arrangement of information sharing. Clearly it's very important for New Zealand authorities to understand if someone is going to be deported from Australia and returned to New Zealand, we need advanced warning of that. We need to be able to appropriately handle that situation as and when it occurs and given the numbers involved I think it's sensible for officials to accelerate that process and we welcome the agreement from our friends in Australia.
As you would expect, we talked about Iraq at some length. I briefed the Prime Minister a little further from our discussions we'd had on Monday night about New Zealand's announcement this week of sending our troops as part of Building Partner Capacity. Clearly we talked about the threat that we perceive from ISIL. I'll leave Prime Minister Abbott to talk about Australia's current and future commitments, but clearly it was an important discussion.
There was as you would expect a broader economic discussion and the commitment on both sides to continue to follow what we saw yesterday was a strong message from Australian and New Zealand business leaders that they want to see further progress in terms of economic integration.
We discussed TPP, New Zealand and Australia of course are two of the 12 countries involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership and our desire to see TPP concluded.
We discussed the commemorations for Gallipoli and of course we will be welcoming Prime Minister Abbott over on 20 April for the National War Memorial in Wellington.
We discussed the issue of New Zealanders in Australia and I acknowledged the recent policy changes that benefit those New Zealanders. We agreed on both sides that there are longer-term issues worthy of further discussion and consideration, and we look forward in time on working on those issues.
But Tony, you're a very welcome friend here in New Zealand. We look forward to a little lunch and then some cricket. And on that happy note we'll pass over to making any remarks you like.
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
John, thanks so much. It is, as always, a delight to be with you and it is a pleasure to be here in New Zealand. I've often said that Australia and New Zealand are like family. Yes, we are juridically independent countries but we have an extraordinary close and intimate partnership in so many areas.
There is a tendency, particularly on Australia's part, to take the relationship for granted. I'm determined that we will not fall into that trap. So yes, there have been some excellent discussions with business leaders on both sides of the Tasman over the last 24 hours, as well this morning, I visited Veridian, a joint venture which is working effectively on both sides of the Tasman, making high-quality glass products.
This afternoon, I will be visiting one of the Auckland fire stations to thank New Zealand firefighters for the work they've done in Australia, and yes, these visits aren't simply hard work – hard but satisfying work. There is a little bit of pleasure involved and last night, it was a real thrill to be at the World Cup dinner and I'm looking forward to seeing some cricket this afternoon.
Look, Australia and New Zealand, we are both preoccupied with the challenges of economic security and national security. John, you've led a very successful, a really, really successful centre-right government for eight years now. There are lessons for Australia in what you've done. It was good to talk about a range of economic reforms this morning, including the way you have already introduced your version of the healthy welfare card, which as Australian media would know, is something that we are talking about as a result of the Forrest report into indigenous employment. So, it was good to explore some of those issues and there are lots of practical lessons that I want our officials to be discussing very closely in the days and weeks ahead.
And yes, we obviously have before us the prospect of a Building Partner Capacity mission in Iraq. As our Kiwi friends may not fully appreciate, Australia has been heavily involved for some months now in the campaign against the Daesh death cult. We've had six of our Super hornet Joint Strike Fighters in the Middle East since last year. We've had up to 200 Special Forces troops on the ground in Iraq since last year on an advise and assist mission, and what we are now considering is joining New Zealand on an additional training mission with the Iraqi regular army. We still have to finalise our processes in Australia and I expect that that will happen in the next few days. And certainly, it will be good to see Australia and New Zealand standing shoulder to shoulder together in defence of our interests and our values.
