August 9, 2025 • 9 mins
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Chris Luxon this weekend, in Queenstown for the annual Australia-New Zealand leaders meeting.
Luxon said in a world that's ever-changing, our relationship with Australia is a "bedrock", and Albanese shared a similar sentiment. But no announcements have been made so far between us.
So what can we expect to come from this? what issues do both leaders agree, or disagree on? and what concerns still remain?
New Zealand Herald Senior Writer Derek Cheng was down there to cover the meeting, and he's with us now...
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
You're listening to the Weekend collective podcast from News Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yes, Welcome back well. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Alberanizi met
with Chris Luxon this week in Queenstown for the annual
Australian New Zealand Leaders Meeting. Over the two days, the
pair aimed to deepen our bilateral relationship with discussing issues
overseas issues between us, seeing if we're right are on
the same matters. They talked about Israel hamas improving trade
five oh one deep or teed as military defense, and
(00:32):
Luxon said that in a world that's ever changing, our
relationship with Australia is a bedrock. Albanesi shared a similar sentiment.
But no announcements have been made. So what came of it?
What did they agree and pon disagree on? New Zealand
Herald senior writer Derek Chang was down there to cover
the meeting. I think he's hanging around down there for
a little extra day or so. Actually Derek has it gone.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm good, Thank you, Tom. How are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Good? So, firstly, how are the hugs, because I noticed,
you know, Luxeon's quite huggy and even Alberanzi. When he
they left the podium, he said, we're off to just
have a cuddle or something.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
There was a lot of there was a lot of
hug talk. There were actual hugs of plenty as well.
I mean, it's probably a little bit overplayed to the media,
but there is also a genuine warmth there. They've known
each other for sort of a decade plus back when
Luxon was had been a beautiful, beautiful sunny day here
in QUEENSTOWND today and it was a bit overcass yesterday
and it was spectacular with the with the snow on
(01:26):
the hills, et cetera. But it was also really quite
cold and quite frigid. So the cuddles, the cuttle and
lux and talked about needing to go inside to have
a hot chocolate and the media or outside for a
lot of the or during the bilateral meeting and literally
just kind of shivering and waiting for things to happen.
And then there for some reason they decided to have
the press count conference outside. So there was a lot
(01:48):
of shivering going on and maybe.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, okay, so what was the what's the main talking
point this weekend? Was it the brain drame, we got
the tariffs wore or something five oh ones? What was it?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I mean it was kind of all of those things.
And that's not unpredictable, I guess, and you know, I
would you know, the talks went exactly. There were no fireworks.
It was entirely predictable. There was a lot of bretorik
around what good friends we are or better than friends,
we're family, A lot of standing together. The five to
one talk came up they usually do every year. There
(02:23):
was no sign of Australia softening their stance. They talk
about acting in their own national interest, you know, but
there was a lot of I guess Alberanezi said he
expects Luxeon to raise it, and Luxeon kind of, you know,
as a nod to Luxeon and what he needs to do,
and Luckxeon kind of with a nod to alberan Asian said, well,
we also respect, you know, Australian's sovereign right to do
what they want in their own interests. I guess what
(02:46):
we didn't, what we were keen to know was what
their thoughts were on recent international developments. We've got Israeli
PM metam now who a few days ago saying that
they were going to take full control of Gaza. But
even then, what they said on the matter was kind
of predictable because there was a foreign statement Foreign Minister's
joint statement which included a new feeling in Australia the
(03:07):
morning before alban Easy arrived basically criticizing that move and
urging Israel to reconsider.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So were there any surprises, Well, not really.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I mean, they talked a lot about closer defense relations,
but again that's not new. They talked a lot about
closer economic ties, but again that's not new. I guess
one of the newer things that they talked about was
like trying to streamline regulations between the countries to make
it easier for businesses to do to do this thing
across the ditch. But that very early stages. They had.
(03:38):
They met with some business leaders last night to try
and flesh that out a little bit more. And you know,
you we've already seen a little bit of that from
the luxe and government trying to have the building product
standards in New Zealand mirror that of Australia. So you know,
that's those very early stages. But again, you know, these
talks are not you know their schedule of their annual
talk so so you know that they are kind of predictable,
(04:00):
and there is not a lot, really not a lot
in terms of new announcements.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I guess in a way, we should actually be really
happy with that. I was just reflecting on this because
we're so used to a tumultuous political headlines with I mean,
we've got some serious stuff going on in Gaza, Nahu Trump,
you know, meeting in Alaska with Putin and Zelenski, and
the tenor of politics is generally so so stormy that
(04:26):
I guess we should be really happy that here we've
got our good friends, the Australians who we get on
well with Luxon and Albanesi obviously like and respect each other.
