Doorstop – Wellington, New Zealand
CHRIS HIPKINS, PRIME MINISTER OF NEW ZEALAND: I’ve got a little gift bag for you here, Wellington in a bag. Lots of Wellington product innovation for you.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Very good.
PRIME MINISTER HIPKINS: Everything in here is made in Wellington.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: You’ve got coffee.
PRIME MINISTER HIPKINS: Coffee in a can. Peanut butter. Chocolate.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: Here we go, the gin. Can’t go wrong. There’s a lot here, coffee beans, cashews with lemongrass and lime. We’ll have to declare all of this when we go across the border, biosecurity and all of that.
PRIME MINISTER HIPKINS: Get into that on the way home.
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: It’s a short trip.
JOURNALIST: INAUDIBLE
PRIME MINISTER HIPKINS: There’s not much stuff in there, I’m afraid.
JOURNALIST: Prime Ministers, will the New Zealand election result affect the trans-Tasman relationship at all?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I’m not going to comment on New Zealand elections except to say that I’ve a very good relationship with Prime Minister Hipkins and it’s been a fantastic visit. The relationship has really been going from strength to strength and I think yesterday having that roadmap to 2035 is so important with the five themes. We’ll continue to cooperate on areas like climate change and the economy and together we’re stronger than as just single nations and together working with each other in the Pacific region as well is really important.
JOURNALIST: But you will be meeting with the Opposition Leader before you go?
PRIME MINISTER ALBANESE: I will be as is appropriate. So I’ll meet with him a bit later on. I think we’re going to have a bit of a walk here and really it’s been a very successful visit and our fifth meeting in such a short period of time. I’ll be meeting the US Secretary of State and Defence Minister tomorrow in Brisbane. So I’ll be hosting an event there at lunch time. I’ll travel from here to Brisbane this afternoon.