I want to make it very clear that our interests as well as our values are at stake here. The death cult has horrified the world, the way a new dark age has descended upon so much of Syria and northern Iraq. The crucifixions, the beheadings, the mass executions, the sexual slavery are horrific, horrific – horrific – beyond words and yet we see them every day on our TV screens. Australia is proud to be part of an international coalition working to disrupt and degrade and ultimately destroy this death cult. It is the world's fight and it's important that Australia and New Zealand be involved. So John, the latest example in a long, strong and intimate partnership.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister Abbott, given you talk about the relationship being family, why do you think that it is in New Zealand we don't have cross-party support and is there a lot more opposition to fighting Islamic state and do you think for that reason, why are we not pulling our weight?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
I'm not by any means accusing New Zealand of not pulling its weight. And I think what we've seen from John Key and his government is a very right and proper decision to step up in this area. Now, the last thing I want to do is speculate on New Zealand politics. I just want to say, as far as I'm concerned, good on John Key for being prepared to shoulder a reasonable share of responsibility for this particular battle, because the death cult is reaching out to the world. As peaceful countries, we are reluctant to reach out to conflicts thousands of miles away, but those conflicts are reaching out to us. We have seen two terrorist incidents already in Australia, which have been inspired by the death cult, and were we to see more terrorist incidents in Australia, sooner or later, given the number of Kiwis in Australia, Kiwis would invariably be involved. So, we might not want to join these fights, and as peaceful people instinctively, we don't. But these fights are reaching out to us, and that's why it's important that we, in a prudent and proportionate manner, get involved.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister John Key, since you've been in power, you've seen an Australian Prime Minister removed, another one replaced then removed, and the strong possibility that the man next to you could be removed in his first term as well. Does it concern New Zealand that Australia is becoming one of the most unstable democracies in the Pacific and does that have implications when New Zealand deals with Australia for long-term reform, given business leaders are also nervous about the instability?
PRIME MINISTER KEY:
I think it's a bit harsh to describe it as one of the more unstable democracies in the Pacific. The reality is that there are always times where there is political turmoil and change, and that's the nature of democracy, and we should welcome that as long as that happens on a free and fair basis. It's not for me to opine on what Australians do or what political or politicians do on the other side of the Tasman. But what I can say is in the time that I've worked alongside Tony Abbott in his capacity as Prime Minister, I believe he's been an outstanding Prime Minister. I think he's worked hard for the people of Australia. He's tackling the economic challenges that they've got. They are never easy things to tackle. He's shown international leadership on a variety of different issues, including what happened to the Malaysian aircraft that was shot out of the sky. And it's been a privilege to work alongside him. But in the end, the leadership of the Liberal Party is a matter for the Liberal politicians and not myself.
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
Look, if I could add something, Andrew. John and I obviously have discussed leadership, and I've come to the clear conclusion that John's leadership is safe! So, good on you, mate.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister Abbott, how concerning is it that yesterday Julie Bishop refused to rule out contesting the leadership if given the opportunity and why not just end the stability that my colleague was talking about, why not just stand down?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
Well, because I was elected first of all by my Party Room and then by the Australian people to do a job. The government of a country is not easy. Particularly at a time when Australians are focusing on the glass half empty rather than the glass half full. This is a particularly febrile and querulous time in our national life. But I'm just pushing on with the job. I'm, as you would expect, undistracted and undeterred by the hyperventilating which seems to be taking place at least amongst the media. And every day, I work for a better Australia and that's what the party expected of me when they elected me back in 2009, and that's what the public expected of me when they elected me 18 months ago. I'm looking forward to every day continuing to earn the confidence of the Party Room and I'm looking forward to continuing to have the confidence of the Australian people and I'm looking forward to submitting myself to their judgment some time towards the end of next year.