Is that the takeaway, It's like, guess what we've We're
still mates and that should be excess celebrated Or am
I being a bit too sort of huggy on that?
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I think that you've hit the nail on the head really,
And they both talked about the bedrock of a relationship in
the world that is uncertain and where there's a lot
of turmoil going on at the moment, and you know,
and we do stand with Australia on a lot of
those issues. You know, there was a joint statement from
Luxon and Alberanazi urging Israel to reconsider their plan to
(05:06):
take over Gaza Albanezy. This morning, after having a reef
playing ceremony at the War Memorial in Arrowtown, he talked
about the Trump Putin meeting and he basically see, well,
dialogues all well and good, but we still want, you know,
Putin to just get out of there. He could just
he could just resolve this all by by giving back
the territory he's taken, you know. And this is obviously
(05:26):
the lines with the new Hellanders. And they did talk
about recognizing pastime as the States. Not not yet, but
but inevitably they will. So there is a lot of
alignment there and and that is it was a feature
of the talk that we stand side by side in
a world of uncertainty and increasingly to pull it to
look geopolitically unstable times.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Doesn't really contribute to an exciting headline in a way,
but probably the greater good is probably better, isn't it. Hey,
So what about the tariff situation? Is there do they
have discussions about is there anything they can do with
with regard to well Australia is getting traffs I got
with the pharmaceutical problems and stuff which Trump's been Did
they talk about that at all?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
They they did talk about that, you know, formally and
then formally, but there wasn't particularly a feature of the talks. Obviously,
New Zealand is facing harsher tariffs from the US at
fifteen percent Australia at ten percent, and that we are
trying to negotiate that, and you know that that seems
(06:29):
you know, we don't really have a lot of leverage there.
But you know, Japan has been trying to lower their
tariffs in the EU by by promising to invest billions
in the US, and you know that's not really a
card we have up our sleeves. Also talking about that
Trump threatening in Canada with higher tariffs if they if
and when they recognized the state of Palestine, and I
(06:51):
did up flux in Alberan as whether or not that
was a factor and considering when they do recognize that
statehood and whether that, you know, will weaken the position
of New Zealand exporters to the US. But they said, no,
we're were sovereign states. We make up our own minds,
and you know, I mean, you would expect them to
say that even if they were, you know, even if
there was a bit of a wriggle room there.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, I must have met privately. I was quite I
was kind of hoping that both of them would be
skiers and that would see them on the slopes and
you'd get one of those shots where one of them
is wiping out. But how's the snow looking down there?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
The snow is pretty thin. I've never seen the snow
to spin at the time of year, so you know,
there was a little bit of dove. There was a
small dove on Friday. Luxeon did talk about Alberanes needing
to come back with the skis. I don't know if
he's a scare Albanese. He did talk about the last
time he was in queenstownd was literally last century and
when he was a backpacker. He didn't mention any skis.
(07:44):
But they did actually have a helicopter ride with some
NIGHTYPI representatives before Albenzi flew out, and they took in
the Remarkables and neighboring cecil pick and actually landed on
the Humboldt Glassier and she had a bit of pavlogo.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Fantastic fantastic, arguing over who invented over as well. Hey, Derek,
thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it and
enjoy the rest of you time before we see you
back in the big smoke. Good mate. That is Derek Ching,
he's a New Zealand Herald senior writer. I mean, actually
there is a you can show your thoughts about that
as well, because there's no exciting announcements that come of it.
(08:24):
There's obviously some good bond of me between Luxon and
alban Easy and you know what, we're so used to
these big headlines. As I say, maybe we should be relieved.
It's like there's Australia, there are mates and next great.
Isn't that good? But also I want your response to
the chat I had with Madame and Davidson. And look,
(08:44):
it's probably no surprise to you. I'm not really, not
really a Green Green voter. I'm not at all a
Green voter. And I did find there are a lot
of generalizations in our answers that I sort of started
losing the world to live in a way in terms
of trying to dig into it. Because I was just
getting generalizations coming back at me. And you know, she
(09:05):
didn't have a comment about if we had some sort
of mining that approved of would they ever approve of it?
Because you know, our way of life does depend on mining.
And the other thing about the Treaty of whiteitngy centric approach.
I mean, are they the Green Party or the Mari Party?
And I still don't think I know what that means
because the values that she was talking about to do
with the treaty, I think you can have those values
(09:27):
without reference to treaties and race at all, can't you.