QUESTION:
On that first point, how concerning is it that Julie Bishop yesterday refused to rule out contesting the leadership if given the opportunity?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
I don't expect any opportunity to arise.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, are you looking to make another policy reset this week? Specifically, are you looking to dump the Medicare co-payment? And how far do you think this will go to rebuilding trust with your backbench?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
It's interesting that you raise that subject, because obviously here in New Zealand, they have their own arrangements for this kind of thing, and no-one suggests that there's anything fundamentally problematic or unfair about the particular arrangements that New Zealand has. I don't want to pre-empt our party decision-making processes, our Government decision-making process, but it's no secret that we have been rethinking some policies that were brought down last year. And I just want to refer people to the fundamental principles at stake here: we absolutely want to protect and sustain Medicare because it is a great system – a great system that I know and love having been Health Minister for four years and having often referred to myself as the best friend that Medicare has ever had and I want to maintain that particular title. So, we do want to protect and sustain Medicare. We do want to ensure that the vulnerable are always looked after and protected, because the fair go is just as an important Australian trait as the have-a-go trait is and we are consulting with the medical profession. Those consultations are continuing, but at some point in time I'd certainly expect to have more to say.
QUESTION:
Mr Key, are you concerned at all that the speculation about Mr Abbott's leadership has overshadowed this visit and also that the current political instability in Australia could affect economic stability and obviously given its importance to us as a trading nation?
PRIME MINISTER KEY:
In terms of the first point – I don't think you can say it has overshadowed the visit at all. I mean, we've had incredibly productive discussions today, there's a wide range of issues we're working on, we've made some good progress on some issues that are important to New Zealand, particularly in information sharing around this deportation issue and a number of others. We've had an opportunity to raise the issue about New Zealanders in Australia and the fairness of that situation, and as I said, there's some agreement that we'll do some longer-term work on that. So, I wouldn't make that point. In terms of the wider issue just about a strong Australia, all I can say is that Australia is our most important trading relationship. Depending on how you measure things, it's always either number one or sometimes these days on some measures number two to China, but it's a hugely important part of our economy. A strong Australia makes a strong New Zealand. So by definition, we always want to see a strong Australia.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister Abbott, to what extent do you worry that this leadership tension may impact on Mike Baird's campaign in the state election in New South Wales and what will you do this week to turn that around?
PRIME MINISTER ABBOTT:
What I intend to do every day is get on with good Government – to get on with good Government. Now, I know the media like nothing better than to hyperventilate about Canberra insider gossip, but I'm not going to play that game. What I'm going to do is get on with good Government. And part of good Government is continued strong cooperation with the states, particularly those states that are eager to build the infrastructure of the 21st century, particularly the roads that New South Wales and Sydney need. And so I imagine that in coming days and weeks you'll see lots of occasions when Mike Baird and I are together on projects such as WestConnex, which is going to join up Western Sydney to the CBD, on projects like NorthConnex which is going to join up the expressway at Hornsby with the rest of Sydney's arterial road network. I'm looking forward to working together with Mike Baird before the campaign, during the campaign and after the campaign. That's what I'm looking forward to doing.
The final point I want to make is that we can talk all we like about bad headlines out of Canberra. But the fact is, Australia is in a fundamentally stronger and better position now than we were just 12 months ago. Economic growth: 2.7 per cent today as opposed to 1.9 per cent a year ago. Over the year, we've got jobs growth, three times the rate this year than last year. We've got export volumes up seven per cent, we've got housing approvals up nine per cent, we've got retail volumes up four per cent, we've got job ads up 13 per cent. We've got, by some measures, confidence at decade highs. So, a lot of very good things are happening in Australia and one of the things that you'll notice when the intergenerational report comes out at the end of the week, you will notice what the impact of last year's structural reforms would be on our long-term fiscal situation. You'll understand better why indeed we actually put forward these long-term structural reforms, but what you will also notice is the extent of the progress that has already been made. The extent of the fiscal repair that has already been achieved under this Government and that's why I say, at the moment, there is an out-of-character tendency on the part of Australians, particularly the Australian commentariat, to focus on the glass half empty. What I think we will be able to much more clearly see, particularly after the publication of the intergenerational report, is the glass half full.
Now, we Australians have always been an optimistic can-do people. This is one of the subjects that John and I have been talking about. And one of the things I know he's pleased about is the way that Australian can-do optimism has now well and truly taken root across the Tasman. I will finish on this note: the one area, John, where you should not be optimistic is the cricket this afternoon.
[ends]