So I'm not sure that that part of the interview
was going to win the many extra votes. So what
do you reckon? I've got a lot of text from you,
but now we'll take your calls. Eight hundred eighty ten
eighty text nine two nine two. We're back in just
a moment. It is twenty four minutes to four.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk z'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend collective podcast from News Talks dB.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Yes, Welcome back well. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Alberanizi met
with Chris Luxon this week in Queenstown for the annual
Australian New Zealand Leaders Meeting. Over the two days, the
pair aimed to deepen our bilateral relationship with discussing issues
overseas issues between us, seeing if we're right are on
the same matters. They talked about Israel hamas improving trade
five oh one deep or teed as military defense, and
(00:32):
Luxon said that in a world that's ever changing, our
relationship with Australia is a bedrock. Albanesi shared a similar sentiment.
But no announcements have been made. So what came of it?
What did they agree and pon disagree on? New Zealand
Herald senior writer Derek Chang was down there to cover
the meeting. I think he's hanging around down there for
a little extra day or so. Actually Derek has it gone.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
I'm good, Thank you, Tom. How are you good?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Good? So, firstly, how are the hugs, because I noticed,
you know, Luxeon's quite huggy and even Alberanzi. When he
they left the podium, he said, we're off to just
have a cuddle or something.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
There was a lot of there was a lot of
hug talk. There were actual hugs of plenty as well.
I mean, it's probably a little bit overplayed to the media,
but there is also a genuine warmth there. They've known
each other for sort of a decade plus back when
Luxon was had been a beautiful, beautiful sunny day here
in QUEENSTOWND today and it was a bit overcass yesterday
and it was spectacular with the with the snow on
(01:26):
the hills, et cetera. But it was also really quite
cold and quite frigid. So the cuddles, the cuttle and
lux and talked about needing to go inside to have
a hot chocolate and the media or outside for a
lot of the or during the bilateral meeting and literally
just kind of shivering and waiting for things to happen.
And then there for some reason they decided to have
the press count conference outside. So there was a lot
(01:48):
of shivering going on and maybe.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Okay, okay, so what was the what's the main talking
point this weekend? Was it the brain drame, we got
the tariffs wore or something five oh ones? What was it?
Speaker 3 (02:01):
I mean it was kind of all of those things.
And that's not unpredictable, I guess, and you know, I
would you know, the talks went exactly. There were no fireworks.
It was entirely predictable. There was a lot of bretorik
around what good friends we are or better than friends,
we're family, A lot of standing together. The five to
one talk came up they usually do every year. There
(02:23):
was no sign of Australia softening their stance. They talk
about acting in their own national interest, you know, but
there was a lot of I guess Alberanezi said he
expects Luxeon to raise it, and Luxeon kind of, you know,
as a nod to Luxeon and what he needs to do,
and Luckxeon kind of with a nod to alberan Asian said, well,
we also respect, you know, Australian's sovereign right to do
what they want in their own interests. I guess what
(02:46):
we didn't, what we were keen to know was what
their thoughts were on recent international developments. We've got Israeli
PM metam now who a few days ago saying that
they were going to take full control of Gaza. But
even then, what they said on the matter was kind
of predictable because there was a foreign statement Foreign Minister's
joint statement which included a new feeling in Australia the
(03:07):
morning before alban Easy arrived basically criticizing that move and
urging Israel to reconsider.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
So were there any surprises, Well, not really.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I mean, they talked a lot about closer defense relations,
but again that's not new. They talked a lot about
closer economic ties, but again that's not new. I guess
one of the newer things that they talked about was
like trying to streamline regulations between the countries to make
it easier for businesses to do to do this thing
across the ditch. But that very early stages. They had.
(03:38):
They met with some business leaders last night to try
and flesh that out a little bit more. And you know,
you we've already seen a little bit of that from
the luxe and government trying to have the building product
standards in New Zealand mirror that of Australia. So you know,
that's those very early stages. But again, you know, these
talks are not you know their schedule of their annual
talk so so you know that they are kind of predictable,
(04:00):
and there is not a lot, really not a lot
in terms of new announcements.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
I guess in a way, we should actually be really
happy with that. I was just reflecting on this because
we're so used to a tumultuous political headlines with I mean,
we've got some serious stuff going on in Gaza, Nahu Trump,
you know, meeting in Alaska with Putin and Zelenski, and
the tenor of politics is generally so so stormy that
(04:26):
I guess we should be really happy that here we've
got our good friends, the Australians who we get on
well with Luxon and Albanesi obviously like and respect each other.
Is that the takeaway, It's like, guess what we've We're
still mates and that should be excess celebrated Or am
I being a bit too sort of huggy on that?
Speaker 3 (04:46):
I think that you've hit the nail on the head really,
And they both talked about the bedrock of a relationship in
the world that is uncertain and where there's a lot
of turmoil going on at the moment, and you know,
and we do stand with Australia on a lot of
those issues. You know, there was a joint statement from
Luxon and Alberanazi urging Israel to reconsider their plan to
(05:06):
take over Gaza Albanezy. This morning, after having a reef
playing ceremony at the War Memorial in Arrowtown, he talked
about the Trump Putin meeting and he basically see, well,
dialogues all well and good, but we still want, you know,
Putin to just get out of there. He could just
he could just resolve this all by by giving back
the territory he's taken, you know. And this is obviously
(05:26):
the lines with the new Hellanders. And they did talk
about recognizing pastime as the States. Not not yet, but
but inevitably they will. So there is a lot of
alignment there and and that is it was a feature
of the talk that we stand side by side in
a world of uncertainty and increasingly to pull it to
look geopolitically unstable times.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Doesn't really contribute to an exciting headline in a way,
but probably the greater good is probably better, isn't it. Hey,
So what about the tariff situation? Is there do they
have discussions about is there anything they can do with
with regard to well Australia is getting traffs I got
with the pharmaceutical problems and stuff which Trump's been Did
they talk about that at all?
Speaker 3 (06:08):
They they did talk about that, you know, formally and
then formally, but there wasn't particularly a feature of the talks. Obviously,
New Zealand is facing harsher tariffs from the US at
fifteen percent Australia at ten percent, and that we are
trying to negotiate that, and you know that that seems
(06:29):
you know, we don't really have a lot of leverage there.
But you know, Japan has been trying to lower their
tariffs in the EU by by promising to invest billions
in the US, and you know that's not really a
card we have up our sleeves. Also talking about that
Trump threatening in Canada with higher tariffs if they if
and when they recognized the state of Palestine, and I
(06:51):
did up flux in Alberan as whether or not that
was a factor and considering when they do recognize that
statehood and whether that, you know, will weaken the position
of New Zealand exporters to the US. But they said, no,
we're were sovereign states. We make up our own minds,
and you know, I mean, you would expect them to
say that even if they were, you know, even if
there was a bit of a wriggle room there.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Yeah, I must have met privately. I was quite I
was kind of hoping that both of them would be
skiers and that would see them on the slopes and
you'd get one of those shots where one of them
is wiping out. But how's the snow looking down there?
Speaker 3 (07:22):
The snow is pretty thin. I've never seen the snow
to spin at the time of year, so you know,
there was a little bit of dove. There was a
small dove on Friday. Luxeon did talk about Alberanes needing
to come back with the skis. I don't know if
he's a scare Albanese. He did talk about the last
time he was in queenstownd was literally last century and
when he was a backpacker. He didn't mention any skis.
(07:44):
But they did actually have a helicopter ride with some
NIGHTYPI representatives before Albenzi flew out, and they took in
the Remarkables and neighboring cecil pick and actually landed on
the Humboldt Glassier and she had a bit of pavlogo.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Fantastic fantastic, arguing over who invented over as well. Hey, Derek,
thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it and
enjoy the rest of you time before we see you
back in the big smoke. Good mate. That is Derek Ching,
he's a New Zealand Herald senior writer. I mean, actually
there is a you can show your thoughts about that
as well, because there's no exciting announcements that come of it.
(08:24):
There's obviously some good bond of me between Luxon and
alban Easy and you know what, we're so used to
these big headlines. As I say, maybe we should be relieved.
It's like there's Australia, there are mates and next great.
Isn't that good? But also I want your response to
the chat I had with Madame and Davidson. And look,
(08:44):
it's probably no surprise to you. I'm not really, not
really a Green Green voter. I'm not at all a
Green voter. And I did find there are a lot
of generalizations in our answers that I sort of started
losing the world to live in a way in terms
of trying to dig into it. Because I was just
getting generalizations coming back at me. And you know, she
(09:05):
didn't have a comment about if we had some sort
of mining that approved of would they ever approve of it?
Because you know, our way of life does depend on mining.
And the other thing about the Treaty of whiteitngy centric approach.
I mean, are they the Green Party or the Mari Party?
And I still don't think I know what that means
because the values that she was talking about to do
with the treaty, I think you can have those values
(09:27):
without reference to treaties and race at all, can't you.
So I'm not sure that that part of the interview
was going to win the many extra votes. So what
do you reckon? I've got a lot of text from you,
but now we'll take your calls. Eight hundred eighty ten
eighty text nine two nine two. We're back in just
a moment. It is twenty four minutes to four.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
For more from the Weekend Collective, listen live to News
Talk z'd be weekends from three pm, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio.
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